Page 161 of Offside Devil

“I also don’t have proof Carson did this,” he points out. “What I can do is make sure the people in my life know to watch out for him.” Zane brushes his calloused thumb over my shoulder. “As long as you trust me and Aiden is safe, the rest of it doesn't matter.”

My heart jolts so hard I'm surprised Zane didn't feel it.

How did I end up here?

How did I go from not even owning a couch to being on this one, happily crushed by Zane Whitaker?

It all happened so suddenly that it feels fragile. Like, if I handle it too roughly, it’ll disappear.

When I was a little older than Aiden, I found a jewelry box at a garage sale. There was a tiny fairy inside with purple wings and glittery white hair. She spun to this tinkling music whenever I opened the lid. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. And I was terrified to open it.

The music was loud and I’d learned a long time before not to draw more of my dad’s attention than necessary. But it also felt like every time the fairy turned on the little spindle, some of the magic was lost. Like the joy it gave me was a finite resource and I needed to portion it out.

A few years later, my dad went on a drunken rampage in my room. It was one of the few times he didn’t lay a hand on me, but he shredded through my closet and my drawers. He shattered hangers, ripped my closet doors off the hinges, and threw my fairy jewelry box against the wall.

It shattered and left a dent in the drywall that I had to stare at for years.

Every time I looked at that dent, I wished I’d enjoyed the jewelry box more.

It turns out, it was fragile. But being gentle with it didn’t do a damn thing in the end. It was still taken from me.

I hold Zane a little tighter, absorbing some of this magic between us. “I have to tell you something.”

He lifts his head. His blue eyes are tropical blue. They’re waters I’ve never swam in, skies I’ve never seen. Zane Whitaker is stuffed full of things I never thought I’d have in this life.

So, while he’s here in my arms, I plan to make the most of it.

Maybe that’s why, instead of telling him about Peter Morris’s visit, I ask, “Will you go on a double date with me?”

To my surprise, an easy smile spreads across his face. “If you're there, I’m there.”

65

ZANE

“I feel like I’m in a hostage situation.”

Mira elbows me in the side. “You’re telling me. We’ve only been sitting down for ten minutes and you and Daniel are halfway through the breadbasket. Save some for the rest of us!”

I smirk and slide my hand along Mira’s thigh, widening the slit in her blood red dress. The second she walked out of the bathroom, I knew this dress would be in a puddle on my bedroom floor before the day was out.

I use my breadstick to point to the circular metal door to our private room. It has to be four-feet thick, at least. “I was actually talking about having a double date inside an old bank vault.”

Taylor booked a private room in some Italian restaurant her dad has a stake in. They gave her their nicest room, which, in a refurbished bank, means we're in the vault.

Daniel eyes the doorway nervously. “If that doorstop gives out, do you think the waitstaff has the combination to free us? There are no windows in here. How long would the oxygen last?”

“We’d have plenty of time to get rescued,” Taylor says dismissively. “Especially after I murder you two oxygen-sucking hockey goons to save the air for me and Mimi.”

Daniel grins at the death threat. “Absolutely vicious.”

I agreed to come on the double date because I could see how much Mira wanted it. She seemed nervous to ask me. I figured it was because the weekend had been a shitstorm. Not exactly the kind of thing you rush out to celebrate.

Then, an hour later, she finally told me about Peter Morris dropping in. The glaze I’d been noticing in her eyes made a lot more sense. She was worried she made things worse for me with CPS, but Peter’s mind was made up about me the moment we met. Nothing she could do would change that.

All of that aside, I'm still glad I came out.

If only so I can see what it looks like when my best friend is deeply, stupidly in love.

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