Chapter 19
Nineteen
Navy Achebe
He chased her.
The thought lingered in my head from the moment Honor pressed his lips to my forehead and murmured, "I'll be right back," and stalked out of the ballroom like a man on a mission, and his mission wasn't me.
"Navy, are you listening?" Kysre asked.
I was surrounded by my girls, smiling, laughing on cue, playing my part like I wasn't suffering from a broken heart.
Tonight was supposed to be festive. River and Crown were engaged, and love spilled into every corner the happy couple touched.
However, all I could see was the way Honor watched Choyce when she left the ballroom.
"Navy," Chosyn called out.
"What's going on?" I asked, leaving my thoughts.
"I asked if y'all wanted to spend New Year's in the mountains. We can rent cabins, just us, and have a time." River beamed with glowing happiness.
"Sure," I half smiled. "Um, can y'all excuse me?"
I didn't wait for them to respond. I moved toward the ballroom doors, needing distance from all of this. I hurried toward the elevators and pressed the button as I heard Chosyn calling my name.
"Navy!"
"Chosyn, I need some space," I heaved, fighting for breath my lungs refused to give.
"Then we can get space together."
The elevator's doors slid open, and I rushed inside with Chosyn close behind me.
"We can go to the suite I have booked."
I caught the crinkle in her brow but didn't have the strength to tell her I've been staying at the hotel because being at home with Honor was suffocating.
The doors chimed again on the seventh floor.
Chosyn stepped out first, but I didn't move.
My feet stayed planted as my heart began pounding, loud and frantic, like alarms going off that only I could hear.
"Navy, are you coming?" Chosyn asked, stretching her arm out to keep the elevator doors from closing. "Navy."
"I… I have to go back to the ballroom."
"But you said—"
"She's going to take him if I don't go back," I panicked.
"Who?"
"Choyce!"
"Oh, Navy." Her expression softened with sympathy. "Choyce isn't worried about—"
"He fucked her," I grimaced, the words tasting acidic.
She gave me a doubtful look. "He told you that?"
"No, but I can feel it. You saw how he ran after her when she walked out."
"Honor didn't run after her."
"Then why did he leave?" I asked, my voice small and desperate for something that would silence the doubt clawing at me.
"I—" she opened her mouth to answer, but her phone chimed in her hand. We both looked down.
Honor
Where's Navy?
Chosyn glanced up at me. "He has a surprise for you."
"At an engagement party?" I frowned. "Why would he surprise me tonight of all nights?"
"I don't know, but if you need a minute, we can go and talk about why you've been staying here, and I didn't know… or we can go see what this surprise is."
I exhaled slowly. "We can go back down."
"Good." She smiled.
The elevator ride to the second floor felt longer than it's ever been.
My reflection in the mirrored walls looked nervous and fragile.
Our relationship felt over. Neither of us was solely to blame.
Honor loved me the best way he knew how, and I loved him in a way that yearned to fix everything my father broke in him.
Somewhere along the way, my need to piece him back together became louder than my own needs.
I let the only innocent piece of us fall into the hands of a stranger and called it protection.
From there, the threads started to loosen.
Little by little, our love unraveled, and it all started with me.
"Are you okay?" Chosyn softly asked.
"Mhm hmm." The sound barely formed.
"Maybe we should—"
"Navy." Honor's raspy voice folded over mine as Chosyn and I rounded the corner after getting off the elevator.
He stood there waiting, hands clasped behind his back, looking like the blueprint of what I deemed a perfect husband.
Smiling softly, I let myself be in the moment and let go of the inevitable that lingered in my tears and trembled at my lips.
Chosyn squeezed my hand, winked, and slipped past us into the ballroom. Honor stepped closer.
"Honor, what's going on?"
"I need you to know something," he said. "I'm choosing you in this lifetime and the next."
My throat tightened. "You don't have to do this. We've both been in a weird space. Things have been off, but you don't have to do something big—"
He cupped my face. "Shh!"
His lips hesitantly brushed mine. His tongue slid past my lips, skillfully snaking in and out, capturing my inhales and feeding me his exhales.
"I've been fucking up," he admitted, breaking our kiss. "I apologize for taking your love for granted, for leaning on it like it couldn't disappear. And I'm sorry I ever let doubt into your mind."
"Honor, please," I whimpered, tears swimming at the ends of my lashes.
"How are you crying and you haven't seen the surprise yet?" he whispered, swiping underneath my eyes with his thumb.
I let out a watery laugh. "You might wanna hurry it up."
"I love you."
Honor took my hand and kissed the back of it slow enough to make my stomach flip. He led me into the ballroom where the lights were now low.
"Look up," he instructed, tipping my chin with his fingers.
The ceiling resembled a midnight sky, deep and endless. Tiny lights flickered across it like stars begging to be wished upon.
"What is this?" I breathed.
Honor didn't answer. He took my hand and guided me further into the room. He led me to the center of the floor, and suddenly a single spotlight poured down, covering me in a soft glow. A few cheers echoed through the room, low and excited, like everyone knew what I didn't.
"Honor," I whispered.
"Relax," he murmured against my temple before stepping just outside the light. For half a second, I felt exposed. Then guitar strings filled the room, and my heart shattered.
"No…" I breathed.
Honor stepped back into the light, mic in hand.
"I found a love… for me."
Honor rarely sang. I could probably count on one hand how many times he'd sung for me over the years. Yet, here he was in a room full of people singing, and it wasn't for them. It was for the heart he'd die for before doing life without it.
"Oh, I never knew you were the someone waiting for me." His voice soared. Smooth and resonant, rich enough to command the room without forcing it. With each lyric Honor sang, a memory came to mind.
The first time he held my hand.
The first time he looked at me like I was home.
The first time I realized loving him wasn't something I had to survive. It was something I had to surrender to.
Our son.
Still singing, Honor reached for me. When his hand caught mine, he didn't hesitate.
He pulled me into him firmly. A reminder that with him was where I belonged.
My breath hitched as my body melted into his.
His free arm slid around my waist, anchoring me to him.
I lifted my hand and pressed it against his chest, tapping along with the rhythm of his heart.
His eyes flickered down to my hand, then back to mine, a small smile ghosting across his lips.
"Navy, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms—"
My forehead fell against his shoulder, and I finally felt us.
For once, I wasn't the one trying to hold him together.
We were holding each other, both fragile, but fighting for forever.
Soft white flakes began falling from the ceiling.
Fake snow. At first, I thought it was my imagination until one landed against my lashes, cool and weightless, clinging there before fluttering away.
"Honor, you gave me snow," I gushed.
Honor chuckled, still singing, his voice never breaking as his eyes lifted toward the falling flakes and then back to me.
The spotlight above us shifted, dimming into a cool blue glow that washed over the room like moonlight without the moon.
He pulled me closer, our bodies swaying in slow circles as the snow thickened around us.
I looked up at him, paying attention to the way he watched my reaction like it mattered more than anything else.
"I have faith in what I see. Now I know I have met an angel in person. And she looks perfect. Oh, I don't deserve this."
My heartbeat lost its rhythm because in a room full of people, Honor was choosing me out loud. The last note faded, but the tension between us didn't. Snow kept falling as I looked at Honor.
"Let's go," I instructed, already stepping back.
His eyes darkened, and the mic clattered somewhere as he tossed it aside and followed me out the doors.
The room erupted behind us. Cheers, laughter, and someone shouting our names, but none of it mattered.
My heels struck the floor in quick, reckless clicks as we rushed down the hallway, smiling because we both knew what this meant.
The elevator doors slid open, and we stepped inside.
Honor waited for the doors to close before his mouth claimed mine.
My back hit the mirrored wall, knocking the air from my lungs as his body pressed into mine.
His hand gripped my hair, tugging until my head tilted back and he was able to deepen our kiss.
My fingers fisted his shirt, pulling him closer, needing to feel every inch of him against every inch of me.
"Honor," I moaned.
His lips dragged from my mouth to my jaw, down the curve of my neck, then stilled at that familiar place. His spot. His tongue licked, teeth grazing where my shoulder met my throat, leaving a wave of heat crashing into my pussy.
"I want you," he groaned against me.
"Take me," I panted, already gone.
His teeth sank into my skin, stripping away every ounce of doubt I had left about us.
"Honor," I whimpered as my body arched into him.
The elevator hummed around us, but I felt suspended. Weightless in gravity. Nothing with Honor had ever been simple, and this was no different.
This was months of doubt dissolving in real time.