Ruin The Wedding (The Murphy Brothers #1)

𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭

Something had happened.

She was sure of it, feeling it in her bones. It started yesterday when Fabian didn't come to meet her after work as they had agreed to. That would have been more than acceptable if he had called and explained that he had too much work or something else came up.

She wouldn't have minded to postpone their evening cuddling. The problem was that he didn't call to inform her that she shouldn't stay up and wait for him. And he never called back when she had tried to call him about where he was and what was taking so long.

Nor did he text her back. In fact, Charlie didn't hear a word from him until the next evening when the silence had lasted over twenty-four hours.

At first she had been worried. So very worried that something had happened to him and that he was dying in the hospital. She had been worried out of her mind, unable to focus on anything else until she heard from Asher that Fabian was very much alive in his office.

Then she was no longer worried or even concerned about his well-being but only pissed off. Sure, she was confused if she had done something that had caused his avoidance and silence but came up with nothing. 

And even if she had done something, she would have very much appreciated if he could grow some balls and talk about it with her like an adult instead of giving her silent treatment. 

Charlie tried to call him once more in the evening, giving him one more chance to answer and explain himself  but that was all she would do. Charlie had tried to give him more than enough chances already.

When she called him, Charlie was already preparing to hear the usual voicemail that had bullied her so far but he actually answered. That shocked her enough to make her freeze until his words forced her to breathe again. 

"Hey, Charlie." Charlie? Not even Lottie anymore, let alone darlin' that she had started to love? Now she was even more confused and the worry started to make her stomach feel sick. Something had indeed happened.

And hey? That was all that he had to say? As if reading her mind through the phone, Fabian started to explain his silence immediately. "I'm sorry that I couldn't come yesterday, I was just so caught up with work. I know you were probably out already by ten so I just went straight to home."

With how much he worked, that explanation would have been easy to believe if it wasn't the fact that he never called her back even today. She had sent her many messages during these two days and nothing. Surely he wasn't that busy that he couldn't spend two seconds to write I'm busy, let's talk later.

That's all that she needed. Five words. But the fact that Fabian didn't seem to understand that and that he was fine with not giving her anything, causing her to worry out of her mind until his own brother had to explain it for him. It shouldn't have been up to Asher to tell her that he was alright. Was he even alright?

The more she thought about that and remembered yesterday's horror when she tried to calm herself at 1am when she was supposed to sleep, the more annoyed she became. Perhaps she was being childish and held a grudge too long but that was the moment she decided that she wouldn't make this easy for him. 

All this time, she had thought that she had finally found her person, a partner in crime who could one day even co-parent with her. He was already treating her children as if they were his own. But if he didn't understand the most obvious thing about not making your partner worry that way... 

That was just something you couldn't do in a relationship, let alone with children. Maybe he wasn't ready for a relationship after all, at least not for a serious relationship that involved something else than sex.