C&A Novella (Marked Heart #2.5) (2 page)

3

Walking up to her family's house, Charlotte stopped a few feet from her parent's front door. Holding her hand, Auggie turned giving her a questioning expression.

  "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

  Stepping closer to her, Auggie grabbed her other hand, replying, "How bad could it be?"

  With a little laugh, she informed, "You have no idea." Just as the front door swung open.

  "You're here!" Amila greeted before hollering back into the house, "They're here!"

Patting him on the chest, Charlotte smiled up at him before they continued into the house.

Everyone crowded around Charlotte and Auggie as they stepped inside. Amila's smile beamed at them as Emerson stepped to Auggie and shook his hand.

  "Congratulations." He stated with a warm smile.

  With an appreciative nod, Auggie replied, "Thank you."

  "Well, let's hear it, how did you propose?" Amila eagerly questioned.

Charlotte's younger brothers, Max and Luke, said a quick congratulations before heading back upstairs while her sisters, Silvia, Jenna and Lola, waited to hear the proposal details.

Reaching over, Charlotte placed her hand in Auggie's as she shared how Auggie asked her to marry him.

  "How romantic." Amila swooned before Charlotte's youngest sister Lola chimed in.

"And then what happened?"

Charlotte instantly glanced at her fiancé as she recalled how he responded to her 'kiss me,' with breathtaking urgency at the bar and again when they arrived at his house.

  "Uhh..." Charlotte uttered, trying to come up with something that was appropriate for a ten year old to hear.

  Amila quickly covered for her, stating, "And then, they shook hands and said goodnight."

  "Really?" Lola blurted in disbelief.

  Nodding, Auggie lied, "Yep kid, that's exactly what happened."

  With a disappointed sigh, Lola looked directly at Auggie informing, "You really should have kissed her."

Leaning her forehead to Auggie's shoulder, Charlotte laughed at her little sister giving him advice.

The entire coffee table was covered in bridal magazines almost a foot high and sitting right on top of them was a large white binder.

  As the girls sat down to start making wedding plans, Auggie asked, "How many weddings are we having?"

  All five of them looked at him like he had just committed a sin as Emerson patted Auggie on the back with a laugh offering, "Why don't you and I step out back and leave the ladies to their planning."

Charlotte gave Auggie a soft smile before watching him walk out of the living room with Emerson.

Admitting to herself, even she was overwhelmed by the amount of preparation suddenly expected of her.

  Charlotte turned to Amila, saying, "He just proposed, we haven't set a date."

  Amila gave an understanding smile as she replied, "I guess I'm over doing it a tad. I'm just so excited, honey."

Reaching an arm around Amila, Charlotte hugged her.

  "Who is your maid of honor?" Silvia interrupted.

  "Penny." Charlotte replied as she pulled away from Amila.

"Are you kidding?"

  Shaking her head at her sister, Charlotte stated, "No, I'm not."

  Glaring at Charlotte, Silvia whined, "You're going to ruin the whole day."

"Seriously?"

  Hopping up, Silvia shouted, "Not everything is always about you all the time!" As she stomped up the stairs.

  Turning to Amila again, Charlotte questioned, "Seriously?"

  Before Amila could answer, Jenna spoke up sharing, "She wants to walk down the aisle with Braden."

As Lola giggled, Charlotte let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head.

~

Leaning up against the side of the garage, Auggie watched Emerson as he appeared to be thinking of something to say.

  "So this is gonna be a big thing?"

  Emerson smiled assuring, "I am sure it will be."

  Running his hand down the front of his beard, Auggie asked, "What do I need to do?"

"Stay out of the way. Weddings are for the bride no matter what anyone else tells you. All you need to do is go along with everything she says and tell her everything she picks is perfect."

  "What?"

  With an amused expression, Emerson questioned, "Do you want to survive the wedding?"

  "Yeah."

  "Then take my advice."

  Auggie griped, "Perfect," before Emerson stated, "That's the spirit. Now, let's head back in."

Pushing away from the wall, Auggie thought, 'Great,' as he followed Emerson back inside.

4

Charlotte sat with her arms crossed in the passenger seat of Auggie's truck as he drove them to Ren and Jackson's house. After ten minutes of complaining about her sister being a brat, she immediately started griping at Auggie when he said there was no need to make a stop at his mom's house.

In Auggie's mind, she was already irritated and making a bigger deal out of it then necessary.

"You can't be mad about this?"

  Whipping her head around, Charlotte snapped, "Now you're telling me what to do?"

With a loud groan Auggie gripped the steering wheel tighter.

  "It was a question."

  "It didn't sound like a question." Charlotte bit back at him.

  Thinking two can play at this game, he agreed; "Fine, it wasn't a question."

"Oh, so you are telling me what to do."

  Waiting for the snap, Auggie nodded, adding, "Damn right."

Pulling onto his cousin Jackson's property, he stopped his truck right outside the gate and turned to look at Charlotte.

Her eyes were wild and her face was flush. It was a beautiful sight, one that instantly caused his muscles to tense and his heart to pound in his chest. Whether he was bringing her to the point of unbridled anger or ecstasy, it held all the passion that she loved him with.

Shifting his truck into park, he scowled at her.

  "You listen here, Augustus Caffrey. Putting a ring on my finger doesn't give you any authority over me."

  "Is that right?" He questioned, finding it a bit hard not to smile at her at this point.

  Narrowing her eyes at him, she continued, "That's exactly right and don't you even think for a second that it does."

  "Ya done?"

  "Not even close."

  Reaching for his door handle, Auggie teased, "Well, could you put your little fit on pause for minute so we can go get congratulated."

  "Are your serious right now?"

  Growing frustrated with her, Auggie sighed; "Are you?"

Just as she was about to start shouting, he opened his door and jumped out, slamming it closed before she had the chance.

Stomping to the gate, Auggie growled under his breath at her. He pulled the pin to unlatch the gate before walking it open. This woman was going to give him hell for the rest of their lives together. As he walked back to his truck, he could only shake his head at himself. She was an infuriating pain in the ass, and he'd be damned straight to hell if he had to spend even one day without her by his side.

After climbing back into his truck and pulling up past the gate, Auggie stopped the truck again and turned it off.

  "You comin' in?" He asked noticing she still had her seat belt on.

  Without looking at him, Charlotte questioned, "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

  "There's a hell of a lot of things I'd like to tell you right now." He fussed at her.

  "Do any of them include the real reason we're not going to your mom's?"

Auggie stared at her, quickly realizing this was serious.

He knew he should have told her the truth to begin with but he didn't so now he was stuck trying to cover his own ass, hoping she didn't find out.

  "Why are you all of the sudden wanting to visit her? You don't even like her."

  Appearing offended, Charlotte replied, "I don't dislike her."

  "Okay, let's just pretend that's true." He started before she cut him off saying, "It is and I honestly don't care how she feels about me."

  "Then what's the real reason you're mad?" He sarcastically asked.

  "Because I do care how she feels about you."

Now Auggie just felt like crap.

  "You have a close family and I don't want to be someone that comes between y'all."

  "Look, Lotte, everyone's had their turn at being on mom's bad side. This just happens to be mine."

  A soft smile formed as she replied, "You swear she'll get over it and be at the wedding?"

  "I sure do and ya know I'd be nice next time if you would just say what's on your mind instead of doing that woman thing you do."

In an instant, her smile was gone.

  "Excuse me?"

  "What?"

  Angry all over again, Charlotte popped the button on her seatbelt and flung it off her as she swung the door open snapping, "You're ridiculous." While climbing out of his truck.

Auggie gave a loud sigh and opened his door as hers slammed shut.

Catching up with her at the front door, Auggie wanted to calm her down before they went in. He didn't mind her being mad at him, she'd get over it like always, but he knew Ren would instantly take her side and then he'd have two crazy women ticked off at him.

  Just as he was about to try and make things right, the door opened and Ren chirped, "I can't believe ya'll are getting married."

  "I can't believe what a damn jackass he is." Charlotte replied as she stepped in.

Ren looked up at Auggie with a disapproving glare before turning and walking with Charlotte into the living room.

  With a wide smile, Jackson patted him on the back laughing, "Congrats, and good luck. This is only the first day."

Shaking his head, Auggie couldn't help but let out a laugh of his own as he reached over and shook Jackson's hand.

5

Once Liv texted back that the movie she and Kieran were at was almost over, and that Charlotte and Auggie could let themselves in to wait for them, Charlotte followed Auggie into their house.

Making herself comfortable on the couch, Charlotte was glad this was their last stop. Even though Auggie had been an ass most of the day, she looked forward to going back to his house.

  As Auggie sat down next to her, Charlotte asked, "Did you have a specific date in mind?"

  "For what?"

  Rolling her eyes at him, she replied, "Our wedding."

  The side of his faced scrunched up into a smile as he replied, "I'm ready whenever you are."

  "Amila said The Society is involving themselves."

  Leaning closer, he teased, "I knew getting roped up with you was a bad idea."

  The corner of her mouth curled into a smile as she agreed, "Worst idea ever."

  "Nope, the worst is you agreeing to marry me."

  Letting out a little laugh, Charlotte asked, "Is that so?"

  "You're stuck with me now."

  "That's where you're wrong." She assured before inching closer as she shared, "You, sir, are stuck with me."

  "Ah, hell." Auggie griped, before smiling at her again and giving her a quick kiss.

The moment he did, Liv and Kieran walked in.

Charlotte and Auggie both stood to greet them as they strolled into the house.

  Reaching out his hand to Auggie, Kieran laughed, "Never thought you'd actually do it."

  Charlotte shook her head at them as Auggie replied, "What can I say, she got me."

  Liv clapped her hands together taunting, "Ha! I never thought she'd say yes." Before patting him on the shoulder saying, "Congrats Auggs." As she winked at Charlotte.

A whole new level of excitement filled Charlotte as she realized, now that everyone had been notified in person, it was official. They were getting married.

As Charlotte and Liv stepped away from Auggie and Kieran, she decided the wedding wouldn't be complete without Liv being a part of it.

  "So, Penny's going to be my maid of honor. Will you be one of my bridesmaids?"

  Liv quickly let out a laugh before declining, "Nah, I don't do that."

  Charlotte was about to ask her what she meant but was side tracked when she heard Auggie say, "Best man?"

  When Kieran accepted by saying, "For sure," Charlotte turned and questioned, "Kieran's your best man?"

  "Yeah, who else would it be?"

  Charlotte glanced at Liv who appeared just as surprised before the both blurted, "Braden," in unison.

  "Pretty sure best man requires a man." Kieran laughed, earning a hard glare from Liv.

  Auggie smiled at his cousin's remark before informing, "It's Kieran."

Even though Charlotte felt he was wrong for picking his cousin over his brother, she really couldn't argue since she picked Penny over her own sister.

Auggie and Kieran made their way outside to the porch, closing the door behind themselves.

  As soon as the door shut, Liv shook her head mumbling, "Stupid ass."

  Following her to the kitchen, Charlotte asked, "Are ya'll any better?"

  "Hell no." Liv snapped before sliding onto a barstool beside her island, sharing, "I get that it's a big deal. He feels bad for marking Braden but it shouldn't be affecting us."

  "Us as in..."

  Shaking her head Liv answered, "It's like he's just going through the motions, ya know."

Nodding, Charlotte stayed silent.

  Quickly changing her disposition, Liv laughed, "You and Auggs are for real, huh."

  "As real as it can get." Charlotte replied with a smile.

  "That's cool. You're good for him. Even though, it doesn't make a whole lotta sense."

  "What do you mean?"

  With a smirk on her face Liv replied, "It's Auggie. I just don't get it."

"He's the best thing that ever happened to me."

  "You musta had one hell of a rough start for that to be true."

  Drawing in a deep breath, Charlotte nodded before sharing, "There's a lot more to him than a scruffy beard and plaid shirt."

"If you say so."

They both started to laugh as Auggie and Kieran stepped back into the house.