Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

Damon's POV

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

This shouldn't hurt this much. It shouldn't hurt like this. Marrying Anya was supposed to solve everything. It was supposed to make things better, not worse.

But it was worse. Wasn’t it?

Dante had just stormed out of the house, and I could feel his pain. He was my brother; of course, I could feel his pain. He was hurting, and so was I. But for completely different reasons. He was in despair because of Anya, and I was in pain because of Clarissa.

I didn’t want to be the reason he was like this. I didn’t want to hurt my brother. And I sure as hell didn’t want to hurt Clarissa. But what the hell was the right thing to do? What other choice could I have made to make things better?

I knew from the start that Dante would have reacted badly to the news, so I asked for enough time to explain things to him, but Anya did not give me that time. When we were in the room, she didn’t wait for me, she immediately told him everything. I was not prepared for it at all. Seeing my brother like this was affecting me horribly.

But the real pain, the main reason my heart was squeezing painfully in my chest, was the beautiful woman in front of me. She was staring at me as if I’d just broken her heart into a million pieces.

That was never the intention. I was trying to protect her heart, not break it.

I swallow. It’s the only movement I could allow my body to make right now. It hurts even to breathe while staring at her eyes, now filled with unshed tears.

Fuck ME. I can’t believe that I’m the one that’s hurting her like this. In the past, I would kill anyone that made her cry but this time, I was the culprit. I was the asshole making her cry.

Anya was not supposed to break the news like this. I told her to give me time. I told her that I didn’t want to announce it today. Why did she have to do this? I knew it had to happen eventually, but I wasn’t ready to break the news to Clarissa. At least, not like this.

I wanted to ease her into it. I wanted to make sure that she was ready to hear this announcement. Anya had beaten me to it, and now I had to pick up the broken pieces. I had to pick up the pieces of Clarissa’s broken heart and somehow find a way to put them back together, to make it whole again. But I knew she wouldn’t let me, not with the way she was looking at me in disbelief. She never expected this from me; I knew that much.

She’s waiting for me to give her an answer. She’s waiting for me to confirm what Anya said is true. But I can’t seem to form the words in my mouth. I’m suddenly at a loss for words. I don’t want her to hate me. I don’t want her to be disappointed in me. Even though everything Anya said was true, I didn’t want to confirm it.

I can feel all eyes on us. My entire family is standing around us. My parents and grandfather had just joined and were catching up on what was happening. My whole family was watching us, everyone except Dante.

I still had no clue how to break the news to my parents. Why did Anya do this? Why did she make the announcement without asking me first?

“Tell me,” Clarissa whispers; this time, her voice breaks, tugging at my heart. It took all of my self-control not to reach forward and gently cup her face in my hands.

“Damon.” She says again in that tone that does weird, painful things to my body. “Tell me the truth. Did you agree to marry Anya?”

My jaw clenches, and I try to find the words. It was one word, just yes, that’s all I had to say, but the moment I did, I knew that everything would change between us. And a part of me, a very sick part of me, didn’t want it to change.