Assumption

by Aurora Rose Reynolds

  He rolls until I’m on my back and one of his legs is between mine. His hands capture mine, bringing them above my head. Then he bends his head and whispers into my ear, “Autumn, will you have dinner with me?”

  “Maybe.” I smile when he growls against the skin of my neck.

  “Please?” he asks, his tongue snaking out to touch my sensitive flesh.

  My body arches back. Having him cover me is doing crazy things to my body. I don’t know if I want to pull him closer or push him away only to climb on top of him. My hands run down his back, feeling his smooth skin under my fingers.

  “So, what do you say?” he asks, his hand running down my bare thigh.

  “What?”

  I feel the vibration of his laughter before he pulls away so I can see his face. “What’s your answer? Am I taking you willingly, or do I need to force you?”

  My eyes drop to his mouth and he smiles. “I guess I could suffer through a date with you. Who am I to pass up free food?” I ask with a straight face.

  His hands go to my sides and he starts to tickle me. I have never been tickled before and it catches me off guard, making me scream in horror.

  When he realizes that I’m not shrieking playfully, his body stills and he looks down at me in question. Tears fill my eyes again and I don’t even know what to say.

  “It’s okay,” he says gently, removing his hands from my sides and sliding them into my hair. “We can talk about what just happened another time.”

  No way am I going to tell him about my childhood. Instead of saying that, I just nod. His eyes search my face, and I know he doesn’t like what he sees when his jaw starts ticking.

  “I gotta go or I would make you talk to me.”

  “Go. It’s not a big deal.” I push his chest and he shakes his head.

  “Fuck me.” He drops his head before lifting it again, his eyes looking me over. “Just like that, you replace those fucking barriers.”

  “You need to go,” I say, really wanting to be away from him and how exposed I feel.

  “Swear to Christ, if I didn’t know that the reward would be worth it, I wouldn’t waste my fucking time with this bullshit.”

  His words are like a slap in the face and I flinch, closing my eyes for a second before opening them back up. “Get off me,” I say softly, and he presses me harder into the bed.

  “Shit, I di—”

  I cut him off, shoving at his chest and yelling at the top of my lungs, “Get the fuck off me right now!” I wiggle around, trying to break free. Not being strong enough to get him off me has tears of frustration forming in my eyes. “Please get off me,” I whisper, closing my eyes. My body loses its fight, knowing that it’s pointless; he has all the power.

  “This isn’t over,” he says quietly, kissing my forehead.

  I don’t say anything; I just wait until I feel him get up. As soon as his weight is off me, I jump out of bed and look around for my stuff from the night before. I quickly grab it and open his bedroom door. Then I shut it behind me and run down the hall to my room, slamming and locking my door behind me.

  I drop the clothes in my hands to the floor before I go to the closet, pull out a bag, and start to pack. I need to get out of here. My heart is wide open with him. Somehow, he has maneuvered through my defenses and now has the power to hurt me, and he isn’t someone I trust with that power.

  He has proven on more than one occasion that he can be an ass. How can I possibly put myself out there to be hurt by him again? I hear him coming down the hall and brace myself. When his fist pounds on the door, I close my eyes before yelling, “Go away!”

  “You even think about leaving me, Autumn, and I will hunt your ass down and spank the shit out of you.” He pauses and his voice gentles. “I don’t have time to talk to you right now, but we will be talking about what happened.”

  What is happening to me? The sound of his voice has me dropping my bag onto my closet floor.

  “I’ll text you later, baby,” he says softly.

  I walk to the bed and lie down, pulling some of my hair to my face to smell it. Just like the last time I slept with him, his scent is clinging to my hair. I need to get it together; I need to stop running from him. I have a feeling that, if I do get away from him, it would be the biggest mistake of my life, and I have made enough mistakes to last a lifetime.

  I stand and go to the window to make sure he’s gone before I go downstairs. I need my phone out of my bag, and I left my purse in my car last night when I came home. I pull on a pair of shorts and leave my room. I turn off the alarm before opening the front door. The second I hit the front porch, a silver convertible pulls up. I squint my eyes, trying to see who it is, and when I recognize the driver, I run to my car, open my door, quickly grab my bag, and run back to the front porch.

  “Do you ever wear clothes?” Kenton’s ex, Cassie, yells.

  I want to tell her no, but instead, I run into the house, dropping my bag next to the door. I almost have the door closed when it’s pushed open and Cassie grabs a handful of my hair.

  I have never been in a fight in my life. I have been beaten many times, but I’ve never fought back, knowing that the consequences would be a lot worse if I did. My body freezes, and then my adrenaline surges. I turn around and smack her across her face. Her hand goes to her cheek, and her eyes widened then narrow.

  “You bitch,” she says, smacking me back a lot harder than I hit her.

  “I’m a bitch?” I shake my head in disbelief. “Get out of this house right now,” I say with a scary calmness, holding my stinging cheek. I’m too old for this crap.

  “How does it feel knowing you’re sleeping in a bed I picked out…that I fucked him in?”

  Okay, so that didn’t feel good, but I keep my face neutral, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing that her words affected me. “Get the fuck out,” I tell her, leaning forward and pointing at the door.

  “You’re sleeping in my bed with my man and you want me to get out?” She lets out a laugh then looks me over.

  “He’s not yours,” I hiss.

  “He will always want me!” she shrieks. “Why do you think he hasn’t changed the bed or redecorated?”

  Wow, this chick is crazy, but her telling me about her and Kenton in that bed over and over again is grating my nerves. I turn and run up the stairs as fast as I can. I hear her following me, but I’m on a mission.

  I run to Kenton’s room, locking the door behind me. My eyes land on the bed, which is still messy from this morning. I look around and see that he has a large sliding glass door in his room that leads out onto the upper balcony. Cassie starts pounding on the door, and I quickly look at it before running to the bed to toss the covers, sheets, and pillows onto the floor.

  The bed is queen-sized, so even with the weight of the mattress, I’m still able to pull it off the bed, pushing it to the side. I see that the side rails hook into the headboard and the slats are what keeps the mattress up, so I toss the slats aside then pull up on the side pieces. The bed falls apart, the footboard falling to the floor and the headboard hitting the wall.

  I go to the foot of the bed and pick up the wooden piece, carrying it over to the balcony. I open the sliding glass door and haul the footboard over to the railing. Seeing Cassie’s car parked right under me, I say, “Fuck it,” and toss it over. It lands in her back seat, making me smile. I do the same with the two side rails; these miss and land near her car on the ground.

  Cassie has no idea what’s going on; she is still pounding on the bedroom door. I go to the headboard, and with this piece being much heavier, I scoot it across the hardwood floors and out onto the balcony. I lift it over the railing, where it teeters before falling over the other side; the loud crunching sound of glass and metal soothes my temper.

  I hear Cassie yell something as she leaves the door. I quickly get the mattress, pushing it out onto the balcony before tossing it over the edge too. With my adrenaline pumping like never before, I look down
and watch as it floats like a feather in slow motion, landing with a little bounce on the hood of her car.

  Cassie starts screaming at the top of her lungs then pulls her phone out of her pocket.

  “Shit,” I whisper. I know she’s calling the cops. I start wondering where I should hide when the house phone starts ringing. I see the phone on the nightstand light up, and I debate if I should answer it or not when it stops ringing only to start up again. My gut clenches, and I know without a doubt that it’s Kenton calling.

  “What in God’s name is going on?” I hear from outside, and I close my eyes.

  Are you kidding me? Why me? Why does this stuff always happen to me? I walk to the balcony door and look out over the railing, seeing Nancy and Viv. Both are standing near Cassie, who is still on the phone. Viv looks up and I start to duck, but I’m too late; our eyes meet and she smiles.

  I run to the phone when it starts ringing again. I don’t really want to talk to Kenton, but right now, he’s the lesser of two evils. “Hello,” I answer, trying to make myself sound like I didn’t just toss his bed outside and that his mom and aunt aren’t downstairs probably wondering how to get me out of his house before I go crazy on him as well.

  “Babe,” he answers back, the one word said in a tone sounding slightly humorous and slightly pissed.

  “How’s it going?” I ask, looking around his room, taking it in for the first time. If Cassie did help decorate, she did a crap job. There are two nightstands, one on each side of where the bed used to be. Both are older; the matte black paint is chipping away. The dresser in the corner of the room is in pretty much the same shape.

  There is nothing else in the room—no rugs, no curtains; the room is bare except for the furniture. It’s a great room. The beige paint on the walls looks new, with beautiful, dark wood floors throughout, large windows that look out over the forest, and the sliding glass door that leads to a large balcony I can imagine having my coffee out on in the mornings. The urge to make over his room hits me when I hear his voice growl down the line.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  “Um…”

  “I asked if you really just tossed my bed over the balcony and onto Cassie’s car,” he says in the same amused-slash-angry tone.

  “Oh, I…” I try to come up with some other reason why I would have done what I just did without making it seem like I may be insane.

  “Do not fucking lie,” he says, cutting me off before I can even think of something to say.

  “I wasn’t going to lie,” I snap, knowing that I was perhaps going to fib a little about what happened, but I wasn’t going to lie.

  “Autumn,” he rumbles out.

  “Okay, yes,” I huff out, annoyed. “I tossed your bed onto her car. Well, really, I tossed her bed into her car, so I was just helping her move it out.” I press my lips together knowing how stupid that sounds.

  “You were helping her move it out,” he repeats, and I can’t figure out if he’s growling or laughing. “What the hell happened?”

  “I went to my car ’cause I left my bag in the passenger’s seat last night and I needed my phone. When I was outside, she pulled up. I tried to get into the house and lock the door, but she grabbed my hair. I may have smacked her, and then she may have smacked me back. She started telling me about you and her in your bed, and I may or may not have gotten pissed, ran up to your room, and threw your bed over the balcony onto her car. Oh, and your mom and aunt might be outside right now.” I whisper the last part, out of breath.

  “You were jealous,” he says, sounding slightly surprised.

  “No, I was pissed,” I correct.

  “If you weren’t jealous, why would you care what she said to you?”

  Okay, I’m not going to answer that question. “I’ll buy you a new bed,” I tell him, hoping to end this conversation.

  “This isn’t about the bed, Autumn. This isn’t even about Cassie. This is about you realizing what you’re feeling and accepting it.”

  I feel myself heat up. I know what I’m feeling. I just don’t know if I can trust him with these feelings.

  “Autumn, are you in there?” I hear from outside the bedroom door, and my head drops to look at my feet.

  “Your mom’s outside the door,” I whisper into the phone, looking around the room for somewhere to hide.

  “So answer the door,” he tells me with an implied, Duh.

  “I can’t answer the door. She was outside with Cassie,” I hiss, going over to one of the other doors in the room. As soon as I swing it open, I see that it’s a large bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and walk-in shower.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for somewhere to hide,” I tell him without thinking, walking to the only other door in the room, and as soon as it opens, I see that it’s a large, very organized closet.

  “You’re looking for somewhere to hide?” he repeats, laughing.

  “Autumn, I know you’re in there. Open the door.”

  I close my eyes and lean my head back. I have no idea what I’m going to do, but it’s time to face the music. I take a breath and walk to the door. I click open the lock, pull the door in a crack, and peek out.

  “Hey. Is everything okay?” I ask, seeing not only Nancy, but also Viv standing outside the bedroom.

  Nancy smiles and Viv’s mouth twitches. “Looks like there was a little bit of an accident,” Nancy says, and Kenton starts laughing.

  “I’m hanging up,” I tell him, annoyed that he is finding this situation so hilarious.

  “I’m on my way home,” he warns me, and I hear the line go dead.

  “Oh, great,” I sigh, pulling the phone from my ear. I start to toss it on the bed when I remember that the bed is no longer there, so I squeeze it in my hand.

  “Did Cassie hit you?” Nancy asks, her eyes zeroing in on my cheek.

  My hand naturally lifts to my cheek and I swallow. “Um…the thing is…she pulled my hair, so then I smacked her, and she smacked me back.” Yes, the chick is crazy, but I’m at fault as well.

  “Are you okay?” Viv pulls me into a hug, and I feel Nancy put her arms around us both.

  We stand there for a few moments. I didn’t think they would be offering me comfort after what I just did.

  “Oh, isn’t this just fucking sweet? Seriously, she hit me and trashed my car and you’re fucking coddling her?” Cassie yells.

  I pull back from Nancy and Viv before facing her. Her face is red with rage, but there is no mark on her cheek from where I smacked her.

  “The cops are on the way. I hope you know you’re going to jail for what you did.”

  Shit, she’s right; I’m probably going to jail for what I did. Then I’m probably going to lose my job when I have to tell them why I can’t show up to work tonight.

  “Why are you here, Cassie?” Nancy asks her.

  “I needed to talk to Kenton.” She shrugs, glaring at me again.

  “You know he’s at work, so why are you really here?” Viv asks, stepping in front of me.

  “Well, if you really must know, I wanted to tell him about the woman he has living with him. Did you know she’s a stripper and was letting random men do body shots off her at a club downtown?”

  My stomach drops at her evil tone. I have no idea how she could possible know about that.

  “It’s all over YouTube.” She smirks, reading my face. “Yep, your whore face is all over the Internet.”

  I feel bile crawling up my throat as I look over at Nancy and Viv. I honestly don’t care that people are going to see me acting stupid and drunk, but I do care that the guy in Vegas could somehow see it and know where I’m now staying. I hate the idea of bringing danger to not only Kenton, but everyone else around me—people I really care for and consider friends for the first time in my life.

  “Did you do it? Did you post that video?” I ask, ready to push her ass down the stairs.

  “Cassie, why the fuck do you keep showing up at my house?” Kento
n asks, walking up the stairs. Butterflies erupt in my stomach when our eyes meet, and then his eyes go from soft to hard when they lock on my cheek. “She fucking hit you?” he growls. He must have forgotten that I already told him about our little exchange. His head swings to Cassie, the look on his face forcing her to take a step back. “You hit her?” he asks.

  “Don’t you fucking dare, Kenton Mayson. She is not the fucking victim in this situation. She hit me then trashed my car.”

  “You came to my house and hit my woman, and now you want to point fucking fingers? I told you to never show your face here again. I told you we have not one fucking thing to talk about.”

  I suddenly feel faint. His ‘woman’? I didn’t think I was his, but he just said that I am, and he said it in front of his mom and aunt. I’m not going to explore why that made me feel all squishy and warm inside.

  “Now, for the last fucking time, get the fuck out of my house.”

  “Wait! She can’t leave!” I shout, grabbing Kenton’s arm.

  “I’m out of here,” Cassie hisses and hurries down the stairs. I start to run after her, but an arm wraps around my waist and my back hits the solid wall of Kenton’s chest.

  “Let her go, baby.” His lips brush my ear as he speaks.

  I shake my head and he squeezes me tighter. “No, she can’t leave! She said there was a YouTube video of me from the bar the other night. I don’t know who put it up, but maybe she does.”

  His body goes tight behind me and he lifts me, swinging me behind his back before running down the stairs. I look at Viv and Nancy before following behind him.

  The second I reach the front door and swing it open, I see Kenton pacing back and forth, talking on the phone to someone. Cassie is next to her car trying to lift the mattress off of it. Just as I take a step out onto the front porch, two police cars pull up the driveway. Kenton’s head swings my way, and he lifts his hand and motions for me to come over.

  I look at the cop cars then at Cassie, who is glaring at me while trying to lift the headboard. If things were not so messed up, I’d be laughing at her. I walk to Kenton. His voice is a low rumble when he tells the person on the phone to track the video and have it removed. When he hangs up, his hand goes to the bottom of my shirt and he pulls me until I’m forced to step closer to him.