Reeves went to the SUV and got inside. I guess it made the most sense, seeing as how we needed to buy everything. Starting up the car, he rolled down his window. “Are you going to get in or what?”
Hightailing it over, I slid into the passenger seat, and the supple leather molded to every contour of my body.
Shifting in his seat, Reeves looked over at me. “Are you ready for this?”
Pulling my sunglasses out of my purse, I slid them on. “I’ll be ready by the time we get there.” Grabbing my hand out of the air, he laced his fingers through mine and placed them on his thigh. “What are you doing?” I tried to pull my hand away, but he only tightened his grip on me.
“There will be a mob of photographers outside the gate. While the windows are tinted, it’s better to be safe than sorry. We can’t risk the wrath of Catherine.”
I wanted to say he couldn’t risk it, but I was sure he’d throw me under the bus if there were any pictures, and we didn’t look like the newlyweds we were. When we pulled up to the gate, I was shocked to see a line of cars parked across the street, and all the bodies angling to get the photo of the day. The moment the gate opened, the flashes started going off. If I hadn’t had my sunglasses on, I would have been blinded. We remained quiet with Reeves looking straight ahead, his jaw clenched the entire ride.
Imagine my surprise when we pulled into Whole Foods, and five other vehicles trailed in behind us.
Swinging my head back and forth, I watched as one by one they got out of their cars with cameras in their hands. “Did they follow us?”
Reeves didn’t even bother to look over before he answered. “Don’t worry, they won’t come inside.”
“Will they be waiting for us when we come out?”
“Unless we take forever or a big story breaks, they’ll have their cameras ready to shoot our mundane life every day for the foreseeable future,” he answered drolly. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I felt like that was going to be my mantra for the next few months.
Reeves nodded as his eyes shifted around the parking lot. “I’ll come around and let you out. Keep your head down as we walk and don’t let go of my hand. Got it?”
I rolled my eyes. Like I couldn’t follow directions. “Yes, I got it.”
Stepping out of the SUV, he moved lithely around to my side and opened the door. Holding his hand out for me to take, I placed mine in his. Giving my hand a squeeze, he took off at a fast pace toward the store. If he was going to walk this fast every time we were out in public, I was going to have to start working out and power walking.
I kept my head down and was surprised how quiet the world became the moment we stepped inside, and the doors closed behind us. The paparazzi had shouted questions at us from the moment I stepped out of the car until we were inside. I was happy Reeves had me hold his hand as we tried to navigate the parking lot with them closing in on us.
He stopped once we were out of sight and looked down at me. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It wasn’t as bad as Vegas, but it will definitely take some getting used to.”
Grabbing a cart, we headed over to the produce. Reeves looked around as if he’d never seen a fruit or vegetable in his life. I grabbed bags of just about everything since his house was literally empty of all food. While squeezing a new avocado to make guacamole for some fajitas I had planned for later in the week, I nearly dropped the three I had in hand when one of Reeve's hands snaked around my waist.
“What are you doing?” I asked out of the corner of my mouth. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that almost everyone in the store had been watching us as we slowly made our way through the store.
“Doing what a happily married man does to his wife,” he whispered in my ear. “Relax and be a happy wife.”
Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my nerves and thoughts around this man who both infuriated me and drove me wild with one look or touch.
I shook off his hold. “Let’s move on.”
“What are those for?” He squeezed the avocado with two long fingers.
Turning around, I gave him an ‘are you crazy’ look. “It’s an avocado. I’m going to make guac.”
He groaned deep in his throat. “That sounds so good. I think I’m going to like this arrangement.”
Maybe if I constantly had food going into his mouth, he’d be more pleasant.
Pulling away, I moved on to the rest of the store with Reeves trailing along behind me. Every time I stopped, he ran his hand up my arm, pressed a kiss to my shoulder, forehead, or the top of my head, or laced his fingers through mine as I perused the contents.
When his front plastered to my back, I stiffened and turned my head to see what the hell he was doing. But as I moved, I saw what had him unmovable against me. I’d read what she’d done to him on the internet, and she hadn’t tried to hide the fact that she’d been cheating on him. There was also the fact she was now a drug addict.
Reeves’ ex-wife, Poppy, was at the other end of the aisle having a stare down with him.
Chapter Ten
Jenner
I couldn’t tear my eyes off the woman who ruined my life. If lasers could have shot out of my eyes to make her disintegrate in front of me, I would’ve been happy. Abbi’s firm, plump breasts pressed against my chest before she lifted up, one hand on each bicep, and tried to block my view. I hadn’t even noticed she’d turned around with my focus on Poppy. “Hey, don’t give her the time of day. Show her what she’s missing.”
Her brown eyes connected with mine as an unknown emotion played out in them.
“Thank you,” I mouthed.
She gave me a small smile with a nod. “Should we move onto the next aisle?”
“Yeah,” I couldn’t get away from Poppy fast enough. I tugged on her hand as I pulled the cart behind us.
Once Poppy was out of sight, my body slumped against the cart as we stopped in front of the tortillas. I had no idea what we were looking for, but I felt the need to stay busy. Shifting through the assortment, I looked over at her with furrowed brows. “How do you know which one to get?”
She looked at them and shrugged. “It’s trial and error if it’s not a brand you usually use. Which packaging looks appealing to you?”
I held out a package with a skull on them. “How about these?”
“They don’t have the ones I usually buy, so we might as well try them.” She took them from me and threw them in the almost full cart. “We might need to grab another cart.”
My head turned toward the entrance, wondering where Poppy was at that moment. Had she left? “Do you want me to get another?”
“If you would, that would be great.”
Resigned, I let out a sigh. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Trudging my way back to the front of the store, I kept my head down in the hopes no one would stop me. After seeing my ex, I wasn’t in the mood for signing autographs or being fake. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of here and go home.
Pulling out a cart, I leaned on the handle as I tried to remember which aisle I’d been in with Abbi. Maybe I should have paid more attention because now I was walking back and forth in front of the aisles trying to find her. Deciding she might be in the back where I couldn’t see her, I turned to go down the next aisle to find her when Poppy turned the corner.