My Autumn and My Winter

As if reading his mind, Iorich spoke up.

"Tomorrow Genki Goro will be on sight. He's only going to be here for one day, so we have to film all of his spots at once. Therefore, everyone should be prepared to shoot elimination sequences. This should NOT be viewed as anything but what it is; We the producers have no idea who is going to win."

Steve didn't disbelieve her. After all, he would have expected them to allow Hideyoshi and Junko to win if anyone was going to, as they were Japanese.

He looked over the remaining couples. Italian, Korean, and black. With him and Autumn—well, okay, just him—representing the Anglo Saxons, he had to wonder if Iorich wasn't full of it, and this result had been planned from the start.

When they got back to the room, Autumn put on a light jacket and headed back out the door.

"Where are you going?"

She stopped halfway through the portal, and he caught a flash of fear in her eyes before she smiled.

"Just need some fresh air."

"You've been needing a lot of fresh air lately. Do I smell?"

Autumn came back into the room and hugged him tightly.

"No, your smell, and everything else about you, is just wonderful."

The warmth of her words, the feel of her arms around him, was almost enough to erase his suspicions as she headed back out the door.

Almost.

Chapter 24

It took over two hours for a car to pass by them on the desolate Mexican highway, and another hour after that when one actually stopped to assist them. Rich ended up riding in the back of a rusted blue pick-up with chicken wire in lieu of a tailgate, Diablo's cage sitting between his knees. Susan sat up front, which was fine with him; Their rescuer had peculiarly bad body odor.

Once they had arrived at the tiny hamlet that was to host the cockfighting, Susan paid the driver for gas and added a twenty dollar tip. In short order, the man drove them to an auto body shop with rusted relics flanking the parking lot. The squat building badly needed a new coat of paint, but it was apparently bustling; Dozens of shiny cars sat in rows outside the garage, some still half covered in primer. Behind the paint shop was a large barn, the sounds and smells of livestock wafting out of the wide open doors.

All eyes turned on them as they entered the barn, beady glares coming from under wide brimmed hats. One of the young men in charge of setting up the brackets recognized Diablo, if not the two of them, and soon had them whisked away to a horse corral. Diablo clucked excitedly inside his cage, perhaps talking smack to the other roosters.

"You figure this is it?"

Rich turned toward Susan.

"What?"

"The people. Do you think this is it? I would have expected a bigger turnout.

Rich scanned the barn. There were perhaps two dozen people present, and all of them seemed focused on one task or another related to cockfighting.

"I don't think so. Things probably won't start jumping until after sundown. These things are technically illegal, you know."

"What time is it now?"

Rich dug out his near-useless cell phone. There weren't going to be bars, but at least it was still a reliable clock.

"About half past seven," Rich said. "Hopefully, we'll be out of here soon."

And Diablo will have found my car, he added silently.

** *

A flash of heat rolled over Steve as the pyrotechnics roared above the stage. They were certainly pulling out all the stops for Genki Goro. He had yet to catch sight of the man, but from the ramped up excitement level of the film crew he could certainly feel his presence.

He was standing on stage next to Autumn, the other couples spread out to either side. It must have been strange for the eliminated couples to pretend to be excited about the host. They were all supposed to be pretending that this was the first day of competition, at least until Goro was done filming.

As the pyros subsided, Genki Goro slid out from between two sparkling curtains. They were supposed to shout and whoop and holler, as if they were fourteen year old girls greeting the latest prepubescent boy band. Steve caught Autumn's eye, noted that she was phoning it in just like him. She rolled her eyes at the way Serenity bounced up and down like a cheerleader, jostling her shoulder.

Genki Goro spoke on a microphone in Japanese. They were not supplied with a translation, but were ordered to watch the cue cards held up by a production assistant. Nod seriously. Smile. Look at your spouse like you're scared. Steve hoped they weren't being set up for an elaborate practical joke.

The man himself was smaller than Steve was expecting. Even for a Japanese man he would have been considered petite. His head barely reached Steve's chest, and his spindly limbs were not concealed by his mirrored sequin jacket. Still, his mood was infectious, and Steve found himself clapping along with the other contestants.

Then that was it. Their 'host' disappeared into his trailer and Iorich was barking at them to head for wardrobe. Apparently, they didn't want them wearing the same clothes as the 'first day' on set. The women were separated from them and Steve found himself growing bored as they waited for their next instructions.

After nearly an hour of trying and failing to engage his fellows in conversation, they were told to head back to the stage. The day had grown overcast, so the crew had arranged for a half dozen bright lights to be arranged around the wooden platform. Most of them were centered on a padded wooden chair with a heart shaped backrest.

They perked up as the cameras went on, and Iorich appeared before them.

"Gentlemen." Her steely gaze captured each of them in turn. "Congratulations on making it this far. Some of you have had some serious issues with your significant others. I am afraid that, after this next competition, they might get even worse."

The men all stared at each other as if in trepidation. Actually, it was one of the things they were told to do by the director. Steve was curious as to what they had planned, as it looked like the obstacle course was covered in tarps today.

"Each of you will have a turn in the chair." Steve's focus snapped back to Iorich. "You will sit and each of the other contestant's wives will give you a lap dance. You're eliminated if you become...aroused."

There was some snickering at that, which the director said was natural and so they kept it in. Of course, they did seven more takes to make sure that their laughing seemed 'natural.'

"Steve." He swallowed and took a step forward. "Since you scored the lowest of the couples still alive last round, you have to go first today."

Steve was directed to the chair. He must have been projecting the right air of fear, because they only made him walk to it once. After he was sitting comfortably, he noticed that the chair was lined with led lights along the edges. A grip handed him a wire terminating in an elastic band.

"What's this for?" he asked the harried looking woman.

"It's to measure your arousal. You can put it on yourself."

"Oh." Steve peered at the elastic. It seemed about the right size to go around his thumb, with some room to spare, but was far too small for his wrist. He started to slip it onto his thumb.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh, putting this thing on?"

"That's not where it goes." He followed her gaze down to his lap.

"Wait, I'm supposed to....there?"

"Yup. Hurry up."

"Can I get a towel or something?"

The woman ignored him. Sighing, he reached down and slid the device under his waistband. He arranged it on his member, growing alarmed as the tightness of the band had him getting excited already.

He didn't have long to wait. Music from some forgotten hair band blasted over the PA as Iorich introduced the first contestant, Jenna. The lithe Asian woman came out from backstage from a swishing curtain. Steve's jaw dropped at the miniscule bikini adorning her tawny skin. She put her hands behind her head and popped her hips in an untrained, but still appealing way.

Think of dead babies, he thought as she approached the chair. Bloated, bloody dead babies...

Jenna took his head in her hands and shoved his face into her bosom. It was smaller but firmer than Autumn's, the soft flesh seeming to embrace him. Then she got a bit excited and he was hit almost painfully. Good thing too, as it kept him from expanding below the waist.

She turned around and bent low, her buttocks inches from his face. He tried to keep a good natured smile on his face, but all he could think about was how Autumn was probably watching his every move. Somehow, he managed to resist her charms until the buzzer sounded and her minute was up.

Next out was Lawshawnda. She had a cute nervousness about her, and seemed mildly embarrassed by her tiny white bikini. The way that she couldn't stop laughing was more adorable than sexy, and Steve found it easy to resist her clumsy gyrations even as he laughed with her.

This hasn't been so bad. Two down, one to go.

Vanessa didn't walk out on stage—she crawled out. Moving with a feline, sinuous grace, lustful expression partially hidden by her dark tresses as they cascaded down her face, Vinnie-D's wife seemed more a force of nature than a woman. She reached Steve's chair and dragged herself up his body. Her eyes, so soft and big and brown like Autumn's, bored into him with a relentless question. Don't you want me? Don't you want to grab me and take me right here?

He had to admit the answer was yes. Struggling to stop what was happening below his waist, he bit his lip so hard it nearly bled. But when Vanessa plopped herself onto his lap and gyrated in a way that said she was no stranger to lap dances, he lost all control. He kind of felt it wasn't fair, as he was only at half-mast when the lights went off, but there was no good way to complain about it.

Vanessa pecked him on the nose and patted his shoulder before getting off of him. Steve's cheeks burned as Iorich approached him.

"So, Steve, you held out almost to the end."

"Yeah." He tried to see if Autumn was behind her, but couldn't.

"Vanessa seems to know what she's doing, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, that she does." C'mon, lady, get it over with.

"Do you find Vanessa attractive?"

"Uh, well...I mean, I'm married so...no?"

Iorich smiled as if he had said exactly what she wanted to hear.

"Your lips say no," her gaze dropped to his lap and the wire disappearing beneath his trunks. "But your body says otherwise..."

Steve shamefully went off-stage to wait. If being on stage was an ordeal, watching Autumn was worse. She was no exotic dancer, but she was simply loaded with sensuality. It took everything he had not to get up and throttle Vinnie when he actually reached out and smacked her on the rear. Worse was the way Autumn smiled at him, a smile he never expected to see directed at any other man. It seemed to do the trick, as Vinnie was eliminated shortly after.

He felt himself rise to his feet and leave the stage, cameras following him as he went. One of the assistants actually had the gall to come up and ask him how he felt.

"How I feel?" Steve wondered if he was in trouble or playing right into their hands. "My wife was just dry humping another guy on national television. How am I supposed to feel?"

He shoved past the camera crew and plunged into the woods, hoping that their power cords would prevent them from following him. It was a dashed hope when they unplugged their gear and crashed through the undergrowth after him. He ended up in a thicket, surrounded by woods too thick for human passage, and sulked there for about an hour. Eventually the film crew abandoned him, perhaps having something more interesting to capture on celluloid.

If his disappearing act caused any problems, no one mentioned it. He felt his stomach growl after a time, and headed up for the buffet line. The other couples were there, even those that had been eliminated, but there was no sign of Autumn.

"Mr. Borgia." Steve whipped his head around to face Iorich. Her lips were pursed, her eyes narrow on her angular face. "From now on, when we are filming, you are NOT to leave until dismissed."

"Sorry."

She nodded.

"It's not a tremendous deal. As it turns out, your angry storming off will play well on TV. Still, we prefer for such moments to be expected and controlled. Clear?"

"Clear. Uh, hey." Iorich turned back to face him. "Have you seen Autumn?"

"Not since the elimination ceremony, which you also missed."

He licked his lips. "Who lost?"

"Sam and Jenna. The lights went off before Autumn even touched him. That's quite a woman you have Steve. Quite a woman."

He gasped as Iorich smacked him firmly across the butt on his way out the door. For some reason, he was glad to still be in the competition. After making inquiries of the crew, he discovered that Autumn had last been seen heading for the woods out back.

The moon was perched low in the sky, casting reddish light over the sylvan setting. Steve realized that Autumn could have been ten feet away but still invisible when the smell hit his nostrils. Acrid, pungent, and familiar. He followed his nose until he spotted Autumn standing in a shaft of moonlight. Her face glowed red for a moment as she took a drag off the hand-rolled cigarette in her tattooed hand.

"Hey," he said, stepping out of the trees.

Autumn did a double take, flicking the lit cigarette to the ground behind her. When her eyes narrowed in recognition, she quickly bent to retrieve it.

"Hey." She picked up the white paper wrapped cylinder and brushed some leaves off of it. Then her gaze fell on Steve and her lips twisted into a sneer. "I guess you want to give me a hard time about this, huh?"

"No." Steve held his hands up, palms facing outward. "No, I'm not going to berate you for smoking a joint."

Autumn relaxed, leaning against a tree and sighing.

"You're not going to give me a hard time?"

She took another drag from the joint and held the smoke while she considered him.

"About what?"

"About, y'know, the competition-"

"Oh." Autumn laughed. "No, not really. That girl was a pro. Hell, I was getting turned on watching her."

"Sorry I ran off. I just couldn't watch....y'know."

"Pffft." Autumn walked over to him, glassy eyed and giggling. She rubbed her hands through his hair. "Your hair is soooo soft...."

"You are soooo stoned," Steve said with a grin.

"Shut up." Autumn stood back and sighed. "I like your hair so much more than mine."

"What's wrong with your hair? I like your hair."

"It's just so dry and brittle, and if I don't keep it in pigtails or braids it gets all kinky."

"Well, maybe our kids will get my genes for hair, then."

Autumn's eyes dropped to the ground. Her lips were slightly parted, tongue flicking out to moisten them furtively.

"Uh," Steve cleared his throat "I guess I don't care about the pot, but once you're pregnant you might want to-"

There was a short, strangled sob and Autumn hid her face in her hands.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Steve went to her and wrapped her in his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder, tears making his shirt damp. For a time he held her in the moonlight. Gradually her sobbing died down, and soon she was merely sniffling as her hands stroked his broad back.

"I can't have your baby, Steve."

He drew away from her enough that they could look into each other's eyes. Her mouth was in inverted U, red lips trembling. Steve brought his hand to her face and wiped away a tear before touching her mouth with his thumb.

"I can't risk getting pregnant," she went on, her hands smoothing out his shirt where it had become wrinkled from her crying. "If I do, the Lupus might flare up."

"Shh," Steve held her close "it's all right. I don't want to lose you, Autumn. I don't."

"I know." Her shoulders shook once more, her voice became strained from grief. "But I want to have your baby, Steve. I want you to know that. I really, really want to."

"It's all right. I understand. We can always adopt."

"Because that's sooo easy." She sniffled wetly. "I don't want someone else's baby. I want yours. Yours and mine."

"Well, maybe we can do a surrogacy or something."

"Yeah, right. Those never go well. All those Lifetime original movies can't be wrong."

Steve laughed more than it was worth as some of the tension was dispelled from his suddenly weary limbs.

"Well, whatever happens, I can deal with it. As long as you're with me."

Autumn snuggled up to him and sighed.

"Always. And Forever."

Chapter 25

Circling his opponent, El Pullo Diablo puffed up his black feathers in a frightening display. If the other rooster, who Rich suspected was hopped up on something akin to cocaine, was intimidated whatsoever, it gave no sign. It leaped into the air, talons slashing.

El Diablo plucked the white rooster right out of the air with his beak. A brutal slam that would have done Susan proud followed. After that, it seemed academic for Diablo to peck out the helpless, dying bird's eye—but that didn't stop him.

Rich turned his face away from the grisly sight, glad that he and Susan had been relieved as Diablo's guardians when sunset was nigh. He was no idiot; He knew where chicken nuggets came from and how much factory animals suffered. But at the end of the day, Rich was a lover, not a fighter, and violence just wasn't in his nature.

Thinking of his new broski, Rich went in search of the big man.

You'd think in a room full of Mexicans a seven foot red-haired gringo would stand out.

He found Susan outside the barn, near a carport with a tattered tarp for a roof. There where several men standing around her, and they didn't look friendly. Rich recognized the one who spoke as the fellow blackmailing Steve's father. His voice was unmistakable as the same one he had heard in the bathroom what seemed like a lifetime ago.

"You here for your daddy, but you don't have the money?" The little man took a step toward Susan, and his fellows braced themselves for action.

"Now, calm down. I never said you would NEVER get the money, just I don't have it on me."

"I knew you were playing me."

"Wait a second, pilgrim." Susan's stage voice carried enough weight to make all of them pause in their tracks. "Where's Carmelita?"

"She's back at home recovering." The stout, diminutive man slipped something out of his pocket and slid it onto his hand. "Just like you gonna be."

Then he shouted in his native tongue, and the men moved forward. Rich took off at a run. He didn't like violence, but he wasn't about to let Susan get jumped by six dudes.

Rich had been in enough scrapes to know better than to think he could knock someone out with one punch. So, he had learned that it was better to inflict something nasty on one's opponent, something that may not take them out of the fight but would strongly encourage them not to continue. His fist grazed a man across the bridge of the nose, causing his victim to stagger backward with his hands clasped to his bleeding face. If Rich was lucky, the blow would cause the man's eyes to swell shut. If not, he'd be gushing blood from a deviated septum for some time.

Unfortunately, the other men noticed his sucker punch, and soon he was being waylaid by two men at once. He and Susan gave a good accounting of themselves, but the outcome was never in doubt. They were tossed against the wall of the carport, bleeding and barely conscious, while the men talked excitedly among themselves.

Susan groaned and spat out a tooth amid a stream of blood. She looked to Rich, one eye swollen shut.

"You okay, Rich?"

"Yeah. How's my pretty face?"

"Not bad, actually. You've got knot forming on your forehead, and your nose is a little bloody, but you've still got your movie star good looks."