“That we do,” one of the costume designers said, her tone husky.
I turned to see what she was looking at, and my breath caught in my chest. Sebastian had just walked in.
That we do.
Sebastian, like all of us, had his face fully painted in clown makeup. It was equal parts scary and sexy, which was entirely the point of this photoshoot. We had all been painted as hot clowns. Even Bryce’s makeup, while still similar to his normal stage makeup, had been given a slight tweak to enhance his handsome features underneath the paint. Sebastian’s nose was colored red, and diamond shapes were painted around his eyes with black and glitter. They trailed down his cheeks, drawing attention to his bloodred lips. He was easily the hottest person in the room, and everyone knew it. With the paint down to his shoulder blades, they’d made him take his shirt off, leaving him in just his black jeans and onyx boots. He stood with his hands in his pockets and a loose smirk on his lips, looking so casual. As if he too understood the effect he was having on everyone. Except maybe Skye. She’d given him a glance and had gone back to her own mirror.
I was glad my face was caked with white so that he couldn’t see how flushed my cheeks were.
“And you slept with that?” The costume designer sighed dreamily. “I love that for you.”
Her words pulled me back to earth. I turned to the clothing rack. “It was five years ago, and it was one time,” I told her.
“What was? Oh—us, twisted in each other’s naked bodies?” Sebastian asked, coming to join us.
“Beep beep, Ritchie,” I snapped, snatching the hanger with my name and hurrying into a dressing room. I returned a few minutes later in my costume for the shoot and swore.
Anthony C. Hopkins. He’d gotten even hotter.
My gaze slid up from his black dress shoes to his face. Wardrobe had put him in all black. Pants, undershirt, and suspenders. Everything was fitted tight where it needed to be, and he stood with his head and shoulders back, so confident, so effortlessly sexy. Reason was giving way to lust the more I stared.
“Looking good, Final Girl.” He smirked once our eyes met.
I looked down at myself. I’d been dressed in a comically poofy black babydoll dress. There were five versions of the same dress in various colors, but this was labeledfirst change.
Skye came out of the changing room, breaking the tension between Sebastian and me. “Look at us!”
While I’d been given dark colors to match Sebastian, she’d been given jewel tones to match Bryce. We were called to set, and before any further conversation could be had, the photoshoot started.
“Featured Creaturesalready released the sound bite for the interview,” Skye said as we posed together. She sat in a bright-red chair, and I sat on the ground between her legs, with mine splayed out as far as I could stretch them apart. “Guess what they used?” She laughed.
I sighed. “I can’t believe he did that.”
“I can’t believe you never told me. No wonder he fought so hard for you to play opposite him.”
“Skye...” Before I could say more, Bryce and Sebastian were brought in for group shots. We stopped talking to do those, and then when I was dismissed for a costume change, she and Bryce took their solo shots.
I came out of the dressing room in a pink dress with blood splatter on it, only to find myself alone with Sebastian. I shoved down the butterflies going mad in my belly.
He was shirtless now, with just the suspenders.
“You look good in a little red.” He winked then slipped out of the room before I could respond. Not that I’d know what to say. I fanned my warm face and went to watch Skye and Bryce. When Sebastian showed back up to set, splattered in fake blood to match the splotches on my dress, he somehow looked even hotter. Skye and Bryce handed us bloody axes—Simon Says’s weapon of choice—and we took our place in front of the photographer.
“Can you look a little less...distressed?” she asked me as Sebastian put his arms around my waist.
“Distressed?”
“She wants you to relax, Final Girl,” Sebastian purred in my ear, sending delicious chills down my spine. “Act like you want me.”
There was no acting with him dressed like this. Seeing him in his clown getup set off a chime in my brain.
New kink unlocked.
I inhaled deeply once, twice, and on the third breath, I shook off my nerves, steeled my expression, and posed. The photographer beamed and snapped her camera wildly.
“Yes! Sit on the floor. Sebastian, crawl to her.”
I sat down facing sideways, and she directed me to spread my legs. I bit my lip, knowing I was about to flash Sebastian my panties. His green eyes dipped to them the moment I moved, and he grinned. Slowly, he crawled toward me. Just before he reached me, I lifted my leg and placed my stiletto on his forehead. He froze.
