The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 187

The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

“What about my mom?”

His thumb stopped against my hand.

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I’d thought about her constantly while Silas had me. Since coming home, though, everything had moved so quickly that I hadn’t asked the question now making me feel slightly sick.

“What did you tell her?”

Zane took a moment before answering, and the silence immediately sent my thoughts somewhere terrible./

“She must have realized I was gone.” I tightened my fingers around his. “Was she upset? Did she keep asking where I was?”

“Astra.”

“What if she thought I abandoned her?”

“You didn’t.”

“I know that, but she might not.” The words began coming faster. “She would’ve been terrified, Zane, and stress makes everything worse for her. What if…”

“She doesn’t know.”

The rest died on my tongue.

“What?”

“We never told her you were kidnapped.”

I searched his face. “You didn’t?”

“No.”

The breath left me in a rush as I closed my eyes. “Oh, thank God.”

Zane kept hold of my hand, his thumb passing slowly over my knuckles while I tried to absorb what he’d just told me.

“She was told you were busy with school and work,” he explained. “Nothing frightening. The nurses kept her routine the same, and whenever she asked about you, they gave her the same answer so she wouldn’t get confused or worried.”

“And she’s okay?”

“She’s fine.”

“She didn’t think I’d left her?”

“No, Trouble. As far as she’s concerned, everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be.”

Something inside me finally unclenched.

“Thank you.”

His brows pulled together. “For what?”

“For thinking about her when there was already so much happening.”

“There was never a chance we were going to let her find out like that.”

The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

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The answer nearly undid me, so I turned toward the corridor and blinked rapidly until the sting behind my eyes eased.

“Please stop being nice to me,” I muttered. “I’m trying very hard not to cry again.”

Zane’s fingers tightened around mine. “You’re allowed.”

I glanced at him.

He wasn’t smiling or teasing me. He simply sat there with my hand enclosed in his, looking at me as though anyone who objected to my emotional breakdowns would have to answer to him personally.

There were moments when Zane Ashton made absolutely no sense to me.

This was quickly becoming one of them.

Before I could say anything, the door beside us opened and Mrs. Ashton stepped into the corridor.

“You can come in.”

My attention went straight to the room behind her, and whatever relief I’d felt moments ago gave way to a fresh wave of

nerves.

Mrs. Ashton caught the change in my expression and offered me a reassuring smile. “He’s doing well. He’s been waiting for both of you.”

Knowing Mr. Ashton wanted to see me too made me strangely nervous.

Zane rose without releasing my hand, threading his fingers more securely through mine.

“Ready?”

Not even slightly.

Mr. Ashton had walked into Silas’s house knowing exactly what he was risking, and he’d gotten hurt trying to help me. The thought of facing him after everything that had happened made me want to stay planted in that chair, but avoiding him would have been worse.

I squeezed Zane’s hand. “Yeah.”

His grip remained steady around mine as we followed his mother into the room.

The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

Not Ready to Let Go

ASTRA

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For a man who had been shot less than twenty-four hours ago, Mr. Ashton looked annoyingly determined to behave as though it were a minor inconvenience.

He was propped against white pillows with the head of the hospital bed raised behind him. An IV disappeared into the back of one hand, and beneath the thin hospital gown, I could make out the edge of a dressing around his middle.

The bruising was harder to ignore. One side of his face had darkened since last night, and a small bandage covered the gash near his hairline. He was obviously tired, but somehow even a hospital gown failed to make Landon Ashton any less intimidating.

His attention dropped briefly to where Zane’s hand held mine before returning to my face.

“Astra.”

“Mr. Ashton.”

“Come in. Both of you.”

Zane shut the door while Mrs. Ashton went to her husband’s bedside and adjusted his pillow.

“You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I have been.”

“You spent twenty minutes arguing with your surgeon about being discharged.”

“I disagreed with his timeline.”

Zane pulled out a chair for me before taking the one beside it. “Nice to see getting shot didn’t make you less irritating.”

Mr. Ashton regarded his son. “Nice to see a hostage situation didn’t improve your judgment.”

“I got her out.”

“You also knocked a detective unconscious.”

“He was obstructing me.”

Mrs. Ashton closed her eyes as though asking some higher power for patience, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

! “Something amusing, Astra?” Mr. Ashton asked.

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“No, sir.”

“Liar.” Zane said beside me.

Mrs. Ashton turned away before either of us could catch more than the beginning of her smile.

For a brief moment, the room felt almost ordinary.

Then I caught sight of the dressing beneath Mr. Ashton’s gown again, and the amusement faded before I could stop it.

“How are your wrists?”

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The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

The question pulled me from my thoughts. “They’re okay.”

“Anything else?”

“No. The doctors cleared me.”

He seemed to consider that before giving a small nod.

“And you?” I asked.

“I’ve been informed I’ll survive.”

“Unfortunately,” Zane muttered.

Elira promptly smacked his shoulder.

“Ow.”

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it, drawing everyone’s attention in my direction.

“Sorry.”

Something in Mr. Ashton’s features eased. “Don’t apologize.”

My amusement faded.

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There was so much I could have said to him, but most of it would have dragged us straight back into everything that had happened. For a few minutes, this room had almost felt normal, and I wasn’t ready to lose that yet.

So I told him the one thing that mattered now.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Mr. Ashton held my gaze. “So am I.”

A skeptical sound came from beside me.

His father turned toward Zane. “Do you have something to add?”

“Just enjoying this touching celebration of your continued existence.”

“Your enthusiasm is overwhelming.”

Zane leaned back in his chair. “I came all the way to the hospital.”

“How generous of you.”

Mrs. Ashton sighed. “I see we’re all feeling better.”

Mr. Ashton ignored that, but as his attention returned to me, it paused briefly on the hand Zane still had wrapped around

mine.

One eyebrow rose.

Oh, God.

Zane followed his father’s attention and showed absolutely no inclination to let go.

“What?”

The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

“Nothing.”

The complete lack of embarrassment on his face somehow made mine worse.

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Mr. Ashton spared us both another moment before moving on.

“Astra, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect from that, but I nodded. “All right.”

“Privately.”

Zane’s easy posture disappeared. “No.”

I turned toward him. “Zane.”

“Why do you need to talk to her alone?”

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Mr. Ashton regarded him with the patience of a man who deeply regretted contributing to his DNA. “It means without you in the room.”

“Why?”

“Because the conversation doesn’t concern you.”

“Then you can have it with me here.”

Mr. Ashton’s expression remained unchanged. “No.”

They stared each other down until Mrs. Ashton stepped between them.

“Come on.”

Zane remained exactly where he was.

Instead of arguing with him again, Mr. Ashton looked to me. “Astra?”

I understood the question beneath my name. He wanted to know whether I was comfortable being alone with him.

“It’s okay.”

Zane immediately faced me. “You don’t even know what he wants.”

“No, but I’m reasonably sure he isn’t planning to kidnap me.”

Elira made a strangled sound while Zane looked genuinely horrified.

“Not funny.”

“A little funny.”

“Not even slightly.”

I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll be fine.”

He searched my face for a moment before addressing his father again. “If she comes out upset…”

“Leave”

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The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“Záne,” Elira called as she headed for the door.

He finally stood. Before letting me go, he bent closer. “I’ll be right outside.”

“Okay.”

His fingers slipped from mine, and I hated how quickly I noticed the absence.

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Zane gave his father one final suspicious glance before following his mother into the corridor, leaving me alone with M. Ashton.

The hospital-room door clicked shut behind me.

I’d barely made it into the corridor before Zane rose from the chair opposite the room and came straight toward me.

“What did he say?”

His hair was a mess from dragging his hand through it, the dark strands sticking up in several directions. Between the scabbed cut across his lip and the fresh bandages covering his knuckles, he looked like he’d spent every minute of the private conversation wondering what was happening on the other side of the door.

“Nothing terrible.”

His eyes narrowed. “That’s not an answer.”

“It is technically an answer.”

“Astra.”

I smiled, which only seemed to make him more suspicious.

“What did he want?”

I glanced briefly at the closed door. “He wanted to make sure I was okay.”

“Privately?”

“He’s your father. Maybe he wanted five minutes without you arguing with him.”

“Unlikely.”

“Very likely.”

Zane kept watching me, and I tried to hold onto my smile even as I felt it becoming less convincing.

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His hand came up to my face, thumb brushing gently beneath one eye.

“Were you crying?”

Damn him. “No.”