Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
ASTRID
I sank into the plush pink velvet of Ruby’s enormous king-size bed, my fingers tracing the embroidery on her throw pillows. Ruby was a pink girl—pink hair, pink clothes with the occasional black to spice things up, pink decor, pink everything.
Diya and Seraphina giggled on the couch about some meme that a freshman had created with our old principal’s head flying across the football field with the caption You had to be there or something like that.
Seraphina usually couldn’t hang out with us after school because she was busy tutoring the worst of the worst students at Redwood. She loved it though … a bit too much if you asked me. But I was happy we could all finally hang out.
I really needed it after the past day I’d had. I couldn’t go home and get fucked again. My raw pussy was aching from how many times that I had done it today with all the guys in The Crew. All except Cairo.
Warmth gathered between my legs at the thought of him again. He might be on the nerdier side, but, God, why did I feel like he was hiding something sinister underneath that facade?
The innocent ones were never quite innocent. I would know.
A chandelier cast a soft yellow glow across the room. I shifted my focus from my best friends to the window that overlooked a blooming garden with perfectly trimmed bushes. God, to have Ruby’s life …
Well, every part of it except her nonexistent family.
But maybe a nonexistent family was better than my asshole stepbrother.
Bella and Jade were sprawled on the fluffy rug near the bed. Jade was leaning back on her forearms, dressed in all black, while Bella was on her stomach in a frilly white dress, batting her lashes at Jade.
They’d always been too close to just be friends. I was sure they liked each other.
“Okay, but tell me why Marc’s dad is so hot?” Ruby asked.
A giggle escaped my mouth. “Marc, as in your boyfriend?”
Ruby hopped up onto the bed next to me and showed me her phone. A zoomed-in picture of Mr. Henders, the baseball team’s coach and a doctor who worked with my father, was plastered on the screen.
Excitedly, Ruby kicked her legs back and forth. “Look at those muscles!”
I offered her an exaggerated eye roll. “Oh my God.”
“What?” she asked, smacking my arm. “It’s better than you.”
After sending her a death glare, I returned to looking at the phone, feeling Diya’s gaze on me. I told Diya everything, especially anything and everything boy-related, but I didn’t want her asking about this. Not now!
“Okay, but what about Diya and Mr. Garcia?” I asked to take the attention off me.
Diya’s face turned red, and she shot up, waving her hands around. “I don’t like him!”
“Oh my gosh, you totally do.” Jade giggled from the rug, holding a hand over her face.
“No, no, no, no!” Diya continued to wave her hands like a madwoman while shaking her head and glaring at me. “I don’t like him!”
“Wait,” Bella asked, giggling too. “Isn’t he your stepdad?”
“No!” Diya said, cheeks turning redder. “Well, he is, but I don’t like him!”
“You always stare at him in class,” I teased.
“Do not!!!”
“Do too.”
“I do not!”
“Do—”
Diya grabbed a pillow from the bed and smacked me hard in the face with it, sending me back against the mattress. The girls broke out into a fit of laughter as Diya crawled on top of me and began beating me with the pillow.
“Okay, but real talk …” Seraphina hummed. “Have you fucked him yet?”
“No!” she exclaimed a bit too loudly and too quickly. “I definitely have not.”
“You”—smack—“definitely”—smack—“have.”
Ruby placed a hand on Diya’s shoulder. “Diya, it’s okay to like your men a little bit—”
Diya swung the pillow around, and I ducked out of the way so it hit Ruby right in the chest. Ruby doubled over all dramatically, as if the swing actually hurt her fragile body. And before I could react, pillows were suddenly being swung everywhere.
Pillows hit me from all directions, and suddenly, Seraphina smacked the shit out of Diya and sent her down onto the bed. She landed on the mattress beside me, clutching her belly and wiping away the tears from her eyes.
“Don’t tell anyone,” Diya said between giggles. “Especially my brother.”
“I promise I won’t,” I said.
Because there was a secret that I was hiding from her too …