Entangled (Phoenix 1)

CHAPTER 40

"What were you doing out at this time?" He asked, this time staring at her. He was still holding her in both arms.

"Grocery store." She said simply.

"You could have told me. I would have accompanied you." Justin told her.

"I wanted to clear my head, and I thought you might be busy, so..." But Justin cut her off.

"You are not going there again. You know I am never busy for you. In fact, you have been keeping away from me ever since our kiss." Justin took a step back from her, which allowed her to keep the bags on the floor.

"But you have made that easier." She pointed out what she felt.

"I wanted to give you space, Fiona." Justin defended himself.

"Maybe, I didn't want the space. You kiss me one minute and then...."

"And the next you start withdrawing." Justin intervened before she could finish.

For a few moments, Fiona was deafeningly quiet.

"Fiona, what is going on in that head of yours? You got to tell me now." Justin said, coming straight to the point.

"I... I don't even know myself. Where do we stand, Justin? What are we?" She asked him.

"We are..." He was at a loss for words, but then he took a deep breath and found the right words to say to her. "We are two individuals trying to develop a new foundation for our relationship and make our marriage work."

"Will it ever? Look at us, Justin. We were bought together by our grandmothers who forced us, blackmailed us to get married." Fiona said it louder than usual.

"So, what? They might have forced us to get married, but they never forced us to have feelings for each other, and don't you dare deny it, Fiona. I don't want to come across as an overconfident jerk, but something between us is far more than liking. That kiss, our moments are enough indication of that."

"I won't deny it because it's the truth. But are you sure it wasn't the remorse you're experiencing for how you treated me in the first place?" Fiona finally admitted her biggest doubt that she wanted to ask her husband. It was now or never.

Justin's eyes widened when he heard this. He couldn't believe his ears. He could not believe what he had just heard.

"Where in God's name do you ever get these bizarre thoughts from?" He asked, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

"I...I..." Fiona tried to speak, but Justin continued.

"Is it Emily? Because if it is, then I am going to..." However, Fiona cleared up his doubts.

"It wasn't her. When I talked to her, she literally told me to throw those doubts away, march down, and be with you." Fiona rolled her eyes to hide her discomfort at having to quote Emily to him.

"Well, you should have listened to her."

"What..?" Fiona's eyes widened.

"Fiona, I do feel guilty about how I treated you, but my feelings for you are not based on it." Justin tried to explain to her. He really wanted to put some sense into it, but he didn't know how without groaning.

"How can you be so sure of it? You might be confusing the two..."

Justin, on the other hand, refused to let her finish. "I don't need to be sure, Fiona. I know it. My feeling is not something that has arisen out of the blue in the short course of our marriage. I have liked you ever since we met." Justin finally told her the truth.