Page 54 of Divine

“If there was a monster in your closet, it would get lost in all the shoes and purses you got in there. Besides what the hell am I going to do about a monster? If Freddy or Jason pop out on us, you need to follow my lead and get the hell out of here.”

He knew that would make me smile. His crooked smile made me blush.

“I can’t with you. Are you ready to go?”

“Ready when you are.”

We had only been in the club for about thirty minutes, and three women had already approached Liam as he stood outside our section. Tremaine and I wanted to have a chill night where we could drink and dance without the distraction of some dude trying to dance up on us. I wanted to have sex, but I wasn’t going to lie, I wanted to get wasted and sleep for the rest of the weekend even more.

In the past few months, I had met a few different guys who started out promising and ended up turning out to be fuck boys. I couldn’t win for losing. I was about ready to tell Bishop to hook me up in some kind of arrangement like he had with Lourdess. There were two other girls in our section. Leslie was one of the girls who worked in Divine Smoothies, and Tremaine brought one of our childhood friends Shawntae. I hadn’t seen her in a few years, but Shawntae was cool.

“So is that your boyfriend or?” Shawntae asked, moving closer to me on the sofa.

“Who Liam?” I wondered, looking over into her eager eyes.

“I didn’t catch his name. The dark-skinned nigga in the football jersey. You know I like my men black and fine.”

I didn’t remember her having a type, but I kept that to myself. Like I said, Shawntae was cool. Her ho activities were none of my business.

“Girl, he might as well be,” Tremaine interjected.

“No, we’re just cool,” I said, not wanting to answer the questions that came with telling people my overprotective cousin thought I needed a bodyguard.

“Cool my ass,” Tremaine rolled her eyes. “Y’all are literally Derrick Morgan and Penelope onCriminal Minds. Everybody is just waiting for you to pull the trigger.”

“Girl, Liam isnotmy man,” I stated again.

Taking that as my permission to shoot her shot, Shawntae took a shot from the bottle of 1942 Don Julio and eased off the couch. For some reason, it vexed me to see her hand trailing down Liam’s bicep as she moved around to stand in front of him. The music was too loud to hear what she was saying, but instead of responding to her, he looked back at me with lifted brows.

What the hell did he want me to say?I shrugged my shoulders as if I didn’t care what they did but felt relief when he shook his head no.

Liam and I were just friends, but I hated when women hit on him. I was selfish with my friends. I didn’t want to share my time with Liam with anyone else. He knew how spoiled I was just as much as anyone else. I think that was the reason he turned them all down, at least in my presence. I bit back a smile as Shawntae walked back over to us rolling her eyes.

“What did he say?” I quizzed.

“I asked if he wanted to dance, and he said he doesn’t dance.”

“Sounds about right.” I rolled my eyes.

“Fuck him. Let’s take another shot.”

The club had a prettychill vibe, but I was more than ready to go. If it weren’t for Divine, I would have never even been there. I should have been home because I needed something brown to help me decompress. It could have been liquor or a woman. I didn’t have a preference. My dad’s call was disturbing in more ways than one.

What reason did he have for calling me after all these years? He thought using my mom would get me to move, but she was just as guilty as he was for how fucked up in the head I was. As far as I was concerned, both of them could kiss my ass.

My feet were tired, so I moved from my post outside of Divine and her girls’ section and plopped down on the couch. They were having the time of their lives, throwing back shot after shot and shaking their asses on each other.

I had already clocked a couple of guys who thought they were going to get access to the section. Thankfully, my presence was enough of a deterrent to keep them at bay. All I had to do was stand around looking menacing and most people knew to stay away. Those who couldn’t take a hint could be shown through action. No sooner than my ass hit the fake leather seats was the new girl sliding over next to me.

“You not having a good time?” she asked.

“I’m not here to have a good time,” I told her.

“This is a club. What other reason do you have for being here?”

I lifted my shoulders in response. “I don’t need a reason.”

“Lee Lee, take a shot with me,” Divine squealed, rushing over holding two small red cups.

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