AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He arches a brow and sighs. “You sure you want me to tell you that?”
I shrug. “May as well. It can’t be much worse than what I’ve already been thinking.”
Elijah turns his chair around until he’s leaning over the counter, his elbows resting on the edge as he gives me a serious look. “I heard you broke her heart right after she woke up from surgery.”
Broke her heart? Ouch.
“What is everyone saying about it?”
“The ladies have had plenty to say, mainly about how they can’t believe they wanted to get into bed with you all these years. They thought you were a better guy than that.”
I groan and let my head fall onto the counter. “Is that all?”
“All that I cared to listen to until I heard your side of things. I’m really hoping that they are exaggerating everything, though.”
“If only,” I mumble.
He narrows his eyes. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Well, I told her how I felt after she woke up.”
“Okay, what’s so bad about that?”
I blow out a rough breath and keep my gaze on the counter, not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes when I tell him the rest. “Uh, probably the fact that right after I admitted I loved her I also told her I couldn’t be with her.”
“I’ve never wanted to punch you as hard as I do right now,” Elijah growls out. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t,” I grind out, then slam my palm down against the hard surface in front of us. “She almost died and I didn’t want to miss out on telling her how I feel, but my fear took over and I also ended up rejecting her.”
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” He says, then shakes his head and pushes away from the counter. “I’ve got to start cleaning up this place.”
It should tell me something that even my best friend can’t stand here and talk to me right now. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut and let Autumn get through the healing process without having to worry about me, yet I couldn’t even do that.
Bethany has done nothing but beg me to take her to the hospital so she can see Autumn and I feel like a terrible father because I’m the last person Autumn wants to see right now. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to see if Savanna would grab her and take her there, but that would require me to talk to my sister again and I’m not sure I can handle that right now either.
The bell above the entrance dings and I look over my shoulder to find my mother standing there with a frown on her face. “Easton Gentry, what did you do?”
Great, now I’ve got to deal with my mom being upset with me. “Do we have to do this right now, Ma?”
She scoffs and walks over before sitting on the chair next to me. “Yes, we do, what were you thinking?”
I sigh and shrug my shoulders. “Just as I’ve told Elijah, I wasn’t, obviously. Or else I never would’ve made the mistake in the first place.”
“You better figure out how to apologize to her,” my mother says while waving Elijah over. “Could I get a coffee, sweetie?”
Elijah winks at her and smirks. “Anything for you, Mrs. Gentry.”
While my mother is turned the other way, I stick my tongue out at Elijah like a three year-old and fall back into my chair with a loud sigh. “I’m going to figure it out, Ma. This isn’t how I wanted everything to go.”
She sighs and rests her hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Would it really be so bad if you gave her a chance, Easton?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know. This fear I have is too consuming and I don’t want to invite her into my life only to push her away. I want her to be able to have all of me, not only parts of me.”
And that’s the truth. If I’m going to be with Autumn, I don’t want to have any fear clouding my judgment and causing me to push her out of my life. I want it to work, but I don’t know if it can right now.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Autumn
