The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

He frowns, “you’ve been sick since this morning and didn’t think to call a doctor?”

I didn’t like lying to him. I didn’t like lying to anyone that I cared about. But this was necessary.

“I didn’t want to spoil tonight for anyone.” I lie. “I thought I would have gotten better in time for the

dinner but I was wrong.”

Atticus sighs, “is this another one of your tricks to get out of Anya and Damon’s marriage celebrations?

If you don’t want to go, you can just say that Clarissa. We will find someone to stay home with you and

keep you company. The happiness in your eyes has died down and I want to know what we can do to

bring it back. I hate seeing you like this. I’m tired of sitting back and not doing anything about it. I need

you to tell me what the hell is going on around here.”

I narrow my eyes, “can you not remind me of it every chance that you get? I was a lot more supportive

of your relationship with Autumn, are you forgetting that? If I’m not happy with Anya marrying Damon, I

have my reasons. I wasn’t happy with your relationship with her either.”

He quirks a brow at me, “I was asking a simple question, why are you so defensive?”

I narrow my eyes, “I’m not feeling well, I told you that. I don’t need to be reminded of something that

upsets me.”

He nods, “I won’t bring it up again then. I hope you feel better. Should I call for a doctor?”

“No,” I tell him. “If it gets worse, I will call for a doctor. Can you tell the others for me? I don’t want to

deal with the many questions everyone would ask me when they find out I’m not going.”

He nods, “I will. Get your rest.”

I smile and hug him. He hugs me back and lets me return to my room without asking any other

questions.

I was happy that he would be the one to tell the rest of my family why I wasn’t attending the dinner

tonight. I knew that Damon would immediately be worried when he heard that I wasn’t feeling well. I

also knew that he would want to visit me. However, he would refrain from doing so now that he knows

Atticus is suspicious about our relationship.

We were both trying our best to stay out of each other’s lives while everyone was around. I’m not sure

if it was easy for Damon but it was so damn hard for me. I missed him every second of every day. If I

was like this before the wedding, I was afraid of what would happen if the wedding actually took place.

It would be over for Damon and me. I didn’t want to stay in a world where there was no chance of us

ever being together.

I saw Damon’s reaction when I mentioned marrying a man I wasn’t in love with just to prove a point to

him. He was pissed at just the idea of it. My words had managed to break through his lies. He was lying

to himself to make his plans to marry Anya work.

And Anya. She was doing everything possible to keep us apart.

Luckily, she would be meeting them at the restaurant. She wouldn’t be here to cause a scene after

learning that I wouldn’t be there. I knew that she would immediately try to stop Damon from coming

home once she realized we would end up home alone together. Thankfully, Autumn would make sure

that they both believe it wasn’t just me at home.

“We need to talk,” Autumn says as she barges into my room.

The urgency in her voice catches my attention immediately. Did something in our plan already fail? I

hope not. Everything depended on today. I needed today to completely break through Damon’s walls.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her.

“I only just got a chance to speak to the private investigator. Everyone was so busy with the wedding

that I took the opportunity to meet him.” She explains. “It turns out that Anya does not live in the house

she wants us to believe she lives in. She has a completely different home and someone lives in there

with her.”

My eyes widen in shock. “Why would she lie about where she’s living?”

She shrugs her shoulders, “I don’t know but there’s definitely something that isn’t adding up about this

entire thing. Someone who’s hiding their true home definitely has plenty more to hide. This is serious.

We were right about her all along Clarissa. Anya is hiding so much more.”

“Did he give you directions to the place?” I ask her. “Maybe I can go there and have a look while you’re

at the dinner.”

“No,” Autumn says in a stern tone. “I don’t want you going there by yourself. We don’t know what

mischief Anya has been up to and we don’t know how dangerous she is. We can do it together.

Besides, you need to be here when Damon returns.”

She was right. I didn’t want to waste any chances that I had with Damon. After telling me what she’d

learned, Autumn refused to give me the address. I think that she doesn’t trust me. She knows I’ll do

something dangerous like I was used to doing.

“We’re all leaving now.” She informs me as I walk her to the door. “I’ll try to keep everyone away for as

long as possible but I need you to be alert at all times. Whatever you have planned, make sure it’s over

by the time we return home. I don’t want everyone to catch you with Damon, things would blow up in

our faces if that happens. I already know that Atticus would be pissed when he finds out I’ve helped

you with all of this. But I’m willing to do it because you’re like a sister to me. You helped me plenty

when I first entered this family, I’m happy to do the same for you.”

I smile and hug her. “I’ll be careful. I promise. I don’t want to cause any arguments between you and

Atticus. If he ever finds out, I’ll make sure that he knows you’re not to blame.”

She smiles, “I’m not worried about Atticus. Even if he’s upset with me, it won’t be for long.”

I chuckle, “of course not, he’s too in love with you to be upset with you for long.”

She laughs and waves goodbye. “Good luck tonight.”

I breathe a sigh of relief when everyone leaves and it’s just me in the house. I expected them to put up

more of a fight to insist that I attend the dinner but Atticus must have convinced them to let me stay.

I spend most of the time in the shower scrubbing my skin from head to toe. If Damon would be seeing

me without any clothes, I wanted to make sure that my body was glowing. I know that was the last thing

I should be thinking about but I still wanted to look my best.

After getting dressed in a jeans and crop top, I combed through my wet hair and placed some blush on

my cheeks.

I considered putting lipstick on but quickly changed my mind.

I waited an hour in the living room after Autumn texted me to let me know Damon had left to drop Anya

home. I was becoming impatient. Why was he taking this long? I considered changing into something

sexier but I knew if I did, Damon would immediately know that I was up to something the moment that

he saw what I had on.

Maybe he already knew that I was up to something and was intentionally staying away from home. He

knew that if he came home, it would just be the two of us.

If he didn’t come home in time, that would ruin everything for us. He had to come home. He had to.

I was about to call his phone when I heard a door close. My heart jumped in my chest.

It was him. He was home.

It was just the two of us.

Finally.