Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother novel Chapter 280

Chapter 280

I don’t know how I’m breathing.

Maybe I’m not. Maybe it’s just muscle memory, like dancing through a routine I’ve done a thousand times. Step, turn, leap-inhale, exhale, pretend like nothing hurts.

But everything hurts.

Boomer pulls into Asher’s driveway, engine ticking softly after he shuts it off. He turns toward me slowly, eyes heavy with something I don’t want to name-something too

gentle, too understanding.

“You ready?” he asks.

I nod, even though I’m not. Even though every nerve in my body feels like it’s caught fire.

The walk to the door is slow. I’m hyperaware of my heartbeat, of how my fingers twitch at my sides like they want something to hold on to. Boomer doesn’t speak, doesn’t push, just

walks beside me like the shield he’s been all week.

He knocks once.

The door opens faster than it should’ve.

And there he is.

Asher.

My breath catches so hard it hurts.

He looks… different. Not in the obvious way-he’s still massive, still that same impossible

blend of danger and beauty-but there’s something cracked open in his face. In his eyes.

In the way his hand tightens on the edge of the door like he’s holding onto it to stay

Chapter 280

grounded.

“Hey,” Boomer says lightly, a neutral offer of peace.

“Thanks for bringing her,” Asher replies, his voice low and rough. His eyes never leave

mine. “I’ve got it from here.”

Boomer hesitates.

I glance at him and nod. “It’s okay.”

He studies me for a second longer, then steps back with a short breath. “I’ll be around if

you need anything.”

I manage a weak smile. “Thanks.”

And then he’s gone.

I don’t know what I expected when Asher opened the door.

Not the way his eyes lock on mine like he’s afraid I’ll vanish.

Not the tension in his jaw, the bruised, exhausted shadow under his eyes.

And definitely not the silence that settles like a fog the moment Boomer steps away and

leaves us alone.

We don’t move at first. Not toward each other, not away.

Just breathing in the same space for the first time in days that felt like years.

He steps back and lets me in. The air inside his place is warm, filled with the clean,

grounding smell of pinewood and soap. Something about it stings behind my eyes.

He doesn’t sit. I don’t, either.

He just looks at me, and then-

“I should’ve told you everything that night,” he says quietly, voice raw and steady. “I

realized it about two seconds after you walked out the door with Boomer.”

My heart clenches.

Asher runs a hand over his mouth, then through his hair, like the memory physically

hurts. “But I was in fight mode. Fix mode. You were hurting, terrified, and all I could think

was that I needed you safe. That was the only thing that mattered.”

I don’t say anything yet. I let him speak.

“I’m not in a gang, Penny,” he says, eyes sharp and clear. “I’ve never been. The Vultures…

that was never my life. Never my choice. I didn’t grow up in that world. I didn’t want

anything to do with it. But someone I cared about got dragged in.”

He pauses, breath stuttering.

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