Page 32 of Hidden Desires

“Let me fill you in. Jackson pissed me off, and I’m not talking to him.” She ended it with a smile at Jackson.

“She has no reason to be pissed off in the first place.” He flipped through the morning shows and settled on the same cartoons they watched the day before. “But she reads too much into shit and goes all huffy-puffy when she doesn’t get her way.”

“Funny, really that he says that, Jeffery, because just an hour ago, he promised to be straightforward and never lie to me. Now it looks like he’s changed his mind. Or am I reading too much into that, too?”

“If you tell me what you want from me, all of this can be solved and put in the past!” Jackson voice rose, and Kristin flinched at their conversation.

Autumn narrowed her eyes at him and then returned her attention to Jeffery. “There’s plenty to do at the clinic. Yesterday we got the major stuff done, but a lot needs to be cleaned, and I’m planning on doing some shopping since they ripped my furniture to shreds. Since you have a degree in interior design, Kristin, I’d appreciate it if you’d help me with that.”

She watched Jackson clench the remote, never taking his eyes off her. He hated to be ignored and she personally, found it hilarious. She couldn’t help noticing Kristin’s sideways glance toward Jeffery as if seeking permission to respond. Or decline. Maybe they would all pack up and leave her the hell alone.

“What happened between the two of you?” Jeffery asked bluntly.

“If you could figure out the answer to that, clue me in,” Jackson mumbled.

Autumn’s control snapped. She picked up the nearest thing and threw it at him. Luckily for him, it was just a pillow. “You! Ugh. I’m so mad at you right now that I would love nothing more than to beat that cocky attitude out of you!”

Jackson threw the pillow to the side. “You started all this shit.”

“Oh, I started it. Yeah, okay.” Autumn’s jaw tightened and she simply shook her head. “That’s your typical answer, isn’t it? Blaming others. I honestly don’t know how you ever became a soldier because working together as a team is vital for your brigade, not to mention your life. My dad may think you’re a class act with all the shit you’ve kissed his ass to do, but I think you’re worse than the lowest scum on the face of this earth.”

Autumn left a wide-eyed Kristin, a narrow-eyed Jeffery and an equally angry Jackson in the living room, and she ran to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. He simply didn’t get it, she realized. In his mind, if you don’t talk about it, it goes away.

She shook her head and slid down the door to the floor. Maybe he was one of those who would never get it?

* * * *

Jackson stared at the closed bedroom door, torn between slamming his hand into a nearby wall or calling the Major and telling him he simply couldn’t see the case to the end. He’d never backed out on a case, but then again, dealing with Autumn wasn’t like tracking miles in the Amazon and hiding from rebels while he rescued a scientist either. She was worse.

Jackson flipped through the stations to give him something to do with his hands. She hated him. He got that. She thought he was scum. He got that, too. What he didn’t understand was why she was so pissed off. He didn’t tell her that he didn’t trust her. He told her he trusted her as much as he could. He told her he wasn’t in love with her, but not that he didn’t love her. In all honesty, he didn’t know if he was capable of loving.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Jeffery asked as he moved his bag to sit. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but a deaf and blind mute could see you’ve hurt her. She went through enough the first time, Jack. And damn it, she still loves you.”

“Fuck off, Jeff. You don’t know shit about anything we’re talking about, so mind your own business.” Jackson settled the TV on an action channel and couldn’t have cared less about the movie.

“Maybe, I should talk to her,” Kristin offered.

“No. Autumn likes to dwell in misery alone.” Jeffery grabbed Kristin’s hand and pulled her beside him on the couch.

Jackson’s cell rang, and he answered after reading the Caller ID. It was Davis. “What?”

“Why hello, darling, how are you?” Davis snickered.

“Knock it off.”

“Jeez. What bit you on the ass?”

“Your sister.” Jackson stood and left the room, deciding Jeffery and Kristin had heard enough of his private life. “And I don’t mean that literally.”

“What’s happened now?”

Jackson spent the next moments telling him everything that happened between them. If Davis knew anyone, he knew both Jackson and Autumn. They’d been friends since they were eighteen, worked together, and even went on missions together. And well, Davis had known Autumn all her life.

“So tell me what I missed?” Jackson sat in the spare bedroom with the door closed, waiting for his best friend to explain everything to him.

“Number one, are you fuckin’ nuts? You never tell a woman your true feelings unless it’s the same as theirs because they never want to hear it. And you most certainly never tell them after sex. Lord, has your dick truly overruled your brain?”

He could picture Davis rolling his eyes.

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