I'm in Love With a Stripper by Michelle Marola Page A

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    Royce took Alena’s hand as they strolled down the street. It was a cold but beautiful evening. The street lamps were on and there were a few other people out enjoying the evening. The stars and moon were shining brightly in the sky.
    Royce sighed, “Alena, you know I have to be honest with you.”
    Alena l ooked up at Royce through large, innocent eyes.
    “What is it?” s he asked softly.
    “You’re not the only one with a secret,” he stated.
    She gave him an inquisitive look, “What do you mean?”
    “I hope you won’t think less of me,” he said avoiding eye contact with her.
    “Royce, I could never think poorly of you,” she replied.
    Royce stopped and stared up at the sky for a moment.
    “I just feel bad. You’re beautiful, sweet, accomplished. Everyone loves you,” he stated.
    Alena rolled her eyes , “Like you’re not handsome, successful, and well OK not everyone loves you but the important people do.”
    “You never asked me about Gavin, ” Royce said.
    Alena remained quiet.
    “I guess you didn’t want to cross any lines but I think you deserve to know what happened,” he said.
    She nodded.
    He continued, “I used to be into some bad stuff, Alena. I thought I was a gangster, a thug, a badass. I guess back then I was. I hung around all the thugs ‘cause my older brother used to deal dope. He hung with some real bad people. I got in on the dealing too. It was fast money and we had grew up real poor. I was tired of my parents having to struggle—I think he was too. I mean I was never good at school stuff like you. I did my GED ‘cause I dropped out early since I was helping my bro. I went back to college for a little while but I never finished.”
    Royce guided Alena over to a bench. He checked to make sure no one was around before he continued the story.
    “Anyway, me and my bro used to work for this guy, Derrick. He was a drug lord and imported all the coke we used to sell. He had connections all over the city,” he confided.
    Alena nodded.
    “Long story short, my brother met a really nice girl named Kiki. She ended up getting pregnant. He wanted to put the dealin’ behind him and move on to more legit stuff. He had some convictions and had served a little time. It was nothing major but my record was clean so he opened a gun store in my name. We started to make money off the store since we uh… knew a lot of customers, you could say. The money was piling in but my bro was still dealing dope on the side. He got real excited about having a kid and he wanted to make sure he could provide the best of everything for his new family. I guess he was trying to save for Gav’s college fund or something ‘cause he got a little crazy with it,” he confessed.
    Alena took Royce’s hands into hers.
    He continued, “Well, I got out of the drug dealing completely to focus on the store because we were doing so well. I put all my money in the bank. I started paying taxes. I got my shit together and was legit. Things were going good. We were bankin’ so I opened up a pawnshop next door. Then a liquor store— I know I’m so classy. But all that time my brother just couldn’t stop the dealing and the shady stuff on the side. He was addicted to the money.”
    Royce looked away unable to face Alena.
    “He got mixed up in this big deal that went bad. The guys shot and killed Kiki right before Gavin turned one to get revenge on him. He went after them but they ended up shooting him too,” he said quietly.
    “Royce… I’m so sorry, ” Alena replied softly as she squeezed his hand.
    “It’s OK. It was a long time ago,” he answered quietly.
    Alena looked into Royce’s hazel eyes.
    “You’re such a good person for taking care of Gavin,” she said.
    “I love that kid, ” Royce replied.
    “He loves you, too. You are a really strong person, Royce. I admire that about you. You’re a pretty amazing guy,” she said.
    He smiled at her sweet words.
    “I really am sorry, Royce. It sounds