𝗔𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝘁

Chapter 11

February 5th, 2022

3RD PERSON

"Okay, we're going in."
"Oh God." Jessica, Serenity and Sasha were currently in front of a building.

Last weekend, Adam decided to invite both Serenity and Sasha to come with Jessica to the party that he is hosting.

And Sasha or Serenity couldn't let them down, cuz Adam started bragging about it.

So now, Sasha is again feeling so guilty about her kids, but Serenity and Jessica are going to try to make her chill out as much as possible.

"Hello gorgeous ladies. Welcome." Adam smiled when he approached three women that he noticed walking in.

He brought them to get drinks while trying to flirt. But it really didn't work too much.

"Hello." Jaden smiled. His hand placed on Sasha's lower back when someone was rushed past him and almost pushed him on Sasha.

"Oh, hey."
"What's up?" Jaden asked as he finally stood on the normal distance from Sasha.

"Oh, nothing really. What about you?"
"Eh, just trying to find someone normal to talk to. And I thought you'd be the person because, don't tell anyone, but I really don't want to be here and talk about taxes and job and all of that boring stuff. But he's my best friend so I have to." Jaden confessed, making Sasha let out a chuckle.

"Well, I don't want to necessarily be here either. But Adam last weekend was just unable to deny."
"Yeah, he is like that. Little... immature, let's say." Sasha laughed as Jaden lead them to the bar to sit there.

They fell into a conversation, laughing as they talked. They did have three drinks, but it was not too much for them to handle.

Though it did get Sasha a little tipsy, it wasn't that bad. It would pass in hour most likely.

"And, so, Connor never really met her. I mean, he did, but he doesn't remember it. And he won't ever remember it. It- It took us seven years almost to recover, and we still aren't recovered. And I kinda feel like we never will. And I hate it. Because I really want to move on from her. I have this feeling that I have to." Jaden sighed, playing with the cup that was resting on the middle of his thigh as he sat on the chair.

"I'm sure she'd want you to move on. You're young, you have so much of life still in front of you. Don't let that hold you back."
"I don't know, Sasha." He sighed, changing his position on the chair so he would lean on the bar.

"What's your story?" He asked as he took a sip of his drink, still looking at the woman beside him.

"I don't think you want to hear it. It's kinda depressing." Sasha stated, looking at her cup.

"So? We all are little depressed." His statement made Sasha's eyes widen as she looked up at him.

Was it because of alcohol in her blood that she was actually going to tell her story to someone, or was it because she wanted help? At the moment, she didn't care, because she decided to finally open up to someone other than two of her best friends.

"You won't tell anyone?"
"I'm good at keeping secrets, Sasha." Jaden stated, placing his cup back and looking at the woman beside him.

"U- Oh- Okay. So, uh, that means if I tell you that you won't stop your kids from seeing mine?" Sasha wasn't sure if this was a right thing to do, but it felt right.

"No, of course not. I don't control who my kids are friends with. And I'm sure that what you tell me doesn't affect you or your kids. I mean, not in that way, but it doesn't change who you are as a person. You're same person like two weeks ago, knew I your story or not. It doesn't change for me. Nor it will for my kids. Unless you're a serial killer. Then I'm running away." Sasha chuckled, nervously continuing to fiddle with her fingers.

"So, my husband is an alcoholic. Like, he is really deep in it."
"Mhm." Jaden watched her intensely, as he leaned his right elbow on the bar and rested his head in his palm.

"And, uh, he's a little abusive."
"A little?"
"Oh, um, well not a little. He is very very controlling and just disgusting in general."
"What does he do?" Jaden partly knew the story, but he was ready to completely listen to her whole story.

"He has this order in the house, and he likes to keep things the same. So it's either me or kids that 'fuck things up', and he takes it in his lead to beat us for that."
"I feel like there's more to the story." Jaden confessed, wanting to hear more. You don't just open up about it to random people. He knew Sasha wanted to tell him because she trusted him. She just needed reassurance to continue.

"He, uh, he uses my bank account. He doesn't let me have my monthly payments. He gives me few dollars now and then for food, and every few months gives me to buy kids some clothes, because of the change of season. That money that he takes goes to alcohol, or food that he buys for himself. When I make something to eat, which is usually only lunch, he gives certain amount of portion. And so, kids can never eat well. They can't live well. And if he wasn't so controlling like that we could live normally with my monthly payment. For lunch in school I gotta take something from work to give them, because there's really no other way to do it. Sometimes if there's no food I can take for free I take something so my boss takes money off my payment. Which Joseph of course notices."
"And beats you up for that?"
"Most likely, yeah."
"What a bastard. And how long is it going on?" Jaden knew, he just didn't want to seem like he knew and make Sasha uncomfortable.

"Since like few months of our relationship. Which was when I was 17." Sasha was avoiding Jaden's eyes. She simply couldn't look at him. But it felt better to finally let at least a bit off ehr chest.

"Jesus. Why did you even marry him?"
"I was blinded. Everyone wanted to get me out of idea to marry him. But I was so stupid."
"And kids? I mean, like, how did they come? I mean... I don't want you to take me wrong, I just mean on how can you make them if you're in marriage and don't love each other. I'm sure sex isn't that good then to get you pregnant."
"To him it is. I didn't really get to control my pregnancy at 19. It was what he made me do. He wanted kid then and there was no way to change it." Sasha quickly said it, not realizing what she had done.

"W- Wait, so he made you into doing it?" Jaden sat up straight on his chair, his eyes widening. Sasha realized she is on alert now. That's the part she never told anyone. She needed to fix it before he figures out.

But Jaden wasn't stupid. He knew what that meant.

"N-No. I just mean that I wasn't that ready for kids. I was just finishing high-school and I was supposed to go to college. But it happened, and I'm happy it did because Rhianna is just like a present. They, actually, three of them are the best things that happened in my life. I had some serious dark moments in my life, but they were always the reason I didn't give up. It's not like he did it 'without my permission' of course. He isn't like that." Sasha had to bite her tongue when she said the last part. He is like that. He's even worse than that.

"Sasha, why are you defending him?" Jaden asked, taking Sasha's hand in his.
"I'm not, it's just the truth." Sasha refused to look him. in the eyes. She felt so much regret for saying it.

"You and I both know it's not. You accidentally went to talk about it and now you wanna fix it so I don't know. But Sasha, -" Before Jaden could finish his sentence, Adam interruped.
"Hey. Come here guys. We've been looking for you."

While Jaden was cursing Adam out for coming in that moment, Sasha was thanking him. She didn't want to keep that conversation going. Because her plan wasn't that she tells him that she is sexually abused or harassed. But in reality, there was not one time that she actually consented to Joseph. Even when she did it for kids to be able to have fun with friends, it wasn't something that she wanted to do.

They joined the group of people, meeting few new faces before falling into a conversation.

Jaden knew that there was no other way out but to get that woman and her kids away from Joseph. And he was willing to do it.

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