The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn Chapter 28

~ATTICUS~

Out of all the things I was expecting Autumn to say to me, this was the last thing I expected to hear. She was upset with me this entire time because she thought I was leaving her tonight to see Anya?

What did I say for her to jump to that conclusion? Did Autumn already not trust me?

The unmistakable distress on her face stunned me. I never thought that being around Anya would affect her this much. We weren’t in love with each other; we barely knew each other. She’s never shown me before that she didn’t like me around Anya. She’s always been fond of Anya and always looked after her. The only time I saw a reaction out of her was on our engagement night, and her response that night was still not as bad as this. But again, she was intoxicated; how do I know this was how she truly felt? Autumn acted totally different when the alcohol was out of her system, she was understanding, and she didn’t mind when I took time to care for Anya. It was like she was a totally different person.

I realized that she was still waiting for a response from me, and the more I remained silent, the more she would think that I was planning on seeing Anya tonight when the truth remained that I was only joining a search.

That was the last thing I wanted her to think about after tonight. I’ve always known that Autumn has never had any love interests. For her to give a part of herself to me tonight would surely upset her tomorrow, I wanted her to know that it was something I would treasure and not take for granted. She’d never had a serious boyfriend, and boys have always chased after her, but I’ve done my part of telling them she was off limits. No one knows I did that. Even I wasn’t sure why I’d done it. At that time, I told myself I was protecting my mate’s best friend from heartbreak. I knew none of those men were ever worthy of her, and I was positive that they would hurt her. I made sure that it never happened. And if I had an opportunity to do it all over again, I would. If I’d known Autumn like I did now, I’d have been even more protective of her in the past.

She attempts to walk away from me, and I pull her straight back so that her back is now pressed up against the front of me. I ignore how good it felt to hold her like this. If I kept those thoughts, I will be of no help to the others.

“Autumn,” I whisper, “I’m not going to see Anya. I’ve been told that two of our guests have gone missing. I’m joining the search to find them before things get worse.”

She shouldn’t have any problems believing that since anyone can see what was going on around us.

Her lips form a small ‘o’, and her face brightens. And then she smiled that beautiful smile that crushed my heart, “who’s missing?”

“Kane and a woman that I don’t have a name for. She’s lost her memory for a while now. I don’t know what to call her.” I try to explain to her in the best way possible.

Her eyes widen, “that’s my friend! She’s the woman that was with Gabriella in the spa room!”

speaking about. When did they become friends? Why were they in

She

tensed because of her words. I didn’t bring her back to the house so that she could join the search. There wasn’t

no position to be

her.” She begs. I hated saying no to her when she was this desperate to find her friend, but I’d made up my mind. She could barely stand straight; how could she survive hours of walking in the forest? There is no telling how long this search was going

wasn’t putting her life in danger; besides, I wouldn’t be able to help if I

go with you.” She continues to say while I’m carrying her. “I can

to is your room,” I tell her as I walk into the house with her still in my arms. I notice a few stares our way but that’s the least of my concern. She’s my

and even on the bed. My parents have obviously thought about everything. Did they expect something to happen between us tonight when this was more of an arranged marriage than

did happen, something that I wasn’t

her with a blanket, “Get some sleep. I promise to find your friend. I’ll bring her back here and

of the door, Anya is waiting for me. I pause, unsure of what to do now that she’s here. Things are awkward between us for the first time since I

avoid this confrontation forever. It’s better to get it over with now than later when things become more complicated. It was already complicated. I wasn’t sure what was this s****l tension between Autumn and me. It’s stronger than anything else I’ve

in front of me?” Anya asks, successfully breaking me out of my thoughts. She’s no longer trying to hide her anger from me; she’s letting it flow

even though I know what she’s speaking about. If she was this angry about a kiss between Autumn and me, how would she react if she found out what

reminds me of the promise I’d made to her. To not take Autumn to bed. What the f**k was I thinking? After tonight I didn’t think it was possible to keep that promise. I always kept my commitments, but I’ve been breaking all my promises to Anya recently. It makes me feel

not sure what Anya expects from me anymore. I’m married. There is nothing I can do about this thing between us. I’m not a cheater. I’ve never been that, and I don’t plan on being it now; I would not do that to Autumn, no matter how much I loved Anya. I was doing us both a

still ran to her whenever she was hurt. I hadn’t completely cut her out of my life, even though

the memories and emotions I had tied to her were preventing me from doing what I had to. Even now, I couldn’t bring myself to ask her to step out

hear a noise inside the room, which puts

her with me. She asked me not to see Anya tonight. Did this mean that

about Autumn and what could go wrong if she opened that door. “Out of every possible way you can hurt me, this is how you choose for it

kiss me whenever she pleases. We’re no longer together. This has to stop. I can’t keep comforting you, or Autumn will get the wrong idea. I don’t want to ruin my marriage even

to at least have some consideration around me. In case you haven’t realized, Atticus. I still love you. It hurts to see you with her, but you don’t care about that! All you

her voice was getting louder. I was afraid that Autumn would hear