Page 52 of Falling for Autumn
He had shown very little interest in Auburn until the end, when I mentioned dating someone. He had gone so far as to ask if he could hold Auburn. Foolishly, I said yes. It was ironic that I had given the benefit of the doubt to the man who hadn’t deserved it. But to the man who had been loyal to me, I had given him my back. I only hoped that I could make up for it today.
By the time I got back to my place, it was a little after four. There wasn’t much daylight left at this time of the year. It would be dark before seven o’clock. I knew that October wasn’t at home because his car wasn’t out front. I prayed that he would be coming straight home.
I placed two T-bone steaks, burgers, asparagus, and corn on the grill while I returned to the kitchen to make a seafood pasta. I grabbed the tealights and fairy lights from the closet in my hallway before I headed back outside.
I traipsed over to October’s place and strung the fairy lights around his wall and then found the outlet to plug them in beside his back door. I laid the tea lights around the edge of the patio and a small pathway back to my place.
By the time I finished lighting all those tealights, my back and knees were killing me, and I vowed to put in more exercise to get them in shape. After all, October loved me on my knees, and a girl had to be strong to take those back shots.
I took care of a few more things before I scrolled through the numerous text messages that October had sent me. I had lefthim on read for the last few days. I didn’t block him because my heart still yearned for him, no matter how angry and hurt I had been.
I came out of my text messages and went to my app to locate him. Sure enough, he had left the shop. It seemed like he was on track coming to the house, so I didn’t have much time left. I only prayed that he didn’t make a detour or have company coming over.
I headed back inside and put the finishing touches on the food before I plated our meal. I didn’t know what would come of this conversation. I did know that October had been a good man to me throughout our friendship and relationship. At the first sign of trouble, I had jumped ship. Not once had I shown loyalty to him for the man he had been.
Throughout my pregnancy, he had shown up to give me support at various times, whether it was carrying my bags from the car into the house, trimming my trees and hedges when the landscaping crew didn’t show, or even when he’d been there to get me to the hospital when I went into labor.
While I didn’t know the whole story, I was on the fence now. I still hadn’t quite jumped back on the October bandwagon, but I was rooting for his story to be a good one. I would rather have egg on my face and have acted foolishly than for him to be the horrible monster that Wilson had painted him out to be.
I chuckled humorlessly and shook my head. That asshole hadn’t been anywhere to be found since the day he revealed those details about October’s life. Not only had he not shown up again, but he also hadn’t answered my calls and text messages. That was just like Wilson: show up and screw up my life and then disappear when things got rough.
I rushed to the window when I heard October’s engine roaring down our street. I washed my hands and checked myself out in the mirror one last time. I wore a pumpkin coloredoff-the-shoulder sweater, tan leggings, and dark brown thigh-high leather boots. All my curves were strategically highlighted, including my glorious belly.
I grabbed two of his favorite beers from my refrigerator, a bottle of wine, a glass, and a bottle opener, and headed back outside.
“What’s going on?” His deep, husky voice was more of a growl with a bit of a bite to it when I returned with the food.
My heart cinched in my chest as I looked up at him. He looked around at what I had done, but he didn’t look happy. Tears stung my eyes as I realized how much I had missed him.
Chapter 19
October
“What’s going on?” I couldn’t help the anger that was in my voice, no more than I could help the way that my eyebrows scrunched down or my fists clenched at my side.
Tension radiated throughout my body from the way my shoulders were hunched up near my ears to the way my back was ramrod straight. It wasn’t a scene that should have evoked those emotions, but I couldn’t help but be angry.
Autumn had carelessly kicked me out of her heart and home. Although I loved her and would do anything to get back into her good graces, I needed us to sort through what happened. She couldn’t just walk back into my life without helping me understand where her loyalty had gone. It hurt to know that she had ditched a nigga at the first sign of trouble. That was the same bullshit my family had been on when things went south with Kevin and TJ. Only my cousin, father, and sister stood by my side. Everyone else had quit speaking to me.
I knew she would be angry with me, but I had underestimated her reaction. I hadn’t expected her to stopspeaking to me and not allow me to see my little shorty. It made me wonder how she would behave whenever trouble arose in the future.
I needed a woman who would ride for me, no matter what. I needed to know that I could rely on her, and that she wouldn’t disappear when the going got tough. I had already been through some bullshit like that, and I didn’t want to walk that journey again.
My heart knew that Autumn wasn’t like Trisha, but my mind wouldn’t let me forget the bullshit that my life had gone through when you paired up with an unfaithful woman.
She had strung up fairy lights and lit tea candles around the patio. I glanced at the food that she was setting out and noticed she had all my favorites.
“Autumn, what’s going on?” I repeated when she failed to answer me.
Her eyes jumped nervously from me to the scene that she had set before jumping back to me again. She twisted her hands as though she were afraid, but of what, I was uncertain. Autumn never had to be afraid of me, and then I thought about the bullshit that Wilson had led her to believe.
I had no idea how many times she had been in conversation with him since she pushed me away. I hoped like hell she wasn’t afraid of me hurting her. There was no telling what other lies he had filled her mind with.
“Listen, I know that Wilson said a lot of shit about me, but I’ll never hurt you, Autumn. So please quit looking like that.”
She dropped her hands and shook her head. “I’m not worried about you hurting me, October. At least not physically anyway.”
“Then what are you worried about?” I was confused as hell.
