The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 80

Chapter 80

ZANE

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The way she spat out that “NO” like accepting money from me was the most disgusting thing she could imagine actually made me pause.

I knew how Astra saw me. Years of me calling her Trash-tra, knocking her books out of her hands, shoving her into lockers, putting dead frogs in her bag just to watch her scream and run to the teacher like a little snitch.

She had every right to look at me like I was poison.

But fuck if that didn’t make me want her more.

I remembered the first time I really noticed her, we were twelve, first day of middle school. She walked in with those crooked glasses, oversized uniform, and that nervous way she clutched her books like they were a shield. She caught/my attention immediately. Then she had to go and tell on me for something stupid, and from that day I decided I hated her.

Or at least… I told myself I did.

The older we got, the worse it became. I noticed everything. The way her golden hair would slip out of her ponytail. The way her cheeks flushed when she got angry. The way her body filled out, soft, curvy, thick in all the places that made my dick hard even when I was pretending to hate her.

The first time I had a wet dream about her I was fifteen. Woke up sticky and pissed off because even in my sleep Astra Hawthorne was the star of my thoughts.

It was never just hate.

It was hate and want so twisted together I couldn’t tell them apart.

And now she was on my lap, all flushed and stubborn and glowing with that fire I wanted to both crush and protect.

“Why not?” My hand tightened on her waist, fingers digging into the soft curve there.

She scoffed, muttering under her breath. “He said why not.”

“Yes, I did,” I said, voice low. “Do you have the money?”

She opened her mouth, but I cut her off.

“No, you don’t. And you should be glad someone as hot and generous as me is offering to fix it for you.”

She rolled those pretty blue eyes – gemstones that always looked too innocent for the filthy things I wanted to do to her.

“Well, take your generosity to the less privileged. There are many who will welcome it. But me? Hell no.”

I stared at her.

“Read my lips, Ashton. Helllll noooo.”

I stared at those fresh lips that looked so damn juicy. If I bit into them, would blood spill… or something sweet and sticky like ripe fruit?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, voice shaky.

I dragged my gaze from her mouth back up to those wide blue eyes.

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Chapter 80

“Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“You look like an animal staring at its dinner.”

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A smile spread across my face. I shifted her higher on my thigh, pressing her closer until I could feel the heat between her legs against my muscle.

“Because that’s exactly what you are, Trouble,” I said, drawing her closer “My dinner. My dessert. I’m done watching you struggle when I can fix it with a snap of my fingers.”

She shivered but still tried to push against my chest.

“I don’t want your money, Zane.”

I chuckle, leaning in until my lips brushed the shell of her ear.

“You can fight me all you want, Astra. But we both know how this ends. You’re going to let me take care of this debt… and then you’re going to thank me properly. On your knees if I feel like it.”

Her breath hitched.

I smiled against her skin, already hard as fuck underneath her.

This stubborn little girl had no idea how deep I was willing to go for her.

And I was just getting started.

Astra stared at me like I’d grown a second head, her blue eyes wide with disbelief and that fiery stubbornness I both loved and wanted to fuck out of her.

“No,” she said again, firmer this time, trying to push off my lap. “I’m not taking money from you, Zane. I don’t want it. I don’t need it from you.”

I watched her for a long second, reading every micro-expression. The way her jaw tightened. The slight tremble in her hands. She was really scared but too damn proud to let me fix it.

Fine.

If she wanted to play it that way, I’d let her think she had a choice.

“Alright,” I said, loosening my grip on her waist just enough for her to slide off my thigh. “I won’t butt in.”

She stood quickly, smoothing her clothes like she could wipe away my touch. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“You… you would not butt in? Really?”

I leaned back in my chair, giving her my most innocent smile which wasn’t innocent at all.

“No, Trouble. I won’t.”

She didn’t look convinced, but she grabbed her books anyway, practically bolting toward the door like the room was on fire.

The second the door clicked shut behind her, my expression dropped.

Like hell I wasn’t going to handle it.

I already knew she’d left the “or else” vague on purpose. But I wasn’t stupid. Loan sharks like that didn’t hesitate to hurt

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Chapter 80

pretty girls who couldn’t pay. The thought of someone putting their hands on her made something violent uncoil in my chest.

I stood up and paced once, mind already working.

Ashton Global, my father’s empire. Old money tech conglomerate that dealt in everything from cybersecurity to surveillance tech, spyware, high-end hacking tools, and private intelligence contracts. The kind of shit governments paid millions for and never adftritted using. Landon had dragged me there after the suspension, forcing me to “learn the farmily business” since I clearly didn’t take football seriously enough.

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