𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘'𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 | 𝐍.𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐗𝐓𝐎𝐍 |

chapter seventeen | she ain't you...

NIC CLAXTON  

I had always been good at holding back my true emotions and acting as if I didn't care when I truly did. That's the biggest mistake I made regarding Autumn and how I handled the situation between her and me when it was brought onto the internet. I played my typical playboy role to keep my reputation up in fear of what others would say, but of course, I instantly regretted it.

I had tried a million-and-one things to do to fix things between her and me. With each attempt that I made, I got instant repercussions. The first was getting my ass beat by Josh, the second was getting my ass beat by Josiah and Ivy, the third being threatened by my cousin, and now, I just got completely humiliated in front of a hallway full of people who work for Vogue and learned that Ahmad (aka Sauce Gardner) had found himself in Autumn's life. I was one hundred percent sure that he was trying to be more than just friends with her, and I hated that.

I didn't want to see Autumn with anyone else. I know that sounded extremely toxic and possessive, but I knew that I screwed up, and I wanted to fix what I had fucked up. But seeing that Autumn had possibly moved forward and on from me did something to my heart. It felt as if it was being squeezed and all I knew was that it hurt. I wasn't going to sit here and act as if I didn't have feelings for Autumn, because I did, and they were deep. But here I was, wrapped up in shit with her co-worker who was almost like an annoying leech that wouldn't go away. Everywhere I was, she randomly ended up popping up. Lord knows that I wanted to leave her alone, but she had some good attributes to her...but still, she wasn't Autumn.

It's safe to say that I fell for the 80/20 rule...like an IDIOT.

"Nic..." Wynter says, walking up to my side and grabbing my arm. "Why'd you storm out? Is everything okay? What's wrong?"

I rolled my eyes, glancing down at her 5'6 frame. "Don't worry about it, ight?" I replied dryly.

Wynter frowned. "Is this about...Is this about Autumn? I saw you talking to her. Why are you even still talking to her?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. "I was talking to her. So what?"

"That's cheating, Nic!" Wynter shouted, shoving my chest. "You still conversing with her is like a slap in the face to me! That's fucking cheating! You're cheating on–."

What the hell is this ditzy ass girl talking about?!

I raised an eyebrow. "Cheat? I gotta be with you to cheat..."

"We're together..." Wynter snaps. "What the hell, Nic."

"Huh?" 

Wynter frowned at my response, but I was genuinely confused. Never did I ever hint or outright say to Wynter that I ever wanted to lock in with her. She was here for a good time, not a long time, and nine times out of ten, she was barely even a good time. Every time I'm fucking on her, all I can think about is Autumn. I have to bite my tongue so I don't say the wrong name. I know that's wrong in so many ways, but it's the truth. It was always a good time with Autumn. I could talk to her and she'd understand. She made me laugh and made me feel like I was an actual person. Not just someone that people depended on for a possible Championship ring that immediately got dissed when it didn't happen. She saw me, and I was dumb enough to let that go because I was listening to Mikal and thinking with my dick instead of my brain.

"If you can huh you can hear," She snaps. "You know damn well that we're together. I don't know why you're sitting here trying to play dumb just because you ran into her and decided to strike up a conversation. I'm not a girl you can just run through and call whenever you need to get your rocks off. That may be what Autumn was to you, but—."