Falling for my boyfriend’s Navy brother
Chapter 263: Asher
There are exactly 43 hours left.
M
I know because I’ve been counting.
Not out of impatience
not even out of worry. Just… because I’ve never seen someone pour themselves so fully into anything the way Penny has poured herself into this.
The Spring Gala.
Her debut as the lead.
She’s been dancing since she was a child – since before her voice had fully formed, before she knew how to ask for what she needed. And now, it’s right there. Two sleeps away. Two rotations of the earth, and she steps into everything she’s ever wanted.
And I think it’s killing her.
The past two weeks have been brutal. Rehearsals that go until midnight. A final stage run–through this evening that went well past dinner. She barely has time to breathe, let alone eat, so I’ve been trying to make that easier in the small ways I can.
Tonight I cooked – nothing fancy, just the pasta she loves, the kind with garlic and chili flakes and olive oil – and I’ve had it sitting on low heat for the last hour and a half, waiting for the sound of her keys in the lock.
When the door finally clicks open, I know even before I turn around that something’s wrong.
Her footsteps aren’t rushed. They’re slow. Dragging. Like she’s carrying the weight of the whole stage on her back.
She steps into the kitchen doorway, bag sliding from her shoulder and thudding onto the floor, and I barely recognize the expression on her face. Her shoulders are tense. Her eyes are shiny but dry. Her whole body looks like it’s holding in an earthquake.
I walk to her slowly. “Hey,” I say gently. “You’re late.”
She opens her mouth, then closes it. Swallows hard.
“Rehearsal ran long?” I ask.
She nods, and the smallest tremble runs through her.
I cup her face. “Penny. What’s going on?”
Chapter 263: Asher
And that’s when it happens.
The mask cracks.
She exhales a sound somewhere between a sigh and a sob and folds herself into me like I’m the only safe place left in the world.
I wrap my arms around her, holding her close, and I press a kiss to the top of her head. Her bun’s half–fallen apart. Her hands are cold.
I guide us to the couch and sit down, pulling her into my lap without letting her go. Her legs tuck against mine like they were always meant to fit there. I push her hair back from her face and tilt her
chin up.
“Talk to me, princess.”
Her voice is barely audible. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
She hesitates, then lets the words fall in a rush. “What if it’s not everything I imagined it would be? What if I do the show, and it just… doesn’t feel like enough? What if I’ve worked this hard, obsessed this long, shaped my whole life around this one thing… and it turns out to be empty?”
Her voice breaks. Her eyes glisten.
“I’ve been working toward this since I was five, Asher. I’ve spent almost two decades thinking about this one night. What if I get there and I feel nothing? What if it doesn’t make me happy?”
I feel it in my chest – that hollow ache. That panic that creeps in when you’re too close to something that used to feel like a dream, but now feels like a test.
I brush my thumb across her cheek. “I know that feeling.”
She blinks up at me.
“I do,” I say. “You know how much of myself I poured into the Navy. It wasn’t just a job. It was who I was. Every minute of every day. It defined me. And then one day, I came home – and I had to figure out who I was without it.”
Her lips part slightly. She’s listening. Fully, deeply.
“Some guys lose limbs. Some lose their minds. Some just lose themselves. They come back and they don’t know what the hell to do next. You’ve got a future, Penny. A stage. A dream. But even dreams can feel like cages when they’re all you’ve ever known.”
Chapter 263: Asher
Her eyes drop. “So you get it.”
–
“I do.” I tip her chin back up. “But you’re not alone. And this show this role it isn’t you. It’s something you’re going to do. And you’re going to do it beautifully. But who you are? That’s bigger than any spotlight.”
She’s breathing slowly now. Letting her weight settle into me.
“You want to know what I see when I look at you?” I ask.
She nods, barely.
“I see the most passionate, brilliant, talented woman I’ve ever met. I see someone who doesn’t give up. Who fights harder than most people even know how to. I see someone who belongs up there on that stage, Penny. That’s your home. But when the curtain closes, you’ll still be you. And I’ll still be
right here.”
She presses her forehead against my chest.
“I didn’t want to feel like this,” she murmurs.
“You’re allowed to. It means it matters.”
I pick her up and carry her to the bedroom. She doesn’t fight it. Just lets herself rest against me, fingers clutching the fabric of my shirt like she’s afraid I’ll let go.
“I made you dinner,” I whisper. “But it can wait.”
She nods. She looks exhausted. Like her bones are heavy.
I help her out of her clothes gently – one layer at a time – and slip her into her favorite pyjamas. The ones with the soft fabric and the tiny little hearts at the cuffs. She doesn’t speak as I do it, but her eyes never leave me.
Once she’s in bed, I slide in next to her, tucking the blanket over both of us. Her head finds my chest. My fingers slip into her hair, stroking it slowly.
“Breathe, Penny.”
She does.
“Sleep.”
Her lashes flutter.
“You’re not gonna break.”
Chapter 263: Asher
She sighs against me.
“You’re gonna shine.”
I kiss her forehead, and she finally closes her eyes.
And for the next hour, I lie there with her heartbeat steady against mine, whispering all the truths [ know she’ll need to carry her to opening night.
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