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His advice was solid, but it annoyed her more than she could describe. And before she could help it, she was demanding, “When are you leaving?”
“You’re kicking me out.” Disbelief shone in his eyes. “Because of Derrick.”
“No, it’s not because of Derrick,” she denied even though it was. She huffily said, “I’m doing it because of Jay. I don’t want him waking up, finding you here, then getting confused.”
“He always wakes up and finds me here,” Tazeem reminded her. “If I wake up early like I usually do, he won’t even know that I slept here.”
“Well, he could wake up earlier and come to my room.”
“Does he usually do that?”
Chess wanted to say ‘yes’ but her conscience wouldn’t let her lie. Jay had stopped coming to her room just after he turned six because his friends had declared that only babies slept with their mommies.
Her silence was all the answer Tazeem needed. But instead of taking advantage of it, he offered, “I’ll sleep on the couch if that makes you feel better.”
“It will,” she bit out between gritted teeth.
With a nod, he got out of bed, silently dressed then headed to the door. Before he left, he offered her a despondent, “Goodnight.”
She could only let out a sullen, “Mm.”
Though she felt a bit bad for kicking Tazeem out, for the most part, she was unrepentant. How dare he go after her friend? Did he know just how much Derrick had helped her out? Derrick was her confidante; the one person she could rant to about things that she even hid from Senia. He was the person she’d go to when she needed financial or emotional support. He was her backbone at work and she was his. His kid was her kid’s best friend. Their families spent many holidays and went on vacations together.
Chess refused to believe that he’d ever betray her. They were too important to each other. There was just no way. Absolutely no way.
22
D
ESPITE CHESS’S INTENTIONS TO IGNORE Tazeem’s warnings about Derrick, she found herself dwelling on them for the next few days. As a result, she was more wary and watchful around Derrick. And she hated herself for it.
Today, when Derrick had asked to come along to the brochure’s photo shoot, she’d caught herself wondering why. Someone else was working on those brochures. Why did Derrick need to be around for the photo shoot when his own tasks were incomplete? Sabotage mayhap?
The moment that thought occurred, she felt immeasurable guilt. How could she suspect her friend of sabotaging her? He would never do that!
This was all Tazeem’s fault!
He was the one who’d put these thoughts in her head.
Damn him, and damn his suspicions!
“Guys!” Miller, the photographer, interrupted Chess’s thoughts. His camera still in hand, he directed her team’s attention to a screen that showed the pictures he’d just taken. “What do you think?”
Chess, Derrick, Elliot, and Nathan (the team member who was in charge of the brochures) gathered around the screen.
“Oh wow!” Chess exclaimed when she saw the first picture. “These are really good.”
She had to look up and check out the model in front of the green screen just to make sure it was the same person in the photos. Granted, the model looked undeniably great, but Miller was an expert at turning great into fantastic. The model in the pictures looked ethereal, and the clothes she was wearing seemed to have been sewn by the gods.
“I agree.” Elliot nodded. “This looks amazing. I’m trying to find something you should fix, but I got nothing.”
Derrick and Nathan were just as enthusiastic in their praise for the pictures.
“Great.” Miller beamed in pride. “Let’s move on to the next outfit.”
While Miller was giving posing directions and flashing away in the foreground, Chess sidled closer to Derrick to whisper, “You see why I insisted on taking Miller? He’s good, isn’t he?”
Derrick had been the only one to offer reservations when she’d picked Miller out of the other three photographers they could’ve gone with.
