Page 43 of Falling for Autumn
“Then why do you keep coming after him?”
She scoffed. “I’m married to someone who loves October very much and wants to fix their relationship. Trying to mend broken relationships is all. October, you need to clear your shit up,” she stated, brushing past him and walking down the steps.
What did that mean? I didn’t want to play games with October. And while it was clear that he possibly wasn’t cheating, there was something he was holding back. I didn’t like that because he always insisted I be transparent with him, and I had been.
“Autumn,” he called out.
I wanted to disappear. I hated that he had seen me because I was also certain that he could see the emotion on my face and inside of my eyes. Shaking my head, I jogged up the six steps to my door just as he came running after me.
“Autumn, baby, wait!”
I turned back to see that TJ had moved to stand at the driver’s side door of her car. She had a pink Barbie G-wagon with gold rims. I recalled seeing it at the park last week. It was parked in front of his Porsche.
She watched him run to me, and I could see the look of pain on her face as her lips partially opened, and she shook her head.
“What do you want, October?” I asked.
“You, baby. I already saw the look in your eyes, and I don’t think I like it.”
“You took her in your home.”
“She barged her way into my home, and we argued, and I just put her right back out. She was in there no more than two minutes, if that.”
“Who is she?”
“Nobody.”
“Nobody’s been on social media with you in several pictures, nobody showed up at last week’s car show, and she’s also shown up at several of the events that you attended in Florida.”
October sighed and asked, “Can I please come in? I’m tired, and I just wanted to see you and baby girl.”
“Okay, October. I’m gonna let you have this. Don’t make me regret it,” I replied.
“I won’t.”
“If I see her coming out of your apartment again, you and her both will have hell to pay.”
“Listen, she’s my ex, okay. We had a very toxic past, and she hurt me badly. She’s been trying to get me to forgive her and my brother and let bygones be bygones, but I’m not in the forgivingbusiness. There’s nothing funny going on, so don’t even get any ideas in your head.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes, it’s a long story, but she cheated with him. They’re still together.”
“Why is she suddenly popping up everywhere that you are?”
“I already told you. Listen, baby. You deserve the full story, but I really don’t want to get into it right now. I promise you that it has nothing to do with the here and now. It’s truly in my past and not a part of our relationship. I just want to relax, eat, get some rest, and then spend some time with my two favorite girls. I can order something to be delivered.”
“Well, maybe tomorrow. I’m going to lie down and get some sleep now.”
“Can I sleep with you?” he asked in a soft, pleading voice as he stepped up onto the porch with me and wrapped his arms around my waist.”
“It’s whatever.”
“Please don’t be like that, baby,” he pleaded, tugging on my hands and then kissing my bottom lip.
It was so hard to ignore him when he was being all sweet like this. But I wanted answers. As much as I wanted to believe October and focus on how his friends and cousin acted when I was around, I didn’t want to be a fool again.
I had already played the fool once, and that was on me. This time, there was much more to protect than just myself. I had given this man my entire heart and let him into my world. But I felt like a part of me needed him. Being without him the past week left me feeling lonely and incomplete. I knew that our family of three was incomplete without him by our side.
