I gripped the girl’s waist and pulled her closer to me, pressing my lips against hers.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
ASTRID
My nails sankinto my palms, my stomach twisting.What the fuck is Calix doing?!
With Frasier’s hand on my hips from behind, guiding me toward Rush’s car, I had to physically hold myself back from stomping forward and ruining someone’s face tonight.Calix had his lips locked with some bitch.
And, yes, she was a bitch to me because she was kissing the guy I liked.
This little fucker knew what he was doing too.This was probably his plan since he had found out that I’d be here tonight.Get dressed up nice, find a pretty girl that heknewwould piss me off, and kiss her in front of me.
God, I want to wring his neck!
As we approached, Calix pulled away and wiped the spit off his lips, his hazy eyes meeting mine.“Oh, hey, Astrid, Frasier.Didn’t think you’d both be here so soon.You know, with dinner and everything.”
I flared my nostrils and glared at Calix.How dare this motherfucker …
I should’ve been able to handle this.Ididhave a boyfriend, right?Frasier was right beside me now, his arm nestled around the small of my waist.We had just gone out for the best—and first—dinner that I had been on with a guy.
Calix wrapped his arms around her waist, and she leaned into him, her head on his shoulder as she stared up at him.I gritted my teeth at him, only to have him smirk in return.
Why is he like this?!
Yet I had been doing the exact same thingtohim.
After forcing a smile at Frasier, I turned toward him.“I’m going to get a drink.”I stood on my toes and kissed him on the cheek, making sure that Calix saw.“I’ll grab you something too.Be right back.”
Frasier gently moved his hand off my waist, his fingers warm against the exposed portion of my skin.My heart skipped a beat, and I wrote all these emotions off as hormones because I wassupposedto be getting my period soon.Who knew when that ho would come?
“I’ll be waiting,” Frasier said, his eyes softer than usual.
I wasn’t surewhatit was, but ever since he had picked me up tonight for dinner, he’d seemed a bit different.He had almost been … nervous.But I had quickly brushed that off because I knew how he was.I knewwhohe was.
That was why Calix had such a problem with me seeing him.
While the crowd of people was thickening by the moment, I ducked underneath outspread arms, shoved some elbows into ribs, and scurried around bodies to get away from the mess inside my head.
These hormones are going to kill me!
Everything between Calix and me had been so complicated already.Then, once I added these feelings for Frasier, Arch, who had introduced me to all these guys; and cute and dominant Cairo into the mix … I was screwed.
Near a parked truck, I found a cooler of beer and sank my arm into the ice-cold water to grab one.Once I cracked it open, I took a long-drawn-out sip, closed my eyes, and blew out a breath.This had to do the trick.I didn’t have any other options right now.
After another sip, I rolled my shoulders forward, and I decided that I was as good as I was going to get.The jealousy still boiled inside me, but I had to ignore it by ignoring Calix.He would get pissed if I didn’t spare him another glance tonight.
I chucked the rest of the beer into a trash can and headed around the crowd this time because I wasn’t interested in accidentally getting groped right before the real action started.Besides, I had?—
Someone slapped a hand over my mouth and wrapped their other arm around my waist, tugging me into a back alleyway.I hurled my elbow back into their ribs, only to be pushed flush against the brick building.
“You shouldn’t be here,” the man murmured into my ear.
I peeled his hand off my mouth and turned around to face him.“Rush?!”
He clenched his jaw.“Go home.”
My gaze traveled across that angry man’s face, his features hooded from the way light cast on them from above.I drew my tongue across my teeth and crossed my arms over my chest.“No.I’m here on a date with Frasier.”
