“What the hell are you doing back here?”
The guy kept stepping back. “Just talking to the pretty lady.”
I looked over at Autumn. “You okay?”
Dario busted through the back door.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She looked a little nervous as she glanced between the two of us, but she shook her head. “He was just leaving.”
“Why don’t you get going, Eddie?” Dario gave a curt nod and glared at the guy.
I scowled. “Don’t make me ask, too.”
Eddie looked pretty pissed off, but that was nothing compared to the anger radiating from me. The vein in my neck bulged and my heart pumped a million miles a minute.
At least the jerk was smart enough to realize walking away was the only option he had. He huffed, but walked around the side of the house without another word. I followed to make sure he really left.
As soon as he hit the street, I turned back to Autumn. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little shook up. He didn’t do anything, just caught me off guard because I’d been on the phone, and suddenly he was standing a few feet away in the dark. He asked me if I wanted to party, and I told him I thought it was best if he left.”
I rubbed my neck and blew out a jagged breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
“I was only out here a few minutes.”
I shook my head. “That’s a few minutes too long.”
It took until we’d gotten in the car and driven six or eight blocks before my heart started to slow down. Autumn just kept staring at the window, her arms wrapped tightly around her body.
“I’m sorry, Autumn.”
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault, and nothing happened.”
“It is my fault, and you don’t look fine.”
She frowned and turned back to stare out the window some more. Bud’s house wasn’t too far, so a few minutes later, we pulled up outside. I put the car in park. I was never going to be able to relax just letting her drive away. “Would you mind if I followed you home?” I asked. “Or better yet, you can leave your car here, and I’ll drop you?”
She looked down for a minute before nodding. “You can follow me. But come inside when we get there. I want to talk to you anyway.”
CHAPTER 24
* * *
Donovan
Autumn was quiet as we settled into her apartment.
“Do you want a glass of wine?” she asked.
“Sure, if you’re having some.”
She smiled halfheartedly. “I am definitely having some. Why don’t you get comfortable on the couch, and I’ll grab us two glasses.”
“Thanks.”
Autumn came back a few minutes later. She’d poured the wine and also tied her hair into a messy bun on top of her head and changed into yoga pants and a T-shirt.
She saw me checking her out. “Sorry. I needed to be comfortable.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. I actually love your hair tied up like that.”
She sipped her wine and smiled. “You do? And here I wasted a half hour blowing it out earlier so I’d look nice. All I had to do was not brush it and twist it up into a knot?”
My eyes roamed over her beautiful face. “Your hair is like that in the picture I took of you during the weekend we spent together. After you ghosted me, I looked at it a lot. I’d tell you how often, but it might scare you away again, and I think I’ve fucked up enough for one day.”
Autumn set her wine on the table and laid her hand gently on my knee. “You didn’t fuck up anything today. In fact, you did just the opposite.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll get to that, but first, what picture did you take of me?”
I smiled. “You were standing at the stove in my kitchen. Your hair was all tied up like it is now, and you had on my T-shirt from the day before.”
She shook her head. “I don’t even remember that.”
I dug my cell from my pants pocket, opened the photo app, and scrolled to the folder I kept it in before turning the phone to show her.
Autumn took the cell from my hand and studied it. “I look like a mess.”
“You look beautiful.”
She kept staring. Eventually she sighed. “I don’t agree, but I will say I look happy.”
I took my phone back and glanced at the photo one more time. “I thought you were. I know that weekend I was the happiest I’d been in a long time.”
Autumn’s eyes moved back and forth between mine. I could see something was troubling her. After a while, she took a deep breath, reached for her wine, chugged the entire remainder of the glass, and lifted one knee up onto the couch to face me directly.
“Summer of my senior year in high school, I met Braden. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’d met him a few times over the years, but I didn’t really know him. His dad worked for my dad before they became partners. I thought Braden was cute, but he was a few years older, so he never looked my way other than to say hello until that summer when I was eighteen.”