Chapter 2: Enter Roman

I stared dry-eyed at what I could see of New York City which wasn't very much, a couple of the people who had been on the plane with me, six or so lanes of cars and a gray wall of sorts. As my eyes scanned the people and vehicles, I caught sight of a clipboard with my name, Brooklyn James, written on it, it took my tired brain a minute to realize that the casually dressed but still very sexy man connected to the clipboard was waiting for me. I took a deep breath and walked toward him. This experience was just beginning and already it was surreal. The closer I got, the taller he became, when his eyes found mine he smiled boyishly showing off straight, white teeth. I checked him out, the white t-shirt was stretched across a well muscled chest, the tattoo on his yellow neck read Roman, there was that boyish smile again, a dash of freckles over a straight nose, light brown eyes danced, shoulder length dreads were pulled into two plaits that disappeared behind his head and back. 

As soon as I was close enough he offered me a hand, "Hi, I'm Roman and since you're gonna be my roomie I figured I'd be the one to introduce you to the Kandy Kingdom and New York." Got damn he was sexy! I stared at his big hand unsure of what to do with it. I am socially awkward, I try to avoid social situations, meeting new people is at the top of the list. 

"Hi, Brooklyn." I mumble at my feet and set my hand in his. 

"First rule baby doll, if you're going to work for Mr. Braxton, you're going to have to grow some balls...or you know, get some of those prosthetics they put in dogs after the snip the real thing." I looked up at my companion who was chuckling at his own joke, I didn't get it. 

"Brooklyn."

"I know." He pointed at the clipboard and smirked.  "You'll come out of your shell eventually."

Roman chatted while he stuffed my large suitcase in the trunk of the black Escalade. He told me to get in and I climbed into the passenger seat. Roman hopped into driver seat and adjusted the radio, classic R&B drifted through the speakers. "Jeans and a graphic tee huh? The girls are going to enjoy dressing you up, and you already look like a doll baby." He chuckled again. "Yeah, there are five of us in a penthouse in Manhattan, four girls, Kitty and Scarlet share a room, Coco and Dom share a room and me and JQ have rooms to ourselves, well now only JQ does." 

He spun into the flow of traffic and I could finally see more of the city, skyscrapers of varying heights and shapes and a million yellow taxis. Roman continued, "They're all excited to meet you, and for you that may be a bit overwhelming. We're like a family, we look out for each other, you'll love them...maybe you'll want to stab JQ at some point but that's normal." 

"Where are we heading exactly?"

"Mr. Braxton wants to meet you and  then I'll take you to the house and you can meet the fam."

I nodded, London had briefed me on her conversations with Mr. Braxton but he'll know that I'm not the spirited girl he's been in communication with, I did panic then and broke out in a cold sweat.

"You okay?" Roman asked me. 

I shook my head, wanted to puke. "I shouldn't be here, Mr. Braxton was communicating with my cousin, not me. I don't like people and being outside of my comfort zone causes me to freak out."

Roman looked at me and then moved his eyes back to the road, "You'll be fine, he's more impressed with your resume. It's not a big deal Baby Doll, you're gonna be in marketing only, you won't have to spend time with anybody outside of your department unless you're doing a presentation and Stone handles most of those. Just make it through the interview with Braxton and you'll be fine from then on."

I sighed and massaged my temples, Roman reached over and patted my thigh, his touch made me jump and his hand recoiled. He said, "NYC has a way of making people bolder. When I moved down here I was sixteen years old, my parents had kicked me out of the house and so I was out of my element, big time. Unlike you I didn't have anybody to watch my back and show me the ropes. I winged it." I looked up at Roman and he gave me a warm smile. "I had a love of dance, that's how I met JQ and that's how we met Braxton. People frown on stripping, unless you are in fact a stripper, male or female you won't understand or connect with each individual's story, you won't understand how it saved us." He chuckled, "Having your body adored does wonders for a person's self esteem too you know."

Just like that I was addicted to Roman's smile, he didn't seem so threatening anymore. My eyes found his hands which were fisted on the steering wheel, he turned the wheel at an angle and I saw the rainbow tattoo on his wrist. "You can ask." He murmured, "I am. Maybe I'll tell you my story one day, but you'll have to tell me yours." He grinned at me and I smiled back. If I wasn't anything I was open minded and although he didn't know it, Roman's being gay took a lot of stress off of me. I'd never had a boyfriend, my mother always acted so weird when I hung out with guys, the thought of actually sharing a room with one scared me shitless, even though Roman was a pretty nice one, I was still freaked. I think I'd just made a friend, I was afraid of guys and a couple of bad experiences in high school made me hate females so I didn't have any friends. 

Roman pulled into the parking lot of one of those skyscrapers and my heart rate immediately sped up. This was the moment that would define the rest of my life. As if sensing my anxiety, Roman grabbed my hand and even when I flinched he didn't let go. 

"We have a saying in the fam, go in and go hard. That means you're not backing down, first of all, leaving is not an option. When you go in, you're going in with confidence even if you have to fake it. I got you Baby Doll, okay?"

I climbed out of the car and Michael Jackson's "This Is It" echoed in my head, how final that song was for The King of Pop. This was it for me, New York, the city and the state, would either make me or break me.