Page 31 of Divine II

“Lee Lee.” Divine sighed.

“Lee Lee my ass, Divine. You know the only reason you’re here is because Bishop made you come. I see the way he was watching you and making sure you were on your best behavior.”

“I can’t just walk out after we’ve been held up in here talking.”

“Make it believable, Cookie. Hold your stomach or something when you walk out of here. You know you’re a good ass actress.”

Pushing off the door, I walked over to the sink and tore off a wad of paper towels. I ran some water over them and rang them out before passing them to her.

“What’s this for?”

“Hold them against your head when you go out there so you can drive the sick thing home. I’m going out first. Give it about five minutes and come out,” I said, leaning in and kissing her on the forehead before making my exit.

After snatching Divine up in front of a couple dozen people, I kind of expected some kind of reaction when I walked out without her. Nobody seemed to notice me as I strolled back out of the house and walked straight over to the bar.

“What can I help you with, sir?” the woman working behind the bar asked.

“Can I get a ginger ale over ice?” I requested.

“Sure. Coming right up,” she said, removing a plastic cup from the stack in front of her.

“Hey, my man. What’s up?”

It registered that the question was directed to me when a hand landed on my shoulder. I flicked the nigga’s hand off me as I turned my body to face him with a scowl. I had no idea why he thought it was a good idea to put his filthy ass hands on me, but I didn’t like it. My annoyance only grew when I noticed the smug ass grin on his face. He didn’t look familiar, so I had no idea why he was so amused.

“What’s up? How can I help you?” I quizzed, growing impatient.

“I’m just mingling, making sure everyone is enjoying themselves. My name is Zane Whitmore. This is my house.”

Oh, so this was the asshole who thought he could take my baby from me. Now, I wanted to put his head through the bar. As bad as I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands, I’d just gotten one hell of a reminder to be on my best behavior.

“Oh OK. Nice place,” I complimented him, hoping he would move the fuck around.

“You’re Divine’s little security guard, right? You probably already know, but we just started dating. I know she won’t need your protection too much when I’m around, but there’s no reason we can’t be friends. I figured I would come over and introduce myself.”

“You shouldn’t have. I’m not that friendly,” I muttered, fighting the urge to smack that smirk off his face.

“Well, I guess we have something in common. If you learn how to act and what your place really is, I might let you keep your little gig once she and I are official.”

“You don’t have toletme keep shit.”

“I saw the way you swooped in like Superman and saved the day when she was standing out here with her ass out like a tramp. I’m sure the dynasty boys love for you to do shit like that. All of that is cute and everything, but I won’t be needing thosetypes of services when it comes to my woman. Your job is to dive in front of a speeding bullet and shit like that, Clark Kent.”

“Is that right?” I asked, lifting my brows.

I was less than two seconds off his ass, and he didn’t even know it. I didn’t give a damn whose party this was. He was going to learn to respect me the easy way or the hard way. It didn’t matter to me.

“It is. Either you learn your position, or you’ll get in the unemployment line.”

Seeing Divine emerge from the house distracted me long enough to stop me from smashing his face into the bar. I didn’t know who the fuck he thought he was talking to, but I could tell that I would have to show him sooner than later. Putting a bitch in his place was what got us in this predicament to start with. I had to try to think rationally.

This had to be a joke. There was no way this was the man Divine’s family wanted her to pretend to be in a relationship with. He had to really have some shit on them for them to allow her to be associated with him. I didn’t give a damn how much money he had. He wasn’t even good enough to breathe Divine’s air, let alone have her on his arm. No wonder Bishop was lingering around here watching her like a hawk. Syre’s request for me to come to the party to put an extra pair of eyes on her made so much more sense now.

Following my eyes, he put his attention on Divine. He noticed the change in her disposition and moved from my side to walk over to her. I couldn’t hear what they were saying from where I stood, but I could tell she was putting it on thick with the way she held the napkins to her forehead and her sad puppy dog eyes. I was putty in her hands on a good day, so I was sure her act would work on him. Just in case she needed reinforcement, I picked up the ginger ale from the bar and walked over to join them.

“Hey. You feeling better?” I asked her.

“Not really. Did you get what I asked for?” she croaked.

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