Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
ASTRID
A sharp knock at the door jolted me awake. I jerked my eyes open and stared out into an unfamiliar room, heart racing. Oh my God. I’d accidentally fallen asleep at Calix’s place last night and not left before Diya got home.
“Go away, Diya,” Calix murmured groggily into my ear, pulling me closer.
My body was nestled against his, his arm wrapped tightly around my waist from behind. His sheets were tangled around us, and I swore if Diya walked right in, I wouldn’t have an explanation ready.
Hell, she wouldn’t accept an explanation at that point.
“Calix!” Diya called from the hallway. “I need to talk to you.”
Breath hitching, I stiffened. Where was I going to hide? How would I get out of here?
I shifted in the bed to face Calix, who was still fast asleep, his mouth ajar.
I smacked him in the chest quietly so Diya wouldn’t hear and kept my voice low. “Calix, wake up! Diya is at the door.”
He blinked a couple of times, wiping his eyes, then smiled. “Morning, Hellcat.”
After widening my eyes, I slapped a hand over his mouth. “Shush it! Diya is outside.”
“So?” he murmured against my hand, tugging me closer. “You’re in my bed.”
“This is serious! She can’t find me here.”
When Diya knocked again, he rolled his eyes and slowly sat up, leaning against the headboard. “Relax,” he whispered, peering around his room until his gaze locked on to the closet. “Hide in there for now.”
Hiding … that was my only option. If I tried to climb out the window, I’d surely hurt myself.
“Calix!” she shouted. “Open the door.”
“Shut up, Diya,” he growled back. “I’ll be out in a sec, unless you want to see me naked.”
Suddenly, the knocking and shouting stopped from the hallway. I grabbed what I could find of my clothes and hurried to the closet, completely naked, slipping inside it and staring out through the crevice.
Once Calix pulled on some sweats, he opened the door just a crack. “What?”
“What took you so long?” she asked. “And why’s your door locked?”
“Didn’t think you’d want to see the baddie I’d bagged last night when you decided to barge into my room this morning like a fucking maniac,” he said. “What do you want? Why are you knocking on my door this early?”
While I couldn’t see Diya, I could only imagine her scrunching her nose right now. “Baddie? Which one did you bring home last night? Another one of my friends?” Shit. “Doesn’t matter. It’s about Mom.”
My eyes widened. Diya and her mom never really got along, even more so now that she had remarried.
Her mother had always been jealous of Diya—it was so obvious that it was sickening.
Always trying to pull one over on her own daughter, to the point where Diya just didn’t talk to her anymore.
So, hearing her seem almost anxious saying her mom’s name was new.
From the small gap, I watched Calix tense, his shoulders going rigid and his jaw clenching. Usually, he only got that way when he was pissed or jealous over Frasier. Otherwise, he was carefree.
“What about Mom? Where is she?” he asked.
“Apparently, she’s in the hospital,” she said. “She called this morning, asking for you.”
Calix pressed his lips together, then nodded. “Okay. Thanks for letting me know. You going to go see her?”
“No,” Diya said. “She said that she didn’t want me there. Only you.”
After a couple more heavily exchanged words, Diya walked down the hall, and Calix shut the door behind her. He ran a hand through his hair and opened the closet. I blew out a breath and tugged on my clothes because his closet was too small for me to do that in there.
“That was way too close,” I whispered. “What would she have done if she’d seen me?”
He shrugged, but didn’t smile this time. “Probably killed me. But I’m used to it.”
I released a shaky laugh in an attempt to lighten the suddenly dull mood.
“She didn’t find out though,” he said. “We’re good, but we have to get you out of here.”
While I knew that I had to go, I didn’t think he wanted me to go. But he was suddenly cold and uninviting, like he had the entire backstory about why his mom was in the hospital and it wasn’t sitting well with him. He hadn’t even asked Diya any questions.
“Is your mom okay?” I asked.
“She’s fine.”
“You look worried.”
“I’m fine,” he snapped, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “She just has some shit going on and doesn’t want to tell Diya. Diya thinks that she doesn’t love her. God, it’s a fucking mess in this house every fucking day.”
And it doesn’t make it any better that Diya is sleeping with her stepfather …
Calix peered over at me, then looked away almost shyly after making eye contact. “I should take you home before Diya finds out that you’re here. I know that you don’t want her knowing about us.”
I looked down and nodded. “Okay. Let me find my phone first.”
After looking on the nightstand and behind the bed, I flipped up the blankets on the mattress and spotted it underneath the sheets at the foot of the bed. I grabbed it, wondering how the hell I was going to get out of here unseen if Diya was literally in the house.
My phone buzzed in my hand, and I stared down at the flood of missed messages.
Frasier: Where are you?
Frasier: You okay? You disappeared.
Frasier: I’ve been looking for you. Call me.
Ten missed messages from Frasier and a handful of calls too. For someone I was just fake dating and for someone who had just been using me to make that pretty girl at the race jealous, he seemed a bit too worried.
Guilt settled heavily in my chest, but I decided not to text him back.
I had been using him, like he had been using me, and that was that. I had gotten what I wanted.
When my phone buzzed again, Calix peered over at me, halfway through putting on a shirt. “Who’s that? Diya?”
“Frasier.”
Calix clenched his jaw. “Why is he texting you?”
“Because I’m dating him.”
“Fake dating him. Tell him to fucking stop.”
“He’s your best friend. You tell him.”
“He’s texting you.”
“Well, maybe I don’t want him to stop texting me,” I said.
My eyes widened for a moment. Did I … did I really like Frasier like that?
God, my life is a mess. I was fake dating someone to make my best friend’s brother jealous, only to finally snag him and get jealous that the guy I had been fake dating had been using me to get with another girl.
And maybe now I had feelings for both of them, but also Rush, and who could forget cute, innocent Cairo?
What am I doing?!
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Get me out of here.”
After staring at me for a couple of moments, Calix drew his tongue across his teeth angrily and opened the door to look out into the hallway. A moment later, he shut it. “Diya is probably in the kitchen. I’ll distract her. Sneak down the stairs and get into my car.”
“Isn’t there another way?!” I whisper-yelled.
“No,” he said, then slipped out the door.
I gave the finger to the door and gathered my belongings. When I finally heard them spark up a conversation, I snuck out of Calix’s room and down the hallway, peeking my head around the corner of the door to the kitchen.
Diya’s back was turned toward me, and I quickly shuffled down the stairs before she could see me. Once I reached the foot of the stairs, I smacked hard into someone. My eyes widened, and I looked up to see Diya’s stepfather.
“What are you—”
I slapped a hand over his mouth. “If you say anything to Diya about me being here, I will tell Calix about you and Diya sleeping together,” I said before I could stop myself.
His eyes widened, but he pressed his lips together and put up his arms in defense. Then I scurried out the back door and made a break for Calix’s car.
God, what am I getting myself into?