Broke Luxury (A Jacquees Short Story) #Wattys2016

(3) Traumatic Experiences

1 year later

Jacquees

"Welcome to our first family therapy meeting. I am doctor Melanie. Usually doctors go by last names, but don't think of me as your doctor, I'm your friend."

I rolled my eyes and Malika stirred in her sleep. I slowly rocked her to calm her down.

"We're going to go around the room and I want you to share your traumatic experience so that we can all know why you're here. If you don't feel comfortable with speaking about it just yet, that is okay too."

Sasha looked at me and gave me a small smile. I returned it and intertwined our fingers. I love her so much.

"My name is David." A tall, Caucasian man said. He volunteered to go first. "This is my daughter Kate, and my wife Alana. About 3 months ago, I cheated on Alana. I don't know why I did it, but I just did it. She was so upset with me." He looked at Alana with sad eyes. "I came home one day and she had packed her bags along with Kate's and left. I was upset, but I knew it was my own fault. I told the woman I cheated with to leave me alone and that I never wanted her. She didn't say anything over the phone, she just hung up. About a week passed and I got a phone call while I was at work. The hospital called me because my wife and daughter were in a car that was almost completely underwater. The back of the car was in the air and that's where Katie's car seat was. Alana was unconscious from hypothermia and the water was up to her neck. The doctors said Alana would be paralyzed for the rest of her life but she's walking fine today and she's just as healthy as well as Katie. I thought I lost them and it messed me up for weeks and I still have nightmares about what my life would be like without them." Everyone applauded as he finished.

My face scrunched up. I didn't know if they were clappin' because that's just what you do after somebody speaks or because he was brave enough to go first.

"I'm glad that you're family is doing better." Melanie said smilin'.

We started to go around the circle and the stories got worse. I started to feel bad for these people I didn't even know. People were snifflin' and wipin' their tears as each story was told.

"You guys are last." Melanie said smilin' at us. Everyone turned their heads towards us and Sasha and I shared a look. She stood up. "You're the first woman to tell your story. You're very brave."

Sasha gave her a weak smile and looked around the circle. She pushed her hair that she straightened this morning behind her ear and took a deep breath.

"This is Jacquees, our daughter Malika or as we call her pe', and I am Sasha. About a year ago, Jacquees and I took a break in our relationship because we were always arguing and fighting. We both agreed it would be best if we took some times to ourselves and only communicate when it came to our child. Long story short, I had reconnected with this guy that I had known in high school. We had a couple of dates, but I wasn't interested and he was upset about it. He took Malika from day care and nobody even noticed that he wasn't on the list to pick our child up. He told me and Jacquees to meet him somewhere so we could get our daughter back. We were both scared and confused. We didn't know anything about the place we were going to or what we were getting ourselves into, we just knew we had to get her back. We went to the place that he told us to and we were immediately kidnapped and chained to a pole with God knows how many STD's on it. No food, water, or sunlight. We were there for about 2 and a half days. One of those days, we heard heavy footsteps and then a light flickered on and the man stood there, dangling my daughter upside down by her ankle. He beat her right in front of us until she was literally black and blue. She screamed so loud and I begged him to stop."

The room was so quiet that you could hear the receptionist in the front talkin' on the phone. All eyes were on Sasha as she paused to wipe her tears. I reached up and grabbed her hand. She looked down at me before turning back to the crowd.

"My twin brothers came to our rescue." She continued. "We still don't know how they knew where we were or what was happening to us, but we're thankful. After we got free, the man that hurt us disappeared. We searched everywhere for him that same day. When we found him, Jacquees let out all of his anger on him. Then he was the one who was black and blue." She finished and sat down as people wiped their tears. I kissed her cheek as she sat back down.

"You all have done so great today telling all of your stories. Does anybody have any questions for anybody in the group or me?" Melanie asked and I groaned deep in my throat. Sasha smiled and pecked my lips. She knew I didn't want to come and that I was ready to go.

The normal questions like "How do you cope with...", "How do I stop the nightmares?", surfaced around.

"I have a question for Jacquees." A small woman with her son said quietly. My head snapped in her direction, I was actually surprised.

"What did you do while..." She paused. "It was happening?" She asked after clearin' her throat.

"Me? I was trying to break the chains." I said smiling down at Malika. "I actually blacked out halfway through." The woman that asked the question looked surprised, but she simply nodded.

"Sasha," one woman blurted out. "How do you and Jacquees cope with your situation?"

Sasha and I shared a look and then we laughed quietly. "We haven't exactly coped with it too well. My sister actually forced us to come here. I won't lie and say we're fine, because we're not. We're paranoid and extremely overprotective of our daughter. We haven't really coped with it, we've simply just tried to forget."

Melanie asked if there were anymore questions and when there weren't anymore, she closed the meeting and I sighed in relief.

I was hungry as hell.

Sasha

"Dada!" Malika exclaimed as Quee picked her up from her high chair and lightly tossed her in the air. She giggled and when he stopped throwing her, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Baby, do we have to go back to group therapy?" He asked.

I laughed. "It was fun, you didn't like it?"

He rolled his eyes. "That shit dead ma'."

"Watch your mouth around my daughter." I said cleaning Malika's high chair off.

He sat her down and she crawled to her toys that were on the living room floor. I was fine as long as she was in my sight.

"Or what?" Quee asked as I walked over to the kitchen counter.

I turned around to respond and he was right in front of me. He put his hands on either side of me on the counter and got closer to me.

"Or what baby?" He teased. He trailed his lips along my jaw.

My lip quivered as I bit down on it to muffle my moans. I gently pushed him back and started to walk away. I felt his eyes on me.

"Or I'll make you say my name." I said suddenly and turned on my heels again to get Malika ready for her bath.

"You promise?" Quee yelled from the kitchen, causing me to smile.

Okay! I know I said I would update yesterday, but I had to entertain some kids and then I went on a date lol. So here it is!

Forbidden Fruit 2 is also updated if you read that story too!

Also, I love comments and I try to reply to them without revealing anything and sometimes there isn't a way to reply to them lol, but I read every comment! I promise. * sticks out pinky *

What did you think about what happened to them?

What do you think Quee and Sasha's relationship will be like?

Keep reading and find out the little things Quee loves about his lady, how Sasha and Quee came to be, and if they will still be after Quee has a small talk with Kerrie!

(P.S. : There will be three fillers leading up to some drama.)

- toodles, jp!