Jade

Chapter 25

Hopping out the car after dozing off, A'mouri could just tell something was off. Pulling his pants up, he headed up the winded pathway to the steps that led to the front door of the large home. For this to have been the place he grew up, it always felt weird coming "home."

"Ma!" He shouted as he walked into the house, his gun clutched in his hand since the doors were already unlocked. Knowing how his mom operates, there was no way the door would be left unlocked this late. The feeling at the pit of his stomach had him ready to start panicking, but he knew he knew he was jumping to conclusions.

"Ma where you at?" He asked, slowly making his way through the first floor, peaking his head into the kitchen after checking the living room and dinning room. Creeping up the stairs, that feeling in his gut only intensified, making his brain fog up.

Hearing movement coming from the bedroom, he quickly made his way down the hallway, coming to an abrupt stop once he saw his stepfather coming out the room staggering and clutching his side.

"Fuck is goin on?" A'mouri asked, his gun now pointed directly at his stepfather who looked like he was in too much pain to speak.

"Nothings goin on, your mom not feelin well. Put the fuckin gun down." His stepfather gritted, the lie slipping out his mouth so easily.

"Ma!" A'mouri shouted again, taking his gun off safety. At this point he knew something was going on, but he had to figure out what his next move was gonna be.

"Why she not answering?" He asked, inching closer to his stepfather as he took a couple steps back.

"Put the fuckin gun down, you know you not gonna do shit wit that." Eric spat, his eyes shifting from A'mouri's face to the gun.

The sound of gun shots filled the air as A'mouri squeezed the trigger, bullets piercing Eric's body before he dropped to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

A'mouri's heart was beating out his chest as he rushed to his mothers side once he made it to the room, seeing her laid on the bed unconscious with numerous cuts and bruises on her face, arm and legs.

He was quick on his feet carrying his mom out the house, calling Loyal on his burner with his free hand.

"Yo."

"Yo, I gotta situation I need you to handle for me in Savannah."

"On my way."

————

The sharp, sterile smell of chemicals masked the air as A'mouri paced the hospital floor in the waiting room, his adrenaline through the roof and his heart racing.

Hospitals always made his stomach turn. It wasn't just the smell, it was the memories. Every trip to the hospital growing up meant someone was dying or already gone. Since he was a kid, hospitals had been a revolving door of grief: uncles with gunshot wounds, cousins hooked up to machines from collateral damage, and now his mother. For families like his, wrapped up in the life, hospitals weren't places of healing. They were final stops. Goodbyes.

He couldn't stop thinking about everything that just transpired in the last couple hours, getting angrier the more he thought about it.

His whole life he been dealing with the same shit, wondering why his mother was too selfish to walk away from a man who clearly didn't love her enough to stop hurting her.

His perception on love and relationships was warped witnessing most of the ups and downs in his own home, and always wondering why his parents couldn't just get back together and make it work to save him from dealing with the toxicity.