I Knew You Were Trouble - Part 8 (Patreon)

Happy (summer) holi-gays from Autumn and Maya!

In my original conception of this story, this chapter would be the start of winding down to the end of their journey. I'm kicking around the idea of writing that original ending to give you the option of seeing what that would look like - namely, keeping this story relatively concise and sex-filled (for the record - there are no additional sex scenes lol)

As we now know, however, I want to really dive into them, emotionally, and get into some more depth. I do love when my characters work for that happy ending.

So, in that way, we are really just beginning...

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Part Eight

Maya sat in her parents’ living room, her feet kicked up on the old coffee table, relaxing to the tune of the holiday music that filtered around her.

This really was, for her, a magical time of year. It always had been.

When she was little, of course, as the holidays were magical for many little kids. But it went so far beyond getting presents and time off from school. It was just how everything felt. Existing during the holidays was like existing in some sort of magical liminal space.

Currently, she was letting herself enjoy said liminal space.

It was the day after Christmas, she was home – well, at her parents’ home – with only the company of the pets. Which was lovely after having spent the last two days surrounded by people. Not only her family but, true to her word to Autumn, all of the people that came and went for holiday visits.

It was peaceful.

And peace felt very nice today.

Especially after last night.

Christmas morning had been great and magical and all – both of her sisters now having children meant that Christmas morning was a hell of a lot of fun. Maya took her job as cool aunt incredibly seriously all of the time, but holidays even more than usual.

Aaaand then in the evening she and her sisters were all a little tipsy, and maybe Maya had gotten too invested in checking her phone.

So what? Big deal.

She’d just… she’d really wanted to hear from Autumn. Like deep in her soul, had wanted to hear from Autumn for Christmas.

They had texted earlier in the day, a very brief exchange of holiday greetings. But it hadn’t gone beyond anything deeper than what they would have exchanged if Maya was just any other colleague to her.

There had been a part of Maya, this wild and uncontrollable part of her, that let herself hope. Hope that Autumn would surprise her and show up at her parents’ house on Christmas.

And not even in this grand, whimsical romantic gesture, either. She was hopeful, not fucking delusional.

But she’d imagined it so clearly in her mind’s eye: Autumn outside on her parents’ porch, maybe shifting from foot to foot, a little uneasy. The way Autumn definitely would be while coming over to Maya’s parents house, even if it was under the guise of a purely platonic relationship.

Maya had known it was not likely to happen. She’d known that. In the place in her mind that was rational.

But Autumn – and Maya’s thoughts around and feelings for Autumn – no longer existed in that place in her mind.

Nope, now the place Autumn lived in had mixed with the hopeful feelings part.

And of-fucking-course, her sisters had noticed.

And because they weren’t sober, they were more loose-lipped than they usually were. Which was saying something, because Maya’s sisters didn’t ever really hide their true feelings.

Oh, but the disapproval and the concern for Maya’s feelings in this Autumn-entanglement were very real.

So, it was nice today, to have slept in late and then have the house entirely to herself.

She still had a few hours before her parents would be home, and she’d made herself a plate of holiday leftovers, and was now lying back on the couch. Enjoying the quiet.

And ignoring both of her sister’s text messages.

When she felt her phone vibrate from where it was laying face-down on her stomach, she groaned.

Letting out a sigh, she picked it up, and –

And perked right the fuck up, when she saw Autumn’s name as the sender of the text.

Speak – think, rather – of the devil.

Autumn – 2:02P.M.What are you doing?

… interesting. Maya’s lips pulled into a curious frown; Autumn didn’t typically just decide to start a conversation like that. Like, without a purpose.

Maya – 2:02P.M.Why do you inquire? What are YOU doing?

She grinned, tapping her thumbs on the sides of her phone. Autumn detested when she answered a question with a question like that.

Autumn – 2:03P.M.Must you be so difficult?

Even as she huffed out a laugh, she muttered, “Must you be so difficult?”

Then again, difficult wasn’t necessarily the word she wanted to use to describe Autumn. She didn’t really feel that way. Autumn was… complicated.

Autumn – 2:03P.M.Are you available right now?

Even more intrigued, she sat up a little straighter. Could her holiday fantasy of Autumn arriving on her doorstep be coming true? Even if it was a day late, she would take that. Happily.

Maya – 2:03P.M.I could be

Autumn – 2:04P.M.I don’t appreciate all of your vague answers, for the record.

I sent you a Christmas present. It was delivered this morning.

So, no, it didn’t appear that Autumn was going to be arriving at her parents’ house. But that disappointment was quickly tempered by Autumn’s actual comment. A Christmas present?

Maya – 2:04P.M.Christmas, I have to tell you, IS technically over

Autumn – 2:05P.M.A Boxing Day present, then

Maya – 2:05P.M.Since when are you Canadian??

Autumn – 2:05P.M.I’ve never regretted sending someone a gift more than I do in this very moment.

Laughing, she bit her lip.

Maya – 2:05P.M.Okay, okay, I’ll stop.

Where is it?

Autumn – 2:06P.M.How should I know? I’m not there. I don’t know where your parents put your packages.

“Touché,” she murmured, sitting all of the way up and glancing around.

Maya didn’t currently know where her parents would put her packages, either. She hadn’t lived here in years, and her parents weren’t home. She didn’t even know if the package had even been delivered before they’d gone to work.

Excited anticipation buzzed through her, and she made her way to the front door, calling Autumn as she did so.

Finally, an excuse to call Autumn. She’d wanted to for the last few days, but… but Maya knew there were lines she wasn’t supposed to cross, still.

But Autumn had opened the door.

She was far more excited about this call than any gift Autumn could have possibly bought her, and that reality sank in as Autumn answered the phone.

“Hey you. I figured this was easier than texting, since you’re sending me on an adventure,” she commented, a little too giddy at being able to chat again.

It really had only been four days since her last day of work for the year, but god, it felt like forever. She typically saw Autumn almost every day, and now – with their sex life and the nights they spent together – it was nearly constant.

Autumn’s exasperation was palpable as she sighed into the phone. “We were doing a whole… texting thing, Maya.”

“Okay, well, now we’re doing a whole phone call thing, Autumn,” she parroted back, walking into mudroom. “Do you want to hang up?”

Autumn was quiet for a few seconds, and Maya frowned, the exasperation cutting through her giddiness. Really?!

“No,” she finally said. “This is fine.”

“Glad to hear it,” she dryly muttered back. “Now, what am I looking for?”

“A package,” Autumn answered, mildly.

“No kidding.”

“Well, it’s not like I sent you some sort of giant statue or something. It’s a standard sized package, with your name on it.”

There was nothing in the mudroom that Maya could see, so she supposed it hadn’t come before her parents had left this morning, then.

As soon as she opened the door, the package that had been left propped against it fell back and landed at her feet.

“Found it.”

She picked the box up and shut the door, examining the box as she did so. Not a large box by any means, but thin and sleek, in plain black outer packaging. Not heavy, either.

Curiosity buzzed through her, but she managed to hold herself back from opening it.

Mostly because she had to reiterate for Autumn, “I really didn’t get you the necklace so you’d give me something back.”

And if that was why Autumn bought her something, then Maya truly didn’t want it.

She hadn’t set out in her holiday shopping with the intention of getting Autumn a gift. She’d known, acutely, that Autumn likely wouldn’t respond all warm-and-fuzzy to the idea of Maya buying her something.

But then she’d just been so caught by that locket when she’d walked into the jewelry store with Gwen, who refused to shop online.

She’d wondered about that habit Autumn had, and had surmised far before they’d ever started sleeping together that Autumn had likely worn a necklace for a long time. What had happened to it? What had it been?

And… she still made that same motion, frequently. Maya could vividly picture the necklace she’d bought around Autumn’s neck, right against the soft, warm skin of her chest.

She wanted to give it to Autumn, purely for that reason. For the hope that Autumn would like it.

She had to work very hard not to think about how much she wanted to shower Autumn in little gifts like this, and how much she wished it wouldn’t have to be a thing if she did.

But she knew it would be.

“I know you didn’t,” Autumn answered, softly. “I know that.”

Sheer happiness slid through Maya, curling her lips into a smile. “Okay, then.”

Great. Now that that was settled…

She lifted the box and eagerly started tearing the outside wrapping. What had Autumn gotten for her? What had Autumn seen and thought to send Maya? Especially because she’d noted that the return address belonged to Autumn, so whatever it was, Autumn had received it, first, and then sent it to her.

“Are you just – opening it? Right now? Wherever you are?” She could hear the disapproval in Autumn’s tone.

Maya paused with the phone wedged between her ear and shoulder, the outer wrapping of the package half-opened in her hands. “Um… yes?”

“Just – go upstairs.” Autumn ordered. “Or wherever your room is.”

“You’re so bossy,” she teased, even as she turned on her heel toward the stairs.

It came as no surprise to her that Autumn would demand privacy regarding the gift she’d given Maya, even if she wasn’t here giving it to her in person.

“And you enjoy that about me. So go upstairs,” Autumn stated, her voice firm and commanding, and – oh?

Everything inside of Maya ran a little hotter, a little brighter. Even if this wasn’t about sex, Autumn’s voice – that fucking tone just… did things to her.

“I enjoy your bossy side in very specific situations,” she qualified, but started toward the stairs.

She had her foot on the first step when Autumn said, “This very well may be one of those situations.”

Maya froze where she stood, gaze falling down on the box in her hands, as she felt herself clench, and her clit pulsed.

There was something automatic – and very dangerous – about her body’s immediate reaction to simply that tone in Autumn’s voice.

“Uh… oh?” She asked, her voice thick.

It shouldn’t be this easy to turn her on. In fact, it was alarming that it was so easy. That she was so easy. But it wasn’t like this was her system’s automatic response to just anyone, or even people she’d been attracted to, in general. It was a response to Autumn.

Feeling everything inside of her start to rush a bit faster and hotter, she nearly tripped over her own feet as she hustled up the stairs. She had no fucking clue what, exactly, would be awaiting her on this call. But she was excited to find out.

“Hmm,” Autumn sighed, loftily. “Maybe. If you get somewhere private quickly enough…”

She trailed off just as Maya hit the top of the steps and – quickly enough? “Quickly enough for what?” She needed to know.

There was a second half to that sentence, and she was dying to hear it.

“Are you in your room?” Autumn asked rather than answer.

“No one else is even home,” she insisted, but didn’t slow her pace.

“Why don’t you check your phone?” Autumn technically asked, but it was a command. She was telling Maya to check her phone, and her tone was absolutely, undoubtedly, her sex-voice.

Anticipation thrummed through her, hot and heavy, as she complied.

“Holy fuck,” she breathed, eyes widening, as she felt the blood start to pulse, insistently, between her legs.

Photos. Of Autumn.

Did she had a goddamn photographer taking these? Because the pictures looked like high-class porn.

But it wasn’t porn, it was absolutely, undeniably Autumn.

She knew those breasts. Small, just perfectly sized for Maya’s palms. She knew Autumn’s hand, the hand in the photos, cupping her own breasts and pinching her hard, pink nipples.

“Jesus christ,” she could hear the heated whine in her own tone, but… well, jesus christ.

She was torn between wanting to scroll faster to see everything she could possibly see and wanting to move at a glacial pace, wanting to memorize every detail. It had been less than a week since they’d had sex, but she felt starved.

She’d sent photos to Autumn over the last couple of months. But there had never been any reciprocity. And Maya had been okay with that – she’d initiated it, and she’d sent Autumn her photos because she wanted to. Much like the giving of the necklace, there was no expectation in return.

Besides, she’d have never believed Autumn would be okay with doing this.

A strangled whimper escaped her throat when she got to the photo of Autumn’s hand between her own legs, and it wasn’t just for show, either.

Just the picture would have been enough to leave Maya aching and needy, but no. She could see, in the next picture she had sent, Autumn’s wetness on her own fingers.

“Is this you – now? Are you touching yourself right now?” She needed to know. She needed to know.

“Yes,” Autumn informed her, and even though she was using that tone, that imperious tone, there it was.

That breathy quality that she got whenever she touched herself or when Maya touched her. She’d obviously been deliberately, mindfully biting those sounds back until this moment.

“How long?” She asked, her hands shaking as she put her phone on speaker, tossed it on the bed, and quickly started shedding her clothing.

All of the sudden, the sweater and pants were far too hot.

“Were you touching yourself when you texted me?”

Autumn hummed softly, the sound deliberately noncommittal and holy fuck if Autumn didn’t know exactly how to drive her insane.

“I’ll only answer questions when you have my gift opened,” Autumn loftily responded. “And when you’re in a position to use it.”

Maya didn’t have to be told twice.

She could already feel how wet she was as she opened the box to find a vibrator inside. A little slimmer than the other toys they’d used together, and tightly curved. With one part that clearly was supposed to curve up inside of her, the other designed to touch her clit.

She felt herself drip down her thigh as the realization set in.

Yes, she’d touched herself in the last few days without Autumn, but she knew it would be better with Autumn in her ear. Closing her eyes and imagining Autumn as the one touching her, as she used her new gift.

She had to clear her throat to be able to manage out, “Typically, vibrators don’t come unwrapped. You know, without the cellophane or whatever it’s called…?”

“I had it sent to myself, first. So I could pair it with my phone and charge it before overnighting it to you.”

Precisely the answer she’d imagined, and she felt herself clench with it, her grip tightening on the vibrator. “Paired with your phone?”

“Turn it on. But don’t touch anything over than the power,” Autumn’s directive came, sharply. “Strip, then lay on your stomach on your bed. You can touch yourself with your fingers to get wet enough so you can put the vibrator inside, and then stop.”

Maya was so ready and on the same wavelength, already doing so by the time Autumn had finished speaking.

Given the size and that with Autumn, Maya could go from zero to soaked in about thirty fucking seconds, she didn’t need to touch herself at all to situate the vibrator. Even as she shuddered situating herself on her stomach with the slight pressure inside of her and against her clit, she forced herself to be still. More than anything, she wanted to see what Autumn had in store for her.

“I’m ready,” she breathed out, curling her fingers into her sheets. “Unsurprisingly, I’m wet enough from your pictures already that it slid right in.”

She clenched around the unmoving vibrator inside of her at the soft, strangled sound Autumn let out.

“Fuck!” Maya had never been so grateful to have the house to herself, as the shout left her throat without warning.

Because all at once, the vibrator came to life.

Throbbing inside of her, pulsing against her clit in matching tempos – no slow introduction, but intense, hard and fast – Maya kicked her legs out, dropping her forehead down against the mattress as she tried, desperately, to get a hold of herself.

Which, frankly, was impossible.

“Does it feel good?” Autumn asked, and Maya lifted her head up.

Her vision already felt hazy, her mouth had fallen open as she was panting, rolling her hips mindlessly down against the bed. “Y-yes,” she managed back. “So good.”

There was a hitch in Autumn’s breath, and she knew Autumn had resumed touching herself.

She clenched so fucking hard against the vibrator, a rasping whimper escaping the back of her throat, and –

And she nearly collapsed against the bed when the rhythms both slowed. The movement inside of her pulsing, thrumming, but slower now. The vibration on her clit lessening to the lightest of pressures, and she managed to take in a deep breath, her muscles unclenching ever so slightly.

“Fucking hell, Autumn,” she gasped out.

“I wanted to know just how ready you were,” came her haughty response. “You sounded very sure of yourself.”

“I – oh!” She cried out as the vibration against her clit quickened again, even as the pulsing inside of her stayed slow and steady.

“Have you touched yourself? Since we last saw one another?” Autumn asked, her voice low and commanding even with how breathy she sounded.

The sensation on her clit slowed again, allowing her to answer. Which she was able to, through panting breaths, “I… yes. I – I have.”

For a few seconds, Autumn was quiet.

And when she spoke, it came in tandem with the vibrator inside of her pulsing – heavy and demanding, making her walls clench so fucking hard – “Has it felt as good as when I touch you?”

“No – ah, god.” She grinded her hips down against the bed, as if she could control anything.

But she couldn’t. Even if she would disobey Autumn’s order, the vibrator was designed for Maya to have no control, now.

The vibration on her clit crept up in intensity, eventually matching the beat that pulsed inside of her pussy – almost as intense as when Autumn had started, but now she felt slightly more prepared.

Only slightly, because it took everything Maya had to stay here, in the moment, rather than to allow herself to drop to the bed and let Autumn – by way of the vibrator – fuck her within an inch of her life.

“No, touching yourself doesn’t feel as good as when I touch you?” Autumn asked, and there was something there. Something in her tone that was sharp and demanding and needy in a way Maya didn’t hear very often from her.

Not having the energy to hold her head up, she dropped down next to the phone and closed her eyes. Envisioning Autumn right here next to her, as she managed to answer honestly, “No, it doesn’t. Ever since the – mm, fuck – the, uh, the first t-time we had sex. It hasn’t felt as good as you do.”

“Not even this vibrator?” Autumn’s voice was still exacting, and she could hear the way Autumn, herself, was panting, now. How she was getting closer and closer to coming, the same as Maya was.

Autumn never touched herself at the same time that she touched Maya, she vaguely registered. Not with the intention of coming. That was what as so different right now. They didn’t ever do this at the same time.

The last thing she needed right now was for anything to bring her closer to hurtling over the precipice and into her orgasm, but that realization pushed her ever closer.

“No,” she answered, her teeth grit as she sensations wracked through her body. “Not even this. Do – oh, god.” She had to pause, to press her cheek hard into her bed, as she gripped the blanket, desperately trying to ward off her impending orgasm. “Does it feel as good for you when you touch yourself without me?”

Her leg was shaking, and she was so fucking close, she knew this answer might tip her right over the edge. But she needed it.

“No,” Autumn finally answered, her voice so faint. Like she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell Maya, but that she also did, and, “That’s why I… I texted.”

Yeah, that did it.

“Autumn, I’m – I’m coming,” it was all she could do to warn her, before she fell right over the edge.

She moaned, long and low, not only as the sensations thrummed through her body, but became even more intense as she heard Autumn fall into her own orgasm.

She shuddered as the waves of pleasure worked through her body, compounded by the way she could hear Autumn softly saying, “Maya.”

Autumn reached out to her to do this. Autumn needed her for this.

And holy hell, she gasped as a second, smaller, orgasm quaked through her at that thought.

She had to quickly dart a trembling hand between her legs, flipping onto her back as she did so, to take the vibrator out almost immediately after, the sensations making her lightheaded.

Almost immediately after, the vibrator shut off, as Autumn clearly came back to herself, as well.

Maya could only lay there, in the middle of her head, her blood humming through her veins. Beating so loudly in her ears, it was all she could hear for long moments, as she came down.

“So…” Autumn breathed out, eventually.

As she was finally able to grasp at reality, she wondered where, exactly, this was going to go. Because they’d never had sex like this – as in, not physically together. And it had taken a while into them having sex for Autumn to be able to settle into talking and having intimacy afterwards.

Let alone the cuddling that had started taking shape in the last six weeks or so – Maya felt that was better left unsaid for now.

Everything inside of her got caught up, waiting for Autumn ending the call, and probably in somewhat of a business-like way.

In fact, the very idea of that – of Autumn clearing her throat and getting all polite before excusing herself to hang up – made Maya laugh, even as it made her stomach twist in anticipatory disappointment.

“So…?” She prompted when Autumn didn’t continue.

“So, how has your time off of work been?” Autumn asked, after primly clearing her throat.

Maya blinked up at her ceiling in surprise.

“It’s been good,” she answered, dragging out the word so it ended tilted up, in a question.

Not because she was questioning that answer – her time off from work so far had been good – but Autumn asking that question, so off-handedly after they’d had sex was so… unexpected.

And it didn’t sound like she was asking because she was trying to get through some perfunctory conversation, either. Autumn didn’t do perfunctory conversation. She had no problem drawing a line and sticking to it. Autumn would have no issue saying goodbye and hanging up, now.

“That’s good,” Autumn murmured. “And, um, Christmas with your family was fun? The pictures you sent were nice. I mean, it looked incredibly chaotic, but. Nice.”

“It was. Both chaotic and nice. The kids and I took our typical midday nap on the floor with some holiday movies on in the background – the usual.”

Autumn laughed, even as she groaned. “The usual. You are so ridiculous. Did you end up reading that book you bought like, a month ago, and have complained about not having time to get into?”

So… Autumn didn’t want to hang up, Maya put together. And, as she was able to really start connecting logical dots, the haze of arousal fading, she realized that maybe Autumn hadn’t only called because she was horny.

It was becoming clear that she’d called because she wanted to talk. To Maya. Clearly, she’d had these thoughts and questions before today, but hadn’t reached out to discuss them, and…

“You know, we don’t have to have sex so we can talk. Like. If you want to call me and chat, you can just call me,” there was a light teasing edge in her voice, which she did deliberately. First, because she was amused. Secondly, because she knew Autumn, and she knew how very quickly she could become defensive.

Autumn’s answering silence made Maya’s amusement flee the scene.

She frowned, the hand she had resting on her stomach curling into a fist.

She shouldn’t push this, shouldn’t say anything else. Logically, she knew that.

And yet, she couldn’t help it, because it made everything inside of her feel so… shitty. Hesitantly, she asked, “You do know that, right?”

“Did you not like the sex?” Autumn responded immediately, with that defensive edge in her voice.

Despite the fact that Autumn couldn’t see, she rolled her eyes. “I obviously liked the sex. I always like the sex with you, and you know that. That’s not the point.”

“Well, it kind of seems like you’re making it the point?” Autumn shot back, all prickly.

Maya tightly closed her eyes, trying to ward off all of these other feelings that threatened to needle at her. She couldn’t even really identify them properly, but that wasn’t really the point, either. The point was that none of the feelings were good. It made her feel sad and frustrated and…

“I wasn’t trying to make that the point.” God, what did that even mean? What was she saying? “I was just… you know, Autumn, if you missed me, that’s all you have to say.”

There, she managed the find the easy, glib tone that she hoped could diffuse the tension that had so easily taken root.

“Missed you?” Autumn drawled. “You’ve barely been gone for four days. Let’s get real, Maya.”

With a deep breath, she forced down all of the weird, negative feelings that had started to creep in. At the fact that Autumn clearly didn’t think of their relationship as one close enough to have a personal conversation without sex involved in some way. Or – more aptly – that she wouldn’t let herself feel that way about their relationship.

But it did bother her, and she wasn’t able to let go of it completely.

It wasn’t like she felt used or anything like that – the sex with Autumn was always fantastic and always very consensual – but… somehow, she felt the opposite. Which, she supposed, made no logical sense. If she believed this was just sex – the way she had in the start of it all – she wouldn’t feel this way. Because, a few months ago, Autumn would have never have called her.

And even if she would have reached out for sex, she would have promptly ended the call right after. Which, strangely, would have made Maya feel… better?

When it had been just sex, it was just sex.

But it obviously wasn’t, anymore. And for whatever reason, Autumn wouldn’t – couldn’t? – even acknowledge that. Even when she was the one reaching out to Maya!

However, right now, while Autumn was on the phone, was not the time to try to delve into this. Especially because, regardless of how convoluted it was becoming, she wanted to talk to Autumn. Because she did miss her. And Maya could admit that.

“Yep,” she sighed out, doing her best to shake off these swamping, negative feelings that she didn’t want to be experiencing.

She took in another long, deep breath through her nose, and held it. Slowly breathed it out. Then another. And, okay.

She lifted her other arm and draped it under her head as a pillow. “Four days, and you missed me. I’ve missed you,” she offered, somehow managing to walk the fine line between vulnerable honesty and teasing.

“Get a grip,” Autumn returned, her voice sounding a little strangled.

Which made Maya grin. Okay, fine, she could do this, now. She was back in the right headspace.

“I have a great grip. My grip strength is very high.”

“As I said, you are absolutely ridiculous.” But there was laughter in Autumn’s voice, and it made a victorious warmth slide through her veins.

“My ridiculousness is also very high,” she acknowledged. “If it was a superlative, I would have won it.”

“Anyway,” Autumn pointedly cleared her throat. “If you’re not busy today… where is your family? I thought that family togetherness was the big impetus for your long visit home?”

Okay, that also worked to dissipate some of these cloyingly bad feelings. Autumn might not be able to admit that she wanted to hear more about her life, that she missed Maya, but she clearly did.

“I mean, yeah, spending time with my family is the reason I’m here. But my parents only have their firm closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas, so they had a whole caseload to go back to, today. When we were little – like, little-little, before Gwen and Ruby were old enough to babysit me on their own – our parents used to take us into the office throughout this week.”

A little smile played on her lips at the memories. Granted, those days had stopped for Maya earlier than they had for her sisters, given that her parents had let Maya stay home with them by the time her sisters were teenagers.

But still.

“So, you’d go to work with your parents during your time off from school?” Autumn asked, sounding both curious and dubious. “That doesn’t sound like it was fun.”

“It was,” she disagreed, the nostalgia still riding high. “Even though our parents worked a lot, the firm really is a family-affair. I mean, now Ruby works there, too. And when we were little, even when they had clients coming in, we had the run of the place.”

It had never been this sterile, uniform workplace, even if her parents were well-respected lawyers. Even though they’d worked a lot, they’d managed to raise Maya and her sisters as a family unit.

“Huh,” Autumn hummed. “Do you – never mind,” she brusquely cut herself off.

More than a little intrigued, Maya frowned. “No, you can’t tease me like that. What were you going to say?”

“It’s not… it’s none of my business,” Autumn settled on, primly.

She rolled her eyes again. “Whatever you want to know about me can be your business,” she stated, firmly.

Because she wanted that. She wanted Autumn to be curious, to want to know more about her. She wanted Autumn to ask questions about her.

She wanted to be able to ask questions about Autumn, too. She wanted to ask what Autumn used to do during school breaks, since she clearly didn’t go to work with her parents. She wanted to know what Autumn’s parents even did for a living.

But she kept her mouth zipped, because she knew she couldn’t ask.

“I’m just curious about your family all being lawyers. Your parents obviously had a big influence on that, since you and your sisters all went to law school.”

Maya waited for a few seconds, but Autumn didn’t say anything else. “Yes…? What are you curious about?”

“Gwen and Ruby are actively working in law. Ruby works with your parents. So, why don’t you?” Autumn’s voice was quiet and thoughtful, like she was trying to puzzle out Maya’s answer even as the question left her mouth.

Maya blinked up at the ceiling, realizing that she and Autumn really had never discussed this, before. Even though Maya could name every single color code Autumn used in her schedule, even though she knew precisely how to touch Autumn to make her come in minutes, even though she knew Autumn’s nighttime skincare routine by heart, they didn’t know these things about one another.

These big life conversations, that Maya would have had with someone she was dating likely even before they ever slept together.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. Obviously,” Autumn hastily tacked on.

Which made Maya realize that she’d been lost in her own thoughts for too long, thinking about things she didn’t want to think about.

“Uh, no, that’s a totally normal question for you to ask.”

Autumn knew that Maya was, technically, a lawyer. But she didn’t know why she didn’t practice. Because when it had come up in conversation nearly two years ago, Autumn hadn’t wanted to know any of the details.

Shaking her head, putting herself back in the moment, she answered, “It’s not a big thing, though. Not some a crazy story.”

“You literally went to law school and passed the bar, and then decided not to pursue law,” Autumn’s incredulity dripped from her tone.

Maya laughed at it, shrugging, as she acknowledged, “You aren’t wrong.”

“Family pressure?” Autumn asked, quietly, still clearly trying to suss out the explanation.

It gave Maya another pause, because… Autumn wanted to know. She wanted to know her, and it made Maya’s heart skip a beat.

“Not really? I guess more like family expectation?” As she said the words aloud, she wrinkled her nose in disdain. “Not even that, actually. My parents do love that we all went to law school,” she acknowledged with a wry chuckle, thinking about how truly thrilled her parents were. “But I was never worried that they’d be disappointed or upset if I took a different path.”

Autumn’s silence felt heavy, before – after several long seconds – she cleared her throat and murmured, “Good. That’s good.”

“I, honestly, liked law school. And I had every intention of practicing law, afterwards. I even worked for the next six months at my parents’ firm,” her voice grew quiet as she thought back to that time, a couple of years ago.

“Oh?” Autumn asked, the interest present in that single syllable.

“But… I don’t know. It didn’t feel quite right, and I didn’t know why. I loved being around my family. I enjoyed what I was doing. Something just felt off, and it made me question things. Like – did I really want to be a lawyer? Did I just do it because it was a foregone conclusion? Did I enjoy staying so close to my family, or did I just stay in Philly because my sisters did, and it seemed like it made sense?”

The couple of months when she’d started having these doubts had been the worst in her life, quite frankly. Because things should have made sense, then. Everything was going exactly according to her plan.

Blowing out a deep breath, she continued, “I decided that I just needed some space. To really figure out who I was and who I wanted to be, without any perceived expectation.”

“Right, so you became a personal assistant to a senator,” Autumn dryly responded. “Just a casual alternative career while trying to find yourself.”

Amusement burst to life inside of her, making her laugh along with it.

“See, you get it.” Sobering slightly, she tacked on, “Look, maybe I didn’t know if law was right for me at that time, but I had just worked my ass off in law school. Being able to put that on my application to work for Charlotte was the entire reason I got my foot in the door. And it wasn’t like I wanted to bum around; I figured working with Charlotte would open my eyes to a lot of new experiences. And I was right,” she finished, quietly.

Not just professionally, though of course that was true. Maya had really interacted with a whole slew of people in different places and professions while working for Charlotte than she ever would have, otherwise.

And it had brought her to Autumn.

Her stomach tied into knots at that thought, and she decided to test the waters.

“Okay, now your turn,” she kept her tone casual and easygoing. “Tell me: when did you stop believing in Santa?”

She held her breath as she waited for Autumn’s response.

This had to be okay, right? She wasn’t asking for anything deeply personal, no details about her family or anything.

Still, Autumn didn’t answer for several moments. When she did, her voice was very low, a little rough. “When I was around five or six, I guess.”

“Young,” she commented, but bit back any other follow-up questions. Questions she desperately wanted answers to; she wanted to soak in Autumn’s life story with a ferocity she couldn’t have imagined. But this was a win, and she would take it.

“What about you?” Autumn asked, predictably taking the attention off of her own past.

“Uhhh, I think I was four?” She narrowed her eyes in thought. “Yeah, it was when I was four.”

“Four?” Autumn echoed, sounding shockingly affronted. “And you said I was young?”

Shockingly and amusingly, and Maya couldn’t help but laugh. “Why do you sound personally offended by that?”

“Why did you have the magic spoiled when you were so young?!”

“Because that was the year Gwen found out, and she took it upon herself to inform me and Ruby of the horrible lie our parents were perpetuating.” She could still remember Gwen very seriously and self-righteously angrily sitting both her and Ruby down in Maya’s room to tell them the truth.

Autumn sniffed, and somehow, someway, Maya could hear her disapproval in that simple sound, even before she spoke. “I think that it would have been Gwen’s job as the oldest sister to keep the magic alive for you.”

Immediately, she thought about when Autumn had met Gwen, and had confirmed that she had siblings that were all younger. So, Autumn was the oldest sister in her family, and clearly had taken that responsibility very seriously.

Maya was far too endeared by that, even if it left her yearning for more answers. If Autumn had been so close to her siblings, where were they now? She obviously didn’t have them in her life, so… why?

She bit that back, even though it was a little harder this time.

“Okay, next question: favorite holiday song. Go.”

“Hmm,” Autumn’s thoughtful hum sounded over the line, and Maya relaxed into it.

So, maybe things weren’t perfect. Maybe Maya’s emotional needs weren’t all quite getting met at this point.

She would handle that. Because… well, maybe Autumn wouldn’t – couldn’t? – verbalize anything, but she’d called Maya tonight. Autumn initiated contact. Maybe she couldn’t acknowledge that it was more than sex, but she was the one that clearly wanted more tonight.

Maya could work with this. She could.

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