Trust Issues (Book #1 of the Defy series)
***Mentions of drugs***
Aliyah:
I drive with no specific destination but I find myself arriving at my one place of solace.
Pulling into the parking lot of the Bluewater apartment complex I unbuckle my seatbelt. Parking I get out of my car and make my way over to the familiar door of apartment B9.
Knocking I hear a faint bustling as the person on the other side of the door quickly scurries to open the door.
"Who is it?" The light voice calls out before the door swings open - barely missing my foot.
In the doorway stands my best friend Skye.
She is a midsized woman with very curly brown hair and brown greenish eyes. Her face lights up when she sees me and her large smile nearly blinds me. But in an instant, her expression changes as she takes in my stance and demeanor.
"Oh my goodness, what's wrong Ali? Please come in... come in." She pulls me in by my arm and quickly shuts the door. She continues to pull me, as I drag my feet, all the way to her white couch.
I sit with a plop on the cotton soft cushion - bouncing a little. Skye sat next to me and wrapped her right arm around my shoulder; awaiting my explanation for arriving on her doorstep looking like a kicked, sick, and ran-over puppy.
"What's good girl?"
"I don't know what to do with him anymore..." I begin my long rant. Telling Skye all about the party and the drugs I found in his room. She listened with a motherly understanding, rubbing my back as I confessed to my brother's wrongs.
She didn't cut in at any point and let me finish.
"Let me go talk to him." Skye's voice was full of protectiveness. She knows how Marco can be.
"I think my version of talking and your version of talking are two completely different things," I say with a wry smile.
"Someone needs to knock some sense into his head. Aliyah, at this point you may have to get the law involved. Or even group or individual therapy; maybe getting him involved in a club or an extracurricular at school. " She squeezed my shoulder to emphasize her words.
"I brought up therapy - but he said no basically. And that he isn't crazy; therapy is only for 'crazy people'. I tried to explain to him that isn't what therapy's about. " I look down at my wrangling hands.
Skye took both of my hands into her own. "Ali, you're his legal guardian. Tell him clearly how you feel and the rules that he must follow. He can't keep doing drugs under your grandma's roof. It's disrespectful first off. And it's dangerous for himself."
"He said that he wasn't using... but I think he's selling though." The words tasted bitter in my mouth as I said them. Again making me feel like the epitome of naive; for thinking that something bigger wasn't going on.
I mean all the signs were there. The more frequent late-night rendezvous and parties that he's been sneaking out to. The constant secrets and isolation in our relationship.
"Why is he selling drugs?"
"I have no idea... We didn't get that far in our discussion." The memory of his last words to me causes physical pain. I find myself hunched over as Skye encases me in a warm hug.
"We got this girl! I'm a strong believer in hard work paying off. And I personally believe your payment has been long overdue." She says with a reassuring smile, it was both small and steady.
And at that moment I dragged myself from the self-deprecating pity party I had thrown.
I was the guardian... and it was high time I acted like one. As his sister, I get where Marco is coming from. But as his parent, I had to put my foot down and stop letting him run over me. I loved him and I would certainly not let him become another statistic.
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Trust Issues (Book #1 of the Defy series)
RomanceAliyah Jones has a lot on her plate. From being her grandmother's caretaker and raising her out-of-control brother Marco and disinterested sister Kiara, she doesn't know what to do. When will life finally give her a break? Ace Bennet is a part of th...
