Page 19 of Divine

“The other guys rarely ever came inside,” she revealed.

“Well, damn.” I shook my head.

“I like the change. You’re actually kind of cool. I barely took the time to get to know them. They were too dedicated to helping Syre treat me like a little girl.”

“I’m well aware that you’re an adult,” I told her.

“Well, if you do decide to go to sleep, the bedroom is at the end of the hall. There’s plenty of food in the fridge and pantry. I don’t have to tell you to make yourself at home because you’ve already came in here cooking and shit.”

“Good that you know I don’t need you to roll out the welcome mat.”

“You did it yourself.” She grinned before turning to head to her bedroom. “Good night, Lee Lee.”

“Lee Lee?” I frowned at the nickname she gave me.

Pressing play, I proceeded to episode five. With Divine’s permission, I finally kicked off my shoes and stretched out on the couch. It was two in the morning. I could at least get a little rest before my shift ended. At least we agreed on the free money thing. I could get used to this.

The seriesof beeps followed by my front door slamming caused me to roll my eyes. I absolutely couldn’t stand Bobby, my other new night security guy. He got on my fucking nerves to the tenth degree. I could tell he took every single thing Syre told him to heart. Well everything except the part about keeping his eyes and hands to himself.

Bobby was in his late forties with a receding hairline and a pot belly from drinking too many beers in his downtime. Him not being attractive wasn’t the reason that I didn’t like him. He was overzealous. Though he carried a weapon while on duty, he still gave rent-a-cop. He reminded me way too much of someone who I had to ask Syre to let go of in the past. I was pretty sure that my request got him killed, so I was trying to tread lightly. I wanted to give him a fair chance, but he was annoying as hell.

“How you doing tonight, Ms. Divine?”

“I’m good.”

I knew not to give away too much. All you had to do was be friendly to certain kinds of men and they took that as a sign of being in a committed relationship.

“There’s no one here but me. You don’t have to do a full sweep.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” he quipped as he headed to the bathroom.

“Suit yourself,” I said, standing back and folding my arms over my chest.

My phone rang, causing me to walk over and retrieve it from the kitchen counter where I’d left if while I was washing dishes. It was my brother Deacon. He called about once a week to check in on me. Even though he was a detective, he wasn’t as protective as the other guys, so I made sure to answer his calls.

“Hey,” I answered after swiping the screen.

“I’ve been buried in cases, but I wanted to check in on you. I got the smoothies you sent over.”

“Good. I’m good. Are you coming to dinner this week?”

“Hell naw. I won’t have time. Tell everybody I said hey.”

“You know you don’t have to work twenty four hours a day, right? You can take a few hours off to see your family sometimes.”

Deacon felt like he was the black sheep of the family because he’d chosen to be a cop. I think that the distance between him and the rest of the guys was due to him always trying to be so sneaky and conniving. They tried to keep me out of the loop, but I was well aware of how many times he’d went behind one of them and slept with their girlfriends or just girls they brought around the house. I could never understand his jealousy when he was just as handsome and charismatic as the other guys.

“I know but I’m shooting for a promotion, sis. I’ll come by and see you one day this week.”

“You better,” I warned him.

“I’m done with my sweep, Ms. Divine. Do you need anything while I’m in here?” Bobby interrupted as he stepped out of the hallway.

“No, I’m good.”

“Well let me let you go,” Deacon stated. “I was just checking in.”

“OK, brother. I love you.”

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