"Hey, wake up."
Renee Kelly's face gradually came into view extremely close to my own. She was kneeling next to me, concerned. Somehow earlier in the morning during the am hours, I'd curled up at the foot of her bed drifting off in labored unconsciousness. For the life of me, I couldn't remember anything beyond tucking Renee under the sheets.
"Oh, sorry for laying on your floor."
"NO, YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR BABY!" Renee became animated squeezing my shoulder and cupping my chin. I flinched a bit alarmed at her candor which she noticed, instantly relenting. I glanced around the room finding that it was daylight.
"It's cool Renee."
"No, I'm flattered that you slept at the foot of my bed; you didn't have to do that. It was perfectly okay for you to get under the covers with me. I feel so bad, absolutely horrible about it. I wish I'd woke up so that I could've at least given you some blankets." There was something off about Renee Kelly, something in the way she spoke and her posture.
"Hey, don't worry about it; want me to sneak out before little Daisy wakes up?" Her hand shot to my arm squeezing, almost clawing at my bicep.
"HEY, KICK BACK FOR A MINUTE-I uhm, I already got her off to school three hours ago. Can't you hang out with me for a little while, please?" There was this look of panic on Renee's face that gave me pause.
"We can do whatever you want. I just wanna know if you're okay, Renee?" Her face flushed and her nose reddened making it appear as if she had a cold. She sat down on the floor in front of me, her shoulders hunched.
"Stay."
"Sure; but what about your business downstairs?" Her slanted eyes were almost glazed over beginning to water before she wiped a finger across them.
"Uhm, I called Rashida up and she's gonna be in charge of my place for a day or two. I guess it's kind of a promotion, huh?"
"What about you; are you gonna be okay?"
Her shoulders slumped a bit more as her head dipped staring at the carpet on her bedroom floor. Renee ran a finger through the thick strands starting to flush in the cheeks and nose. Some tears dipped down onto her knuckle as she sniffled looking up at me internally broken.
"Daisy asked me yesterday; she asked me when her daddy gonna come home."
I couldn't stand the sight of her in this manner which inadvertently added another dimension to the normally savage demeanor. I raised an arm inviting her over. We sat there on the end of her bed, embracing on the floor. Renee sobbed into my t-shirt making it wet with tears, pressing her face into my chest. It was emotionally disorienting as I didn't know what to do other than cradle her in my arms.
"You'll figure something out; I know you will Renee."
This woman was a mess, wearing her hair pinned up in a bandana, a simple V-neck t-shirt and pajama pants. It was jarring seeing Renee in this manner huddled close to my side as we sat there doing nothing. Jaquan's betrayal and the prodding overtures of a child wanting her parents under one roof, had Renee shook.
"No, I don't know what to do."
"Why don't you get some rest; maybe things will be clearer after a nap."
"Oh no, don't leave me here alone; you said you'd stay with me." Renee clutched at me desperately as we jostled a bit before I was able to calm her down.
Unfortunately, her phone started ringing giving her visible pause and panic until I grabbed it thankfully discovering Rashida's number on the screen. Renee still didn't want to answer, prompting me to do so instead.
"Hello?"
"WHAT YOU DOING ANSWERING THIS PHONE, BOY?!!" Her outburst had my ear ringing.
"She told me to because she was uhm, busy."
"PUT RENEE ON THE PHONE!!" Renee could hear her friend and employee plainly reaching out for the phone but maintaining a grip on my bicep.
"Hey, stop giving him trouble; I told him to pick up for me; what's up?"
"There's some flowers down here; you want me to send the delivery guy up to your door?"
"NO!! Uhm, just sign for them and stick that shit at my workspace." I watched the change in her face her cheeks flushed, and bottom lip quivered. It pissed me off for many reasons, chief among them the complete fracturing of a woman who usually had her shit together as Renee hung up.
"What're you gonna do; just hide up here all day?"
"You don't understand; yesterday right before I picked you up, Jaquan brought Daisy home and hung out in my place until she went down for the night. I messed around with him, just a quickie; and that nigga knew he was fucking some stank bitch that day. Yet he still stuck his dirty dick up in me anyway. Fuck, that skinny yellow bitch went down on me the day before! I thought I was calling her bluff, but she got to fuck me and my man! FUCK-SHE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN IN BED WITH US YESTERDAY!!" Renee was breaking down as I tightened my grip on her.
"Well, you have to do something."
"That's what I'm afraid of; don't you understand? That's why I want you here with me because I have two guns and righteous indignation. I'm not afraid of Jaquan or Yoli, not afraid of seeing them! I'm afraid of what I'll do if you leave. I'm afraid of what I'll do if Daisy asks about her father when she gets home from school!!"
"But your little girl is gonna come home from school; and she may ask you that question again, so we have to do something. What do you want me to do, Renee?"
"Give me, this." She suddenly had a handful of my endowment.
"I don't think that's the right thing to do, Renee." I gently pried her hand away from my member, but she redoubled her efforts gaining entrance into my pants grabbing it outright.
"Then why're you hard?"
Renee leaned in kissing my throat lightly stroking my cock into full hardness roughly. It was disheartening and deeply arousing simultaneously. Her hand left my member cupping the far side of face turning it towards her own waiting lips. I could deny my own burgeoning lust and didn't want to still tortured by the memory of finding my cousin with Yoli. That was different because I didn't really have a shared history with her beyond a few days. Our respective experiences were vastly different. The common denominator between all of us was Yoli, a lazy near do well coveting Renee's body and anyone she'd slept with. It was seriously fucked up borderline cannibalistic.