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“All right then. I’m out.”

Once Oneal walked away, I took up his post on the pole. From where I stood, I watched in disgust as Divine and Whitmore did a lap around the party. She tried her best to look interested as he introduced her to a few of the people they passed.

I’m sure that most of them probably thought the disdain painted on her face came from her being sick, but I knew better. As hard as she tried to put on a good show, I could tell she wasn’t feeling it. I couldn’t blame her. This shit was for the birds. Thankfully, we wouldn’t be here much longer. We had a lot of talking to do.

Nine

Divine

Pure disgust is what I felt as Zane Whitmore paraded me around and introduced me as his new lady friend. There were a few people in attendance that I only knew by name and face and a couple others who my family had done business with over the years. Then there were people who I had never met in my life. They all seemed to have some sort of significance to Zane, so I played along and put on the best fake smile I could cook up under the circumstances.

It pained me to think of Liam having to watch me try to pretend to be happily in like with another man. The thought brought me back to all the days and nights when I was going on dates or talking about a guy I was seeing. It must have been so frustrating to watch me try to build something with the wrong man, knowing all the time that he was the right man for me.

There were times when it was hard for me to picture a life where Liam and I lived happily ever after. Most of the time, though, I couldn’t picture my life any other way. We had to find a way to get out of this arrangement soon. I couldn’t takemuch more of Zane. I was pretty sure Liam’s patience with the situation was just as thin as mine.

I couldn’t keep doing this to him. After what felt like forever, we were finally done mingling. We had actually only talked to about five people, which in total took about twenty minutes. It was way longer than I wanted to spend with Zane’s hand on my lower back.

I was going to lay down the law when we got some alone time. Not that I was all that interested in being alone with him, but at least we weren’t going to be under the scrutiny of some of the people he wanted to impress. The last person on our mini press tour was Bishop. Zane’s huge grin seemed to widen as he stopped in front of Bishop. He covered the hand that I had resting on his bicep with his own hand.

“This is quite a girl you have here, Bishop,” Zane commented.

What the hell did that mean? I was just about to tell him that I wasn’t anybody’s girl at my grown age, but Bishop cut me off.

“She’s something special, isn’t she?”

“Absolutely. That’s why I was sure that she would be perfect for what I’m trying to orchestrate.”

“Mm hm, don’t let those strings make you forget who we are. Treat our girl with respect and dignity. I don’t give a damn about a deal. I will end your existence behind this one,” Bishop warned with a single lifted brow.

“I would be a fool to expect anything less, my man.”

“As long as we’re on the same page, we shouldn’t have any issues.”

“I think we can agree on that.” Zane nodded.

“Good. You good, Divine?” Bishop asked me the question but never took his eyes off of Zane.

“Actually, I’m not feeling too good. I had Liam to tell Oneal I was leaving soon. I think he’s out front waiting on me,” I explained.

“Oh, really? You sure you don’t need anything?” Bishop asked.

“No. It’s probably just cramps. I’m just going to go home, take some meds, and lay on my heating pad for a while.”

I watched Bishop’s top lip curl in disgust in real time. One thing I knew about men was they hated talking about menstrual cycles and all the gory details that went along with them. I had gotten myself out of plenty of uncomfortable situations with the guys by bringing up my cycle. It worked like a charm.

“Well, call me if you need me. If I don’t answer right away, call Lourdess. I’ll probably stick around here for a while. I see somebody I need to chop it up with.”

“OK, I’ll see you later. Love you, Bish.”

“Love you too.”

“All right, man, I’m going to walk her to the gate. I’ll double back on you,” Zane told Bishop.

“That’s cool. I’m probably gonna bounce soon too. I told my wife I wouldn’t be here too long.”

“Oh, really? Why didn’t you bring her with you?”

“She had some case work she wanted to go over. She’s a workaholic.”