Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother novel Chapter 168

Chapter 168: Asher

I feel myself shake, just a little, despite everything Eve taised

Despite everthing Eve novint.

expressed sprint me, warm and real. Her fingers trace the edge of my tear like it doesn’t dingin ter Like it doesn’t

That’s what I keep telling myself

I’ve never told anyone–not my parents, not Tyler, not even the poddans therapist the military threw at me when I got fark, the got the nimmory from my CO, the bullet point but. She didn’t ask for the stars, and I didn’t offer it. I’ve never retidd it. Until now

But Penny’s here, ber berath of against my chest, her hand testing gently meet my ribs like she’s trying to hold

And somehow Twant her to know. The real version. The full weight of it

“At that pot,” I say, voice low, “it straped feeling real. Just cham. Smoke and far and screaming Piles of bodies. Rubble everywhere from the valley walls. You couldn’t see three feet in front of you.”

I feel her press closer.

“I’d been hit in the back. Some piece of gear, maybe part of a vest, shot right into me when the blast went off. Hurt like hell. Still does sometimes” “But I could move, so I figured the others could too. I had to find them. Get them out,”

Her hand moves slightly, cuiling around the center of my chest.

“I found Bug first.” I let out a breath. “We called him that because he hated them. Paranoid little bastard, We had a dark sense of humor.”

She lets out the tiniest buff of air at that. It’s not a laugh, but it’s something.

“He had a metal spike through him–clean through. Pinned to the rocks like a fucking paperweight. I went to help, told him not to move, to hold on, but he…” I swallow. “He tried to pull it out himself Got panicked. Didn’t listen”

I look down at her. Her face is wat again, silent tears slipping down her cheeks.

“It was the only thing keeping him from bleeding out. And once it was out–he was gone.”

I pause for a long moment.

mace screaming–Na moer gunfire, fast the sound of my bouts on stone

“After that, it was just smoke and silence. The kind that makes your skin crawl. No me cre and my own breath echoing back at me.”

I’m not sure she’s breathing anymore.

“I searched for the other three for what felt like hours. I knew Line was rating out, that we were exposed, but… I couldn’t just leave. Then I found Rasister. He was hanged up, bleeding, but be mould move. Could think. And we made the call”

She looks up at me. I can’t tell if she wants me to stop on keep going. Her eyes say both.

“We didn’t know if more enemy units were coming, or if there were more bombs. So we searched a little longer. But we didn’t find anyone che not in me

I rub a hand over my face.

We started mining toward the edge of the valley, planning to circle back with reinforcements. And that’s when we saw it. A truck. Just sitting there, I

hadn’t been there before.”

She stiftens slightly in my arms.

1/3

Chapter 168: Asher

One guy was in it. Na wenjem. No insignia. Nothing.

She estales, the sound shaky.

“We bohed for cover, hit we were line late

I reach down, have the long scar that slashes from my chest down past my stomach.

“Der of the domes des off

hit me square in the ribs, Launched me straight back. That’s what tort me open.“

She’s crying me, no longer hiding it.

“After that, everything’s blony, Pain Numbness. I remember flashes, I was choking on smoke. Could hear Roter yelling, marine, I see him in the fire Tried to d to him. Didn’t make it more than a few feat:

I pause. Just ka breath.

“That’s when Night showed up. He took my radio, called for air support and mediac. Then he went back for Rooster.” My voter drops men lower. “Thany how he lost the fingers. And part of his ear. The fire… didn’t care who you were trying to save.

Penny doesn’t say

She just presses her hand to the center of my chest, right above the seat. She doesn’t pull away. She doesn’t flinch.

she stays right there.

And in this moment, holding her, I don’t feel pain.

1 just feel ber

“I know Night thought I was dead.”

Her breath catches. I feel it,

“He didn’t even check but took my radio and started dragging Rooster away. They were seconds from leaving me there. Couldn’t blame them. I wasn’t moving. There was blood everywhere. And… there was so much stinke they wouldn’t see my face, couldn’t see if I was breathing”

Rooster said something–asked him what about Tank Night turned back. So did Rooster. And I just “I let out a breath. “Lifted my hand. Gave them the smallest wave I could manage.”

1 hoff a humorless laugh. “I didn’t even know if they’d see it. But Rooster did. And he screamed my name so hard I think in snapped Night back into pear. That’s when they came for me. That’s the last thing I remember before everything went black,”

Penny’s fingen lighten mer my ribs.

“And that?” I whisper. “That wave? That was the last but of strength 1 had, Gave it all for one small movement, fast to tell them I was still fucking here.”

1 look down.

Her face is pressed against my chest again, but her shoulders are shaking

I wrap my arms around her tighter. Not to hold her together. But because I think maybe… just paybe, she’s helping hold me

2/3

Falling for my boyfriend’s Navy brother

Chapter 169: Asher

“i woke up in a hospital,” I tell her quietly. “Not the kind we had it there. This was real. White walls. Bright lights. Machines where I could hear

Penny’s curled against me, still and silent, her fingers resting on my ribs. I keep pring.

“My

by body… it was a mess. Hurt so bad I couldn’t move. Couldn’t talk. best existed in pain. Doctors came and west, I don’t remember what they said at first.. But a few weeks later, I got the full story.”

I glance down at the long seat running across my chest. My fingers brush over it unconsciously

“They told me a truck dom hit me. One of those steel reinforced ones. Hew off in the explosion, sliced through all my gear. I was running, so in didn’t hat anything vital. Just skin. Muscle. They showed

-me, unconscious, that damn door sticking out of mr. Didn’t even look human“.

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