Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother novel Chapter 226

Chapter 226: Asher

She’s barely conscious in my arms, her body light but limp against my chest. I’m on the floor, cradling her, whispering to her, trying to keep her here with me, tethered to something that isn’t this nightmare.

“Princess,” 1 murmur, brushing damp strands of hair from her face. “I’ve got you. You’re okay. Stay with me.”

She’s breathing–God, she’s breathing–but too shallow, too slow. Her eyelashes flutter like she’s caught in a dream she can’t wake from, and every second that she drifts makes my panic rise. I keep checking her pulse. Still there. But her skin is cold and claramy.

So I keep talking.

“You’re safe now. They’re gone. I’m here.”

I kiss her temple. Her jaw. Her shoulder. Anywhere I can reach without jostling her too much. It’s like she’s there and not there at once.

But I am right here. Anchored in this hell.

And the worst part? I don’t know if I want to go back to the moment I walked in… or forward, where I can’t see this anymore. Where she isn’t crying beneath some bastard who had the audacity to sit on her like she wasn’t a human being. That son of a bitch–twice her size, twice her weight–had her pinned like she was furniture. Like she didn’t matter.

And the other one… the gun in her face.

If I hadn’t gotten here when I did-

My vision blurs red again, fury boiling just beneath the surface, screaming for blood. My hands twitch. My body itches to get up, run after them, hunt them

down and-

But she shifts a little in my arms, a quiet sound escaping her lips, and I’m instantly back. I press a hand to her cheek. Her breath stutters again, and she blinks up at me–more aware now. Awake.

Relief nearly knocks me sideways.

“There you are,” I breathe. “I’ve got you, Penny. I’m here.”

Her pupils are blown wide, flicking around the room like she doesn’t know where she is.

Then her gaze finds mine. Locks. And she freezes.

There’s something in her eyes I haven’t seen there before.

Confusion.

And something else.

Fear?

No. No, no. Not me.

But she asks it. Her voice is raw and small.

“How did you know his name?”

I go still. My pulse roars like a freight train in my ears.

“I know them,” I say eventually. Carefully.

She frowns, pain knitting her brows together. “Why… why did they come after me? What did they mean when they said they were making you pay

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Chapter 226: Asher

God, I want to tell her. I want to open my chest and lay it all bare every piece, every mistake, every regret, She deserves to b

But if she knew… she’d try to help. Because that’s who she is. She’s selfless, and bright, and brave, and it would get her kinted.

I can’t let that happen.

“I can’t tell you,” I say. My voice is thick, like each word is being dragged through molasses.

She jerks slightly in my arms. “What?”

“I want to. But I can’t.”

She stares at me like I just slapped her.

Her whole face changes. Betrayal. Hurt. Like the girl I kissed under Christmas lights and danced with in an igloo it slipping through my finger right ow

Her voice breaks as she says, “You have to tell me, Asher. You have to. After what they did–after what they almost did–you don’t get to protect me with silence.”

I tighten my grip around her.

“I won’t let anything happen to you again,” I tell her. “But I can’t tell you. I’m going to deal with them, Penny. I will.”

She looks at me like I’m a stranger. And I hate myself for it.

But I’d rather she hate me and live, than love me and end up in a body bag.

Suddenly-

BANG.

The front door flies open and Penny screams.

I twist us around instinctively, shielding her with my body, but—

“Boomer,” I growl, recognizing his silhouette. “Jesus.”

His eyes are wild as they scan the space, the mess of the room, me on the ground holding her.

“What the hell happened?” he asks, his voice sharp.

I don’t answer. Can’t.

Penny’s voice is shaking, desperate. “Please. Tell me. I deserve to know.”

She pushes herself upright and I want to pull her back down, keep her wrapped in cotton and steel and never let her go..

“Princess,” I try, “you just have to trust me-”

“Look at what they were going to do!” she yells, motioning toward the front door, her voice breaking. “You think I can just f

this?”

I shut my eyes, because the answer is no. Of course not.

But she has to.

Or I have to let her go

And so I do the one thing that destroys me.

his? Just trust you after

Chapter 226: Asher

I turn to Boomer and say, “She should go sleep at your place tonight.”

The silence is instant and deafening.

Boomer looks like I hit him.

Penny blinks, disbelieving. “What?”

Her voice is so small I want to die.

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