Chapter 245: Asher
The restaurant’s warm, crowded, buzzing with voices and the clatter of chopsticks. The host barely greets us before Mila and Penny break into lighter beside me.
They’re still going on about some inside joke that involves a headband, a pigeon, and a security guard at the studio, I don’t ask.
Penny grabs Mila’s wrist, eyes still sparkling. “We’ll be right back. Bathroom.”
Mila winks over her shoulder at me. “Try not to miss us too much.”
Penny gives me a soft smile. That one that always lingers, even when she’s already walking away. My gaze follows her until she disappears around the commer with Mila, both still giggling.
I scan the restaurant until I spot him.
Boomer’s already here, sitting at a table tucked near the back. He’s fiddling with the sleeve of his hoodie, a menu open in front of him but untouched. He sees me coming and straightens up, a polite grin slipping onto his face.
I walk over, sliding into the seat across from him.
“Hey,” he says, lifting his chin in that casual way of his. “Didn’t know if you’d beat traffic.”
“Left early,” I reply. “Didn’t want to wait another second.”
He nods like he understands, because he probably does.
There’s a pause while a waiter drops off a couple glasses of water and asks if we want anything to drink. I wave him off, Boomer orders a soda, then it’s just
- us.
“So,” he says, tapping the table lightly. “It’s true?”
I raise a brow. “Is what true?”
“That you’re heading up that new project at base. The one for black ops protocol testing?”
I smirk. “Guess the rumors travel fast.“.
He grins. “Faster than classified memos. Congrats, man. That’s a huge deal.”
“Thanks,” I say, rolling my shoulder. “Still feels weird. Bittersweet, you know?”
Boomer’s smile fades just a notch. “Yeah. I get that.”
I glance over toward the hallway where the girls disappeared. Still not back, Good.
I clear my throat. “Listen. I wanted to thank you in person.”
Boomer straightens again. His shoulders square, just a bit.
“I put you in a position I don’t think was fair,” I say quietly. “I needed Penny safe. You were the only person I trusted enough to leave her with. But it wasn’t easy. For either of you.”
He looks down at the table. “Wasn’t a big deal.7
“It was,” I say, voice firmer now. “She was scared out of her mind. And I wasn’t there. You were.”
He swallows hard. “I just did what anyone would’ve.”
Chapter 245. Asher
“No,” I say. “You did what I would’ve. And that’s different.*
Boomer meets my eyes finally. There’s a beat between us. That wordless place where gratitude and unapoker truths sit next to each other the bana de
silk.
I can see something flicker in his expression. Regret, maybe. Frustration. Something closer to hurt. But he doesn’t let it land.
“You don’t owe me anything,” he says. “I was glad to be there for her.”
I nod slowly. “Still. I do.”
We sit in silence for a second, both nursing our drinks, both pretending we don’t notice what’s being left unsaid.
He shifts in his seat, trying for a grin. “She texted me, by the way. Said she misses hanging out.”
“She told me,” I say, watching him carefully. “You were good to her.”
“Yeah,” he says, looking down again. “She’s…easy to be good to.”
I don’t respond. I don’t have to.
He knows exactly what I mean when I don’t press further.
And I know exactly what he means when he doesn’t say the thing I’m thankful he’s not saying out loud.
She’s mine.
He knows it.
Still hurts, though.
And maybe that’s the part I owe him for the most.
The girls come back a minute later, laughter already bubbling between them again.
Boomer smiles at Penny when she slides into the seat beside me. He smiles like he always does. Like it doesn’t sting. Like he’s happy just to be part of her universe, even if he’s not the center of it.
And I don’t ask.
Because I already know.
The girls drop into their seats across from us, Penny sliding close enough for her thigh to press against mine. I rest my hand on her knee without thinking.
Mila’s cheeks are flushed from laughter, her eyes already locked on Boomer like she’s about to pounce.
“Oh good,” she says, mock–sweet. “You’re also here.”
Boomer raises an eyebrow. “Disappointed?”
“Not yet,” she says, flipping open her menu. “But give it a few minutes, I might get there.”
I glance at Penny. She’s already trying to stifle a/grin.
Boomer leans back in his seat. “You know, most people flirt by being nice.”
“Oh honey,” Mila says, not even looking up. “If I wanted to flirt, you’d already be writing poetry about my eyes and giving up your Navy pension to move to
Paris with me.”
Chapter 245: Asher
Penny snorts
full on, nose–scrunched, head–tilted–back kind of snort: It’s criminal how cute she is when she loses control like that:
Boomer doesn’t miss a beat. “Paris, huh? That’s your seduction plan? You know, I failed French in high school.”
“I’m not surprised,” Mila deadpans. “Too busy admiting your own reflection in the locker room mirror?”
“That was a good year for my biceps,” he says, flexing one dramatically.
“You say that like it’s not still the only thing going for you.”
Penny covers her mouth with her hand, laughing so hard her eyes start to water. I feel it, this ripple of warmth in my chest, watching her lose it. She leans into me without realizing it, laughing straight into my shoulder.
Boomer holds a hand to his heart, mock–wounded. “Wow. Okay. That hurt. Asher, back me up here.”
I smirk. “Sorry, man. You walked straight into that one.”
“He dove into it,” Mila corrects, pleased with herself. “Headfirst. No parachute.”
Boomer points at her, grinning. “You’re evil.”
“And hilarious,” she counters, raising her glass in a toast. “To being right.”
Boomer clinks his water glass with hers. “To being roasted alive in front of a Navy SEAL and his ballerina girlfriend.”
Penny’s still giggling beside me. I rub circles into her knee with my thumb and feel the faintest shiver run through her. That tension I know too well – the one that lives under her softness, under her laughter, under every breath she gives me.
She calms eventually, glancing between them with flushed cheeks and glassy eyes. “You two are like… weirdly compatible in the most chaotic way.”
Mila shrugs. “It’s a gift. I’m an equal opportunity menace.”
Boomer grins, but I don’t miss the way he looks at Penny after that. Like her laugh is something precious. Something worth being teased for, if it means he gets to be part of it.
I tighten my hand on her knee, just slightly.
Mine.
She glances at me, then leans in to kiss my cheek. It’s nothing, a small thing, but I see the way Boomer looks down after. See the twitch in his jaw. The way he shakes it off with another sip of soda and another jab at Mila
“Alright, menace,” he says. “What’s your deal with sushi? Do you actually like it, or are you just here for the aesthetic Instagram shots?”
“I am the aesthetic,” Mila replies, batting her lashes. “The sushi is just a prop.”
Penny nearly chokes on her water this time, and I think yeah. This, right here. This mess of laughter and sarcasm and stolen touches is peace. Not quiet, but real. Solid.
I could get used to this.
for the table. This
Even if Boomer still looks at her like
standing in front of something beautiful he can’t touch.
He’ll be okay. He’s tough. Loyal. And now, apparently, Mila’s verbal punching bag.
