CHAPTERONE
ASTRID
Maybe I was a little buzzed,okay?
I stumbled into A’dré’s living room and through the grinding bodies, moving my hips to the music and finally feeling myself.All day long at Redwood, I kept up this good-girl persona, the nerdy virgin who’d never break a rule.
But fuck that tonight.
My beer sloshed over the edge of my red Solo cup, and I scanned the room for my friend Ruby.Between the number of drinks I’d downed and this not being a party hosted in Redwood, I didn’t recognize most people here.
Strands of bright pink hair twirled around on the outskirts of the dance floor.I pushed past a couple of people, shoving their shoulders so I could get through, and finally found Ruby, all up on some senior from our rival school.
Lips curled into a smile, she turned around so she could grind her ass against his front, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me forward.I swayed my hips to the beat and intertwined my fingers with hers.
She shouted over the music, her words drowned in the sound.
“What?”I yelled back.
She pulled me closer so her lips were near my ear.“That guy you like and his friends from Redwood are here,” she said into my ear, then pulled away and nodded toward a couple of couches.
“What guy?”I asked, glancing over my shoulder.
The Crew sat on the couches with beers and weed, bullshitting with each other while Calix was gazing in our direction.At me.More specifically, my hips moving to the beat.When I raised my cup to my lips again, he lifted his eyes to mine.
If I had been sober, my cheeks would’ve flushed red, and I would’ve hidden behind my hair.
But drunk Astrid did not give a single fuck.
I continued to dance and smiled at him, wanting him to come over.
Calix had been in more fights than I could count, and I had had a crush on him for four years now, but I refused to even look in his direction in school.I didn’t want him to know how much of a freak I really was—at least when I was sober.
What was worse about this whole entire thing was … Calix was my best friend’s brother.And Diya would absolutely hate me if she found out that I’d had a thing for him since I had gone over to her house the summer before ninth grade.
Calix drew his tongue across his lower lip and dropped his gaze again, sipping on his glass.Annoyed that he just wanted to stare, I turned back around toward Ruby and danced to the music, downing my drink.
She giggled.“Oh, you’re so going to regret this tomorrow morning.”
Someone seized my hips from behind.For a moment, I thought it was Calix, but it was a tall, big-handed dude,notfrom Redwood.He had to be at least twenty years old, and he was at a high-school party, but I didn’t care.
I wanted someone to touch me.
Throwing my ass back, I leaned forward with my hands on my knees and bucked my hips up and down, the same way I would if I were riding his dick.He ground himself into me against the back of my skirt.
When his hand started traveling up my thigh and inching closer to my skirt, someone yanked him away from me.From over my shoulder, I watched as Calix slammed his fist into the guy’s face and sent him back through the crowd, his beer still in his hand.
Fuck, was that all I had to do?
Once the twenty-year-old left, Calix moved closer to me.Standing at least six foot something with tattoos covering his left arm, he grabbed my elbow and leaned down to talk into my ear.“What’re you doing here, Astrid?”
“You know my name?”I asked, twirling around and placing my hand on his shoulder.
He dropped his hands to my hips and curled his fingers into my ass.“Don’t play with me like that.What.Are.You.Doing.Here?”
“I.Am.Having.A.Good.Time,” I stuttered, another giggle escaping my mouth.I found myself wrapping my arms around his shoulders and pulling him toward me, pressing his body against mine.“Now, show me one.”
“Show you one?”he asked with a low chuckle that—God—did something terrible to me.Then he took my waist and led me out of the crowd.“I’ll show you one, if that’s what you really want.”
