I harassed Mia and Letty for about a half an hour before they would tell me anything about where Amber would be at 10 o clock at night.

"C'mon," I rolled my eyes at them. "Just spill it already."

Mia looked at me and threw a side glance at Letty. "I don't know..."

I was losing all my patience. "Oh Christ, just tell me or I swear I'll put you both on paperwork for six months straight."

"Okay, fine." Letty growled. "She usually hangs out at that one place..."

"Oh, that helps." I rolled my eyes again.

"Uhm," Mia was gesturing wildly, trying to figure out the name or something. "You know, that one big club off of Jefferson and Fifth."

"Thanks." I said, moving past them to get to the door.

"No problem. Just don't screw things up this time!" Mia called. I didn't pay attention to that, though. I had to find Amber before things got worse.

**

I walked into the club and looked around. The place was packed; I slid my way through the crowd, searching faces.

I spotted her in the corner of the club, leaning against the wall. I shoved a few people out of my way and approached the crowd she was with.

She looked tired. Her body was relaxed as she twirled the ends of her hair with her finger.

"Hi." I said, approaching her, throwing a helpful smile.

"Oh God," she groaned, almost slurring. "What do you want?"

"To talk," I said simply.

"Pfft." She snorted, leaning down to grab her beer. "Yeah, okay."

"Can we just, you know, talk outside or something?" I asked. "I want to explain to you about earlier."

"Leon, you and I both know that you suck at explaining things so just... just go away, okay?" She moved past me.

"Amber." I grabbed her arm and turned her around to face me. "You don't understand..."

"Of course I don't understand." She rolled her eyes. "I don't speak asshole."

I swallowed and looked at her. "C'mon, just talk to me... please?"

She downed the rest of her beer and set it down on the table next to her. "I need another beer."

"No." I said firmly. "Okay, look. One minute. I promise."

"And what exactly do we have to talk about here?" she asked. "Just let it go... I mean, why should we even bother?"

"Because, in the end, I think it'd be worth it." I told her quietly.

Her eyes softened for a moment and she turned away. "I gotta get out of here."

She pushed her way past the crowd and I followed her.

"Amber!" I called. "You can't just walk away from this."

She stumbled a little and leaned against a car.

"C'mon, let's get away from here." I reached out and took her hand in mine.

"St...Stop..." Amber mumbled, weakly pushing me away. "Just... just don't touch me, okay?"

It almost sounded like a plea. I let go of her momentarily and she fell to her knees, her body hunched over as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Amber…" I said leaning down to help her back up.

"Don't touch me!" She snapped. "Just go home, Leon."

"I can't leave you like this." I said. "I'm not going to leave you like this."

"Don't do this to me..." Amber said quietly.

"Do what?" I asked. "I'm not doing anything."

"Don't make me feel like… like I'm going crazy. All these fucking games… I can't do it anymore. I'm so exhausted." She said.

"You don't need this." I told her, gesturing behind me. "You don't fuckin' need them."

Her body shook a little. I realized that she was sobbing.

"Am," I said, kneeling down next to her. "C'mon, let's go home."

"No," she said stubbornly. "I just want to be alone."

"You're not in the right state to be alone..." I said.

"I've dealt with it this long..." she mumbled. "Please, just let me deal with my life."

She covered her face with her hands, trying to cover up the tears.

"Oh God..." I said, wrapping my arms around her. "C'mon..."

She shook her head violently and looked at me, tears streaming down her face.

"Why do you want to help me so bad?" she asked. "I'm not worth it. I'm not who you thought I was. I'm... oh God, I'm a horrible person."

"You're not a horrible person, Amber." I told her... "You're just lost. It's not charity. It's not about me feeling good about myself at the end of the day. It's about me caring for you and wanting to keep you safe. It's about me trying to make you realize that there's more out there than this. That there are other people out there who care for you."

She looked away from me and exhaled. I could feel how tense she had been. I felt how scared she was. I wiped the tears from her cheeks and helped her up.

I wanted this girl in my life. There was no question about it.