The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 184

He tore down the stairs so fast Nadine called after him to slow down, but Mason was already racing after him.

I barely had time to open my arms before Lucas slammed into me.

“Ouff!”

He wrapped himself around my waist, and a second later Mason was there too, squeezing in from the other side. The force of both of them sent me back a step, and Zane caught me before I lost my balance.

I laughed breathlessly. “Okay, okay…”

A strange little sound came from Lucas.

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The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

My smile vanished.

He had his face buried against my stomach, his shoulders shaking.

My chest squeezed at the sight of him.

I wrapped my arms around both of them. “Hey. Come here. I’m here.”

“You were gone,” Mason said, and his voice sounded dangerously close to tears too.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Four whole days!”

“You didn’t tell us where you were,” Lucas mumbled against me.

“I couldn’t, sweetheart.”

He finally looked up.

Tears covered his cheeks.

“We thought you left.”

I stared at him. “What?”

“We thought you didn’t want to be our nanny anymore.”

“No. No, that’s not what happened.”

I lowered myself in front of them, ignoring Zane muttering behind me about the hospital telling me to rest.

“Look at me.”

Lucas wiped his nose on his sleeve. Mason immediately did the same.

Normally, I would’ve said something.

Not tonight.

“I didn’t leave you guys. Okay? I would never disappear without saying goodbye.”

Mason sniffled. “Then where did you go?”

I didn’t have an answer an eight-year-old should hear.

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Nadine had gone quiet behind them. When I glanced at Zane, there wasn’t a hint of amusement left on his face either.

“Something happened and I couldn’t come home for a few days,” I said carefully. “Your mom and dad will explain more when they think you’re ready. But none of it happened because I wanted to leave you.”

Mason stared at me for a moment.

“So you still want to be our nanny?”

I reached for him before the tears could embarrass me again.

“Of course I do.”

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Lucas immediately squeezed himself into the hug too, apparently offended by the possibility of being excluded.

“So you’re staying?” he asked.

I kissed the top of his head.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

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Both boys clung to me again, and I held them there on the foyer floor, surrounded by the people I’d spent days wondering if I’d ever see again.

I’d spent all that time wanting to go home.

It hadn’t occurred to me until tonight that this was what I’d meant.

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The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

CAN YOU STAY?

ZANE

My brothers had apparently decided Astra was never allowed out of their sight again. I couldn’t exactly blame them, but I still wished they’d stop touching her every five seconds.

Lucas had one arm wrapped around her waist while Mason held her hand like he was afraid she’d vanish if he let go. Every time she moved more than a few feet, both of them moved with her. By the time she sat down at the table, they’d already claimed the chairs on either side of her before I could get there.

I stopped beside the table and looked at Mason. “You’re in my seat.”

He frowned up at me. “Since when?”

“Since now.”

“Sit somewhere else,” he shot back.

I stared at him. The little shit didn’t even have the decency to look away. Beside me, Astra covered her mouth, and I glanced over at her.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“No.”

Her eyes were still tired, but there was a tiny spark in them now that hadn’t been there when I’d found her tied to that chair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lucas leaned against her arm. “Zane’s jealous.”

“I am not jealous of an eight-year-old.”

“You’re jealous of two eight-year-olds,” Mason corrected.

I pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. “I liked both of you better four days ago.”

Dinner arrived a few minutes later, though Astra seemed far more interested in making sure the twins ate than touching her own food. She pointed her fork at Lucas without even looking at him.

“Vegetables.”

His face fell. “You just came back.”

“And?”

“I thought you’d be nicer.”

“You thought wrong. Eat your vegetables.”

Mason nearly choked on his water while Lucas looked at her like she’d deeply offended him. Without even glancing his way, Astra pointed her fork at Mason next. “Don’t laugh. Yours too.”

That shut him up.

For the next twenty minutes I watched her slowly slip back into the familiar rhythm of the house. Almost. Every so often something gave her away-a noise from the kitchen that made her tense before she realized what it was, her attention drifting toward the windows, her thumb absently rubbing the raw skin around her opposite wrist when the conversation

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moved on without her. Nobody mentioned any of it. Maybe they hadn’t noticed. I had.

By the time dinner was winding down, exhaustion was catching up with her. Lucas was halfway through some ridiculously complicated story about school when Astra propped her cheek against her palm. Her eyes drifted shut, opened again, then nearly closed a second time.

“You’re tired.”

She immediately sat straighter. “I’m fine.”

Naturally.

The front door opened before Mason could come up with a reply, followed by the unmistakable sound of someone hurrying through the house.

“Where is she?”

1

Mom.

Astra lifted her head just as my mother appeared in the dining-room doorway. She was still wearing the clothes she’d left in earlier, but her hair had started coming loose and her eyes were red from crying. Then she saw Astra.

“Oh, thank God.”

She crossed the room so quickly Astra barely managed to get out of her chair before Mom wrapped both arms around her. Astra stiffened in surprise for only a moment before hugging her back.

“You’re home.” Mom cradled the back of her head, holding her tightly. “You’re home.”

Astra closed her eyes against her shoulder. “I’m home.”

When Mom finally released her, it was only enough to take Astra’s face between her hands. Her attention moved over Astra’s face before settling on the bruises and angry marks around her wrists. Mom’s fingers tightened slightly against her cheeks.

“I’m okay, Mrs. Ashton. Really.”

Mom looked unconvinced.

“Mostly okay?” Astra amended.

“That I’ll accept.”

Astra managed a small smile, but it didn’t last. “What about Mr. Ashton?”

Mom’s attention flicked briefly toward the twins. Of course that was what Astra wanted to know. She’d been kidnapped and forced to watch my father get shot and beaten right in front of her, yet somehow his condition was still one of the first things on her mind.

Mom seemed to make a decision. “Boys, why don’t you go upstairs with Nadine for a few minutes?”

Both of them immediately protested.

“But Astra-”

“We’re staying with Astra.”

“You can see Astra again later,” Mom told them. “She’s not going anywhere.”

Lucas clearly wasn’t convinced, so Astra bent until they were closer to eye level. “I’ll be here.”

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“You promise?”

“I promise.”

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Mason held out his pinkie. Astra hooked hers around it without hesitation and repeated the promise, which seemed to satisfy whatever legally binding agreement the two of them had just invented. Nadine finally managed to usher them out, although both boys kept looking back until they disappeared from view.

The moment they were gone, I turned to Mom. “How bad is it?”

“He’s stable.”

The breath left me before I realized how badly I’d needed to hear that.

“The bullet went through his left side and missed the major organs,” she continued. “There was some internal bleeding, Buy the doctors were able to control it.”

Astra covered her mouth. “He needed surgery?”

“Yes, but he’s awake. Or at least he was when I left.” Mom gave a tired smile. “Very drugged and extremely irritated that nobody will give him his phone.”

Yeah. That sounded like Dad.

“He’s going to be okay?” Astra asked.

“The doctors expect him to make a full recovery.”

Relief swept across her face. “Thank God.”

Mom reached over and took her hand. “He asked about you almost as soon as he woke up.”

Astra stared at her. “Me?”

“He wanted to know whether you’d been taken to the hospital and if the doctors had cleared you.”

Her relief lasted only a moment before her eyes filled with tears. “He got shot because of me.”

“No.” Mom answered so firmly that Astra looked up. “He got shot because a disturbed man pulled the trigger. None of this happened because of you.”

Astra lowered her eyes, but the guilt was still written all over her face. Whatever argument she was having with herself about Dad could wait until she’d gotten some proper sleep.

“You’re going to bed.”

That got her attention immediately. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You can barely keep your eyes open.”

“I am perfectly awake.”

Mom took one look at Irer and made the mistake of siding with me. “You do look exhausted, sweetheart.”

Astra gave her a tired smile. “I’m all right, Mrs. Ashton. Just a little tired.”

“Go to bed. Trouble.”

“I will. In a minute.”

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The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

“No.”