Page 59 of Your Pucking Mom

“Thank you. Bye.” I turned on my heel, sprinting down the hallway, and before I got to my room, I spun around to make sure she was gone.

She shook her head and headed back toward the elevator bank. Spinning around, I ran into someone.

“Auburn!” I shouted before I got a look at who it was. Unfamiliar eyes danced with my own, and as I stepped back, I realized it was a complete stranger…who I was holding by the forearms. “I’m so sorry.”

It was an older gentleman in a large fluffy bathrobe. He was stuttering as I backed away. “I-I was just getting ice?”

“I’m so sorry,” I repeated, trying to make sure I enunciated each word and didn’t slur.

“Are you okay, boy?” the man asked me.

“Yes. I just thought you were someone…” I threw my hands in the air, wanting to avoid explaining my complicated life to him.

“Hey,” the man exclaimed. “I know you. You’re the reason my wife and I are in town.”

Oh, no. Please don’t recognize me. “You’re the captain of the Chicago Ravens, Ledger Cole, aren’t you?”

Fuckkkkkk. Sober up.Get your shit together.“Yes, sir. I am.”

“We drove three hours to see you play. My wife’s third cousin, once removed, saw you play for the Ravens when you first started your career…”

He kept talking while I tried my best to make sure the world didn’t spin. I nodded a few times to look like I was listening to his story, then I swore I saw a glimpse of that curly hair in the hallway.

“Auburn?”

“Autumn? No. I think we saw you back in the winter of?—”

“So sorry. I see my girl over there. It was nice to see you. Sorry for bumping into you, but I best be going.” I slipped behind him and raced to get to her door before it shut.

She came from the stairwell, so she hadn’t seen me and the brunette from earlier. As I got to her door, it clicked shut. She had no idea I was out here looking for her. I guess I’d run my luck with fate.

Whoever was in charge of the system up there must’ve thought I’d fucked up too many times and stopped giving me chances to run into her.

It was stupid of me. She could have run into us at any moment and would have been devastated. I didn’t want to be with Tay. I wanted to be with Auburn, no matter how risky it was for us.

I leaned against her door and sank to the ground, refusing to knock, then closed my eyes just for a moment.

30

auburn

It was like having a newborn all over again. Even though Austin had shared his location with me, I set an alarm to check on him every few hours to ensure he was still in his room.

There was such a weight on my shoulders, and I didn’t want to fuck this up, especially after the phone call I’d gotten from my mother this evening informing me she would be coming to Denver to see his first away game. She was coming because she had another reason to be out here, which wasn’t to see her grandson.

A long time ago, I stopped trying to figure her out and just let it be, because there would be no understanding that woman…ever.

My 3:00 a.m. alarm buzzed, and begrudgingly, I slipped back into my slippers and threw my cardigan over the oversized T-shirt to go to Austin’s room to check on him.

It was too far for me to walk all the way to the elevator bank, and the stairs were the more direct route, which worked well in the middle of the night. It was weird to think I was doing the same thing eighteen years ago with a little baby in the bassinet beside me. My mom would spend all morning yelling at me because the baby kept her up at night. She was the only one financially supporting the baby, and this was just another reason I was such a shit mother.

I developed this plan where I’d wake up before the baby would, soothe him, then fall back asleep with him. He never cried much after that, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the last of my mother’s harsh words.

I shook my head, trying to rid my mind of the memories as I opened the door and made my way to Austin’s room. Just as I was about to step into the hallway, I tripped over a massive…boulder? I tried to reach out, but my arms were wrapped up in my cardigan, causing me to fall straight onto my face on the hotel carpet.

“What in the fuck?” I shouted, hoisting myself to my knees to see what I’d tripped over. It had to be a prank or something.

Then I realized it was a person scrunched up in the doorframe.

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