Chapter 2

Amber is frightened and starts to back away, but Damien rushes to reassure her. “Oh no, its okay. They're just my bodyguards.”

The first heavyweight, Bruno reaches Damien’s side and asks, “Boss, are you okay?”

“Bruno, stay here and deal with this wreckage. Jazz will drive me back to the city. We will drop this lady off on our way.”

He inclines his head to the new car and gestures to Amber to get in. Amber hesitates. Who is this man? Why does he exude so much authority? Why does he have bodyguards at his beck and call? Litcherfield was a small town and she knew the town’s rich and famous celebrities, and he was certainly not from around these parts.

As if he could sense her hesitation, he observed wryly, “Your lips as beautiful as they are, are turning blue. Perhaps we should wait and see what other body parts follow suit? Maybe your fingers and toes?” Amber blushes red in embarrassment and hurries into the car to join him.

She notes how rich and classy the leather seats look. The heater is turned on and she heaves a sigh of relief. As Jazz starts the car, she bolts upright, remembering her precious bag of groceries that have been scattered in the snow. Once again, as if he could read her thoughts, Damien offers, “We will get you a fresh set of groceries at the town’s nearest supermarket. I believe you can show us the way?”

With intense relief, Amber gives directions to Jazz and they begin the journey.

“I haven’t formally introduced myself,” Damien starts with a smile. “My name is Damien Knight, a humble business man. I live in the city. What’s yours?”

“I’m Amber…Amber Fields. I’m a senior at Litcherfield High…and I guess you already know that I live here in the village.”

“That’s interesting,” continues Damien. “You could pass for a college student with these looks…”

Amber blushes, but holds her head high. “I was out of school for a while. I had to take a break because of my health.”

“Really? But you look so healthy…how long a break?”

“Fourteen months,” Amber whispered. She cleared her throat and spoke up. “I had major surgery done and of course, recovery took forever. I only just resumed last summer.”

“So how old are you?” he asks.

“I’m nineteen,” she responds simply.

Damien is shocked and impressed. She carried herself with an air of grace and dignity that far belied her years.

He observes her quietly, even though she had striking looks, her clothes seemed a bit worn and one size smaller than what she ought to be wearing. His curiousity is piqued and he finds it strange he is responding in such a manner to a stranger, just barely hours after discovering the infidelity of his now ex-girlfriend.

He concludes that he would maintain a simple proprietary interest in this young girl he just met. He would merely get her home safe and sound and move on to forget her. Obviously their lives were too different, too far apart for anything more. He looked round the town as they drove along. It was so quaint. Obviously a small place with middle-class residents. The town boasted of just one high school and one hospital. Damien hated small towns because they felt suffocating and stifling.

“We are here, boss,” Jazz announces. He then steps out of the car hurriedly and pulls the door open for Damien.

They pile out of the car and Damien winces in pain. He had sustained some injuries when he swerved the car to avoid hitting Amber. Amber noticed it but kept it to herself. They walk into the supermart together while Jazz waits by the car.

“You may take whatever you want. I’ll wait here by the counter,” Damien offers.

Amber flushed in pleasure and barely manages to stop herself hrom skipping into the store in excitement. While she picked a few things from the shelf, she observed this ‘businessman’ she just met.

He looked quite young yet he carried himself with such an air of authority. He was obviously rich and could afford a lot of nice things she thought as her eyes took in the watch on his wrist and the expensive suit he wore. “Even his jacket smelt rich," she giggled as she wrapped it around her body tightly. She ended up picking twice the items she bought earlier. She reckoned that he could easily afford them.

She began to make her way to the counter when she overheard him taking a phone call.

“...and the child? What of the child?”

There is a crackle over the telephone as the receiver gives a response.

Damien continues in didbelief, “ …the entire house was burnt down to the ground?”

Another crackle. “It’s fine, Marshall. You have done well. Make sure all of this is untraceable to you or me.”

Amber freezes in shock as she tries to make sense of what she has just heard. It sounded like he burnt a family alive, to the ground? It all seemed very mafia-like. She panicked. ‘I am just a small town girl, I’m too young to be associated with the mafia…’ she thinks to herself. She decides to back away slowly and steps right into Damien…well, actually, his broad chest. Damien starts in surprise. “What are you doing hiding behind that shelf?” he asks.

“I…err…I wanted to pick up …” Amber looks around desperately for an excuse, “...a pack of Tylenol, for you!”

Damien narrows his eyes in suspicion. He was trained well enough to recognize a lie when he heard one and his alarm bells were jingling.

“Tylenol? For me?”

“Yes”, Amber continues with false excitement. “I noticed you winced in pain coming out of the car. Its the least i can do in appreciation” she finished. She looks at him with a fake smile plastered on her face.

I’ll go pay for this stuff now”, and she scuttled to the counter with her shopping cart. Damien stared at her behind with a furrowed brow. Something was off about the entire exchange but he couldn’t place his finger on it. Why was she so skittish? Could it be…could she have been trying to shoplift an item out of the store? His eyes widen at the thought and his logical mind begins to craft a scenario.

Faded, worn out clothes, a jacket obviously a size smaller and shoes that frayed at the feet; she obviously wasn’t rolling in cash. Yes, that could be it. She was shoplifting! His over active imagination continued down that path. Imagine the headlines when she gets caught by the security guards at the door… “Billionaire Business Tycoon embroiled in shoplifting scandal” Oh no, not a chance if he had any say in it.

He walked swiftly to the counter. Amber was on the queue to have her cart checked out. He decides not to wait for the inevitable. A quick glance at the cart gives him an idea of how much the items in it would cost, so he dips his hand into his trouser pockets and pulls out a wad of cash and dumps it in Amber’s basket. Amber stares at him in confusion. He mutters gruffly, “That should cover your expenses… and whatever else you’ve stolen.”

What?! Amber is stupefied and clenches her fist in anger. How dare he spout such rubbish from his lips! The arrogance! He thought she had stolen something! What on earth?! Before she could respond however, Damien rudely brushes past her and out the doors, signaling to Jazz to get him out of there. He is in a rush because he is irritated and slightly embarrassed at himself over the strength of disappointment he feels over Amber. “For gods sake’, he tells himself, ‘why did you think she would be any different from the average teenager?

Jazz springs to action, rushes into the driver’s seat as Damien unceremoniously gets into the car.

Within minutes, the entire debacle is over, leaving an incredulous Amber staring unbelievingly at the zooming car.