Page 8 of The Plus One

I paused. Ace leaned against the bar. “I know what happened.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Do you think I should be okay with spending seven days watching him play happy couple with the bitch he cheated on me with?”

Ace’s jaw tightened slightly. “Damn. he's taking Tiana?”

I stared at him. “You didn’t know?”

“Nah.”

Interesting. I sat back. “Well, congratulations. Now you do.”

Ace shook his head slowly. “That’s some bullshit.”

I blinked. I was suprised he said that. And it wasn’t the answer I expected. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

“But that’s your boy.”

“And?”

I stared at him. That sounded familiar. Ace folded his arms across his chest. “Kel being my boy don’t mean I agree with everything he does.”

“So you didn’t know he was cheating?”

His expression changed again. “No.”

I watched him carefully. “If I did, I would’ve told him he was fucking up.”

“Would you have told me?”

Ace was quiet. That told me enough. I laughed softly and reached for another wing. “Exactly.”

“Kema.”

“No, it’s cool. Bro code and all that.”

“It wasn’t my relationship to get in the middle of.”

“But you would’ve known.”

“If I’d known, I would’ve checked him.”

“But you wouldn’t have told me.”

His jaw flexed. “Probably not.”

At least he was honest. I appreciated that more than some bullshit answer meant to make me feel better. I ate another fry. Ace watched me for a moment. “So your solution is finding some nigga to take to Mexico?”

“My solution is finding a fine nigga to take to Mexico.”