Page 22 of Affinity

“What are you doing?” I asked out of the corner of my mouth. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that almost everyone in the store had been watching us as we slowly made our way through the store.

“Doing what a happily married man does to his wife,” he whispered in my ear. “Relax and be a happy wife.”

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my nerves and thoughts around this man who both infuriated me and drove me wild with one look or touch.

I shook off his hold. “Let’s move on.”

“What are those for?” He squeezed the avocado with two long fingers.

Turning around, I gave him an ‘are you crazy’ look. “It’s an avocado. I’m going to make guac.”

He groaned deep in his throat. “That sounds so good. I think I’m going to like this arrangement.”

Maybe if I constantly had food going into his mouth, he’d be more pleasant.

Pulling away, I moved on to the rest of the store with Reeves trailing along behind me. Every time I stopped, he ran his hand up my arm, pressed a kiss to my shoulder, forehead, or the top of my head, or laced his fingers through mine as I perused the contents.

When his front plastered to my back, I stiffened and turned my head to see what the hell he was doing. But as I moved, I saw what had him unmovable against me. I’d read what she’d done to him on the internet, and she hadn’t tried to hide the fact that she’d been cheating on him. There was also the fact she was now a drug addict.

Reeves’ ex-wife, Poppy, was at the other end of the aisle having a stare down with him.

Chapter Ten

Jenner

I couldn’t tear my eyes off the woman who ruined my life. If lasers could have shot out of my eyes to make her disintegrate in front of me, I would’ve been happy. Abbi’s firm, plump breasts pressed against my chest before she lifted up, one hand on each bicep, and tried to block my view. I hadn’t even noticed she’d turned around with my focus on Poppy. “Hey, don’t give her the time of day. Show her what she’s missing.”

Her brown eyes connected with mine as an unknown emotion played out in them.

“Thank you,” I mouthed.

She gave me a small smile with a nod. “Should we move onto the next aisle?”

“Yeah,” I couldn’t get away from Poppy fast enough. I tugged on her hand as I pulled the cart behind us.

Once Poppy was out of sight, my body slumped against the cart as we stopped in front of the tortillas. I had no idea what we were looking for, but I felt the need to stay busy. Shifting through the assortment, I looked over at her with furrowed brows. “How do you know which one to get?”

She looked at them and shrugged. “It’s trial and error if it’s not a brand you usually use. Which packaging looks appealing to you?”

I held out a package with a skull on them. “How about these?”

“They don’t have the ones I usually buy, so we might as well try them.” She took them from me and threw them in the almost full cart. “We might need to grab another cart.”

My head turned toward the entrance, wondering where Poppy was at that moment. Had she left? “Do you want me to get another?”

“If you would, that would be great.”

Resigned, I let out a sigh. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Trudging my way back to the front of the store, I kept my head down in the hopes no one would stop me. After seeing my ex, I wasn’t in the mood for signing autographs or being fake. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of here and go home.

Pulling out a cart, I leaned on the handle as I tried to remember which aisle I’d been in with Abbi. Maybe I should have paid more attention because now I was walking back and forth in front of the aisles trying to find her. Deciding she might be in the back where I couldn’t see her, I turned to go down the next aisle to find her when Poppy turned the corner.

Stopping dead in my tracks, I moved to turn when she started to cackle. “Yes, run away like the coward you are.” Her upper lip rose in a sneer.

Bracing myself on the cart so I wouldn’t lunge and strangle her, I looked down at Poppy. Her face was pale, broken out, and drawn with purple slashes under her eyes. My gaze trailed down her body and found it emaciated. It was obvious she was still doing drugs. The only good thing was that her reputation as an actress had been tarnished beyond anything she could come back from. She would never work another day in Hollywood. The only way she would ever be on camera again was if she started doing porn.

Staying behind my cart, I glared down at her. “I’m not running. It makes me sick to see your face, and I have more groceries I need to get.”

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