My Ruin

26. Rest Of My Life

LAMONTE

I hadn't seen her since that night when I crashed her date.

Her date!

She had moved on from me, but who could blame her? I was just angry, mainly at myself than anyone else.

I put her through so much pain. Normal people would've left and given up on me, but she stuck around through everything.

She stuck around no matter how many times I hurt her.

I was being selfish, but I didn't want her to be with anybody else.

Nobody could offer her what I could, nobody could satisfy her every need and desire like I could, and no one would love her as much as I would.

Commitment doesn't scare me anymore. I could see myself spending the rest of my life with her and giving her 20 million babies if that's what she wanted.

I would spoil her and make sure she was never in need of anything at all.

I don't deserve another chance, but I would fight for us if it was the last thing I do.
She is the love of my life.

ASHANTI

How was I going to tell him?

Would he even want the baby?

What about Trey? We were just starting our relationship.

How would he react to me being pregnant with another man's baby?

Would I even keep this baby?

I have no idea what to do. I've been up all night thinking about everything, my mind was running completely wild.

It was already time for me to get up for work and I would be running on no sleep.

I got out of the bed and got ready for work.

My heart was pounding in my chest a mile a minute.

My life would change if I had a baby.

It was going to be apart of me for the rest of my life.

I walked downstairs to find Ajax, Ana, and Ti standing around a birthday cake.

Ana ran to me and gave me a bear hug as she screamed, "Happy 23rd Birthday."

I gave a fake enthusiastic smile.

They threw confetti at me and put a birthday hat around my head.

"This is ridiculous," I said with an amusement to my tone.

"We know," they said in unison.

"I'm not in the mood to celebrate my birthday and I'm going to be late for work if you guys don't let me go," I said with a sigh.

"Too bad you're celebrating it and you don't have work because I told the boss you were taking the day off," she said in an excited tone.

I rolled my eyes and propped down on the couch.

"What's got you in such a mood?," Ajax asks.

"Honestly, babes. What's got you so down?," Ti asked as they all crowded around me.

I looked to Ana for help but she shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm...," I was interrupted before I could finish my sentence.

Someone was at the door.

I quickly excused myself to get out of this awkward conversation.

I thanked my lucky stars for whoever was at the door.

"Lamonte," I breathed in a whisper.

He was holding a bouquet of red roses with a card perched in the middle of it.

He was waring a pair of blue jeans and a loose-fitted black shirt that somehow still clung to his body, leaving nothing to imagination.

He looked like he was doing better.

I cleared my throat and broke the silence, "What are you doing here?,"

"It's your birthday and I don't care how mad you are at me, I wouldn't miss your day. I love you so much and I told you that I would never give up on you. I meant it and I'm not going anywhere. I ruined everything before, but now I just want to be with you for the rest of my life," he spoke in a serious tone.

I could tell he was serious because as he spoke his eyes never left mine for even second.

I don't know how long we were looking at each other, but it felt like hours.

He was leaning in to embrace me when Trey showed up. He had a present in his hand a big smile plastered on his face, but it quickly faltered when he saw Lamonte.

I immediately went to him and wrapped my arms around him.

I kissed him like my life depended on it.

Trey was surprised by my behavior, but he kissed me back with just as much fire as I gave him.

I wanted Lamonte to get the hint that I had moved on, but I knew that with this baby growing inside me I could never move on from him.

I couldn't move on from him no matter how hard I tried to, it was like something kept pushing us together.

"What's taking so...?," Ana walks up but stops in her tracks as she eyes both of the men.

She cleared her throat and invited them in as she pulled me aside.

"Are you going to ask one of them to leave? You know what happened the last time they were both in the same room," she said.

"I know what happened. Why did you invite the two of them if you knew this?," I asked confused.

"I invited Trey. I guess Ajax must've invited Lamonte," she spoke with a shrug.

"This would be the perfect time to tell Lamonte about the pregnancy," she continued.

"Don't you think I should tell Trey to see what happens between us?," I asked unsure.

"It's up to you, but you are going to have to tell the both of them at some point might as well be today," she spoke.

"I know, I guess I'm just nervous that I'm going to be doing this by myself," I stated.

"You would never be doing this by yourself.

"You'll have me, Ti, Ajax, and I know Lamonte will be there for you regardless. He loves you, Ashanti," she spoke softly as she gave me a hug.

"Thank you, Ana. Maybe there isn't a baby. I mean I haven't even went to the doctors yet for an accurate test," I said hopefully.

"I'll go to the clinic with you tomorrow, but I think you know that deep down you are pregnant," she said holding my hands.

"You're pregnant?!," Ti came marching up to us.

"Sshhh, some people don't know yet and we'd like to keep it that way," I said dragging him aside.

"Yes, I'm pregnant and Lamonte is the father," I continued to explain.

He brought me into a tight hug and jumped around happily.

"I'm going to be an uncle!," he exclaimed.

"Jesus Christ, shut the fuck up, Santiago," Ana said and I knew her patience was growing thin.

I bursted out laughing at the two of them. It was good to know that they would support me through anything.

"We should get back to them. We've been gone a long time and I think they're going to get suspicious," Ana spoke.

Ti, Ana, and I made our way back to the kitchen and I had this unsettling feeling that all hell was about to break loose.

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