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Thanks to dancinpacer03, frackandbonechick, Tori D, Anastacia, Stephanie and Jamelet for reviewing 22. Enjoy 23...can't wait to hear what you think!

Chapter Twenty-Three

Amber woke up the next morning feeling better and more refreshed than she had in weeks. She had slept soundly throughout the night, not awakening once, something that was rare for her, even before she’d met the Boys

Sunlight poured through the window down the center, where the curtains met. She squinted, sitting up and stretching her arms over her head, a relaxing sensation overcoming her back and shoulders. Looking to the clock, Amber saw that it was nearly noon and gasped. She’d never slept in that late pre-rape. The past week or so, she had been better about that though, until this morning, and had to wonder if it was because of her busy, and quite eventful day the day before. She shrugged. At least she wasn’t sleeping non stop any longer, staying awake for two hours, max, during the duration of the entire day.

Amber sighed. The news that Nick had fed her the day before was embedded into her mind. It was almost too much for her to handle. One would think that she should feel relieved that the rapist was captured. She wasn’t though. For some reason, she felt less safe and more exposed and vulnerable to anybody who wanted to hurt her. The thing was, she was beginning to put the event behind her, and it was no longer occupying her every thought. All of that had changed and gone backwards again though, and she didn’t like it. She was becoming more depressed by the day, feelings of sadness tugging at her insides. But she kept up on doing her best to hide it, for the most part, not wanting Nick to read between the lines.. But given the new status of her case, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could fake her ‘everything is fine’ front. One of these days, she was terrified that she was going to just break down all together.

Stepping out of bed, Amber walked slowly into the bathroom to wash up for the day and get dressed. She hoped that she could do something with Nick’s sisters for the last few days, until their break was up. Something that would get her mind off of everything that she really didn’t want to be thinking about.

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“Hey, Nick,” Aaron asked as he spooned a large bite of cereal in to his mouth, milk spilling from the corners, “Do you have a thing for Amber.”

Nick nearly choked on his orange juice. He, Aaron, A.J. and his sisters were all at the kitchen table eating a late breakfast. He forced the beverage down his throat as he watched Aaron continue to stare at him in expectancy of an answer, still eating the cereal slobbishly. A.J. was looking down, avoiding meeting Nick’s gaze, his sisters had stopped what they were doing, looking at him along with Aaron, wanting to know what he would say.

“No,” Nick finally responded honestly, “I don’t have a ‘thing’ for Amber. She’s a good friend to me, that’s it.”

Aaron smirked, not believing a word of what was coming out of his older brother’s mouth. He knew Nick ...his brother was attracted to almost any human, in his age range without a dick.

“Sure ya don’t,” Aaron laughed.

Nick rolled his eyes. As alike as him and his brother were, Aaron was still in the middle of his little kid transferring into adult phase. Nick stopped to think about his thoughts for a moment, realizing that he, himself was still stuck in the middle as well.

“Aaron, grow up,” Nick finally stated, “I don’t want to be Ambers boyfriend, or hit on her, or anything along those lines.” he sighed then, “I just want to be there for her and be a really good friend to her.” he looked downward sadly, wondering if he was doing a good job of being a good friend to the girl, who was still struggling on learning to cope with her new life.

“Then can I have her?” Aaron asked hopefully, then added when he saw the death glare that Nick was shooting him, “If you don’t like her in that way, I’ll take her. She’s hot.”

“No,” Nick stated roughly.

“She needs a man,” Aaron said, then grinned, “I can be the man of her dreams.”

“She needs a friend,” Nick shot back, getting angry with his younger brother and his overpowering hormonal urges.

The two brothers continued to argue back and forth about their views on dating Amber. Their words bounced over the table like a ping-pong match. A.J. shook his head, wishing that he could have a chance with Amber. Nick was so protective of her. If he wouldn’t let his own real brother date her, there was no way he would go for A.J. trying to slowly work his way up to asking her out. A.J. knew that Amber wasn’t ready to date though, and he had to respect her, even though he was well past old enough to choose who he wanted to go out with.

The arguing continued to go on, Aaron insisting that he was the perfect suit for Amber, while Nick kept telling him to knock it off, and that no way in hell, under any circumstances, would he ever touch Amber.

“Nick,” Leslie finally interrupted, causing five heads to turn her way, “Did you tell Aaron about Amber?” she asked, knowing that her younger brother more than likely wouldn’t be pestering Nick if he knew the conditions.

Nick shook his head, “No...I didn’t think it mattered, since she’d be doing female bonding,” Nick rolled his eyes at that, “With you three.” he pointed at Leslie, drawing his finger straight across Angel to B.J.

“Tell him,” Leslie demanded of her older brother, “It might help if he knows this.”

“If I know what?” Aaron asked, tilting his head to one side in confusion, “What does everyone else know that I don’t?”

Nick sighed, turning to Aaron. He hoped that the sixteen year old boy was mature enough to handle what he was about to tell him.

“The reason you can’t date Amber is because something happened to her that has made her lack trust in men,” Nick told him, “It took me days for her to even talk to me, weeks for A.J, and the others, not at all.”

Aaron stared at Nick with his mouth hanging open, one eyebrow raised. He hadn’t the slightest clue what Nick was talking about, and wanted to know. He hated being left out. Nick paused, making Aaron’s curiosity even more drawn out. Nick swallowed, forcing himself to go back to the day that he’d first seen Amber. The morbid, unpleasant images all came swarming back to his mind all at once. He started to speak again, telling Aaron the short version of what had happened.

“About three weeks ago,” Nick started, “We...the
Boys and I....we found her in an alley. If we’d been even ten minutes later, or taken a different rout, she probably would have died.”

“I’m not a dumb ass like you,” Aaron said, interrupting his brother, “You don’t have to talk slowly like I am some kind of imbecile.”

“Right,” Nick said, “She was raped and shot.” he blurted out, just getting it over with. It was still once subject that Nick didn’t like to talk about.”

Aaron’s eyes widened in shock at what the girl had been through, immediately feeling bad for hitting on her the day before, and pestering Nick to help set him up with her. He had screwed up, “Shit,” he muttered, “If I knew before...”

“It’s fine,” Nick snapped, the good mood that he’d awakened with diminished.

Silence fell over the table as nobody knew what to say. Aaron’s prior cluelessness had but a strain on everyone’s mood. A.J. pushed his plate, which was still half full, away from him, losing his appetite. He wished that he could mess up the man that had done this to her. He hope that with time, he could develop a friendship with Amber like Nick had, and maybe eventually, gradually, work up to asking her out on a date. His first concern though was getting her to trust him, something that he originally hadn’t wanted to begin their relationship with. Before, he’d wanted to jump right in to something. Not anymore though.

His thoughts were interrupted by Amber walking in to the kitchen, taking an empty seat in between Nick and Leslie. One that Nick had intentionally made sure was left vacant.

“Good morning,” Nick stated, his mood cheering up a little, “Did you sleep well last night?”

Amber nodded


“Are you hungry?” he asked her.

Amber shook her head, “Not right now,” she told him, which was a lie. She was famished. Her stomach hurt from the hunger that she was facing. She hoped that it wouldn’t give her away by grumbling.
Nick shrugged, then grinned at what he had discovered the night before when he’d gone in to check up on her. A.J. got up and left the table, Aaron leaving seconds after. Nick’s sisters started talking quietly amongst themselves

“I saw your little purchase from yesterday,” Nick brought up, stifling a laugh, “Interesting, I must admit.”

Amber’s eyes shot up in his direction, a slight blush arising on her pale cheeks. She bit her lip, as if she’d been caught in the middle of an unforseen act.

“You shouldn’t be going through my stuff,” Amber said softly.

“I bought it though,” Nick grinned impishly, acting extremely childish, “I have every right to know what I spent my money on.”

Amber looked down, realizing that he was right, “I know I said that I don’t like your music style, but you guys are kind of good.”
Nick laughed. She reminded him so much of a little girl right then.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Nick told her, “It just
surprised me a little, that’s all.”

Amber shrugged. She wouldn’t go as far as to say that she was ashamed to be listening to the Boys music. She figured that it was more along the lines of her originally telling Nick that she had never listened to them before, and now had a sudden interest in what their songs were like.

“So,” Nick asked, breaking her train of thought, “What are the plans for today?”

“Not sure,” Amber told him.

“Would you maybe be interested in going out in the boat?” he asked, “It’s in the upper sixties, which is cool for here, but its warm enough to go out.”

Amber nodded, “Sounds like fun.”

“Great,” Nick grinned, “I’m gonna go ask the others if they want to join us.”

Amber smiled. She hadn’t really been outside in weeks and could almost feel the rays of sun hitting her face already. Maybe this was just what she needed to brighten her mood and outlook on life.