“Oh, come on, James. She looks fine to me, and she’s eighteen anyway,” Braylock said jokingly.
“I’m okay here. You guys can just leave. I’m good. I was just a little hungry, that’s all.”
“I can’t have that on my conscience, that I left a woman on the street digging through trashcans. I can take you to a shelter right up the block from here,” Officer James kindly urged.
We walked to the police car. He opened the door for me and closed it before we took off.
“So you never answered our question. Where is your parents?” He seemed honestly concerned.
“My parents are both dead. I don’t have any.” I was telling half the truth at least. Of course, I lied about my father being dead, because he was alive. But after he left I didn’t have a father. So yup, he was as good as dead because he was not in my life or there for me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. So tell me what happened for a girl like you to become homeless?” Tanner Braylock finally got involved in the conversation.
“All bad luck I guess,” I said jokingly.
“I hear that. Shit happens,” Tanner Braylock replied, laughing.
“What is your name?” Officer James continued with the twenty questions.
“Renee. My name is Renee.”
“Cool. My name is Keithon James. This is my partner, Tanner Braylock,” he told me as he looked back at me from the front of the police car.
We pulled up in front of an old, dingy, flat building. There were a lot of homeless people walking around the place. If I could describe how it looked, I would say it looked like a project.
“Well, we’re here. It’s not that bad, Renee, and it’s better than being homeless.”
I exited the car, but Officer James ran behind me to give me something. “Hey, here is my contact card. If you have any questions or need help with anything at all, just call me and I’ll be here.” I could tell he meant every word he said.
“Why are you helping me? You don’t even know me,” I said.
“Well, a young, beautiful girl such as you should not be on the streets. It is not safe. Now promise me you are going to call me if you have any trouble. I’m just up the block, remember that, okay?” He grinned while holding the shelter door open for me. “And if I don’t hear from you, I’m gonna come looking.”
Obviously, he was a nice guy and nice looking, too. His words kind of made me feel a way I had not felt in a long time.
* * *
True to his word, Officer James started to visit the shelter to check up on me every other day. The more he came to visit me, the more we connected. Then, feelings started to show. We were on more than a first-name basis, but I still couldn’t reveal my true identity.
Chapter Seven
Waking up this morning actually felt good for once in a very long time. I was happy, but the last time I trusted someone it didn’t work out. The walls in this place were dirty, and the paint was chipped, but for some reason it was beautiful. Or maybe just the thought of seeing Keithon’s face almost every day was beautiful. This was so much better than seeing those flowers on the walls at the mental house. Most people stayed on the first floor, but since Keithon knew the owners, I was able to sleep upstairs last night by myself. I walked downstairs only to see him in the kitchen. I could hear him from upstairs. I wondered why he was here.
“What are you doing?” I laughed, standing at the bottom of the stairs. The kitchen was right across from the stairs.
Keithon turned around and replied, “Want something to eat?” with a smile on his face.
“Yeah, of course I want something to eat,” I said. My stomach was hurting from hunger.
We sat at the small, dusty table that was in the room connected to the kitchen. This shelter didn’t look terrible. It looked like it used to be nice a very long time ago. Keithon put the food on the table. It was nothing but some canned peaches, chili, and bread. It was not much, but it was the best thing I’d eaten in a long time.
“So, Renee, did you rest well?”
“Yes, I did. How about you?”
“Yeah, but I was wondering if you were going to try to run away since you’ve been living on the streets.”
This was awkward, so I changed the subject since he didn’t actually know I ran away from the mental hospital. “So how did you become a police officer?”
“Well, when I was a child my grandfather was a police officer. I looked up to him.” He continued as I drifted off. He was so cute, the way he smiled. I could not help to think about how much I was attracted to him.
“You are so cute,” I giggled out loud, not knowing that I did.
“Thank you,” Keithon told me as he blushed.
I finally noticed that I said it out loud. “Oh, Jesus,” I said, knowing inside my head that calling on Jesus was wrong because He never helped me before in my life.
Keithon James stood up and grabbed my hand. “Come on.”
I got up and followed him. We walked upstairs, and Keithon just stood in the middle of the hall. I looked up, and I saw him reaching for the door. Keithon opened up the door, and a ladder fell down. He grabbed my hand and helped me climb up them as he followed me. I had a lot of questions in my head, but I stopped myself from asking. When we got to the top, there was a room that kind of looked like a hideout to me. Keithon started telling me how he believed a drug dealer lived here because usually, that was what these hidden rooms in neighborhoods like this were used for. This was hard to believe since it was a shelter.
Keithon grabbed my hand and said, “I want to show you something else that I found out about this shelter.”
We walked to the end of the room, and Keithon grabbed a chair. He stood on top of it and pushed on the wall. A big square of the wall came off. I looked up at the missing piece of the wall, and all I could see was the sky. We went on the roof. It was early in the morning, so the sun was just starting to rise. We sat on the roof, watching the sunrise.
“This is beautiful,” I told Keithon.
“You are beautiful, Renee Turner. I just don’t understand you. I’m trying to figure you out. You seem like you have a beautiful soul.”
At this time my smile was no longer on my face. I stared off at the sky as the sun continued to rise. I knew he could feel me becoming distance. I could feel myself falling for this guy, but I couldn’t handle someone else hurting me. This was the most confusing thing ever, wanting someone but not knowing if it was worth the risk of being hurt again.
Keithon moved in closer to me, so close to where his leg was touching mine. His body was slightly turned, and he put his hand on my cheek, turning my head to him. Then he looked me in my eyes. No one ever looked at me like this before.
“It’s going to be okay,” he softly whispered in my ear. He did not let me go. But this was the first time I ever felt 100 percent safe in my whole life.
* * *
Hours passed, and later I was in my room, lying in bed and trying to go to sleep, but for some reason, I could not go to sleep. I walked downstairs where I saw his fine ass sitting on the couch in the back room that was separated from the main room of the shelter. I went to lie next to him, and I put my head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around me. I fell asleep in his arms, and that was when I knew I was catching feelings for my knight in shining armor.
Chapter Eight
Keithon and I bonded a lot over the next month. Every morning I would wake up to a warm cooked breakfast of eggs, bacon, buttered toast, and orange juice. Keithon really did take care of me, as if I were his wife or child. He even bought me clothes because the last things I had looked like dirty rags on me.
I started to have deep feelings for him. I thought Keithon started to have deep feelings for me too. Well, at least that was how it felt. I felt weird thinking this way. I guessed it was because I had not felt compassion in a very long time. I loved everything about Officer Keithon James: his smile, his personality, the way he took care of me, and I love that I found someone I co
uld connect with. And, for this moment, I felt that God had not forgotten about me, and God put Keithon in my life to show me He really hadn’t forgotten. This gave me a warm feeling in my heart. Maybe I was starting to believe in God again. Religion was something I left behind for a long time once my mom died, and I didn’t notice this until Mrs. Sims talked to me about it. I guessed that was one thing Mrs. Sims was good for.
Today Keithon made plans for me to meet his mother and his father at their house. He told me so much about his parents. In fact, he talked about them every day. He said his mother and father were very wealthy, and that they owned their own bank called Credit One in New York. They lived in New York, too. That was where he and all his family were born. That was a great thing, but I came from no wealthy family, and I lived in Cleveland. What if they looked down on me? What if they asked about my occupation and I couldn’t answer? All these questions were going in and out of my head. I was pretty nervous going to meet his parents.
I tried to wear the best sundress Keithon bought me. I tried on both dresses. First I tried on the orange dress with the orange and white lined bolero and the all-black flat sandals. But I did not like that one so much, so I tried on another dress, which was the black-and-white sundress with my white flat shoes, which showed most of my feet but were not open-toed. I loved it.
“I think this will be okay. What do you think, bae?” I asked.
Keithon was looking at me through the mirror, standing right behind me. “I think it looks perfect on you, but you do not have to dress up to meet my parents. All you have to do is smile, and they will love you.”
“Oh, I know. I’m just very nervous meeting your parents,” I said as I turned around to hug Keithon.
“Why are you so nervous? My parents are nice. You can trust me. I would not lie to you. But I am an only child, and if my parents show you too much attention, I may get kind of jealous,” Keithon replied jokingly.
We hugged and kissed then got ready to leave. I was still pretty nervous but not as much as before now. He was wearing khaki pants and a navy blue sweater, with navy blue dress shoes.
At Keithon’s red Charger, he opened my door and waited until I got in. It was eight hours driving from Ohio to where Keithon parents still lived in New York. I never knew why Keithon moved from New York to Cleveland when his family still stays in New York. I thought about asking, but I was not sure if he wanted to talk about it. About three and a half hours passed. I could tell Keithon was getting a little tired of driving, but I was still wondering about why he moved to Cleveland and did not stay in New York anymore. Ten more minutes passed, and I finally got the courage to ask.
“Keithon?”
“Yes? What is wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering, why did you leave New York and move to Cleveland?” I asked.
“Well, one of the reasons was I was grown, and I wanted to be a cop, and I thought Cleveland would be a new start and a good place to protect people. All the crime here is just really exciting.”
I thought how there were other cities full of crime he could have gone to, and especially in New York, there was a lot of crime. But I just ignored my thoughts. “Why did you need a new start?”
“It is just a long story, and I do not feel like talking about it,” Keithon told me.
I knew a drive to New York from Cleveland was about an eight-hour drive, so we had more than enough time for him to tell me about whatever had happened. But I just left it alone, because I knew he just did not want to talk about it right now. I thought we were close enough to talk about anything and everything, but maybe he just needed time. I did not know, but of course, I was overthinking it, wondering what Keithon wasn’t telling me. It was a long, boring car ride, and I had nothing else to think about.
“How old are you, Keithon?” I finally asked, because I’d never thought before to ask him this question, even though he knew my age already.
“I’m twenty-seven years old. What is with all the questions, Renee?”
“I don’t know. There’s just a lot of stuff I don’t know about you, so I wanted to find out.”
“All right, well, anything you want to know you can ask me, and I’ll let you know,” Keithon told me while he reached to hold my left hand with his right.
Thirty minutes passed, and he never let go of my hand until we saw a motel. He had to park the car in the motel parking lot.
“Wait here. I will be back.” He left the car and walked to the little office building for this motel.
The Paradise Motel was the name. It was written on the side of the dirty building. The building had once been painted cream but was now turning brownish. This was not paradise at all. Matter of fact, that was a silly name to give any motel. Motels were usually dirty and nothing like paradise. When I thought of paradise, I thought of some beautiful place off the beach, not a dirty motel. I could go on and on about how dirty this place was, but to be honest, it was way better than that abandoned house I was staying in.
Keithon walked back to the car. “Come on, let’s go,” he told me as he grabbed my bag and his bag. I followed him to a motel room we had to walk up some stairs to get to. It was room 208. Keithon unlocked the door, and we went inside. It was a small room, with one bed on the left side of the room. There was a tiny TV across from the bed on the right side of the room. The TV was on top of the one dresser in the room. I took out my stuff on the side of the bed and sat on the bed. There was no reason to put my things in the dresser because we were not going to stay long. We were just going to sleep here then leave tomorrow.
There was a small space between the bed and the TV, and Keithon walked straight through it to the small bathroom. The bathroom had just enough room for the small shower, the toilet, and the sink.
When Keithon went to the bathroom, I just was sitting on the bed, looking around. This was not that bad. Well yes, it was a small room, but it was really clean, unlike the outside of the building. I guessed that’s why they say to never judge a book by its cover. While Keithon was still in the bathroom, I couldn’t help but think, what if he tries something? This was going to be our first time sleeping in a bed together, but nothing happened, thank God. I wasn’t ready for that. Keithon and I fell asleep in each other’s arms.
The next day came up fast. I got in the shower then got dressed. Keithon went in after me, and after we were both dressed, we headed out. It was 6:00 a.m. when we left the motel. We drove the last four and a half hours to New York only stopping to get gas and to use the bathroom. When we were finally in New York, we stopped and got a motel room there so we could stay low-key and put our clothes there so they would not be noticeable in Keithon’s back seat.
After we relaxed for about an hour, we left the motel and headed to his parents’ house. We pulled out from the driveway. It was about two in the afternoon, and during this time I had gotten even more nervous.
“Hey, I’m getting very nervous. Do you think we should just go another time?” I cried.
“No, you’ll be just fine. I’ll be right here for you, okay? If they say anything mean to you, I’ll fix them, promise.”
“Okay, I guess. I’m just overreacting. I’ll try not to be so scared,” I replied. “Where do your mother and father live?”
“They live right in the city, about a twenty-minute drive from here. Here, you can rest until then, and don’t think about being nervous.”
I laid my head cocked sideways against the seat, and I stared out the window. I was not tired since I’d rested at the motel, so I watched as cars drove past. Buildings looked as if they were running backward. This took my mind off of being nervous, and it was pretty relaxing. Then, when Keithon turned on the radio to the jazz station, I felt even more relaxed. I took deep breaths in and out. I closed my eyes for five minutes and thought of my mother and me playing in the sprinklers.
The city was crowded as usual with cars and millions of people. The buildings were high up, touching the blue sky. The streets were so crowded th
at people had to walk in the streets.
“We are here, Renee.”
The condos looked huge. They were big and built upward. The windows were wide, and probably looking down from them you could see a lot of New York outside. We walked to the elevators because his parents lived at the very top of one building. He told me that the more you go up, the bigger the rooms are. So I was guessing they lived in the biggest condo here, and my God, I guessed they were very rich. We exited the see-through elevator and knocked on the black-and-white door.
“You will be fine, I promise,” he said, putting his arm over my shoulder.
When the door opened, a petite white woman opened the door, serving hugs to me and Keithon. “Now, Keithon, you have to introduce me to this beautiful girl standing here,” Mrs. James said.
“Well, Mom, this is Renee.”
“Renee, it’s so nice to meet you, dear. Both of you come inside and have a seat in the living room.”
We walked into the living room, and a big window showed the whole world when you looked from it.
“What would you guys like to drink?” Keithon’s mother asked, walking into the kitchen.
“Do you like lemon tea, Renee?” Keithon asked me.
“Yes, that’s my favorite.”
“We will both have tea, Mom,” Keithon screamed to her.
“I love this condo. It looks amazing, and it’s very big,” I said.
“Oh, yeah, it’s pretty big. I love it too. Imagine growing up in it.”
Mrs. James came out of the kitchen and handed us our lemon teas. She sat next to me and watched us as we took the first sip. “How does it taste? It’s not too sweet, is it?” Mrs. James asked.
“No, it’s fine,” Keithon and I both responded at the same time.
“So, Renee, tell me about yourself. How old are you? Where do you work? Do you have any kids?” Keithon’s mother asked.
“Mom, come on now,” Keithon said, cutting her off and smiling at me.
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