Chapter 68
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
CAIRO
Astrid sat across from me at my desk, her notebook open and her pencil twirling lazily between her fingers. She had come over so I could help her catch up on the work she’d missed, but instead, she was watching me with those intense eyes.
I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat, becoming warm.
While I usually kept my cool pretty well at home, especially when I was alone with her, I couldn’t help but feel squirmy under her gaze today. I hadn’t mentioned anything to her about what I had heard.
More specifically about Calix and Frasier telling her that they loved her.
And honestly, when I had found her in front of the ice cream parlor this afternoon with Arch and Rush, I’d felt like they had also said it to her. But I wasn’t sure. Arch had sure looked like he loved her—for a long time now.
“Do you need help?” I offered as calmly as I could.
But jealousy nipped at my stomach. I couldn’t think straight anymore.
She hummed, “No. Do you?”
My dick hardened inside my jeans, and I tapped my pencil against the desk, trying to stay in control. She couldn’t help me on any of my work, but we both knew she wasn’t talking about that.
“I already know all this,” I said.
“I wasn’t talking about your homework. I’m talking about … you know …”
“I know?” I asked, amused. “About what?”
Usually, she was so confident around the others, but with me, she was different. And I didn’t know how to feel about that anymore. If she loved them and she treated them differently than she treated me, what’d she think about me?
She moved closer to the desk, pressing her cleavage against it. “Come on …”
“You will tell me,” I said.
Her cheeks flushed the way they always did when she slipped into my car every morning, and she pressed her thighs together, gently chewing on the inside of her cheek. Strands of hair fell into her face. “Cairo …” she whispered shyly.
“Either tell me or get back to work.”
After swallowing, her face still pink, she turned back to her homework.
Fuck, that hurts.
Did she not want to see me like that anymore now that she had exchanged I love yous with Frasier and Calix? Maybe Arch and Rush too? Was she playing hard to get? Not interested?
“So, do you think they meant it?” she asked, writing.
“Who meant what?”
“Don’t play stupid. I know that you know about Frasier and Calix.”
I tightened my grip on my pencil and stared down at the paper, trying to stay as calm as humanly possible because why was she asking me about this? Why now? Why was she forcing me to acknowledge this whole thing when I had intentionally been ignoring it?
“Do you think they meant it when they told me that they love me?” she continued.
Almost as if she were pushing.
“Do you think they meant it?”
She didn’t answer, but kept her gaze on her paper, not writing anymore.
“Did you mean it?” I asked.
“Yes.”
No hesitation. None. Not a fucking lick.
I was screwed.
She released a breath, glancing down at her notebook. “It’s just … a lot. All at once.”
“All at once? Did Arch and Rush …” I dragged out, hoping to get any insight.
“No, they didn’t say anything.” She slouched in her chair and shrugged her shoulders.
“But you wanted them to?”
“I don’t know.” Which really meant yes.
After setting down my pencil, I cleared my throat again because the awkwardness was building between us.
Here I am, turning into the boy best friend when all I want is to be her boyfriend. Life is shit sometimes, huh?
“You’re not used to being loved,” I said. “Especially not by so many people at once.”
She clenched her jaw for a millisecond before looking up, wiping away her pain and replacing her frown with a smirk. “What, are you about to tell me that you love me too?” she asked, giggling to herself.
Fuck. If she’s making jokes like this, she’s really not interested.
“Not a chance,” I said, laughing it off. “You wish.”
She fake pouted, but the expression didn’t meet her eyes.
I stood up and walked to the door to take a breather away from her because tonight was not turning out the way that I wanted it to. “Take a break. I’m going to grab something for us to eat.”
“But—”
“I’ll be back in a few.”
“Cairo—”
Before she could finish her sentence, I was out the bedroom suite door and heading down a hallway that Astrid had never been down before so she wouldn’t take the chance to follow me.
I needed a goddamn drink after that—or a couple—to wash away these feelings.