The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

ASTRA

“You sound disappointed Trash-tra.”

Zane’s voice was low, rough, and dripping with that familiar mocking edge. He stood right beside the chair, one hand still lazily steadying it, looking up at me with those sharp green eyes that always made my stomach twist.

I gripped the edge of the banner tighter, cheeks burning.

“I’m not,” I muttered, trying to focus on taping the corner. “I just… didn’t expect you to come back.”

He let out a short, humorless laugh.

“Neither did I.”

He didn’t move away. Instead, he reached up with his free hand and took the other end of the banner from me, holding it steady against the wall without even needing the chair. His height made it effortless.

For a second, we were both holding the banner together, him standing on the floor, me still on the chair. Our arms brushed. His fingers were so close to mine I could feel the heat coming off his skin.

My heart stuttered.

“Lower,” he said flatly.

I blinked. “What?”

“The banner. It’s crooked. Lower it.”

I obeyed without thinking, adjusting my side. He made a small adjustment on his end, and suddenly the banner hung perfectly straight.

He stepped back, arms crossing over his broad chest as he looked up at me with that arrogant smirk.

“See? Not that hard when someone competent helps.”

I glared down at him, still standing on the chair. “I was doing fine before you’showed up.”

“Mm. Sure you were.” His gaze dragged slowly over me, from my slightly messy ponytail down to where my skirt had ridden up a little from stretching. “You were about two seconds away from falling and cracking your head open.”

I huffed and started climbing down carefully.

Before my foot even touched the floor, Zane’s hands were on my waist, steadying me as he lifted me down like I weighed nothing.

I gasped softly at the sudden contact.

He didn’t let go right away.

His fingers stayed firm on my waist, thumbs brushing lightly over the fabric of my uniform. He was so close I could smell his cedarwood cologne mixed with the faint scent of his shampoo.

My pulse went wild.

“Zane…” I whispered, voice shaky. “You can let go now.”

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Chapter 39

He didn’t.

Instead, he tilted his head slightly, looking down at me with dark, unreadable eyes.

I bit down hard on my lip as I stared up at him. My heart pounded furiously in my chest, like it was trying to break free 1 could feel the heat of his hand burning through the thin fabric of my uniform, and his scent wrapped around me-heady intoxicating, and impossible to ignore.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything”, when the sound of footsteps snapped me out of it. Silhouettes appeared in my peripheral vision. I turned my head, and my blood ran cold.

Maya and her crew stood a few feet away like a pack of wolves that had just smelled blood.

Her eyes locked onto us instantly-on Zane’s hands still resting on my waist, on how close we were standing, on the way my body was practically pressed against his.

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Maya’s face twisted from shock into pure, venomous rage.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she hissed, her voice echoing through the hallway.

I jumped away from Zane like I’d been burned, the back of my legs hitting the chair behind me. My heart slammed against my ribcage as I grabbed my bag and the stack of papers with shaking hands.

“I….I have to go,” I rushed out, voice cracking.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

I wasn’t afraid of Maya physically.

I was afraid of what she could *do*.

She already knew about my mom. She and her minions had followed me to the hospital months ago. She knew how sick Mom was. She knew we were drowning in medical bills. And she had made it very clear she would use every single bit of that information to destroy me if I ever crossed her.

Now she had seen this.

Zane’s hands on me.

Me letting him.

I rushed past them without looking back, head down, cheeks burning with humiliation and fear.

Maya’s voice followed me like poison.

“Running away again, you fat whore?” she called after me, loud enough for the few students milling about to hear. “How pathetic. First you move into his house like a parasite, and now you’re throwing yourself at him in public? Does your dying mother know what a desperate slut her daughter is?”

Her friends laughed behind her.

I didn’t stop.

I kept walking, faster, eyes stinging with tears I refused to let fall.

*Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.*

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