Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother Chapter 140

Back in the living room, the crowd is buzzing with half-drunken theories and loud accusations. Empty beer bottles clink as people pass them around, and the fire crackles, casting flickering shadows over flushed cheeks and wild, excited eyes.

Penny stays close to me, her shoulder brushing mine, her warmth seeping into my side. She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, eyes darting around the room, trying to catch snippets of everyone’s whispered theories.

Jenny claps her hands, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet like she’s about to announce a surprise birthday party. “Alright, everyone, time to reveal the killer!”

A few people start yelling out their guesses.

“Rebecca!”

“No, it was Max!”

“It has to be Zoe. I swear I saw her whispering to someone!”

Jenny raises her hands to quiet the chaos. “Okay, okay, hold on.” She grins. “Before I spill the beans, I have to know. Asher, did you figure it out?”

A ripple of laughter and groans sweeps through the room. Someone mutters, “How the hell would he know? He’s been sitting in one spot the whole time.”

Jenny’s eyebrows lift. She looks genuinely curious. “Yeah, actually, I’m interested. What do you think, Asher?”

Penny turns to me, eyes wide, a tiny crease appearing between her brows.

I sigh, leaning back against the wall, crossing my arms. “Yeah,” I say, my voice low but clear enough to cut through the chatter. “I know who it is.”

A chorus of shocked gasps and disbelieving snorts.

“No way.”

“Bro, what?”

“He’s messing with us.”

Jenny bites her lip, leaning in, clearly intrigued. “Okay, hotshot. Who do you think it is?”

I glance around the room, eyes catching on every suspect, every witness, every possible angle. “It’s Tyler.”

The room goes dead silent for a full two seconds.

Then, chaos.

“No way!”

“What?!”

“That doesn’t make sense, man. He was with me at the start!”

“Bro, explain.”

I raise a hand, and slowly, the voices die down. Penny’s watching me with those wide, curious eyes, her breath a little uneven.

“You all came into the library at some point,” I say. “Some of you multiple times. It’s the only room where the ‘body’ was, so if anyone wanted to check for clues, they had to come to me.”

Someone scoffs, “And?”

I smirk, glancing at Tyler, who’s standing with his arms crossed, head tilted, a nervous smile twitching on his lips. “And I watched all of you. People move differently when they’re guilty.”

Someone from the football team mutters, “Bro, this is some Sherlock shit.”

I ignore him. “Tyler came in twice. The first time, he barely glanced at me, just made some sarcastic comment about how ‘even dead, I look annoyed.’ But the second time, he stayed a little longer. He looked around the room, scanned the windows, the door, even checked behind the pool table.”

Jenny’s eyes go wide.

“That’s what I’d do if I were trying to cover my tracks,” I say. “Check to make sure I didn’t leave anything behind. That my trail was clean.”

Someone whistles low.

Tyler’s jaw tightens.

“But that wasn’t the only tell,” I continue, eyes still locked on my brother. “I also noticed something when the girl screamed on the stairs.”

The girl who played the ‘accidental’ victim, leans forward. “Me?”

I nod. “When you screamed, everyone’s heads snapped toward the noise. Everyone except Tyler.”

People exchange glances, trying to remember.

I tilt my head, smirking a little now. “He didn’t flinch. Barely even turned his head. Like he already knew someone else was going to die. Because he planned it. And when someone doesn’t react to a loud, sudden noise in a murder game, it means they’re either the killer or the next victim.”

Tyler’s eyes flicker, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

Another wave of gasps.

Jenny’s jaw drops. “Oh my god. You’re... right.”

The room erupts.

“No fucking way!”

“Brooooo!”

“Dude, how?”

Penny’s looking at me like I just parted the Red Sea. She leans closer, eyes wide, cheeks flushed, and whispers, “If I ever get murdered in cold blood, promise you’ll be on my case so that the guy who did it can go to jail.”

I turn to her, my eyes locking onto hers, my chest tightening just a bit. “No one’s ever gonna get close enough to hurting you like that, princess.”

She blinks, her breath catching for a split second. I see the way her lips part, the way her pulse ticks in her throat.

Tyler breaks the moment, clapping me on the shoulder, his laugh too loud, too forced. “Brooo! Thanks for not outing me right away. You had me scared for a second. When did you figure it out?”

I meet his eyes, holding them for a fraction too long. “Thirty minutes in.”

He chuckles, but there’s a flicker of something in his eyes. Maybe annoyance. Maybe fear. Hard to tell.

Penny laughs, shaking her head. “You literally saw me at the beginning. You’re such a good liar.”

She’s giggling, and Tyler joins in, but I stay quiet, my eyes never leaving my brother.

Because the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to wonder just how much he’s actually lying about.