The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback (Astra and Zayne) novel Chapter 198

The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

“What?”

She tried to say something, but nothing came.

“You make it really hard.”

“Make what hard?”

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She shook her head, and that same frustration returned-the sense that there was something right in front of me I couldn’t fucking see.

I kept my arm around her. Then don’t tell me tonight.”

She glanced up.

“Whatever it is, tell me when you’re ready Just don’t shut me out.”

Her attention slipped away again.

“Astra.”

I touched her cheek, waiting until she faced me.

“Promise me.”

She didn’t answer.

“Astra?”

“I can’t.”

My hand stilled. “You can’t promise”

The sadness on her face hit me harder than the words.

Before I could ask anything else, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed herself against me

I didn’t understand what she wasn’t telling me, but I wasn’t going to force it out of her tonight

“Okay.” I held her close and pressed a kiss to her temple Then don’t promise me anything”

Another kiss against her cheek, then the damp skin beneath her eye

“Just stay here with me”

She nodded against me.

For a long time that was all we did. I sat on the blanket with Astra curled into my lap while the lights glowed around us Her crying eventually softened into the occasional shaky breath, but she never loosened her hold on me. Neither did 1

Eventually she lifted her head. Her face was blotchy, her lashes wet, her nose pink. Still the prettiest fucking thing I’d ever

seen.

I wiped beneath her eyes.

“You done?”

“I think so.”

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“Good. My shirt was running out of room.”

Astra stared at me in offended disbelief. Then she laughed-a real one this time.

“There she is.”

She rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed as I kissed the tip of her nose.

“We should probably go home.”

Her smile faded. Just slightly.

“Already?”

I glanced at the time. It was late. But fuck the time.

“Not if you don’t want to.”

Astra looked toward the lake, then back at me. “Can we stay a little longer?”

I pulled the blanket more securely around her and settled back with her against my chest.

“As long as you want, Trouble.”

Her eyes closed.

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And I held her beneath the lights, completely unaware that when she asked me for more time, she wasn’t talking about the picnic.

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10:44 Mon, Aug 17

The Nerd Who Stole The Quarterback

She Left Me

ZANE

I knew something was off before I fully woke.

My arm moved across the mattress on instinct, reaching for the warm body that had been pressed against me when I fell asleep, only for my hand to land on fur instead.

I opened my eyes to find Patches sitting on Astra’s pillow, his glassy stare pointed directly at me.

“What the fuck?”

Morning light stretched across the rumpled sheets and the clothes scattered near the foot of the bed. I was still in my briefs exactly where Astra and I had fallen asleep last night, except the other side of the bed was empty.

She’d probably gotten up before me.

I shoved Patches aside and noticed a folded piece of white paper tucked beneath the ribbon around his neck, but sleep still had enough of a hold on me that I barely registered it.

“Trouble?”

No answer came from the bathroom.

I sat up and ran a hand through my hair. “Astra?”

The closed bathroom door caught my attention. She was probably in there.

I dragged on my shirt, crossed the room, and knocked.

“Baby?”

Still nothing.

I opened the door. The mirror was clear, the shower dry. No sign she’d been in there that morning.

Unease started creeping in.

She could’ve gone downstairs. Mom might’ve called her, or the twins could’ve dragged her out of bed. There were plenty of reasons for her not to be here.

I pulled on yesterday’s pants and left the bedroom.

“Astra?”

My voice carried down the empty hallway without an answer.

I headed downstairs and nearly walked straight into Nadine near the bottom.

“Morning, Zane.”

“Have you seen Astra?”

Nadine slowed. “No. I assumed she was still upstairs with you.”

“She isn’t.”

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The pleasant expression on Nadine’s face faded. “Maybe she went down for breakfast?”

Voices were already carrying from that direction. I headed toward them before she finished.

Lucas and Mason were at the table with bowls of cereal while Mom sat farther down with coffee and her tablet. Lucas glanced toward the doorway when I came in.

“Where’s Astra?”

The question hit me before I could ask the same thing.

“I thought she was down here.”

Mason twisted around in his chair. “She’s not with you?”

Mom lowered her tablet. “What’s going on?”

“I woke up and she wasn’t there.”

Mom set her coffee down. “She may have gone outside.”

“Security would’ve seen her.”

The words were out before I fully processed them.

After everything that had happened, nobody came onto this property or left it unnoticed.

The unease sharpened into something much worse.

I turned toward the stairs.

Mom called after me, but I took them two at a time and headed straight back to Astra’s room. This time I wasn’t looking for

her.

I was looking for anything that told me where she’d gone.

Her schoolbooks were still stacked on the desk.

Then I looked toward the chair where she usually left her bag.

Nothing

I crossed the room and opened the closet.

Too many empty hangers stared back at me.

Her jeans were gone. So were the sweaters she wore constantly, the hoodie she practically lived in, several pairs of shoes

And the small suitcase she’d brought with her when she first moved into this house.

I yanked open the nearest drawer and found half of it cleared out. The next was worse.

My pulse hammered against my throat.

Astra hadn’t gone downstairs.

She hadn’t gone for a walk.

She’d packed her things and left.

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I backed out of the closet, my mind racing through every conversation we’d had last night. Every strange pause. Every time she’d held me tighter than usual.

*If we’d met differently, do you think you still would’ve liked me?

“You make it really hard.”

*Promise me.

“I can’t.”

Fuck.

My attention snapped toward the bed.

Patches was still sitting where I’d shoved him aside, and now I saw the folded paper properly.

The note.

I crossed the room and pulled it free from beneath the ribbon.

It had been folded once, my name written across the front in Astra’s handwriting.

For a second, I only stared at it.

I already knew what it was going to tell me.

My fingers weren’t steady when I unfolded it.

Zane,