Five
Ace
Agreeing to go to Cancún with Kema was probably one of the dumbest decisions I'd ever made. But yet when Kema asked me to be her plus one I said yes with no hesitation. I didn't give a fuck about Kel.
He lost his right to have an opinion about what Kema did when he cheated on her. Nah my problem was me. Kema thought we were about to spend seven days pretending we were together after fucking me last night and come home like nothing happened.
Shit to be honest that was impossible. I was already trying to figure out how the hell I was going to keep my hands off her for an entire week. Last night had only made shit worse. I'd spent years wondering what it would be like to have her.
Now that I knew, I wanted her. If a nigga was being honest I had it bad. Like a nigga felt giddy after one night. I highkey wanted to call my lawyer and tell him to put her on my life insurance policy. That pussy was just that good.
But she had "RULES." No sex. No unnecessary touching. Nobody needed to know what happened between us. Oh and my least favorite when we came home, everything went back to normal. Whatever the fuck normal was supposed to be now.
Kema sat across from me at her kitchen island, still wearing my T-shirt while typing something into her phone. “We need a story.”
“For what?”
“For us.”
I frowned. “What about us?”
She looked up. “Ace, I can’t randomly show up to Cancún with my ex-boyfriend’s best friend and expect nobody to ask questions.”
“Let ’em ask.”
“And what are we supposed to say?”
“The truth.” Her eyes widened. I laughed. “Not that truth. Relax.”
“See? You play too damn much.”
“You the one who came up with this dumb shit.”
“And now I’m trying to make it believable.” She put her phone down. “We’ve been talking for a couple months and made it official two weeks ago.”
“Why two weeks?”
“Because it’s recent enough to explain why nobody knows.”
“You do know Bri listened to you talk about doing auditions last night.”
Kema frowned. “Yeah but she's not going and plus we weren't exclusive yet.”
“So fake me wasn’t satisfying you?”
She grinned. “Apparently not.”
“Oh but real me had you cr--”
"Okay Ace. Moving on." She laughed before picking her phone back up. “Fine. We’d been talking, but we only made it official recently.”
“Aight.”
“And we kept it private because we knew Markel would make it weird.”
“He finna make it weird, you know that right?”
“Exactly.” Her fingers moved across the screen.
I shook my head. “You really taking notes?”
“I’m not getting caught in a lie because you decided to freestyle.”
“I don’t need notes.”
“Good for you but I do.”
Her phone started ringing before I could respond. She looked at the screen and froze. “Sierra.”
“Answer it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I haven’t told her you’re coming yet.”
I stared at her. “You asked me before you asked the bride?”
“I already had the plus one option. She’ll be fine.” My phone stopped ringing. Then immediately started again.
I laughed. “You better answer that shit.”
Kema groaned before swiping across the screen. “Hey, Sisi.”
“Kema Anderson.” Sierra was loud enough for me to hear her from across the island.
Kema pulled the phone away from her ear. “Why are you yelling?”
“Why did Bri just text me asking if you made it home safely?”
Kema’s eyes shot to mine. I covered my mouth. That damn Bri. “I’m home.”
“Clearly. Who took you?”
Kema hesitated. And I smiled. Seeing her struggle to answer her friend was funny to me. When she looked up to see me smiling she flipped me off. “Ace.”
She didn't have the phone on speaker but I could hear Sierra damn near scream through the phone. “ACE WHO?”
I laughed. “Why are you yelling?”
“Because I know damn well you don’t mean Ace Davis.”
“Yes, Sierra. Ace Davis.”
“What the fuck was Ace doing taking you home?”
“He was making sure I got home safe.”
“And where is he now?”
Kema looked directly at me. I lifted my coffee to take a sip enjoying this.
“Kema.”
“What?”
“Where is Ace?”
“He’s here.”
The silence this time lasted even longer. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “At your house?”
“Obviously.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“At eight in the damn morning?”
“Eight forty-three,” I corrected.
Kema’s head snapped toward me. “You are not helping.”
Sierra gasped. “Is that him?”
“No, Sierra. There’s another Ace sitting in my kitchen.”
“Put me on FaceTime.”
“No.”
“Kema.”
“Why?”
“Put. Me. On. FaceTime.” Kema rolled her eyes before switching the call over. Sierra’s face filled the screen, and Kema turned the phone toward me.
I lifted my cup. “Morning.” Sierra’s mouth dropped open. Her eyes went from me to Kema before she disappeared from the screen. “STEPHEN!”
“Oh my God.” Kema dropped her head into her hand. I laughed. This shit was better than television. Stephen appeared a few seconds later. “What happened?”
“Look!” Sierra turned the phone toward him.
Stephen stared at me. “Ace?”
“What’s good?”
“What the fuck you doing at Kema’s house?”
Kema snatched the phone back. “Why is everybody asking that?”
“Because it’s eight in the fucking morning!”
“Again,” I said, “eight forty-three.”
Kema glared at me. Stephen frowned. “Why is this nigga correcting the time from inside your house?”
“Because clocks exist, Stephen!”
Sierra narrowed her eyes. “Did he stay there last night?”
Kema froze. I looked down at my coffee before my face gave her away. “He fell asleep.”
“Where?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Kema.”
“He slept on the couch.”
I glanced toward her living room. I didn’t know what that couch felt like. Shit I barely remembered what the couch looked like. Kema caught me looking and pointed a finger at me. I held my hands up. Sierra stared at her through the screen. “Mhm.”
“Anyway, none of that matters. I found my plus one.”
Stephen frowned. “Who?”
Kema turned the phone toward me. And I smiled. His expression changed immediately. “Hell nah. Have y'all lost your fucking minds?”
“Y'all said I could bring a plus one. You didn't say it couldn't be Ace,” Kema said.
“Ace is going to Cancún with you?”
“Yes.”
“As your date?”
“That’s generally how being somebody’s plus one works.”
Stephen looked at me. I knew that look. He had questions. A lot of them. Most he wasn’t going to ask with Kema and Sierra listening. I’d probably get a call as soon as they hung up. Sierra looked between us. “What the hell happened between yesterday and this morning?”
“Nothing.”
I coughed into my fist. Causing Kema to glare at me. Sierra caught it. “Oh, bitch. You’re leaving something out.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Mhm.”
“Is he allowed to come or not?”
“Of course he can come. I told you that you had a plus one.” Sierra paused. “But if y’all turn my wedding into some Love & Hip Hop shit, I’m fighting both of you.”
Kema laughed. “Nobody is ruining your wedding.”
Stephen was still staring at me. “You sure about this, bro?”
I knew what he was really asking. Was I sure I wanted to spend seven days in Cancún with Kel’s ex on my arm knowing damn well Kel would have something to say about it?
I looked at Kema. She was sitting in her kitchen wearing my shirt, trying her hardest to act like nothing had changed between us. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m sure.”
Her eyes met mine. And I meant that shit. Cancún was just the excuse.