Chapter 6 #2
While she had mixed feelings at first about the way he handled Renae’s cheating, Orielle didn’t judge him.
She or anyone else in attendance had no room to tell him how to handle disrespect, disloyalty, and betrayal.
She’d been in his shoes, and getting hurt by the one who claimed to love you wasn’t a feeling you told someone how to deal with.
Had she not already been on her healing journey when she saw Bobby at the yoga studio, Orielle would’ve acted out of character, too.
“The way I would’ve bing bopped her in the head,” Cheyla said, throwing her fist at the screen.
“Seriously!” Zoey laughed. “Would’ve popped her right in the forehead with the mic.”
“Never knew y’all to be so violent,” Orielle joked.
“Girl, yes, you did. The way we were about to jump Bobby’s ass that night. They would’ve had to bail us all out,” Cheyla reminded her.
Orielle smirked. Now that it was in the past, she couldn’t help but laugh when she thought about them going upside his head with their purses. One thing was for sure: her girls always had her back.
“Thank goodness they didn’t,” Orielle said. “But yeah. I’m not trying to get into all that. Y’all know the first situationship after a breakup is really just a rebound.”
“According to who?” Zoey wanted to know. “I swear, people make stuff up just to go against the natural flow of things. So what things didn’t work out, it doesn’t mean things with the next person won’t. Having that attitude will make the relationship feel like you’re a rebound.”
Orielle was quiet. She loved when her friends checked her, reminding her that her outlook on some things was a bit jaded.
It didn’t mean that she was incapable of starting over; it was that her perspective had been clouded by disappointment, which is a part of life.
It got foggy sometimes, but she had to see it through.
“Oop,” Cheyla chirped, instigating. “I heard that.”
“I heard you, too. I’m just... I don’t know.” Orielle sighed. “I can see myself getting caught up so deeply with him. In him.”
“And there’s nothing wrong with that. Now, I will say to be cautious but not guarded. There’s a difference. Some things and people in life are meant to be felt and experienced on a deeper level. Shallow interactions aren’t for everybody,” Zoey stated.
Orielle smiled, loving how Zoey always weaved her words together to make her think beyond what she wanted to.
It was never in a condescending manner from either of her friends.
They made one another better. If she didn’t have folks in her life to give it to her straight with a dose of love, then who would?
“Whew. Preach, preacher,” Cheyla rejoiced. “That was a word if I ever heard one.”
“Thank you, thank you.” Zoey laughed. “Let me get off of here, though. My phone is about to die, and I need to use my Apple Pay.”
“Okay. Call us later,” Orielle said.
Zoey told them she would, and her square disappeared. Finishing off her Cajun turkey sandwich, Orielle tossed her paper plate in the trash and washed her hands.
“Now, back to you,” Cheyla started.
“Nope. I’m about to get dressed so I can leave. You said enough for today, ma’am.” Orielle laughed, drying her hands.
Cheyla yawned and smiled. “Whatever. Zoey is right, though. Even that man who be faking like he can’t see could see the chemistry between y’all.”
Orielle’s brows creased. “I know you aren’t talking about Stevie Wonder?” Cheyla nodded.
“Yeah. You don’t think he can kinda see?”
“No!” Orielle laughed. “That man is blind for real. Stop playing.”
Cheyla shrugged. “Yeah, yeah. My advice still stands. Shoot your shot. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Orielle wasn’t sure, but something deep down in her wanted to find out.
I t was usually never hard to tell when a business venture would go in his favor. Today, Najee wasn’t so sure.
“You just got out not too long ago, right?” Luke, one of the CEOs of Peace Haven, asked.
“Yeah. About two months ago,” Najee answered.
Luke nodded. “I hope you don’t plan on going back in, man.”
That was the plan. It had been that way before he received his second strike.
“Getting locked up was never the plan, but I’m out now. I’m hoping this partnership is something you and your wife are still interested in.”
Before he got locked up, Najee had pitched Echelon Express to Luke and his wife.
Owning a domestic violence shelter was no easy task, and having multiple resources available for their clients was a priority.
That’s where Najee stepped in. He wanted his car service to be the go-to when women in the shelter needed rides.
Though most of them could catch the bus, a ride, use another car service, or had their own vehicle, Najee wanted Echelon to be the first and only option.
“I’m interested in hearing what you have to offer again. My wife is in a meeting, but I’ll catch her up to speed,” Luke said, giving him the floor.
“In most cases, with domestic violence victims, not having reliable transportation is one of the main reasons most women stay. They can’t get to their job on time because he took the keys, so they lose it.
The court hearing she had was missed because the family member who was supposed to take her overslept, and now she can’t get custody of her kids.
The baby needed more formula at midnight, but the bus stopped running at ten. ”
Luke nodded. “Yeah, I see where you’re going with it.”
“It’s the little things that can flip a person’s life upside down before they even know what’s going on,” Najee explained.
“I know there are other car services, but they cost money and aren’t cheap.
How are they supposed to save for their new place when they’re spending hundreds of dollars a week just on rides? ”
“We’ve seen it happen more times than you know,” Luke said.
There was funding in place for the women to receive rides; however, with the cost of the rides and the number of women who entered the shelter, the budget was halfway depleted before the first half of the year.
“And I’ve witnessed women in these situations with no solution. That’s what Echelon has to offer. Take the stress off their backs while providing a safe, reliable ride. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”
As he spoke, Luke grew to love the idea more.
Escaping a domestic violence situation was one thing.
Figuring it all out afterwards was completely different.
It was a stressor, more than relief, once life still went on.
Though the women and children, if they had any, were safe, it was a struggle to find their footing again.
Uprooting their life and starting over was similar to rehabilitation when someone was fresh out of jail.
It wasn’t easy. They both shared a complicated pain that most people wouldn’t understand unless they lived it.
Najee had. In both situations, you’re not just escaping a place, but leaving behind a version of yourself that learned to survive in chaos.
Whether it was the woman who slept with one eye open, or the man who turned cold to make it through his sentence, they both carried scars the world couldn’t see.
“Yeah, it is,” Luke agreed. “You sound passionate about this. Why come?”
Najee cleared the emotions bubbling in his throat. He’d made it his mission to give back to shelters and anonymously donate money for a reason he prayed he never had to relive or share.
“My mama didn’t make it out of her situation, but she made sure my sister and I did.
She had finally gotten back on her feet some with a new job, and things were looking up.
She was getting off work and was supposed to meet us at my aunt’s house.
We were staying with her until our new apartment was ready to move into at the end of the week.
Somehow, her boyfriend found out where she worked, and while she was waiting at the bus stop, he pulled up on her.
A few witnesses said they got into an argument, and he ended up shooting and killing her right there in broad daylight.
The messed-up thing about it all was that we had just talked to her minutes before. ”
“Damn, man. I hate to hear how that played out,” Luke said with a heavy heart. “My condolences.”
No matter how many stories he heard, they never got easier to listen to.
“Yeah... I am, too. But that’s one of the main reasons I started my business. I saw a need for reliable transportation in my city and wanted to do more with it. If I can save one life, it’ll all be worth it. It saved mine from the streets.”
It was a different kind of war when you were free.
Najee lived the battle firsthand and witnessed it within his community.
A woman in a shelter and a man fresh out a jail both had to rebuild themselves from scratch, strip away survival tactics, and the labels society tried pinning to them.
The process could be lonely and triggering.
Trust became a foreign language, and every act of kindness felt suspicious. The trauma, though in different settings, showed up the same. Guarded hearts, restless nights, the yearning for safety, and the hopefulness of not being judged.
Society tends to look down on a woman in a shelter just like it side-eyes a man on parole.
People with no knowledge of what they’d gone through expected them to be grateful for the bare minimum while offering little support in return.
If he could, Najee wanted to change that with one resource.
One ride could be someone’s light at the end of a dark tunnel.
Luke didn’t need to hear anymore. Coming from the streets himself, he knew what it was like to make it out, and it hadn’t been easy.
“And it’ll save many more,” Luke said, smiling. “That’s why we opened Peace Haven. My wife’s sister was murdered by her child’s father back in the early 2000s. Her mission was something just like yours, and that’s what it is for the shelter.”
“What’s that?” Najee asked.