Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

Atticus's POV

Out of all the things I expected Autumn to say, this was the last thing I was expecting 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 that made her 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'd never showed this  before that, she didn't like me around Anya.

She has 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 was 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 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 never had a boyfriend, and boys have always chased after her, but I've always 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 that. 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 my front. 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 up. 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 has 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!"

Spa room? I wasn't sure what Autumn was talking about. When did they become friends? Why were they in the spa room?

"I need to go with you!" She shouts. "We need to find her."

I immediately get tensed because of her words. I didn't bring her back to the house so that she could join the search. There wasn't any room for discussions about this. She was not going.

"No," I growl. "You're in no position to be out there searching with us. You need to rest."

"But she's my friend Atticus. She's a good girl. I want to help find 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.