Merry Mix-Up (Holiday Hearts)

20. Newt

20

NEWT

D ecember 19th

I kissed Amber awake, placing light, feathery pecks on her forehead, eyelids, and cheeks until her eyes fluttered open. I considered rubbing her pussy too, but I didn't want her to think she was nothing but a sex toy to me. The sex was phenomenal, but the real treasure was her heart. Which was where I placed the palm of my hand, careful not to grope her tits either.

"Good morning, sexy," I purred, and she grinned and blinked her eyes a few times. I was glad she was feeling better and had even volunteered to stay over. It put all my insecurities to bed in a single act.

"Hello, handsome." Her soft tone was heavy with slumber, but the way her lips curled into a smile was inviting.

"Have I told you how incredible you are?" I kissed her again, this time on the lips, not giving her a chance to respond right away. She didn't need to respond. I was here to lavish compliments and kisses on her for as long as she would let me.

I had a hand on her hip now, pulling her body against mine, and she didn't protest. Last night was nothing but sensational. We barely slept, but it wasn't just the three rounds of sex that made it so amazing. Amber and I lay awake talking for hours about life and what we hoped would happen in our futures. We both wanted kids, both of us a chance to do something with our careers. She hoped for something bigger, maybe New York City, and so did I. Wall Street had always been on my bucket list.

"Hmm, I think at least six times last night, but they were all after orgasm, so I'm not sure they count." She snickered, and I kissed her again and bit her lip. My God, I couldn't get enough of her.

"You are perfect, you know that?" I finally relented and grabbed her tit and squeezed. She was too tempting to not enjoy when I had the chance.

Amber playfully swatted my hand away and sat up, tossing the blanket back. Her naked body was a work of art. The perfect curve of her tit down her side to her hip mesmerized me. I found myself staring as she slipped out of bed and found her clothing.

"I have a lot to do today. I really need to call an Uber and get home." For a second, I watched her dress. I didn't want her to go home yet, but I understood the moment couldn't last forever. We both had lives. And if Naomi came by and saw her here, it would break her heart. She wanted what was left of this month to be all about my sister, not us.

"Stay for breakfast? Mom usually makes French toast or eggs." I climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of sweats and a T-shirt to wear. My morning wood was distracting, but she didn't make a thing of it. We had enough sex to satisfy her for days, probably, though I'd be lucky to make it to lunch after that night. Just thinking of how she sat on my face made me feel like the morning wood was a little more than just a spontaneous body reaction from waking up.

"Yeah, okay," she said, but I got the feeling it was just a polite response, like she'd be more comfortable going home. At this point, I would take what I could. I knew she had three days left to finish her studies and I couldn't be a distraction to that. She was laser focused, and rightly so. Her entire future and everything we discussed last night about dreams to make it big in the Big Apple rode on good grades. Though, she never came right out and said that, or what her big plans for New York even were. Just that she saw herself there.

Come to think of it, we had mostly just talked in abstract about those things or focused on my desire to trade on Wall Street and not just from an office in Chicago. I was building toward something, and she seemed eager to support me in that. I loved that about her.

We dressed and I walked her downstairs. The smell of bacon frying perked my appetite, which was previously only focused on Amber. It made my mouth water as I paraded her into the kitchen past Dad—who gave me an "atta boy" look—and Mom, who seemed to scowl a little. I chalked that up to her being disapproving of premarital sex, but she had to figure it was happening. I was a grown man with needs.

"Good morning," Amber said sweetly as she sat down, and I grabbed an extra plate for her. She seemed shy and a bit intimidated, and her shoulders looked tense when I set the plate in front of her and sat down next to her.

"Good morning, Amber," Mom said, but her tone was a bit short. I didn't understand why, but it seemed to make Amber more tense too. "What are you doing here so early?"

Frustrated at Mom's prying, I decided to answer for Amber and then change the subject as I dished food onto our plates. "She slept over, is that okay? Dad, could you please pass the syrup?"

Dad winked at me and snickered under his breath, but he passed the syrup. I focused on plating food for me and Amber, who held her hand over her plate to indicate she didn't want any sausage. One slice of French toast was all she let me put on her plate, though, and I wondered if it was her stomach. I hoped whatever it was hadn't been passed on to me or Naomi would hear about it and make a big fuss.

"What do you have planned for today?" I asked Amber, hoping whatever it was that Mom was annoyed about would just slip her mind. She stayed by the stove cooking, but I could see she was irritated.

"Uh, just more studies. Probably helping Jade with the dress too." She licked her lips and cut a bite of her French toast, but when she brought it to her mouth to take the bite, I saw how uncomfortable she looked.

"Not feeling well still?" I asked, and she nodded. But there was more to it. The emotion in her eyes wasn't sickness or embarrassment. It was fear. Mom had made her feel too uncomfortable.

"You don't have to eat, baby," I told her, but I made sure to say it quietly enough that Mom couldn't hear me over the sound of the popping grease in the pan.

"I just want to go home," Amber whispered, and I nodded. "I can get an Uber." She pulled her phone out, but I shook my head.

"Just let me wolf this down. I’ll take you." I already had a huge bite of food in my mouth as she started searching her phone for the app, but I wasn't about to let her pay to Uber when I could use Dad's truck just fine. I grabbed her phone and swallowed hard before saying, "Let me take you."

Dad was watching and Amber's eyes flicked in his direction. Then she politely smiled and dropped her head. She did manage a few bites of her meal as I devoured mine practically without chewing. I had to leave the room to get shoes, socks, and my coat, and when I came back, Amber looked on the verge of tears, and Mom looked up at me with a sternness in her expression I'd not seen since I was a child, but I didn't ask what had happened. I promptly escorted Amber to the front door where she left her coat last night, and then to the truck.

The drive across town was quiet. I heard her sniffle a few times, but I felt bad for what had happened, and I didn't understand it, so I didn't want to pry. Something might have gone down between Amber and Naomi to make Mom upset with her, but if so, I thought I'd have heard about it by now. I just held Amber's hand and drove with only the sound of Christmas music on the radio to keep us company. The closer we got to the apartment, however, the more flustered she seemed to be until she looked like she couldn’t take it anymore.

"Newt, there's something I have to tell you and I want you to hear it from me." The way she said the words made the hairs on my arm stand on end. This had bad news written all over it, and I got breakup vibes, wondering what she could possibly need to tell me.

"Okay, I'm listening." We were only a block from the apartment and she seemed panicked.

"Newt, I'm not really who you think I am." She looked up the street and I watched her face blanch.

"What?" I asked, feeling confused. Not who I thought she was? She was Amber Lyons, my sister's best friend and maid of honor in her wedding. What else could there be?

I pulled into a spot behind a beat-up black sedan covered in hideous bumper stickers and put the truck in park, letting the engine idle. Amber seemed to freeze up as her eyes traced across the snowy front lawn of the complex toward her door. I looked too, noticing a man standing there banging on her door, and my stomach sank.

"I, uh… You need to go," she spat and jumped out of the car. "I'll call you." Amber practically jumped out of the car and marched through the snow with her head down and her hands in her pockets. Either she was afraid of the man at her door or she was afraid of me seeing the man at her door, or maybe she was afraid for Jade, who, based on her previous statements, was inside the apartment sick as hell.

Whatever the case, my heart was hammering now, and I couldn't just drive home. I felt like I was losing control again, the way I had when I found my ex cheating on me. My mind raced as I watched her walk up to the man and they started arguing. He looked angry enough to hurt her, and my protective instinct kicked in.

I climbed out of the car and bounded across the lawn too. My strides were twice as long as the footprints left behind where Amber walked. I heard their screaming match and started to piece together a picture of what was happening.

"You have no clue what you're talking about," she shouted, complete with waving hands.

"Oh, give it up, Amber. I can't believe this. You spent the night with him?"

"Whoa, buddy," I said, putting a hand squarely on his chest, which he didn't seem to like at all. His fist balled up and he swung right at my face and connected despite my best effort to dodge the blow. The impact made me see stars, but at least he wasn't unleashing. One punch was all he gave.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with my girlfriend, Phillips?" The man was fuming mad and his words were a kick to the gut. I stood there staring down at the snow where blood from my lip dripped and turned the pure white to red.

"It's not what you think, Newt," Amber pleaded. "Let me explain."

"You fucked him?" the man said, and I got the feeling he was going to hit me again, so I held both hands up in surrender and let the blood run down my chin.

"Hey, man. I didn't know. She never said anything." I backed away a step and saw the tears sluicing down Amber's cheeks. I felt sorry for the poor schmuck. Man, she had fucked us both over. My heart was ice cold and I didn't know if it would ever thaw. She was using me to cheat on her boyfriend?

"Newt, please. I promise I can explain everything…" Amber walked toward me, but the man grabbed her arm and pulled her backward, quickly snatching her key out of her hand.

"Just leave," he spat before unlocking the door and yanking her inside.

I slogged to the truck and stood there for a minute listening to the muffled sound of more screaming emanating from inside the apartment. My heart was breaking into a million pieces and I couldn’t stop it. How could I be so unlucky as to have two different women who I thought were perfect both turn out to be lying cheats? How was I this unlucky?