My Brother's Keeper

Chapter 13: Rehab

"Mr. Monroe, I understand that you are here to get some help with your drug addiction."

"Yes, and to control my anger. I don't ever want my fiancé to ever see me like that again."

"Fiancé?"

"Yes." Dylan smiled as he looked over at the seat next to him at Mia as he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it and continued to hold on to her
"I proposed to her last night and I told her before we get married, that I had to get my issues worked out and would she kindly be there for me."

"And Jamia, how long are you willing to wait for Dylan to change his life around?"

"As long as it takes, I'll be here for him." She said as she rubbed her thumb across his hand

"I doubt it'll take me very long. This is the woman I want to be with and have my children." Dylan professed

"It's good that you have full confidence in yourself, but you don't want to rush things. You want to take things slow and in return, decrease your changes of relapsing and then which will cause you to get angry quicker. If you trust that Jamia isn't going anywhere, then you have nothing to rush."

"I trust her, I want to get it right this time and not have her walk out of my life. I'm doing this for her, our son Devin and me."

"Why did you put yourself last?"

"Because for so long I've always put my selfish needs ahead of her; drugs, other women, partying, whatever I felt I wanted to do I did because I did it for so long that it was the norm."

"When did you first started using and why?"

"Fresh out of college going to the NFL and I felt invincible. I went to the parties they'd have and it was all around, at first I didn't want anything to do with it because of my childhood and dealing with my biological father, but everyone was just doing it for fun. All the girls were into it and it was no big deal, and eventually I tried some, so whenever I'd party or go out, I'd have a line and I'd be good to go."

"Was your biological father a coke user as well?"

"Yes, both my parents were. He had my mom hooked on it but he was the worst."

"In what way?" She asked as Dylan lightly squeezed Mia's hand and she squeezed his back letting him know that it's okay

"He would uh, he would threaten to kill my mother if she did something that he didn't like."

"Like what?"

"One time she forgot to put sugar in his coffee, so he threw the hot coffee on her. She screamed so loud that it woke me from my sleep that I ran to the staircase to see what was wrong, and I saw my mother on the kitchen floor screaming, and the side of her face all red. Then he took some hot water from the sink and dashed it on her, and he kicked her in the face, 'That'll teach you the next time' he told her. He looked up and saw me standing there and he grabbed her hair and showed me her face and said, 'You're the reason why your mom is so stupid, I should kill her and be done with it.'

"What was your reaction after witnessing something like that?"

"I was afraid. I was scared that he was going to kill her because he had that look in his eyes when he wanted to hurt us."

"How would he hurt you?"

"Beat me, starve me, anything he could think of, he did it. I was so afraid of him that I would piss myself whenever he came around. I once told him that I was never going to end up like him and he laughed at me and said I wasn't going to be shit."

"Do you feel that he was right?"

"Yeah, the day I hit Jamia and when she fell I could see my mother all over again and hear my father's laugh in my head and him saying that I was going to be just like him." Dylan said as a stray tear escape his eyes

"Jamia, were you aware of Dylan's troubled past?"

"Yes, but he wouldn't go into specifics of what happened and I wouldn't pressure him into telling me, I'd let him tell me on his own."

"Did you know he struck you at that time?"

"He was angry and high, and we were arguing for a few days prior to the incident. What really set him off was when I said that he was a drug addict like his father."

"Have you said that to him before?"

"Yes, but he never hit me over it."

"Why did you hit her that time, but not the other times?" She asked Dylan

"I didn't believe it then, but I was so tired of her saying that and in denial of how right she was that I just grew tired and hit her."

"How did you feel afterwards?"

"A piece of shit, like my father."

"What happened next?"

"I apologized to Devin and told him that I would never hit his mom again and then I apologized to Mia and promised her that I would get the help I needed to love her properly."

"And now here we are, do you believe that your father's words will ultimately be true in the end, no matter how much help you get?"

"No, I know I can be a better person than that."

"But you promised yourself before, how do you know it won't happen again?"

"Because then I didn't have something important to lose, all I ever wanted was to get away from my parents and just move on with my life, I know I'm serious this time around." He professed

Will his father's words ring true or can Dylan overcome?

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading, I appreciate it.

Let me know what you think and I'll catch you on the next one.