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“I’m here. I’m yours, and this dick is definitely yours, Divine. Don’t make us kill a nigga because he gets jealous easy, baby. It ain’t me. I swear,” I said before burying my face in the crook of her neck.

I could feel my nut rising, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to speak without sounding like I was about to cry. No more words were spoken. Divine’s nails were buried in my biceps, but I didn’t even care. I was so deep inside her that I couldn’t blame her for needing to brace herself. I didn’t bother to pull out as I released my seeds with a strained whimper.

This girl brought out a sense of weakness and vulnerability that I didn’t even know still existed within me. With her, I felt safe. She didn’t even come up to my shoulder, but she made me feel like anything I told her was completely safe and sound within the confines of her mind. Reluctantly, I pulled out, disconnecting from my sanctuary but not letting her go. It felt good that she was still holding on to me too.

“I love you, pretty girl. I promise I’m going to make this shit right, OK?”

“Don’t do anything crazy, Liam,” she pled, looking at me with those hypnotizing doe eyes.

I didn’t want to lie to her, so I didn’t say anything. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

“Liam?”

“Yeah?” I muttered, dropping a kiss to her forehead before placing her on the side of the pool.

“Promise me you won’t do anything crazy.”

“I can’t make that kind of promise, sweetheart.” I leveled with her.

“And why not?”

“Because I don’t know what it will take to fix this, but whatever it is, I’m going to do it.”

“Tell me the truth. Did you kill Sherrod?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

“I need to hear you say it.”

“Yes,” I confessed, looking up into her eyes hoping the love embedded in them didn’t fade.

“Why, Liam?” she asked with knitted brows.

“I did it for you.”

“I don’t know what that means, Liam. He never hurt me.”

“Not physically. Not yet. He was making threats.”

“You didn’t have to kill him over some dumb ass threats, Lee Lee,” she fussed.

“You may be right. I probably could have handled it differently, but I don’t take lightly to threats, especially when it comes to you. I’m never going to take shit lightly when it comes to you.”

“Lee Lee,” she said, sighing as she dropped her forehead to mine. “I never expect you to.”

“If you don’t want to be with me after all of this is said and done, all I can do is respect that, but let me make this right.”

Divine backed up slightly so that our eyes connected before she spoke.

“Why would I not want to be with you? Everything we’re doing is to ensure that we can be together. I love you, Liam.”

She held my eye contact. Her voice never wavered. Her face was sincere. She was telling the truth. If she was telling the truth, then that meant she could see the dark parts of my soul and stilllove me the same. I don’t think anyone in my life had ever done that.

Even my mom switched up once she saw how vicious I could be. Once she deemed me as a monster, she started to treat me as such. My eyes burned like hell. I thought it was the chlorine from the pool until Divine reached up and swiped my cheeks with the pads of her thumbs. I couldn’t believe I was crying.

“This is real, huh?” I finally asked.

“Damn sure feels like it.”