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Yours
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Chapter 31: Yours (London's POV)
I glanced at Ronan who lay in bed and watched as I pulled on a pair of jeans and then a t-shirt. I grabbed a set of clothes, tossing them at him. He caught them while holding his head in one hand, his elbow propped up as he continued watching me. "Stop," I laughed, "and get dressed. We said we'd meet him for coffee."
"You know, you don't have to take me with you. If you're comfortable having coffee alone with him, that's fine by me," he replied.
"I'm taking you because I'm not comfortable having coffee alone with him. I want you there, now could you please get dressed so we can leave?" I walked over, standing beside the bed, my hands on my hips.
He grabbed my hand, pulling me down swiftly as he rolled onto his back. I sighed before chuckling softly while I lay on top of him. "Let's just not show up," he whispered.
"Why?"
"We don't want to," he said bluntly.
"And... what would we do instead?" I lifted a brow.
"Whatever the hell we wanted to," he replied.
"Which is what exactly?"
"I can show you," he smirked.
"Or you can get dressed," I replied.
He sighed, rolling his eyes. "I hate that guy," he whispered.
"I know. But you can tolerate him for a few minutes, come on." I moved to push myself off of him but he hooked a finger into my t-shirt, pulling me closer and into another kiss. I let one hand rest on his bare chest while the other held his cheek before I pulled away after a while. "Let's go, please," I sang, climbing off of him and grabbing a pair of socks. I could hear him getting dressed behind me. By the time I put my shoes on, he was completely dressed, socks and shoes included. I grabbed my phone and keys and he took his wallet and we left for Black Marina.
I was more scared to face the people of this town than I was to face Jamie. When we walked in, the bell chiming above us, everybody glanced at the doorway. I let out a small breath while Ronan tightened his hold on my hand, leading us to a table near the back. Nobody came up to me and asked me anything, but everybody did seem a little relieved to finally see me after an entire month.
Mrs. Nora and her friends walked over, all of them flashing me a smile as they sat in the booth beside ours, talking amongst themselves and drinking tea.
"Didn't he ask us to meet him? Why are we waiting for him then?" Ronan mumbled, leaning back in his seat and putting an arm around my shoulder.
I turned to him. "If he doesn't show up—"
"In two minutes, then we leave," he said quickly.
"No," I laughed. "If he doesn't show up in... twenty minutes, then we leave."
"Might as well wait for an eternity."
I hit his chest lightly and we looked through the menu card in the meantime.
"Sorry, I'm late." We looked up as he set down his bag, camera, and then sat in the booth himself. "I got caught up taking pictures..." His eyes came straight to mine. "Hi."
"Hi," I mumbled. I glanced at his camera. "You finally did take that up, huh?"
He nodded. "Look, I came to talk," he said, barely looking at Ronan.
"Fine. Let's talk," I shrugged.
"You're... together?" He looked between us.
I nodded.
"You said you'd never go back to him," he retorted.
"I said I was angry at him for what he did and I would never go back to him if it was up to me."
"It's completely up to you," he chuckled dryly.
"But it's not," I retorted, "I love him."
Jamie held my gaze, leaning back in his seat while drumming his fingers on the table. "You always had so much trouble saying that to me. It's all easy with him, huh?"
"We had four years of practice, so..." Ronan shrugged. I sent him a pointed look and he rolled his eyes. They're both ignoring each other now.
"You said you'd wait for me," Jamie said.
"I didn't say that."
"You did."
"I didn't. You asked me right before you left. Your Dad was waiting in the car for you, you were in such a rush, Jamie. You asked me and I never got to answer because your Dad called you, you ran out, and you left."
He thought for a minute before realization flickered across his face.
"I never said I would wait for you," I repeated quietly.
"Well... what would you have said?" he questioned.
"I would have been honest."
"And what's your honest answer?"
"That I would have no problem waiting for you." I felt Ronan staring at me. "If he never came back," I nodded towards Ronan. I felt him ease up and relax beside me at my words.
"But he did," Jamie scoffed, shaking his head sardonically.
"Jamie." He held my gaze. "I was in love with him for four years. Hell, I was still in love with him all those years he wasn't here."
"You hated him, London."
"I hated him for what he did. But if I hated him, if I didn't love him, I would have told you I loved you even when I didn't. You can hate someone and love them the same, it's a fine line. I..." I suppressed a groan and took a minute to think. "You're a great guy and what we had was... nice. But I can't give up everything I have with Ronan for that. He loves me, I love him, and..."
"You don't love me," he concluded, knowingly.
"I'm not sorry for making this decision," I said right off the bat. "But I am sorry if it hurts you. You don't deserve it, you deserve so much better. I'm just not the one who can do that for you."
Jamie sighed, grabbing his camera and fidgeting with it for a minute. "She's always been in love with you, hasn't she? I don't like it but it's true. She's yours." His eyes met Ronan's. "And he's yours," he said to me before looking back at Ronan. "I don't understand... Actually, I might be crossing a line, being more protective of her than I should be. But I think you don't understand," he pointed at Ronan.
"You don't understand how much she really loved you. And still does. You don't understand how much and what kind of love it takes to forgive someone after doing something like that to you. How much love it takes to love them again. To be with them again. To end up with them knowing how they hurt you in the past."
"I know how much I hurt her."
"You know it? Good. But you'll never really know it. The only people who will know are her and the people who saw her fall apart."
I stared at the table, listening while they spoke.
"You won't know how many nights she drank till she couldn't stand and bawled her eyes out." That happened a few times with Jamie. "You won't know how many times I've seen her go through a box of your things, crying on the floor." That too. "You won't know what it felt like to see her wearing your clothes while I sat there, trying to comfort her because you weren't around. You left her."
Ronan waited before replying. "It's not a competition."
"She deserves better than you."
"I know I hurt her when I left. But that doesn't mean that you're better for her because you were there the one time I wasn't. I may not know how she felt while I was gone, but you'll never know how she felt when she was with me. You won't know what it was like to see her fall apart more than she did when I left."
Jamie frowned in confusion.
"When her Mom passed, when her Dad was diagnosed, when he passed."
Jamie blinked, his eyes cutting to mine. "Mr. Ryan...?"
I didn't answer, turning to look at Ronan. "You think you've been there for her? I'm sure you have when I hurt her. But I was there every time the world hurt her. Every time she lost a person."
"You weren't there when her mom died," Jamie retorted.
"Neither were you. And that's actually my point. This isn't about who was there for her in her darkest times. That's important, but she's a strong person and she can hold her own and save herself when she needs to. We can both bring her stars and the moon but it won't matter," Ronan chuckled softly, "it's about who she loves. If she took your name, I would have accepted it and moved on."
"Easier said than done. I spent a whole year with her."
"I spent my whole life with her," Ronan shot back. "I've been friends with her my whole life. I've loved her my whole life," he explained sternly. "There's no way I'm letting her go now."
Jamie looked between us while I turned to look at Ronan. He faced me, lifting his brows at me, biting back a small smile. Jamie didn't say a word after that. He just stood up and left.
We left shortly after that and walked to my house, heading straight up to my room. He kicked his shoes off and lay down. "I'm sorry if I said too much," he mumbled while I took my shoes off and sat on my side of the bed. "We made it into a competition to see who was there for you more and that was wrong."
Why? It wasn't wrong, per se. But it did make me realize that no matter how many tears I cried because of him, I would still always love him. Always. And when he came back into town, he was guilty. So guilty that sometimes, I thought the emotion was overwhelming for him. But he still loved me. I still loved him.
He made it up to me, he worked to have me again. And he did it fair and square. I fell back in love with him, so... how could I not choose him?
I moved over and lay on top of him, resting my arms around his neck while putting my cheek on his chest. I could hear his heart beating steadily. "I don't care," I mumbled, "I'm just glad everything is sorted and nothing is going to come between us again." I looked up. "I love you, Ronan."
"I love you, London," he replied, leaning down and kissing me.
.
.
.
.
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Chapter 31
I don't have any great ideas for their epilogue, so I'm not going to write one FOR NOW.
If I get a good idea, something other than the basic getting married and having kids, I'll write it and put it up, but as of now, this is their ending <3
I have a new book planned, so I WILL put out the details but I will also take a day or two off in between before starting to write and upload that one, just to catch a little break, yk
So, thank you to everybody who read, voted, and especially those who commented on this book, see you in the next one!!