Page 28 of Offside Angel

She charges towards me, arms wide, and I meet her in the middle of the living room for a lung-crushing hug.

“Don’t ever do that to me again!” she hisses into my hair. “I thought you were dead, girl. Or kidnapped. Or, worst of all, that you didn’t care enough about me to tell me where you were going.”

I laugh and only then realize how tight my throat is. And how wet my eyes are.

Taylor must hear it, too, because she jerks back with a gasp. “Are you crying?”

I try to quickly blink the tears away. “No!”

She passes her hand over my cheek and holds her wet fingertips in the air as proof. “You are! The emotional constipation has gotten a much-needed enema.”

“Ew!” I laugh, pulling her in for another hug. “Don’t make this moment gross.”

Taylor hugs me so tightly my ribs ache. “Says the woman snotting on my favorite sweater.”

“I’m not snotting,” I mumble. But as I pull away from her, I wipe my nose with my sleeve. She might not be wrong.

While we had our moment, everyone else shuffled inside. They’re loitering in the doorway, staring at me like I might clap my hands and disappear in a cloud of smoke.

I raise my hand in an awkward wave. “Hey, guys.”

“‘Hey, guys’?” Daniel mocks, shaking his head as he crosses the floor. “That’s what you have to say to us after the hell you put us through? I was scared to death.” He pulls me into a hug and his voice turns serious as he whispers in my ear, “It’s good to see you, Mira.”

The next five minutes is filled with the most hugging I’ve ever done in my life. My family wasn’t big on displays of affection, to say the least. And despite all of my kickboxing experience, my arms are tired by the time I make it through the whole line.

Jemma hugs me the longest, swaying us back and forth like a pendulum while she hums happily in my ear. “I missed our play dates and your blunt honesty and Zane’s good mood. He was miserable without you, honey. You can’t ever leave again.”

None of them know why I left, and I can tell they want to know all the dirty gossip. It’s in the awkward way they sidestep that particularly large elephant, but also in the furtive glances they cast my way when they think I’m not looking. Like maybe an explanation will be tattooed on me somewhere.

Zane gets everyone a drink and they spread out around the living room, chatting and laughing. I follow him back into the kitchen, tugging on his shirt until he stops and turns to me.

“What is this about?” I ask softly. “Why didn’t you tell me everyone was coming over tonight?”

He wraps his arm around my waist, holding me flush to him. “Because I wasn’t sure you’d agree.”

I narrow my eyes playfully. “That’s not a good reason to go behind my back.”

“It is when I think you really needed to see them.” He curls a finger under my chin, lifting my face to his. “We’ve been hiding out the last few days, but your friends deserve to see you, Mira. They deserve to know you. In whatever ways you want them to.”

My stomach swirls. I know what he means, but… “I don’t know if I’m ready.”

Zane bends and kisses me slowly, sending warmth swirling all the way to my fingers and toes. “Then just hang out, have a good time, and enjoy the pizza.”

“We’re having pizza?!” Aiden shrieks less than a foot away from us.

Zane and I both jump.

“Dang. You’re a ninja, bud.” Zane ruffles his hair just as there’s another knock on the door. “And there’s the pizza.”

Aiden trails behind Zane to help pay the delivery driver and the next hour is madness. Taylor, Jemma, Rachelle, and I eat standing up at the island, watching with a mixture of amusement—and, in Taylor’s case, unconcealed pining—as our respective men take turns wrestling Aiden and each other between bites of pizza.

“Why are men the way they are?” Jemma ponders as Reeves makes an impassioned argument for why Daniel can’t use his prosthetic leg as a weapon.

“Someone call the ADA!” Daniel bellows. “This is discrimination!”

Taylor sighs. “Because we love them anyway. If we refused to put up with it, they’d get their act together and grow up.”

Zane snags Aiden from the couch just before Aiden can dive-bomb him. They roll across the floor, Aiden giggling until he can barely breathe.

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