Jealous Storm by Jack Stroke (book recommendations .txt) 📕

“She didn’t… call you first or anything?”

“No. I had no idea.”

“What do you think… I mean… Do you think…?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know, Ben.”

Lion stood and stretched and strutted away, his attention taken by something across the grass only he could see.

“It’s hard to know what to tell you.”

“What happened with you?”

Amber thought. “To be honest, I can’t recall. That was a long time ago. Plus, I’m not sure how things work now. Mother probably does things differently. I’m not involved in that side of things.”

“Yeah, but… She wouldn’t put me out in the field, would she? Is that what you would call it, the field? I mean, there would be more training, or… “

“Presumably. Unless she needed something. Besides, every training is a mission and every mission is training. Did you call her Mother?”

“I did. It felt wrong coming out of my mouth.”

“She would have loved that.”

“That I did it or that it felt wrong?”

“Both. Are you excited?”

“I think so. It would be nice to have more information.”

“Get used to it. What did she say exactly?”

“Just to be ready.”

“Sounds like Mother. She likes her games, Ben. Always keep that in mind. She likes her games, and she likes to blur the line between the two.”

“Why?”

“It’s just Mother. How she does things.”

They sat in silence for a bit. Megan wandered by, giving them a look.

“I guess it’s a little strange, us sitting here,” Ben said. “Now Lion is gone.”

“I guess.”

Across the road, the ocean continued its gentle yet relentless attack on the shore. It was probably her imagination, but if she concentrated, Amber could feel the low-level excitement almost radiating off her godson.

14

Amber ended up spending the night with Vaughan. Ben’s big news did it. She was still annoyed with Vaughan, and yet somehow when Ben told her about Mother calling and Amber started to worry about that, she had too much to worry about. Overload. Swimming with concern, her brain gently reminded her she was supposed to be Chill Amber, and so she made an active effort to worry about nothing at all.

Heading back to the boat was like making a show of her lack of concern.

And really, she shouldn’t be too hard on herself. By any objective measure, she had come a long way since first arriving at Paradise Cove. First, she had got rid of the alarms. She still slept with the Sig under her pillow, but she couldn’t do it here on Vaughan’s boat obviously. Not without answering a whole lot of awkward questions.

The first few times she stayed over she was so restless it barely classified as sleep. However, more recently she had managed to drift off into a dreamlike state, not really asleep or awake, but comfortable and content. Happy in the knowledge of where she was and who she was with.

Amber was in that in-between state when there was a sudden burst of yelling and footsteps. She sat up, fruitlessly searching under her pillow. Nothing there. The door flew open and a breathless Grubby charged in.

“Vaughan, Vaughan! The best thing ever has happened. Ever!”

“Grubby…” Amber said, somewhere between exclaiming and scolding.

“Oh, hey, Amber.” He barely even glanced in her direction. “Yeah, so, I was at the servo and this bloke turns up in a white Tesla.” Grubby’s eyes went wide. “Like super expensive. Hundred K at least.”

Beside Amber, Vaughan sat up, slowly waking.

“And this bloke gets out and he’s looking around everywhere and stuff and eventually he comes in and he’s like ‘Where is your charging station?’ Right? And me and Mick just laugh at him. Good luck finding one round here. Charging station. What a fricken goose.”

Vaughan nodded, not quite into the story and not nearly as outraged as Amber would have liked either.

“Anyway, he gets back in his Tesla and takes off, tyres squealing.”

“There’s a charging station in Port Simmons.”

“I know, but what if he doesn’t make it? That’d be the funniest thing in the world! A broken down Tesla, no way to drive it, all cos the guy is too stupid to know we don’t have a charging station. Come on. You’ve gotta come see.”

Grubby hopped from foot to foot, unable to stay still. Vaughan climbed out of bed, looking fresh and relaxed as usual. It wasn’t fair. He always looked so good first thing in the morning.

“Didn’t you say he left?”

“He left the servo. He went to her place.” Grubby pointed at Amber. “The cabins. Good luck finding a charging station there.”

Vaughan grabbed a shirt from the floor. The same one he was wearing yesterday.

“Wait till ya see this bloke. Everything matches. White suit, white Tesla. Even his hair is white. Not blonde or grey. White.” He turned to Amber. “Come on. You gotta get up. Let’s go see.”

“Grubby…” she said, not moving.

“What?”

Only then did Grubby twig Amber was in bed. His brain only able to focus on one thing and so caught up in his Tesla story it hadn’t occurred to him until that moment what Amber might or might not be wearing under the sheet. A slimy half-smile curled across his lips.

“Come on, get up…” he said, not going anywhere.

Amber was quite happy to climb out of bed dressed as she was. Of course, if she did, she would have to kill Grubby, which all things considered might not be a bad result. He would die too happy though, between seeing Amber nearly naked and the Tesla.

Vaughan laughed. “Come on, Grubs. Out. Let’s give the lady some privacy.”

Grubby appeared genuinely disappointed, as though there was some sort of other possible eventuality.

Vaughan grinned at Amber like this was all good fun. Still no anger at Grubby or more than a token desire to protect her honour.

The door to the cabin shut behind them. Amber didn’t move for a good few minutes. She wasn’t stupid. Knowing him, Grubby would make some excuse to come back in if Amber was getting changed. Who knew if Vaughan would stop him. Finally, she decided it was safe. She threw off the