Addicted

Chapter 7

"At the end of the day that's family. We all make mistakes and y'all need to understand that. No matter what happened it's the past and a person can only suffer for so long."
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3 years later

J a y d e

"558, 559, 600 thousand." I said finishing the last bit of money Jodi had left me to count.

This is what I'd do everyday. Wake up count money cook and clean and wait for him to bring me more to count. I had no life no friends and no family with the exception of Sammie who I was pretty sure hated me. A year after I left that hospital we moved from Georgia to Miami and I kept my word and never went back. I hadn't talked to Honey Masiah or Taj since then. I occasionally spoke to Joy but not as much as I'd like since her and Taj were together and he wanted nothing to do with me. I never thought this would be my life. 23 and lonely with a man who acted as if didn't want me yet wanted no one else to have me. When we first got to Miami everything was perfect. We got a huge house and I was the envy of everyone here because I was Jodi's Queen and I was so sure that I had made the right decision by staying with Jodi. He was already in the game but things went from bad to worse and he began to threaten me and beat me as his place got higher and higher in the game until he was the biggest kingpin in Miami. Still I stayed with him justifying his actions thinking they were the repercussions of my own and the older Sammie got the harder it became to hide my bruises and make him believe I had an accident. He would never admit it for my safety but he despised Jodi he also knew the reason why I wasn't in contact with any of my old friends. I missed my family back in Georgia and I couldn't help but think about how they were doing and how things would be if I wouldn't have left and I even think about how things would've been if Masiah would've loved me instead of Jodi.

"I'm going out." Sammie said peeking his head into the room as he looked at the money in disgust.

He had recently turned 17 and he was a junior in high school. He was just the young man I thought he'd be. Respectful handsome and smart with a good head on his shoulders. I knew he hated me though. For being dumb when I was younger and now I understand what everyone meant by my decisions would affect him because they have.

"Come talk to me." I smiled a little fixing my bang that hid a new bruise so he wouldn't see.

He sat on the bed and looked at me with an unreadable expression before putting some of my hair behind my ear causing me to sigh.

"Why you let him do this to you Jayde? You used to be so strong but you've changed. What happened to you?"

"Im trying Sammie I am but I cant leave him." I felt a tear run down my cheek which I wiped away quickly.

"I don't have my own money and I don't have a good paying job because I never finished school. I have nothing I need him."

"You don't fucking need him Jayde! You had a strong support system and you threw it away over a nigga who beats your ass every chance he gets?"

"I said I'm trying okay? It's not a day that goes by that I don't think about what my life would have been like if I wouldn't have left. If I would have listened to everyone who told me that he wasn't good for me. He ruined me and I'm broken and I know that but I don't know how to be strong alone. I was young...we all do dumb shit when we're young." He shook his head as more tears fell yet I didn't care to wipe them.

"No we don't all do dumb shit because being young isn't an excuse. I'm younger than you were and I would never do that to you Jayde." He got up grabbing his phone off the bed and walking out.