The-Wrong-Bride-Ares--Raven’s-story-(Maura,-Catharina)_bibis

Chapter Twenty-One
ARES
I can feel Raven’s gaze on me as I carry her into the living room, but I don’t know how to face her. If
not for me, she wouldn’t be in this situation. I should’ve tried harder to convince Hannah. I should’ve
gone after her when I was notified that she left the country. Instead, I sat back and watched our lives
go up in flames, making Raven pay the ultimate price.
“I need a drink,” I tell Raven the moment I put her down. I turn away from her and walk toward
my liquor cabinet, pouring myself a whiskey neat.
“Make that two,” she says as she sits down on the sofa.
Her hands tremble as she takes the glass from me, and I tear my gaze away, throwing my drink
back before instantly refilling it. For some reason, I’m reminded of the way I kissed her today, the
way she kissed me back.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her as I sit down opposite her, a safe distance away from her. She looks so
beautiful tonight, in that wedding dress she was never meant to wear.
“For what?”
I force myself to look her in the eye and take a deep breath. She’s my wife now, but what does that
mean for us?
“For kissing you.”
Raven leans back against the sofa and takes another sip of her drink. “I would’ve been
embarrassed if you hadn’t. Not that many people knew about Hannah and you, and the few who do are
tied to an NDA. Most of our guests assumed our wedding was real, and thankfully, we’ve been able
to make it look real too.”
I nod at her, unsure of what to say. It’s never been awkward between Raven and me. We’ve
always been comfortable with each other, even when we’re sitting together in silence. Somehow,
everything feels different now. We both lost a lot today, and I’m starting to fear that in some ways, we
lost each other too.
“We should probably talk about… us,” I say.
Raven tenses, her spine straightening. “Yes. We should.”
I run a hand through my hair and stare up at the ceiling for a moment. “I’m sorry it came to this,
Raven. The thought of me being the reason you don’t get to live the life you envisioned for yourself,