Page 10 of Divine

Whatever circumstances her family had going on that led to her needing security hadn’t touched her. If it were left up to me, they never would. Divine was fucking gorgeous. Her skin looked like fresh honey. Hypnotic eyes held me in place and left me speechless. She was short with thick thighs and wide set hips that would make any man stop and pay attention. Now that we were face to face, I could say without hesitation that I would take a bullet. I would kill. I would do anything…for her.

“Please don’t tell me I’m stuck with a stupid one this time,” she said, rolling those beautiful cognac-colored eyes as she holstered her hands on her hips.

“Can I help you with something?”

I knew exactly who he was and why he was there. Seeing a tall, hulking figure lurking around in my back yard might have alarmed me if Syre hadn’t already let me know what to expect. Well, actually, he said a big, tall cornbread-fed nigga was starting tonight. It pissed me off that he never considered that I might want to vet some of the numbskulls that he hired to hang around and guard my house like it was the White House.

I knew very little about my family business, and I liked it that way. I couldn’t convince Syre that having me under constant surveillance only brought more attention to me. The closest I’d gotten to talking some sense into him was getting him to allow the people working on my security detail to wear plain clothes. Hence, the fine ass nigga standing in my back yard dressed in a basketball jersey looking like he could have been in the league.

It didn’t matter how sexy he was or how good the woodsy cologne he wore smelled as I stepped closer. Anyone working for Syre was considered the opposition. He was a spy on a good day, and in the event that he decided to stop spying on me for Syre, he would be fired. His presence was more of a nuisance than anything.

“Please don’t tell me I’m stuck with a stupid one this time.” I sighed, knowing that all Syre cared about was security.

He didn’t care if the man could form an intelligible sentence or not as long as he would jump in front of a bullet to protect me like a trained monkey. The new hire’s presence annoyed me for the simple fact that he was standing in my yard to help Syre keep tabs on me.

“I knocked on the door, but no one came,” he finally spoke.

The bass in his voice only disarmed me for a beat. How the hell was Syre able to find a man like this and I wasn’t? Figures that he would be a fuck boy no matter which one of us ran across him first. It didn’t matter that he was hired to take care of me. I didn’t want him here.

“That gave you the right to snoop?” I asked, tilting my head.

“I’m sure you’re aware of the details of my assignment. I was securing the area,” he explained.

I scoffed and took a few steps to close the space between us. “There’s nothing to secure.”

“And I plan to keep it that way.” He shrugged.

“You like doing what you’re told, I see. If you want to make yourself useful around here, I’m having killer cramps right now. Can you run down to the dollar store and grab some pads and Midol? Not the generic crap either. I need the real deal.”

Since he wanted to do his job so badly, I would make him an errand boy like the last two security guys. I didn’t need him in my way. Just like the last guy, I would keep him busy and out of my face as much as possible.

“Pads? Like maxi pads?” he asked as if I were speaking a foreign language.

“I prefer the expensive ones with wings. Let me show you,” I said, removing my phone from my back pocket.

Shaking his head, he held up his hand to stop me from showing him my phone screen. “I’m not buying fucking maxi pads, shorty. Are you kidding me?”

“There’s nothing else for you to do here. I was about to head to the store. Since you’re here now, you can go for me.”

“Did you not just hear what I said?” he asked, stretching his eyes for emphasis.

“No. I wasn’t listening. Make sure you get the ones in the purple box and extra strength on the pills,” I said, sliding my credit card into his pocket before turning to head back in the house.

If he insisted on being here, I wasn’t going to make it easy on him.Hewas Syre’s bitch, not me. If he hung around long enough, I would make him mine. I didn’t look back until I was inside the house. When I looked out of the kitchen window, he was still standing in the back yard looking crazy. This was going to be fun.

I laughed to myself as I went back to my task of creating a new smoothie and juice flavor. Since the season was changing, I wanted to add some limited time drinks to the menu. At the time, I was working on a carrot cake smoothie. The ginger, vanilla, apple, and carrot blend was almost perfect. It just needed a little tweaking.

I was doing everything I could to keep myself busy after the fall out with Trevor. I felt like an idiot for not seeing him for the scum bag he was. Psalm was gracious enough to send me the full report on him complete with two separate closed sexual assault cases. He’d paid the first victim for her silence, but it didn’t look like the second one was going down so easily. If that weren’t enough, he’d tested positive for MDMA which he also used to drug those girls apparently.

A handsome guy with plenty of money had no reason to drug and take advantage of women when there were so many women willing to give it up just for clout. I would never understand a man like Trevor, nor did I want to take a deep dive into a mind that would do such things.

I was starting to feel bad about the way I had spoken to Syre’s new flunky. I walked to the living room and parted the blinds to see if he was on post. I was surprised to find that he wasn’t there. My cars were the only ones in the yard. I wasn’t sure if he had quit or went to pick up the stuff I requested. Either way, I was glad he was out of my hair for however long.

I headed back to the kitchen and removed the lid from the pot on the stove. When I was stressed out, I cooked. For the past week, I’d had a taste for my mom’s famous loaded potato and broccoli soup. It smelled beautiful. It was almost done, but I would let it simmer for a few more minutes while the bread baked. I bought a few loaves of sourdough bread and hollowed them out to use as bowls. Ten more minutes was all I needed for a savory late-night dinner.

Since I had been so rude to the man Syre sent here to protect me, it was only right that I make enough for him. If he didn’t want to take it, that was fine too. I was so tired of dealing with losers. My prying family didn’t make it any better. I knew Syre and my brother Maven would have been happy if I just gave up on dating altogether. I knew their plan was to annoy the hell out of me until I caved, but I refused to let them dictate my life.

I took the bread out of the oven and placed it on top of the stove. It was perfectly crusty, so I grabbed a ladle to fill both of them with soup. Taking a deep breath, I inhaled the mouth-watering aroma from the steam wafting from the soup. I couldn’t wait to dig in. I did a little dance as I walked over to the fridge to grab a block of sharp cheddar that would go great with the warm bread and soup. I continued to roll my body to the beat in my head as I grated a ton of cheese over the soup. This was about to be so good.

---