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“Yeah, I guess I don't.”I nodded.“I mean, what's there to listen to?His advice won't have me losing weight.”I waved in her direction.“No amount of therapy is going to impregnate me.I mean.He says all the right things, but what is it for me in my case?It's gone and it ain't coming back.”

I only wanted to let Alexus know she was doing great, but I was ten seconds from a meltdown.

The woman took a step towards me, placed her hand on mine, and said in hush tones.

“That may not come back but the question is, will Camila come back?The real Camila.”She smiled at me.

This witch.

“I see what you did there.You're definitely a mentee of Jonathan’s.”I laughed.“Let's do lunch, so I can thoroughly cuss you out like I do him.”

At first her head twisted as she eyed me warily, then she burst out laughing and said, “Challenge accepted.”

From that day forward, we met up for lunch, dinner or simple drinks, and we talked until we couldn't.We laughed, joked, and challenged each other.I even met her man.He was quite handsome in a sophisticated sort of professor way.Well, that was his actual profession, so it was fitting.The man adored Alexus, and I couldn't have been happier for her.

One evening, Alexus and I were at a local bar discussing relationships when a stranger came to buy us a beer with his eyes locked on mine.

“Help you?”I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

Alexus turned around to face the bar and finish her drink.Thus, giving us privacy.She was happily entangled in a relationship, so she knew not to block, and she only had eyes for Devin.

“Depends…” the man smirked showing off his dark goatee.

“On?”I countered with the cat and mouse game I knew he was about to play.

“Your long-term game,” he answered.

“Nothing long term here, only short term and not too short,” I laughed at my own joke.

His smirk receded into a straight line and then he said, “Well, enjoy the drink.”

Then, the man had the dirty nerve to turn around and leave me at the bar.I saw movement in my peripheral view and realized it was Alexus, who swung around almost falling off the stool.

“Did he just say what I think he said?”She gasped.

My head hadn't quite caught up to what summed up to be a rejection.The hair on my skin prickled with awareness as the sting of his departure solidified.Before I could fathom the next steps my feet took, I had pushed off the bar and followed the asshole.

“Yes, he did,” I murmured to myself as I stormed through the small crowd on Wednesday night.“Excuse me?”

The man turned around quickly and surprise registered on his face with wide eyes as if I was crazier than a June bug.

“Yeah,” the rejecter asked while tilting his head back as if he were waiting for an impending assault.

His eyes moved to my hand that still had my drink in it as I gripped the tumbler with enough force to shatter the glass.

Damn, I knew I had to look crazy.Despite my deep brown complexion, flawless makeup, full burgundy lips, cropped sister locks, and threaded eyebrows.Cray-cray was probably written all over my face.

“That's how you pick up women?”I asked in an attempt to bite back my angry tone.

That smirk was visible on his face again and then he said, “I don't really pick up women.I might buy them a drink, engage in a debatable conversation, and go from there.You seem to be having a debatable convo and your friend was winning…so.”

He shrugged both shoulders as if that was the end of the discussion.In some ways, dismissing me all over again.

“Has anyone ever told you that you're arrogant?”I snapped back at him, took a sip and decided I didn't want to engage with the asshole.Turning on my heels, I went back to the bar where Alexus looked on with wide eyes.

Engage in a debate?

Who does that?


Tags: Xyla Turner Romance