Amber by Heather Burnside (great novels of all time .TXT) 📗

since the night of her twelfth birthday and Amy felt perpetually miserable. Prior to that, she had become used to what Cliff was doing even though she still knew it was wrong. And the nice gifts had been some sort of consolation for all her shame and misery. But none of this was nice. It was painful both physically and emotionally, and he always seemed insensitive to her pain.

After the night of her birthday the presents had stopped too. They had gone along with her innocence.

40

December 2015

Amber enjoyed staying at Kev’s flat. It was a private rented one and was a step above the home that she shared with her mother and Nathan. Situated in Didsbury, it was part of a large Victorian house with many of the charming original features such as ceiling roses, cornices and decorative fireplaces.

Despite being from the Victorian era the flat appeared modern and stylish, making the most of the high ceilings and the light that flooded in through the large sash windows. The kitchen and bathroom were also modern in design as well as being clean and well-kept although Amber had noticed that, even though she didn’t live with Kev full-time, most of the cleaning seemed to fall on her now that she and Kev were a couple of months into their relationship. She didn’t mind though; it was a small price to pay.

The best thing of all about staying at Kev’s was that he always had food in. Currently Amber was enjoying learning to cook. Previously she had been used to grabbing something quick from the meagre contents in the kitchen cupboards at home, which usually comprised of something on toast or a can of soup.

Tonight, she was making a curry, using a recipe she’d found on the Internet. It was the first time she’d tried it, but things were going well up to now. She was letting the curry simmer while she waited for the rice to cook when she heard Kev shouting in the other room, and she presumed he was on the phone. Curious, she went to the living room to see what was going on.

But, as she approached the door, Kev’s angry voice told her it wouldn’t be wise to venture further so she stayed in the hall. She couldn’t resist listening in but as she stood there, she felt like a naughty schoolgirl and it was reminiscent of the times when she used to listen in on her mother’s conversations as a child. It was a bad habit that she couldn’t seem to shake.

‘I don’t give a fuck about your sick kid!’ he shouted. ‘Don’t think you can come at me with your bullshit excuses. You’d better have the fuckin’ money next time I come calling or else.’

Amber felt her heart thundering in her chest on hearing this other side to Kev. It was one thing being told about his reputation by others but now she was witnessing it herself. She carried on listening and was even more disturbed by his next words.

‘Don’t fuckin’ try me. You know I’ll do it so unless you wanna end up in a fuckin’ wheelchair you’ll do as I say.’

She heard him curse to himself and guessed that he’d finished the call, so she dashed back to the kitchen. Amber knew he was caught up in other dodgy dealings apart from pimping, but she had turned a blind eye to it. Most of the men she knew were shady in some way or another. It was just the way it was and, as long as it didn’t harm her, she didn’t usually get involved.

Amber had been so busy listening in to Kev’s conversation that she had forgotten about the food simmering on the hob. The smell of burning curry alerted her and she dashed over to the pan and lifted it away. Then she did the same with the rice.

A quick examination of the food told her that the curry was burnt at the bottom and the rice was overcooked. The curry she could deal with; she would just scoop the bulk of it out and leave the burnt bit in the pan to be disposed of later. But the rice was soggy. She tasted it twice, weighing up whether to start another batch or whether to go for it. But then she didn’t want the problem of having to keep the curry warm while the rice was cooking and, besides, it would mean dinner would be late.

In the end she decided they could live with it. After all, it was no worse than some of her earlier efforts while she’d been living with Kev and he’d just laughed them off telling her not to give up the night job. She dished out the food, deciding to keep quiet about her culinary disaster and hope he didn’t notice. After all, the curry still tasted good and the rice wasn’t that bad.

They ate in the lounge with the plates on their knees. Amber could see that Kev was still worked up from his phone call. He wasn’t saying much, and his face was set in a scowl. She decided not to ask what the problem was as she didn’t want him to guess she’d been listening at the door. At least he seemed to be enjoying the curry, so she was glad of that. But then he tasted the rice.

‘What the fuck is this shit?’ he demanded.

‘Curry and rice. I thought you liked curry and rice.’

‘Not rice like this. You’ve fuckin’ overcooked it.’

‘Sorry!’ she said, with attitude. ‘It’s just a bit soft that’s all.’

‘Soft? It’s like fuckin’ spunk it’s that soggy.’ He toyed around with the rice on his plate pushing it to one side. ‘I can’t eat this shit. Have we got any naan bread?’

‘Oh yeah, I forgot to put it out.’

‘You’re fuckin’ useless!’ he yelled storming out of the room.

When he returned a couple of minutes later, he was carrying some naan bread on a plate. Amber could smell