Chapter 178: Penny
I do. I remember the very first time he asked me out, after a football game. Right here, just outside the кут
The sky had been violet and soft, our breaths coming out in clouds. He’d walked over with that crooked grin, that ever–present confidence, and held out a hot chocolate like it was a bouquet, I remember thinking: this is it. My high school love story.
I had no idea it would turn into this.
“Don’t do this,” I whisper, arms still wrapped around myself like armor.
“Do what?” he snaps, throwing his arms out. “Fight for you? Try to fix things?”
“Fix what?” I shout. “You think dragging me out of the house in the middle of the night and stealing your side–girl’s car is fixing things?”
He flinches, just barely.
Then his face hardens again. “Just… come with me.”
“No.”
“Goddammit, Penny,” he hisses, stepping forward and grabbing my wrist–not painfully, but firmly. Too firmly. “Since when do you stand up to me like this?”
“Since you stopped being someone I could trust.”
He doesn’t answer. He just pulls me, and I stumble a step as he starts walking. “What are you doing?” I ask, trying to dig my heels into the asphalt.
He jerks his head toward the shadows at the edge of the lot. “My brother’s gonna try to play hero and find you, right? I’m not stupid. So we’re going somewhere he can’t see us.”
And before I can twist away, he’s dragging me toward the bleachers..
“No–Tyler, I don’t like this. I don’t like this.”
“You’ll be fine,” he mutters, not turning back.
It’s dark under here. The kind of dark where shapes blur, and shadows look like people. I can barely see the edge of his face once we step beneath the bleachers. My heart’s pounding so loud it’s hard to hear him breathing. I’ve never been scared of Tyler before. Not once.
But right now, I am.
Something flickers in my head–something Asher said, weeks ago. About putting a tracker on Tyler’s
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Chapter 178: Penny
phone. It had sounded so extreme hack then. But now…
Please. Please, let that tracker still be there.
Tyler finally stops walking. The steel beams of the bleachers above us creak faintly with the wind. The gravel crunches under our feet. We’re hidden here–completely.
1 pull my wrist free and back away, “Okay, We’re here. So talk.”
He stands still for a moment. Then he exhales, voice shaking. “I love you.”
I don’t answer.
He swallows. “You’re… you’re so perfect, Penny. You’re beautiful and kind and driven and smart and
“Stop,” I cut in. “Stop trying to butter me up.”
“I’m not,” he insists. “I’m just telling you how I see you. And I’m not like that. Not all the time. I like partying and messing around and–drinking. And I didn’t want to show you that side of me. I didn’t want you to hate me.”
“So you showed it to Zoe,” I whisper.
He rubs his hands over his face. “It just started with texts. She got it, you know? She didn’t judge me. I could be… messy. I didn’t mean for anything to happen but it did and once it did I couldn’t stop.”
“And you didn’t want to stop,” I say, voice rising. “Because it was easy.”
He flinches. “You were always so busy with ballet-”
“Don’t you dare try to make this my fault.”
“I’m not!” he says quickly. “I swear I’m not. I know I screwed up. I know. I’m trying to be honest.”
Tears are hot on my cheeks. “How long.”
“What?”
“How long,” I repeat, trembling. “How long were you seeing her?”
His voice is a whisper. “Two months.”
I stagger back like he hit me.
“But it was just talking for the first part,” he says quickly, stepping forward. “We only… s couple times. It’s been two weeks since the last time, I swear.”
I almost can’t breathe.
ogether a
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Chapter 178 Penny
Two weeks. That’s before the retreat. That’s before he and I broke up. That’s before…
I blink. Something clicks into place. My whole body goes cold.
*Two weeks?” i repeat. “Tyler… why was Zoe at my studio?”
His eyes widen. He glances at the gravel.
“Why was she there?” I shout.
“She was going to tell you,” he says. “She wanted to come clean. I didn’t know she was serious until I saw her go in, and 1-1 panicked. I called her, to stop her, and-”
My knees buckle..
It hits me like a freight train.
That ringtone.
The one that made Luc lose balance. The one that sent me crashing down.
I already knew it was Zoe’s phone. But… she walked in to tell me everything and Tyler called her. That’s why she was there. That’s why I fell.
“You,” I whisper. “You called her. You’re the reason I fell.”
He looks at me, horrified. “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know-”
I double over.
And throw up.
Everything comes up–the panic, the nausea, the shock. I collapse onto my knees in the gravel and retch until my throat burns. Tyler’s panicking, crouching next to me.
“Penny, I’m sorry–I didn’t want it to happen like this–shit, please, let me help-”
He touches my shoulders and I jerk away.
“Don’t,” I croak.
He’s crying now, crouched in front of me. “Is there any way to fix this? Please. Please, Penny. I’ll do anything.”
My vision swims. My hands are frembling. I can’t stop shaking. Everything feels unreal.
And then-
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Chapter 178: Penny
Far off, in the distance, I hear it.
A car pulling into the lot.
Tires crunching gravel.
A voice.
“Penny!”
1 freeze.
“Penny!” Asher’s voice again. Closer. Strong. Commanding. Safe.
I start to call out, but Tyler slaps his hand over my mouth.
My scream dies in my throat.
“Don’t,” he hisses. “Just… just wait. Please.”
And I feel it—the moment fear turns to something deeper. Something paralyzing.
Because I’m not just scared of Tyler now.
I’m terrified.
And I’m praying Asher gets to me in time.
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