Chapter 15: Dallas

I easily noticed that Autumn’s smile in the doctor’s office didn’t quite stretch to her eyes, so I got curious and talked with the doctor while she had been in the bathroom. The doctor told me that she was healing well and that her tests were coming back with good results, so I knew that meant one particular thing—she would be going back to work soon.

Which meant she would be leaving once again.

I hadn’t been stupid enough to assume she would stay. I’d always known that she would get better and go back to wherever it was she now resided and worked, doodling whatever fashions she did. I had found her sketchpad one day while she was passed out from her medications, and the ideas she had in mind were actually pretty awesome. They wouldn’t be anything you’d see in a small town like this, but they were still really beautiful.

I hoped she was working with someone who valued her ideas, not someone who just bullied her around and made her get fetch coffee.

The entire truck ride home, I felt her pulling away from me. Her grip on my hand wasn’t as tight, and her head was constantly turned out to look at the passing scenery. I tried to jump start a bit of conversation, but all she gave me were one-word answers and a few grunts. I wanted to know what was on her mind because I wanted to help. I wanted to tell her that I already knew she wasn’t sticking around, but that I at least wanted to keep in touch. I wanted to be able to call and email her regularly. I wanted to be able to send her things on her birthday and for the holidays, and to ask if there was any way we could… I don’t know… video-chat with each other or something. I saw people do it in town all the time on their phones and laptops. I was more than willing to get a phone or laptop that had that capability if it gave me a way to see her from time to time.

In short, I wanted to tell her that I supported whatever career she wanted, even if we had to do the long-distance thing for a while. She had to know that I would try and make this work somehow.

When we got back to my house, she pushed quickly out of the truck and made her way inside. I stumbled out and jogged after her, but when she realized the house was locked, I reached over her shoulder and unlocked the door for her. I pushed it open, and she strode in. Just before she made her way to the stairs, I grabbed her arm and turned her around.

“Autumn.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t play coy with me. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just…not feeling well.”

“The doctor said you were doing fine. Or did you eat something bad?”

She sighed. “No. Just tired, I guess.”

“Well, gimme a second, and I’ll come slide in beside ya.”

“No, no, no. That’s fine. You just, do your thing. It’ll be a short nap.”

There it was. She was pulling away. Everything we had started between one another was slowly fading and she clearly thought I was an idiot. I’d ridden this roller coaster with her on many occasions, and a small spark of angry wafted within the pit of my gut. I knew I needed to get that spark of anger under control, because with her being here, I had no way to get a quick release from it. I couldn’t go for a ‘run’ in my other form…Not with her here. I couldn’t dare risk it.

For the first time, a seriously uncomfortable feeling came over me. I had never considered it before, but now, it stared me in the face. I wanted Autumn to be honest with me, so did that mean I needed to be honest to her too? Did that mean that one day, she needed to know the truth about what I was?

I suppressed a shudder, not willing to go there just yet. Everyone in my family had always expressed the importance of hiding our shifter identities because people just wouldn’t understand. But how was it possible to keep such a huge secret from someone you loved and cared about? I’d been doing it for so long though that on one hand, it felt second nature. But on the other hand, staring into Autumn’s eyes after coming so close to almost losing her, it now made me feel guilty.

But as I stared at the woman before me, I decided that this was a debate I would have to save for myself at another time. I shook my head, as if literally shaking the thought away.

“Autumn,” I said, trying hard to stay patient.

She sighed again. “Yes, Dallas.”

“I’m not an idiot, so stop treatin’ me like one.”

Her eyes fell heavily on mine, and something akin to guilt shot through her eyes. I could tell that she felt bad about having to go back to work, and I needed her to know that I knew it was gonna happen eventually and that I hadn’t expected her to stay in the first place. And Lord knows I wasn’t gonna make her. But I could easily tell she wasn’t going to tell me what was going on in that head of hers. I let out a long and frustrated sigh, realizing a little too late that some of it had come out sounding like a hiss.

Based on the way Autumn’s browed furrowed, it obviously hadn’t escaped her notice. She blinked her eyes at me, undoubtedly wondering if her ears were playing tricks on her.

“I’m gonna start cooking dinner in a couple hours,” I said, trying to change the subject and redirect her attention. “I’ll come get ya when it’s ready.”

She shook her head, seeming to have convinced herself that she had been just hearing things. “I’m sure I’ll be up by then,” she said and then smiled.

I watched her go up the stairs, her grip on the banister a bit tighter than it needed to be. Something was obviously tumbling around in that mind of hers, and I wanted to scream at her to talk to me. But instead, I went to the kitchen. My anger bubbled up into my throat, and when I balled up my fist, I whipped around and put it through the wall beside the fridge.

“Shit!” I said, staring down at my hand, which had turned into a paw without my conscious awareness. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, willing my hand to go back to normal, which thankfully, it did. Yet, angry questions kept going through my mind, and I had no hope of stopping them.

Why the fuck was she not talking to me? For the love of God, I stuck by her when she left me twice, and I even took her in, no questions asked, when she almost killed herself three weeks ago! She was pulling away because she was about to leave and the only thing I was asking for was that she talked to me! I wanted to be a part of her life, damn it! Was that too much to ask?

After all we’d been though, why the hell didn’t she want the same?!

Knowing I would shift right then and there if I didn’t get ahold of myself, I got to cooking dinner for a distraction. But not before long, I heard footsteps patter down the hallway just as I finished. I’d made beans and rice with a side of cornbread and extra sweet tea, just how I knew Autumn liked it.

She came in and sat down without a word, and when we started spooning food onto our plates, I finally asked the question I knew would spark the conversation.

“What’s wrong, Autumn?” I said.

“Nothing, Dallas.” She smiled disingenuously. “Just waking up still.”

“Autumn, you’ve been pulling away all day.”

“I’m just tired,” she lied.

“Autumn, talk to me,” I urged. I reached for her hand, but she wrenched away from me. At that moment, I understood that if I was gonna get the answers I wanted before she left this place and never looked back again, I had to let her come to me on her own watch.

Fuck.

“How was your nap?” I asked, trying a new direction.

“Really nice.”

“Wanna take a bath tonight?”

She nodded. “That would be nice. Thank you.”

We ate in relative silence while occasionally making mindless, asinine conversation. And then soon, we were both smiling over how she watched me wrangle that bull to save that calf.

“You got any more pregnant heifers on your farm?”

“Two, actually, though neither of them are due for at least another month.”

“What do you do with the calves around here?”

“Well, I’m gonna raise the males for the rodeos, and I’m gonna keep the females for milk and breeding around the farm.”

“Your farm is incredible, Dallas. It really is,” she said warmly.

“Thanks. I love it. I couldn’t see myself anywhere else.” As soon as I’d uttered those words, I saw something quickly flash behind Autumn’s eyes. Before I could address it though, it was gone.

We finished our food and as Autumn cleared the dishes, I made my way to her room to draw her a bath. Just because she was feeling better didn’t mean I was gonna stop taking care of her, so I poured some bath salts into the hot steaming water while I watched it fill the tub.

“Knock, knock,” she said, coming up behind me.

“Hey. Almost full. And I figured I’d go pull out a pie for us and heat it up if you’d like a slice.”

“That sounds fantastic.”

I reared up to make my way out of the bathroom when I felt her hand come down onto my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.

“You’re not gonna get in with me?” she asked slyly.

“Gotta heat up the pie,” I said. I twisted myself from her grasp, and for once, I was glad I wouldn't be pressed against her body tonight. God knows my body pulsed for her, and the mere mention of being in another bath with her caused my dick to start growing, but if she was gonna pull away, then I needed to do the same. Since I knew she was leaving this time, I could at least start preparing myself for it early.

“Dallas,” she called out to me. I turned around to find her standing in the doorway of the bathroom, looking absolutely radiant. Her robe fell off her body and her hair fluttered around her head. She slowly began walking towards me and then took my hand in hers.

Autumn,” I murmured, feeling regretfully magnetized toward her. Without planning it, I crashed my lips against hers. Her hands flew to my hair and my hands sunk to her plump ass, and when I raised her up into my body, she hooked her legs around my waist. I wanted to bury myself inside her, but when I turned around and headed for the bed, I missed and crashed into a wall.

Her lips were all over me and her hands ripped my clothes off. I pulsated against her leg, eager to feel her as much as I could before she left me again; I was willing to risk my entire mental stability to do so.

I was in love with Autumn and simply wanted to devour her every chance I got.

I reached between us and undid the buckle of my jeans. After pushing my pants down to my knees, my fingertips made my way between her legs. She was bare underneath her robe, and I could feel her essence slicking my fingers. Looking into her eyes, I saw her pupils blown wide with lust.

“Take me,” she whispered.

I lined myself up with her entrance and slid in without an issue. She groaned and lobbed her head back onto the wall, and I set a steady pace. She wrapped her legs around my waist. My hands planted into the wall, and she peppered my neck and chest with her warm plump lips that I wanted to desperately feel wrapped around my dick. I rolled my hips into hers and felt her walls fluttering around my thick cock. My hands traveled down her naked body, landing right onto her erect nipples. I rolled them between my fingers and watched her body shake for me; I knew she was already approaching her end faster than she could process it.

“Oh, god. Dallas. Jesus. Oh, god, please don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”

I slammed into her body and felt her juices dripping. She dug her fingertips into my back and buried her face in my neck, moaning my name. When she finally came down from her high, I slipped out of her tight cavern and slowly carried her over to the bed.

“I want your lips around my cock, Autumn,” I groaned.

She got onto her knees and licked a stripe up my cock that was glistening with her juices, and when she finally allowed me entrance into the warmth of her mouth. I laid my head back onto the bed. Her mouth was so warm, and the back of her throat felt so wonderful. I wound my fingers into the tendrils of her hair while she sucked.

“Jesus, Autumn. Oh, yeah.”

Her tongue swirled around the tip of my leaking dick, and I already felt my balls curling up into my body. But when she moaned, it threw me over the edge.

“Autumn! Oh-... fuck, Autumn. Yeah, baby. Oh, god!”

I pumped my cum into her mouth, and she gobbled it up without a sound. When I looked up at her, she was already crawling up my body.

“I want you, Autumn,” she desperately whispered.

Her swollen pussy hovered above my still-hard cock, and when she slowly lowered herself on it, she dropped her robe and showed me her bare smooth body. My hands flew to her hips while her head lobbed back in pleasure, and as she rode, I watched her clit slowly swell in front of my eyes.

The pad of my thumb made its way to her swollen nub, and I drew lustful patterns along her skin while her body bucked wildly against mine. Her hair flew around her face, and her features were contorted in pleasure while I committed every single part of her to memory.

“Ride that dick, Autumn. Dear God-”

“Yes, Dallas. You’re so big… and you fill me so well.”

I felt her walls fluttering around my thick dick yet again, and when she fell over the edge, her pulsating pussy pulled me deeper and deeper into her body. Her hands planted onto my chest, and she heaved for air. While I was still inside of her with her juices dripping down my empty balls, I wrapped my arms around her and held her close.

I breathed in her scent and committed every single attribute of hers to memory. I ran my fingertips up and down her back while her body still shook with her earth-shattering orgasm, and when she finally calmed down in my arms, I turned my head and pressed a kiss to her ear.

“Get some rest,” I whispered.

And all she gave me in return was a sleepy nod into the crook of my neck.