Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

Atticus's POv

I've never been this angry on Anya before. I've never known her to be like this. She has had her stubborn behavior in the past. but I always thought she was better than this. Why would she hit Autumn? How was Autumn to blame for any of this? And to do this on her engagement night, out of all the other nights was something I would have never expected from her.

I knew that she was having a hard time coming to terms with this marriage, but that didn't give her the right to mistreat Autumn, who has been nothing but good to her.

Everything felt like it was changing all too quickly. Things shouldn't be like this between Autumn and Anya.

I walk out into the ballroom and search the crowds like a hawk. She had some serious explaining to do.
I wouldn't rest until I found her and heard what she had to say.

When I do spot her, she's surrounded by my brothers. I knew that I had to choose my words wisely around them. Whether Anya was wrong or not, my brothers always took her side. I was the same way in the past, but this time I couldn't defend her. She was wrong in what she'd done.

I push through the crowd, Ignoring the girls screaming my name to try and get my attention. I've gotten accustomed to all the attention by now. Half of the girls here didn't come to see me get engaged. they came specifically to see me.

Anya's eyes go wide as soon as she sees me coming her way. Damon tensed up when he spotted me. He can sense the anger, no doubt. His first instinct would be to protect Anya. I remember when that used to be my first instinct as well. It feels weird
approaching her for something other than affection.

Dante holds up his hand and warns me not to step any closer. Just like I expected, they're ready to throw fists for her.

My jaw clenches, "why did you hit her?" I ask, my voice is soft, but there is no hiding in the rage within.

Even Dante and Damon turn towards her with a look of disbelief. But still they were on guard to her.

A few seconds pass before she gives a reaction.
She narrows her eyes and pouts her lips, "How can you ask me that?"She demands.

"Is she all that you care about now? I'm sure she told you her side of the story, but what about mine? She wasn't exactly nice to me either, Atticus. I did what I had to defend myself."

"People are staring," Clarissa says as she and Griffin join us."Maybe we should talk about this somewhere private."

I knew that the right thing to do was to listen to Clarissa, but I was too angry to act logically. I knew I would regret it when I calmed down, but I would deal with the consequences after I got the answers I was looking for.

"Since when did you start to behave this way?" I hiss. "What you did to her is not okay, Anya. It was very wrong and so unlike you. You should apologize to Autumn, and you should do it immediately."

She laughs, "It's funny, how I'm always the wrong one in your eyes now. when in the past I've always been right. You are changing, and it's not good for you. And why should I apologize to her when I was only defending myself?"

"You know that's not true.you're not always wrong in my eyes," I growl. "Your actions recently are so out of character. First, you hit Autumn on her engagement night, and then you try to kiss me. And now I have been wondering if you were the one who had someone set that up. How else did they know exactly where to find us?"

Anya covers her mouth with her hand and stares at me with a look of betrayal on her face. Dead silence follows as she tries to recover from what i'd just said to her.

Was I too harsh? The look on her face told me that I was. Maybe I shouldn't have accused her of something so horrible without having the proper evidence. She's still my mate. when she hurts, It hurts me as well.

When the first tear leaves her eyes, I feel a piercing pain in my chest.

"You've never accused me of something like this before, not in all these years I've known you. You've never distrusted me like this before. You've never questioned me. I feel like I don‘t even know you anymore. Is this how you treat the woman that has loved you for so many years? And so what if I tried to kiss you? It might be easy for you to drop me Atticus but it‘s anything but easy for me. If you‘d just heard what I had to say before jumping into assuming and listening to everyone else but me, you would have realized how wrong you are to say those things to me.”

“Anya—,”

She holds up her hand to stop me. "I will never forgive you for speaking to me like this in front of so many people. I wasn't the one that hit your fiancee first, She started it. Maybe she conveniently left that part out, but you, out of all people, should have known the type of person I am."

It's then that I notice the red bruise on her arm. Was this true? Did Autumn hit her first? Was Anya only defending herself all this time? Had she been the victim?

If that were the case, I'd made a terrible mistake. I've known Anya longer than I've known Autumn. we've shared so many personal things between us. I've never doubted her before. How could I turn on her when she needed me the most?

I watch with a heavy heart as she turns and storms out of our home. Dante runs after her, but I know under these circumstances, I will have to watch her leave without doing anything. I've already done plenty of damage for today. I had to watch my actions, at least for the rest of tonight.

"Congratulations." Damon hissed. "After everything she's been through, you've made it a hundred times worse for her. I hope you feel good about yourself now, brother."

"Do you believe that lie?" Clarissa demands from us.

She seems to be the angriest amongst us. That's expected since Anya isn't her favorite person in the world. "Autumn is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. And she loves Anya. She will never hurt her.
Not in the way Anya wants you to believe. Do you really think Autumn would have tried to hurt her physically? She already feels guilty about the entire thing."

"Clarissa," Damon growls. "Even I don't think Autumn could do such a thing, But that doesn't mean she is lying.Why do you always have the worst things to say about Anya?"

Clarissa folds her arms stubbornly, "Am I the only one? Isn't it clear that she doesn't like me either? You're always so blind when it comes to her, Damon. It makes me sick. For once, I wish you would wake up and see her for who she is!"

Before Damon can say anything, Clarissa is the next one that storms out. It's just the three of us now.And I think we both have plenty on our minds.

"Even I don't think Autumn could hurt Anya, that's not possible, " Griffin says before he goes after Clarissa.

Damon always listened to Clarissa. The only time he didn't was when it concerned Anya. I don't think this time would be any different.

But what about me? Who would I listen to? Who could I trust? I was confused and conflicted about what to do.

If Autumn did lie to me, that would make things worse between us. Our relationship would feel strained. I Couldn't be able to trust her anymore.

And maybe that's a good thing. I was getting too involved in her, way too quickly. I had to take a step back and give myself time to get adjusted to everything.

That meant I had to keep my distance from Autumn, at least until the wedding. I would have to keep her away from me as much as possible.