Autumn Leaves & Pumpkins Please

six | the list of hoe's

october 16th

london, england

IT WAS DEVASTATING TO SEE MYSELF IN THE FIRST PLACE OF 'LIST OF GIRLS XAVIER MONTGOMERY HAS HAD s*x WITH'. Every British newspaper or online magazine wrote about it. When I saw a picture taken this morning on my way to Xavier's driver in the article, my jaw dropped onto the floor and never re-established itself. Never had I been in the center of attention nor had I ever looked so undeniably ugly in a photo. The description read: this precious woman left Montgomery's apartment this morning. Looks like she had quite a rough night, but that doesn't take her beauty away. Are melanin goddesses like this his new type, or will he stick to the blondes?

"That's a long list," Sadie gasped.

"I know," I sighed deeply, "everyone will recognize me as one of the fifty. Xavier certainly didn't tell me about the consequences before our session."

"At least you look pretty in the picture," Lily-Rose said.

"She actually looks like a hooker, but that's just my unpopular opinion." Valentina read through the paper and laughed about it.

"Fifty girls in a month." Fadoua was surprised by the large quantity. "That's a lot of sperm, I pity his testicles."

"I hope his germ cells keep dividing until he gets cancer in his balls," I mumbled.

"That's harsh," Fadoua replied.

"Ladies, how about we leave this stupid subject behind," Gwen threw the paper into the bin and clapped in her hands, "and just get dressed already. Listen, Autumn, you're such a beautiful girl and in two days we'll be back in America, so don't let this ruin you."

I got up from the bed and hugged her.

"Thank you, Gwenny."

After hours of getting ready, we eventually arrived at our destination. It was a chic restaurant with many, many tables decorated with candles and of course a jazz band playing to give the whole a gentle ambiance. We would've liked McDonalds better, but we could get used to this.

Mr. Montgomery himself, a woman with dark curls and a tanned skin – I guessed his wife –, a woman with blonde hair who seemed to be a bit older than the rest, a man who sat noticeably close to her with his nose stuck up into the air and a man with light brown hair and a nice smile were already settled in.

"Ladies, I would like to introduce you to my wife; Cassandra, my assistant manager Vicky, her fiancé Jack who is my creative editor, Malcolm my journalist and the one who usually brings up the best ideas to write about and last but not least, Adam, my staff writer."

"Nice to meet you," we all said in harmony.

"Now the ladies; Lily-Rose, daughter of David Chesterfield who is the mastermind behind Pour Les Hommes and Amanda Chesterfield who runs the clothing lines of Jean-ius. Then Autumn, one of the funniest and beautiful ladies I've ever met, Gwen who has such a smart mind, Valentina is the down-to-earth and as how youth like to call them; a chill one, Fadoua is very inspiring and self-conscious and Sadie is very cheerful and positive. It's an honour having you here."

Mr. Montgomery's introduction made me awe a bit. How could a man possibly be that nice to a couple of girls who got way too drunk at a formal party. And one of them f****d his son, but let's forget about that.

We sat down, looked through the dishes on the menu, ordered something random and then started discussing business.

"So, with our next project we want to expand our audience. We researched the statistics and they suggested that half of the men reading BRO-S were in their late thirties, begin forties. We want to create a magazine that attracts younger men and the perfect opportunity is to do that by partnering up with Pour Les Hommes, the best-selling magazine in America," Malcolm said.

"We think that our business will complement each other perfectly and that's why we think launching a brand new magazine is going to deliver thriving results. Studies show that most men read lots of magazines about lifestyle, fashion and news; we want all of that! We want to bring interaction with our audience to a new level and play with the ages of our readers, everyone needs to get involved. Everyone needs to be talking about our magazine and be willing to buy it every month," Adam said.

Needless to say, everyone except for Lily-Rose felt unnecessary in this conversation. At one point I even stopped listening and almost yawned loudly. I observed everyone around me and tried to figure out why they were rich. A man with the most ugly beard ever seen must've been the CEO of a hookers company. A middle-aged woman with gigantic boobs and a nose job must've been a former porn star.

I regretted choosing biological sciences in public health at university, but there were way too many offers, choices and things I liked. I wasn't exactly unintelligent in high school, so a lot of universities offered scholarships. I should've chosen the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism instead. It was not like biological sciences didn't interest me, but I had always liked journalism more. My mother kind of forced me into biological sciences, to be honest, but only because she wanted the best job possible for me. We never had a rich family and I was the only one who could change that.

"Sorry father, I was busy."

I immediately recognized that raspy, husky voice of the person who hadn't been sitting with us before. When I looked up to the person and locked eyes, my heart sunk. Briefly, I wanted to die. His green eyes were dark and stared into mine for what felt like hours. His slight curls were neatly styled and he was wearing a suit, just like yesterday. I felt all my friends looking at me and I tried to ignore them as much as possible. I cleared my throat and finally looked away, although his eyes almost bewitched me.

"Please, sit down son," Mr. Montgomery said.

Everything happened in slow-motion with I Put A Spell On You played live in the background. It was more like a Pony moment, but whatever. I swiftly looked to my right where of course the only available chair was located. When he focused on the chair, I quietly cussed to myself. Then I looked back at him, but he was still looking at the chair while rubbing the side of his face. The redness was gone, unfortunately. Xavier walked towards me, gently and discretely letting his finger tops touch my bare shoulder as he walked behind me. When he sat down, he started reading through the menu.

"Xavier," his dad said.

"What?" Xavier looked up with a frown on his face.

"You forgot to introduce yourself to our guests from America."

"Right." He turned to me and looked me in the eyes again. I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Autumn, what a coincidence to meet you here, but the pleasure's mine." He took my hand as if it was the most precious thing he'd ever touched and moved it towards his lips. The soft, full lips I had kissed several times last night. I imagined him kissing my neck and leaving a trace of pecks down to my midriff. He pressed his lips against the skin of my hand, holding them for two seconds and then moving on to Lily-Rose who sat beside me.

He knew my name. He knew my f*****g name all along.

I was too fascinated and enthralled by his presence to listen to the other girls. The way his lips curled up into a smile everytime he introduced himself, how his piercing eyes seemed to shine in this particular light, how his biceps tightened with every movement he performed; everything was so natural, so attractive. A face craved by God himself and then that body of his. No wonder all fifty girls, including me, approved the activity of making love. There was no denying Xavier Montgomery; he was too intimidating yet gentle. For some reason I compared him to a mix of Theo James and Christian Grey, he could be very sweet and caring, but deep down you knew it was all an act to get his needs fulfilled. Xavier was a cocky, egoistic man with a sadistic side to him. A sociopath, maybe?

All night long, I couldn't stop looking at him. He never took a look at me. Every word he said sounded so intelligent, mainly because of his British accent. It was like I was sitting next to a prince, someone so proper and charming. He laughed, but never too hard, he made eye contact, but never too long, he gestured as he spoke, but never too exaggerating, everything seemed carefully planned out to make it look as perfect as possible. And he sure did succeed.

After long talks about how Xavier would soon be taking over BRO-S from his expiring dad and after our diner – which was spaghetti for me, because you can never go wrong with spaghetti – everyone started to get a little tipsy. There were more laughs and the ambiance got cozier.

"Now, guess what!" Mr. Montgomery exclaimed, making everyone curious as hell, "I was on my way to Xavier's apartment to have a small talk when I met Autumn in the elevator. She looked so confused and messy, it truly looked adorable."

And from there we went downhill. My cheeks started turning lobster red and I bit my lip. This was too embarrassing.

"Funny," Xavier said, "We had steaming hot s*x during the night. So hot that she slapped my face the morning after."

Everyone went quiet, including me. I had no clue what to say. Was I going to agree, was I going to run to the restroom? Only I could know, but the problem was that I didn't.

"We need to talk," I said in the most serious tone I could apply.

"And we are going to have a talk after diner, young man. Unbelievable how unmannered you are!" Mr. Montgomery said offendedly.

"I say whatever the f**k I say, dad, and besides it's the truth. All papers are full with it!"

"We need to talk," I repeated.

"I don't want to f*****g talk to you!" Xavier turned to me and he got really tensed all of the sudden; his shoulders appeared broader than before, "there is nothing to talk about. You're exactly what the papers said about you; a one time only girl. You're just like the other girls."

There was a dead silence after his outrageous outburst. Although Xavier meant nothing to me, everything he said hurt me. I never thought anyone could gain feelings for me, until Chris came. When Chris broke up with me, the feeling returned, but then Xavier came to me. I had no idea someone would care as less about the girl they got intimate with as Xavier Montgomery.

"You remembered my name," I said quietly.

Something began to twinkle in his eyes and he seemed very soft for a split second, but then manned up and sighed deeply.

"You mean nothing to me. I'm out of here." He walked towards the exit, but my voice stopped him.

"Xavier?"

"What now, Summer?"

"Do I have an STD now?"