Page 157 of The Sweetest Return

My body remembered opening every door.

Then my phone vibrated on the nightstand.

Camille: I know you followed my advice. Don’t lie. The glow is probably visible from the hallway.

I had barely finished rolling my eyes before the next message arrived.

Also, before you panic, yes, there are pictures.

I opened Instagram.

At the game. Inside the Crown Club. Walking through the stadium with Dre’s hand against my back. Returning to The Nocturne together. Laughing like our past had never broken anything.

Looking close enough for strangers to start writing our next chapter before either of us had discussed the first page.

The comments were exactly what I feared.

Some sweet.

Some nostalgic.

Some far too familiar.

People asked whether we were back together as if we had missed a deadline for issuing a statement.

Then Aubrey’s name appeared.

Of course it did.

Wasn’t he just with Aubrey Carter?

He and Aubrey were cute though.

Aubrey has that soft pretty. Imani looks expensive. Different lanes.

So did he dump Aubrey for his college sweetheart?

Messy if the timeline overlaps.

My stomach turned.

Nothing had overlapped. Dre told me they wanted different futures. He admitted he had stayed longer than he should have. Told me she was not me without pretending that made how he handled their relationship entirely fair.

Strangers did not care about nuance when speculation gave them something to chew.

And the comparison disgusted me.

Not because I feared Aubrey Carter. I mean, she was pretty. Soft pretty face. Trendy clothes. The kind of woman cameras liked.

She also did not hold a candle to me, and I was not humble enough to lie about that, even in my own mind.

Then Dre’s voice moved through my memory, low and rough against my mouth.

No one in this whole world serves me pussy like you do, Mani.

For one private, petty second, I let that sit exactly where those comments had tried to put doubt.

Aubrey had nothing on me.