Chapter 10
Liam and I looked good enough to eat as we waltzed into the conference center like we owned the place. A smooth Jazz version of “If This World Were Mine” floated through the air courtesy of a live band. The atmosphere was littered with black elegance thanks to my mom and Bishop’s acquaintances filling the room.
There were a few people scattered out on the dance floor slow dancing to the music and even more sitting in their respective seats. Even though it was a stuffy event, I was feeling good thanks to the glass of wine I’d had before leaving the house. I hated these snooty parties but loved the food and music.
As long as no one tried to have a conversation with me to give me advice about how to get a good man or asking for a donation to some kind of foundation for the at-risk youth, I would be OK. To make sure that was not a problem, I planned to drink plenty of wine. It was a good thing Liam was my designated driver tonight because I planned to get wasted.
“Let’s grab something to drink,” I suggested.
“I’m not drinking tonight, Cookie. I’m responsible for making sure you make it home safe.”
“One drink is not going to hurt you.”
“I’m not about to let you get me drunk and take advantage of me,” he joked.
“You must have read my mind. A few Hennessy margs and you’ll be putty in my hands,” I teased him.
“Wow, so you just go straight to date rape, Divine. I can’t believe you would try to rape me. Trust me. If I ever get that pussy, I want to have all my faculties intact. I need to remember everything that happens just in case you never let me in that thang again.”
“Shut up.” I laughed.
My mind shifted from Liam’s constant foolishness to the sight of my mom in a black satin gown that accentuated her shape. My mom was beautiful on any given day, but tonight, she was regal. A magnetic force lugged me across the room in her direction. Liam was hot on my heels as I made my way to my favorite person in the world.
“Mommy!” I sang as I sank into my mother’s outstretched arms.
Every hug from her soothed whatever ailed me in the moment. I had something that I wanted to discuss with my mom, but right then, I just needed to enjoy the warmth of her embrace.
“You are beautiful, baby girl,” my mom complimented me with a smile.
“I was just about to tell you the same thing, old lady.”
“You know how I am about flattery.” She winked. “Liam, you’re looking rather dapper tonight.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Gold. You’re as radiant as ever.”
“Listen, you two are not doing as good of a job of hiding that little lingering thing between you two. If you plan on making Syre think you hate his guts, you’re going to have to be mindful of the way you look at each other. Three people have already asked me if I’m going to be planning another engagement party soon, and you two just walked in the door.”
“What thing?” I frowned, oblivious to what my mom was referring to.
Liam chuckled but looked away.
“At least he doesn’t try to pull the wool over my eyes. Ain’t nothing slick to a can of oil, baby girl. I gave birth to you. I know you.”
I sighed. “Mom, I know you’re omniscient and everything, but Liam and I are just friends.”
“That was a little better, but keep working on it,” she said, patting my arm.
“I need to get food and a stiff drink first, but I need to talk to you about something when you get a chance.”
“I’m headed back over to our table. Your cousin just got here, so I have to make sure he behaves himself tonight. If it was up to him, my entire head would be gray,” my mom said, shaking her head.
“You’re the one that has him so spoiled,” I reminded her.
“And everybody still knows not to mess with my baby boy,” she sassed.
“Whatever, Ma.” I rolled my eyes.
“You two grab what you need, and find our table. Liam, have a couple of drinks tonight, baby. It’s OK to loosen up sometimes. It’s a party. You see your boss doesn’t have any problem doing just that.”
“I see. As a matter of fact, I want to go over and speak to him. You good with that, Divine?” Liam asked, actually pausing and waiting for me to answer.
I nodded in confirmation. “I’m going to get something to eat in a second.”
Keeping his attention on Syre, who seemed to make himself comfortable at the open bar, he asked, “You want Pinot Grigio or Moscato?”
“Moscato is fine for now,” I confirmed.
“Come sit down, Divine. One of the servers will bring your plate,” my mom told me.
“In that case, I’ll meet you back at the table. Should I order for you?” I asked Liam.
“Yeah. You know what I like,” he said, giving my mom a nod before heading to the bar.
“God was just showing out when he made that man,” my mom said, shaking her head.
“He is handsome, isn’t he?”
“More than that. When are you two going to stop pretending that you don’t want each other?” she quizzed.
“It’s not even like that.” I shook my head. “I’m seeing someone else. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” I said as we made our way to the table.
Sherrod Bates was a rapper that had been out for a few years but was just really taking off. He’d gotten a little notoriety over the past couple of years that kept him on the road for one performance or another. Now and then, it brought him to the area, and he would reach out to me. For now, that worked for me because I liked my space. Plus, the more he was away, the less likely one of the boys were to find out he and I were dating.
I didn’t have a type, but if I did, I’m not sure Sherrod would fit the description. He was a little chubby but not hard on the eyes. On our first date, he was the perfect gentleman. He’d had his eye on me for the past couple months after I’d seen him on the front row at a basketball game.
My girl Candice bailed on me at the last minute, but I decided that I would go to the game alone even if she couldn’t go with me. The one good thing about having bodyguards and security details following you around was that you were hardly ever really alone. The worst thing about having a security detail stalking you was that you were never fucking alone.
They got on my nerves just as much as I appreciated them when something went down, especially Liam’s nagging ass. He was about as bad as Syre and Maven when it came to me dating. He didn’t give a damn that snitches got stitches, because as soon as I gave a guy my number in front of him for the first time, he threatened to tell Syre. Syre was his boss, not mine.
“Uh oh.”
“Don’t say that, Mom. Things are going good so far. I just don’t want the boys to mess it up when they finally catch wind of things.”
“Does Liam know?” she asked with lifted brows.
“Yes. He found out after he caught me out on a date with him. He was pissed that I kept it from him and made me promise to keep him in the loop going forward.”
“Was he pissed at you for hiding your new man or for the fact that you had a man in the first place?” my mom questioned as she took her seat at the head of the table.
Falling into the seat to her left, I shook my head. “What does that even mean, Mom?”
“There’s no damn way you don’t see how crazy that man is about you, Divine,” my mom said, nudging me.
I shook my head to refute her statement. “Liam is just nice.”
“That doesn’t take away from the facts.”
“The fact is we are just friends,” I countered.
“I’ll take that for now and pretend to be surprised when you two announce your engagement.”
“That’s just it. I’m ready for marriage and babies. I want to find the right person to live happily ever after with, but I can’t really do that with the boys in the way. It’s like they want to pick my husband for me. I don’t want an arrangement like Bishop’s. I want to find true love.”
“I’ll talk to them about standing down. I know how hard it is trying to be an adult with them constantly in your business, baby girl. If you want them out of your business, you have to put your foot down and show them you’re more than our pretty, pretty princess. Of course, they think they’re your fathers. They pay all of your bills. If you want to be treated like an adult, it needs to apply to all areas of your life.”
I rolled my eyes and poked my lips out knowing that she was absolutely right. I was so used to the boys doing things for me that I didn’t even see the bills for my utilities most of the time. I didn’t worry about them either because I knew without fail that one of them was going to take care of it.
The server came over and took my and Liam’s order. I went ahead and requested another glass of wine since my mom let me know the toasts were coming up. Everything was normal. We ate, drank, and laughed our hearts out.
Liam was lighthearted and even drank a glass of scotch. Everything was fine. Then it wasn’t. Slow chaos seemed to tear through the room as someone yelled something about a shooting. I didn’t have time to react before Liam swept me up into his arms. Effortlessly, he carried me out of one of the side exits and down some stairs.
With my face buried in Liam’s chest, I held onto him for dear life. He didn’t stop moving until we made it to the car. I had no idea what had happened inside. His eyes were wild and laced with concern as he placed me in the passenger seat of his car. He always refused to drive one of my cars when we rode somewhere together. Tonight was no different.
It was a good thing he’d had the foresight not to valet his car because just as quickly as we had entered the party, he was strapping me into the passenger seat of his car and shuffling around to hop in and drive away.
“Liam, what the hell is going on?”
He was quiet at first. He wasn’t ignoring me, but he was laser focused on maneuvering through the slew of cars in the parking lot of the venue. Once we were in the clear, he looked over at me with a sobering expression.
“Bishop was shot.”
* * *
Tears seeped down my face, saturating my pillows. The past forty-eight hours had been a whirlwind. Liam hadn’t wanted to leave my side when I finally left the hospital to get some rest. For hours, he stood then sat with my hand clutched in his while we waited on the news, any news.
Bishop wasn’t even out of the woods yet when my world was shattered by the most devastating news in the world. The only person who got me better than Candice or Liam, the only person who I could turn to when everything in the world felt hopeless was gone. I didn’t know if life would ever be the same.
“What do you need from me, Divine?” Liam’s voice caused my eyes to pop open.
I had turned my bedroom into my own version of a cave by making my house freezing cold and pulling all the curtains closed until the room was pitch black. His voice surprised me because the only light in the room was the clock on my nightstand. Liam was four hours early for his shift.
“I don’t think you can fix this, Lee,” I said, unable to keep my voice from cracking.
“If I can’t fix it, let me help you tolerate it. What do you need from me, Divine?”
“I just want to lay here and cry,” I confessed.
“Fine.”
The bed shifted under his weight before I heard his shoes drop to the floor one by one. He scooted his frame across the bed, searching for me in the darkness with his large hands. Once his hands found me, he pulled my head into his lap. While I lay there, he stroked my head, making long passes down my back before sweeping up and starting all over again.
His woodsy scent held a slight edge of citrus that usually caused my body to heat, but in the moment, it seemed to soothe me. Liam brought me comfort that I hadn’t been able to find anywhere else. I heard a flicker before the whoosh of a flame filled the silence in the room. The pungent aroma of weed floated across the cool air, and I inhaled a deep breath, hoping its soothing effects found me sooner than later.
I jumped slightly when Liam’s hand touched my lips. Realizing that he was holding the blunt to my lips, I pursed them around it and inhaled the musky smoke. I released the smoke from my lungs and rolled over onto my back. This time when Liam put the blunt to my lips I tried to take it from his hand.
“Just relax, love. I got you,” he instructed.
With those words, I relaxed into him. Since Liam was controlling all the puffing and passing, I just waited my turn. Soon enough, I felt heavy and light at the same time. Rest had eluded me since the night of the party. With my cousin fighting for his life and my mom losing hers, I had been afraid that I wouldn’t sleep for a long time.
As soon as Liam showed up, everything shifted. He continued to stroke my hair as we smoked. I realized that we had never smoked together. I didn’t even know that Liam smoked weed. I guess he didn’t find it appropriate for work, even though I did everything I could to keep the time he spent with me from feeling like work. I heard myself breathing lightly as I finally drifted off to sleep.
Right before I went out, I heard him mutter, “I love you so much, pretty girl. Don’t worry, baby. I got you.”