The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 176

The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

YOU KIDNAPPED THE WRONG GIRL

ZANE

“You get her killed.”

I stopped fighting.

Not because I suddenly gave a fuck about his orders.

Because the bastard was right.

Astra was twenty feet away. Twenty fucking feet of glass and curtains and a man with a gun between us.

I could see the wet shine on her cheeks, the way her shoulders shook with every shallow breath.

My teeth ground together hard enough to hurt. I forced the air back into my lungs and slowly lowered my hands.

Riggs didn’t let go right away.

“Do you understand?”

My eyes never left the narrow gap between the curtains. “Yes.”

He went still. Probably the first time all night I’d given him anything that sounded like agreement.

“What?”

“I understand.”

His arm loosened a fraction. “Okay.” He released me but stayed close enough that I could still feel the heat of him at my back. “Then stay down.”

I dropped into a crouch beside him beneath the sill. Cold stone bit into my knees through the fabric of my jeans.

Riggs touched two fingers to his earpiece. “Riggs to Hayes. I have Ashton at the rear of the residence. We’re holding position.”

I kept staring through the glass.

Then Riggs leaned closer to the window, eyes narrowed. “Don’t move,” he murmured.

“I won’t.”

He shot me another look, the kind that said he didn’t believe a single word, then turned his attention fully back to the room. One hand hovered near his radio again.

I looked at the side of his head. At the exposed line of his neck and at the heavy piece of wood lying half-buried in the dirt and leaves under the shrubs beside me.

Sorry, Detective.

Actually, no.

I wasn’t.

My fingers closed around the wood. The grain was rough, solid, and damp with dew. I rose just enough, weight shifting silent on the balls of my feet…

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12:01 Thu, Aug 13

The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

and brought it down.

3 vouche

The impact was dull and final. Riggs made a short, muffled sound and folded. I caught him under the arms before he could hit the stone paving and lowered him behind the hedge.

For half a second I stared down at the slack line of his mouth.

“Should’ve cuffed me when you had the chance.”

I dropped the wood.

A burst of static erupted from his radio.

“Riggs? Status?”

1 froze.

Inside the house, Mercer suddenly spun toward Landon.

“You lied.”

Mercer’s gaze dropped toward the gun.

My entire body went ice-cold.

No.

He lunged.

So did I.

I ran straight at the back door and slammed my shoulder into it. Pain shot through my arm and the door still held.

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