Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
ASTRID
My nails sank into my palms, my stomach twisting. What the fuck is Calix doing?!
With Frasier’s hand on my hips from behind, guiding me toward Rush’s car, I had to physically hold myself back from stomping forward and ruining someone’s face tonight. Calix had his lips locked with some bitch.
And, yes, she was a bitch to me because she was kissing the guy I liked.
This little fucker knew what he was doing too. This was probably his plan since he had found out that I’d be here tonight. Get dressed up nice, find a pretty girl that he knew would piss me off, and kiss her in front of me.
God, I want to wring his neck!
As we approached, Calix pulled away and wiped the spit off his lips, his hazy eyes meeting mine. “Oh, hey, Astrid, Frasier. Didn’t think you’d both be here so soon. You know, with dinner and everything.”
I flared my nostrils and glared at Calix. How dare this motherfucker …
I should’ve been able to handle this. I did have a boyfriend, right? Frasier was right beside me now, his arm nestled around the small of my waist. We had just gone out for the best—and first—dinner that I had been on with a guy.
Calix wrapped his arms around her waist, and she leaned into him, her head on his shoulder as she stared up at him. I gritted my teeth at him, only to have him smirk in return.
Why is he like this?!
Yet I had been doing the exact same thing to him.
After forcing a smile at Frasier, I turned toward him. “I’m going to get a drink.” I stood on my toes and kissed him on the cheek, making sure that Calix saw. “I’ll grab you something too. Be right back.”
Frasier gently moved his hand off my waist, his fingers warm against the exposed portion of my skin. My heart skipped a beat, and I wrote all these emotions off as hormones because I was supposed to be getting my period soon. Who knew when that ho would come?
“I’ll be waiting,” Frasier said, his eyes softer than usual.
I wasn’t sure what it was, but ever since he had picked me up tonight for dinner, he’d seemed a bit different. He had almost been … nervous. But I had quickly brushed that off because I knew how he was. I knew who he was.
That was why Calix had such a problem with me seeing him.
While the crowd of people was thickening by the moment, I ducked underneath outspread arms, shoved some elbows into ribs, and scurried around bodies to get away from the mess inside my head.
These hormones are going to kill me!
Everything between Calix and me had been so complicated already. Then, once I added these feelings for Frasier, Arch, who had introduced me to all these guys; and cute and dominant Cairo into the mix … I was screwed.
Near a parked truck, I found a cooler of beer and sank my arm into the ice-cold water to grab one. Once I cracked it open, I took a long-drawn-out sip, closed my eyes, and blew out a breath. This had to do the trick. I didn’t have any other options right now.
After another sip, I rolled my shoulders forward, and I decided that I was as good as I was going to get. The jealousy still boiled inside me, but I had to ignore it by ignoring Calix. He would get pissed if I didn’t spare him another glance tonight.
I chucked the rest of the beer into a trash can and headed around the crowd this time because I wasn’t interested in accidentally getting groped right before the real action started. Besides, I had—
Someone slapped a hand over my mouth and wrapped their other arm around my waist, tugging me into a back alleyway. I hurled my elbow back into their ribs, only to be pushed flush against the brick building.
“You shouldn’t be here,” the man murmured into my ear.
I peeled his hand off my mouth and turned around to face him. “Rush?!”
He clenched his jaw. “Go home.”
My gaze traveled across that angry man’s face, his features hooded from the way light cast on them from above. I drew my tongue across my teeth and crossed my arms over my chest. “No. I’m here on a date with Frasier.”
“Exactly why you should go,” he said through his teeth, his hand closing around my throat.
I sucked in a sharp breath, feeling every part of his body against me, his huge bulge pressing on my stomach.
“You don’t want me here with Frasier?” I whispered, staring up at him.
“No.”
“What about without him?”
He got even harder against my stomach, and I pressed my legs together. I uncrossed my arms and drew my fingers down his muscular chest through his shirt, and warmth exploded between my thighs.
“What if I was here for you?” I asked.
“Astrid,” he growled.
I moved my fingers further down his chest, down his abdomen, to the front of his waistband, playing with it. “Would you like that?”
Rush placed his forearm against my throat to hold me in place, and then he slipped his other hand inside my skirt. I sucked in a breath, eyes widening, and froze in place, my body anticipating his next move.
His fingers immediately found my clit, and he rubbed it gently. “You’re not here for me.”
“Yes, I am,” I whispered, nipples hardening.
He moved his fingers faster. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I …” The pressure rose quickly inside me. “Yes, I … I … fuck.”
“You’re here to make Calix jealous with your fake boyfriend.”
My heart raced inside my chest, and I shook my head. “N-n-no, I’m—”
When his fingers slowed, my hips unintentionally bucked against his. He pulled his fingers away slightly, and I moved my pussy closer toward them, desperate for him to continue, aching for him to touch me again. And again. And again. And again.
“Yes, you are,” he said, his gaze on my lips. “Say it.”
“No.”
I could feel the heat of his fingers millimeters from my clit.
“Say it,” he ordered again.
A whimper left my mouth. “No.”
“Admit to it, Astrid, and I’ll give it back to you.”
I pressed my lips together and stared at him, every single part of my body aching. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of saying it out loud. Everyone might know it or think it, but nobody said it aloud.
When I went to scramble out of his hold, he pushed his forearm harder against my neck so I couldn’t move anywhere.
The only place I was going to go was where he’d let me.
Rush was much bigger than me and probably more muscular than anyone else in The Crew, even if he hid it underneath his sweatshirts.
“Astrid,” he started, “sa—”
“That’s exactly why I’m here,” I cried out, digging my fingers into his huge biceps. “Now, please, touch me. Please, Rush. I need it so badly. I’m stressed out, jealous, anxious, and I need you to make me come.”
Rush placed his fingers back onto my clit and massaged it quickly. I bit back my moans and squeezed my eyes closed, the pressure rising quickly inside me. The closer I came to the edge, the more I tightened my grip on his biceps.
“B-b-but I’m here for you too,” I said, almost at the tipping point. “You don’t say two words to me, ignore me half the time I see you, yet you touch me like you own me. Maybe I’m using Frasier to make you jealous t—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Rush pulled his fingers away and slapped my clit hard. My eyes rolled back into my head, and I cried out, my moans being drowned out by the crowd just feet away.
My legs trembled uncontrollably, and I gripped harder on to him for support. He rubbed my clit in a couple more small circles, then released his grip on my neck. I doubled forward into him, breathing heavily.
Suddenly, the roar of engines erupted around us. Rush’s gaze traveled from me back to the crowd, and he stepped away from me, posture shifting. The race was about to start.
After one more glance, Rush shoved people in the crowd and headed to his car.
I took a deep breath in an attempt to regain my focus, yet my feet were glued to the ground.
Rush slipped into his car and gripped the steering wheel with one hand, his biceps flexing.
He tilted his head to the side just slightly, and he looked at me.
Then the flag went down, and he hit the gas.