ASHANTI
The warmth of his blood was all over my hands, dampening my clothes.
He falls out of my embrace.
There he laid lifelessly as blood spilled from him like a waterfall.
"Lamonte?!," I shake him but there was no response.
"Nooo!!!"
I fall into a pit of darkness as I see his still body getting further and further away from my grasp.
I wake up, panting heavily, drenched in my own sweat.
I look over to Lamonte next to me sleeping peacefully.
I get out of bed quietly as to not wake him and I go check on our princess, who is sound asleep in her crib.
I make my way downstairs to the liquor cabinet and pour myself some wine to take the edge off my trembling body.
These dreams have been happening for the past few months since the accident and even though, Lamonte didn't get hurt at all. The nightmare felt so real and it keeps getting worse each night.
I walk out onto the balcony, feeling the cool night breeze on my clammy skin.
***
5 months earlier...
I was in Lamonte's arms for what felt like hours.
The cops came in and handcuffed Nell's unconscious body.
One of the cops came up to us and asked, "Are any of you injured?"
"No," we said in unison.
"I just wanted to say thank you for your part in helping us catch this guy, he's been hard to pin down," the cop said with a smile.
"No problem," Lamonte spoke as he rubbed my shoulder.
The police always made him uncomfortable.
"Let's get y'all out of here," the police led us outside where Ajax and Ana were waiting for us. Ana immediately took me in her arms, squeezing me tight as well as Ajax.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Raquel being hauled away in cuffs looking at me with envy and anger in her eyes as she always does.
"Are you guys okay?," Ana asked looking nervous, examining my body for wounds.
"We're fine. Lamonte handled everything just fine," I joked holding him close.
"It wasn't all me. My baby was a badass in there too. Speaking of my baby, where is Charliese?," Lamonte questioned.
"She's in the car asleep, we left the air on in there cause we didn't wanna move her and wake her."
We made our way over to Charliese and held her in both of our arms, waking her from her slumber.
"I thought she was with you when you got kidnapped. I was so worried about what they had done to her," his voice breaks lightly and in return my heart breaks.
I pulled him close to my body and whispered, "Even if they had taken her, they wouldn't have been able to lay a finger on her."
I turn back to Charliese, kissing her forehead as she coos at her father and not me.
"Wow! I guess we know who her favorite is," I said jealousy dripping from my voice.
He laughs at me before reverting his attention back to our baby, "You love dada, don't you? Yes, you do. Yes, you do. My sweet pea."
He continues speaking in a baby voice and I just lean back on the car to admire the two.
I never thought I'd see the day that Lamonte uses a baby voice, Charliese is making him soft.
I laugh to myself.
He rolls his eyes at me before putting Charliese back to sleep and placing her in the car seat.
He turns his attention onto me with a sad expression on his face, stepping toward me.
He looked at me as if he was going to say something, but he stopped himself.
"What is the mat—," I was interrupted before I could finish my question. Ana and Ajax came towards us, talking to us.
We ended up driving back to their place and let Charliese finish napping before going back home.
***
Present...
I breathe heavily as tears spilled from my eyes and I felt like I couldn't breathe.
I've been having the same recurring dream for the past few months. Even though nothing happened, the dreams feel real and my heart breaks each time seeing him like that.
I feel strong arms pull me into an embrace and I immediately relax, taking in Lamonte's familiar, intoxicating scent.
"The same dream?," he asks in his sleepy voice.
I nod my head slowly, nuzzling my face in his chest and I wrap my arms around him tightly as if he could slip away at any second.
He kissed my forehead and held me as silence began to surround us.
"I don't know why you stay with me. The amount of shit I put you through. I should've left you alone," his voice slightly breaks. He lets out a sigh and sits on the patio chair, looking up at me expectantly.
"What do you want me to say? 'Any sane person would've left, I'm crazy for giving you as many chances as I did.' That may all be true, but I just know things could have gone a whole lot worse. I mean look at where we are now. We're living together, we're engaged, we had Charliese. I can't imagine my life without her or you now. You didn't understand how to love someone and now you do. That's all I wanted from you and I got it."
I sat in his lap and looked in his eyes, "I wouldn't change a thing. Well, except for us being married by now."
"Let's get married then. I've been waiting to make you my wife and for you to have my last name. I don't want to wait anymore," he says completely serious looking deep into my eyes.
"Then I'll get in contact with a wedding planner tomorrow after work," I say looking in his eyes.
He clears his throat and looks at me shyly, "My mother has already kinda got one for you and they've been talking for about a week or two now."
"Why didn't you tell me?," I punched his chest hard.
He faked a wince to gain sympathy as he looked at me, "She didn't wanna stress you out after I told her about how the dreams have been affecting you. I told her what I think you'd like and told her to run it by you to see if you want to make changes. You just started working again and I didn't want to add more to your plate. You've been coming home late, you've been tired, and these dreams have been keeping you up. I didn't want this to be another thing you stress about."
He grabbed my hands and brought them to his lips. "I'm sorry, baby. Please forgive me," he mumbled against my skin, sending vibrations throughout my body.
"I understand where you're coming from, but I want to be apart of the wedding planning," I closed my eyes letting him kiss along my arm.
"Okay, I'll tell mother and have you join the next time they meet up."
I moan as he reaches my neck and starts to nibble against my flesh. I wrap my arms around his neck and tilt my neck, giving him access. He holds my legs as he carries me to the bedroom and lifts up my lace cami to show I'm not wearing any underwear.
He takes off his boxers and rubs his dick against me as I gasp feeling myself become dripping wet, craving for him to be inside me.
"Stop teasing me," I breathed against his lips, running my hands down his back.
"Put it in yourself then," he said, biting on my ear and my throat.
I grab his hard member and put him inside me.
"Fuck," I moan feeling him fill me up completely.
He slowly strokes me, holding my legs open as he looks into my eyes.
"I love you so much. How could I ever go anywhere?," he whispers as he buries himself deep inside me.
"I love you!," I say intensely as I feel the buildup increasing.
He knows I'm at my peak as he begins moving faster, pumping me as his release is just as close as mine.
"Fuck, I wanna cum!," he groans roughly as he pounds me harder.
"Then cum," I moan as I look into his eyes gripping his neck as I forcefully orgasm.
He grunts as he grips my hair and busts a huge load inside me.
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