Filed To Story: Goddess's Design His Fated Mate (Willow & Reuben)
his shout echoed in the empty hall.
“Shopping!”
I shouted back, making my way to the shopping mall I had spotted on the way. Although it was a five-minute walk, I opted to take my car.
I had initially purchased a dress for my welcome party with Mia, but anticipating that by the time I reached the pack it would be too late to change I decided to buy a new dress. Additionally, I picked a few things for Wyatt and Lori.
Fortunately, Walter, as the organizer of the fashion show, had granted me the opportunity to have him practice on the stage in the actual location that the event would take place tomorrow. Everything seemed to be aligned in my favor, I harbored hopes of winning this show as well.
As I concluded my clothing shopping, my gaze drifted towards the men’s section. The memory of Reuben’s apology from the previous night lingered in my mind, as if he were present, embracing me in his arms, his warm breath whispering in my ears. My feet moved automatically, leading me into the shop.
Half an hour later, I returned to the fashion show building and entered the common room where I had left my belongings since morning. Placing my dress on the chair intended for a pre-departure change, I glanced at the small box in my hand. I couldn’t explain why I bought it, but once my eyes landed on it, thoughts of him and how he might look wearing it crossed my mind.
I closed the small box, neatly placing it in my purse, only to catch some unusual sounds emanating from the bathroom. Alarmed, I shifted my gaze to the bathroom door. Who could possibly be in there? I was certain I had locked the room the last time I entered around noon. The room’s potent air freshener effectively masked any other scents.
Walking cautiously toward the bathroom, I pushed the door wide open, ready to confront a potential intruder. However, my intentions were thwarted as I was taken aback by the sight of a naked Walter standing under the shower. He casually looked over at me and quipped, “Wanna join me?”
Stunned, I averted my gaze but not before spotting a coffee stain on his discarded shirt. Just as I was about to make a hasty retreat, I felt a firm grip on my wrist, pinning me to the wall beside the bathroom door. It was Walter. He had emerged from the shower completely naked!
“What are you doing, Walter?!”
I demanded, steadfastly making sure to avoid looking anywhere beyond his face to his exposed form.
“Willow, you’ve been aware of my desire for you for five years, yet you are here alone with me. Isn’t it because you want me too?”
he asserted.
“I don’t want you, Walter,”
I replied, meeting his gaze with unwavering determination. “And you’ve known that from the start.”
“Why, because of Reuben?”
His expression shifted to one of displeasure. My silence seemed to provoke him, “Am I not handsome? Am I not rich? Am I not ”
“You aren’t Reuben,”
I candidly replied. “That’s all.”
His eyes betrayed a mixture of emotions, grappling with both the sting of rejection and the weight of his unspoken feelings.
A silence settled between us, after a couple of seconds, Walter loosened his grip on my wrist. I lowered my arm, tore my eyes away from him, and walked away from him towards my dress. Determined to change in another room, I chose to distance myself.
“He doesn’t love you, Willow. A man who doubts his woman is not a man you should love,”
he asserted.
The hand that clutched my dress, halted at his statement. I felt Reuben’s warm embrace enveloping me as I whispered, “That’s what I assumed in the past, that he doubted my love or purity but it was only my feelings that he doubted.”
“What if I prove it to you?”
Walter demanded, turning to face me. My hand trembled slightly in anticipation of what his proof might entail. “Will you leave Reuben and accept my love?”
***
However, I never anticipated that Walter would employ such audacious lies to provoke Reuben.
“What the heck did you say, you motherfucker?!”
Reuben barked, seizing Walter’s collar. “What do you mean by Willow does the same? What exactly do you mean?”
“Are you seriously asking me what that means? Willow and I have been together for years. We are both consenting adults, everything we do is out of love. Do you really want me to delve into the details of our private personal moments?”
I desperately wanted to interject, to tell Reuben that whatever Walter was saying was a fabrication, but Reuben’s expression froze me in place until he noticed my presence.
Walter pulled away from Reuben’s grasp and departed, casting me a meaningful look that seemed to assert that he had proven his point.
As Walter left, Reuben and I stood staring into each other’s eyes for a long time. For some reason the distance between us seemed cavernous and the fear in my heart started to dominate my whole being. I felt an unimaginable amount of pain through our mate bond that was a result of him being emotionally hurt. My heart ached, when he took slow steps towards me until we were a step apart from each other, his eyes were sad and voice weak, “It’s a lie, right?”
his voice shook along with the pain rising in his heart, “He is lying, right? You two are not
My heart squeezed in my chest. He believed it. He believed every single lie that Walter had told him.
He doubted me again, just like he had six years ago.
“Everything he said is true,”
I lied, forcing my tears back. Reuben froze at my statement. When the trust in our relationship no longer existed leaving nothing but suspicion between us, did I really need to clutch at the disintegrating thread from my end. “Walter and I are together,”
I tried to keep my voice strong, “I have given him my heart and body ”
“THAT’S A LIE!!!”
Reuben suddenly burst out grabbing me by the arms. “I DON’T BELIEVE THAT MY WILLOW COULD BETRAY ME!”
he growled, pulling me closer to him. I gasped seeing tears in his red eyes. He was suffering, he was trying to endure it, as he died under the strain of my lie but refused to let his faith waver for even a little bit, “If you still want me to believe in your lie then I will do it. I will believe in your lie but ”
he touched my cheek and made a connection with Ceri completely entangling my heart with his, “I will never let you go,”
he whispered.
My own eyes watered at seeing the trust in his for me but that day the memory of him refusing to accept our babies flashed in my minds’ eye.
“Stop it ”
I clenched my fist. “Stop pretending,”
my tears threatened to pour out of me as I broke free from his grip, “You don’t trust me Reuben! You doubted me six years ago!!”
I screamed, turning on my heel to leave.
Biting my lip into an attempt to grasp the last thread of my control that was preventing a breakdown, I dashed towards the packhouse only to get caught by Reuben. He stood before me, looked deep into my eyes. “I never doubted you,”
he confessed.
I shook my head refusing to fall for his words again, “You are lying.”
“I am not,”
he shook his head, wiping away my tears with his thumb. “That day out of fear of losing you I said some very harsh things. That day my fear was greater than the news of our babies. I decided to be selfish, to live my life in that way, and said something that I regret to this day ”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.