Page 75 of Divine

“I think it’s too late,” I said, swallowing down the lump in my throat.

He sighed. “It’s only too late if you agree to it.”

“Well, it’s at least not the right time. It’s just temporary, Lee. I have to at least play nice. That’s what he said.”

“And you wanna do this?” he questioned.

“I mean, I don’t think it would hurt.”

“OK. Cool,” he said, sliding his body from under mine abruptly and causing my head to drop on the bed.

“Liam!” I called out as he crossed the room in a flash.

He ignored me as he started to pick his clothes up from the floor.

“Liam, wait.”

“Divine, don’t. I’m good, OK?”

“You’re not,” I said, moving in his direction.

He held his hand up to stop me.

“Trust me. I am.” He snapped.

I stopped in my tracks because what else was I supposed to do? Liam’s phone started ringing for probably the third time. I watched frozen in place as he tore it out of the pocket of his jeans and answered on speaker.

“Yeah!” he barked.

I felt bad because I knew he was taking his anger toward me out on the unsuspecting caller.

“Don’t hang up, Tank. It’s your mama.”

“Didn’t I fucking tell you if she needed something, she better call me her damn self?”

“She’s gone, son. I’m sorry. She’s gone.”

The phone fell from Liam’s hand in a clatter. Rushing over to him, I threw my arms around him just as he plopped down on the bed. Not knowing what else to do, I wrapped my arms around him. He took in a deep, ragged breath as he continued to stare at his phone like it was a foreign object.

“Hello,” the caller said. “Liam, you there?”

He didn’t speak, and neither did I. I didn’t know what to do, so I just kept my arms around him. For several minutes we just sat there. Him staring at the floor and me with my arms around his waist. Then suddenly, he shoved my arms down and jumped up.

“I gotta go!”

“Liam, wait.”

I stood as he snatched his shirt over his head and picked up his phone.

“I’m out, D. I need to go home. I’ll have Syre send someone else over.”

“Liam, wait. Let me go with you,” I said, following him out of my bedroom.

“Nah. Stay here. Seems like we need some space anyway. I probably should be looking for a new job since I’m done babysitting as you called it.”

“Don’t act like that, Liam.”

“How you want me to act, Ms. Gold? That shit we were doing was temporary, right? Be cool, love. As you can see, I have enough shit on my plate right now. I can’t be worried about what you do with your free time,” he said, snatching my front door open.

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