Page 81 of Make the Play

“Why are you doing this?”

I take another step closer, lowering my voice. “Because I don’t care if I’m your fake boyfriend, your real one, or your emotional supportrubber duck—if something happened to you, I’d lose my goddamn mind.”

She swallows. “You’re actually serious.”

“Dead serious.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can, sweetheart. But I wanna help.”

She’s quiet for a long beat, and her shoulders drop half an inch. I can see the gears grinding, but she hasn’t told me no yet, so I offer one last blow to her resistance.

“You don’t have to be alone in this, Zo. Let my place be your safe place, even if it’s just temporary.”

Stay forever.

Her eyes flicker between mine, and then softly—so, so softly—I hear her exhale the one word I’ve been praying to hear.

“Okay.”

I don’t let myself breathe. I just reach into my pocket and toss the key card onto her desk. It’s already warm from my thigh, and she picks it up, turning it over in her hand. My eyes linger on her nails, freshly done. Cherry red, with tiny white carnations stamped on some of them. I immediately feel the ghost of them scraping the nape of my neck. My chest. Digging into my scalp.

“Have there been any more messages since yesterday?”

Her fingers still around the key card, and she doesn’t look up right away.

“Yeah,” she says eventually, voice quieter now. “One this morning. Just another comment… said I looked tired from my media circus of a relationship.”

That slow throb kicks up behind my eyes again. “Zoe.”

“I deleted it,” she adds quickly. “Blocked the account.”

“Doesn’t mean they’re gone.” I take a step closer, trying to stay calm. “Do you have pepper spray?”

She hesitates.

“Jesus. Okay. We’re fixing that. What about location sharing? Is it turned on?”

She frowns. “Like Find My Friends?”

“Yeah. And the SOS thing on your phone—the one that alerts emergency contacts if you hold down the side button?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? Why—”

“You’re turning it on,” I mutter, already reaching for her phone. “And you’re adding me.”

“Chase—”

“He could’ve grabbed you, Zoe,” I rasp. “He could’ve shoved you into a car, and I wouldn’t have known until it was too late. I can’t—fuck, I can’t—” I scrub a hand down my face, jaw locked so tight it hurts. “I can’t even think about it without going insane.”

Her mouth opens like she wants to argue, but there’s nothing left to say.

“So, this is not a discussion,” I continue. “Add me as an emergency contact. You can revoke it later. But if something happens and I can’t find you—”

“You will,” she cuts in, looking up at me finally. Her voice is soft, but her eyes are steady. “You always do.” Then, a beat later, her lips twitch. “It’s kinda weird and irritating, honestly.”

My eyes bore into hers, jaw beating with my pulse as the silence stretches. Then I clear my throat, forcing a grin.

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