A/N: For any Runaway readers, I just replaced the last 19 chapters and pushed them into 2 chapters, to make the story flow a little better. I plan on writing since I'm out of school so hopefully, I'll get this story finished! Nothing has changed but I fixed a few errors and continuity issues, I suggest a reread to refresh your mind because the next chapter should be posted by this weekend.

I sat on the floor for a while after that. I shouldn't have come without Cindy. She said that I should let her come with me, just in case and she was right. But what if she had been here? He probably just would've done the same exact thing to her and I would never forgive myself if that happened. I loved her way too much for that to happen. I leaned against the wall so I could hoist myself up. I dragged my feet to my room, grabbing another bag and stuffing it with everything I could fit in it.

I went into my mom's room where I knew she kept the money to supply her habit and took every single dime. I counted it quickly, it totaled almost four hundred dollars. It had been building up ever since she started dating Raekwon because he gave her everything for free or for cheap. I knew that once she noticed her money was gone, she would definitely notice I was gone. Then she would be looking for me. The first place she'd check would be Cindy's and by the time that happened, I didn't want to be there. The last thing I wanted was for Cindy to get into huge trouble. I sighed and started to leave the house, checking the window to make sure Raekwon was gone. Once the coast was clear, I was on my way to Cindy's.

I rushed into Cindy's house as soon as she opened the door. "Hol up, Jaz what happened?"

I shook my head quickly as I closed the door and locked it behind us. "I stole money from my mom and he's pissed off that I left." I bit my bottom lip, leaving out the part where he forced me to give him head. "I just don't want you to get involved with him, so… Do you know anywhere I can go? Anyone that'll take me in? Even if it's just for a little while. I'll get a job and support myself."

"Jazmine you know you don't gotta do all that just because…"

I cut her off. "Yes! I do. You'll just be put in danger. So please, Cin? I know you know someone."

She stayed silent a moment before nodding her head. "Yeah… I know someone. It's my boyfriend Riley. He lives with his brother and their granddad. They cool people."

I already knew I was crying. "Thank you, Cindy."

"Yeah…" she trailed off as she pulled her phone out and called who I could only assume was Riley.

The next few hours went by so slowly. Cindy was on and off the phone, obviously trying to talk and explain to Riley about my situation. I could tell by her tone that it wasn't going her way, which meant that they didn't want me to stay with them; for whatever reason. I laid in Cindy's bed, rolled up in a ball and under the blankets listening to everything going on. It took a good nine or ten phone calls before she said 'fuck it' and called someone else.

"Huey?! Thank god you answered. Did Riley talk to you?"

She snorted loudly, "Yeah, of course, he hasn't… Alright, I need you to do me solid."

"It's nothin' big. I'll owe you one forever."

"...Can my friend stay with you for a bit?"

"No, she's just working through some personal issues."

"Nah, she ain't crazy!" Cindy sighed and sucked her teeth. "All the shit I've done for you and Riley? Do me this one favor. Damn."

She didn't say anything for a good moment before she laughed. "Thanks, Huey! I swear I'ma get you back. Yeah, yeah. Wanna swing by here or want me to bring her to y'all? She has a lot of stuff… Okay. Yeah. See ya."

Cindy ran back into her room to where I was, a smile on her face. "So, Riley was being an ass but Huey said yeah! I didn't tell him all your business and you sure as hell don't gotta tell em, but yeah. They'll be here around eight. Wanna watch a movie?" She said softly, trying to lighten the mood.

A huge part of me wanted to say no, but she was trying. And that's what mattered. I sat up and nodded my head, smiling softly, "Yeah."

I wasn't expecting for Riley and his brother to get here so quickly, so when I woke up from my nap to see two guys sitting in the living room with me, I freaked out. I shouted and jumped up from the couch before Cindy grabbed my hand and tugged on my arm. "Relax Jaz, it's just Reezy and Huey. Okay?"

My heart was pounding in my chest and I sat back down, "Sorry." I mumbled. I felt silly, I knew what Riley looked like so why did I freak out like that? I glanced over at my bags that were at the front door and then back at the two guys.

"You good?" One of them asked me, his hair pulled back into a ponytail. That had to have been Huey, who looked like his brother if only a little older.

I nodded curtly, "Yeah I'm fine. Are we about to go?"

Riley chimed in, "Nah, we gonna chill for a lil bit then get going. That cool with you?" He arched his eyebrows, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms. I nodded my head again. I didn't care when we did leave, as long as we were going.

For the next three hours, I was in and out of sleep. Riley, Cindy, and Huey had been talking about something quietly in the kitchen but I was too disoriented to catch any of it. I knew though, that it had to be something about me. Cindy said that she wouldn't tell them my business but honestly, it would be better for everyone if they knew since I knew that I wouldn't be able to tell them on my own.

When we were finally getting ready to leave, I gave Cindy a huge hug. I knew I'd see her by Monday at the latest but it still felt weird to be going to a complete stranger's home. I was putting a lot of faith in them and in her going through with this plan, but I knew it was this or nothing. "I'll see you, okay mama? Text me when you get there."

"Okay, thanks again, Cindy." I smiled as she shooed me away. "Don't worry about it. And y'all two better not fuck with Jaz or I'll beat your asses!"

"Babe shut up, runnin' yo mouth," Riley smirked as he kissed Cindy, which turned into something more than just a kiss.

Huey made a face and grabbed one of my bags. "Come on, they'll be a minute." I nodded and grabbed my other two bags and followed Huey to his car. Once we were finally in the car, Huey turned back to face me and said, "Cindy told me what happened… I'm just letting you know I'ma do my best to keep that from happening again. And if I don't, I'll deal with that sick bastard myself. So, don't worry. Okay?"

A blush rose to my cheeks as I nodded quickly and I turned away to look at the window, tears stinging at my eyes again.

I hoped that he really meant what he said.

I settled into the Freeman's place faster than I had thought. There was something comforting about their constant bickering between the three of them. I learned that Mr. Freeman was nicer than he sounded when he was talking to Huey and Riley. Riley wasn't nearly as abrasive as he seemed the few times I had met him before. And Huey… he was very protective. I couldn't really understand why, but it made me feel safer than I had my whole time in Chicago.

He made sure I was eating every now and then, made sure I got to and from school safely and I heard him check up on me at night sometimes. I only knew that because I had gone from sleeping all the time to never sleeping. I was up at all times of the night, only sleeping for a couple of hours.

And that's how I found myself in Huey's room, sitting at the opposite side of his bed. I had caught him checking up on me and I followed him back to his room.

He glanced up at me, "Why are you up?"

"I can't sleep anymore."

He paused for a minute and nodded his head, "That's understandable."

I felt warm in my heavy sweatpants and sweater, despite it being the beginning of summertime. "Why do you pay so much attention to me? When I first got here… I thought I'd just be living here and you would act like I didn't exist."

"Because I hate men who think they can take advantage of a woman without suffering the consequences. It's sick." He said angrily, his jaw clenching tightly.

I squeaked and looked away, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad."

"You didn't Jazmine. Sorry," Huey sighed softly. "I just want to make sure you're okay, is all."

"Thanks," I said quietly before I walked back to my room.

The next morning when I went downstairs, Mr. Freeman was the only person downstairs. That was something I had noticed, Huey and Riley were never home on the weekends and came home late night during the week.

"Good morning Mr. Freeman." I smiled at him as I headed into the kitchen.

"Morning cutie pie, how'd you sleep?" He took a sip of his orange juice and smiled back at me.

I shrugged, "I didn't really get any sleep last night," I paused for a minute then asked, "Where do Huey and Riley on the weekends?"

Mr. Freeman shook his head, "They out runnin' them damn streets… Them niggas gonna give me a damn heart attack one day, all the damn shit going on out there and they swear they invincible. Gonna end up just like they damn daddy." He kept mumbling on and on about something else until I changed the topic. I didn't want to make him upset.

I spent the rest of the day thinking about them. I had known Riley was in a gang, but Huey didn't really seem the type. I always saw him reading or working on stuff for school. He wasn't anything like Riley. But then again, running the streets didn't always mean being involved in a gang. Maybe Huey was a drug dealer, even though that wasn't any better. By the end of the night, I was panicking. I locked myself up in my room and over analyzed every situation. They were in a gang, Raekwon was in a gang. Even though they didn't seem like Raekwon, that meant next to nothing. They could be waiting, plotting for their moment just like Raekwon did to me. And if that was the case that meant I wasn't safe here.

Me and Riley were doing our third and last drop of the night, nothing too big but if I knew we were going to be doing this tonight, I would've stayed home. Then again who was I to complain? I needed whatever money I could get.

"So, wassup with Cindy's friend?" Riley asked me quietly. He was never quiet but I knew he felt bad for her. My brother, one of the most unforgiving niggas I knew, looked at Jazmine with pity every time he saw her. Maybe it was because rape was the reason our mom took her life.

Even though he had been too young to remember how she acted, how she cried randomly sometimes for seemingly no reason and was always covered up, even in ninety-degree weather, he knew. It was certainly a soft spot for us. I felt for anyone who had to go through something like that and I wished that it didn't exist. But we weren't powerful enough to get rid of something that tainted the whole world but we were powerful enough to change Jazmine's life.

"She's okay." I left out the part where she stayed up all night because then Riley would ask me how I knew. I put the car in park and we stepped out the car. We were in the meeting place and all we had to do was wait another two minutes for Alejandro to get here. We had the guns, he had the money. I was jittery though because I had always had a bad feeling about Alejandro. He was a slimy piece of shit, but who wasn't in this lifestyle?

Two minutes passed and a car turned down the desolate street, pulling up right behind us. Two fat guys stepped out and then Alejandro followed, looking like he was hopped up on drugs. I grit my teeth and nudged Riley, who simply nodded. "Aye, the Freeman brothers! Wassup?" Alejandro got two suits cases out the trunk and walked up to us, eyeing his men discreetly. "You got the stuff?"

"Course we do." Riley sucked his teeth. He kept watch of everything as I turned to grab the duffel bags full of guns. When I turned to hand Alejandro's two lackeys the bags in exchange for the money, he said something in Spanish and all three of them pulled out their guns.

"Get down Huey!" Riley shouted loudly, pulling his gun from his waistband and firing two rounds and hitting the big guy on the left. I cursed, threw the bags down and jumped back and opened the car door for cover. I slid my own gun out and peeked around the edge. Fucking pieces of shit. I thought to myself. Another four rounds went off, piercing through the metal of my door, grazing my left arm and right leg. I groaned in pain and shot blindly over the car door until my clip was empty. A window shattered and then there was a heavy thud.

"You dumb ass fuck nigga!" Riley yelled as he shot Alejandro point blank in the foot. He screamed as he dropped down to the ground. Riley ran over to him and kicked away the three guns and then put his own back in his waistband. "You wanna pull this bullshit? Shoot my fucking brother?" Riley slammed a fist into his face. Again and again and again.

It wasn't until I managed to limp behind Riley that he calmed down. Alejandro's face was a bloody pulp as he wheezed loudly for breath. He rolled over on his side and held his hand up in defeat. I looked over the other two, noting one was dead while the other was just barely breathing. Riley spit on Alejandro as he picked up the suitcases of money and put them in our trunk along with the duffel bags. We got into the car and he sped off back to base.

"You good?" He asked as he got back in from delivering the money and guns back to Gin and Ed and explaining the story to them. What Alejandro did wouldn't go unnoticed so we didn't have to worry about that. While I sat in the car I found a piece of cloth in the back to tie around my thigh to stop the bleeding. My arm still bled sluggishly but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been half an hour ago. I felt like I was about to pass out but all I could think about is that it was a great thing we didn't do the trades in Granddad's car or he would have killed us for those bullet holes. I shook my head, mumbling something that didn't really make sense. I would just have to hold on until we got home.

"Hold on Huey, you'll be straight… we just gotta stitch you up," Riley mumbled as he helped me out the car. The blood was slowing down but I was getting worse. As my head lolled around I took note of Riley's busted, bloody knuckles. We walked in as quietly as possible so we didn't wake Granddad. We made our way to the downstairs bathroom and I sat on top of the toilet lid.

This had happened before, one of us had gotten hurt and we had to deal with it ourselves. The last thing we would do is go to the hospital, especially for a gunshot wound. That'd just get reported and then we would get caught.

I don't know how many minutes passed but as Riley was stitching up my arm I heard a soft voice. "What happened?"

Riley grit his teeth, "He got hurt." I wanted to tell him not to talk to her like that, but I knew he was tired, worried, and angry. Besides, I wasn't in much of a place to say anything.

"You're not doing the stitches close enough…" Jazmine trailed off quietly. She nudged in the small bathroom and washed her hands before taking the needle and thread from Riley and taking his place. She was right, he always did do a sloppy job with stitches. I tried to keep my eyes open as her soft, warm hands worked across my skin slowly. Once she finished my arm she made Riley get some scissors and she cut my jeans to get to the oozing wound.

I don't remember much of what happened after but I know that she cleaned up Riley's knuckles, even bandaging them up for him.

When I woke up I was on my bed and Jazmine was leaning against the wall across my bed. I groaned as I felt the throbbing pain in my arm and leg. "There's water and some Advil right there. I just put some numbing cream on your wounds but I didn't think it was really gonna help."

I nodded, taking the pills and then downing my water. I took a deep breath. "Thanks."

She simply nodded before leaving.

The rest of the day was spent in and out of sleep. I'd heard Riley and Granddad arguing a few times and Jazmine shuffling around in her room but that was it. I didn't get out of bed until it was well past dark.

When I finally went downstairs Grandad was sitting in his recliner, watching TV. "You must think I'm a damn idiot." He said loudly, turning off the TV as soon as he noticed me. "Y'all think I don't know about the shit y'all out there doing? That's the same shit that got my son, yo daddy, shot! Running them streets ain't worth it boy." I just nodded my head, listening to his rant as I limped over to the kitchen to get something to eat. As I rummaged through the fridge, I realized my appetite was next to nothing. I turned back around and started to limp back to my room. My Granddad shook his head angrily. "Boy, don't you ignore me. This ain't the way to live. We can leave and move somewhere better. All this bullshit here is going to get you and your brother killed!"

I shouted angrily. "So stop preaching to us, like you were a saint when you were our age!"

He always had something to say. He always had to bring up our dad, which made me think about my mom. It was my dad's fault for what happened to our mom so it was his fault she wasn't here with us anymore. Everything was all his fault. I didn't like doing what I did, but it was what worked. It's what helped put food in the fridge, pay rent, pay for his medical bills. It might not have been the best option but at least we could live comfortably. And here, we didn't even have much of a choice. Riley was the first to join, always enticed by the streets. It took me two years after him to join, two years of barely leaving the house and avoiding anybody that tried to ask what I repped. I didn't plan on staying here, Granddad knew that. I had plans, I was going to go to school, get a degree and be somewhat normal and somewhat successful. So I didn't appreciate the constant reminders of the past and my current wrongdoings.