Chapter 6


    Jake


    I''m not in luck tonight, because my three brothers and my sister all had plans. Nate has a date. Hugo is working overtime in order to win a big contract for his construction firm, to build some hotels or something. And Lily has tricked Cooper into going to some sort of modern feminist play with her. They offered that I could come with them, but I quickly noped out of that one. One brother suffering through that shit is enough. I didn’t quite catch how Lily managed to trick my older brother into taking her, but I guess Cooper has never really been able to refuse her anything.


    Staying home alone on a Saturday night really isn’t my thing, so I figure I might as well head over to Pete’s tonight and have a couple of beers with my coworkers. Or just one or two beers, probably, since I now have to be my own designated driver tonight. After I shower and put on some clean clothes I grab my keys and look for my wallet, but I can’t find it anywhere. I check my coat and the dirty jeans I wore to work yesterday, but the wallet is not in my pocket either.


    I look around and run my fingers through my hair, trying to remember where I left it. Suddenly, the image of my wallet being tossed on a countertop flashes through my mind. Fuck, I must have left it in Ray’s kitchen yesterday! I do remember grabbing my keys after lunch, but I probably forgot to grab my wallet as well. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal. I would just head to Ray’s and knock on the door, but I know that Ray took his family to his mother-in-law’s birthday party this weekend, so there’s no one home.


    Fuck! Fuck! Motherfucking shit balls!


    I get out of my bedroom and walk through the kitchen to glance into the living room. Nate left before dinner for his date, and the overwhelming silence tells me that Cooper and Lily have already left the house as well. I glance in the direction of Hugo''s home office, which he rarely uses. He’s always said that when he''s at home, he wants to be home. But with a big contract like this on the table, he''s obviously broken his own rule. I hesitate for a moment, considering asking him to lend me some cash for the night. I know he probably wouldn’t mind, but I don’t like disturbing him when he’s so busy and stressed out. With a sigh, I pull my phone from my pocket.


    JAKE: Sorry to bother you Ray, but I think I left my wallet in your kitchen yesterday. Any chance you remember finding it?


    I grab a glass of water from the kitchen while I wait for Ray to respond. At least I hope he will. Thankfully, he replies only a few minutes later.


    BOSSMAN: Marjorie says she found it and left it next to the stove. If you need it, you’re welcome to grab it. Spare key is underneath the frog next to the backdoor.


    JAKE: Appreciate it.


    JAKE: Enjoy the party.


    BOSSMAN: If only that were a possibility. See you Monday.


    BOSSMAN: If I survive this night.


    JAKE: Good luck…


    I shake my head as I chuckle about Ray’s apparent misery. The poor bastard. I leave a quick note for my siblings on the kitchen island to tell them I''m going to Pete''s, and I’ll see them in the morning. Then I head out and get inside my pickup truck. It’s pretty old, but since Nate fixed up the engine for me it runs like a dream again.


    I turn the radio on and tap along on the steering wheel as I make the twenty minute drive back to the ranch. I park on the side of the house and quickly walk towards the back door. The key is exactly where Ray said it would be, except he failed to mention that there are seven frogs on the porch. I guess I never noticed that before. I finally find the key underneath the frog with a bowtie, playing a fucking violin.


    I''m already inside the house when I get the feeling something is off. Everyone is supposed to be gone, but a couple of the lights are on. Intruders, maybe? Although it’s a bit early in the evening for a break-in, and what kind of self-respecting intruder turns the fucking lights on when they’re robbing a house? When I step inside the kitchen I suddenly notice there’s music coming from the living room.


    I furrow my eyebrows. Turning the lights on could just be an insane amount of stupidity, but I’ve never heard of intruders who stop to put on some music in the middle of a robbery! I quietly prowl towards the door connecting the kitchen to the living room, making sure that I''m not heard, and I peek around the corner.


    It’s just Amber.


    I relax my shoulders and let out a soft chuckle about my own paranoid thoughts. I thought Amber had gone to the birthday party with Ray and his family, but apparently she stayed behind. Even a nanny probably doesn’t work twentyfour-seven.


    I''m about to knock on the door to make myself known, but something stops me. Instead of letting Amber know that I''m here, I lean against the doorframe and cross my arms, so I can observe her while she plays the piano and sings. The way she looks while she sits behind the piano is completely different from how I’ve seen her so far. I have seen her gentle, but firm with the children. Respectful and kind, when interacting with Ray and Marjorie. She’s been mostly friendly and shy in her interactions with me and the other guys, but this? This is something else…


    Amber is completely confident in her movements. The way her fingers are dancing over the piano keys is absolutely mesmerizing. And her voice… Damn, that girl can sing! The emotions she conveys with her music hit you straight in the gut. Somehow I had not expected this kind of passion from the innocent, slightly timid girl I’ve seen walking around the ranch this week. The expression on her face is so pure, that I feel like I''m seeing the real Amber for the very first time. It kind of makes me look at her with different eyes. Raw, honest, and truly stunning.


    I notice the song is coming to an end. I already recognized it as a Christina Perri song. My sister Lily went through a whole Christina Perri obsession during her Twilight phase, which was not the best time to be around for movie nights at our house. The final notes fade out and Amber slowly lifts her hands from the piano. I resist the urge to applaud.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ‘Wow, you really got some pipes on you, Poppins!’ I compliment her instead.


    Amber jerks upright at the sound of my voice and snaps her head in my direction. I know I must have startled her, because she looks shocked when she sees me. I push myself away from the doorframe and walk towards her, but Amber immediately averts her gaze. Then I notice she’s wiping away her tears.


    ‘Are you alright?’ I ask worriedly. Suddenly I feel a bit guilty. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.’


    ‘Oh no, it’s fine,’ Amber says quickly. ‘I’m not… I mean, you did scare me a little bit, but that’s not… I''m fine. What are you doing here, Jake?’


    ‘I forgot my wallet in here yesterday,’ I explain. ‘Ray said I could use the spare key to come and get it, but I guess he forgot to mention that you would be here. Otherwise, I would have just rung the bell.’


    ‘It’s fine,’ Amber repeats with a faint smile. ‘I probably wouldn’t have heard that anyway.’


    ‘No, you really weren’t holding back there,’ I chuckle. I sit down on the arm of the couch across from her and relax my legs in front of me. I catch Amber looking down as if she’s embarrassed I caught her singing. ‘Oh hey, no, I did not mean that as a bad thing!’ I reassure her. ‘You have an amazing voice. That was fucking impressive!’ My gaze goes to the empty music stand. ‘And you were even playing without sheet music?’


    ‘What?’ Amber briefly follows my gaze. ‘Oh…’ She looks back at me. ‘Yeah, no, I hardly ever play from a sheet.’


    ‘You mostly just play the songs you have memorized?’


    ‘No, not really. I mean, I guess I have a standard repertoire I play on muscle memory,’ Amber shrugs. ‘But I like to play new stuff too.’


    ‘Only sheet music for new stuff, then,’ I nod, understandingly.


    ‘No, I never really use sheets. I mean, I can. I can read notes, but I usually just play by ear.’


    ‘What, like, everything?’ I ask, surprised.


    ‘Pretty much,’ Amber nods.


    ‘So, what? You hear a song and you just… like… play it?’


    ‘Yes.’


    ‘How does that even work?’


    ‘I don’t know,’ Amber shrugs again. She scrunches her nose. ‘I just hear it. I know where all the sounds are on the piano. When I hear a melody, I just know which keys to strike to create that specific sound on the piano.’


    ‘Fucking hell, Poppins, are you serious?’ I raise my eyebrows and observe her with renewed interest. Another intriguing layer added to the beautiful woman in front of me. ‘Where the fuck did you learn to play and sing like that?’


    ‘Just at home,’ she says. She rolls her eyes. ‘Playing the piano was one of the few parent-approved hobby’s I was allowed to do. The singing just happens sometimes when I''m alone.’


    ‘And you’re telling me that you are so fucking good at it that if you hear a song, you can just instantly play it?’


    ‘That’s putting it a bit too simplistic, maybe,’ Amber admits. She shifts uncomfortably around on the stool. ‘I guess more accurately would be to say that if I can recreate the music in my mind, I can also play it on the piano. But the more familiar I am with a song, the better and more elaborate I can play it.’


    ‘Well, shit! That’s fucking awesome, Poppins!’ I call out, thoroughly impressed. I don’t know anyone who is able to do something like that. I’ve never even learned to play an instrument myself.


    ‘It’s just a hobby,’ Amber replies with a slight frown. She looks at me as if it isn’t a big deal at all.


    ‘Oh, we’re definitely going to test out that skill of yours sometime! We can do like a jukebox thing, where we shout out random numbers or hum some tunes, to see if you can play them,’ I laugh.


    ‘Absolutely not!’ Amber exclaims. Her head snaps in my direction and her eyes widen instantly. Her fierce response kind of surprises me. ‘I can’t play with other people around.’


    ‘You just played for me!’


    ‘I didn’t know you were here,’ Amber points out. She vehemently shakes her head. ‘I could never, ever play for other people. Lord, that would be way too nerve-wracking!’


    ‘It can’t be that bad! You play around your parents, and around Ray and Marjorie.’


    ‘No, I don’t,’ Amber denies, wide-eyed. ‘My mother doesn’t like music, so I hardly ever played when my parents were at home. And this is actually the first time I’ve played the piano since I moved here. I only did it because everyone was gone,’ Amber confesses.


    She offers me a smile, but it doesn’t really reach her eyes. Her sad and vulnerable demeanor reminds me a bit of Lily, the way she was when she first came to live with us. My heart instantly softens towards Amber. It looks like she’s upset about something. Perhaps her tears from earlier were not the result of being startled by me. I nudge my foot against hers.


    ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ I ask her gently.


    ‘Nothing.’


    ‘Are you sure? You were crying before, when you were singing, weren’t you?’


    ‘It’s just an emotional song,’ Amber says, seemingly embarrassed.


    ‘I know. Why did you choose to sing it?’


    ‘I just felt like it. No particular reason,’ Amber lies, but she averts her gaze. She tries to sound lighthearted, but the expression on her face betrays her.


    ‘Just tell me.’


    ‘You’ll just think I’m stupid.’ She glances up at me. Again I am hit with the vulnerability in her big, cornflower blue eyes.


    ‘Tell me anyway,’ I encourage her.


    Amber sighs and runs her fingers through her curly hair. She hesitantly glances in my direction, but she still doesn’t fully meet my gaze.


    ‘I’m just feeling a bit lost,’ she finally admits in a soft voice. ‘I don’t really know anyone here yet. I don’t know my way around. I was so ready to move out of my parents’ house and be on my own, but now… I guess I feel kind of lonely.’


    ‘Yeah, I can imagine that,’ I nod understandingly. ‘But that’s easily remedied, though. Why don’t you just come with me to Pete’s?’ I suggest. ‘You can have a few drinks, meet some people. It’ll at least get you out of the house.’


    ‘Really? You would take me there?’ Amber asks me, surprised. Her eyes turn big as saucers.


    ‘Why not?’ I ask. Then I examine her conspicuously. ‘Wait, you are at least twenty-one right?’


    ‘Twenty-three, actually,’ Amber chuckles.


    ‘Alright then,’ I say as I stand up from the couch. ‘What do you say, Miss Scott? Are you coming to the bar with me?’


    ‘You really wouldn’t mind taking me with you?’ she asks again, to be sure.


    I don’t answer her, but simply extend my hand. Amber hesitates, but only for a brief moment. Then she accepts my hand and I help her stand up.


    ‘Yes, please. I would like to go,’ she says gratefully.


    ‘I can wait in the kitchen, if you want to change first,’ I suggest. Amber is already wearing her comfortable clothes. A pair of gray sweats with rolled up legs, probably so she won’t trip over them, and an oversized black hoodie.


    ‘Right, yes, this is probably not really bar-appropriate,’ Amber mumbles, more to herself than to me. She heads towards the kitchen and from there enters another door that I''m guessing leads to her bedroom.


    In the meantime, I grab my wallet and put it in my back pocket, before I make myself comfortable. I lean against the kitchen counter, answering a couple of text messages from some girls asking me where I’ll be tonight, while I wait for Amber to get ready. It doesn’t take her as long as I’d anticipated. I figured she’d need some time to doll up, but come to think of it, I’ve never seen her wear much make-up. Even now, she only appears to have put on some mascara to highlight her eyes and not much else. Not that she needs it. The whole pure and innocent look is definitely working for her.


    ‘Is this alright?’ Amber asks me worriedly, while she glances down at her outfit. She’s wearing black jeans and a red button up blouse that hugs tightly around her chest. It falls over the waistband of her jeans, but it’s just short enough to show how phenomenally well her ass fills out those tight jeans.


    ‘You look great. You act as if you’ve never been to a bar before,’ I chuckle, putting my phone back in my pocket.


    Amber’s face instantly turns red and she seems embarrassed when she averts her gaze again. Something suddenly clicks. Her shyness, her innocent demeanor, that thing she said about parent-approved hobby’s and not knowing her way around yet. It sounds like she’s had a very sheltered upbringing. Could this really be the first time she’s going to a bar?


    ‘I’ve never really gone out much before,’ Amber admits shyly, confirming my suspicions.


    ‘In that case…’ I say, arching my eyebrows as I step closer towards her. I carefully undo the top two buttons of her blouse. It shows the tiniest hint of her cleavage now. It’s still quite modest, but if this really is her first time going to a bar, I probably shouldn''t push it too much.


    ‘What are you doing?’ Amber gasps.


    ‘Now you look perfect. Very bar-appropriate,’ I reassure her with a playful smile.