Page 33 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

It wasn’t until I was a block away that the anger faded and reality drifted to the surface, bringing a lump to my throat. It wasn’t the reality of leaving that upset me. In my mind, I’d been preparing to leave after my sophomore year anyway. It was the reality of how much—or how little—my parents actually cared for me. The fact that they could let me go so easily hurt. A lot.

I didn’t think about where I was heading. It was a given. Amber had been my best friend since first grade. Her parents were more like parents to me than my own. I knew they’d let me stay there for a little while. At least until I worked out if I was still going to college. Financially, I didn’t think I’d be able to afford it—not that I actually wanted to study law anyway. I’d only agreed to that to keep Dad happy.

I sighed and shook my head. How many things had I actually done in my life just to keep my parents happy, even if I didn’t want to? How many things did I miss out on doing because it wasn’t good enough for their image, even if I was really good at it?

I knew at the end of the day, it was my life and my choices, and I really only had myself to blame for not standing up for myself, but when you were raised to believe there was only one way to do things, you just didn’t consider there being another choice—especially when you were a teenager looking to your parents for guidance.

Pulling into Amber’s driveway, I turned off the ignition and grabbed my small overnight bag. Amber opened the door almost as soon as I’d knocked.

She took in the sight of me with my bag in hand, her gaze moving from my face, to my bag, then out to my packed-to-the-rafters car, before landing back on my face.

Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “What did they do?” she deadpanned.

I huffed. “Told me I wasn’t allowed to see Daniel while I was living under their roof.”

She recoiled like I’d slapped her. “Uh . . . why?”

“Apparently, marines aren’t high enough on the income ladder.”

Her expression turned dangerous. If she could shoot lasers from her eyes, I’d be dead. Turning her gaze back out to my car, her features softened. “I take it from the look of your car, you didn’t choose the roof over your head?”

I shook my head. “No. I mean, I really like Daniel, and I would’ve chosen him anyway, but it was the principle of it all.” I drew in a steadying breath. “You know, they still haven’t even asked me why Ryan and I broke up. All they care about is the fact that he’ll eventually be taking over his father’s company.”

Amber gave me a pitying look. “Come in. You know you can stay here. As long as you need to.” She closed the door behind me and walked me to the stairs. “You go up to my room, and I’ll go tell Mom what’s going on.”

The emotion of it all was quickly catching up with me. I nodded and swallowed, turning before she could see the shine in my eyes.

In her room, I sank down on the edge of her bed and dropped my bag to the floor. I had no idea how I was going to do this, but I was determined not to let them win, just on principle alone.

Amber walked in a few minutes later, a huge grin spread across her lips. “Mom’s going to come talk to you in a minute, but she said you can stay in Stephen’s old room as long as you need.”

Stephen was the oldest of Amber’s three brothers. Being twenty-nine, twenty-seven and twenty-four, they’d all long moved out, leaving Amber on her own. Stephen was married with kids now, so his room was the obvious choice.

I grinned a little at the thought of her brothers. It’d been pretty awesome at times being her best friend growing up. Her brothers were seriously good-looking. I’d had a crush on Alex, the youngest of the brothers, for quite a while when I was younger. He was always really nice and never made me feel like I was a pain in the ass. He was sweet.

Ben, on the other hand . . .

“Do I even want to know what you’re thinking?” Amber asked.

I laughed. “I was just thinking about how nice it was being your best friend growing up.”

Contemplating the teasing glint in my gaze, she rolled her eyes but laughed just the same. “Yeah, now I’m older, I can appreciate their boyish qualities a bit more. Back then, they were just annoying.”

She climbed over the bed and settled against the pillows, fixing me with an intense gaze. “So are you going to tell me what happened last night?”

My face instantly flushed as my mind was inundated with memories of Daniel making love to me.

“Daniel looked pretty upset when he left, but I’m guessing you made up with him, seeing as you just chose him over your parents . . . ” she continued.

My face heated even more, realizing I hadn’t even considered what everyone would’ve thought about me getting in the car with Ryan.

Burying my face in my hands, I groaned. “God, I was so stupid to get in the car with Ryan.”

“Well . . . ” Amber said, lightly agreeing with me. “Why the hell did you?”

I sighed and threw myself back on the bed. “He said he just wanted to talk, to apologize, and then Corey texted him and said he needed more soda, so he asked me if we could talk while we ran to the store. I just didn’t think, you know? It was all just . . . I don’t know . . . innocent.”

“Maybe on your part,” she said, giving me a look. “So what happened?”

---