Page 56 of Divine II

“Syre, no,” I pled as he held a gun to the back of Liam’s head.

“Divine, shut the fuck up.” Syre sneered, using the gun to hit Liam.

“Wait!” I screamed.

Scrambling from under Liam, I held my hands up and urged Syre to stop as he hit him in the head with the gun again. Liam leaned against the chair, holding the back of his head. I grimaced as he looked from his bloody hand to Syre, who still had his gun trained on him.

Liam held his hands up in surrender. I couldn’t tell if Syre was going to shoot him or not, but I was terrified. I’d seen him this angry before but never at my expense. He ignored my pleasfor mercy. His chest was heaving as he continued to stare Liam down.

“Look, man, I’m not going to disrespect you by acting like you have no reason to be upset. I understand that you’re angry. You might even feel betrayed. I’m having a hard time looking at the blood pouring from my head and not doing anything about it. I’m not built like that, and I’m sure you know it. I love Divine as much as you do, so I’m gonna let that shit slide.”

“You ain’t got to let nothing slide, my nigga. I should shoot the shit out of you for this shit,” Syre barked.

“Syre, what we do is none of your business,” I interjected.

“The hell you preach! I’m paying this nigga to be here. Fuck you talking about, Divine? And, nigga, what the fuck you give her the gun for? I’m paying you to be the shooter, not her,” Syre fussed.

“Because he told me if anything happens to him, I need to be able to defend myself. I was going to shoot your ass until I couldn’t shoot anymore.”

“Divine, I thought I told you to shut the fuck up? I don’t think you want to play with me right now. What the hell are you even thinking?”

“I’m thinking I’m a grown ass woman that’s very capable of making her own decisions.”

“I don’t give a damnwhatyou think you are. Put on some damn clothes. Talking about you a grown ass woman. Y’all really got me fucked up right now,” Syre said, putting both hands on his head.

“Don’t talk to her like that, my guy,” Liam warned Syre.

“Oh,hell nah. What the hell is going on around here?” Syre chuckled bitterly.

“We’re in love.” I chimed in.

“Divine, this ain’t the time,” Syre said, holding his hand up to me as if the conversation had nothing to do with me. “We’reabout to go to war because of y’all’s bullshit, and y’all have the nerve to be out here fucking.”

Liam sighed and shook his head.

“This is not how I wanted this shit to go down. It’s not like that, man,” he said, attempting to reason with Syre. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Ain’t that something? I came over here to talk to y’all about rearranging your detail. Whitmore said that you’re crowding him and Divine, and they can’t get any privacy. Now, I see why. Divine, you’re over here with this big headed muthafucka’s head between your thighs. I can’t believe this shit. Y’all are just nasty. Do you know where his mouth has been? I’ve seen this man eat a whole rack of ribs plus sides in one sitting, and you let him put his mouth on you, sis?”

“Syre, relax. Liam didn’t do anything wrong. He’s never been inappropriate with me. He’s always been the perfect gentleman, doing any and everything to make me feel safe and comfortable. Before I knew it, I had fallen for him. I wasn’t sure how he felt, but I came on to him. He even turned me down at first,” I explained.

“I don’t want to hear that right now, Divine. I feel so dumb. Y’allbeendoing this shit too. He won’t even let a nigga get up on you. I loved that about him, but now, I see this muthafucka is in love with you his damn self. I feel like such a fool for not seeing the signs. This man is down bad over your crazy ass, Divine. Hell, I know that from personal experience. Any other man would have gotten the fuck on by now, and his ass is still standing here like I won’t shoot the fuck out of him.” Syre shook his head.

“I didn’t mean for you to find out like this. I wanted to talk to y’all when it started, but she begged me not to. You know just as well as I do how hard it is to tell her no. You should know that better than anybody, Syre.”

“Do you understand that she’s supposed to be in a relationship with another man? Divine, you agreed to that fucking deal when you knew damn well I was against it. I was ready to go to war behind y’all’s shit. I knew you killed ol’ boy as soon as they said something happened to him and he had been seen with Divine. I was cool with it. I told you off the top to do whatever you felt was necessary to keep my girl safe. I didn’t tell you to fall in love with her.”

“I swear I didn’t mean to. I couldn’t help it,” Liam revealed.

“We’re going through all this shit to save y’all’s asses, and you don’t even have the decency to play along after you agreed to the deal, Divine. You need to make up your mind, baby girl, and I told you to put on some gah damn clothes!”

“Chill, man. We can talk about this civilly,” Liam stated.

“Nah. There’s nothing to talk about. I need you to leave, my man. I’ll have my people email you your severance package.”

“Divine,” Liam called out, looking between me and Syre.

My eyes burned so bad that I couldn’t even look at him eye to eye. My face was damp with tears. Syre’s gun didn’t stop Liam from moving closer and cupping my face in his hands. He kissed my forehead.

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