Chapter 17

seventeen

The doctors at Tripler had kept her for three days. THREE DAYS. Autumn had been ready to bust herself out of there when they had finally agreed to let her go. The only way she could go was to stay with someone. Seth insisted it would be him.

“What do you mean? I can stay with my father.”

Her father was already nodding, but Seth crossed his big arms over his stupid chest. He was frowning at her. She would throw something at him if he wasn’t so pretty.

“I live closer to Tripler. Even at rush hour, it would take less than fifteen minutes to get back here if something should go wrong.”

“Oh,” her father said, looking back and forth between them before his gaze settled on her. “Love, that might be better.”

She crossed her hands beneath her breasts and frowned at both men.

“I can go home and take care of myself.”

“No. You can’t. You had a punctured lung. You are coming home with me.” He turned to face her father. “Can you help her get ready and get her downstairs? She’ll have to ride in a wheelchair.”

“I’m right here.”

He smiled at her. “I know, but you’re being irrational.” He kissed her, then was gone before she could respond.

Her father chuckled.

“Shut up.”

“That young man knows just how to handle you.”

“He does not.”

See, she could be mature.

That made her father chuckle again. “Go get changed. I don’t want him reading me the riot act if we take too long.”

“It’ll take him forever. He probably had to park miles away.”

“Do you need help?”

She shook her head as she slipped out of bed. Her father did carry the bag of clothes her brother had brought her into the bathroom. Once in there, she stared at herself for a long time. She still had a split lip, but it was on the mend. She hadn’t really had a lot of rest. Did anyone rest in the hospital? They constantly checked her over, ensuring her lung was working properly. She had been off oxygen for the last twenty-four hours, which was a good sign. It was also the only reason they were letting her go home.

She couldn’t wait for a shower, especially in Seth’s shower. Knowing him, though, he would withhold sex. Ugh, being infatuated with a man who always did the right thing was horrible.

Infatuated was the word she was using at the moment because she didn’t want to deal with any other feelings.

It took her longer than she had thought it would to get dressed. The fact that she had spent a couple days in bed really didn’t mean anything. Apparently, puncturing your lung wasn’t that easy to recover from.

She heard the murmur of voices in her room. When she stepped out, her father was waiting alone, but he had a wheelchair. She frowned at it but knew they wouldn’t let her go if she refused to be wheeled out in it. Also—and she didn’t want to admit it to anyone—she wasn’t sure she could make it outside under her own power. She was stronger, but she knew it was limited.

Her father waited in that patient way he had. With a sigh and an eye roll, she settled in the chair. He grabbed her bag, setting it on her lap. People waved as she made her way out of the hospital. They all had wanted to meet the woman who had always believed that the cult leader was alive and spent her life tracking him down for justice.

Her main problem was that so many news programs had wanted to get hold of her. They wanted her story, and she didn’t want to deal with it. Thankfully, she had Jin. Through Autumn’s lawyers, she let the news programs know that Jin had the exclusive story.

“You need to ease up on your young man.”

“He’s not that young.”

“Age is relative to the speaker, love. You’re still that skinny sixteen-year-old I met on Maui.”

She sighed as the lift dinged that it had arrived. After waiting for people to depart, he wheeled her on. Thankfully, they were alone.

“He’s feeling responsible.”

“He is.”

“See, you get it.”

“What I understand is that you’re running scared. You told Seth to be patient. If you’re going to break his heart, let him go. No one deserves that.”

She knew that he had loved his wife. From what Ian had said, they had a wonderful relationship. Autumn had been happy to know that her mother hadn’t completely broken him. But every now and then, she knew he thought about the years they had lost, of never getting to see her first steps, hear her first words. That wound would never really heal.

“I don’t want to hurt him.”

“I know. You never want to hurt anyone. Even that Peter fellow.”

She had known there had been little chance of him surviving a center-mass bullet to the chest, but it still hurt to know that he’d spent his last years on this earth with Joseph. From what they figured out, Peter had killed Freddy. Still, it was sad.

“What if I’m no good at it?”

She didn’t have to explain to her father what she meant. Sam had spent the last couple of days talking to her, convincing her not to butt Seth out of her life.

“You know, your mother didn’t think she deserved happiness?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“That father of hers was a monster. It’s why she latched onto Joseph. She wanted to fix him. The only good thing your grandfather did was leave you the trust.”

It wasn’t the first time she had heard that from Sam.

“What if Seth asked you to give it up?”

“Give what up?”

“All the money,” he said just as the doors opened.

“He would never ask that.”

“But what if he did? What if that was the one thing you had to give up to have that young man for the rest of your life?”

Sam wheeled her out the automatic doors into the weak sunlight. It was overcast today, and it looked like there had been a rain shower. She could smell plumeria dance over the wind.

“Autumn?”

Seth pulled up to the pickup spot, threw his SUV into park, and then jumped out. His gaze moved over her as if checking to see if she was all right.

“I would do it in a minute.”

Sam chuckled. “That’s what I thought, love.”

Seth took her bag and then helped her into the car.

“Thank you,” her father said, but she heard more. He had thanked all of TFH for saving her, but he had especially thanked Seth.

“Of course. You have my number, right?”

He nodded as he stepped up to the SUV. He gave Autumn a kiss on the forehead. “Rest when you get home.”

Before she could tell him that she was going to Seth’s house and not her own, her father shut the door and waved them off.

“You can be mad at me, but I promised everyone at work you would rest.”

She still didn’t like him being heavy-handed, but she decided not to say anything. She knew he was right, but she had always had a hangup admitting that she was wrong.

So, she settled back for the short ride back to his rental.

Seth glanced over at his passenger as he pulled into his neighborhood. Autumn fell asleep before they cleared the gate at Tripler. Even with the stop-and-go of traffic, she never jolted awake. That told him she was more tired than she wanted to admit.

He knew she was grumpy about coming home with him, but he could be just as stubborn as she was. When he told her he would be patient, he had been telling the truth. Still, he wouldn’t let her put herself at risk. Bullying her was the only way to save face. Her father could take care of her, but he would let her do what she wanted, which meant she would try to work.

Granted, Del had told her she had to take off until the end of the month. She complained about that, too, and he knew she planned on connecting with some contacts about that Rapture drug. Joseph was in jail and was probably going to prison, but Seth had heard someone had the formula on how to make the deadly narcotic. Knowing Autumn, she would want to get it off the streets.

He pulled into his driveway. Still, Autumn slept. After putting the SUV into park and turning off the vehicle, he watched her. The fact that she was still sleeping told him everything he needed to know. Yes, she was tired, but she also trusted him.

After unlocking the front door, he returned to the SUV to get her. When he opened the door, she finally stirred.

“Come on. We’re home.”

The moment he said that he realized how true it was. Seth knew she wasn’t ready for that. Hell, he wasn’t prepared to admit it out loud, but he knew they would both have to come to terms with it in the future. Right now, though, he just needed to take care of her.

She blinked against the sunlight. Since she seemed slow to move, Seth reached across and undid her seatbelt.

“Hey. I can do that.”

“I know you can.”

Before she could say anything else, he slipped one arm behind her, the other under her legs, and lifted her out of the SUV.

“I can walk.”

“I know you can.”

“Seth.”

He said nothing as he kicked the door shut and carried her into his house bridal style.

“Seth.”

He looked at her. She raised her hand to cup his face. “I’m okay.”

“I know. Can you shut the door?”

She did as he asked, then settled her head on his shoulder. “You know, I could get used to this, SEAL.”

“That’s the plan.”

He started off to the bedroom, but she stopped him. “Can we just veg out on the couch and watch stupid TV? I just can’t bear to sit in a bed again.”

He had a massive sectional with comfy cushions.

“Okay,” he said and strode over to it. After settling Autumn down, he leaned closer to brush his lips over her forehead. When he pulled back, he asked, “How about some popcorn?”

She had complained about people making popcorn and how good it smelled while she was in the hospital. When he had offered to make her some, she had refused, saying microwave popcorn sucked all the balls.

“Not microwave?”

He shook his head.

“Then yes. With butter, which I know you have because I bought it.”

Had it been less than a week since they’d first made love?

“You got it.”

She smiled at him and snuggled down on the sofa, and it hit him square in the chest. Again. Just seeing her here, doing things for her, was his next adventure in life.

“Well?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the TV as she flipped through the channels.

“Well, what?”

“Ya gonna make me popcorn or what?”

He smiled as he headed over to the kitchen to do her bidding. He knew if she was giving him crap, she was okay.

Several hours later, Autumn had to admit that this might have been the best plan ever. It had been a long time since she’d just watched reality TV in front of the TV. She had no idea how many housewives shows there were, but she’d been missing out.

“You really didn’t know about these shows?” Seth asked.

She looked over at her companion. God, he was beautiful and good and came from a normal family. There was no way he was going to stick around with her.

“I don’t have a TV. Or social media accounts.”

“You don’t have a TV?”

She shook her head. “Well. That’s not completely true. I have one in the house in Kailua.”

“In your father’s house?”

Oh, damn. She forgot to mention that. “Well, I own it.”

He glanced over at her. “That makes sense. Is he going to keep living there?”

She shrugged. “Not sure. Sam keeps saying he needs a flat with a view of the water. I mean, that house has a view of the water.”

He nodded as if in understanding. Before Autumn could say anything else, his doorbell alarm signaled someone was at the door.

“Listen, I don’t want you to get upset, but they wanted to bring you stuff. I couldn’t say no.”

She frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? And why would I be mad about food.”

“You’ve been grumpy.”

“I have not!”

“You have,” he said almost absentmindedly.

“Seth, that’s not grumpy. That’s just me.”

He looked up from his phone, and his gaze focused on her. Her heart tumbled a little at that attention. When he looked at her like that, she found it hard to breathe.

“But see, that’s why I love you. You’re okay with who you are.”

She blinked rapidly just as someone rang the doorbell. “But I’m not. I’m fucked up, and my experiences in life make me a bad bet.”

He leaned closer as if to make sure she couldn’t look away from him. Before she could stop them, tears trickled down her cheeks. How did he do this to her with only a couple words.

“Don’t worry. I like the odds.”

Then he kissed her before heading to the door to let everyone in. First came Adam, Jin, and his mother, Merri. It wasn’t long before the house was filled with people from TFH, her brother, and her father.

There was so much food—including her favorite fried rice from Merri. It was hours before everyone left, and Seth lifted her into his arms.

“I can walk,” she protested. “I walked around all night.”

“And you’re exhausted.” He settled her on the bed. “I’m going to make sure that everything is locked up.”

He kissed her nose and then left her alone. As she waited, she thought back to her conversation with Ian.

“So, I guess this is real?” he asked.

She shrugged and looked out the sliding glass door to find Seth. He was talking with his team, laughing at something one of them said. “Not sure.”

He sighed. “I told you in the hospital that he wanted forever. I think he would be good for you.”

She tore her attention away from Seth to focus on her brother. “You do?”

He nodded. “Just don’t throw it away because of your childhood. That would be letting Joseph win.”

Her brother was right, the bastard. Ian understood her the best. He knew Joseph’s mind fucking was going to bother her for years to come.

There were other things to worry about. Babies. Lots of people wanted them. She wasn’t sure she did.

“Oh, no, I left you for a few minutes and you’re freaking out.”

She looked up just as he sat on the mattress next to her. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe Seth knew her better than her brother.

“It’s just that you keep talking about forever and I’m not sure I’ll be good at it.”

“We could both be bad at it.”

She shook her head. “You won’t, look at you with your normal life and normal parents.”

“Normal life? I grew up with two people who had to keep secrets because they were national secrets. And while my mother might have illegally peeked into my file, I couldn’t tell them anything about what I was doing, and neither could my brothers. So, we weren’t normal, but you know what? I understand you might be scared that I’ll be better at it.”

She gasped, and then he smiled.

“See. I know you. And I will wait. We don’t have to discuss anything beyond tomorrow.”

“But—”

“Autumn Bradford, I’m in this for the long haul. You’ll get used to it.”

He tugged off his shirt and cargo pants before tossing them in the laundry basket. Unfortunately, he kept his knit boxers on before climbing into bed beside Autumn. He killed the light, then pulled her into his arms.

“Now, let’s get some sleep.”

She traced circles on his chest, but he took hold of her fingers.

“Nope. No sex as per your doctor.”

“You suck.”

“I love you too.”

She said nothing to that because it made her want to laugh. Seth apparently wasn’t going to let it go, and he had promised just to deal with each day as it came.

A woman couldn’t ask for more than that…at least, she couldn’t.

“Seth?”

“Hmm?”

“You promise you won’t start discussing weddings and babies tomorrow?”

“The only wedding I will discuss is Tamilya and Marcus’s wedding. The only babies are the TFH second generation, as they’ve started to call them. As for us, I think we don’t worry about that and go to that Filipino restaurant in Kapolei you want to try out.”

“Julie’z?”

“Yeah. You seemed to think that would be good.”

She also made him watch a bunch of Felix and Amanda videos tonight.

“Don’t you have to go to work?”

“Nope. Took off for a week. Rami will head up the team, which is good because he needs the experience of stepping in. They’ll call me in if they need me.”

She could hear the sleepiness in his voice, so she let go of her worries for now. He promised to go slow, and he promised her food.

For now, that was enough.