Chapter 106: Penny
I’m home.
In bed.
Surrounded by soft pillows, clean sheets, warm lamplight–everything I thought I missed while I was stuck in that cold hospital room.
But nothing feels right.
I tried to read earlier, but my head started pounding by page five. I tried a movie. Couldn’t focus. Even texting Tyler made my skull throb. Too bright.
I haven’t seen him since I fell. He didn’t come to the hospital. He said he couldn’t. That he was too freaked out, He’s been texting, but it’s just check–ins. Surface stuff. No calls. No “I’m on my way.” No “I need to see you.”
This morning, my parents came back to the hospital. They walked in while I was half–asleep, hair tangled, eyes dry from too little REM. But when I blinked awake, I saw them wrapped around someone else entirely.
Asher.
My mom had her arms around his neck, holding him like he was the one who’d just come, out of the ER. My dad clapped him on the back like a soldier returning from battle.
“Thank you,” they both said.
“Thank you for staying.”
Asher nodded. Gave me one last glance – dark, unreadable
And then he was gone.
On the ride home, my parents were weirdly… glowy.
–
and said goodbye to all three of us.
“He’s an amazing young man,” my mom said, eyes still damp.
“The Hayes are a good family,” I offered, not really knowing what else to say.
Then came the kicker.
“And their sons seem to really like you.”
I blinked. “Tyler likes me.”
They exchanged a look.
“Asher’s just being nice,” I added. “That’s how he is.”
Mom raised an eyebrow. “You think so?”
I nodded. “Think about it. He was in the Navy. He saves people. Protects people. That’s what he does. He has to help when someone’s hurting.”
They looked at me like I’d grown a second head.
My dad spoke first. “Penny… do you actually know what people in the Navy do?”
“Yeah,” I said, frowning. “I mean… they rescue people. Right?“–
Mom sighed, not unkindly. “That’s… an occasional part of it.”
1/4
Chapter 106: Penny
But it’s not the job,” Dad added. “Not most of it, anyway.”
I stared at them, confused.
And stayed confused all the way home.
The first thing I did when I got here was shower. The kind where you lose track of time. I stood under the water until my skin turned pink and the bathroom filled with steam. I scrubbed my hair twice – until all the leftover blood and hospital smell was gone.
Then I shaved. Washed my face. Conditioned twice.
By the time I stepped out and wrapped a towel around myself, I finally felt like I was back in my body.
I looked in the mirror.
There’s a bruise on my forehead. Faint cuts at my temple and near my hairline. A shadow on my neck. One on my arm. But I look… okay. Sort of. Mostly
But nothing about me feels okay.
Not inside.
I grabbed my phone and typed in a search I wasn’t proud of.
what do people do in the navy
First thing that came up:
“Conduct insertions and extractions by sea, air or land to accomplish covert. Special Warfare/Special Operations missions.”
My stomach dipped.
The next line was worse:
“Capture or kill high–level targets, or gather intelligence behind enemy lines.”
I sat on my bed, towel still wrapped around my hair, and stared.
…They’re not rescuing people?
He’s not a protector?
Then why is he like that with me?
The way he watches. The way he steps between me and the world.
I thought it was habit. Muscle memory. A man built for rescue, applying it wherever he sees a wound.
But now?
Now I don’t know what to think.
A knock pulls me out of the spiral.
“Yeah?” I call, voice dry.
My mom pushes the door open, just enough to peek inside. “Sweetie, I invited the Hayes over for coffee and dessert tonight.”
I blink. “What? Why?”
Chapter 106: Penny
She smiles like it’s nothing. “We talked to their parents this morning. They had an idea, and I thought it’d be nice to have them over. You haven’t really seen anyone since the fall…”
There’s a beat.
Then she says, carefully: “And I know
She doesn’t finish right away.
My heart stutters.
“…Tyler.”
Of course.
She means Tyler.
Doesn’t she?
you
miss…”
But even as I nod and say “Okay,” something tightens in my chest. Something small and restless and wrong.
Because when she said “I know you miss…”
My brain didn’t finish the sentence with Tyler.
I shake my head like I can scatter the memory. It doesn’t help.
Eventually, I force myself to stand and open my dresser. My limbs are heavy. Not sore like before fall better than I do.
not ballet sore
–
just weighted, like they remember the
I pull on soft leggings and a sweatshirt, one of my oversized ones with the thumb holes. No bra – I still have a bandage taped across the side of my ribs and another under my hairline. My bruises throb in a dull, tired rhythm, like a drum beneath my skin.
I unwrap the towel, comb through my hair with my fingers. It’s still damp but clean. Finally. No more dried blood, no more stickiness at the scalp. Just vanilla–scented conditioner and strands that feel like mine again.
I glance in the mirror.
I don’t look broken.
Just… tired.
I climb into bed and tuck myself under the covers, even though I know I’ll have to get up soon. They’ll be here. The Hayes. All of them.
I stare at the ceiling, then the wall, then the ceiling again.
My mind races.
What does Asher know that he isn’t saying?
Why does it feel like something between us cracked wide open, but no one’s acknowledging it?
And why did his voice echo in my head all night like a heartbeat?
You have no idea what you do to me.
I press my fingers to my lips.
He touched them. Gently. Barely there. But I felt it down to my bones.
Chapter 106: Penny
I wish I could forget it.
I wish I wanted to.
