Chapter 176

The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn Chapter 176 BOOK 3 CHAPTER 12 ~Willow~

He had bruises on his face again. These were fresh bruises. It meant that he’d only just gotten them.

“Why did you do this to yourself?” I demand from him. “Was kissing me so bad that you must hurt yourself to forget about it?”

His jaw clenches, and the muscles in his arms pulse almost angrily, “why are you still awake?”

He ignored my question about kissing me. I couldn’t believe this. Dante must truly hate being married to me.

It all made sense now. Those fights were helping him stay married to me. It was the only thing that kept him sane.

He looks over his shoulder when I don’t respond to his question.

I don’t say anything as I walk out of the room. He doesn’t follow me either, not that I was expecting him to.

I walk toward the medicine cabinet. Autumn told me about it. She mentioned that it might be a good idea to help take care of Dante’s wounds whenever he returned home like this.

I knew that Dante was protecting me only because of Anya, but I wanted to protect him in return still.

I grab one of the kits and walk up the stairs back to his room. He doesn’t even look up at the door when I return.

He is lying on his tummy with his face turned to the side. His eyes are closed, and he’s breathing heavily. He must be tired from the fight.

I quietly walked over to his side and sat on the edge of the bed. His entire body tensed when he realized how close I was to him.

“What are you doing?” He asks without opening his eyes.

“Taking care of my husband,” I answer without a second thought.

His jaw clenches at hearing me refer to him as my husband. Was it, not the truth? I don’t understand why that should bother him.

“I don’t need you to take care of me.” He tells me.

I ignore him and dab the cotton on the medicine. Without waiting for his permission, I press the soaked cotton against the bruise on his forehead.

He winced at the pain, and I leaned down to blow on it. I wanted to make it better. I knew he would heal eventually, but right now, he was still in pain.

“I told you I was okay.” He snaps angrily.

“And I told you I’m going to care for you, just like you do for me.” I insist.

He doesn’t seem happy with my response, but he doesn’t stop me again.

“Turn over,” I order him.

He slowly turned around so that he was facing me.

“Can you remove your shirt?” I ask him.

He frowns, “why?”

“Because I can see a bruise on your chest,” I answer him.

His tongue is against his cheek as he lifts the shirt off his body.

I gasped when I saw the deep wound in his chest.

“Does pain make everything better for you?” I demand.

“I don’t want to answer any of your questions.” He growls. “If you must ask me questions, you can leave the medicine here; I’ll put it myself.”

I press my lips tightly together. Why wasn’t he willing to get help? Why was he purposefully putting himself in situations to get hurt?

I was also in pain after losing my sister and the only family I had left, but I’m not letting it affect me the way that it’s doing to him. I share his pain. If he’d open up to me, maybe we could help each other.

I sigh and press the cotton against the wound on his chest. His forehead creased, and I could sense how much pain he was in.

I leaned forward and lightly blew on his chest.

I gasp when he grabs my hand.

I look up at him, and his eyes are dangerously dark.

“That’s enough.”

“But I’m not finished.” I try to disagree.

“It will heal.” He cuts me off. “Thank you.”

Why was he so cold towards me? He didn’t treat me horribly, but he didn’t treat me like I was his wife either.

I thought things were finally changing between us when he moved me to his room, but not much had changed. Everything was still the same. We were still strangers living in the same house. I knew more about Clarissa and Autumn than I knew about Dante.

He’s secretive about his past and present. He doesn’t even try to let me in.

What kind of marriage was this?

I angrily grabbed the medicine kit and dropped it on the desk beside me.

Then I walk over to my side of the bed and bury myself under the sheets.

I hug them closer to me. It wasn’t like Dante would willingly embrace me; these sheets were all I had to keep me warm on days like this. I didn’t even have my sister any longer. She would often take me in her arms and hold me close to her. She was no longer here to do that for me.

I don’t think Anya knew what she was doing when she asked Dante to marry me. She was desperate to save me, but in doing so, she made my life miserable.

Being in a loveless marriage was not an easy thing to deal with daily, especially when feelings were utterly one-sided.

I closed my eyes and f****d myself to go to sleep. It was the one time that I could forget about all of my problems. Of course, there were days that I dreamt of Dante. I hoped that tonight wouldn’t be one of those days. I didn’t want to dream of a man that could never give me his heart, even if he was my husband.

Dante was the last thing on my mind before I finally fell asleep.

. . . . .

I can feel the sunlight on my face, begging me to wake up and face another day. I stretched and felt a hand over my chest.

I froze at the contact.

I slowly opened my eyes to find Dante’s arm on top of me. What was it doing there? I could hear his uneven breathing. He was definitely in a deep sleep.

I slightly turn my face and see his lips only inches away from mine. I can’t look away even if I wanted to.

I can’t stop myself as I lift my hand to trace his bottom lip with my finger lightly.

It’s just as soft as I remembered. A part of me, a big part, wants to press my lips against them.

I gasped when his eyes flashed open without any warning. I can’t move. Not even an inch.

Dante is staring at me, and my finger is still on his lip.

This isn’t happening to me!