Jesus Christ. The way she was looking at me, I wanted nothing more than to walk her backwards into the bathroom and shut the door behind us. And in the moment, I thought she might actually let me. But then—
A loud crash sounded from the other room. “Shit!”
Bud might as well have thrown a bucket of ice water on us. Autumn and I both took off running. We found Bud in the kitchen with the refrigerator door open and a mess all over the floor.
“What happened?”
“I tried to get a spoonful of that chocolate pudding pie Autumn brought over, but the stupid cast got in the way.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. The glass pie plate was shattered all over the floor, and Bud had no shoes on. “Go sit. I’ll clean it up.”
“Why the hell are you half naked?”
“Because apparently you don’t keep towels in the guest bathroom anymore.”
“Well, go put some clothes on.”
Considering the moment he’d ruined, I might as well. I turned to Autumn. “Leave it. I’ll suck it up with the shop vac after I get dressed. I don’t want you cutting yourself.”
I grabbed a towel from the other bathroom and finished getting dried off. For a half second, I considered whacking off to the memory of Autumn staring down at the head of my cock with her lips parted—a memory that would forever be seared into my brain. But you don’t do that shit in another man’s bathroom, especially one who’s kept your head from falling into the toilet bowl in the exact same room on more than one teenage occasion. So instead, I made quick work of getting dressed and then went out to the garage for the shop vac. When I was done cleaning up the kitchen, it was already time to leave to serve dinner.
I walked into the den and found Bud about to fall asleep in his recliner again, watching some old black-and-white western movie on TV.
Autumn’s nose was buried in her phone. “Did you know Gone with the Wind was the first color movie to win an Academy Award?” she asked, looking up.
I smiled. “I didn’t. I’m not sure how I’ve gotten by without that tidbit of information.”
She made a face, and I laughed. “I need to get going to set up for dinner service.”
Autumn stood. “Do you want some help tonight?”
“Sure, if you don’t mind.” As if I’d ever turn down spending time with her, even if it was in an abandoned house with a bunch of questionable people.
We said goodbye to a sleepy Bud, and I told him I’d be back tomorrow to check on him. He wouldn’t have been Bud if he hadn’t argued with me that he didn’t need any help. But I’d be back no matter what he said.
Outside, I told Autumn to hop into my car, and we’d drive together to pick up the food I’d ordered before going to serve dinner. I might’ve stretched the truth and told her Bud’s place was on my way back home, so it would be easy to pick up her car. I mean, it was if I took the completely out-of-my-way route to get home. But I liked her close.
Since I had assumed I’d be working in my office up until the very last minute this afternoon, I’d ordered a few six-foot heroes and some salads for dinner. It made things smoother since we didn’t have to worry about keeping food warm. But I was glad Bud hadn’t asked what I was serving, because anything other than a hot meal wasn’t acceptable to him.
Throughout the evening, I kept close tabs on Autumn. She attracted a lot of attention behind the serving table, most of it friendly, but you can never be too careful. Some of the people who ate here weren’t in a stable frame of mind, which is the vibe I got from two guys who stumbled in just as we were about to call it a night and shut down.
“Aww, come on, pretty lady.” The taller of the two held his plate out to Autumn. “You can give me more than that, can’t you?”
I recognized the shorter one as a local drug dealer—at least he had been back when I’d lived in the neighborhood. He was probably about ten years older than me, and had been in and out of jail, though I didn’t keep tabs on people in the neighborhood anymore. Considering my own past, I tried not to judge, but I didn’t like the tone his buddy used.
I walked over and stood next to Autumn. “Can I help you guys with something?”
The guy sneered. “Nope. Everything’s looking good right here.”
The shorter one squinted at me. “You’re Decker, right? Used to live two blocks over from here?”
“That’s right.”
He held up his fist to bump. “How’s it going, man? You’re a big-time lawyer now or something, aren’t you?”