Page 67 of The Plus One

“Then bring me what I asked for.”

She reached into a cooler and placed a bottle of water in front of him. “This is all I can offer.”

Kel slapped the bottle away, sending it across the bar. And that shit irritated me. Before I knew it, I was on my feet. “Chill the fuck out.”

Kel turned toward me. “Mind your business.”

“You taking your anger out on the wrong person. She doing her job.”

“I said mind your fucking business.”

The bartender stepped away while Stephen started toward us from across the room. I moved between Kel and the bar. “Go sit down somewhere before you make this worse.”

He laughed without humor. “You think you better than me now?”

“This ain’t about me.”

“Everything been about you since we got here.”

“You did that to yourself.”

His face hardened. I knew that look. Kel had worn it plenty of times over the years, usually right before he made a stupid decision. “You broke the code over a bitch,” he said.

My jaw tightened. “Watch how you talk about her.”

“See? That’s your problem. You think you know her because you fucked her a few times.”

I stepped closer. “I ain’t finna tell you again. Watch your mouth when you speaking on mine. I’m sparing your ass cause you drunk and we at this wedding but make no mistake I will lay you the fuck out in here.”

He chuckled flicked his nose and glared at me, “you don’t know shit. Kema is using you.”

Kel shoved away from the bar. “You always wanted what I had.”

“Nah. I wanted her. There’s a difference.”

His expression changed. Stephen reached us before Kel could respond. “Both of y’all need to calm down. This is my wedding.”

“I’m good,” I said.

Kel finished the liquor in the glass he had already been holding and walked away. Stephen watched him go. “This shit is about to turn bad.”

“I spared him cause this yo shit… Y’all need to thank me for being so gracious.”

Stephen shook his head, “nigga don’t make it worse.”

“I’m not planning to.” And I meant that. I wasn’t trying to ruin my friends’ reception over a drunk nigga who couldn’t accept the consequences of his own choices.

I scanned the crowd searching for Kema. I saw Kel was headed in her direction and started walking towards her. She stood near one of the tables talking to Sierra when he approached and said something in her ear. Kema shook her head. She attempted to walk away, but Kel grabbed her arm.

Everything inside me went still. I crossed the room faster than I had time to think. “Ace,” Stephen called behind me. I didn’t stop. Kema saw me approaching. “I got it.”

Maybe she did. But Kel still had his hand around her arm. I grabbed his wrist squeezing forcing him to release her. “She said let her go.”

Kel shoved me. “Stay the fuck out of it.”

I stumbled back a step before catching myself. The reception was quiet. I felt Kema touch my arm but at that moment all I saw was red. “Ace,” Kema said.

I looked at her arm and it was starting to bruise from where Kel had held her. That was all I needed to see.