Chapter 236: Penny
I’m still sore from rehearsal. The good kind of sore–the kind that reminds you that you worked hard, that your limbs remembered bone to muset the the used to but under it, there’s still a lingering ache. A hollow space that even movement couldn’t shake leve
That space used to be filled with Asher’s voice, his hands, his quiet strength.
Now it’s quiet.
But not completely.
Boomer pulls into the sushi place Mila loves. It’s tucked between a boba café and a secondhand bookstore that always smells like ink and sun warmed pipe The street glows with fairy lights strung between lampposts, and people walk by in cozy jackets and scarves, laughing, clinking metal water bottles, carryin takeout bags. Normal life stuff.
Boomer kills the engine. “You good?”
I nod. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
He doesn’t look convinced, but he opens his door anyway. He comes around to mine before I can reach for the handle and pulls it open. The wind brushes across my face, but his hand is warm when he offers it to me.
His touch is always steady. Never hesitant. Never lingering. But somehow… it always feels like more than just friendly.
Maybe I’m just raw.
We walk into the sushi shop, a narrow, glowing little spot with black–and–white tiled floors and paper lanterns overhead. There are shelves of manga by the register and an entire wall of Polaroids with scribbled names and doodles. It smells like soy sauce, jasmine tea, and happiness.
Mila’s already there, sitting at a booth with two menus open and a miso soup half–finished. When she sees me, she waves both arms dramatically, like Tve just come back from war.
“Penny freaking Vales,” she grins. “You’re alive.”
I smile and hug her. “Barely.”
Mila pulls back and blinks at Boomer. “Whoa.”
Boomer offers a crooked smile. “Hi.”
“Is this…” Mila glances at me, eyebrows practically in orbit. “…the backup Navy SEAL?”
Boomer chuckles. “I prefer the term stand–in guardian of chaos.”
She points at him like he just passed some secret test. “Okay, I like you.”
Boomer glances at me with that calm, amused expression he wears like armor. “I like her.”
“I’m irresistible,” Mila shrugs, moving over so I can slide in next to her. Boomer takes the seat across from us, draping his jacket o
His broad shoulders make the small table look like dollhouse furniture.
Mila leans in and whispers, not that quietly, “He’s even hotter in real life.”
Boomer raises a brow. “I can hear you.”
“I wasn’t hiding it.”
“I can also blush, you know.”
ack of the booth.
Chapter 236: Penny
“You haven’t yet,” she says with a wink.
“Give it time.”
I let out a laugh, the first real one in days. Mila and Boomer are like… magnets. Bantering nonstop. Her quick wit, his unshakable calm. She puri, b parries. It’s weirdly perfect.
They go on like that as we order, Mila making Boomer guess the ingredients of every specialty roll (“What’s the difference between spicy sus and fire sauce?” “One has regret.“), and him countering with deadpan logic that makes her snort miso through her nose.
Somewhere between the dragon roll and the tamago nigiri, I notice his knee brush mine under the table.
He doesn’t move it.
Not right away.
Just enough contact to say: I’m still here.
Maybe I lean into it. Maybe I don’t.
It’s hard to tell anymore.
When the sushi arrives, it’s chaos. Mila immediately starts putting rolls on my plate that I didn’t order, and Boomer joins in, carefully pushing a piece of salmon over with his chopsticks.
“I didn’t order that,” I say.
“It looked lonely,” Boomer says.
“And delicious,” Mila adds.
They toast their cups of hot green tea, and I can’t help but smile. The tension in my body hasn’t gone completely, but it’s… looser. Easier. The way Mila laughs when Boomer impersonates Madame Loretto’s critique voice is so unexpected I nearly choke on my rice.
“You’re not supposed to be funny,” I tell him.
Boomer glances at me, his eyes twinkling. “I’m also mysterious. It’s allowed.”
Mila mock–swoons. “Oh my God, where do you find these people?”
I open my mouth, but something about the way she says it-
“Hot Navy SEALs. Is there, like, a subscription box I don’t know about?”
And just like that, the laugh catches in my throat.
Asher.
The mention of him slams into me like a wave I didn’t see coming.
I blink fast. Breathe.
Boomer doesn’t notice–he’s looking at the check the server dropped off–but Mila does. Her smile fades, and she sets down her chopsticks.
“Shit,” she says softly. “Penny. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I lie.
She reaches over and hugs me tight. “I’m the worst.”
Chapter 236: Penny
“No,” I whisper. “You’re just honest.”
Boomer comes back with the check folder and notices our posture immediately Mila’s arm around my shoulders, my glassy eyes
He doesn’t ask.
He just says, “You guys ready?”
Mila nods, but gives me a quick squeeze before letting go.
“I paid already,” Boomer adds casually, like it’s not a big deal.
I blink. “You didn’t have to-”
“Did it while you were defending the sacred honor of pineapple tempura,” he shrugs.
I glance at Mila, who gives me a little smirk like what a man.
Boomer opens the door for us again, and this time, I do lean into him–just a little–as we walk out into the cool air.
The night is quiet. Soft.
By the time we reach his place, I’m too full to think and too tired to ache.
He unlocks the door. I slip off my shoes and pad toward the bedroom without a word. I climb under the blanket, still in my clothes, hair still braided, body heavy with a kind of peaceful exhaustion I haven’t felt in a long time.
I don’t expect him to follow.
But he does.
He lies down next to me, not touching, not crowding, just… present.
I roll onto my back and glance at him. “Thank you.”
He tilts his head. “For what?”
“For letting me disrupt your life.”
He scoffs softly. “Disrupt? Penny, you’ve made it interesting.”
I smile, even though my eyes are heavy.
Boomer shifts, props himself up on one elbow. “Can I do something?”
I nod slowly. “Yeah.”
“Turn around.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“Lie on your side.”
Confused, I do. The sheets rustle, cool against my skin.
Then I feel his hand at the end of my braid. He unties it carefully, fingers brushing lightly down the strands as he unwinds the braid, slowly, like he’s undoing a thread pulled too tight.
I shift, my breath catching. “What… are you doing?”
Chapter 236: Penny
He hesitates, his voice softer than usual. “When you fall asleep, you usually play with the ends of your hair.
I freeze.
He’s noticed that?
“I thought maybe… if I did it, it would help.”
My chest tightens.
He combs his fingers gently through the strands, slow and rhythmic, like waves. Not tugging. Just touching. Smoothing.
I don’t even realize I’ve started to cry until the pillow is damp beneath my cheek.
“Thank you,” I whisper, voice thick.
There’s a pause.
Then his voice, low and warm in the dark: “Anything for you, Penny.”
And for the first time in what feels like forever-
I sleep.
Chapter Comments
Ness C
Ok you’ve convinced me, Penny should have a harem!
View 1 Comment >
5 2
<SHARE
