Claim 2: Volume Two

Claim 2: Volume Two by Ashley Suzanne Page B

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Authors: Ashley Suzanne
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can’t remember exactly, but I know you had it removed.  What does that have to do with anything?”  I’m not sure how a dental problem affects our marriage, and I’m ready to tune him out, but something tells me to keep listening, so I do.
    “I didn’t think anything of it at the time.  They gave me a prescription for a narcotic painkiller.  I filled it and took them.  When the bottle ran out, the first thing I did was call the doctor and told her I knocked them down the drain.  She didn’t even question me and called in a new script.  I took six in a single day.  When those ran out, I went and bought more from a guy I used to know.”
    “So it became a problem again.  That’s not a reason to leave your wife, Jordan.  That’s what I signed up for.  Better or worse and all that jazz.  I assumed that responsibility.  It was my job.” 
    “But you didn’t.  You had no idea.  How could I disappoint you like that and still deserve your respect?”
    “You could have come to me,” I mutter, frustrated and wondering why he would even marry me to begin with if he couldn’t trust me with every part of him.  I told him things I had never shared with anyone … not even Cleo. 
    “But that was just the beginning, Lo,” he combats.  “It wasn’t just a few pills here and a few there.  It was getting to the point where I was when Patrick sent me to rehab.  I didn’t want to go back.  I wanted to be high.  So, when money ran out, I started placing bets.  Won a few, lost a lot more.  I was having the dealer front me pills and the bookie cover my bets.  I got in over my head.  I didn’t know what to do.  I couldn’t go to Patrick for money, I sure as shit couldn’t tell you that you married a gambling addict junkie.”
    “But you told me you wanted to go back to Alana?  How does she fit into any of this?”
    “She doesn’t,” he states, matter of fact.  “I needed you to be angry with me so you wouldn’t look for me.  I didn’t want them knowing you existed.  I needed you away from all of that.”
    “What are you talking about?  Who?  Away from what?”
    “The bookie and the dealer.  You can only rack up so much debt before people start asking questions.  Those kind of people aren’t the good guys.  The bookie in particular, I saw him break a guy’s fingers over a few hundred dollars, do you know what he would do for a few thousand?”
    “Why not go to the police?”
    “Loren, you’re a smart girl.  What was I going to say?  Hey, Mr. Officer, can you please arrest the guy I placed illegal bets with in order to fund my drug addiction?”
    “Oh,” I whisper.  “But what did that have to do with me?”
    “Remember in those old mobster movies where they couldn’t get what they wanted from the person they wanted it from so they went after the guy's family?  Well, you, Patrick and my mom are all I have.  My mom’s never around, probably not even in the country.  Since Patrick’s not my real father, they wouldn’t have been able to find him.  Then there was you.”
    “They were going to hurt me to get to you.”  Realizing that he left to protect me, my stomach churns, my initial instinct to throw up.  He’d gotten himself in so much trouble he put me in danger.  Oh God.
    “Yes.  So, I made up some lame excuse of going back to Alana.  I wanted you to be so hurt and pissed off you wouldn’t come looking for me.  I needed to clean myself up and fix those problems before I could risk being around you again.  If anyone ever hurt you, Lo … I can’t even entertain those thoughts.  I’d sit in prison for the rest of my life to protect you.  And that’s where I’ve been.  My own personal prison.  Hell.”
    “I could have helped you.  At least I could have tried.  Patrick would have too.”
    “Guys like that, babe.  If you suddenly come up with the money you owe, they’ll come at you even harder.  It’s about the access.  I needed to do it

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