Contents
4. Zanders
Overview
Zanders abandons an easy hookup to pursue a charged interaction with Stevie, sabotaging her flirtation with bartender Jax and exposing Jax’s duplicity. A text from Zanders’s sister about their estranged mother triggers a panic attack that he manages with therapy tools, revealing his vulnerability beneath the cultivated bad-boy persona.
Summary
After captain Eli Maddison turns in early, Zanders stays at the bar with teammate Rio, keeping to his two-drink limit before game day. A server, Meg, openly propositions him, and Zanders plans an effortless hookup—until he spots flight attendant Stevie at the bar and is drawn to needle her instead.
Zanders leaves Meg and corners Stevie, trading blunt barbs that echo their in-flight friction. When bartender Jax returns Stevie’s card with his number, Zanders condescendingly dismisses Jax and rips up the number. He claims he saw Jax groping one server and making out with another, insisting he’s saving Stevie from a tool. Stevie protests but shows flashes of disappointment.
A text from Zanders’s sister, Lindsey, warning that their estranged mother is trying to reach him, shakes Zanders. Feeling exposed when Stevie asks if he’s okay, he snaps, then bolts from the crowded bar as a panic attack builds.
Outside, Zanders finds a secluded spot in a park and uses therapy techniques—orientation, breathing, self-anchoring—to de-escalate rage and panic rooted in his mother’s history of abandonment and gold-digging. Once calm, he texts Lindsey back with affection and humor, reaffirming that he keeps love limited to a small circle while maintaining his hardened public persona to avoid getting hurt.
Who Appears
- Evan ZandersRaptors winger; flirts with a server, chooses to confront Stevie, sabotages Jax, receives alarming text about his mother, manages a panic attack using therapy.
- StevieFlight attendant; trades sharp banter with Zanders, has Jax’s number torn up, briefly shows concern when Zanders falters.
- JaxBartender who flirts with Stevie; exposed by Zanders for groping and making out with other servers.
- RioTeammate drinking with Zanders; surprised when Zanders abandons a sure hookup to approach Stevie.
- MegServer who propositions Zanders for a post-shift hookup he ultimately ignores.
- LindseyZanders’s sister; warns him their mother is calling again, grounding him after his panic attack.