Page 80 of Offside Angel

I meet her eyes and say nothing. It’s not my turn to speak. It’s hers.

“It’s so fucking scary to love you this much. But I think…” She swipes her sleeve across her nose. “I finally realize that it’s not that I can’t depend on people—it’s that I have to depend on the right people. And you’re the right kind of person, Zane. The best kind of person.”

She draws in one more shuddering breath, glances away, glances back at me.

“Which is why I need to tell you something.”

Her voice trails away as her eyes do. She’s looking down at the pavement, and I can feel her shaking.

“Mira…”

“I should have told you right away, but I didn’t want to hurt you. Or scare you. Or myself, honestly.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to make it real.”

My heart is in my stomach. I grip her chin, forcing her eyes to mine. “Tell me. Now.”

“Dante,” she whispers. “He found me. At the gym. There was a note in my?—”

I drop her face and grab my phone. I dial the P.I.’s number by memory. It goes to voicemail, and I’m not supposed to leave a message, but fuck him. “He’s on fucking top of her. You should have known. Find him. Now.”

When I hang up, Mira grabs the phone out of my hand and wraps her fingers around mine. Now, it’s my hand that is shaking.

“I told Evan. I should have told you, but I told Evan at the party. He’s looking into the security footage at the gym. Please d-don’t be mad.” Her chin wobbles.

“I’m furious, Mira. Fucking furious.” I cradle her face in my hands, holding her like she’s fragile. Because she is. “Not at you, though. At him. At myself. He got close to you, and I wasn’t there. He was so close and?—”

“I’m fine.” Her hands wrap around mine. Her fingers are cold. “I’m okay.”

The bone-deep need to be inside of her burns through me, and I know I won’t be able to relax until I can feel her. Until I can prove to myself that she’s here and alive.

So I haul her against me, our lips crashing together in the dark alley.

When I pull away, it’s only because I need to get her home. Because I haven’t even started with her yet. “He isn’t going to hurt you. I won’t let him.”

She stretches onto her toes for one last kiss. “I know.”

30

MIRA

I hear the key in the door first.

It’s way too early for Zane to be home. I know because, this morning, he dragged me out of bed and into the shower with him.

“I want a few more minutes with you,” he said, kissing my neck as he shifted me into the warm shower spray. “We have media today, and I’ll be gone until dark. I need more.”

Last night should have been more than enough. But it wasn’t. For either of us.

So now, I’m on the couch, a pleasant kind of ache between my legs, staring at the front door with wide eyes.

It goes quiet for so long I almost convince myself it was a distracted neighbor trying the wrong door. Or maybe I was hearing things.

Then three loud knocks resound through the condo.

I fly off the couch and fumble for my phone. Like every horror movie ever, it’s upside down and I have to turn it around. Then my fingerprint doesn’t unlock the phone once, twice, again, again.

“Shit!” I whisper, finally unlocking the phone right as Evan’s name flashes on the screen. I swipe up instantly. “Hello?”

“Daniel is heading up to the condo,” he explains. “I just saw him park in the garage.”

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