by Jaxon, Andi
We all go about our given tasks and meet back in the living room about ten minutes later.
“What did the old man have to say?” Avery asks.
“He said he is to damn old for our shit. The only person he is springing is Katie, so we better learn to handle our shit,” Amber replies as she rolls her eyes.
“What the hell does he have against you two anyway?” I ask.
If I can remember the three of them have been like oil and water. The Twins aren’t even allowed in The Mission without an “escort.”
“One time, and I mean ONE time, we got a little out of hand and happened to toss a rowdy SEAL through a window,” Avery replies.
“You did WHAT?!?”
“It wasn’t our fault! He tried to feel Amber up! I told him to get his hand off her, or he was not going to like what happened. It isn’t our fault that he just so happened to be a clumsy fuck and tripped head first out of the front window of the bar,” Avery says with a giggle.
Amber’s shoulders shake as she says, “We bought Jimmy a nice new window and paid for the spiffy security system, with cameras so he can see when losers are manhandling women like that. Next time, he can take care of it himself in a more ‘civilized manner’ as he calls it.”
“I think I was plenty civilized. I wanted to stick my five-inch heel up his ass,” Avery responds with a huff as she sits down on a pile of pillows.
“Oh, you’re a big baby! Thank you for defending my honor.” Amber leans down and gives Avery a passionate kiss.
Avery and Amber are a little more than just friends, but they aren’t together either. It’s hard to explain their relationship, but it works for them, so it doesn’t bother me. They are happy, and it seems like Charlie doesn’t mind being added to the mix either. If I’m being honest with myself. I’m jealous of how easily they all adapted to one another. It was like they were meant to be, while here I am, falling in love with Logan after knowing him for four days.
Who does that?
“Is Kit Kat getting jealous again? There’s enough of me to go around love bug. Get over here and give me some sugar,” Avery says as she crawls toward me on the floor.
I can’t help but laugh at her. These two always know how to brighten my mood, even when I don’t want them too.
“Now, sit your fine ass down and tell us what is going on with you,” Amber says as she pours us all a shot.
“Okay girl, but make sure you keep them coming because this is heavy,” I say as I down my first shot. I feel the burn of the tequila as it goes down my throat. Once it hits my stomach, it gives me the courage I need to continue my thoughts.
“I think I am falling in love with Logan.”
The room is so silent you could hear a pin drop.
I think I killed them.
I throw back another shot before I continue my rant.
“Damn! Did I break you bitches or are you as shocked as I am? I mean I have known this guy for what, four days? I was married to Ryan for almost three years, and it took me almost a year to have sex with him, let alone tell him I loved him. Now, here I am on the cusp of telling the first SEAL that came knocking on my door that I am in love with him. Dear lord, Ryan is probably rolling over in his grave right now. I am a horrible person.” The longer I talk, the faster the words come, the less I’m able to breathe.
SMACK!
“Kit Kat, calm down, you’re rambling! Girl, I thought you were going to have a panic attack or something,” Avery says as she hands me another shot of tequila.
I throw back my shot and hold my cheek in hopes of stopping the pain.
“Bitch, that hurt!”
“I’m sure it did. We had been trying to get your attention for a few minutes. A smack was the last resort. I’ll go get you some ice.”
I watch as Amber heads into the kitchen. Avery is sitting across from me, throwing back shots like they’re water.
“Have something to share with the class?”
“Nope. Nothing to say here. We are talking about you, not me and my feelings. Shit! You and your Jedi mind tricks,” Avery replies with a scowl.
“We will table this talk for another time, but seriously, I’m freaking myself out. I am falling in love with a man that I have known for a few days! Who does that? This is the crap that you watch in the movies. It doesn’t happen in real life.”
I hold my hand out to Avery for the bottle and shot glass. She refuses to relinquish the bottle, but she does pour me another shot.
Oh, this is going to be good once I can get the deets out of her.
Amber returns from the kitchen with ice for my cheek. At this point, I am not really feeling anything, but I take the ice anyway.
“Katie, sometimes things happen for a reason. You have always said that it took a while for you and Ryan to connect. Maybe he wasn’t your one,” Amber says.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”
“Just hear me out, okay, Katie? I just feel that there is one person in the universe for everyone. I am not saying that you didn’t love Ryan, but maybe he was not your one. The one person in the entire universe that your heart was made to be with. Your perfect other half.”
Avery jumps up from the floor, “Let me get this straight. You’re trying to tell me, that there is a reason why my heart skips a beat every time he enters the room or, why I feel like I can finally breathe when I can hear his voice for just a few minutes?”
“Oh shit, Avery you feel it too don’t you?” I respond as I wrap my arms around my best friend. Someone else understands what I am going through. It makes no logical sense at all but for some reason, we love these men to the depths of our soul, and there is nothing we can do about it.
“No, no I was speaking hypothetically, about you. Not me.” Avery tries to take back what she just said, but I feel her grip tighter to me.
Amber gets up from her position on the floor and walks slowly towards us.
“Avery, you can love both of us at the same time. It’s okay.”
I can see the tears glistening in both of their eyes. Amber wraps her arms around the both of us and gives us both a big squeeze.
“We are all so fucked, aren’t we?” Avery says making us all start to laugh.
“We sure fucking are. Here I thought I was going to fall in love with a nice attorney or maybe even a lifeguard, but no, it had to be another SEAL.”
“Well, at least we have each other to lean on, if God forbid, it goes south, right?” Amber says as she releases us and sits back down on the floor.
“To our SEALs! God help us for loving them, and God help them if they cross one of us because they will have to deal with all of us!” Avery shouts as she pours us all another shot.
“I’ll drink to that!” I respond, grabbing my shot.
“Here! Here!” Amber says as she throws hers back.
I never thought the day would come that all three of us would find love, let alone with a pair of Navy SEALs.
The shots continued flowing for the remainder of the night. I honestly, can’t tell you what else happened before we finally passed out as the sun rose. I vaguely remember a game of truth or dare and never have I ever, which of course Avery won, and then passing out in a heap of arms and legs on the floor of my living room. The three of us will feel it in the morning, but I would not trade my girls’ night for anything in the world.
Avery and Amber are my rock, they know what I need before I need it. Without them, I don’t think I would have the courage to tell Logan how I feel when he comes home from training. He needs to know before he leaves on deployment. I just hope he feels the same way, or they will once again be picking up the pieces of my broken heart.
14
Logan
I’m doing the final checks on my pack before we leave for our training mission when I hear a cell phone ringing.
“Hard-On, tell the Twins to make it quick, we only have about 15 minutes before we have to report.”
“For once, it’s not mine, as
shole!” Charlie yells from the head.
I look over to the end table beside my bunk and see my cell phone lit up with Katie’s name on the screen.
I wonder why she is calling.
After the way we ended our conversation last night, I didn’t think I would be hearing from her again, if at all.
“Katie?”
“Loooogan, I mmmisssss yooou,” Katie sings into the phone.
I hold the phone away from my ear and double check to make sure that it is Katie that is calling me.
“Katie, is everything alright?”
“Of course, I’m alright! Whhhhy would you asssk something like that?”
It then dawns on me that she said Avery and Amber were coming over for a girl’s night, she must be wasted.
“Darlin, can you go drink some water, take two aspirin, and head to bed? I’m about to head out for my training mission. I’ll give you a call when I get back,” I say softly.
“You promise?”
Katie sounds lost as she answers me. What happened to the sassy, independent Katie that I was talking to earlier? I’m so confused, but my needs have to wait, right now I need to take care of my girl.
“Of course, I promise, Dollface. Now go on, get some water. I will call you as soon as I can.”
“Even before you shower?”
I can’t help but chuckle in response, “Yes, even before I shower.”
“Okay, love you.”
Wait, what!
“Katie! Are you still there?”
I am met with nothing but soft breathing from the other end.
Damn, she must have fallen asleep.
“Sweet dreams, Katie,” I whisper into the phone before hanging up.
I’m not sure how to process what I just heard, but one thing is for sure, Katie has stronger feelings for me than she has been letting on.
“Did you get a drunk dial?” Charlie says, jarring me out of my haze.
“More like a drunk I love you.”
“Why do you not look happier my friend?” Charlie says as he looks at his phone like a kid on Christmas.
“First, let me see what you got there, Hard-On,” I say as I reach for his phone.
He dodges my grasp and makes a break toward the other side of the room.
“You have lost your damn mind! Get your own set of Twins, fucker! Avery and Amber decided to get frisky and sent me some new pictures. Who needs porn when I have these two? Goddamn, I can’t wait to get home.” He responds as he readjusts himself and walks back into the john.
“Charlie, we have less than ten minutes to make it to the briefing room!”
“Trust me it won’t take that long!” He yells through the door.
Instead of waiting for Charlie to handle business, I grab my gear and head out to meet up with the rest of the team.
To say hearing Katie tell me that she loves me was a shock, is an understatement, but I have been ready to say those words to her for years. If she had not loved my best friend, well, who knows what would have happened. I can’t help but feel guilty about the situation we are in right now, she was my best friend’s wife. Not only that, but I was the one who was there the day that he died. What will she think of me, of us, of our love, when she hears the truth?
I can’t leave anything to chance, whether she has admitted it to herself or not, that woman loves me. I’m not starting this relationship off with a lie. After kissing her silly and treating her like the goddess she is, I will tell her the truth. Let’s just hope that the truth will not ruin my life forever.
15
Katie
I wake up the next morning to the smell of coffee and a major hangover.
“Rise and shine!” Avery chirps from above me.
I love her, I do, but I hate her face, this bitch never gets a hangover. She can wake up all roses and sunshine after drinking her weight in tequila. Some bull about ‘hair of the dog’, but I don’t believe it. I just think she is a closet alcoholic or something.
“Come on! I’m hungry and if you want your house not to burn down, you better wake up.”
That got me moving. Avery can burn boiling water, it’s sad but true. Amber and I have tried numerous times to help her learn to cook, but it's hopeless, so it’s either the microwave or we cook for her.
Just then my stomach growls,
“See, the beast needs to be fed as well! Are you cooking or are we hitting the dinner for some grease to suck up all that tequila? If we are leaving, I call not it on waking up Amber.”
“Oh no! You are Miss fucking Chipper this morning and the first one awake, either you wake her up, or I’m going back to sleep, and you can starve. Take your pick, sunshine. Right now, give me that.” I snatch the liquid gold from her hands.
Taking a big gulp of coffee, I watch Avery weigh her options before she bends down to gently wake Amber. You can tell by the way they interact with one another how much she loves her. I can’t say that I’m surprised that they both fell for the same man, let’s just hope he deserves the love that they have given them, or I may have to do some ass kicking of my own.
“Fuck off, Avery,” I hear Amber grumble from under the blankets. I’m glad that’s a mutual feeling this morning.
Avery crawls under the blanket and spoons Amber, after some aggressive whispering and movement that I don’t want to think too hard about, Amber sits up and drops the blanket.
“I hate you,” Amber says as she looks down at Avery who has a shit eating grin on her face.
Avery rolls her eyes, “Bitch, you love me. Now feed me before I lose my sunny disposition.”
After getting caffeine into Amber, the three of us decide that we would rather head to the diner for breakfast. We pile into the Sebring and head toward the Boathouse for brunch. I can’t remember the last time we all had time to go there to eat, it’s one of my favorite places.
“Alright, what gives? Either someone is dying, or you have something to tell me, and you need to butter me up first.”
Avery and Amber exchange a look before Avery responds,
“We will talk more when we get there alright, Kit Kat? No stress, no one is dying or leaving. Okay?”
“How that hell do you expect me to not stress after saying something like that?” I respond before looking out the window.
It’s a gorgeous day, so I hope the passing scenery will help me calm my nerves, but it has no effect. I have a million different scenarios running through my mind. The one that keeps coming up is that I’m too late, that Logan had decided that after our disastrous conversation before he left, he is done with me. He asked me to be his girl before he left, and I basically implied when he called that it meant nothing to me.
What the hell was I thinking!
I’m interrupted from my thoughts by Amber’s hand on my shoulder.
“Stop panicking, alright? Everything is fine. We just wanted to bring you here to help you relax.” She smiles before climbing out of the car and heading inside.
I can’t help but smile before climbing out of the car. I know that those two have my best interest at heart and always want what’s best for me. I also know they are full of shit.
I try to brace myself for whatever is coming as we wait to be seated. Thankfully, the wait is not too long, and we are seated quickly. Once we take a seat, I can’t wait any longer.
“Now spill you two before I completely lose it!”
I try to keep my voice down, but it is hard. Avery smirks at me, and I want to smack her. She knows it too.
“Kit Kat, do you remember anything from last night? Other than lots of tequila and our love confessions?”
Well, that was an odd question to ask. She had me stressing out all this time for that? We could have talked about this in the car.
“Not much after that. I think we played ‘Never have I ever’ and some other things.”
Then it dawns on me, they are asking because I must have done something either embarrassing or completely out of character. I know
I did not get arrested because I woke up in my own house. There is no way that Jimmy would let us live that down if he had to bail us out of jail. I continue to rack my brain, thinking about what I may have done when Amber chimes in.
“Charlie let us know that Logan needs to speak with both of us when they come back. Apparently, he has something important to tell you, and he wants to run it by us first.”
“Something to tell me?” I tilt my head to the side.
What could he possibly have to tell me that he wants to run by the Twins first before speaking to me? Then a light bulb goes off in my head, causing my whole body to start trembling and tears spring to my eyes. Both Avery and Amber run around the table to wrap me in a hug.
“I didn’t! I didn’t tell him that I loved him while I was drunk and forget about it the next morning.”
“We don’t know Katie. Honestly, we don’t,” Amber says.
“We apparently sent Snuggluffagus pics last night to keep him warm on those lonely nights. When I woke up, I had a message explaining that before they left, he and Logan had a talk. He suggested that whatever was bothering Logan, he run it by us first. He thought maybe we could ‘help.’”
Avery gives me a kiss on the head and returns to her seat as her words start to settle in. What is going on? Did I ruin everything with my drunk dial or has he now decided it’s safe to share his feelings with me?
I bang my head on the table in hopes that it will make everything clear to me, but I am not that lucky. I hear Avery and Amber giggle in response.
“If I wasn’t so hungover, I would have another drink! Oh well, you’re always preaching hair of the dog, right? Shots all around!”
I can’t help but laugh at the insanity of the situation. Everything about Logan and I has been simple, but fast. Telling him how I feel is going to come out of nowhere. Hopefully, it doesn’t send him running in the opposite direction.