Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ASTRID
Frasier’s hand didn’t leave my lower back as we walked all the way through the cafeteria toward The Crew’s table. Every pair of eyes was locked on us, and I listened to the slow stir of whispers whirling around the room.
“Why is he with her?”
“Another good girl gone. RIP.”
“Bagged another one.”
My stomach twisted, and I peered at my friends, who sat at my usual table with their eyes wide. Thank God that Diya wasn’t here yet because I didn’t know how I would explain this to her. She’d find out soon, but maybe I could play it off.
If I really wanted to make Calix jealous, then I had to continue this little … game.
“Relax, baby,” Frasier murmured into my ear.
“Everyone is staring at us,” I whispered back.
He curled his arm around my waist, a smug smirk playing on his lips. “Let them.”
Heart pounding inside my chest because Frasier was so good at this fake-dating thing and making me feel all these emotions that I really shouldn’t, I forced a confident smile on my face and slid onto a seat next to Cairo.
Frasier sat beside me, his hand on my thigh.
Cairo took note and looked away. Arch glared at Frasier from across the table, his lip curled up in disgust.
A few moments later, Calix walked into the cafeteria, his gaze cold, just like Rush’s, who hadn’t looked at me since my last encounter with him. He ate his lunch, his phone on the table, face down. Did he hate me that much?
“Hey, Astrid,” Cairo said, acknowledging me before anyone else.
“Hi,” I whispered, looking around at all the students gawking at us.
My gaze locked on to my friends’ table. Ruby smirked at me and pointed down to her phone, and suddenly, my phone was buzzing in my pocket. I tugged it out and stared at the bright screen from under the table, reading texts in our group chat.
Ruby: Shut. Up.
Bella: Someone is busssssy today.
Jade: Frasier though?
Bella: Hey, Frasier is cute!
Jade: He is, but he’s a man-whore.
Bella: I bet he has some good
Jade: Not better than I can give you
Seraphina: Wait, LOL. Frasier?!?! You’re fucking him? Since when?!
Me: No, I’m not fucking him!
Another message came through in a private thread from Ruby.
Ruby: Don’t tell me that you’re sleeping with all of them!!!
Before anyone could see my chat—especially Frasier—I turned my phone upside down and slipped it back into my pocket. I didn’t need him to get a bigger ego than he already had if he saw Bella’s message.
Or maybe I just didn’t want him going after her next.
Jealousy twisted at my insides. Of course I didn’t want that. I liked … his attention.
Not him.
“Everything okay?” Frasier asked, moving his hand further up my thigh.
I pressed my thighs together in an attempt to stop him from doing this again in the middle of Redwood. One of these days, someone was bound to see it. It was bad enough that we were sitting together.
“Just my friends,” I murmured, staring at my lunch. “And everyone else …”
The entire table sat in a tense silence, Arch and Calix both glaring at Frasier while Rush continued to stare down at his lunch, jaw clenched tightly. Cairo shifted beside me, playing with the food on his tray.
“So, finally decided to sit with us,” Cairo said, breaking the silence.
“I don’t think I had much of a choice,” I said, taking a peek at him, cheeks warming.
“You always have a choice,” Cairo said, only loud enough for me to hear.
Heat coursed through my body as the memory of this morning flooded through my mind. Cairo had told me that I wouldn’t be able to handle all of him, especially not if he brought me home.
Was this his way of giving me a warning?
A warning not to get on his bad side? A warning not to be with Frasier so he could have me to himself? A warning that if I went against his orders and refused to be a good girl for him that he would punish me?
“Oh, yeah?” I whispered, brushing my leg against his. “You think so?”
Cairo glanced down between us for a moment. Then, to my surprise, he squeezed my thigh, his fingers lightly digging into my skin. He leaned closer. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that I won’t ruin you the next time we’re alone.”
Then he stood from his seat, grabbing all his belongings, and walked away from the table, muttering something about having to get to class before the bell because he had to redo an exam, which was a lie. Cairo never had to make up any exams. He was a straight-A student.
“Slutting around with The Crew,” Arch noted. “Fits you, Hellcat.”
I cut my glare to him. “I am not slutting it around with you guys!”
“Seems like it.”
“Well, maybe your mom needs to buy you glasses,” I said. “I just made my choice.”
For the first time today, Rush looked over at me. That seemed to get his attention.
“Your choice?” Arch growled. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means that Frasier and Astrid are together,” Calix said.
“No, they aren’t,” Arch said.
Frasier smirked. “Yes, we are.”
“Bullshit,” Arch said.
“Call bullshit all you want,” Frasier said, tugging me closer by his grip on my thigh.
Rush slammed his palms onto the table and stormed out of the cafeteria, leaving four of us. I swallowed hard and looked from Arch to Calix, who mirrored each other’s pissed facial expressions.
Frasier placed his mouth on my ear and kissed it, way slower than I wanted him to. More and more eyes shifted to us. “She’s mine, boys. All mine.”