[b][i]Chapter Four: Amber[/i][/b] Elena, now twenty-one (and a half, she would add), stared as the sun made its way towards the horizon. Every so often she would come to this beach for "inspiration." Honestly, she just needed a break, but she would never tell anyone else that. Sometimes, she just wanted to sit and watch the sun set over the water and let herself [i]feel.[/i] It was all his fault, truly it was. That pesky boy who knew nothing about women except how to use them. In fact, from what she had been hearing, he was still able to to do that well. Fantastically, they'd told her. Not that she asked. She never asked. Why was it that her gender was so prone to gossip? It wasn't as if she wanted to know how good her kind-of ex was in bed. She didn't even want to know how he was or what he was up to. She didn't. Most of the time. Now, she let her mind wonder and let her heart feel what it tried to every day. Damn him for breaking down the armor that had protected her for so long, damn him for making her care, damn him for breaking her heart, but mostly, damn him for making it so she could not stay mad at him. The anger had helped. She had not felt the pain until that blinding anger had somehow receded. When that happened, it was all she felt. She'd tried to force all that feeling back inside, as she had done so many years ago, but found she could not. Those walls were forever broken, and she no longer knew what to do. So, she watched the sky as amber and salmon mixed in ways she only wished she could duplicate. A single tear betrayed the heartbreak that had not lessened since he had left her behind almost one year ago. --- Jake stared at the girl with the scarlet hair and pretended the tear trailing down her cheek didn't affect him. In fact, he didn't even see it. At this distance? Impossible. The twinkling reflection of light could have been anything. This girl didn't cry. Even when she had been his, he had never known her to cry. Suddenly, he wondered what it was that she could be thinking about, which, inevitably, led to him wondering why the hell he was here staring at her in the first place. It wasn't on purpose. Honestly. Someone had told him that sometimes she stole away to this beach to watch the sunset. He had only wondered what the fuss was about. He was appalled to find that she was actually [i]there[/i]. In fact, he would be leaving as soon as his feet began to obey his brain once more. Now that he thought about it, why were they aching to move forward, not back? His heart? No way. That was buried so deep it could never be found. Shit. Too late. She'd turned her head, as if sensing the eyes that had been on her for several moments now, and seen him. Was that emotion he saw in those cold eyes? He watched her turn her back to him and walk away. It did not hurt. He was Jacob Hill, and he had no heart. It did not hurt at all. But if he had no heart, what was that twinge in his chest as he watched her go? --- She had turned, not really knowing why, and froze when she saw someone staring at her. That straight black hair that always looked like he had just gotten out of bed, she recognized that hair. Horror was filling her soul as she met eyes as dark as the ocean. Those eyes, she knew those too. Jake. Just that word had the power to unravel her from the inside out. This was not the first time she'd seen him since that day and would probably not be the last. Anywhere else and her eyes wouldn't have betrayed her as they were doing now, but this place was hers. This place was where she allowed herself to remember. He had no business being here. In the back of her mind, the question of why he was there was waiting, but she was too distressed to give it much thought. Elena's feet were moving before she could tell them to stop. In seconds, she had turned around and was walking as fast as humanly possible to where she had parked her car. She hated him. Hated him for what he had done to her. Hated him for being there. Hated him for watching her. Hated him for everything. But if she hated him so much, what was this fluttering in her chest, and why could she not make it stop?