Chapter 49: Penny
Tyler’s been snming – actual, honest–to–Gel amving – through Monopoly.
for at least thirty minutes now, draped across the couch like a sterfish that gave up on life haffery
His head is tilted back, moith slightly open, hair a mess of wet cunts stiff drying from earlier, and an
Carefree in a way I haven’t seen in a long time.
unnelse he looks peaceful.
1 smile a little despite myself, stretching my aims methead before sinking deeper into my end–of practice routine
Somewhere musi
outside, I hear the faint scrape of metal against stone – Asher still dragging patio furniture back into place like it’s part of some personal mission to restore order to the chaos the storm left behind.
He disappeared about twenty minutes ago, wordless as usual, jest grunt and a nod before vanishing into backyard.
1 kept practicing because the thought of Madame Levetto sniffing disapprovingly at me through the phone if she knew I skipped a day is mooch to keept Ime moving.
But now, after forty solid minutes of barre exercises, stretches, and a few rusty pirouettes that left my toes complaining, I’m slowing down, reaching that heavy, satisfied kind of tired where your muscles hum like a well–played instrument.
I sink down onto the mat, legs stretched straight in front of me, reaching forward until my hands brush my ankles, forehead hovering inches above my knees.
This is usually where I’d call it.
End the session.
Shower
Eat something massive.
The front door peaks, and a second later Asher steps buck inside, shaking rain from his sleeves.
He scans the room in that sharp way he does, like he’s assessing threats even here, in a perfectly safe suburban living room.
Then he moves
not to the couch where Tyler’s still dead to the world, but to the armchair across from me, sinking into it heavily with a low sigh,
I keep stretching, feeling the tug in my hamstrings, but my mouth moves before I can stop it.
“You ever wonder what it’s like to live your whole life bent like a pretzel?”
Asher’s mouth quirks – barely- and he leans back in the chait, arms folding across his chest…
“Not once,” he says, voler low,
| laugh under my breath, reaching a little further forward
“It’s weird,” I admit, ‘Most people think it’s glamorges. Tights and stage lights and flowers at the end. But it’s just a lot of braises and blisters an in front of a minor being told everything you’re doing wrong.”
He watches me, face unreadable
“It shows,” he says finally. “The work.”
The words land heavier than I expect.
I lift my head slightly, resting my chin on my knees.
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Chapter 49: Penny
Honestly,” I say, motioning vaguely at the barie, the scattered mats, the chans of spoiled princes”
His brows drine together, a slow furrow.
“I don’t,” he says, voice rough around the edges. “Not anymore”
Speelhing warm unbula low in my stomach, dangerous and fon much,
I clear my throat and look down at my toes.
Focus, Penny
Madame Loretto’s disembodied voice echoes in my head: Stretch, Penelope. Lengthen.
I exhale, folding forward again.
A stubborn knot in my lower back refuses to looses, no muiter how hard I breathe through it.
I hesitate = then glance over at Asher, still sitting there, watching me with that steady, unnerving focus that makes my skin feel too tight.
“Can you –” I stop, cringing at myself
He raises an eyebrow
“I hate asking. But it’s an important stretch. Can you… push on my back?”
He blinks.
Like 1 just asked him to fly a helicopter blindfolded:
“Push?” he repeats, skeptical.
I nod, bending forward again, arms stretching toward my feet.
“Yeah. Just–steady pressure. Nothing crazy
le
He
stays frozen for a beat too long, then scrubs a hand through his hair like he’s already regretting his life choices.
“Please,”
add, grinning wickedly over my shoulder.
He matters something that sounds suspiciously like a cure and pushes himself up from the chair.
1 fight a grin as he walks around behind me, every step slow, deliberate
He crouches down, the air shifting around uns —
hot, heavy, electric
and even though he hasn’t touched me yet, I can feel him.
The beat of him…
The way the room gets smaller when he’s chose
5
Chapter 49: Penny
Then
his hand, large and tough and warm, rests can
rests carefully in the middle of my back.
And chow it feels like it covers the entire span of me
Now push,” 1
* 1 instruct, voice tighter than I mean it to be.
He apples pressше
light, besitant
I make a noise of pure annoyance and sit back up, twisting in glase at him.
“You have to push harder than that,” I say
Hink
“What do you mean, no?
He shifts, tension radiating off him in waves.
“You’ll pet hurt.”
“Asher, at the studio we literally step on each other’s backs for this st
stretch, I’ll survive,”
He states at me a
me a second longer
then exhales sharply through his nose,
When I bend forward again, he braces himself
both hands steadying on my back this time
and pushes harder.
The pressure sinks into my muscles, deep and sharp, and then-
pop–pop
my spine cracks in two clean places.
Asher jerks his hands away instantly, like he touched a live wire.
“You okay?” he asks roughly, already
hall standing
I straighten slowly, rolling my shoulders, grinning wide.
“Perfect,” I say, “That’s exactly
ctly what I needed,
He stares at me like he doesn’t fully believe it, muscles still called tight like he’s ready to catch me if I so much as wobble,
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Chapter 49. Periny
I wave a hand diambulvaly, stretching my arms overhead agılı,
“Okay. That’s enough fin today
still watching me with that hask like intensity
“You look…..sappointed,” he says after a beat.
1 shrug, trying not to let it sink under my skin.
Usually a full session at the studio is like thier hours minimum,” 1 admit. This feels… Jarp
He from.
“You’re insured?”
I shake my head quickly.
“No, no. Jest… it’s different. Being alone. Practicing here. It’s hard to push yourself when no one’s yelling corrections at you every fe
He nods once, slow,
“I get that.”
And somehow, stupidly, that makes my chest ache.
The way he says it- of course he understands. Probably even better than me now that I think about it.
I drag the barre across the floor, struggling to wedge it back behind the couch.
Before I can even properly wrestle it into place, Asher steps in, one hand gripping the frame, lifting it easily like it weighs nothing
Show off.
I mutter something under my breath that makes him smirk as he tucks it away.
“You should go rest,” he says, dusting his hands off
“Or get ready. I’ll wake this idiot up and we’ll head home,”
1 glance over at Tyler, still snoring blissfully.
v him.
Lucky
Asher pauses by the door, glancing back at me.
“And when you come to our plate for dinner,” he says, voice dropping a fraction, “if it’s still a mess outside, call Tyler to come get you
Inod, heart thudding a little too fast.
He stares at or a second longer-
like he wants to say
about something I don’t see yet
but then Tyler lets out a short and a
arble and the moment breaks.
Chapter 49: Penny
Asher sighs and heads toward the couch.
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