Page 182 of Divine Obsession

“Oh,hell no.” I heard Maria get off the couch, and sure enough there she was behind me, a few moments later. “Close the door.”

Charles looked nothing if not terrified of her, so he quickly pulled something from the hallway in front of our doorstep, then hurried off.

A giant bouquet of red roses – though, it was more like a display. I mean, it washuge. Probably around a thousand stems wrapped in black, silky paper. A single white note poking out from the petals, with black handwriting.

Please forgive me, hermosa.

An incredulous breath escaped Maria. Then, she was walking past the flowers and into the hallway.

Her eyes flickered up.

Zach’s voice came from somewhere down the hallway. “Hermosa, please, just talk to me–”

She bent down to the roses and fisted the poor flowers, pulling out a handful of them. Then, she was throwing them down the hallway to where I guessed Zach was. Over and over again. She yelled at him, curse over curse in Spanish flying out of her mouth, while no retort came from him.

“¡Vete!”

“No me voy a ir de esto, Maria.”

“¿Es que no tienes respeto por ti mismo?” She asked, breathless, after there were no more roses to throw.

“You can walk all over me, baby. I’ll let you.”

“Fuck you!” Maria stepped back into my apartment, closing the door just as Zach made it in front of it. Then, turned the lock for dramatic effect. “I’m calling the cops!”

“Good luck with that,mi amor. They work for me.” His voice came from the other side.

She groaned in frustration before walking off past me.

I stood silently in the entry hallway until I heard Zach’s footsteps fade away.

Two days later, it got even worse.

I’d barely woken up when I heard Maria scream. I threw my pink robe on and barged into the guest bedroom she was staying in to find her searching frantically through one of her bags.

“Look what he did! The audacity!” She pointed behind her, towards the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Turning my head to the side, my eyes widened at the view Maria had woken up to. The billboard that usually was on one of the skyscrapers a couple of blocks down, always showing adsfor fashion or movies – was now blank with only one sentence written on it.

Give me another chance. – Z

“Aw. He bought you a billboard, Em.”

It wasn’t obvious to anyone but us what the message was. The aesthetics of it looked like it could’ve been a statement ad for a perfume or something.

“Are you crazy? Fuck the billboard!”

I sighed, bringing my hands to my chest and reading the message again.

“Hey!” Maria clapped her hands in front of my face, forcing me to focus on her. “Focus! This is what he wants!”

“But–”

“Nuh-uh. I don’t want to hear it. You’re on my side, right?” She asked, a little panicked, when she saw my slightly sulky face. I nodded. “Good.”

Maria turned around and walked back to her bags at the foot of the bed.

“What are you–”

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