Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother novel Chapter 42

I scroll aimlessly through my phone, the light of the screen washing my face pale in the dark.

Notifications, texts, dumb beadlines,

Maching important

Nothing real

I glance sideway.

And step

Penny is curled up on the fe end of the couch, knees tucked tight to her chest, her dare relaxed in sleep.

The blanket I threw over her is half falling off, her bare legs afetched out next to me, smonth and pale in the dim light from the TV.

She lasted maybe two minutes after starting the movie.

Typical

And somehow — somehow

the’s even more beautiful like this.

Soft, unguarded

Fragile in a way she never shows when she’s awake, laughing and joking and milling her eyes at the world

1 drap hand down my face, forcing myself to look away.

Her bare legs brush lightly against my thigh every time she shifts, and it’s goddamn corture.

I’d rather be back overseas, adrenaline spiking and bullets flying, than sitting here trying to be a goddamn mank while she curled up next to me wear nothing but my clothes

My hand twitches, hovering for a

a second

some deep, reckless part of me wanting to reach out and brush a strand of hair from her forehead.

trace the soft curve of her check,

shove it down.

Hard

Another crack of thunder shakes the house.

And Penny bolts upright with a gasp

wild, dissipated

She scrambles backward, hands clawing at the coach, looking for something sold to grab onto

The lights are off I’d killed the cater to make it easier to watch the TV and in the sadden pitch black, she panies bander.

in forward fast, teaching for het,

“Hey,” I say sharply Penny. It’s mor

Chapter 42: Asher

But she don’t hear ne.

Or doem‘ registr

She lets out a small, broken scream, failing blindly, pushing at my chest like I’m just another shadow trying in het ber

Fuck, I mutter, catching her waists to keep her fam hurting henc

Her whole body is trembling –

not just shivering from cold, but shaking in that deep,

my that h

has nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with fear.

What the hell happened to

to herz

Who hurt her bad enough to leave this kind of scar?

My phone buzes against the couch cushion

Dad testing

kay down there?

Everything okay

I thumb back a quick reply with one hand, still holding Penny steady with the other.

Yeah. Penny got scared by the thunder. Handling it.

Because what else can I say?

How do you explain the way her panic is choking the air out of the room?

How do you explain the way it cuts you in half to see

I shift, pulling her gently toward me,

it?

She’s still fighting, small fists pushing weakly at my chest, tears wetting her cheeks.

I drag her carefully onto my lap,

my lap, settling her with her back against my chest, her legs curled sideways across my thighs.

And then slowly – I start breathing.

Deep.

slow breaths

Out

Deliberate

Grounding

After a few minutes, I feel her start to mirror it without realising –

her ribcage expanding against mine, her gasps slowing

She stops struggling.

the one that a not good for her, the In

Chapter 42: Asher

Just slumps against me, spr

I hold her tighter, the arm around he wants, the other faced against the back of the couch.

She feels so all like this.”

So impossibly soft.

Every part of me every rough, broken, handened pari – screams to protect her. And this other side of me, trying to keep away, wants to destroy her.

1 dip my head closer to heus, lovering my voice in a tumble.

“You okay?”

She nods, the motion small and jerky.

I don’t push for more.

I shift, lifting her carefully, and settle her back down on the couch next to me.

She wipes at her face with the sleeve of my shirt, looking embarassed.

I don’t say anything

I don’t look away either.

“What was that I ask quietly-

She pulls the blanket up higher around herself.

“Sometimes I get.. nightmares,” she says finally, voice so soft I almost miss it. “I don’t know why. They hot… happen.”

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