Taking a giant step back, I scanned the room for Jenna, but she was nowhere to be found. Not good.
Don’t engage. Do Not Engage.
“Only because I didn’t know any better.”
Dammit! Why did you engage?
Brandon chuckled wryly, then caught one of my curls, twirling the strand around his finger. “You’re looking fine, Breeze. There’s something different about you. I can’t quite figure out what.”
Before I could disentangle myself, Jenna appeared. The look on her face left little doubt: she’d heard everything.
Turning her white-hot gaze on Brandon, she spat, “What. Are. You. Doing?”
Before my eyes, my ex transformed into the guy I knew and didn’t love. “I’m having a conversation. I didn’t realize I had to clear everything with you first.”
Keeping her voice low, Jenna replied, “Normally you don’t, but when it’s with your ex, at a family reunion, then yes – clearing it with me is a mandatory requirement.”
I glanced around for an escape. Any way to extract myself from their conversation. But I was penned in, my butt against the buffet table and them in front of me.
Still, I attempted to slide past my cousin. “Excuse me, I—"
“And after everything she’s done to you?” Jenna growled, her eyes flicking to mine.
What the hell?
I felt the smile curve my lips. Yeah, I was in it now. “Um, really? You want to remind me again what I did?”
She had the nerve to look at me like she was the aggrieved party. “You made him feel like a monster, Breeze. For following his heart. And you gave his clothes away to the Goodwill.”
“Hey, that last part was for charity.” I chuckled at my own joke. Or maybe it was the absurdity of the conversation.
“See, this is the problem,” Jenna whined. “You’re so spiteful. Brandon’s not yours anymore. Get over it!”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing in her face. “Trust me, I’m over it. A certain popstar saw to that.”
Scoffing, she slapped a hand on her non-existent hip for emphasis. “Oh please.”
But Brandon hadn’t taken the news with as much abject disbelief. Titling his head, he surveyed me with narrowed eyes.
“You…” He laughed, not sounding the least bit amused. “Youare boning Bodhi Beckett?”
Jealousy dripped from his tone, landing at our feet with a thud. I expected some perverse satisfaction to follow. But it didn’t. I felt…nothing.
“Well, not at this very moment, no,” I quipped.
He poked his tongue in his cheek, and looked around like he couldn’t believe it. But why the hell did he care? His penis had been making house calls to my extended family.
Jenna appeared equally perplexed, turning her attention squarely on her husband. “What does it matter who she’s sleeping with?”
“It doesn’t, I was just asking a question,” he said, his voice rising with every word. “You got a problem with that?”
“You know I’ve got a problem with that.”
Clearly things weren’t as perfect in their relationship as they’d made them out to seem. Suddenly, I wondered why I’d wasted so much energy on this man. He wasn’t a catch. He wasn’t even a dropped ball. Brandon was a cheat and a liar and if he’d done it to me, chances were Jenna would be next in line.
Itching to escape this unconventional lover’s spat, I considered crawling under the table to get away.
“Look, I’m going to leave you guys to it. I’ve got to… um… eat.”
