Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ASTRID
I sat in the Dunkin’ parking lot, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel and bobbing my head to the music playing throughout the car. Morning light flooded into the car, casting a golden hue on my fingers.
Cairo had better show up.
If he didn’t, then I would be sitting here alone until school started, looking like an idiot. And there was no doubt in my mind that if any of the other Crew members saw me here alone, waiting for him, then they’d make fun of me for it.
Especially Arch.
My hand tightened around the wheel. Fucking Arch.
Chest tightening, I glared out the windshield. While he had always been psychotic—that had been established multiple times—I had never seen him turn into such a vile animal as when he saw his mom’s scraped knuckles. Lunging at Dad like that?!
He had quickly—and wrongly—assumed that my dad would do something like that. Dad was a doctor who healed people, for fuck’s sake!
The only time I had seen him remotely violent was after he found out that someone murdered Mom.
After that, he had turned into such a quiet guy, barely speaking a word to anyone, barely looking at anyone else, until he met Arch’s mom.
There was actually some light in his eyes now, and he wouldn’t dare think about hurting her.
So, I didn’t know why that fucker had thought he would.
Fuzziness from the radio filled the car, and I switched the station, peering into my rearview mirror to see the main road. Where the hell is Cairo? This was the same time we had met here yesterday morning. Is he really not going to show?
Mind wandering back to Arch, I gritted my teeth.
What had driven him to make such a wrong assumption? From what I had gathered from their conversation, Arch’s father was a monster, and Arch was protective of his mom. Had he hurt them both? For how long? What had he done?
Last night, Arch’s eyes had been wild and filled with intense rage. So much hatred.
I blinked a few times, trying to push the thoughts away. I should’ve been focused on when Cairo was actually going to get here. My gaze cut to the clock on my dashboard. Time is ticking. But I couldn’t get Arch out of my head.
The way he had looked at Dad … it was like he was barely holding himself together, like he was on the brink of losing it completely. And, damn, did I want to fix him. I mean, what girl wouldn’t want to heal a broken, psychotic red flag of a man?
Obviously a sane one.
In my rearview mirror, I saw Cairo pulling into the Dunkin’ parking lot. After pushing Arch from my mind, I sat up taller and straightened myself out. Despite Cairo thinking that Frasier and I were together, he’d actually shown up.
He pulled up next to me and looked over, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, and then he nodded me over. I smiled back, both my heart and my pussy racing at the thought of him having me again and again and again. Every morning before school.
Instead of slipping into his car, I stayed in mine, a bit of my brattiness coming out this morning. But something about Cairo … made me feel so comfortable, like I could be a brat with him and he would punish me.
But not in a way that Arch did. Arch was violent and rough.
Cairo was … stern.
Warmth exploded through my pussy, and I matched his stare through the window. The cute, shy guy in my Physics class clenched his jaw and stepped out of his car, shutting the door behind him. He walked over to my side and leaned down to look into the car.
I rolled down the window and smiled sweetly. “Yes?”
“Get out of your car, Astrid.”
To hide a smirk, I pressed my lips together. “And if I don’t?”
A low, sadistic chuckle left his mouth. “You’ll see what happens when you disobey.”
Fuck! My pussy pulsed uncontrollably.
“Get. Out. Of the car.”
While I so desperately wanted to brat it out and see what this punishment really was, the tone in his voice made me want to obey. I grabbed the door handle, then stopped myself, trying to regain control of my body.
Stupid body betrayal syndrome!
Cairo pulled the door open and took my hand. “Come with me.”
“No,” I whispered, standing. I met him eye to eye; his gaze was so intense that I had to look away.
“No?” he hummed, moving toward his car. “You want to be a brat with me, but you can’t this morning, can you?” He opened his passenger door for me and stepped to the side, allowing for me to sit if I wanted. “Why is that?”
“Because,” I said, pussy pulsing. I didn’t know what I wanted from him right now—someone hard but stern or someone soft but stern. I wanted all sides of him to see which one was my favorite. “Because …”
“Hmm?” he murmured, pushing some hair behind my ear, his mouth dangerously close to mine, lips millimeters away. His warm, minty breath fanned my face, making me feel things in places that I shouldn’t. “Do you want to be my good girl today?”
I stared up into his dark brown eyes, heart racing, opening and closing my mouth.
“Is that what you want?” he asked again, his gaze softening. “Is that who you need to be?”
I furrowed my brow and pressed my thighs together. “Yes,” I whispered.
“Then sit,” he ordered. “We can go for a drive.”
“A drive?” I repeated, suddenly lost for words, in a headspace that seemed so … calm.
“Sit.”
Not having to be told again, I sat down in the passenger seat. He buckled me in and walked around the car to the driver’s seat, sitting beside me.
He swiped his thumb across my jaw, making me look at him. “You’re going to be my good girl today, aren’t you, Astrid?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’ll be your good girl.”