“A drive?”I repeated, suddenly lost for words, in a headspace that seemed so … calm.
“Sit.”
Not having to be told again, I sat down in the passenger seat.He buckled me in and walked around the car to the driver’s seat, sitting beside me.
He swiped his thumb across my jaw, making me look at him.“You’re going to be my good girl today, aren’t you, Astrid?”
“Yes,” I whispered.“I’ll be your good girl.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
ASTRID
What.The.Fuck?
I stared with wide eyes as Cairo pulled into the driveway—gateddriveway, to be exact—of the biggest house I had ever seen.Housewasn’t even the right word for how huge the mansion and the entire estate was.
My heart raced so hard that I could feel it beating against my rib cage.I peeked over at Cairo, who continued to drive up the hedge-lined driveway, which was longer than my street, toward the mansion.
How is he so unbothered?!Is this normal for him?!
“Where are we going?”I asked, shuffling my feet.
“I told you that we were going on a drive.”
“But … where is this?What is this place?”
He looked at me, one hand on the steering wheel.“This is my house.”
What did his parents do for a living?!My dad was one of the top doctors in the state, and he didn’t even earn this much money to have an estate this large.It almost didn’t seem possible that this was someone’shouse.
“Oh,” I whispered, heat growing between my legs.“What are we doing here?”
I didn’t know why I was suddenly all shy with him.I had been a brat in the car when I thought I had the upper hand over him, when I thought that there was no way innocent little Cairo wouldactuallybring me to his house to treat me how I needed.
After Cairo parked out front, a small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.“You know why we’re here, Astrid.This was whatyouwanted, wasn’t it?”
“But we have school,” I said.
Cairo placed his forearm on the center console and leaned closer to me, his brown eyes glowing underneath the sunlight.“First time skipping school?”he asked, his smirk turning into a small, innocent smile.“Me too.”
Warmth flooded through my chest now, making me feel all gushy and gooey and … God, he was only supposed to be the cute, innocent guy in The Crew that I could take advantage of, and now he was making me feel all these weird things.If he was?—
Mid-thought, I jumped up when someone suddenly opened my door.
“Miss, right this way,” a tall man in a suit said, holding out his hand for me.
What the hell is this?!Talk about old money …
Cairo didn’t seem bothered or, you know, like, amazed by any of this.I peered over at him to see him stepping out of the car himself and handing off the keys to someone else.I scurried out of the car, feeling so out of place here, and Cairo took my hand from the man.
“Do you actually live here?”I asked.“Likehere, here?”
With my hand engulfed in his, Cairo led me up the center stairs to the double-door entrance.“It’s my grandparents’ old house.Back in the day, they did something with oil.My parents inherited it.Anyway …”
Something with oil?Anyway?We can’t just skip past that entire part …
But Cairo didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about it.He might live like a king—no, like an emperor—but he definitely didn’t tell anyone about it or even show off his money at school, like a lot of filthy rich students did.
