Chapter Five

Riley

Seeing her here was such a shock to me, but to find out that not only had she stolen clothes but that she had stolen clothes for a child, well, that just blew me away. The stuff that she stole came to a total of $11, so if she can't pay for them, fuck things must be bad for her.

I've tried all I can to get her to talk to me and so has my Mom, but she won't. She won't tell us a Goddam thing, and now I'm pissed! So fucking pissed! She's lying to us about her name. I know she is, and she won't tell us why she has done this. Even when I threatened her with the cops, she didn't waver.

We rarely have anyone steal from here. It's a charity shop after all, but it does happen. Usually, when it happens, the threat of me calling the cops is enough to get them talking, but not this time. I don't do it to be a dick. I do it to get them talking because if there's one thing that I've learned since my Mom opened this shop, it is that if someone steals from here, they are usually desperate and if they are honest with us, then we will help in any way we can.

The last person who stole from here now works in the nightclub that I own. He was homeless and barely alive, but now he has an apartment, a car, and a full-time job. I think that's the main thing that has got me pissed right now, the fact that she won't tell us what's going on even with the threat of the police, and that means that we can't help her even if we want to.

It also makes me think that she's hiding more than we can imagine. Is she hiding a child? Or children? Is that who the clothes are for? Fuck, I wish I could make her talk. "Please, understand that if I could tell you, I would but I... I just can't." I look toward her as she talks to find her staring right at me and the moment that I look into her eyes I know deep down that I believe her and I find that just pisses me off even more.

What if she's in some kind of danger and won't talk? What if she is homeless? What if she's homeless with a child? Jesus Christ, my head hurts. There's only one thing that I can do here, and she may hate me for it, but she'll get over it. "Just go, just go, and don't come back. You are banned for life." she blinks several times as she stares at me in shock, and if I wasn't so pissed I would properly find this moment hilarious.

"I can go? Just like that?" she sounds suspicious of my words and I get it, but I have a bigger plan in mind than calling the cops. "Yes, but as I said, you are not welcome here, ever again." I make my words firm and realistic and have to hold back a smile when I see a slight look of disappointment cross her face, but then she quickly covers it up. Was that moment of disappointed at the thought of not seeing me again? For some reason, that idea stirs up my insides in the best way possible. Jesus, I'm a 27-year-old man, not a fucking randy teenager.

"Thank you so much. Thank you for showing me this kindness, I won't ever forget it and I won't ever come back." she jumps up wiping her face where stray tears are still falling but not as much as before, then she gives me and my Mom a gentle smile before walking towards the door.

"Wait!" my mom calls out to her as she steps towards the clothes and boots that Gemma tried to steal, then she hands them to her. "Take these. I may not know your reasons, but it's clear that you need them, so please take them. I insist." more tears run down her face as she expresses how much she appreciates my mom's kindness, and it's a hard moment for me because all I want to do right now is take her in my arms and comfort her, but I don't. Instead, I stay seated and just watch.

I'm up on my feet while texting Bruno the moment she's out of the door. Once he texts back with the OK, I head for the door. I can't leave it too long to leave. "Mom, I have to go, but Bruno is on his way to pick you up. Sorry about this." she gives me a knowing smile, but I don't have time to question it right now, so instead, I give her a kiss on the cheek and head for the door.

I step outside, tightening my coat around me as the cold air hits me with force, causing my mind to drift back to her. She's out here in

Insanely flimsy clothes and it's not OK! As if by some miracle, I spot her across the road, and, fuck am I glad that I do. I was worried for a moment that she would disappear too quickly for me, but there she is with her arms wrapped around her body while clinging on to the clothes that my mom gave her.

I cross the street and start to follow her, making sure to stay a good few feet behind her, far enough away so that she won't easily spot me but also close enough so that I won't lose her. She thinks that she just gets to walk away from all of this, but she is wrong, so wrong. Yes, she gets to walk away from the theft aspect of this, but she doesn't get to walk away from me.

I continue to follow her for a few blocks when she suddenly stops and looks around her as if looking for someone or maybe making sure someone is not watching her either way, I'm not sure, but she must be happy with what she sees as she turns around and starts walking up an alleyway. What the hell is she doing? It is cold and dark, and she is walking up alleyways.

I pick up my pace and continue to follow the path she has been taking. I stop when I come to the end of the alleyway and look for her, but it's pitch black, so I can't see a thing but I know downtown, New York like the back of my hand and I know that this alley is a dead end so she has to come out. Only after fifteen minutes of waiting there's still no sign of her, and I'm getting concerned, so I decide to go and look for her. Fuck, I hope she's ok.

"I think I've lost my mind." Talking out loud properly doesn't help how mad I look right now, but fuck it. I take my hands out of my pockets as my body becomes more accustomed to the dark and aware of my surroundings. There are a lot of large dumpsters back here and god knows who could be hiding behind them.

I make it to the end of the alley and I don't know what I was expecting to see, but it certainly wasn't this. There is a row of tents up against the back wall of the alley. I'd say around 10 small tents and there are a lot of homeless people here, maybe more than there should be for that small number of tents. I move over so that I'm mostly covered by a large dumpster so that I can't be seen and just watch the scene in front of me.

These people are homeless yet seem to be content as they all sit around an open fire and talk. Why has she come up here? A sinking feeling starts to take place deep in my stomach, but I push it aside. I'm not willing to believe it until I see it with my own eyes and, so far, that hasn't happened.

I stay there just watching for around ten minutes before deciding that there must be another exit out of this alley that I don't know about and that idea makes me pissed. I've been looking for her for weeks and now that I've found her I've gone and lost her already. How the hell am I supposed to find her again? I'm mad at myself for waiting so long before I came up the alley, but more than anything, I'm worried about her and now that my plans have gone to shit, it feels even worse.

I turn to head back down the alley as I curse myself but take one last look over my shoulder as I'm leaving and suddenly find myself rooted to the spot with a pounding heart when I see her coming out of one of the tents with a little girl holding her hand. The little girl only looks about 3 or 4 and is smiling while they talk. Then I notice that she is wearing the clothes that my mom gave her and that sight is a sober one.

I quickly get behind the dumpster once more just in time as only seconds later she walks right past me with the little girl in tow. "Momma, do we have food tonight?" please tell me she didn't just ask that. God, please tell me that I'm hearing things! "You do, baby. Momma kept some leftovers from last night, it's still good to eat."

"Jesus loving fuck! I really did hear right." she spins around until she's facing me, and it's only then that I realize that I said that out loud and outed myself fuck! "What are you doing here?"