HisMarriageBargain

by Sidney Bristol

  “I can’t say that I will or will not develop feelings for you—”

  “But you don’t have them right now.” Autumn tipped her head back and stared him down. “It’s okay.”

  What did he say to that?

  “I can promise to communicate better. How’s that?” Sammi did have to remember that marrying her didn’t mean he only got the fun, bikini-clad sexpot. He also got the day-to-day stuff.

  She nodded. “Thank you.”

  A pang shot through him and it felt as if the bones in his spine momentarily scraped each other all at once.

  “Sammi? Sammi, what’s wrong?” Autumn gripped his shirt.

  That noise he heard? That was him groaning.

  “Not feeling so hot,” he got out through clenched teeth.

  “Let’s get you lying down. Do you need anything?” She looped his arm over her shoulders and together they shuffled back into the bedroom.

  Sammi sank onto the bed and sighed. His muscles were quivering, up and down his legs, all over his stomach and chest. This would not be a good night.

  “Sammi?”

  The tightness in his chest eased.

  “It’s okay. I think it’s passing.”

  Autumn sat on the bed next to him and stroked his hair. Her face was the last thing he remembered seeing before exhaustion pulled him under.

  * * * * *

  Autumn sat with her back against one side of the toilet nook, the cool tile making her ass numb and her tailbone ache. Sammi copied her pose across from her. It had not been a good night, and an even worse morning. His hair was slicked to his face and his color was pale with a hint of green.

  “How ya feeling now?” she asked quietly.

  “Well, there’s nothing left in me to come up. Breakfast was a bad idea.” He smiled weakly. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure I can eat no matter what.” As bad as his stomach’s pyrotechnics had been, she’d seen worse.

  “I think I’m good now. Going to shower and get to work.” He grabbed the top of the toilet and started hauling himself to his feet.

  “What about going to a doctor?” She hadn’t pried into his health, not since before their wedding, but things had been good over the last two weeks. Forgetting his condition had been easy.

  “I’ll get in later this morning, but the doctor’s office has to open first.” He wavered on his feet but seemed steadier.

  “I don’t think you should be driving yourself like this.” Autumn bit her lip and held her breath. She wasn’t sure he should even go to work, but there were times when a girl had to pick and choose her battles.

  “I’m fine. For now,” he said on an exasperated breath, rolling his eyes like a moody teenager.

  “Okay, how about I drive us to work and we commute together?” It was her bargaining chip, what she’d come up with after figuring out there was no keeping him home on sick time.

  Sammi grimaced, clearly disliking the solution. “I’m driving and we’re taking my car.”

  “Fine. I’m going to text Kellie and let her know I’ll be late. Lookie there, I’m communicating.” She pulled out her phone and fired off the text. Maybe she’d get a gold star for the day. By the time Sammi was out of the shower, Autumn had re-dressed and finished getting ready, all the while listening for any sound of distress from the bathroom. Maybe she needed to research his condition, find out more of what to expect. She was totally in the dark, and Sammi flat-out didn’t want to talk about it or acknowledge what was going on. He just kept saying he was fine.

  “You’re going into the shop early,” Sammi said as he entered the bedroom, a towel tied around his hips and water droplets clinging to his skin. She wanted to lick them. Explore all the dips and curves of his body, those muscles, in an intimate fashion.

  Autumn cleared her throat and intentionally directed her gaze to her cell phone. “Yeah, I need to swing by my apartment to get an old portfolio book and some of my design books. I’m starting work on a sleeve today. Well, the sketches at least, and there’s a few random things I need to see. Will it be a problem?”

  “Nah.” Sammi dropped the towel and her eyes went straight to the little indentations above either side of his ass cheeks as he walked into the closet, which was almost as big as the bedroom. “How long does it take you to come up with something like that?”

  He was really lucky he wasn’t feeling well, otherwise she would jump his bones. It was a crime to be taunted by a body so fine and know neither of them had the energy to see it through.

  “Depends on what they want, how specific. This one’s going to be a pain in the ass. It’s a lot of modern art meshed together, so a lot of copying, not as much creating, but the end result will be cool.” She turned so she stared out the window while listening to the sounds of Sammi getting dressed. There should be a law against covering that body. Hell, if he walked around naked she might have to invite people to look. Not touch. Just look.

  “You’ll have to take pictures and show me.” Sammi’s shoes clicked on the hardwood as he entered the bedroom. “I’m heading out.”

  “Me too.” She turned, sad to see him dressed so sedately in slacks and a polo shirt. It was so bland when the man was so much more interesting.

  Sammi walked to where she stood at the end of the bed and cupped her arms, running his palms up and down. He didn’t speak, just studied her face. What he saw there she didn’t know. He bent and kissed her slowly. He smelled of toothpaste, mouthwash and soap with a hint of cologne. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her breasts against his chest. He was the first to pull back, a slight smile on his face where there hadn’t been one before.

  “Shall we?” Sammi held the front door for her and locked it after she’d passed through.

  There was something wonderfully domestic about leaving the house together and getting in Sammi’s SUV together. Maybe they’d do this again a few more times.

  She closed the passenger door and Sammi pulled out onto the street. To avoid the morning rush hour, he took an alternate route she suggested that added nearly twenty minutes to the trip, but meant they weren’t sitting in stop-and-go traffic.

  Sammi pulled his car into the cramped lot with its decoration of week-old garbage and weeds growing through the concrete. Autumn would love to break her lease and move out, and before last night she’d imagined walking into the landlord’s office, flipping him the finger and taking off. But Sammi didn’t love her, and this wasn’t a happily ever after. The hard truth was this was a chapter of life. A short one. But one that would end, and when it did, she wanted to have somewhere to go.

  She glanced at Sammi with his phone already glued to his ear, a heated conversation about—something—going on and shook her head. There wasn’t any reason for him to come in with her and see the squalor she’d lived in before him again.

  It wasn’t hard to see that Sammi’s family and the inner circle of friends she hadn’t met weren’t like her. When the end came, they’d throw her out before Sammi’s body was cold, so for the first time in her life she was choosing to be smart. Which involved keeping her crummy one-bedroom apartment. Didn’t mean she had to give up her feelings for Sammi, which were natural and honest. When she looked at him her heart swelled and she felt special.

  She jogged up the rickety stairs, sweat breaking down along her spine. Oh to be back at St. Maarten where the heat was accompanied by a cool ocean breeze. She paused on the stairs to tap out a quick text, just to mess with his head while he was doing boring business.

  I’d do some awfully naughty things to have my own beach cabana, a cocktail and you right now. Naked.

  Grinning, she finished the climb up the stairs to her door, but her good humor faded. Was a TV on in her apartment?

  Autumn wanted to turn around. Leave. Forget this.

  There was only one person who had a key to her apartment she’d never been able to get back. If she left, ran away, she lost. She had to face this. She slipped h
er key into the lock and twisted. There was no resistance.

  Her inner alarm bells clamored. She pushed the door open and was met with the sound of the TV turned up as loud as it would go and the smell of scrambled eggs with beer. Her stomach dropped.

  No. No. No. No.

  Despite knowing what she would find, Autumn crept into the apartment. A buzz came from the direction of the tiny bathroom.

  God, her husband was downstairs. This was the world’s worst situation.

  She briefly considered grabbing her books and running, but she didn’t know where they were and she couldn’t do her job without them. Taking a deep breath, she shut the door behind her and started shifting through a box in the corner of the room that held random odds and ends. Tattoo magazines, discarded receipts and one of the books she was after.

  She hugged the hardbound volume to her chest as the bathroom door opened.

  “Autumn, there you are.” His voice felt like oil on water. Her stomach curdled and for a moment she thought she might vomit.

  “Jake, what are you doing here?” She stood and faced him, glaring.

  Jake wore jeans and an undershirt, his face freshly shaven. He was hot, but it only went skin-deep. Those blue eyes and curling lips told only lies. “Oh come on, baby. You aren’t still mad at me.”

  “No, I’ve moved on and I want you out. Clearly you found my key you lost. I want it back and you gone.” She pushed past him to the bedroom and went straight to an old trunk that had once served as her mobile tattoo shop. Until the new So Inked, it had been part of her station.

  “Don’t be like that.” Jake followed her into the bedroom and sat on the bed Sammi had fucked her in just two days ago.

  “Jake, I’m serious. Go away. Fuck off. Die for all I care.” She pulled the old portfolio out. “Ah-ha!”

  “Autumn, we’re good together. That last—”

  “No, Jake. You listen.” She whirled and faced him. “I’m married. To someone I love. That means I’m with someone and, unlike you, I don’t cheat. I don’t treat my significant other like a piece of trash. You will give me back my apartment key. You will take your shit with you. And you will leave. For good. Not just until you feel like coming back, because this, what we had, was a lie.”

  “Autumn? What’s taking so long?”

  The front door shut with a hard thud that might have been the echo of her stomach hitting the ground. Autumn wasn’t sure.

  Jake stared at her, probably still struggling to process past the second sentence. He’d never been a stellar conversationalist, but for a short while she’d been the center of his world, and it had fallen to pieces when she realized how adept a liar he was.

  “Something going on?” Sammi’s voice was close, maybe even at the doorway to the bedroom.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  “Who’s that?” Jake asked, his gaze flicking over her shoulder.

  “You’re leaving,” she said to her ex. “Now, Jake. I have a job to get to, something that’s a novelty to you, I know.”

  “But this was our home,” he blurted. To Sammi, Jake said, “And who the fuck are you?”

  “I would be Autumn’s husband. And you are?”

  Autumn gritted her teeth. Once she’d thought she had a future with Jake. She’d had the idea they were going to create a home. Be happy. Then the truth came knocking on her door in fishnets and spandex, barely over eighteen. Even Autumn could be traded in for a younger model.

  “Sammi, this is my long-lost ex Jake come back from Jailbait Island or wherever he disappeared to, oh, I don’t know, a year ago. He’s not staying. Actually he was on his way out. About that key?” Autumn held out her hand.

  “Knock, knock. Autumn?” The bass tones were a relief to her ears.

  Oh my god, who else is going to show up? The pope?

  “In here, Jamar,” she called to her neighbor.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” Jake puffed out his chest, his expression nasty, ready for a fight. A fight Sammi couldn’t take, not in his condition.

  “Buddy, I think this is my wife’s way of asking you to leave. Now. Do you think you can do that or should I call the police?” Sammi’s voice carried with it authority, confidence. Just hearing him use this tone made her panties a tad bit damp.

  “I live here,” Jake insisted, hands balling into fists.

  “No, you lived here,” Autumn corrected. His name had never even been on the lease.

  “It’s time you left.” Sammi stepped past her, and the difference in the two men could not be more pronounced.

  They were both attractive. But Jake was tall, with the lean, muscular body of a swimmer and blond hair and blue eyes. His collection of bad tattoos had always been a little embarrassing, but there were some decisions you couldn’t undo. Sammi was maybe a few inches shorter than Jake, but he was wider through the shoulders and more muscular. She had no idea how a face-off between the two would go down. Jake hadn’t stayed pretty by fighting, and Sammi wasn’t exactly from a scrappy family.

  “Jake, just leave,” Autumn said as she sensed another person behind her.

  Oh right, Jamar.

  Jamar was the only neighbor she’d befriended. He was a kindhearted man, about her age, who simply wanted to live a happy life. They’d bonded over Twinkies and boxed wine one night shortly after Jake departed from her life, and Jamar had appointed himself her protector.

  “What’s he doing here?” Jamar asked, one large, meaty hand landing on her shoulder.

  “Jake, just leave already,” Autumn begged, hugging the book harder to her chest.

  “You need to leave,” Sammi said.

  “You need to back the fuck up.” Jake tipped his chin up, staring down at Sammi as if having his nose in the air was an intimidating move.

  “Jake, your name is Jake, right?”

  “Right. Who are you, asshole?”

  Autumn couldn’t see Sammi’s face, but she could hear his sigh.

  “My name is Sammi, I’m Autumn’s husband, and we would like for you to leave now.”

  “You married this dumb cunt?” Jake’s beady eyes raking over her hurt as if he’d hit her.

  “That’s not nice.” Jamar squeezed her shoulder.

  “Hey, you don’t speak about my wife like that.”

  Jake gave Sammi a once-over, his face twisting into a cocktail of hatred. “Why the fuck would you marry her when she gives it away for free? You want her, take her. I tapped that ass. Why do I want to keep it?”

  Autumn closed her ears to his words, refusing to let them batter her again. “This is crazy, Sammi, I’m calling the cops.” No sooner had Autumn reached for her phone than the room devolved into flying objects and limbs. She screamed as a wall of hard human flesh crashed into her.

  Jamar yanked her backward into the living room as Jake and Sammi grappled in the hallway.

  Jake had Sammi up against the doorjamb, hands twisted in his shirt. Sammi had Jake by the front of his undershirt, a large rip in the fabric.

  “No, stop,” Autumn yelled, twisting in Jamar’s impossibly strong hold. She couldn’t let Jake hurt Sammi.

  Her husband hauled back with his other hand and landed a solid punch to Jake’s jaw. The taller man stumbled into the living room. Sammi stalked after him, lips tightly compressed and gaze narrowed. Jake swung around with his fists at the ready, but Sammi stepped out of range as though he were a graceful dancer.

  Sammi held up his hands. “I’ll only warn you once—”

  Jake lunged and connected with Sammi’s cheek.

  Autumn screamed as her husband took a step back.

  Sammi planted a foot in Jake’s chest and the blond went flying backward. Sammi followed him, delivering a wicked double punch to the man’s face. Sammi straightened, breathing heavier.

  Autumn gaped at her husband.

  Holy fucking shit, he can kick ass. Who is this man?

  “Time for you to go.” Jamar lumbered forward and hefted Jake to his feet. Jamar had at least
a hundred pounds and a few inches on the other man. He easily escorted Jake out of the apartment, leaving Sammi and her alone.

  For a moment she stared at him, unsure of what to say or even do. Then she noticed the blood dotting his collar.

  “You’re bleeding.” Autumn grabbed a paper towel from the kitchen and rushed back to Sammi.

  He wiped his nose and his hand came away bloodied. He examined his fingers as if he’d never seen his own blood before.

  “Here.”

  He accepted the paper towel and held it to his nose.

  “Oh my god, Sammi, I am so sorry. I had no idea Jake still had a key. I haven’t seen him in a year.” She wrung her hands together.

  “What do you have to be sorry for?” His face scrunched up.

  “He’s gone, Autumn.” Jamar entered the apartment again, closing the door behind him. “Got your key back too.”

  “Thank you, Jamar.” Autumn crossed to the other man and stood on tiptoe to give him a hug.

  “Where’ve you been?” Jamar squeezed her back.

  “I got married. Jamar, meet my husband, Sammi. Sammi, this is Jamar.”

  “Nice to meet you, Sammi. I’m Jamar.” Jamar offered his hand, mouth twisted in a grotesque expression Autumn interpreted as his toothy smile. Down syndrome had twisted Jamar’s features and his body, but the heart was kind and three times as large.

  “Pleasure’s all mine.” Sammi offered his left hand since his right was currently employed with stopping the nosebleed. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I wanted to hit him too, but Autumn told me I couldn’t.”

  Autumn sputtered and laughed, too nervous to do anything else.

  “She’s a good girl like that. I’m afraid I’m not quite so good. Excuse me.” Sammi strode into the kitchen and grabbed a new napkin.

  Autumn didn’t know who to go to first. She wanted to help Sammi, but he’d want an explanation she didn’t want to give in front of Jamar.

  “Thank you for taking out the trash, Jamar. I only thought I was running by before work, not doing spring cleaning.” She chuckled even though the joke wasn’t funny.