Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
ASTRID
My stomach dropped.
Diya knew. She had to know. Why else would she message me now, after I had spent the night at her house with her brother, then decided that it was a hell of a good idea to go to a bar and sleep with The Crew in public?!
God, what is wrong with me?!
“Who’s that?” Frasier asked, almost a tinge of jealousy in his voice. He clutched my knee and glanced over, gaze dropping to my phone for a couple of moments before they met my face. “Another boy?”
“No, just Diya,” I said, as if it wasn’t the biggest thing ever. “It’s nothing important.”
Just Diya? Nothing important?! She is going to kill me when I see her!
I needed a cover. I needed an excuse. Something believable. Maybe I could say that it was all some sort of twisted lie that Mira had created to get Diya to hate me? But could I lie to my best friend? I wasn’t a good friend anyway, sleeping with her brother.
A lie would only make it worse.
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I stared down at my thighs.
But how did she find out so quickly? Did someone record us and send it to her? Maybe … maybe her stepfather decided to rat me out to her.
If that’s what happened, then …
My gaze met Calix’s unreadable one. A flicker of something—maybe concern, maybe guilt—flashed in his eyes. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew that he was the reason my best friend might never forgive me.
For a brief moment—to protect myself—the thought passed in my mind to tell him about his sister and his stepfather. But it quickly passed. Even if he did tell Diya, I couldn’t tell Calix about their relationship. I wasn’t that two-faced.
Who knew what Diya thought of me now though?
“You sure you’re good?” Frasier asked, more quietly this time.
But it didn’t matter because Cairo had already turned off the movie, and they all were staring at me intently, even Rush.
Frasier squeezed my thigh. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m fine,” I whispered, heart pounding inside my chest.
The phone buzzed again.
Diya: It’s important.
Oh God! No exclamation point. Just a straight period. Someone, kill me!
I stared at the screen, my mind racing.
Why did I think that I could hide this?! It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. She wasn’t supposed to find out. We were supposed to hook up once, maybe twice, and that would be that.
But no. I had to catch feelings.
Not only for Calix, but for all of these stupid guys.
My Read receipts were on for her, which meant that she could tell when I read her messages. I needed to come up with something quick, a distraction to give me a bit more time. Maybe I could feed into her thoughts about Cairo and me.
Me: I’m at Cairo’s. What’s up?
When my phone buzzed again, I quite literally jumped up from my seat.
“God, you’re so fucking dramatic,” Arch growled. “Turn the movie back on.”
“Give me the phone,” Frasier said. “Want me to respond to her?”
“No, no,” I said, shaking my head and deciding to ignore my stepbrother. “I’m fine.”
Another message.
Diya: When you’re done, come over.
Fuck, this was serious. My hands were clammy, and I desperately tried to figure out what I should do. Should I go now? Should I text back and ask what it was about? Or should I just wait and hope for the best? Ignore her maybe?
My gaze met Calix’s again, and he held out his hand for the phone. But I turned it over in my lap. What would I say if she confronted me? Apologize for fucking her brother? I didn’t regret it. I loved—love?!—the way he made me feel, the connection we had.
No, no, no, no. It couldn’t be love.
Another buzz.
Diya: Don’t ignore me, Astrid. Just come over when you’re done.
Calix took the phone out of my hand, and I jumped up to get it back. I didn’t want him texting her and revealing anything. He knew how much keeping this a secret meant to me, and if she didn’t know yet and he told her … I’d be screwed!
“No! Don’t respond to her. Please!”
After depositing the phone into his back pocket, he sat back down on his seat. “I won’t.”
“Then give me my phone back.”
“No.”
“But—”
“But …” Calix started, peering over at me, his unreadable expression turning into a smirk. “We own you now, Hellcat. Wasn’t that obvious from what we did to you in the bar? You’ll do what we say, and right now, we’re watching a movie. So, keep your pretty ass seated in that chair and relax.”
A wave of heat rushed through my body. Something about his tone …
“Do you understand me?” Calix asked as the others looked on in agreement.
I pressed my lips together and sat. “Yes.”
Once the guys shared a look, Cairo grabbed the remote. Just before he could turn the movie on again, someone knocked on the door, and his maids walked into the room.
“All of your favorites. Even for you, Miss Astrid.”
They set a platter of food down for the boys, then brought me my own little tray, filled with all of my favorite foods.
How did they know all my favorite foods? Did Cairo tell them? My eyes widened slightly, and I glanced at Cairo, who paused for a moment. How did he know?
He almost looked as confused as I did.
My gaze traveled to the others. When my gaze met Arch’s, he snapped his head back toward the screen.
“Eat up!” one of the girls murmured. “We’ll check in on you in a bit to see if you need more.”