A system and method process atomic instructions. A processor system includes a load store unit (LSU), first and second registers, a memory interface, and a main memory. In response to a load link (LL) instruction, the LSU loads first data from memory into the first register and sets an LL bit (LLBIT) to indicate a sequence of atomic instructions is being executed. The LSU further loads second data from memory into the second register in response to a load (LD) instruction. The LSU places a value of the second register into the memory interface in response to a store conditional coupled (SCX) instruction. When the LLBIT is set and in response to a store (SC) instruction, the LSU places a value of the second register into the memory interface and commits the first and second register values in the memory interface into the main memory when the LLBIT is set.