Darkness

27. Autumn-Rose

Twenty-Seven

Autumn-Rose

I’ve had a great morning with Aunt Jane, we went shopping, something I've not done for a long time. But this wasn’t just a shopping trip to the local mall, no. These were designer shops after designer shops. Places I couldn’t afford, or even looked like I should be there.

Cain gave me his card this morning, telling me to buy whatever I want, and not to act shy about spending money either. If I do, then he’s going to make me wait to come tonight, and he means it.

A part of me hated him giving me his card, but the other part of me thought the man will do anything to make me happy, and there is no price on what he will do. Because of my amazing boyfriend, I got my first designer bag. It has been on my wishlist for years, ever since I saw it on TV when I was little, but then I saw Aunt Jane with the bag, and I fell in love with it.

I will admit I held the Chanel bag in my hand for about half an hour, before Aunt Jane handed me her cell.

“Looking at it isn’t going to make it yours,” Cain tells me, and I look over at Aunt Jane, who’s now pretending to look at some other things.

“Cain, it’s a lot of money.” I place the bag on the counter, and the woman picks it up and places it back on the display unit.

“And?” Cain asks like spending almost ten thousand dollars is nothing. And how he’s talking to me, I think it is nothing to him, but to me, God if I wanted to buy it, I would be saving for more than a few years.

“I can’t just-”

“Autumn, do you like the bag?”

“Yes.” I walk away from everyone, so no one can hear me talking to him.

“Then buy the bag,” Cain tells me.

“It’s ten thousand-”

“I don’t care if it was a million dollars. If my rose wants it then I’ll buy it. When it comes to you Autumn, I’ll buy you the world. Buy the bag.” I hear the staff behind him talking, then Lincoln shouts at someone. “Autumn, never worry about not getting what you want, it’s all yours. Now enjoy your morning.” Before I can fight my case with Cain he ends the call, and I walk over to Aunt Jane who is talking to the sales assistant.

“All wrapped and ready for you.” The sales assistant places the bag in front of me with a smile.

“I added the credit card holder in there too.” Aunt Jane wraps her arm around me and smiles. “Enjoy it all. He wants you to have it.” Aunt Jane gives me a small kiss on the side of my forehead.

I slowly take out Cain’s card and hand it over to the woman. One thing I want to know is how much of a limit does he have on that thing, because I have a feeling Aunt Jane isn’t finished with her shopping trip.

I take a sip of my wine, as we wait for our lunch to get to us. Today has been a day I didn’t think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did. Throughout the morning someone comes to see how we were doing, Hayden came first, then Declan and now I’m laughing at a joke David has just told me.

“You ladies enjoyed your shopping trip today,” he points to the bags around the table. I’m hoping Cain isn’t going to be annoyed with how many bags I have with me. And I also found out Cain has no limit on his card, who the hell doesn’t have a limit on their bank card. I’ll tell you who, the Crawford family.

“It was good, you’ll enjoy some things I got,” Aunt Jane tells him, and he laughs, as he goes to look inside the bags, but Aunt Jane stops him.

I thank the waiter for our food, and sit up and start eating, and Uncle David talks on the cell, already knowing it’s Cain, wanting to make sure no one had come near us this morning.

“Your Aunt said it’s been a good morning. Haven’t felt that anyone is watching us. I'm going to go with her to the shop then one of the boys will be there.” Uncle David tells him, and I shake my head a little. I shouldn't be annoyed with what’s happening, but I feel silly having a babysitter all the time.

“Autumn, after Tess he doesn’t want to take the risk of anything happening to you. We didn’t think he would feel this way about anyone after her. Now he has someone he loves. He just wants you to be safe.” Aunt Jane's words hit me harder than I thought they would. I didn’t forget about Tess, but I forgot about how much he blamed himself for her death. “Plus, this one-” She nods her head to Uncle David. “-He’s finally happy Cain is being part of the family.”

I say nothing, because I have nothing to say to her. Cain is finally part of his family, and he’s making sure I stay safe. Girls only dream about a man who will look after them the way Cain does with me.

“Autumn, how is the family?” David asks me.

“They are good. Loving Cain for what he's done. I’m not telling them the things Cain does. I'm just happy they like my boyfriend. It’s never happened before.” My dad’s hated every boyfriend, , and then the one they should question, they love.

“Cain told us you used to skate, we’ve watched some. We can see why you were a champion, you think you’ll get back into skating once all this is over?” Jane asks me. I think about it all the time, maybe one day I can go back to doing what I love.

“With my stalker being a high-profile police officer, I don’t think-” I stop when David laughs, and makes me narrow my brows together, not sure what’s so funny.

“I think it’s funny you think him being a police officer is going to stop Cain from doing anything.” David eats his food, Jane smiles and I just stare at them both.

Cain is not that stupid to make trouble with a police officer? There’s no way he would, would he?

I spend the rest of lunch in conversation about my family, Cain, stories about the Crawford boys, but in the back of my mind, I can’t stop thinking about Cain and what he has planned for Rowan. I just hope it doesn’t get him in trouble.

“You know, I’m sure I can make you scream,” Miles leans on the workstation chatting up Katy. He’s been going on for a while, and I have a feeling she is going to fall for it all too, because the boy is a smooth talker.

“Katy, he’s nineteen,” I remind her, before she gets sucked into his words.

“And? I bet I can do a lot more for her, than any man older than me can do. I’ll prove it.” He steps behind Katy, his fingers moving to the side of her neck which makes her shiver, and I shake my head. Miles brings his lips closer to her ear, and whispers loud enough for me to hear him. “I can make you my dirty little whore, while you beg me to eat you for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I bet you taste so sweet.” Miles plants a kiss on her neck, and Katy quickly moves out of his way, which makes him smile. “See, she’ll be thinking about me tonight when she uses her vibrator.” Miles winks at me and I laugh, looking over at Katy.

“Really?” I ask her.

“Shut up.” Katy throws a flower at me, and I laugh as Miles walks behind her again. “You need to back away.” Katy pushes him and he sits on the workstation next to me.

“Give it a week, I’ll be in her bed.” He takes a chocolate from the bowl. “Katy, when it happens you might not want to work the next day. You’ll be too tired.” Now I laugh and slap his arm for him to shut up. “I’m sure she will tell you all about it.” He jokes, and I slap his arm again.

“She is almost ten year-”

“Autumn, you think she is the first older woman I’ve fucked? Graduation gift for my teacher, well, let’s just say I made her see the stars.” He gets off the counter and walks back over to Katy. “How many times have you seen the stars?” he asks her, moving the hair away from her neck and kisses it again.

Katy turns around and places her hand on his chest. “Little boy, I’m sure I can make you see the stars-”

“I’ll be over tonight. Let’s see the galaxy together. You can ride my rocket and admire the stars at the same time.” I’m not even looking at what he is doing anymore, but one thing is for sure, his words, as crazy as they are, will work on Katy, she’s always been one to fall for the chat up lines. And Miles knows how to use them well.

“Autumn, when do I get to see what you bought today?” Katy walks back to the workstation and I look up at her watching Miles standing next to me.

“Give me a few more hours, I might just fuck her in the shop,” Miles whispers to me, and I elbow him in the chest.

“Try it and see what happens,” I tell him, which makes him laugh. “You can look at them, you’ve obviously seen the bag. I got a few dresses, some shoes, go have a look.” I’ve never been one to show others what I have bought in the past, and to be honest with the amount of money I spent today, I don’t want to be showing it either. “How was your date?” I ask, and that gets Miles' attention.

“Yeah, how was the date? Did he get you all excited like I have just now?” I shake my head, trying hard not to laugh, because I know she is excited by this idiot and his words.

“My date was amazing-” she lies. How do I know she’s lying? Because she’s not looking at anyone while she’s talking. “He got me flowers, and complimented me on my outfit, told me I look beautiful-”

“Well, we can all see that, I can buy you a fucking flower shop. What happened at the end of the date?” Miles cuts her off, and I put down the flowers to see what she’s going to say, because even I want to know. They didn’t have sex, because it would have been the first thing she told me when I walked through the door.

“Nothing, I stopped it. He was a terrible kisser, and for me a bad kisser means he’s bad in bed.” Miles bursts out laughing, a full on hard laugh.

Then he walks around the counter, and before I can stop him, he's pulling Katy up off her chair, and smacking his lips into hers. Fucking hell, are these boys all as crazy as each other? Finally pulling away from her, Katy loses her footing when Miles walks away from her.

“Just think what else my mouth can do.” He winks at her, and I slap his arm a lot harder this time.

I look over at the door when I see Declan walking in and watch him high five Miles. “Good kisser?” Declan asks him. Miles stays quiet, I’m not sure why, I would have thought he would shout it about, just to prove a point to Katy. “Cain’s getting you some tea.” Declan walks closer to me, and kisses my cheek.

“Katy, if you want to see if I’m a better kisser, I’m open to it.” Declan winks at her and now I do laugh. God, these boys.

“You’re in high-school-”

“And?” he questions.

They are all the same, all four of them are confident, sex driven, crazy boys. I’m sure they rule the highschool and college, and no one even attempts to step in their way. They just have that energy around them.

“You boys-” I stop talking when someone walks through the door, and Miles and Declan both step in front of me.

“Didn’t think you would have the balls to just walk in here.” Miles is the first to talk, and I lean to one side to see the man that has just walked in. B boys are a lot taller than me and I can’t see over them.

“I thought Miss White would like this.” Yang holds up a snow globe, and my whole body tenses up. My hands move to Declan’s t-shirt not wanting him to move, because this man screams soulless. He reminds me of the bad guy in the ninja turtle movies, Shredder, that’s it. He is him all over.