Page 18 of Rekindled

She ignored me and spoke directly to Lana. "If you're looking for something just for the holiday weekend, then keep talking with him. He's good for short term fun. But don't even bother investing more than that in this one. You'll kick yourself three years later if you do."

"Maven," Journee stage whispered behind me.

Lana looked at me, then back at Maven before returning her eyes on me. "Um, thanks for getting the sauce," she said before turning away and pushing her cart quickly up the aisle. She left so fast, I almost didn't have time to process her leaving or Maven's intrusion.

I turned to face Maven. She tilted her head to one side then turned to return to the cart Journee stood behind. It was hard to ignore the slacked jaw Journee wore.

"What thehellwas that?" I asked, advancing toward my ex.

"Just thought I'd let the girl know." Maven turned to face me. "It's a sisterhood thing. You wouldn't understand."

"What I understand," I stated through my teeth before releasing the tension, "Is you were cockblocking. My conversation with that woman had nothing to do with you—"

"It does when it's done right in my face."

"Maven,stop!" Journee admonished behind us.

"In your face?" I questioned. "I didn't even know you were standing anywhere near us."

"Well, I was." Maven ran her fingers through her hair. "You know, the fact that you thought it was okay to flirt with another woman right now given the situation is so disrespectful."

"Okay, guys," Zyair tried this time. "Can we not, and not here?"

"The situation? How was I being disrespectful?" I asked Maven, ignoring Zyair's attempt to calm things. "I'm a single man."

Maven grunted. "Oh, don't I know it. A single man who finds nothing wrong with leading single women on."

"Leading single women on?! What are you even talking about right now?"

"You're so fucking clueless it's irritating!" Maven moved even closer and so did I. "Are you that oblivious to commitment?"

"Oh, so you want to havethatconversationnow? Okay, cool. How I remembered it, Maven, I committed. But you wanted more than I could give. You wanted a husband, and I wanted my career. If you just waited—"

"Waited?!" she yelled. "What are you, a bus?!"

"Cute. And yes, you heard right,waited," I growled in her face. "You can’t deny I was clear about my intentions from the very beginning. So this shit you're on—"

"Oh-kay!" Journee hollered over Maven and my arguing. When I looked away from Maven and directed my attention on Journee, I noticed Journee's eyes looked as if they wanted to pop out of her head. I also noticed we had other bulging pairs of eyes on us in the market. Those eyes belonged to fellow shoppers who stood around watching the show.

"So... please shut the hell up." Journee forced a smile while glancing around herself and moving closer to Maven and I. "You two are not only making a scene, you're making a holiday horror film. Do me a huge favor and take a break from that so we can avoid being anymore embarrassed than we already are... on Christmas Eve." She snarled that last part through her teeth.

Journee switched her eyes between Maven and I before lurching her cart forward.

I glared at Maven and she broke eye contact to follow behind her friend, who pushed the shopping cart down the aisle.

Zyair placed his hand on my shoulder and shook his head. "Man," he started. "That was ugly."

"Something tells me that was just the warmup," I replied, glaring Maven's way.

∞∞∞

"You're just a selfish asshole, Kai!" I screamed the second my foot crossed the cabin's threshold. "I don't expect for you to understand."

"I can't believe you right now," he spat behind me. "You're acting like a child."

"You both are!" Journee insisted next.

We'd all just returned to the cabin in worse condition than when we left. I couldn't take it anymore. The moment we sat in the Range Rover to head back, Kai and I picked up where we left off at in the market, arguing the entire way back to the cabin, to our friends' dismay.

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