The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

ZANE

“Maya, stop calling my damn phone.”

65 vour hey

I wiped sweat from my neck with the hem of my tank top as I walked out of the home gym, phone pressed to my ear. I was past 10 p.m. and she was still crying like a broken record.

“Zane, please… just tell me what I did wrong,” she sobbed. “I’ll fix it. I’ll change. I’ll do anything, baby, just please…”

“You didn’t do anything,” I cut her off coldly. “You stopped being useful. That’s it. We’re done. Stop calling me.”

I hung up and blocked her number instantly.

Pathetic.

I tossed the phone onto the kitchen counter and grabbed a bottle of water, still breathing hard from the workout. My mind wouldn’t shut up.

All day I’d been thinking about Astra.

Her bruised face in the meeting.

The way she kept forcing that fake bright smile.

The way she followed me to my car without fighting,

I cracked my neck and headed upstairs.

“Zane.”

Elira’s voice stopped me on the staircase.

I turned. She stood at the bottom in her silk robe, exhaustion clear in her eyes.

“Yes?” I said flatly.

She sighed and walked up, gently grabbing my hand.

“Baby… when are you going to stop treating me this way?”

I pulled my hand away.

“You know exactly what will make me stop.”

Elira’s shoulders dropped. Pain flickered across her face.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “You know I can’t.”

“Of course.”

I turned to go upstairs.

“Wait.” she said quickly.

I stopped.

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Chapter 35

“It’s Astra,” she said.

I stiffened.

“What about her?”

auty’s

Elira stepped closer. “We had grilled shrimp and lobster tails for dinner. She said she’s allergic, so she didn’t eat. I told her she could have anything else, but she was craving warm churros with chocolate sauce. She said she’d just run out to that 24- hour place a few blocks away. That was over an hour ago. Her phone keeps going to voicemail. I’m worried, Zane.”

My blood ran cold.

“What the hell?” I snapped, turning fully. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“I thought she’d be back any minute…”

I didn’t wait.

I grabbed my keys and phone and stormed out, heart hammering with something sharp and ugly. I peeled out of the driveway, already pulling up her contact the one I’d saved the night I went through her phone.

It rang.

And rang.

Straight to voicemail.

“Fuck.”

I drove faster, scanning every street. Five minutes. Seven. My grip on the wheel was white-knuckled.

Then, up ahead on a dimly lit deserted street, I saw her.

Astra.

Standing under a flickering streetlight in her oversized purple hoodie, looking small and vulnerable. A few feet away was a man in a long, dirty coat, pressing it closed against his chest.

I slammed on the brakes.

I was out of the car and moving before my brain caught up.

As I got closer, I heard her soft, desperate voice.

“…promise you’ll give it back to me if I look?”

The man grinned, teeth yellow. “I promise. Just look and I’ll give it to you.”

He started opening his coat.

Rage exploded in my chest.

I moved faster than I ever had in my life.

I wrapped my arms around Astra from behind and spun her around, crushing her face against my chest so she couldn’t see anything. My back was now to the man, shielding her completely.

She gasped, body going rigid. “Zane…?”

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Chapter 35

“Close your eyes,” I snarled, voice low and deadly. “Right now. Don’t you fucking open them”

She obeyed, trembling, pressing her face harder into my shirt.

The flasher had opened his coat.

Nothing underneath.

Just pale skin and his pathetic, half-hard dick on full display.

My jaw clenched so hard it ached.

The man’s grin faltered when he saw my face.

“I-I’m sorry, man, I was just-”

I pulled away from Astra, making sure I stayed between them, and lunged.

He tried to run. I caught him in three strides, grabbed the back of his filthy coat, and slammed him face-first into the hood of a parked car. The metal dented. He screamed.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he blubbered, snot and tears running down his face.

“You showed your disgusting cock to her?” I growled, pressing his cheek harder into the cold metal. “You thought you could make my girl look at that pathetic shit?”

He was full-on sobbing. “Please… I won’t do it again…”

Astra’s shaky voice came from behind me. “Zane… please. Let him go.”

I didn’t loosen my grip.

“Stay right there,” I told her, voice ice-cold. “Eyes closed.”

I leaned down to the man’s ear.

“If I ever see you around here again… if I even hear you breathed near her… I will kill you. Slowly. And I’ll enjoy every second. Do you understand?”

He nodded frantically, crying harder.

I shoved him off the car. He stumbled and ran into the darkness, coat flapping behind him like the cockroach he was.

Only then did I turn back to Astra.

She looked pale under the streetlight, drowning in that oversized purple hoodie, damp hair sticking to her cheeks. Her arms were wrapped around herself like she was trying to disappear.

She stumbled back a step when I stalked toward her.

I stopped right in front of her, towering over her small frame.

“What the fuck did you think you were about to do?” I demanded, voice rough with lingering rage.

She blinked up at me, adjusting her glasses with trembling fingers. “What?”

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