Read C&A Novella (Marked Heart #2.5) for Free Online Page B

minute before walking to the porch swing and sitting down.
    Following him, Auggie took the chair next to the swing and waited for Kieran to answer.
      "You ever have a thought that gets in your head and you can't get it out? It just digs itself deeper, gnawing at you as it grows?"
    Instantly, the thought of Charlotte with his brother Will entered his mind.
      "Yea, I do."
      Nodding, Kieran shared, "I can't sleep next to her. Every night I wait for her to fall asleep. Then, I stare at her, wondering why the hell I married her."
    Auggie was so startled by what his cousin said, he felt like he'd been slapped.
    "And I ask myself, if I believe in the legacy, my legacy, then why did I do it. I love her, I know I do. But I can't help thinking if she's the one, I would have taken her mark instead of doing what I did."
    "You messin' around on Liv?" Auggie questioned, ready to take a swing the second he said 'yes'.
      "Nah, but that's another thing. I think it's more 'cause I'm faithful then I don't want anyone else."
      "What the hell is wrong with you?" Auggie growled, finding himself well past irritated with Kieran.
      "I've come too far to go back and it's suffocating me."
      Standing up, Auggie barked, "No, you're a self-absorbed dick who needs his ass kicked for not appreciating having the woman you do."
      On his feet too, Kieran griped, "Sell that self-righteousness to someone who doesn't know you lied about who drew out your mark."
      "I lied to spare Charlotte's feelings not because I needed a plan b in case things don't work out."
      An unexpected smile formed on Kieran's face as he patted Auggie on the back saying, "Don't get all pissy. You know me."
    Glaring at his cousin, Auggie wondered if he really did, because nothing he had just said sounded like it came from his family.
      "Let's get about celebrating one of your last nights as a free man."
      Just so there were no misunderstandings between them, Auggie replied, "My last night as a free man was the one before I met her."

 
    15
    For the first time in Auggie's life, he didn't want to be at his cousin's house. He didn't care about freedom or being a bachelor. If he did, he sure as hell wouldn't have proposed to Charlotte. As he glanced around the porch at the company he was keeping, Kieran, his dumbass brother Braden, and Penny's boyfriend Seth, he started to wonder why he was there in the first place.
    He was six beers into the evening when he decided as soon as Charlotte got there, they would leave.
      Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he started to text her when he heard Braden gripe, "This is the lamest bachelor party in the history of bachelor parties."
      "Take off then." Auggie suggested without looking in his direction.
    For whatever reason, Seth felt the need to speak up on Auggie's behalf.
      "Probably because this isn't a real bachelor party, it's celebrating him about to get married."
    Glaring at Seth, Auggie knew he was right but still, he didn't need some guy that was trying to get down with his little sister, defending the lameness of the evening.
      "What the hell do we do for that then?" Braden questioned before Kieran suggested, "Get drunk and shoot each other?"
      Braden's face lit up while Seth's fell into a fearful expression as he blurted, "What?"
    Glancing at the three of them as Kieran pressed, "What do ya say Auggs?" He nodded.
      "Hell yeah!" Auggie agreed, thinking I'd like to shoot every damn one of you.
    Dusting off a large box in the shed behind the house before opening it, Kieran looked around before stopping and turning to Auggie.
      "You know what I was sayin' before, I was just talkin' outta my ass."
      Crossing his arms across his chest, Auggie agreed, "Damn right, you were."
      "I have regrets. And your brother showing up with the damn tattoo...it's screwin' with me. Knowing I marked him." Stopping to shake his head at himself, Kieran continued, "I shoulda told him no."
      With a heavy sigh, Auggie