Page 9 of Offside Angel

I look up and there he is.

Zane.

Every cell in my body sighs with relief. Not just that I’m not going to die tonight, but that he’s here. Finally.

Zane’s blue eyes scrape over the room, a frantic edge to his every movement. Then he sees me.

I see the same relief I’m feeling reflected back at me. His mouth falls open and he moves towards me like a man possessed.

I’m still shaking from the adrenaline dump, and I want nothing more than to curl against Zane’s chest. I want to fall asleep to the steady thrum of his heartbeat and breathe in the wintergreen scent of him. I want to give myself everything I know I can’t have.

Then my mind flashes back to Zane walking, dejected, across that parking lot the other night.

I hold out a hand. “Wait.”

He slams to a stop in the doorway. His jaw flexes. “Are you hurt?”

I'm aching right now. Every lovesick part of me is dying to close the distance between us.

“You have a game,” I breathe. “Tonight. You should be?—”

“Are. You. Hurt?” he grits out.

He takes another step towards me, but I fling out my arm. “Don’t! Please.”

It’s been so long since I’ve seen him this close. I drink in every micro-emotion that flickers across his face. The pinch of his brows, the flattening of his lips.

“I’ve been chasing you down for weeks, Mira.” His breath catches on my name, a hint at how much the search has cost him. “Let me fucking touch you.”

“You can’t, Zane. We—I have to leave.”

“Fuck that!” he snarls. “No. You’re staying. You’re not going anywhere.”

I press the heels of my hands to my eyes. Part of me wants to remove them and realize that I’m in an empty bathroom. That Zane was never here and this was all a dream.

A much bigger, more selfish part of me wants Zane to ignore my boundaries and wrap his arms around me.

I drag my hands down my face and he’s still there. Still oscillating his eyes over me like I might not be real. “Nothing has changed. I’m not good for you and Aiden.”

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to either of us.” He spits the words angrily, but they’re tender and vulnerable.

I shake my head. “I’m not going to be the reason that Aiden gets taken from you. Or the reason that you two get hurt. My brother is still coming after me. He will find me.”

“When he does, I’ll be there to kill him.” Zane stands tall and I’m positive he can do it. If anyone could end the nightmare I've been living in, it's Zane. He could kill Dante.

But it would come with a price.

“You can’t be there for Aiden from prison,” I say softly. “I’m not going to let you risk everything for me.”

Zane crosses the bathroom in two steps. He raises his hands to touch me and then drops them, a low growl vibrating through his chest. “I never should have asked you to leave.”

“I understand why you did.” I drop my eyes. “You were looking out for your son.”

Suddenly, his finger catches my chin. It’s the barest brush of skin against mine, but all of my nerve endings converge there. I feel like I’ve been operating at half power for weeks and Zane just gave me a jump start.

“I should have been looking out for you, too.” He’s close enough that I feel his breath on my skin. I feel the heat radiating off of him. “None of this is your fault, Mira. You’ve been running for so long, and it’s time to stop.”

My throat bobs against his hand. A racking sob bursts out of me, and Zane swipes his thumb over my bottom lip. It’s more physical touch than I’ve had in so long. It’s overwhelming. He’s barely touching me, but I feel it everywhere.

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