Nick sat on the sofa and cradled Lily in his arms. He hadn’t been able to get enough of his stepdaughter and had played with her until she’d tired herself out and fallen asleep. He smiled to himself over how excited she’d been to see him. She’d nearly fallen out of the high chair she’d been strapped into when she’d seen him.
“Nick!” she’d shrieked with joy over and over again.
Now, he stroked his fingers through her tangled dark curls and marveled at how perfect she was. Her beauty matched Autumn’s feature for feature.
Autumn.
Just when he’d finally figured out that the two of them would simply be polite to each other for the rest of their marriage and there would be no love lost between them, he’d seen her running towards him. His heart had skipped a beat. There was no other way to describe it, he thought, and looked over to study her. She was engrossed in a magazine, her face devoid of all the camera makeup she’d worn earlier. Instead of the outrageously provocative red dress, she was clad in baggy pajamas and a huge t-shirt.
She should’ve looked hideous, but she didn’t.
Why, he thought, did he find her so attractive now? What had happened in the last month that had his stomach doing flip-flops when he saw her now?
“Nick?”
He glanced up to find her watching him with concern. “Yeah?”
“Do you want me to tuck Lily in? You don’t have to sit with her if you have something else you’d rather be doing.” Autumn put the magazine aside and stood. “If you wanted to go out or something, see the nightlife, you could.”
And why was she so ready for him to run for the nearest club and random hookup? “Nah. I like sitting here with her. Besides, it wouldn’t look too good for our marriage if, on the first night we’re together in a month, I went to a club or something without you. Don’t you think so?”
“Uh, well, yeah. I guess.” She shrugged. “I just don’t want you to be bored or anything.”
“I’m not. I’m happy to just chill right here.”
She frowned for a moment before shrugging it off. “Suit yourself.” And she went back to her armchair and picked up the magazine again.
Nick sat silently for a few minutes before he spoke again. “Hey, Autumn?”
“Hmm?” Her response was absentminded as she flipped a page.
He contemplated how best to begin the conversation that he knew had been waiting to happen for some time. “Why don’t you and I get along anymore? We used to be all buddy-buddy, and then we weren’t. Did I do something to piss you off? Because I’ve spent the last month trying to figure it out, and I still don’t have the answers.”
The magazine was shut and lay in her lap now as she linked her fingers together and studied him, a slight frown creating lines on her forehead. “I don’t understand,” she said finally. “Why are you asking this?”
“Because I’m tired of avoiding you, of constantly being on the defensive around you. If we’re going to be living together, spending time together, I want to be comfortable, be myself around you. Why don’t you like me?” he asked again.
Autumn sighed. “Because you don’t like me. You treated me like I was an immature child that needed to be patted on the head and led back to the right path. It was insulting, and it just showed that you don’t respect me. How else am I supposed to deal with you when you treat me that way?”
“When did I treat you like a child?” Shock was bubbling within him. He’d never done that, had he? He’d always treated her with respect, but she’d always clawed at him over everything. “I’ve always respected you. I don’t think there’s that many people that I respect more than you.”
It was her turn to be shocked. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Then why are you always on my case to be smarter about everything?”
“Because you’re still new to the industry. I’ve been playing the game for years, but you just got started. I just don’t want to see you drown like so many people have done before. That’s why I always told you to be smarter.” But he was beginning to see where he’d gone wrong. Of course, he wasn’t alone. “So maybe I was wrong. But I wasn’t the only one. You’ve always made me feel like an inconsiderate asshole.”
“Because you acted that way!” She, too, was beginning to see what had gone wrong. “I liked you in the beginning, before this whole mess happened. Sure, I felt bad for you with the family you have, but I liked you. You were there for me when things went bad with Jack. Besides, I’d never have invited you to Thanksgiving dinner if I hadn’t enjoyed your company and thought of you as a friend.”
“So what happened?” Nick wondered after several long moments of silence. “Because I liked hanging out with you, too. It felt good. But now…”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess we could always blame it all on Summer’s big mouth.” She smiled a little. “If it hadn’t been for her, we wouldn’t be married right now, we’d still be friends-”
“And I’d still be in the dark about Lily,” Nick finished for her. “Somehow, I don’t think that would’ve gone over too well either way. Let’s just say that it’s been a whole bunch of complicated things that happened and made us hostile towards each other. How’s that?”
Autumn nodded, ashamed. “I should’ve told you. I’m sorry, Nick. Really, I am. I just wanted to protect her from the public eye. I’d always seen how celebrities’ kids were scrutinized, and I just didn’t want that to happen to her. I wanted her to grow up and be a normal, happy kid.”
“She seems pretty happy to me, and she’s definitely in the public eye now,” Nick pointed out. “But I can understand why you wanted to protect her. Sometimes, I look at my siblings, especially Aaron and Angel, and I wonder how they would’ve turned out had they not been my siblings and stayed out of the spotlight.”
She didn’t want to see the sadness creep into his eyes at the mention of his brother and sisters and could tell that he blamed himself. She didn’t want to feel sympathy for him, but she did. Nick Carter, she thought, had a lot of flaws, but she didn’t think being a bad brother was one of them.
“You know, I’ve been reading up on this family of yours, Nick. I thought I should know about my in-laws, you know,” she began, in a much lighter tone. “Seems to me that I have one, very interesting mother-in-law.”
“Yeah, if you like to call psychotic the same as interesting.”
She ignored the comment and pushed on. “I don’t think being your sibling was a bad influence so much as having a power-hungry mother was. Parents are supposed to watch out for their children, take care of them, and protect them from whatever bad influences there are in the world. Your mother, Nick, despite whatever intentions she may have had, did neither of those things. She’s the one to blame. Not you.”
He was quiet for so long that she thought he hadn’t heard her or was angry with her for intruding on what was his personal business. When she opened her mouth to apologize for overstepping her bounds, he spoke again.
“I know you’re right. Everything you’re telling me, I’ve been told by all the Boys and, hell, the therapist, too. It’s a lot harder, though, to believe it than it is to say that it wasn’t my fault.” Nick summoned up a smile for her, though. “But, thanks. Thank you for saying that.” He held out a hand. “We’ve managed to be pretty calm around each other for the last half hour. I hope that means that we can be friends.” His smile widened in an attempt to convince her.
She glanced from his hand to that damnably wicked smile and tried to remind herself that this was Nick. Just Nick. But if that were so, her mind whispered, why was she suddenly so nervous about placing her hand in his?
“I’d like that,” she said finally. Moving over to the couch, she took his hand and shook it. And then she was unbelievably moved when he laced his fingers with hers and kissed her fingers.
“Good,” he murmured over their hands, knowing that she was uncomfortable with his actions. “Because it’ll make it a lot easier to tell you about how I ran into your sister yesterday.”
Her jaw dropped as her hand slid out of his. “What?! When? How? Where?” The thought of Summer with Nick made her blood run cold. “What did she say to you?”
“Hey.” Nick gently lifted Lily out of his lap and placed her on the sofa next to him, before turning to take Autumn’s hands in his. Her face was pale, her eyes huge and worried. “It’s okay. She didn’t eat me or anything. It was just weird, and, when she was gone, I had this feeling that I just needed to be here. With you.”
Autumn let out a shaky breath. “She didn’t upset you? Hurt you in any way? Because she’s really good at causing emotional damage.”
“Nope. Whatever she said just bounced off me.” He squeezed her hands reassuringly. “I’ll tell you about it.”
Racks upon racks of children’s clothing surrounded him, and there was such a huge selection that he was feeling a bit lost. Imagine that. Nick Carter, lost among clothing for little girls. It was a sacrifice all in itself for him to actually step foot into a store that sold nothing that he could use, but he’d gladly sacrifice a lot for his little girl. Because that’s what Lily was. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t her biological father, nor did it matter that the only reason he was her stepfather was for a publicity stunt. Nope. Lily was his because he loved her and she, with her adorable, gurgling laugh and huge green eyes, loved him right back. It was scary and it was incredible.
So, here he was, in a baby clothes store, checking out outfits for her.
“Not in pink,” he muttered to himself. Pink was far too ordinary for his Lily. “Maybe yellow?” And he began to pick his way through the racks towards the ones bedecked in yellow fabrics.
As he contemplated the virtues of one dress against the virtues of another, he didn’t notice the cameras clicking away outside the boutique. If he had, he might have played it up a little more and talked to the sales associates, gushed about his two beautiful girls. He didn’t do any of that because, in his mind, all he could see was how Lily would look in either of the two dresses he held in his hands.
Finally deciding on one, he plucked it off the rack and turned towards another rack, thinking that he could try to put together a little outfit for his baby. Maybe tiny pants and a cute shirt. Hopefully, he could put her outfit together in a less-than-fugly way. He never had much luck with his own clothing choices, but maybe he could do better for Lily.
Then, he saw her. For a split second, his heart leaped at the idea that Autumn was back in LA. Near him. The implications of that thought made him pause for a second before he realized that the woman walking towards him was not Autumn.
“Hello, Nick.” There was a smile on her lips, though it looked like the kind a barracuda would have before it devoured something. Her eyes gleamed with malice or mischief. Maybe both. But, looking into them, he knew he’d always be able to tell the twins apart. Autumn’s eyes didn’t have that harshness in them nor were they full of that cold, cold light.
“Summer.” He managed to find his voice, despite the shock he felt at actually meeting the woman who’d landed him in the current position he was in.
Her smile widened. “Glad to see you can tell the twins apart. So, tell me, how is your wife? Upset that she has to work instead of honeymoon with her beloved husband?”
“How did you find me?” he asked, ignoring her question.
Summer gestured to the photographers outside the store. “I was just walking down the street when I saw them, so I knew someone with fame was in here. Just my luck that it happened to be you.” Her fingers reached out to stroke over his. “I never had the chance to…welcome you to the family.”
He slid his hand out of hers and took a deliberate step back. “Save it. I don’t care what you have to do or say. You can’t hurt me, and you sure as hell can’t touch Autumn or Lily anymore.”
“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Those sharp, green eyes flashed with deep hatred. “I can get to my sister in ways you can’t even imagine. I know her.”
“No,” Nick shook his head, “you don’t. You barely let yourself get to know her. She’s told me all about the time you lived with her. I know what you are. I’ve spent a good part of my life living with a woman like you. You can’t hurt me, and, if you even try to get near Autumn, I’ll make sure you never try it again.”
The smile vanished from her face as her hand balled into a fist at her side. “Are you threatening me, Nick?”
“Damn right, I am. Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of because we don’t need you. And we sure as hell don’t care what happens to you.” He took great pleasure in watching her cheeks pale and her eyes darken with anger.
“Oh, I’ll crawl back to my hole, alright. But, next time you see my sister, you let her know that this isn’t over yet. The two of you may have diverted all the negative press by getting married, but it doesn’t mean that I’m finished.” Summer took a step away from him, towards the door. “I’ll be finished when she’s back at the bottom. When she’s so humiliated that she won’t be able to look at herself in the mirror. That’s when I’ll be done.”
The bell above the door jingled as she stepped onto the sidewalk and disappeared, leaving Nick standing with his arms full of tiny clothes. Wondering and, now, worrying about Autumn. No, nothing was over yet. Obviously, not by a long shot.
Author's Chapter Notes:
It's BAA-ACK! I know it's been a few weeks since this was updated, but I've just been super swamped with work and school lately. But, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
