Page 7 of Rekindled

VIP was considerably quieter than the rest of the club, but club music was club music so it was loud all over. "You're my hero, you know that right?"

I fanned my hand at him and took a seat beside him. The second I got comfortable, a bottle girl approached our table, picking up a champagne flute off the silver platter in front of me and pouring out the sparkling wine into the crystal glass from the bottle in her hand.

She stared at me the whole time, the peaks of her cleavage moving more into view as she leaned in to hand me the glass by its stem. Her glossy lips caught the glint of red and blue lights from the bulbs overhead.

"Let me know if you need anything else." She winked.

I nodded slowly, maintaining eye contact. "I appreciate it."

She turned on her stiletto heels and switched her ass and hips as she walked away, and I followed her every move.

"Will she be the one to end the dry spell or nah?" Blair asked beside me.

I turned to glance his way to see him wearing a wicked smirk, and I kissed my teeth in response.

Amusement slanted his eyes.

"My man." He tapped me on my bicep. "You do know you're a single man now, right? You and Maven—"

Just the mention of her name made my heart ache in my chest.

"—ended things a year ago."

"And your point, Blair?"

"All this ass in this club and in club's past and I still see you swatting every one of them away like you got someone waiting for you at home."

I sipped my champagne and shrugged. "I got other things I'm focused on, Blair."

Blair scooted to the edge of his seat. "You just got promoted. What other focuses could you possibly have? You're in there now, Kai! You're the big boss man. The time has arrived to kick your feet up, sit back and relax, and finally celebrate with a PYT who's eager to give a little TLC. Feel me?"

I shook my head. "Blair, I'm good."

He sighed.

"What is this?" I asked. "Why are you so hell-bent on me hooking up with random women, anyway? You seem to juggle enough of them for the both of us."

"I miss my partner in crime," Blair hollered. "Before you practically settled down, you were taking them down just as much as I was."

"Yeah, true. But there comes a time when some of us gotta make the choice to grow up."

"And there comes a time when some of us gotta be real and admit to still being hung up on our exes."

I pursed my lips and shook my head again. "Man, whatever."

"Look at that bottle girl over there." He pointed at the dark beauty who served me when I arrived. "She hasn't taken her eyes off you since you stepped past that velvet rope. That's an easy hit right there."

I looked where he pointed and twisted my lips to one side. The truth was, I didn't wanteasy. I wanted worthy. I wanted purposeful attraction. A passion that made every day worth waking up to.

I wanted… Maven.

But I also knew better than to admit that out loud.

I missed everything about that woman, though. Would hope that I'd run into her at events so I'd have a reason to talk to her. She gave me an ultimatum, an ultimatum that forced our relationship into the red zone until it eventually came to an abrupt end. Our relationship literally ended as quickly as it started. She was a great girlfriend, though. The fire that was lit on our first date hadn't gone out until she told me she couldn't do us anymore. I needed her to wait, to just hold on for a little longer. She wanted marriage, and I wanted a promotion. Now that I had the promotion, I questioned if making her wait was the right move.

"Earth to Kai." Blair shoulder bumped me, grounding me immediately. "You obviously like what you see, man. Go get that."

I didn't have the heart to admit that I wasn't really staring at that bottle girl.

I was too busy lost in my thoughts of Maven.

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