Page 36 of Drop Three

The mopey side of me wants to decline. It’s less about me being mopey and more about moping over the dreamboat beside him—who I still can’t look at. But I try to remind myself that he had his chance, and this is about me doing something I want for a change with someone who isn’t afraid to show they want me.

That’s exactly what I asked for. But I refuse to be that agreeable.

“I’ll consider it.” I send him a flirty smile, hoping he catches on to my disguised excitement.

Briggs smiles. “I look forward to it.” He turns to the group. “Gotta get back. Thank you, guys, for showing up tonight. It means a lot. We all gotta get together sometime. And, sailor, I’ll be waiting on that call.”

Without another word, Briggs turns and heads back toward the bar.

I have yet to move, and a slow smile sneaks across my face as my eyes scan the three people in front of me. Tenley is grinning, Gus is grinning, and Bodhi…his fists clench, and a look of raw frustration crosses his face.

Gus is the first to speak as everyone, except for Bodhi, takes a seat.

“I didn’t know you had it in you, Navy girl.”

He’s so annoying, but he’s lucky I love him anyway.

“Gus, I’m perfectly capable of landing a date with a good-looking and successful man.”I hope I sound as confident as I want to feel.

“Oh, don’t I know it! You couldn’t do much better than Crew Briggs.”

I could…

“Yeah, well, nothing is even planned yet, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Tenley chimes in, “Youaregoing to call him, right? That man is gorgeous. If you don’t have a go at him, I call dibs next.”

“Jesus Christ, Ten,” Gus huffs.

I laugh, starting to feel excited for a change. I’m not sure when I’ll find the courage to call or even text Briggs, but I’m looking forward to it.

“I’ll be right back.”Bodhi.

He’s been quiet and eerily still. My eyes follow his stride as he escapes to the bathroom. That’s precisely what he’s doing—escaping.

“What’s his deal?” I ask Gus and Tenley.

They both laugh like I’m supposed to know what the hell is happening.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Gus asks.

Someone better speak the fuck up and stop talking in a foreign tongue.

“He’s in love with you,” Tenley blurts out louder than necessary.

I promise you, an aneurysm is in my near future because every one of my body parts just shuffled out of place. “You’re delusional.”

Little do they know how clearly Bodhi wrote out thelackof feelings he actually has for me.Nope, I’m not falling for that bullshit.

“Navs, you know how much he cares about you. I mean, after everything that happened with Luke. For Christ’s sake, he was practically losing sleep over the idea of you not having a safe place to sleep after everything with Jared.”

Tenley is right. But it doesn’t justify anything that came before—things she doesn’t know about, and I promised myself I would keep quiet.

“And I gave him a night until I found a place to stay, which I did.”

“Yeah, my place, I remember. Until you left to stay in a run-down motel!” Something tells me I’m not winning myself any favors with Tenley right now. I can tell she means well, but I’m confused about where this is coming from.

“What the hell, Navy? You left? Does Bodhi know?”Gus.

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