Page 81 of Offside Devil

“There isn’t enough time in the world to explain.” I rub my fists into my eyes.

I’ve slept like shit for a week and now, I have Zane’s stalker trying to murder me. I know she thinks I’m sleeping with Zane, which is why she’s so mad. The most messed-up part of all of it is that I kind of wish she were right. Maybe a few mind-blowing orgasms in the bank would make this moment a little more bearable.

“Do I kick her out?” Evan ponders.

“I wish, but she’s Zane’s assistant. Maybe he asked her to be here.” I doubt it, but Zane is in practice right now, so I can’t call and ask. I sigh. “How about you give me a two-minute head start? I’ll take Aiden downstairs and meet you in the car. Then she can stay here and… do whatever it is she was going to do.”

Zane makes enough money to afford a repainting job if she decides to scrawl a love letter on the wall in pig’s blood.

The door is rattling in the frame, but Evan tosses me his keys and gives me a casual salute. “Roger that.”

Aiden looks shaken when I make it back to the living room, but he perks up as soon as I mention going to the park. We hustle out of the apartment and hide behind the deeply tinted windows of Evan’s SUV just in case Hanna comes looking for us.

But five minutes later, Evan waltzes into the parking garage with his hands in his pockets like this is any other day.

He climbs into the driver’s seat and grins at Aiden in the rearview mirror. “To the park we go, young prince!”

No questions asked. No long, concerned looks.

God, what I wouldn’t give to be able to put my head down and do my job without getting tangled up in all of this drama.

But I can’t. I need to warn Zane that he might be walking into some kind of sex-crazed booby trap when he gets home, and that if he feels any strange pricks in the near future, he should scour Hanna’s apartment for voodoo dolls. I dig in my pockets for my phone, but I must have left it on the living room floor.

“Can I borrow your phone, Evan?” I ask. “I need to text Zane and tell him?—”

“Tell him whatever you want. It’s not my business unless you want it to be.” He hands me the phone over his shoulder.

“I know this is your first long-term placement, but you’re a natural. I don’t know what I would have done without you back there.”

He smirks. “Tell Zane that. Maybe I’ll get a raise for not chucking that lunatic assistant of his off the balcony.”

33

ZANE

Hanna’s at your house. Took Aiden to the park. - Mira

I read the text again at the world’s longest red light, but it still doesn’t make any sense.

Hanna shouldn’t be at my house. I never asked her to be there. I also gave Evan the day off after Mira told me she was going to stick around the condo all day.

Well, she didn’t tell me, per se, since that would require being in the same room with her, which is something I’ve been strictly limiting since I almost tongue-fucked her on my kitchen counter.

I’m just applying what I learned in NA. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to be alone with Mira without biting the curve of her neck and dragging her hips against mine—but that day is not today. Tomorrow probably isn’t good, either, since just the thought of her has me semi-hard all by myself in my own fucking car.

Abstinence. That's the plan. Plain and simple. Black-and-white.

As soon as the light turns green, I slam on the gas. It’s been an hour since Mira texted me, since I didn’t see the message until our morning practice wrapped up.

The fact Mira felt like she needed to text me during work means something is wrong.

Or having a kid is making me paranoid and I'm losing my damn mind. Either way, I need to get home.

The front door is unlocked and, the second I open it, Hanna is there.

I haven’t seen her since the night of the team party. It’s standard to invite assistants and staff, but Hanna kept thanking me like I was doing her a favor.

“Zane.” She breathes my name like a sigh of relief. “What are you doing here? You are supposed to be at the arena until six!”

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