Page 34 of The Plus One

She pulled away and immediately looked between me and Ace, eyebrows bouncing. I gave her a warning look. She grinned. Which knowing Sisi meant she absolutely would. Ace hugged her before dapping Stephen up. Then I heard the voice I’d been preparing myself to hear. “Kema.”

I turned. Markel stood a few feet away with Tiana beside him. This was the first time I’d seen him in months. He looked the same. And I felt nothing. “Markel.”

His attention moved to Ace. “What you doing here?”

Ace stepped beside me. “Attending a wedding.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No. What do you mean?”

Here we go. Markel looked at our hands. “You came with Kema?”

“He’s my date,” I answered.

Markel looked at me. “Your date?”

“Yes.”

“Since when?”

I laughed. The audacity of this nigga. “Since when do I have to clear my dates with you?”

“I didn’t say you did.”

“Then why are you asking?”

His jaw tightened. Tiana shifted beside him, and Stephen cleared his throat. “We ain’t doing this.”

“I ain’t doing nothing,” Markel said.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Markel looked at Ace. “You ain’t tell me you was fucking with Kema.”

Well. So we were doing this. Ace didn’t move his arm from around me. “Didn’t know I needed permission.”

“That ain’t what I’m saying.”

“Sound like it.”

Markel looked between us. “How long this been going on?”

“A couple months,” Ace answered. My head almost snapped toward him. A couple months? This nigga was already freelancing.

“We kept it private,” he added. Markel stared at him, but I was done with the conversation. “Baby, can we check in? I’m hot.”

Baby? Where the fuck did that come from? Ace’s eyes flashed with amusement. “Yeah. Come on.”

His hand moved to the small of my back. “We’ll catch up later.”

The second we made it inside, I slapped his arm. “Ow. What the fuck?”

“A couple months?”

“You panicked.”

“I did not panic.”