Chapter 69
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
ASTRID
When the door clicked shut behind Cairo, I sat on the seat, completely confused. All this time, I had thought that Cairo sorta had a thing for me outside of our early mornings at Dunkin’. But I guessed … he didn’t?
I didn’t want to seem too hurt, but damn.
My gaze fell to the blankets underneath my textbook on the bed, and I bit down on my lip to stop myself from crying. I couldn’t cry in his bedroom over him, especially if I didn’t know when he’d be back. How’d I explain that to him?
Oh, sorry, I thought you liked me.
After picking up my pencil, I tapped it on the table and shook my head. Of course Cairo didn’t like me. Why would he? He was the cute, nerdy type who probably didn’t like to share. And here I was, whoring myself out to all of The Crew.
Though it wasn’t really whoring. Maybe at first. Now? I had feelings.
For all of them.
I shifted in the chair, thighs bouncing, and released a shaky breath.
I shouldn’t have been this worked up. Not after Cairo. But I was because, as cliché as it sounded, he wasn’t like the others. Calix was fire, Frasier charm, Arch rough, and Rush … well, Rush was something else entirely.
But Cairo?
The way he studied me, how quiet he was in public but dominant alone …
A low groan left my mouth. Here I was, wrapped up in one guy’s scent, sitting in another guy’s house, thinking about a third. And I couldn’t forget about the fourth and fifth ones too. Maybe Arch was right. Maybe I had to choose one of them.
Or else … things were going to get messy.
Once I pushed myself backward, I stood up and began pacing around Cairo’s huge freaking room—no, suite—and ended up by the window, staring down at the spring garden starting to bloom even though it was still a bit chilly outside.
When Cairo returned, I’d drop all talk about the other guys, the jokes about him liking me, everything. We’d return to normal, and our relationship would be solely intimate. Why? Because I couldn’t lose him.
Part of me really, really liked him, and I—
The door opened behind me, and I froze, my breath hitching and my eyes widening.
After a moment, the door snapped shut, and I swallowed hard. The way the air shifted, the quiet dominance that radiated from his body. I didn’t need to turn around to know that it wasn’t one of his maids, but him.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” I whispered.
No answer.
Instead … footsteps.
Heat coursed through my entire body, my nipples hardening. Once he finally made his way to me, he brushed his fingers across my shoulder, the touch so gentle that I could barely feel it. Fluttering almost.
At least, that was what my pussy was doing.
“Cairo,” I whispered, desperate for it to happen again.
No response.
He moved his fingers up the column of my neck and grasped my throat, burying his face into the crook of my neck. “You might’ve told them that you loved them, but when you’re with me, you’re mine.”
I clenched and cast my gaze downward, slipping into submission. Easily.
“Do you understand me?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t play games to win them.” He pulled me closer to him until his body was flush against my backside, his lips on my ear, his warm breath fanning my neck. “I play them to dominate, to own.”
“Cairo …” I whispered.
I squeezed my eyes closed as the pleasure began to build up, but he hadn’t even touched me where I wanted him to yet. He was so close, yet not close enough. Never close enough.
“When you’re here, you’re mine. Say it.”
“When I’m here, I’m yours.”
“Again.”
“When I’m here, I’m yours.”
“Again.”
“When I’m here, I’m yours.”
I expected him to ask me again, but instead, he fastened something around my neck. A cold metal ring lay on the center of my chest, and my eyes widened. Was this … what I thought it was? Was this a collar?
Cairo turned me around, looped a finger around the ring, and tugged me closer. “You’re mine tonight.”