Fourteen
Kema
Not sure what I was expecting after how the wedding reception ended.
I was sitting in the room while Ace was in the bathroom cleaning up.
Was I expecting Ace and Kel to fight? Probably.
To be honest I knew damn well what I was doing when I brought Ace.
What I did not expect was for them niggas to fuck up the wedding reception.
And it was Kel’s fault. He waited all week to give me a funky ass apology today.
I didn’t believe for one bit he was actually sorry.
Kel was mad that somebody picked up what he discarded as trash.
But I let him have it. I accepted his apology so we could move with the day.
I guess after he apologized to me he decided to get into an argument with Tiana which apparently led to him getting drunk, grabbing my arm, and starting with Ace.
Did I feel bad for Kel? Nope. His drunk ass should’ve gone to his room and left everybody alone. Instead, he grabbed me, shoved Ace, and got exactly what he was looking for.
For some reason, Kel thought because he didn’t want me anymore, nobody else was supposed to either.
That sounded like a him problem. Maybe that was why Markel cheating fucked me up the way it did.
I’d spent my whole childhood being moved from one temporary home to another.
Then I found somebody who chose me, and for once, I thought I finally had something permanent.
When he chose somebody else, that little girl who’d spent her whole life being left felt that shit too.
But I wasn’t her anymore. And I damn sure didn’t need Markel to choose me to prove I was worth staying for.
The weirdest part of it all was I didn't feel good about Tiana leaving his ass at this wedding alone.
A week ago, I would've laughed and enjoyed the spectacle they caused. Hell I would've probably smiled knowing the bitch he cheated on me with was somewhere crying over him. Now, I didn’t care. Watching her yell at Kel hadn’t made me feel like I won anything. If anything, I felt bad for her.
She spent this whole trip worried about me while the man standing beside her couldn’t stop watching me. He wasn’t a prize. And she realized that too late. I shook my head of those thoughts as I thought about Ace. I felt bad that I put him in this situation.
He was in my bathroom right now with a busted lip because when Kel put his hands on me, his first instinct was to protect me.
He’d spent this entire trip showing me how a man acted when he actually wanted me.
I wasn’t about to keep looking backward at a relationship that had already taught me everything I needed to know.
Markel and Tiana could figure their shit out without me.
For the first time since he cheated, I really didn’t give a fuck what either one of them did next.
Ace walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. His bottom lip was swollen but other than that he didn’t have any other bruises.
“I’m just goin' buy them flights to Jamaica and pay for a resort for two weeks,” he said. “You think that’s a good enough apology?”
I blinked. “What?”
“I said I’m goin' give them a honeymoon trip to Jamaica”
I stared at him. I was thinking a gift card and maybe a couples’ massage. This rich-ass nigga wanted to send them on another honeymoon. “Ace, we knocked over one table.”
“I punched the best man at their wedding reception. I felt like the apology needed to be big.”
“After he grabbed me.”
“So Sierra’s still pissed.”
“You think Jamaica gone make her forget?”
“No, but she can cuss me out from a private villa.”
I laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You got a better idea?”
“A couples’ massage.”
“Ehh. How bout a couples massage in Jamaica.”
“You can’t throw money at everything.”
“I know.” He sat beside me. “But I want to give them something better to remember.”
That shut me up. Ace knew Sierra and Stephen because of Kel. But he also knew they mattered to me, so that meant they mattered to him too. “Why Jamaica?”
“Stephen said they wanted to go last year but couldn’t.”
“You remembered that?”
“I listen to people."
See. This was the shit that was going to have me falling in love with his ass. I touched his lip that was starting to swell. “You need some ice.”
“I’m good.”
“You finna look crazy tomorrow.”
“I’ll still look good.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed some ice from the freezer. After wrapping it in a towel, I pressed it against his lip. “Damn.”
“Don’t get scary now. You wasn’t scared when you was swinging.”
“Your ass heavy-handed.”
“You should’ve thought about that before turning the reception into fight night.”
“I’m not apologizing for that.”
“I didn’t ask you to.” I moved the ice to his lip. “I just need you to learn how to stop after the first punch.”
“The first one ain’t get my point across.”
“Ace.”
“Fine. The second one.”
I shook my head. “You’re impossible.”
“And yet you called me your man.”
My hand stopped. “When?”
“You said watching your nigga fight made you wet.”
My mouth dropped open. “I said that out loud?”
His grin lasted about two seconds before he grabbed his lip. “Shit.”
“That’s what you get.”
“Don’t change the subject. I’m your nigga now?”
“You got hit too many times. You hearing shit.”
“Mhm.”
I pressed the ice harder against his lip. “Ow.”
“Sorry, baby.”
“You ain’t sorry.”
I shrugged cause I wasn’t. Ace grabbed my wrist and pulled me between his legs. His hand slipped under my shirt and settled against my waist. “You liked watching me fight?”
“No.”
“Lying ass.”
“I was horrified.”
“Your thighs been squeezed together since I came out the bathroom.”
“You think too highly of yourself.”
“I know what I saw.”
He kissed my stomach and looked up at me. And there went that look. “No.”
“I ain’t ask you nothing.”
“You were about to.”
“I just wanted to smell it.”
I stepped away before eventually turned into right now. “Book the trip.”
He grabbed his phone. “Thought I couldn’t throw money at the problem.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Convenient.”
“And make sure the flights are first class.”
He looked up. “Now you spending my money?”
“You offered.”
Thirty minutes later, Sierra and Stephen had first-class flights, a private villa, transportation, spa treatments, and whatever other rich people shit Ace found to add.
The next morning, Sierra agreed to let us come to her suite for breakfast. The fact that she didn’t want to meet downstairs told me she still wasn’t ready to see Ace around anything breakable.
Stephen opened the door and immediately looked at Ace’s face. “Damn. Kel got a few good ones in.”
Ace frowned. “Nigga got one hit. My lip is fine.”
Stephen laughed and let us inside. Sierra was sitting at the table in a robe, drinking coffee like she’d been waiting all morning to cuss us out. “Good morning, Mrs. Bishop.”
“Don’t Mrs. Bishop me.”
“I brought breakfast.”
“Room service brought breakfast.”
“I brought it up though.”
She stared at me. “Okay. Ace brought it up.”
“I knew it.”
I sat across from her. “Sisi, I’m sorry. Yesterday was supposed to be about you and Stephen. I hate that everything with Kel and Tiana spilled into your reception.”
“You didn’t make Tiana start yelling.”
“No, but—”
“And for the record, she left."
I frowned. "Left where."
He chuckled, "she left the resort. She checked out early this morning."
I tried to stifle my laugh but failed. "Well damn."
We all laughed as Sierra took another sip of her coffee before continuing, "apparently she told Kel she was done since he couldn't make his mind up."
I shrugged. All of that was above me now and if I was being honest I didn't care. Sierra glanced at me, "I'm surprised you have nothing to say."
"What you want me to say? Safe travels ho?"
Stephen choked on his drink before we all burst into laughter. "Kema," Sierra fussed, trying to fight back her giggles.
"What? I don't have anything nice to say about that bald headed girl."
Sierra shook her head before pointing to Ace. “And you. You couldn’t wait until after my reception to beat his ass?”
“He put his hand on Kema.”
“I know that, Ace. I’m asking why y’all had to roll across my dance floor. Y'all tore my shit up.”
“That part wasn’t planned.”
Stephen covered his mouth. Sierra cut her eyes at him. “And you stop encouraging this shit.”
“I didn’t say nothing.”
“Your face did.”
He picked up his coffee. “I’m sorry,” Ace said. “I should’ve handled it differently.”
“Yes, you should have.”
“But if somebody puts their hands on Kema again, I can’t promise I will.”
“Ace.”
“What? I’m being honest.”
Sierra shook her head. “At least you admit it.”
Ace pulled out his phone and slid it across the table. “We got y’all something.”
Sierra looked down. “What is this?”
“A trip to Jamaica for two weeks. All expenses paid.”
Stephen grabbed the phone. “Bro, this is too much.”
“It’s a wedding gift and an apology.”
“We’re already on our honeymoon,” Sierra said.
“Now you get another one.”
She looked at me. “You knew about this?”
“I tried to talk him into a gift card.”
“And then told me to book first class,” Ace added.
I looked at him. “Why would you tell them that?”
“Because you did.”
“We are sorry,” I said, ignoring him.
Sierra stared at us for a few seconds before getting up. I prepared myself for the lecture. Instead, she hugged me. “You didn’t ruin my wedding. Markel ruined his own damn life. Stephen and I still got married, the food was good, and I looked beautiful.”
“You did.”
“And now I’m going to Jamaica.”
I smiled. “You’re welcome.”
She let me go and looked at Ace. “Thank you. But if you fight at another one of my events, I’m calling the police.”
“That’s fair.”
Stephen dapped him up, and I watched the two of them talk. I didn’t know how to feel about Ace doing this for my friends. The fact that he cared enough to fix something because the people involved mattered to me was beautiful.
Calling Ace my man might’ve slipped out by accident. But the more I thought about it, the less it felt like one.