Nick tried to follow her as well as he could, but she wove in and around the crowds of people chatting and the television crews that swiveled their cameras every which way. He was half-hoping that someone would recognize her for she was no longer unknown, and that he’d have a chance to catch up with her. But, no such luck.
When he burst past an unusually large group of people, his spirits plummeted. Autumn was nowhere to be found. Everywhere he looked there were plenty of richly-dressed, heavily jeweled actors, singers, and entertainers. No Autumn.
After a minute or two, he finally noticed the doors he stood by and the exit sign posted on them. Maybe, if he was really lucky, he thought, she would have gone out that way, and he’d be able to find her. He wanted to know what had put that haunted look in her eyes when she’d spoken of her lack of higher education. He needed to know more about her because, when he thought about it, he only knew what the rest of the world knew about Autumn Evans—next to nothing.
She was a mystery, he mused, pushing through the doors and ignoring whoever had called his name the instant before the door shut behind him. The hallway he found himself in was empty and, picking a direction, he started to explore his way through the building. She couldn’t have gone too far, he thought. At least, he hoped she wasn’t in a hurry. Though the possibility of that was slim from the look on her face when she’d turned away. Something was bothering her, and, being the curious guy he was (or was it nosy jackass?), he was determined to find out.
And he hit gold when he pushed out a set of double doors that put him into a dimly-lit alleyway and found Autumn perched in her designer clothing on a grungy bench. Her arms were curled around her waist as she gazed off into the distance.
“Autumn?”
Her head snapped up and turned to see him start towards her. Leaping up, she began to hurry down the alley. “Go away, Nick. I’m not in the mood.”
“For what? I didn’t say anything but your name,” he called back as he hurried to keep up with her. “Why are you running?” He tripped over an empty bottle and cursed under his breath. “Autumn, stop!”
She didn’t. She kept running on wobbling stilettos as though he were a murderer coming to kill her. “I told you to leave me alone!” Her voice wavered, but she headed into the park across the street from them, hoping to lose him on the winding paths and in the dark.
“Autumn.” Nick stopped. He couldn’t push her, no matter how much he wanted to shake her and find out what was wrong with her. Instead, he paused at the entrance to the darkened park and watched her keep moving. Until, suddenly, she was on the ground. “Autumn!” Seriously worried, he ran and mentally yelled at himself for smoking too much in the past as his breath huffed.
When he reached her side and knelt next to her, she looked up at him with tears shining in her eyes. Holding up the once-lovely shoe she wore with the now-broken heel, she sighed. “I’m sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have run.”
Nick reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand. “Why did you? Was it something I said?” But he shook his head before she could answer. “I don’t wanna know. Forget I asked. Are you okay?” He gestured to her bare foot.
“Hmm? Oh.” Brushing his hand aside as she found she liked the feel of it on her skin and refused to like it, Autumn glanced from her shoe to her foot and sighed again. “Well, there goes an awesome pair of shoes. I’m okay, Nick,” she added, seeing his expression.
“Okay.” He stood. “Let’s get you to a bench, baby. Then you can tell Uncle Nick why you were running.” He held out a hand and, after a brief hesitation, she took it and let him help her over to a nearby bench.
“I can’t honestly think of you as ‘Uncle Nick’, you know,” she muttered as she sat and stripped the other shoe off. “You just don’t inspire uncle-like feelings in me.”
“Oh, yeah?” He couldn’t stop the foolish grin from creasing his face. “What kind of feelings do I inspire in you?”
She rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly with a shoe. “Exasperation and frustration.” But she had to soften as the man was here even after witnessing her random emotional breakdown. “I like you, Nick Carter—for some reason.”
He nudged her shoulder with his. “I like you, too, Autumn Evans—for some reason.”
“I guess you want to know what happened?” she asked after several moments of silence.
Nick shrugged. “I can’t push you, Evans. If you want to tell me, I’m all ears. If not, that’s cool, too. I know what it’s like to have people pressuring you into telling them what’s bothering you when all you want is to be left alone.”
“I guess you would,” she murmured and turned to look into his face. Though it was hard to see much in the dark, she could see the sincerity in his eyes and sighed. “It has to do with that question Kevin asked me.”
Nick’s brows furrowed. “The one about college? So, you didn’t go. Big deal. Most of us haven’t.”
“No, Nick. You don’t understand,” she whispered, staring hard at the flash of lights from a nearby club.
“I would, if you’d explain it.”
“I’m not supposed to be here,” she said suddenly, making him frown.
“Uhh…Why not? You can sit here if you want.”
Autumn shook her head. “I mean, I wasn’t supposed to be an actress. I should be in medical school right now, getting my degree to practice medicine.” She bit her lip. “At least, that’s what I was supposed to be doing.”
“Why? Did you want to be a doctor?” Nick was slightly confused, but he was beginning to see why Kevin’s question may have bothered her. If she was “supposed” to be doing something else, something that required that she go to school, and she wasn’t doing it…Well, he’d let her finish before he asked any more questions.
She sighed. “My parents died when I was six, so my aunt, my mother’s sister, took care of me for a while. After a year, though, she fell in love with someone and didn’t want a seven year old hanging around, so she sent me to stay with my father’s sister in Kansas.” Running a hand through her hair, she took a deep breath and let it out. “Aunt Jan was set on me being a doctor. She loved me, but she was strict with what I was and wasn’t allowed to do. Wanting to be an actress was too ‘frivolous’ and certainly not allowed. So, I studied, I did well, and, just after I found out that I’d done extremely well on the SATs, Aunt Jan was in a car accident.”
Because she seemed to need it, he looped an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him. “I’m sorry, Autumn. But being an actress was your dream, being a doctor was hers. You can’t blame yourself for following your dreams.”
“I know.” He felt good, so she let her head rest against his shoulder. “I usually don’t feel guilty, but there are some times when it hits me. I was her sole inheritor because she’d never married, never had children. But, instead of taking care of the things she’d worked hard to earn, I sold her house and car and headed out here. There was nothing holding me back, so why couldn’t I do what I’d wanted? Why waste time studying stupid things that I’d never need anyway?”
“How old were you?”
“Sixteen.”
Nick glanced down at her, surprised. She’d handled such adult issues when she should have been partying with her friends, dating, going to high school football games, and having fun being a teenager. He tried to remember what he’d been doing at sixteen. Touring Europe, being mobbed by teenage girls who were screaming in languages he couldn’t understand, and being raised by four men who would forever be a part of him. None of that compared to her experience at sixteen.
“That’s amazing,” he said finally. “At sixteen, I was nothing more than a kid—I still am, but that’s beside the point,” he added with a small smile. “You shouldn’t have had to do all of that alone.”
Autumn shook her head as she sat up. “I wanted to, needed to do all of it. And I don’t regret it, not for a minute. There are times, though, like tonight, where the guilt hits me when I think about how, if I had just gone down a different road, I would’ve been where she wanted me to be. I wonder if she would’ve been proud of me in spite of it all,” she murmured.
“Well, of course she would,” Nick assured her. “If she loved you, and you’re happy and successful doing what you love, then I don’t see why she would have had a problem with you. Relax, Autumn. We’re all exactly where we’re supposed to be and doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the clipping noise of a pair of heels, and both of them turned to look in the direction of the sound.
Nick barely muttered, “Crap,” under his breath before the nagging began.
“How dare you!” Bobbie Jean Carter pointed a threatening finger in her brother’s direction. “You heard me call for you, and you just kept going! I had to run after you, and you don’t so much as turn to see what’s going on! Do you know how that looks to people? Why are you trying to destroy what we’re working so hard to achieve? Don’t you want people to say that Nick Carter did something right…for once?”
“That’s not fair,” Autumn interrupted her and realized her mistake when BJ spun on her.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” BJ asked angrily, her voice rising. “This is private business, and I don’t care if you’re Nick’s whore or not, but you should at least have the sense to not get in the middle of something that has nothing to do with you. Got it?”
Nick shot off the bench and grabbed his sister’s arm. “Apologize.” His voice was low and deadly, but BJ didn’t care.
“Why? She doesn’t care if I yell at her as long as she’s got your money. God, Nick. You’re such a drama queen.” BJ rolled her eyes and tried to shrug his hand off. “Let go, Nicky.”
“Not until you apologize to Autumn Evans,” Nick repeated and watched realization swim into his sister’s eyes. “That’s right. She’s that Autumn Evans, and you’re going to apologize for insinuating that she’s someone and something that she’s not.” When BJ hesitated, Nick narrowed his eyes. “Do it, Bobbie Jean.”
BJ rolled her eyes again before turning to Autumn. “Look, I’m sorry I called you a whore. You’re not, you’re a great actress and all that blah blah blah. I have this temper, and I didn’t mean to have you caught in the crossfire. Nick, here, pisses me off more often than not.” She looked over at him again. “Is that okay?”
“Better than nothing,” he muttered. “Autumn, I’m sorry. I hope you don’t mind that, every time we meet, you get insulted or annoyed.”
She waved it off as she stood. “It’s okay. I’d better get going.” Looking down at her bare feet, she grinned. “I guess I’m going in without shoes. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be the next big fashion trend. See you around, Carters.” And, with a little wave, she was gone.
“Well, jeez, Nick.” BJ sighed dramatically. “Aren’t you gonna get her number or anything?”
Nick’s brows furrowed. “Why?” And then he remembered wanting Autumn’s contact information before the show. But, as she disappeared from view, he shook his head. “Nah. It’s not like I want her number so I can take her out or whatever. She’s cool, and you totally insulted her. What the hell’s got you all crazy this time?”
“You’re not going to believe the call I got from Aaron fifteen minutes ago,” BJ began. “It involves a blonde, some pot, and a camera.”
Nick smacked a hand over his eyes. “Don’t stop now, BJ. You might as well finish it off.” Could this night get any wackier? he thought as he listened to BJ recount Aaron’s latest misdemeanors.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm getting good at this whole updating on Fridays deal. So, here's the next chapter in Proving Them Wrong, and I hope you all enjoy! Also, check out my other story Then Again. It's an AJ and Brian suspense fic, so for those of you who are Nick fans, I still think you'd enjoy it. Check out and thanks for all the reviews for this story!
