“Then stop her.”
“How? Give her the kids?” He glared at me as he slammed his fist down on his desk. “I can’t do that.”
I stood up and walked to the door. “Well, I’m not losing her again. I’ll figure something out. After I go to a fucking doctor who actually knows what he’s doing.”
Chapter 35
***Autumn***
I sat in front of my mom’s bedroom TV and stared at it in shock. Stacy had gone public. Thankfully, just a few stills of our faces were being shown, and not the full Monty. There I was, clearly in the throes of passion, being flashed across a nationally broadcasted program.
Granny Lane whistled. “I’m impressed by you, girl. I wasn’t quite sure you weren’t pulling my leg when you told us you were seeing all three of those hunks, but look at you!”
“Mom! Autumn is being shown to the world in a very vulnerable state. I think that’s more important than the fact that she had an adventurous sex life with three very, very...veryhandsome men.” Mom walked closer to the TV and tapped the image of Griff, his face twisted in desire. “This one... What was his name again?”
I stared at them and wondered how the hell I was part of their lineage. They were absolutely insane. “I’m going to lose my job. I’m going to be fired, and then I’m going to have to live here with you two.”
“Is that the worst thing that could happen? Really? You have to live with us? We’re fun!” Mom paused the TV and sighed. “You sure wouldn’t need a job if you scooped one of these men up.”
“I can’t believe she did it. Griff is going to sue her. She’ll lose her kids for forever at this rate. She releasedrevenge porn. She could go to prison!” I stood up and shook my head. “What a fucking idiot.”
“Language, honey.”
“Let her cuss, dammit. She deserves it.” Granny Lane wrapped her arms around me and held me tight. “It’s okay, baby-cakes. Something like this happened to me once.”
“Mom, no, it didn’t.”
“I beg to differ. Joey Hogan took Polaroids of me out behind his barn and when I wouldn’t agree to run off with him and get married, he sent them to your father.”
“Joey Hogan? Mr. Hogan from the supermarket?” Mom gasped. “When were you with him?”
Granny Lane shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”
My phone rang on the bed and I grabbed it. Instantly recognizing the school district telephone number, I grimaced and looked up at Mom and Granny Lane. “It’s the school.”
“Answer it and tell them it’s a deep fake.”
“How do you know—” Shaking my head, I answered the phone and tried to sound positive. “Hello, this is Autumn.”
My principal, Kenneth Graham, was on the other line. A politician more than an educator, he was relatively new and a major pain in the ass of everyone who was actually trying to do their job at the school. “Um, yes, Ms. Aarons. I was hoping to reach you.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and lowered my head. “Oh?”
“It’s been brought to my attention that you’ve been involved in some sort of scandal.” He cleared his throat. “The school district has a very clear stance on these sort of things, as you will find stated clearly in your contract. I’m very sorry to have to do this, but you’re being let go. If you have anything of personal importance at the school, we can set up a day for you to come in and get it. Do you?”
My mind whirled around as more nausea hit. “Do I what?”
“Have anything personal at the school that you’ll need to grab?”
“No.” I wouldn’t be able to walk back in and hold my head up. Whatever was left behind was just lost to me.
“Well, then. I’m sorry for this call and I hope you know that it wasn’t easy. Good luck, Ms. Aarons.”
I hung up and just sat there, frozen. Mom and Granny Lane rallied around me and held me as I cried on and off the rest of the day. My phone rang several more times, each one a different friend or coworker, but I couldn’t answer. The messages went ignored and I spent the night curled up on Mom’s bed, wondering how life had gotten so far off track.
There were more calls the next day. Calls from reporters and other random people. I ignored my cellphone, but they’d started calling Mom and even their ancient house phone. It was mayhem. Mom went around, looking out the windows nonstop, thinking there would be reporters camped outside the house at any minute. Granny Lane, on the other hand, went to the salon and got her hair curled so she’d look good when they did come.
She also came back from the salon with gossip, as always. Only that time, the gossip was about me. The other ladies at the salon were all talking about me and how lucky I was to find three hot men who also happened to be rich. The census with the over eighty crowd was that I was insane for wanting more than one man when just one was hassle enough, but they got it because of the money. They also all apparently thought the Phoenix brothers were beyond handsome.
