HisMarriageBargain (20 page)

Sammi pulled his feet up for more leverage and thrust. She
recovered enough to move in tandem with him, one hand on his face, the other on
his shoulder. They stared into each other’s eyes, and fuck him if he didn’t see
love staring back at him. Something inside unlocked and release rushed through
him suddenly.

Autumn ducked her head, kissing him and swallowing his
surprised shout.

He wrapped his arms around her, drained and shaken. What had
just happened?

Nose Piercing—Either a hoop or stud through the outer
nostril.

Morning light shone through the windows, cheerful, bright
and a stark contrast to the way things were going so far.

“Are you sure I can’t get you anything? Do you want me to
stay home today?” Autumn gripped the end of the bed to keep her hands from
shaking. Fuck Mary and Kellie if they got pissed at her for staying home to be
with him, she’d do it if he asked her to.

Sammi lay on his back, his complexion pale and a line of
sweat beading his brow. “No, I’ll be okay. Going to call into the office and
let them know I won’t be in today.”

“What about seeing a doctor?” She hadn’t realized until this
morning when she found Sammi in the den with a bump on his forehead hugging the
trash can that she didn’t know anything about his medical information.

“I’ll call and talk to the doc.” He didn’t sound excited
about that, but she couldn’t blame him. “Go on, I’ll be fine.”

“Call me if you need anything, okay? Anything at all?” She
wanted a magic wand to wave over him and fix this illness.

“I will.”

Autumn didn’t like leaving him alone, but he needed to rest
and she wasn’t going to be able to let him be. She wiped his brow with a rag
left on the nightstand and gave him a quick kiss. The words “I love you” were
on her lips, but she swallowed them down.

“Bye.” She smiled and left him to rest.

During the drive to So Inked, she rolled the weekend over in
her mind. Anything to do with meeting his friends and family had been a
disaster, and then yesterday afternoon happened. She didn’t know what sparked
the change, but Sammi had looked at her differently last night. They’d been
busy directing the placement of new furniture, but she hadn’t missed the way he
glanced at her or watched her when he thought she wasn’t paying attention.

Whatever it was, she wanted to make him happy. For however
long they had. It was a sobering thought that this morning’s episode only
underscored. Sammi was not in the best of health, and she could only hope the
doctors helped him.

She pulled into an empty space between Carly’s Mustang and
Brian’s Jeep behind the shop. Her phone vibrated in her pocket as she got out
of the car. She dug it out as she made her way into the shop, stepping through
the back door and into the cool interior.

Mom
flashed across the screen.

What the hell?

She clicked Answer and lifted it to her ear, unsure who
would be on the other end.

“Mom?” Autumn said into the phone.

“There you are! Honey, you’ve got to come pick me up. I
can’t stay here no more.” Her mother spoke in a rush, a bit of Southern twang
flavoring her words.

Kellie froze in the office door. Another, larger figure
moved to stand behind her, probably Quin.

“Mom, you aren’t supposed to have a phone. How did you get
it back?” Autumn rubbed her forehead.

“I’m checking myself out of this place. I don’t need no
fucking rehab. Screw these bastards. I want to go home.”

Kellie approached her, shaking her head.

Autumn latched on to the visual of Kellie’s strong face, her
frown. It was Autumn’s mother. No matter how much Mom screwed up, there was no
changing that she was Autumn’s mother. But Autumn couldn’t keep enabling her.

“I’m sorry, Mom, I’m not coming to get you. You need to stay
there and get clean.” Her mother started screeching and cursing into the phone.
“I love you and I’ll come see you in a few days.” Autumn hung up and blew out a
breath. She leaned against the wall and let her bag hit the ground.

The rehab center had kept her apprised of her mother’s progress,
but Autumn hadn’t been allowed to talk to her. Not even to visit.

“Hey,” Kellie whispered. Quin backed into the office, giving
them a little privacy.

“Tell me I’m doing the right thing, please?” Autumn begged.

“What’s going on?” Pandora walked slowly down the hall, her
gaze bouncing between them.

“Autumn’s mom is trying to get out of rehab again,” Kellie
replied.

Pandora’s face creased in empathy. They all knew Autumn’s
struggle. Pandora wrapped her arms around Autumn and pulled her in for the hug
she needed. Kellie patted her shoulder. In the scheme of things, if you needed
to beat someone down for keying your car, Kellie was your girl. Cry over
another breakup, Pandora brought cartons of ice cream, tissues and a six-pack
of beer.

“You’re doing the right thing,” Kellie said.

“You are. She needs professional help, and you’re making
sure she gets it.” Pandora pushed Autumn’s hair out of her face.

Autumn’s phone began vibrating again and she groaned.

“Don’t answer it. Let it go to voice mail and she can cuss
you out all she wants.” Kellie grabbed Autumn’s phone from her hand and glanced
at the screen. Kellie’s nose wrinkled. “Oh, never mind. It’s Sammi.”

Autumn snatched the phone back. “Hello?”

“Hey, am I bothering you?” Sammi’s voice was just as tired-sounding
as before.

Autumn glanced at the two women. Now wasn’t the time to tell
him about her mother. He had enough going on. “No, what’s up?”

“Could you go by my office and pick up some files for me?
Just bring them home tonight.”

“I can do that. How’s—everything?”

“I’m feeling better.”

She doubted that, but she let him tell her the lie.

“Okay, I need to get going. Call later, okay?”

“Will do. Bye, Sunshine.”

Autumn ended the call and sighed.

“How’s our landlord doing?” Kellie asked, one side of her
mouth hitched up.

Autumn licked her lips. What did she say? “He’s good.
Working from home today, so I’m going to grab stuff from the office to take
home tonight. I’ll do it later.”

“Kellie.” Quin stuck his head out of the office and waved
the phone. “It’s for you.”

“I didn’t even hear it ring,” she muttered and headed for
the door.

Pandora picked up Autumn’s bag. “Come on, let’s get you
going.”

Autumn followed Pandora to her station and sank down onto
her chair. Pandora sat on the padded table. She glanced over her shoulder to
where Carly was bent over the table mounted against the opposite wall, probably
hard at work with another tracing job.

“How’s it going?” Autumn whispered, nodding toward Carly.

Pandora grimaced and whispered back, “Not good.”

Carly’s natural artistic ability was next to nothing, and
training her to draw and sketch wasn’t going well. Pandora was Carly’s primary
mentor, but they all chipped in, giving her things to sketch, tattoos to draw.
Carly wasn’t bad for a lack of trying, but it wasn’t a natural talent for her.

It was the elephant in the room none of them talked about.
How could they? Carly had lost everything. None of them were willing to take
anything else from her.

“Oh no.” Pandora gripped the edges of the table, suddenly a
little green. She propelled herself off the table and grabbed the plastic trash
can under the desk. “I’m going to be sick.”

“Shit.” Autumn jumped up, grabbing a roll of paper towels
with one hand and Pandora’s hair with the other.

Pandora heaved, breathing deeply for several moments. Autumn
focused on the rock and roll playing over the loudspeakers, blocking out the
sound of Pandora being ill. After a few moments, when Pandora seemed to be
settling, Autumn ripped off a paper towel and held it within easy reach.

“What’s wrong, Pandora?” Carly eased to a stop at the edge
of Autumn’s station.

Pandora took the paper towel and sat down on the ground,
scooting back so she leaned against the wall.

Kellie rounded the corner, a cup of water in her hand. She
crouched next to Pandora and gave it to her.

“Thanks.” Pandora rinsed out her mouth and spit it into the
trash can.

“You going to be okay?” Kellie asked.

“Maybe.” Pandora gathered her hair into a ponytail. For a
moment they all watched her studiously avoid meeting any of their gazes.
“You’re all staring. I can feel it.”

Kellie glanced at Autumn and she shrugged.

“That’s probably because we’re all wondering the same thing,
and for once we’re being tactful and not saying it.” Kellie stood, pumping a
handful of sanitizer gel into her palm.

“I don’t know if I’m pregnant or not,” Pandora said, staring
at the floor.

Autumn’s throat constricted. The idea of children at this
point in her life made her nervous, but Pandora and Brian screamed family with 2.5
children.

“Have you been getting sick a lot lately?” Kellie asked.

Autumn couldn’t stand all the uncertainty. “You know what,
there’s no point in speculating. I need to go down the street anyways to
Sammi’s office. Why don’t we walk down to the drugstore and get a test?”

Pandora pushed to her feet, rubbing her palms on her thighs.
“I think I want to do that at home.”

“Okay. Whatever you want to do, we’re here for you.” Autumn
threw her arms around Pandora, not sure how to hope the test went.

“Thanks.” Pandora squeezed her back.

The chime over the front door rang, announcing their first
customer of the day. They scattered, Carly to greet the customer, Kellie to get
her station prepped and Pandora to take the trash can out the back door.

Autumn checked the schedule book. Her day yawned empty
except for a piercing later.

“Hey, Carls, I’m going to run down to Sammi’s office and
grab something for him real quick, okay?”

“You mean you’re going to run out before Mary gets here and
sees you’re doing an errand?” Carly propped her chin on her fist.

“Yeah, like no one else does that. Hey, did she ever find
Sam?”

“Oh yeah, he was hanging out with some of his gangsta
fabulous friends, just didn’t bother to come home.”

“Carly, please never try to say gangsta ever again, okay?”

Carly grinned and flashed her a gang sign. Or maybe just
twisted her fingers around. Like Autumn would know.

“Glad he’s home though. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Autumn dropped her sunglasses onto her nose and stepped out
onto the sidewalk. The downside to walking down to the office was that she was
sweating before she was halfway there.

Sammi’s office occupied a corner suite of a building he
owned. He rented space out to other businesses. Had she known she was going to
drop by, she’d have worn something other than a strapless sundress that showed
off a generous amount of cleavage. There was no changing now.

She entered the cool interior with its sterile, beige walls.
The front desk was empty, but a man in a suit stood at a fax machine.

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Sorry, we don’t have a
public restroom.”

“That’s nice. I’m not here to use the bathroom. I’m here to
pick up something for Sammi.” She leaned her hip against the receptionist desk
and pushed her sunglasses on top of her head.

“And you would be?” He turned and his gaze raked over her.
Oh look, another judgmental asshole.

“I’m Autumn. Sammi’s wife.”

The man’s brow wrinkled in obvious disbelief. “Give me a
second.”

He left the papers on the fax machine and walked down an
adjacent hall. Somewhere to her left a chair creaked and another man’s face
came slowly into view. He had a phone pressed to his ear, but his gaze, that
was all over her.

Autumn smiled when she would have preferred to flip him off,
then ignored the attention.

Footsteps heralded a woman and the first man making the bend
from the hall.

“Oh my.” The woman stopped suddenly, her eyes large.
Something about her was familiar.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up some files for Sammi,” Autumn said
again.

“Yeah, one second.” The woman backpedaled into the farthest
office from the door and snatched a stack off the corner of a desk. She glanced
at Autumn before shoving them in a satchel and bringing it to the desk. Instead
of handing it to Autumn, she dropped it on the desk as if it were a hot potato.
“There you go.”

“Okay, thanks.” Autumn slung the strap over her shoulder and
made a quick exit. As soon as she was on the sidewalk she pulled her phone out
of the pocket that made this dress a favorite and dialed Sammi.

“Hey, did you already go by the office?” he asked without preamble.

“Yeah. Hey, have I met your receptionist before? I just
realized I’ve never actually been inside the office before.”

“Christine. She was at the party Friday. Why?”

Autumn grimaced. Lovely. That would explain why the woman
acted as if Autumn were about to beat a bitch down.

“No reason. I got the files, bring them home later. Did you
get in with the doctors?”

“Yeah. Hey, I got to go.”

“I thought you were resting.”

“I am. I just have to get ready to go to the doctor’s office
now.”

“Okay, talk to you later.”

“Bye, Sunshine.”

Autumn ended the call with a bad feeling in the pit of her
stomach. What wasn’t Sammi telling her?

* * * * *

“I’m at the doctor’s office now.” Sammi shifted into Park
and bit the inside of his mouth.

“I can’t believe they made you wait a day,” Autumn fumed on
the other end of the call.

“Yeah, well, I’m still kicking.” In reality he was sweating.
He’d used the excuse of going to the doctor’s yesterday and stupidly answered
the phone when he was supposed to be at his pretend checkup. Now he was having
to layer his lies.

“They’re lucky Carly needed help this morning or else I’d be
over there kicking some ass.”

“Calm down, Sunshine. I’ll check in with you after I see the
doc.”

“Okay, later.”

“Bye.”

Sammi ended the call and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Things were getting complicated. So many moving pieces he hadn’t factored into
his plan in the beginning.

A tap on the window brought his head up.