Bret:I thought I wanted this. I don’t.
“So, that’s it?” she said at the phone.
Autumn:U owe me for the deposits and the money I put into this.
Bret:The woman’s the one who pays for the wedding. It’s always a risk.
She clenched her teeth and growled in exasperation.
Autumn:And u owe me the 4k I loaned u for ur business.
Bret:I have to go.
Autumn:Ur a fucking coward!
Tears stung her eyes as she threw the phone across the room. In the distance she heard a bell chime and at first wondered if she was imagining it, but the ringing didn’t stop. Groaning, Autumn swung her legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood up. At least the room had stopped spinning in front of her.
When she was halfway down the stairs, she figured out that someone was ringing the doorbell and had no plans on stopping.
“I’m coming,” she said.
Autumn paused at the door to look through the peephole and froze when Chains came into view. She glanced down at the pair of baggy shorts and the small black T-shirt she’d thrown on, and moaned.
The bell chimed again, and she quickly ran her fingers through her hair, then swung open the door.
“You could wake the dead with all that damn ringing,” she grumbled as she unlocked the screen.
“Good to see you too.” Chains stepped inside and shut the door behind him.
“What’re you doing here?” Autumn asked.
“Making sure you’re okay.” He walked past her into the family room.
“You don’t have to check up on me,” she said, following close behind.
“I know.”
Chains stood in the middle of the room, looking at her, and Autumn felt her face flush as his warm brown eyes dropped to where the swell of her breasts peeked out above the scooped neckline of her T-shirt. She folded her arms across her chest and shifted in place.
“I’m doing fine, all things considered.”
“That’s good.” He cocked his head to the side, his gaze tracking up and down her body.
Autumn cleared her throat. “Why don’t you sit down. I can offer you juice or water.” She glanced at the empty bottles on the coffee table. “I pretty much killed the wine and vodka last night.”
“And I took care of the tequila. Water’s good.”
Grateful for an excuse to get away from his stare, she scurried to the kitchen and opened the cabinet. The way Chains looked at her made her nervous, excited, and irritated all at the same time. She couldn’t be thinking about him in that way, oranyway, especially since she should be nursing her wounds over the breakup.
“I bet you had a helluva hangover this morning,” he said.
“Thisafternoon, and it’s a doozy.” Autumn handed him a bottle of water. “I unintentionally played hooky this morning—a first for me.”
Chains chuckled. “You gotta do shit like that once in a while. Always playing it straight sucks.” He brought the bottle to his lips.
“I guess I’m the epitome of ‘playing it straight.’ I’ve always lived in life’s safe zone.”
“I gotta change that,” he said.