Page 20 of Divine II

For probably the hundredth time, I called Liam’s phone. After multiple calls had gone straight to voicemail, it felt like I was only calling just to make sure he still wasn’t answering. This couldn’t be the way things ended for us.

Liam had to understand that I had an obligation to my family. Maybe I should have asked him about Sherrod. It didn’t matter if Liam had done something to him or not. His people thought that either he or I had something to do with his death. The cops didn’t have any leads, but that didn’t mean that the street committee hadn’t already conducted their own investigation.

The only reason that I would risk doing something that I knew would hurt Liam was to save his life. I didn’t want to tell him that, but maybe hearing it would make him understand where I was coming from. I wasn’t just doing this for my family. I was doing this for us.

I wanted to explain everything to Liam, but he wasn’t answering my calls. I considered taking that drive again, but I didn’t have the time to just hop on the road and take a four-hour drive like it was nothing. I had a business to run and a nosy ass security detail following me around half the time.

“Aah!” I yelled pointlessly as I threw my phone on the bed.

There was no use in sitting around sulking. I had to get ready for my night on the town. It didn’t matter that thisdatewas a set up; I still didn’t feel comfortable having Zane pick me up at home. I made that clear to Bishop when he told me when our official meeting would be. Thankfully, he agreed and let Zane’s people know that we would meet at the restaurant.

Bishop had gone over the plan with me thoroughly, so I pretty much knew what to expect. We were to go to popular hangout spots around the city and make sure we looked really cozy together for the beginning stages of our courtship. Zane had hired a couple of local bloggers to take pictures of us while we were out on our first date to get the buzz about us started.

Although the date wasn’t real, the pictures would be. That meant I wanted to look good. My hair was freshly blown out, and I’d added a ton of flexi rods to make big spiral curls. It was one of my favorite looks. Usually, having my hair done made me feel a little better, so hopefully, I would at least feel well enough to be social after putting on a cute outfit.

I had never met Zane Whitmore. The only thing I knew about him was he had been in some trouble here and there. From what I had heard, he was supposed to be bad news, but he came from a wealthy family. He sounded a lot like Syre if you asked me. That was why I was still confused as to why the boys would set me up with him, real or not.

I stood in my walk-in closet for a beat before selecting a long-sleeved red romper. I usually got cold in restaurants, so I wanted my arms covered. It was too hot for a coat, so the sheerlong sleeves would be perfect. It was spring in Georgia, which meant it was warm at night, but not so much so that wearing the lightweight sleeves would have me passing out.

I wanted to go for cute and flirty, so I grabbed a pair of strappy gold sandals with a heel that wasn’t so high that I couldn’t walk around comfortably. I had about an hour before I was supposed to meet Zane at the restaurant, so I didn’t waste too much time getting ready. I knew my nighttime detail would be showing up soon anyway.

For some reason, Syre had switched Bobby to escort duty, so Liam’s replacement Oneal was on duty tonight. I liked Oneal because he stayed out of the way. He made sure that the locks were secure and that no one had gotten in undetected before he monitored the place from outside. He had been on Bishop’s team forever, so he knew the ropes. He especially knew not to bother me. As much as I missed Liam, I was grateful to have someone unimposing taking his place.

Once I was dressed, I grabbed my phone and keys and stuffed them into the gold clutch I picked to carry for the night. Satisfied that I wasn’t forgetting anything, I headed out. I opted to drive my car tonight since it was easier to park if the place got crowded or I had to use valet. I hadn’t even looked up the address to the restaurant. I just knew that pretty much everything was thirty minutes away from me.

My phone connected to Bluetooth as soon as I fired up my car. I went through my list, selecting the perfect song before sending Oneal the address to where I was headed. More than likely he already had the information, but I wanted to make things easy for him. I had enough problems without giving my security detail a hard time.

Oneal:Got it. Syre sent the address last night.

Just as I suspected, he already knew where to go. By the time I made it to the restaurant, it was already 7:45 p.m. Ourreservation was for 8:00 p.m., so I checked my lip gloss and mascara in the mirror before getting out of my car. My phone rang as soon as I stuck it back in my clutch.

An unfamiliar number had me knitting my brows. It was on the late side for spam callers, so I wasn’t as skeptical about answering an unknown number. Still, I was hesitant as I answered.

“Hello?”

“I decided that we didn’t need a go between anymore, so I got your phone number from Bishop.”

“Am I to assume this is Zane?” I inquired.

“You would be correct. I’m actually parked close to you. Wait right there,” he instructed.

“OK.” I nodded as I took a quick scan of the parking lot.

“Behind you, beautiful.”

When I spun on my heels, I almost crashed into him. Grabbing my arms to steady me, Zane chuckled. I was so flustered that I just looked at him.

“Careful, ma.” He chuckled.

“I didn’t expect you to be so close,” I finally said.

“Always expect the unexpected when it comes to me,” he advised.

“I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but I’ll keep it in mind.” I nodded.

“Good. I like a woman who knows how to listen.” He grinned.

What did that even mean? It didn’t really matter because this wasn’t real. Although this was a fake date to kick off a fake relationship, I was grateful that Zane wasn’t hard on the eyes. I’d seen him in passing in the club or one of the many functions my mom drug me to. Still, I had never paid him much attention.

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