On The Ropes

Round 24

DeAndre's POV

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been struggling since giving Tyreek my pills.

The withdrawals were hell to deal with. The sweats, the shaking, the nausea...

In an almost morbid way, dealing with the withdrawals made me appreciate my mother a bit more.

I always judged her for her drug use and what she allowed it to do to her... but now, as I sit sweating on my bathroom floor doing my best not to think about how the pills could take all of my pain away, I came to respect the fact that despite it all—my mother quit.

She dealt with all of this. It took her a long time, and the damage had already been done by then, but she still beat this because she wanted to be better than how she'd been before.

Groaning, I leaned my head back against the wall, sighing at the coolness that seeped into my skin from it. "You got it..." I mumbled to myself, putting my hands over my face as I repeated the words.

I stayed there for a while longer, the only thing that eventually made me move being the sound of my phone ringing next to the sink.

Sighing, I stood shakily to my feet and made my way over to it, grabbing my phone and frowning down at it before I answered the call and held the phone to my ear. "Wassup, Rome?" I muttered as I leaned against the sink.

"Ya sound like shit." Romeo chuckled, making me roll my eyes at them. "I wanna talk ta' ya 'bout 'at boy Zavier was livin' wit'." They explained.

Their words made me sigh and rub a hand down my face. "Ion know why Ty brought you into that shit... I can handle the lil nigga myself."

I'd already felt a way that I was apparently the last to know about Zavier's roommate, and now I really felt a way that Tyreek thought I couldn't handle our child's abuser myself.

"He brought me in cuz ya got ya own shit goin' ahn." Romeo responded. "And cuz I'm the criminal... y'all ain't gotta get ya hands dirty."

"You ain't a criminal, man." I muttered as I walked out of the bathroom. "I mean... technically you are, but you been outta that shit for years now."

"'N so have you." Romeo countered, making me let out a deep sigh. "Whetha' you handle 'em or I handle 'em, somebahdy's comin' aht'a retirement... Might's well do it togetha' again."

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I nodded my head as I took in their words. "Yeah... I guess you right." I muttered as I rubbed my temple with one hand. "You got a plan?"

"Nothin' I'd tell ya ova' the phone." Romeo responded with a chuckle. "Come see me at the parlor some time soon, aight?"

"Yeah, I'll see you soon." I assured them before hanging up.

Tossing my phone onto the bed, I fell backwards onto it as I placed my hands over my face, feeling my leg starting to bounce as pain shot through my head.

Breathe. Just breathe, I thought to myself as I forced steady, deep breaths through clenched teeth.

The pain felt physical, like claws digging into my skull and slowly pulling it apart to expose my brain.

The pain had been excruciating for days at this point. Everything in me begged to just take a handful of painkillers until it finally died down, but pills were the last thing I needed right now.

So I forced myself to struggle through the pounding pain, writhing on the bed until, finally, the pain put me to sleep.

When I woke up, it was to my shoulders being shaken. Groaning, I forced my eyes open and gave a small smile when I saw Tyreek looking down at me. "Hey, baby." I mumbled groggily as I let my eyes close again.