Page 82 of The Off-Limits Play

“I want to kill that fucker,” I spit, handing her the ice cream and a spoon.

She stares at it for a second before giving me a bemused smirk and taking it from me. “Is this supposed to make me feel better?”

“I don’t fucking know!” I flick my hand up. “Do you like ice cream?”

“Whodoesn’tlike ice cream?” She rips off the lid and I huff, turning back to look at Zander.

He snickers but cuts the sound short when I narrow my eyes at him.

“So… uh… what exactly happened?” Sienna crosses her arms, leaning toward Zander. His arm automatically moves around her, and he pulls her against his side while she casts a worried frown at Nylah. “Should we be taking her to the hospital or?—”

“No, I just need to rest it,” Nylah says around a mouthful of ice cream. “The fall just aggravated an old injury of mine. It’ll be fine.”

I both hate and love the way she’s downplaying this. I love that she’s this no-fuss chick. She’s tough. But I hate that I didn’t take better care of her.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

“You fell?” Sienna asks.

“Fleischer tackled me, and she was right behind us,” I answer for her. “I didn’t see her. I didn’t know she was there!” My voice starts to rise. “As usual, Fleischer was being a world-class dick. That little shithead’s got a mouth, and I want to wire that fucking thing closed. I should have?—”

“Shut up, already!” Nylah cuts me off. “We get it. The guy pissed you off, and I was standing too close. It was an accident. You didn’t mean to hurt me.”

“Of course I didn’t fucking mean to hurt you. I would never intentionally hurt you!”

“Can you stop yelling, please?” She smiles at me in mock sweetness.

I growl, irritation crawling through me like an army of ants. “I just feel so fucking guilty.”

“And yelling at me is helping with that?” Her look is so pointed it feels like an arrow between my eyeballs.

“I’m not yelling at you,” I huff. “I’m yelling at everybody else. I’m yelling at the fucking world for being an asshole.”

“Well, maybe you should yell at yourself, then… asshole.”

“Lame.” The word pops out before I can even think, and suddenly she’s fighting a grin.

It makes something in my chest pop, and all the fury that’s been fueling me starts to fizzle out. My shoulders sag as I smash my teeth together.

“Can I have that ice pack, please?” Nylah’s voice is gentle now, soft and forgiving.

Fuck, I don’t deserve it.

She puts the spoon into her mouth and holds out her hand to take it.

I crouch down beside her, carefully placing the pack over her knee and hoping it’s cold enough to reach her through the sweatpants. “Do you need any painkillers? I can go find you some Advil.” My voice has dropped to a velvet whisper.

Nylah shakes her head. “I’ve got some anti-inflammatories in my bag.” She points to the floor, and Sienna moves to retrieve them.

Zander runs and gets a glass of water, and as she’s swallowing down those pills, he unzips his hoodie and hands it to me. “You’re getting goose bumps.”

I look down at my bare torso. Shit, my nipples could cut glass. I don’t feel fucking cold, but my bubbly skin would say otherwise.

Taking his hoodie with a sigh, I throw it on with a grunt of thanks.

“You’re welcome.” He snickers, taking Sienna’s hand and leading her out of the room. “If you need to borrow my car to drop her home, the keys are in the bowl.”

“Thanks, man,” I call back to him, then turn to gaze at Nylah.

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