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I nodded, s

He caught my expression in the air and placed it near his heart He hadn’t done that in years

And for the first ti to be okay

Chapter 30

Briggs

“Please… please… please… baby… just givehit… I’…” Austin wailed

Two days went by, but it felthi hiht were possible

“Baby… just lethurts…” he slurred, grinding his teeth and shaking to the core

It didn’t matter if I put three layers of blankets on hi and he was in and out between hot and cold sweats

I was sitting on the bed with ainst the headboard Austin’s head was on my lap, his ar profusely as if he had just stood in the pouring rain His body tre so hard that it vibrated the entire bed

I was lightly rubbing his head, trying my best to ease his discomfort Anytime I touched any other place on his body he said ainst his sensitive flesh

That stung

“Baby! Please, please! I’ hurts… please, just a taste,” he groaned in pure agony, punching his legs from the intense muscle spasms

Arching his back then contracting into a ball like a possessed man

“Austin… shhh… you’re okay… you’re okay… co it didn’t

“I’ht—”

“No! Don’t leave me!” he panicked

He wouldn’t let ht, no matter what I said We had moved from the couch to the bathroom where he laid with his head onup constantly once the drugs wore off At one point I just sat hiainst the bathtub to let him puke in there His body was so weak he couldn’t crawl to the toilet I don’t kno he still had shit co up

I was in and out of consciousness, not wanting to leave hih his physical distress wouldn’t allow me to anyway

I used to lie awake counting the freckles and scars on his arainst his body Now I counted the tracks on them, which were almost physically impossible to see under his tattooed sleeves All the colors, shadings, and inks covering what our reality had become for the last year

Austin hadn’t slept at all, the extre able to drift off Inso him wide awake to feel every ounce of withdrawal His body was craving the drugs that it had been living on for years I knew opiate and heroin were the worst withdrawals I just never is were killing him

Terrified he wouldn’t ht

And the addiction would win

It was like that for two more days Sa exhausted I was able to get him to eat some crackers and drink some water, and for the y Even when I would help him walk around our apartet hisand spasms

By the fifth day it looked like ere passed the worst I saw light at the end of the tunnel again

At least physically

Mentally he was so out of it, but I knew a big part of it was fro pills in his water without hi and even that took several hours to finally kick in

I took a hot shower for the first tie I stayed in there letting the hot water drown outto God ould h this

That he would h this

Austin took the first step by flushing every last drug we had in the apartment down the toilet He was fine for like twelve hours before the withdrawal crept in slowly then it just took the fuck over

I had never seen that many emotions take over a person’s body before Why anyone would do this to theh to keep Austin sober

Enough to keep his demons at bay

One thing was for sure, there was no e could stay in this apartment, possibly even New York There was no e could continue this lifestyle and Austin make it out alive At that point in ti on, but he had to assu his phone I would be lying if I said it didn’t shockto knoas going on

I placed my rabbedthe balcony door cracked in case he woke up

It rang two times before he answered

“I’ve been expecting your call,” Uncle answered

I took a deep breath “Hello to you too, Uncle”

“How is he?”

Shaking ust I scoffed out, “You knew?”

“Briggs, there’s very little I don’t knohen it co business, and even then, I always find out”

“And you still had hi with you? When are you going to start—?”

He corown-ass man I’m not his keeper—”

“You wereuess I couldn’t expect any less”

I shook ain disappointed by the turn in events

“Tell me, Uncle… if you didn’t want me, then why did you take me in? Why not just leave me in foster care? My parents didn’t have a will It’s not like you were obligated So, why? Why go through all the trouble and burden to raisethe answer to the question that consuht me back to his penthouse

“We’re fas You’re my niece whether you want to be or not No matter what you think of me, I would never turn my back on my family Ever,” he spoke with conviction

“You have a very deluded sense of the word family, Uncle”

“I raised you the only way I kne,” he rasped out al me to jerk back from the sudden emotion in his voice

“Do you even lovemy eyebrows as soon as the question left my mouth

He didn’t falter “I loved your mother, and you’re a part of her,” he simply stated

“I stopped trying to understand you fucking decades ago But if you want to finally do soo If he has any chance of living a noret him out of here Away from you”

Silence

“Please… please… Uncle”

I would beg him on my hands and knees if I needed to

“You will always be s, and I will always be your uncle… in any life you choose,” he forewarned and i

I didn’t give it any back into the apart Austin

Finally feeling hopeful

Austin

I woke up at the crack of daith a sleeping Briggs in my arms I couldn’t remember the last time I watched her sleep She was usually out of bed before me and that was if she even slept at all

She was lying on my arm, curled around it like a stuffed animal Her memory blanket placed on top of both of us

She was a sight for sore fucking eyes

She looked like an angel with her hair spread out on the pillow and her pink pouty lip that she loved to bite was sticking out

Damn, I was a lucky son of a bitch

It had been over teeks since I stopped using I wasn’t even taking pain pills And I owed it all to the woman in my arms For the first time in over a decade I was completely sober

It was the craziest fucking feeling Ever

It was like I had been on a roller coaster for years and it finally came to a halt Except I couldn’t find my balance noif I said it didn’t scare ers all around me

Fuck, this aparter

A part ofthat I would soon find the black or white I didn’t want to relapse I swear on s that I wanted to stay sober, but it was such unfamiliar territory for me