“When do we get to see the video?” Autumn squeezed Pandora’s shoulders from behind and wished she could have been there. Few people deserved happiness as much as Pandora and Brian.
“Right now. I brought it with me.”
“Pop that in,” Kellie said. “Go, go, go.”
Pandora scampered over to her station to dig out a DVD while Mary and Carly followed her, asking more questions.
Kellie turned to Autumn, her face suddenly serious. “We haven’t finished discussing your absenteeism yet. Later, when we don’t steal Pandora’s thunder.”
“You knew?” Autumn whispered.
Kellie didn’t reply, but she didn’t need to. Chances were Brian had planned it all just for Pandora, and it made something painful twist in Autumn’s chest. That was real love, a real relationship progressing toward marriage, unlike her farce that was just pretending. It left a bitter taste in Autumn’s mouth, one that burned going down.
Chapter Nine
Painterly—These tattoos mimic the appearance of brush strokes and oil paint on the skin.
Tamara stared over the top of her teacup at her wayward son. “Explain yourself.”
Samuel shifted in the wicker chair, too small for his big build. Who would have ever guessed that her small, sickly child would grow to be a man? Certainly not her. His siblings had never lived beyond infants. Something about him was too ornery to die, it seemed.
“I took an impromptu vacation down to the islands. I realized I haven’t been away from work in a long time—”
“Your father never took a vacation.” She set her cup down harder than intended.
Samuel paused. “You’re right, he didn’t. I thought it was time I did.”
“And you never thought to tell me?”
“It was really a spur-of-the-moment decision, Mother. I didn’t think about it.” He propped his elbows up on the armrests and clasped his hands together.
“Drink your tea, Son.”
He wrinkled his nose. Such a disobedient child. He never drank his tea, and seemed to find joy in doing exactly as she said not to.
Samuel lifted the cup, so small in comparison to his palm, and slurped the contents down in one gulp. It was mannerless and crass, but at least he listened to her.
“To think of all the diseases they have on the islands.” She shook her head. “You’d better see a doctor to make sure you don’t come down with something.”
“I’m fine, Mom. I haven’t felt this good and relaxed in a long while.” He placed his cup back on the table, mouth still twisted in distaste.
Did he now? She doubted it. Tamara knew a sick man when she saw one, and her son was coming down with something.
* * * * *
“How was today at the shop? I haven’t even asked you yet, you’ve just been listening to me bitch about renters.” Sammi turned out of their neighborhood and onto the main road headed toward the highway. He glanced at Autumn sitting in the passenger seat, her shoulders slumped and her smile nowhere to be seen.
“Okay.” She shrugged.
Sammi frowned and mentally went through the last two days. He’d been so busy putting out fires Monday after their return he’d gone home and fallen in bed. Today he’d left the office early to clean out his clothes and some sentimental items from the condo. He wasn’t sure what he’d do with the property, but for now he’d let it sit. It hadn’t taken long to gather his things, and he’d even had time to swing by his mother’s and beg forgiveness. He’d have to put in more time with her tomorrow and figure out how to break the news, but she wasn’t too angry with him. Yet.
Now that he thought about it, Autumn hadn’t been herself last night either.
“What’s going on, Sunshine?” he asked.
“Everyone’s really pissed at me for leaving without telling them, which I get. Sort of.”
“That’s what you call eloping.” Sammi shrugged. He understood from an employer’s position, but there were some things you forgave. Eloping fell under that umbrella for him, but he was biased.
“Yeah, but what I didn’t know was that Kellie and Brian organized it so that Pandora would be out of town during the pretrial stuff, and because I flaked out on the shop, Pandora had to come back early.”
“But you said that was last week?”
“It was.” She groaned and rested her head in her hand. “They wanted her to be kept as far from it as possible. And to make it even worse, Brian proposed over the weekend and they had to cut the trip short because they were so slammed at the shop.”
“That sucks.” Sammi merged onto the highway. He refused to feel guilty for taking Autumn away and having a great trip. He wouldn’t have changed it given the opportunity.
“Yeah. I’m getting the cold shoulder from Mary and Kellie, but Pandora and Carly are both excited. They want me to bring in the pictures when the photographer sends them to us.” Autumn sighed and propped her foot up on the door. Today she wore super short denim shorts and a tank top that looked as if it must have been draped by an expert tailor by the way it hugged her breasts and showed off her cleavage.
“Should have them next week. Think they’ll get over it?” It had been a long time since he worked for anyone, even his father. The last five years, he’d managed his own properties and just worked in the same office as his father.
“Probably, it just sucks being in this position. I feel guilty for stealing Pandora’s thunder, you know?”
He frowned. “But we got married. They just got engaged.”
Autumn rolled her eyes. “You don’t get it. You’re a dude.”
“I am. Glad you noticed.”
Her laughter was a balm to his soul. The last two days had been rough, avoiding answering questions about where he’d been and dealing with several properties that needed unexpected substantial repairs. He needed Autumn’s carefree attitude.
“I’ve never been to your place. You said it was near the shop, right?” he asked.
Autumn sat up straighter in her seat. “Yeah, why?”
“I thought we’d swing by there and get some of your stuff. Also, Isaac and his wife Ester wanted to go out to eat tonight.” He slid the last in there and glanced at her to gauge her reaction to that.
Her posture was tense, gripping the armrest so tightly her knuckles were white. “I’ll go by the apartment some other time. It’s totally out of the way and I need to wash my hair if we’re going out with them.”
“I invited them over. Figured that would be better than going out.” And it wouldn’t make Autumn feel as awkward to eat where they were comfortable as opposed to a nice restaurant.
“Then we should be at the house. I left all the dishes in the sink and I totally need to pick up my stuff and toss it in the wash.” She spoke in such a rush Sammi almost needed a rewind and playback to take it all in.
“Slow down, Sunshine.” He reached across and squeezed her knee. “We’ll just pop in and take whatever you think you need to get.”
Autumn turned toward him, her eyes large and the lines around her mouth deep. “Sammi, we really don’t have time to do this.”
“What’s the big deal? Tell me where I’m going.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t want you to see my place. It’s not in the nicest building and it’s kind of a rundown dump.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
How bad could it be?
Autumn slumped in her seat and rattled off the address. They drove the next fifteen minutes in silence, listening to the radio except for the five minutes he spent on the phone with his office. His GPS directed him off the highway and into an area where all the houses either had bars on the windows or were boarded up. His Escalade stuck out like a sore thumb among the rust buckets rattling alongside him.
Sammi did a rolling stop at a stop sign simply because of the group of men standing on the corner. He eyed the map, a little unsettled that they were less than a quarter mile from her apartment. She hadn’t moved from her slouche
d position staring out the passenger-side window.
“Don’t follow that route. Take a right here and a left into the alley,” Autumn said finally.
He followed her directions, managing to squeeze the SUV into the alley and turn into a small lot located at the back of a building. The rain gutters were hanging on by a screw in one place and garbage had built up in one corner of the lot.
“This it?” he asked, hoping she said no.
“Yup.”
Sammi had known Autumn didn’t earn in his bracket, but he’d expected something nicer, something that spoke of her zest for life. The only thing this building spoke was Wash me.
Autumn jumped out of the SUV and strode purposefully toward a set of rickety stairs. He locked the car and followed in her wake. The staircase let out onto a breezeway with two doors on either side. The first door on the right was ajar, so he stuck his head in.
“Autumn?”
“Back here.”
Sammi pulled his sunglasses off and stepped into the apartment. The carpet was shabby, the walls hadn’t seen a fresh coat of paint in years but the rest of it wasn’t as bad. Sure, the furniture was secondhand, the back of the blue couch dipped and the floral-print armchair had a rip in the arm. The coffee table was built out of cinderblocks and a piece of wood that had been decoupaged with tattoo flash art.
It was the details that spoke of Autumn.
Sketches were pinned to one wall, shattered glass had been painted and hung on another to create a 3D piece of art. A few of the pillows looked to be handmade creations.
And in the middle of it all stood a pole, probably a load-bearing point, but it stuck out as suspect in the space.
He sniffed and caught the scent of fast food gone stale, old cigarettes and something musty.
Part of him was glad he was taking her away from all this. After working with Kellie last year, he knew how much rent cost the shop and a rough estimation of what they brought in. From that he’d just assumed that her income would grant her a better lifestyle. She’d get that from him.
Feet thumping on the floor back and forth drew him to the only other door besides the tiny galley kitchen he didn’t even want to look at. He doubted the cooking facilities would pass muster.
Sammi leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and chuckled. Autumn had a box open and was bent over it, tossing things in.
“Do you not have a suitcase or anything?” he asked.
Autumn straightened abruptly, her hair flying back, and glanced at him over her shoulder. “Yeah, it’s at your place. You didn’t tell me I’d need it.”
Shit.
What kind of fucktard was he? He had just assumed everyone had a few suitcases lying around.
“Okay, what can I do to help?” He stepped into the room and glanced around. Clothing, jewelry, shoes, makeup and beauty products were piled onto every surface. He had no idea what was necessary and what she just owned.
“I don’t know,” she snapped.
“Hey, I’m sorry.”
She shoved her hands through her hair and squeezed her eyes shut.
“What would you prefer I did? Leave you alone and wait in the living room?” He was ready to admit that coming here tonight had been a mistake.
“I don’t know. I didn’t want you to ever see this place. It’s a fucking wreck and everything looks like shit. I just wish you would have asked me or warned me we were doing this because, I don’t know, I’d have thought about what to bring. Now I’m just tossing everything I can into a box to take back and sort through.” She sat back on the bed and bounced as the springs squeaked. “It doesn’t usually look this bad. When I packed I tore everything up.”
Considering how much she’d brought with them, he could see that. Sammi waded through the discarded clothing and shoes to sit on the mattress next to her.
“It’s cool. There’s plenty of time. Isaac and Ester aren’t coming over for a few hours. We can spend a while here.” Or should they leave? He didn’t know.
Autumn tilted toward him and rested her head against his shoulder. “I don’t want you to think I’m poor.”
He opened his mouth but couldn’t think of a reply. What did he say to that? He hadn’t thought of her as poor, but the apartment screamed poverty.
“I’ve been giving most of my paychecks to my mom. She’s in a drug rehab facility getting treatments that cost a pretty penny, so I moved here about a year ago to pay for that.”
Sammi wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. Now he really didn’t know how to reply. His respect for her went up a few notches.
“I don’t think you’re poor. Considering everything you’re doing, I’m in awe of you.” He gently stroked her arm up and down. “Mom will tell me stories of counting pennies to buy bread and lunch meat. Sometimes she would go without so Dad could take a meal with him to work. He caught on to her, so she’d stuff the bread bag with stuff to make it look full and fill the milk carton with water. I’ve never had to go without before, so I can’t imagine what it must have been like for them. Or you. It makes me, I don’t know, grateful I can give you something better.”
“I don’t want to be a charity case,” she mumbled.
Sammie hugged her to his side. “You aren’t. You’re my wife, not charity.”
Autumn stood and glanced around, looking at everything except him. “I don’t even know what to take with us.”
“Why don’t you show stuff you want to take with us to me and I can advise you?”
She shrugged. “Okay.”
Sammi shifted a little. One of the springs was digging into his ass. How did she sleep on this thing? He really was glad he was taking her away from all of this. She deserved better.
Autumn knelt and pulled everything out of the box, forming piles around her. She lifted a pair of sparkling gold heels. “I wear these a lot.”
She sorted through a few other items, discarding or stating their purpose.
“Hey, wait. Why are you bringing that with us?” He lunged forward to catch the scrap of satin and lace.
“I think it’s pretty obvious. It’s a garter belt.” Autumn snatched it from his hand and tossed it in the box.
“You should show me how it works. I don’t know if I know the mechanics.” He grinned at her when she glared.
Autumn dug through another pile, snatching up what appeared to be panties, or something else as flimsy and insubstantial as the scraps she wore. Her gaze landed back on him and she stood, daring him with her eyes to speak.
Sammi grinned and watched, waiting to see what she did.
She tabbed her shorts open and shoved them to the ground, leaving her in a bright-orange thong. One of the bits of fabric she’d dug up unrolled from her hand into a stocking. She shook it out, gathered it in her fingers and stepped into the nylon. He watched as she drew the stocking slowly up to her thigh, then did the other. Autumn had great legs, well muscled and long.
The moisture in his mouth dried up the longer her show and, well, tease went on. She grabbed the belt and shimmied into it, settling it on her hips before attaching the first suspender. She managed to get all four fastened without any of the grumbling and fumbled attempts he’d seen from previous women. It was a real skill.
Autumn gave him a cool look before slipping into a pair of dark-patterned heels with bright-pink bottoms and striking a pose in front of him, one hip jutting out.
“Make sense to you?” she asked.
Sammi could only nod. He got it. He’d watched and committed every second to memory.
Autumn knew what skimpy underwear and a little lingerie did to men. She was also fully aware how men looked at her. It was usually a lot like how Sammi watched her now. It was as if she wasn’t a person, but an object to be masturbated on and treated without reverence or care.
Like trash.
All humor evaporated, leaving Autumn empty inside. She rubbed her chest and grabbed the closest thing she could. A slinky black dress that was l
oose on top and hugged her hips and thighs. She turned her back on him and exchanged the tank top for the dress. They were going to have dinner with his friends anyways. She might as well dress up.
“Take that with us. You look really nice in it,” Sammi said, his voice a little husky.
She glanced at his reflection in the mirror and met his gaze. There was lust there, but something else.
“Thanks,” she mumbled, opening her underwear drawer.
The packing continued in near silence. The sounds from the neighboring apartment and the street bled into the space, providing a backdrop.
“Anything I can do?” Sammi offered again.
Autumn couldn’t be upset with him for reacting like a man.
“Why don’t you go into the closet and pick out some dresses for me to take?” She hoped he’d pick things suitable for whatever situations he’d be throwing her into. Her wardrobe wasn’t exactly high-class.
“Sure.” He got up and stepped into the walk-in closet, one of the few perks to the apartment.
Autumn breathed a sigh of relief and bent to dig through the piles of clothes she’d discarded while packing for their trip.
“Hey, try this on real quick. I can’t figure out if I like it or not.” Sammi stepped out of the closet holding one of her bargain store finds.
“It’s just a blue cocktail dress.”
Autumn took the dress and laid it on the dresser. She quickly pulled off the black, slinky dress and dropped the blue one over her head. Wordlessly Sammi pushed her arm aside to tug the zipper up while she smooshed her boobs into the bodice. It was a tight sheath with a straight-across neckline and a skirt that hit mid-thigh.
“I like it. Bring it.” He returned to the closet, leaving her blinking at her reflection.
“Okay. Where would I wear this to?” She turned this way and that, not entirely sure when she wore the dress last. It had nice cap sleeves that hit her tattoos just right. The angel and demon tattooed on her shoulders were perfectly displayed by the cut of the material, which she loved.
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