Surviving Parenthood [Book Two]

Twenty Three

Demi

"Harder" I groaned as I threw a punch at the bag, tears of anger and frustration pouring down my cheeks. I screamed out as I threw punch after punch at the bag not able to stop. I just imagined that it was Max's face, everything else was a blur.

"I hate him" I stumbled away, trying to rip off the boxing gloves.

"Hey, calm down" Jay took a hold of my wrists to slow down my movements and gently unstrapped my hands from the gloves. "Let's take a breather, okay?" I nodded, wiping at my cheeks as I sniffled, sending him a grateful smile as he handed me a tissue. I stumbled to the bench and slumped down onto it, grabbing my bottle of water and almost downing the entire thing. I wiped at my mouth, continuing to sniffle and hiccup as I stared off into nothing. I didn't even notice when someone took a seat beside me.

"Good work out there. You got us all watching you" I didn't reply, I just sniffled. "You've got a good punch. I wouldn't want to be on the end of those fists, that is for sure" my mouth ever so slightly twitched at the corners. "A smile. I got a smile" I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop my cheeks from lightly blushing. "Rough day?"

"You could say that."

"I'm sorry" my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Sorry for what?" my heart skipped a beat as I turned to meet the eyes of the stranger sat beside me.

"I know who you are, and-and nobody deserves that" I rolled my eyes and grabbed my water bottle as I pushed myself up from the bench and began through the gym. "Hey" his hand wrapped around my wrist and I suddenly turned, yanking my wrist from his grip. "I'm sorry" I glanced away with a sniffle.

"I-I need to go" I pointed to the main door.

"You will come back though, won't you?" my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Why?" he glanced down and shrugged. "I need to go. Bye" I turned myself around and headed to the changing rooms.

Demi Lovato spotted leaving Unbreakable Performance just days after news broke of Max Ehrich affair.

-

I slammed the front door, dropping back against it with a groan, my hands covering my face as I sunk to the floor. I only looked up at the sound of footsteps. My face hardened at the person stood in the doorway to the living room.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I pushed myself up from the floor, anger pouring from every inch of my body.

"I-I need to explain."

"You don't need to explain shit, Max, because your little toy explained it for me. You're pathetic."

"I..."

"Why did you do it? Why did you go out there and make out that we'd broken up?" tears began their journey down my face. "Why did you lie, Max? What made you want to go out there and cheat on me? What did I do?"

"You-You didn't do anything."

"Well, I obviously did because no in love person cheats on their fiancée and then comes home and fucks them like nothing happened. That's why you said everything to make me happy. You wanted me to forgive you. What do you want from me, Max?" I quickly wiped at my cheeks, not wanting to look weak. I don't want him to think he has control over me.

"I..." he glanced down at his hands.

"Is that it?"

"I don't-I don't see my future with you anymore" I released a sarcastic and heartbroken chuckle.

"Then why didn't you just end it? Why did you have to go out and cheat on me? Why did you have to go out and humiliate me?" he had just ripped my heart from my chest and was stomping all over it. "When did it change? When did you stop seeing your future with me?" he shook his head.

"Don't make me say it."

"Say it" I hissed through clenched teeth. "Because I want to know when the guy I thought I was going to marry stopped loving me."

"I never stopped loving you, Demi" I rolled my eyes, wiping rapidly at my fallen tears.

"When?"

"When everything started back to normal and I went back to work."

"So, before you even proposed to me?" he didn't reply which gave me my answer and that just broke my heart more. "Before we had Ayla?" he rapidly started to shake his head.

"No."

"I don't believe you" he sighed, glancing down at the floor. "How many people have you cheated on me with?"

"Just the one."

"Why did you do it? Why did you keep me around if you didn't love me anymore? Was it just for the professional gain, so you could use it to get ahead. You could mention my name in interviews and auditions and they'd give you the part on the spot" his silence told me everything. "You're pathetic. You're the lowest of the low and if we didn't have Ayla to co-parent, I'd never want to see you again. The only reason I'm willing to stay civil with you is because of Ayla. I'm not taking any shit from you, Max, because you've just destroyed the one thing I wanted for my daughter, and that was a happy home with her parents happy and in love. Now, get out" I pulled open the front door, glaring him down. He gave me one last silent look before his eyes darted to the floor and he slowly began towards the door. "Oh..." he turned back to me, his eyes on my hands as I slipped the engagement ring off my finger. "You can have this because I don't want it anymore. I don't ever want to see it again. Stay out of my way, okay? If you want to see Ayla, message me because I don't want you randomly showing up on my doorstep. We're finished, Max. Have a nice life" I slammed the door in his face and stumbled back, dropping down onto the bottom step of the stairs and I curled into myself as I broke down, sobbing into my hands.

——