Page 21 of Divine

“Yeah, you might as well eat with us since you’re here. We haven’t ordered yet.”

“Cool,” he said, taking the empty seat. “What do y’all suggest I order?”

Before I had the chance to part my lips, my girls were all over him.

“I love the fried pork chop plate and the oxtail pot pie, but you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu,” Tremaine explained.

“I agree. Delilah really doesn’t miss. I’m getting chicken and dumplings today since I’m craving something warm and comforting,” Candice mentioned.

“What you ordering, Cookie?” Liam asked, lifting his eyes from the menu to look at me.

“Cookie?” my girls asked simultaneously.

“Lyon.” I rolled my eyes.

“That’s perfect for you too, girl.” Candice cackled.

“Shut up, Candice. Youwouldthink that, Boo Boo Kitty.”

“Whatever. You just mad ’cause he got your ass.”

Liam found that way too amusing as he sat back in his chair and observed our banter with a satisfied smile.

“If you’re Candice, you must be Tremaine. I’m sure Miss Divine already told you two that I’m Liam. Since she doesn’t have the decency to formally introduce us, I’ll take the liberty.”

“I normally don’t do introductions of my security team, but thank you for taking the liberty.”

“Oh, for a second, I almost forgot I was the help,” he said. There was something in his voice that I didn’t like. I hadn’t meant to offend him.

“Not like that, Liam. I’m just saying I usually don’t like them enough to bring them into my world.”

“No need to back pedal. I get it.” He shrugged.

“She’s right, Liam. I don’t know the names of any of the last guys except that James, who she couldn’t stand,” Candice explained.

“And Roger.” Tremaine rolled her eyes.

“How could we forget Roger?” I shook my head.

“What did Roger do?” Liam asked, looking between us for an answer.

“In short, he didn’t understand boundaries. I would wake up, and he would be in my bedroom claiming that he was just checking things out. He would be standing outside my bathroom door when I took a shower. Just doing all kinds of creepy shit. I told Syre I didn’t like him, but I was scared of his ass.”

“Shit, me too. You could tell he was a creep,” Candice spoke up.

“He hid it well if you ask me. I couldn’t tell he was on that type of shit. He just looked like a certified cornball to me,” Tremaine said.

“I worked with a weird ass dude named Roger. What was his last name?” Liam asked.

“Cunningham,” I said, rolling my eyes.

I couldn’t stand him and hoped that I would never run across him again. The only reason he was still alive was because I chose to downplay the way he made me so uncomfortable. I didn’t have to get the man killed to get him away from my house. All I had to do was tell Syre that he did too much and I wanted him gone. He didn’t ask many questions before replacing him the very next day.

“Wow, Liam. You’re probably the last person I expected to see here.”

I looked up to find a curvy Asian woman standing next to the table with her hands on her hips. Her brows lingered near her hairline as she waited for an explanation.

“You didn’t think I ate?” he asked, taking a sip of the water in front of him but not bothering to give her his full attention.

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