Falling for my boyfriend’s Navy brother
Chapter 171: Asher
The road hums under the tires, a steady sound that blurs into the silence inside the car.
Penny’s curled up in the passenger seat, asleep. Her face pressed gently against the window, lashes fanned out across her cheek. She’s got her arms tucked close to her chest, one knee pulled up. The hoodie she’s wearing is mine–it drowns het. I can only see her fingertips peeking out from the sleeves.
She looks… peaceful.
After everything she’s been through the last few days–hell, everything she’s been through the last few months–this is the most still I’ve seen her. Like all the tension she holds in her shoulders, all the anxiety wrapped up in her fingers and her fidgeting, has finally loosened.
It does something to me.
Something I’m not even sure I have the language for.
“Man,” Max says beside me, shifting in the back seat, “you really like her.”
I don’t answer right away.
I don’t look at him either. Just keep my eyes on the snow–lined road stretching ahead. Trees blur past us, tall and dark and still dripping with storm frost.
But I say it anyway. The truth.
“Yeah,” I admit. “I do.”
There’s a beat of silence.
“I used to,” Max says.
Now I do look at him in the rearview mirror.
He smirks a little, eyes still out the window. “Relax, Navy SEAL. Not like that. Not anymore.”
I don’t speak, but he goes on.
“She probably doesn’t even remember me. I was just some quiet sophomore who transferred in mid- semester. She was already… Penny. Graceful. Cute in this effortless way. Everyone knew who she was. And me?” He huffs. “I was the weird new kid eating lunch behind the gym.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Didn’t peg you as shy.”
Max chuckles. “I’m not. Not usually. But she was… different. She’d run down the halls in ballet shoes, late to class, hair up in those messy buns with bobby pins falling out. Sometimes she’d have a smear of mascara under one eye. But she always smiled. At everyone. Even the janitor.“.
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Chapter 171: Asher
I glance over at Penny. Still asleep. Still perfect.
“I used to try to time my locker stops to hers,” Max adds. “Just to catch a glimpse
That part stings a little.
“I didn’t do anything about it, though,” he continues. “I figured I wasn’t in her league. Then I made the football team and got distracted. Practices. Homework. Life. I started seeing her less and less.”
I nod slowly.
“Then Tyler showed up.”
His tone changes when he says his name. Something a little sharper behind it.
“Walked into school like he owned the place. And of course, went straight for her.”
“Yeah,” I say lowly.
“He was charming at first. I’ll give him that. I think he did really like her–maybe still does. But it didn’t take long before the rest of the school started noticing him. Especially the girls. He started skipping her rehearsals. Ignoring her texts. Flirting around.”
My jaw tightens. Penny shifts slightly in her sleep, sighs against the glass. I lower the heat just a little so
she doesn’t overheat.
“I started watching her lose her spark,” Max says. “Little by little. Her smile got smaller. Her laugh got quieter. She stopped running to class. Stopped wearing the sparkly hair clips she used to wear.”
He swallows. I hear it.
“I hated it. But she wasn’t mine to protect. So I waited. Waited for him to screw it up.”
“Looks like he finally did,” I murmur.
“Yeah.” Max leans forward slightly, resting his elbows on the back of my seat. “Some of the guys on the team started whispering about him and Zoe. At first it was just rumors, but then I overheard one of them say he saw them outside her place late one night. And then again. And again.”
“You never told Penny?”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t have proof. And I thought maybe–maybe he wasn’t doing anything. That maybe it was just dumb, flirty stuff that didn’t mean anything. I didn’t want to be the guy who ruined her relationship with a rumor.”
I nod. That’s fair.
“But I started making excuses to talk to her. Be around. Make her laugh again.”
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Chapter 171: Asher
“You did a good job of that,” I say.
Max smirks. “Thanks. Still, she barely noticed me.”
“You think that’s true?” I ask, glancing back.
He shrugs. “I don’t think I ever made it past the friend filter. But I was fine with that. She’s the kind of girl you just want to see happy. Doesn’t matter if it’s you or not.”
That silence again. Thick. Thoughtful.
“But I knew you liked her,” he adds after a beat.
I glance sideways. “You did?”
He nods. “First night. The way you looked at her across the room? Like someone had turned on a light in your chest for the first time in years. I’ve seen guys check her out before, but you…” He shakes his head. “You looked at her like you recognized her. Like you already knew she was yours.”
I don’t respond.
Because he’s not wrong.
“And I knew,” Max adds quietly, “that I didn’t stand a chance after that.”
I grip the wheel tighter. “You don’t have to say that.”
“It’s not pity. It’s honesty.” Max leans back again. “I’m just glad she has someone who actually gives a shit about her. Because she deserves that. She deserves the world.”
I look back at Penny.
Curled into my hoodie like it’s a safety blanket. One hand still half–curled near her mouth. Trusting. At
peace.
She deserves more than the world.
She deserves someone who’d burn it down for her.
And I will.
If I have to.
