The Consequence ✔︎ Blake Griffin

7✔︎Find Your Fight

This chapter is dedicated to sunshinensarcasm and _chillbreaux, two of my absolute faves who I met on here, who have been muses for this story series, and who are now officially  a part of this story starting with this chapter! Love you both so much! You make my writing life, and also my regular life, super enjoyable! 😭☺️😍💖

Jubilee

I stood in front of the full-length mirror hanging on my closet door, hissing as I gingerly pressed my pointer finger and middle finger against my right cheekbone and just under my right eye. I didn't have a shiner, but a bruise was definitely forming. And it was throbbing like hell. As badly as it physically hurt, reliving Trenton backhanding me every time my face throbbed only deepened the pain and shame and guilt I felt inside. The unbelievable pain that comes with being assaulted and feeling like you're not worthy of a person's compassion, care, and respect. The crippling shame of accepting the fact that I might not have chosen to be hit, but I chose to be around a man capable of doing so. The heart-breaking guilt of realizing that I abandoned Blake, a perfectly capable mate who would've done anything to help me have the life of true gratification and fulfillment I seek.

What in God's name was I doing? Did I have some sort of death wish? I sighed and collapsed on my bed, curling into a ball and furiously fighting the tears that threatened to fall once again. Being pregnant definitely didn't help me attempt to process and control my emotions. And before these symptoms could even really affect me was I just paranoid by the prospect of what Trenton was capable of? I'd been wracking my brain since last night for answers to why I had made the conscious decision to come here.

It's almost if I have woken up from a dream I didn't know I was having. I'm seeing everything more clearly and as promising as that may seem, I'm having issues climbing out of the hole that is my life currently. It's horrific enough having to come to terms with how my decisions will and have affected me, but it's something entirely different to have to consider how my choices have impacted my child, my boyfriend, my friends, and my family. Not to mention that it seems like I am being attacked from every angle. I tossed and turned all night considering why Michael would choose to join forces with Trenton. After all I had done to help him reach his potential.

Eventually my growling stomach forced me to end my pity party, get out of bed, and walk downstairs. But, before I even made it to the kitchen, I was startled by some men in the living room who were taking the TV down off the wall. I quickly hugged my robe tighter around my body while my brow furrowed in confusion.

"Oh, good morning, ma'am, we are sorry if we surprised you or woke you up. Your husband told us before he left to stay down here until you woke up, so we wouldn't disturb you," a tall, muscular man with a mane of dark hair and a wide smile explained, "I'm sorry to hear about the car accident that led to your head trauma. Your husband was telling us how grateful he is that you escaped with only a few bumps and bruises..."

I accepted his hand and shook it, smiling weakly in hopes that he wouldn't sense my displeasure with hearing every lie from Trenton that he regurgitated. Trenton continued to twist things for others and hide in plain sight while I paid the price on my own for his abuse. I wanted so badly to scream at the top of my lungs that he's not my husband, there was no car accident, and that he just backhanded me without a second thought, but at this point, what would that do? No one would believe a woman who willingly came to live with a man who allegedly abuses her.