The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 47

Chapter 47

ASTRA

“I can’t wait to crash onto my bed and sleep.” Elizabeth groaned the second we stepped off the bus.

Honestly?

Same.

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The Harrington Academy parking lot was dimly lit now, everyone exhausted after the game and long ride/back. Students climbed off buses carrying duffel bags, half-dead cheerleaders dragged coolers toward storage, and teachers tried organizing) equipment returns before everyone disappeared home.

Cold night air hit my face as I adjusted my bag strap.

Priya stretched dramatically beside me. “If anyone speaks to me before noon tomorrow, I’ll cry.”

“You cry every day anyway.” Chloe said calmly.

“That’s because school is oppressive.”

Despite myself, I laughed softly.

For a few minutes, everything almost felt normal again.

We unloaded the last boxes from the activity bus, returned clipboards to the student activities office, and locked up the leftover supplies with one of the faculty supervisors.

Then people slowly started leaving.

Parents picked students up near the curb. Others headed toward parked cars. Football players disappeared in loud, exhausted groups.

“I’m going to coma-sleep for twelve hours,” Elizabeth announced, hugging me quickly. “Night, President.”

“Night.”

Priya hugged me next.

“So did you and Ashton have a good-”

“PRIYA.”

She cackled and sprinted toward Chloe before I could kill her.

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“Bye, Astra!” Chloe called with a grin.

I waved weakly as they left together.

Jason lingered beside me near the mostly empty parking lot, hands shoved into his jacket pockets.

“You okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah.” I smiled tiredly. “Just exhausted.”

He nodded slowly.

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Chapter 47

Then his expression shifted.

“I saw you and Zane on the bus.”

My stomach tightened instantly.

“Oh.”

Jason studied my face carefully.

“What was that about?”

Heat rushed to my cheeks.

“N-nothing.” I said too quickly. “He was just being his usual annoying self.”

Jason didn’t look convinced.

“Astra…”

Before he could finish, a large hand wrapped around the back of my neck.

I gasped softly.

Heat exploded through me because I knew that hand.

The weight.

The scent.

Zane.

He appeared behind me like a storm cloud, tall and broad in black sweats and his Harrington hoodie.

His fingers tightened slightly against my neck.

“Let’s go,” he said flatly.

My pulse jumped.

“Zane-”

But he was already steering me away.

Not gently.

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His grip stayed locked around my neck as he guided, practically dragged, me across the parking lot toward his car.

I stumbled trying to keep up.

Behind me, Jason stared with a dark expression.

And worse…

Maya stood across the lot with her friends, watching everything.

Watching Zane drag me away by the neck like I was on a leash.

My face burned instantly.

Chapter 47

“Zane,” I hissed under my breath. “What are you doing?!”

He ignored me completely.

The cold air bit against my skin while he marched me toward his black car parked near the curb.

Then he opened the passenger door and shoved me lightly inside.

“Hey!”

The door slammed shut before I could say anything else.

A second later, Zane slid into the driver’s seat.

Silence filled the car.

My neck still burned where his hand had been.

I rubbed it quickly, pulse racing.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I snapped the second he started the engine.

Zane glanced at me while backing out of the parking spot.

“Wrong with me?”

I stared at him in disbelief.

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“Zane, I’m serious!” My voice rose. “I’m not your little sister or servant that you can just manhandle whenever you feel like it!”

His jaw flexed once.

“You were taking too long.”

My mouth fell open.

“That’s your excuse?!”

“You looked real comfortable talking to Valentine.”

“Jason has a name.”

“Don’t care.”

I stared at him, stunned.

“You dragged me away because I was talking to Jason?”

“I dragged you away because he was looking at you like he wanted to date you.”

Heat rushed into my face.

“What?!”

The silence inside the car turned suffocating.

Zane’s grip tightened on the steering wheel as he drove away from the school, jaw clenched hard enough for the muscle to

tick.

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Chapter 47

I should’ve stayed quiet.

But I was tired.

Tired of the games.

Tired of being dragged around like some toy.

Something inside me finally snapped.

“What if he does want to date me?” I shot back, sharper than intended. “Is there something wrong with that? Am I too fat? Too poor? Too much of a charity case for someone like Jason to actually like me?”

Zane’s head snapped toward me so fast I flinched.

The car swerved slightly before he corrected it.

“Excuse me?”

I lifted my chin even though my heart pounded.

I should stop talking.

I knew I should.

But embarrassment and anger were already boiling too hard inside me.

“Well, it’s true!” I snapped. “Maybe I’m too poor and fat for someone like you to understand this, but Jason likes me and maybe I’d actually say yes if he asked me out!”

The car drifted slightly again.

Not dangerously.

Just enough to show I’d hit something explosive.

Zane went completely still beside me.

Too still.

Then suddenly…

He laughed.

One short, sharp sound.

“You think you’re fat?”

Heat rushed to my face.

I crossed my arms tightly. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Do that thing where you act shocked because pretty girls are only supposed to look a certain way.”

Zane’s eyes flicked toward me briefly before returning to the road.

“You seriously think I look at you and see fat?”

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Chapter 47

I swallowed hard.

“Well… Maya does.”

“The fuck does Maya matter?”

“She’s not exactly subtle about it!”

“And?” His voice turned colder. “Maya also has the personality of a rabid raccoon. Doesn’t mean she’s right.”

Despite everything, a startled laugh almost escaped me.

Almost.

Zane glanced at me again, longer this time.

His gaze dragged slowly down my curled-up body in the passenger seat before returning to my face.

Something dark entered his expression.

“You know what I see?” he asked quietly.

My stomach tightened.

I looked away quickly. “I don’t wanna hear your bullying right now.”

“Too bad.”

Heat crawled up my neck.

Zane rested one arm against the door casually, eyes still on the road.

“I see thighs that barely fit in those little school skirts you wear.”

My breath caught instantly.

“I see an ass half the football team keeps staring at.”

“What…”

“And tits you spend way too much time hiding in those ugly oversized hoodies.”

“ZANE!”

My face burned so hard I thought I might combust.

Meanwhile, he kept driving like he wasn’t actively ruining my life.

“You wanna know the real problem?” he continued calmly. “You have no fucking clue what you look like.”

I stared at him in horror.

“You cannot say things like that to me!”

“I just did.”

“You’re disgusting!”

“And yet,” his eyes flicked toward me again, “you’re blushing so hard you can barely breathe.”