"I'm straight." Reaching under her t-shirt, I brushed my thumbs across her hips.
"Then why are you staring at me like it's your first time seeing me?"
"What if it is?" I tossed back.
Resting my head on her stomach, I listened to the rhythmic conversation her heart was having with mine.
"Honor." Her hands ran across my soft curls that were starting to spurt.
"I'm being honest."
"You're not because you've seen me before." She sighed.
"But not like this." Navy's body tensed, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "I mean… hearing you speak so passionately with Gigi and Chosyn showed me another side of you."
"How, when I speak just as passionately with you?"
"That's different. I see passion when you're soothing the chaos brewing inside of me. With me, it's reassurance that I'm deserving of all things when it comes to you. What I saw earlier with Gigi and Chosyn was resentment, and that's not something I'm used to seeing from you."
"I don't resent you, Honor."
Lifting my head from her stomach, I locked onto her.
"You do," I finally replied.
"How are you gonna tell me how I feel?" she snapped, wiggling her hips to get away from me.
I held her firmly, kneading my fingers into her waist. "Because I know you the same way you know me."
"I don't resent you."
"You do, and that's not on you. How you feel about me is shaped by the way I love you… or fail to."
"Yeah, but you already have so much on your plate," she softly stated. "I don't want you to think I don't love you."
And there lied the problem. When conversations got heavy, Navy swallowed her truth so I wouldn't choke.
"I could never think you don't. You talked all that shit about me at Gigi's crib, and not once did I take it to mean you don't love me. We've been together for two, almost three decades… shit is bound to get rocky with us. It doesn't mean we give up or hide how we feel about shit. So, tell me the truth."
"I'm happy, and I love you, but things have been different with us for a while."
I swallowed the anxiety creeping in. "Ight, so what pushed it to the forefront?"
"Choyce." Navy pushed out a long breath, which made me tense. "You jumping in front of those bullets for her, then lying to me at the hospital."
"I didn't?—"
A small crease appeared between her brows, warning me not to lie.
"Ight. I told Kage not to let anyone in, but it wasn't specific to you. Choyce and I were discussing a proposition Lucian brought to us. I didn't want anyone walking in and hearing, so I told Kage to keep everyone out."
"I'm not everyone tho, Honor. I'm Navy," she spat, twisting out of my grasp. I went to pull her back in but stopped when I caught the seriousness in her glare.
"I know who you are." I sighed.
"Do you because it's hard to fucking tell," she scoffed, then closed her eyes for a few seconds. When they opened, she seemed calmer.
"Let's just watch the movie we didn't get to watch last night."
