brother
Chapter 206: Penny
“You’ve got good instincts, sweetheart.”
The older woman’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. I turn to look at her
she’s bundled in a long black coat, gray curls tucked beneath a velvet hat, amily
soft and eyes warm in the way that comes from surviving a lifetime of heartbreak.
“I’m sorry?” I say, not quite sure what she’s referring to.
She nods at me, then tilts her chin slightly toward Asher.
“For standing by that one.”
I follow her gaze. He’s still. Poised. Talking quietly to a man in full dress uniform, probably an officer. But I don’t hear the conversation.
Because God help me… I can’t stop looking at him.
His Navy SEAL uniform is formal – dark navy, fitted perfectly to his tall, broad frame, sleeves decorated with pins and patches, stripes over his chest, the glint of medals over his heart. His cover sits straight on his head, casting a shadow over his jaw.
And his jawline is sharp enough to make my thoughts inappropriate, even here. Even now,
I want to kick myself.
This is not the place.
But my stomach tightens, anyway. He looks so devastatingly strong, so still, like marble carved to resemble war and loyalty and silence. The man who held me so tenderly last week is the same man who’s about to bury a brother–in–arms.
The wind carries the scent of pine and snow.
I swallow hard.
The woman beside me – Night’s aunt, I think
–
rests her hand on my wrist gently.
“You don’t have to explain it. I had a soldier once, too.” Her smile falters a bit. “They make it hard to look anywhere else, don’t they?”
I smile, throat tight. “Yeah,” I whisper. “They do.”
The ceremony hasn’t started yet, but already the field is full. Rows of folding chairs covered in thin white fabric, lined up on the snow–dusted grass. There are so many people here. Navy. Army. Marines. Veterans in medals. Friends. Family.
Everyone dressed in black and navy, winter coats buttoned up tight, breath visible in the cold air.
But the sky is so clear. Bright blue, soft clouds. And the snow on the trees glitters like powdered diamonds.
It’s heartbreakingly beautiful.
–
1 spot Rooster a few rows up his good arm in his lap, head bowed, Anna gripping his hand. Boomer’s beside them, unusually quiet, fidgeting with his cap like he doesn’t know what to do with his hands.
More men from Asher’s unit are scattered around some in uniform, others in dress clothes. All of them look tired. Hollowed out.
Asher walks to the podium.
And the entire field stills,
He looks… unreal.
1/4
Chapter 206: Penny
Like some kind of soldier carved from snow and steel, holding a folded piece of paper, his face unreadable..
But I know him now. I know that face.
He’s hurting.
And he’s holding it all in with the same strength
uses to carry every other impossible weight in his life.
His voice, when it comes, is calm.
Measured.
“As many of you know,” he says, “Night walked away from the mission last year.”
and yes, we’re using his call sign because that’s what he would’ve wanted
was one of only four of us who
A pause. A breath.
“Out of thirteen men… four made it back. And now, one of those four is gone.”
My chest tightens.
The silence is sharp. No one moves.
Asher continues.
“When I got the call, I already knew. I don’t know how. But I knew. Night always carried more than he said. He smiled, laughed, made stupid jokes, played poker like a cocky bastard. But I knew.”
He shifts his weight, voice growing rougher.
“And he left us a note. Said he was sorry. Said he failed us. That he didn’t do enough that day. That he didn’t stop the others from getting hurt. That he should’ve died instead.”
Asher’s eyes sweep over the crowd – slow, heavy.
“I want to say this as clearly as I can, for anyone who ever loved him: Night didn’t fail anyone.”
A pause. He looks down. Exhales through his nose.
“If anything… we failed him.”
His words cut through the cold air like a blade.
“We failed him by not showing up more. By not being there. By pretending he was okay because he looked okay. We let ourselves believe that walking away from a mission means surviving it.”
A shaky breath.
“But the battlefield doesn’t stop at the border. And we should’ve known that.”
The wind rustles. A flake of snow drifts down onto Asher’s shoulder.
“I will never stop regretting the time I didn’t take. The calls I didn’t make. The visits I put off. But I will honor him mission, but for the way he lived. For the way he laughed. For the way he kept trying.”
He clears his throat and looks at Night’s family.
not just for what he did during that
“To the people who loved him – thank you. For giving us a brother. For raising a man with integrity, courage, and kindness. He was one of us. And we will carry him with us for the rest of our lives.”
Chapter 206: Penny
He nods once.
That’s all.”
Then he steps back.
No tears. No trembling. But the air around him feels carved out, like even the silence is grieving.
Rooster leans forward, elbows on his knees, face in his hand.
Anna’s crying.
Boomer is stone–still.
And me?
I’m standing in snow, hands in my coat pockets, chest cracked wide open.
Because Asher Hayes just spoke words that belonged in a eulogy and somehow made them feel like home.
And no matter how many bruises I carry or how often his eyes turn cold, I will never stop standing beside him.
Because this – this strength, this pain, this honor – is exactly why I fell for him in the first place.
I don’t expect him to move toward me.
Not with so many people watching. Not with half the damn military present, medals and cameras and protocols all around.
But he does.
He walks down the makeshift steps from the podium, slow and steady, but there’s this tightness in the way he holds his shoulders. Like the words he just spoke took something out of him he’s not sure he’ll get back.
And instead of turning toward his seat in the front row, toward Rooster or the officers waiting for him-
He walks straight to me.
My heart stumbles.
The crowd parts as he cuts across the grass with single–minded focus. A few heads turn. Some people whisper.
But all I can see is him.
The set of his jaw. The glint of snow on the brim of his hat. His eyes locked on mine like I’m the only thing tethering him to this moment.
And when he reaches me, he doesn’t say a word.
He just pulls me in.
Wraps both arms around my back like the rest of the world doesn’t matter and buries his face in my neck, exhaling like it’s the first breath the speech.
I freeze for half a second, startled.
But then I melt.
I wrap my arms around him tightly, my fingers splaying across the back of his uniform, my cheek pressed against the side of his head.
“I needed you,” he whispers, voice rough, almost broken. “I needed you.”
en since
Chapter 206: Penny
My chest aches.
I hold him tighter, feeling the tremble in his arms, in his breath. This man this soldier who never shows weakness, never emmble–be lethag le all rest
on me.
So I become still.
Steady
Whatever he needs.
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