Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother Chapter 53

Dessert’s cleared, everyone’s still at the table, and the conversation has officially shifted from polite to chaotic — the kind of family dinner chaos where you’re full, warm, and just letting the conversation wander wherever it wants.

Tyler leans back, rubbing his stomach. “So, get this. Ethan — the linebacker — tried to deadlift and completely wrecked his shoulder.”

Mr. Hayes looks up from his tea. “How heavy?”

“160.”

Mr. Hayes whistles. “Oof.”

“I know, right?” Tyler grins. “Coach nearly fainted.”

I wince a little. “We had a guy at the studio mess up his shoulder too. He was doing a one-armed press lift and just… lost it mid-air.”

Tyler’s eyebrows shoot up. “Wait, what? Why do ballet dancers need to lift?”

I just blink at him.

“Tyler.”

He blinks back. “What?”

“You *do* know they have to keep us in the air, sometimes with one arm, multiple times a day... right?”

He shrugs, brushing it off. “I mean, I lift you all the time. It’s not that hard.”

There’s a beat.

Then Asher — from across the table, deadpan —

“Didn’t you say she was too heavy for you?”

Tyler snaps his head toward him, mouth open. “I never said that!”

“Pretty sure you did.”

“I— Okay, but not like that. I meant heavy for—like—not for me. For someone else. Not me.”

I raise both eyebrows. “Good save.”

Tyler points a fork at me. “Don’t look at me like that. You know I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I know,” I say, sweetly. “Still wouldn’t trust you to lift me during a pirouette combo.”

“Why not?!”

I lean forward on my elbows, dead serious now. “Because one wrong shift — one ankle not aligned, one elbow out of place, or one twitchy flex — and my career’s done. I’d fly like a beautiful broken swan right into the marley and explode.”

Mrs. Hayes chokes on her drink.

Tyler looks personally offended. “Wow. That’s dramatic.”

“It’s accurate,” I say. “I love you, but unless you can lift me with one hand over your head *and* spin at the same time, we’re not risking it.”

Mr. Hayes is laughing. “She’s not wrong.”

“They actually do that?” Tyler asks, eyes wide.

“Yes!” I say. “All the time. Sometimes multiple dancers at once. The male dancers in a company are terrifying. Like... gentle tanks.”

Asher sips his water, saying nothing — but the corner of his mouth twitches.

I catch it and almost smirk. Almost.

Tyler throws up his hands. “Fine, okay, okay. Message received. You’d rather trust some 180-pound guy in tights than me.”

“If he’s trained,” I say, smug. “Absolutely.”

“You wound me.”

“You’ll survive,” I grin. “Barely.”

Mrs. Hayes leans toward me. “This is the most entertaining dinner we’ve had in ages.”

I glance around the table — everyone smiling, relaxed, joking.

Even Asher, who still hasn’t said much, but his eyes haven’t drifted from me once.

I don’t know what to do with that look, so I just look away and sip my water, hiding the flush that crawls up my neck.

“Can I help clean anything up?” I ask their mom, mostly just to redirect the fire under my skin.

She waves a hand. “Oh no, sweetheart. We’ll get the boys to do it.”

Asher, in his low voice: “Sure. No problem.”

Tyler, groaning: “Whyyy?”

Mrs. Hayes facepalms.

Mr. Hayes gives me a little smile. “You gonna be okay on your own tonight, kiddo?”

“Oh, totally,” I say quickly.

But Mrs. Hayes tilts her head. “You sure? How has it been living alone?”

I try to play it casual. “Yeah. I mean. I don’t love being alone, but it’s fine. Especially when it storms. Ever since, like... you know, the robbery a few years ago.”

The room shifts slightly.

The plates are still. Even Tyler looks a little awkward.

Their parents both nod, knowingly. They don’t press, and I appreciate that.

But Asher’s gaze snaps up like a gun cocking.

“What robbery?” he asks, his voice sharper than I’ve ever heard it.

Tyler cuts in immediately. “Oh dude, it was crazy. Like, two guys, in the middle of the night. They had gu—”

“Tyler,” Mr. Hayes says, firm.

He stops.

Mr. Hayes looks at me. “She doesn’t need to relive it.”

“I’m fine,” I say, waving it off, even though I kind of wish Tyler hadn’t started at all. “I understand why it can seem... interesting. It was a whole thing. But yeah. It’s fine.”

Asher’s still staring.

Not like he’s curious.

More like he wants names.

Details.

Tyler laughs awkwardly, trying to cut the tension. “Anyway — speaking of scary things — we had a *brilliant* idea earlier.”

Asher sighs. “You. You had an idea.”

I whip my head toward them. “Tyler…”

He holds up a finger. “Let me finish. Don’t ruin the surprise.”

Tyler gestures wildly. “Penny lives alone. It’s scary. She’s got to cook, clean, lock everything. Doesn’t even have a car. We’re here making a mess anyway — why not just stay at her place until her parents are back?”

I blink. “Tyler, I’m not—”

He turns to his parents like he’s pitching a business plan. “Think about it. She’d be safer. Less stressed. I’d stop forgetting my gym bag here every day. Asher can cook, so she’ll survive. We’re only ten minutes away. And I know we’re boys, but we’re *respectful* boys.”

Mrs. Hayes opens her mouth to object, but Mr. Hayes says, “Actually…”

Oh god.

“No, really,” I try. “I don’t want to be a bother. I’m fine.”

Mrs. Hayes looks at me. “But it’s a lot for one girl to handle.”

“She’d make Tyler do his homework,” Mr. Hayes adds.

“Asher could keep an eye on the house.”

“She won’t be alone.”

And now they’re nodding at each other like this is some kind of genius parenting revelation.

I glance at Tyler. He’s beaming like he just got into Harvard.

Then at Asher.

Unreadable.

Completely unreadable.

And I suddenly can’t decide if I’m being rescued or doomed.

But it’s already happening. The Hayes Family Emergency Co-Habitation Plan™ has been approved.

By everyone except me.

Cool.