The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 28

Chapter 28

ZANE

I shouldn’t have followed her home.

I told myself that the whole drive, headlights off, staying two blocks back so the black SUV wouldn’t spook her scooter. But I did it anyway.

I waited in the driveway for a few minutes, then slipped inside the house like I didn’t belong there. But I fucking did.

I was heading upstairs when I heard it, soft, crying coming from her room. The door was cracked open. I stopped, pressing my shoulder against the wall, and watched.

Elira was holding her.

My mother, usually so cold and composed, was holding her gently, stroking her back, murmuring things I couldn’t quite hear.

Then eventually moved to the vanity chair.

Elira picked up a hairbrush and began brushing Astra’s long blonde hair with slow, careful strokes. The kind of tenderness I hadn’t seen from my mother in years.

“You have such beautiful silk hair,” Elira murmured.

Astra’s voice was thick, wrecked. “Thank you….”

I stood there in the dark hallway, jaw locked, watching my mother be tender with *her*. Something ugly and hot twisted in my gut. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like how easily Astra fit here. How quickly she was taking up space in my house, in my head, in my fucking family.

I turned away before I did something stupid like rip the door

open.

An hour later, when I was sure Elira was gone, I went back..

The door was unlocked.

*Of course it was,*

I pushed it open silently and stepped inside,

Moonlight cut across her bed. Astra was curled on her side, clutching that ratty teddy bear like it could protect her from the world. Her eyes were swollen. Her nose was pink. That thin white sleep shirt had ridden up again, showing the soft curve of her hip and the thick swell of her thigh.

She looked wrecked.

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Chapter 28

And somehow still fucking beautiful.

I sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to shake the mattress. She didn’t stir. I watched her for a long time – the way her lips trembled even in sleep, the faint hitch in her breathing.

She was just Trash–tra. A charity case. A temporary distraction.

So why the fuck was I here again?

My eyes landed on the sketchpad on her nightstand. I picked it up and flipped through it slowly. Page after page of insane anime drawings. Detailed. Emotional. One looked like her, blonde hair, fierce expression, fighting some demon.

I hated how good they were.

Her phone pinged.

I glanced at the screen.

Jason: Hey love, you home safe? Hope your shift wasn’t too bad.

*Love.*

The word made my blood burn.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed the phone. It was locked, but the screen lit up with her sleeping face. I angled it carefully above her, keeping the brightness low. The Face ID scanned…. and unlocked.-

My pulse hammered as I went straight to her messages. Pages of flirty shit from Jason. Her shy replies. Emojis. The kind of soft, sweet texting that made me want to put my fist through a wall.

I opened her gallery next.

Hundreds of photos.

Shy, cute selfies of her. Some with silly filters, bunny ears, sparkles, one where she had cat whiskers. A few of her and the twins laughing. Some old ones with her mom, the woman looked frail but smiling.

I transferred every single photo of her to my own phone. All of them.

Then I found a folder labeled “Mom.”

I clicked.

The videos started playing on low volume.

Astra dancing like an idiot in a hospital room, trying to make her frail–looking mom laugh. Her

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Chapter 28-

Tam’s weak giggles in the background. –

I caught myself almost smiling before I killed the expression.

The last video was different.

It was dark. The audio was what hit first.

Maya’s voice, vicious and sharp:

“Hold her down!”

Flesh hitting flesh. A muffled, terrified cry.

“You wanna fight back, you fat pig?”

Astra’s voice, small and broken: “Stop… please stop…”

More laughter. More slaps.

“Say it louder, fatty. Tell everyone how disgusting you are.”

I froze.

My grip on the phone tightened until the edges dug into my palm.

Astra whimpered in her sleep beside me, curling tighter around her teddy bear.

I stared down at her tear–stained face, chest rising and falling in uneven little breaths.

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For a second, something dark and violent uncoiled in my chest. Not the usual hate. Something sharper.

*They* touched her.

*They* made her sound like that.

I slowly placed the phone back exactly where I found it, stood up, and left the room without a sound,

But the video kept replaying in my head the whole way to my room,

And the obsession?

It wasn’t just skin–deep anymore.

It had claws now.

I stood outside her door for another minute, staring at the wood like it had personally offended me.

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Chapter 28-

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My bleed Way still boiling from that video. The sound of Astra’s voice begging them to stop hitting her kept looping in my head like a sick song.

Fat pig.

Hold her down.

1 should’ve felt satisfied. I’d spent years making her life hell, why should I care if other people did

the same?

But I wasn’t satisfied.

I was pissed.

Furious that anyone else had touched what was mine to break.

I dragged a hand through my hair and forced myself to walk away before I did something stupid like go back in there and wake her up just to remind her who the real monster in her life was.

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