Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Alright,” I say as we step into the club, “do your best not to draw attention to yourself.”
It’s the darkest club I could think of in Denver. It's been a while since I've been out at the clubs at all. The three of us stand by the door, not yet stepping all the way inside. Star’s eyes are wide. Full of wonder.
“Hopefully, it's dark enough that no one will notice that you're blue.” My eyes roll over his face, the exposed part of his neck. “Or that you have stars on you.”
I put him in a shirt that I thought would hide the most of his skin. A long-sleeved button-up with a collar. People do weird things at clubs. Maybe everyone will think he has some strange glitter on his skin.
“I would like to dance,” he says. His body is already moving, his eyes on the figures on the dance floor, all jumping together on the beat.
“Go ahead,” I say. “We're gonna go get drinks.”
He turns dark eyes on me. “You're not going to dance with me, Mason?” His voice cracks, and it’s like a boot to my heart. I need him to stop affecting me like this long enough for me to catch my breath.
“We're just going to get drinks,” I say again. “We’ll be right over here.”
He nods. “I will walk around, yes?”
“Sure,” I tell him. “If that's what you want to do.”
Mackenzie and I step up to the bar as Star starts a slow lap around the building.
“Gosh, you could have just shot him if you wanted to hurt him,” she says, motioning for the bartender.
“He'll be fine,” I tell her, even though I’m not sure it’s true. It certainly hasn't escaped my notice that Star is maybe a little gentler than we are. It's just because he's new to all this.
I'm hoping he'll enjoy not being attached to me for a moment. There's certainly more to being human than orbiting one person all the time, right? I don't want him to regret having been on Earth for only a few days and having spent most of it in my living room.
I glance over at him again to find him looking back at me. People watch him as he goes by, stepping along the outer wall, either because they think he looks strange or predatory or very, very hot.
But he's looking at me.
“Something happened between you guys, didn't it?”
I hate it that she can do that. She's always been able to. Of everybody in the world, Mackenzie is the person that I spend the most time with. She knows me better than anyone.
I don't think I want her to know this about me.
Not that I've been involved with Star but that I'm getting far too attached to him. That I'm starting to feel things that I don't know if I've ever felt before.
“Don't worry about it,” I tell her.
Star finally finds a place on the dance floor. I hoped that he would be a little bit more inconspicuous, but he heads right to the center of the crowd.
Mackenzie lets out a sigh of exhaustion and swipes my ice water to take several large gulps of it. “You could get your own,” I say, raising my eyebrows at the martini she ordered for herself.
Ignoring me, she says, “Aren't you going to go dance with him?”
I glance over to the dance floor, where Starlight is already surrounded by people, men and women alike, some pressing close when they realize he’s alone, some turning to dance toward him, like flowers toward the sun, clearly not aware they’re doing it.
No one seems to notice that there's something off about him, or if they do notice, they must find it intriguing.
“It looks like he has enough dance partners,” I grumble.
“Give me a break,” Mackenzie says.
I whip around to look at her, leaning against the bar. The man behind her bumps her, but he might as well not be there at all.
“What?”
“He came here because he wanted to dance with you.”
“No, he came here because he wanted to experience humanity or whatever. And he is. Look at him.”
We both look over in time to see Starlight's head to pop up above the bodies around him. His eyes scan the walls, the tables, and then the bar.
They stop right on me. Thank God it's dark in this club, so Mackenzie can't see that I'm blushing.
“I’ve never seen you look at anybody like that.”
I force myself to look away from Star long enough to scowl at my sister. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I'm talking about.”
Yeah, I know what she's talking about.
I sigh. “I can't help it, okay? He's nice and, like, happy and enthusiastic.”
Her eyes search mine. I know she can see it, the thing I'm not saying, the thing I am definitely never going to say.
“Maybe he doesn't have to go,” she says.
I shake my head and look back at the dance floor.
Star has been swallowed in the crowd. “Can you even hear yourself? What, he's supposed to walk into town and buy groceries looking the way he does? That definitely wouldn’t raise any questions. It’s not like Black Forest has a population of 10,000 or anything,” I say sarcastically.
Not to mention the scary pain that Star has been feeling that I can’t explain but that is definitely proof that he needs to go back where he came from. I don’t want to tell Mackenzie about that. It’ll just freak her out.
She shrugs. “So, you figure something out.” She chews at her lip and then shrugs again. “I worry about you, Mason.”
I take a long drink of my water to cool my heated skin. “I know you do. And you don't have to.”
She waves her hands. “I know. You're a capable adult, and that's fine. I just worry that you get lonely.”
“I have you.”
“That's not enough, and you know it. What happens when I meet someone? What if I move away?”
Panic lances through me. “Are you thinking about moving away?”
“No, but who knows what will happen? It's just nice to see you so happy.”
“I’m not usually unhappy.”
“I know. But this is, like, really, really happy. And you deserve that.”
I know everything she's saying doesn't matter. Star can't stay. There's no way.
When I find him with my eyes again on the dance floor, the crowd parting for just a moment, he seems to have settled nicely into his skin, closing his eyes and tipping his head back as he moves.
My god, he's so sexy. So sexy, in fact, that it shouldn't be all that surprising when someone sidles up behind him. A man almost as tall as he is.
He's bald, wearing a skin-tight shirt. And I see through a break in the bodies that he settles his hands on Star's hips. I also see that the movement startles Star. His eyes pop open, and I'm already moving.
But then he covers the man's hands with his own and smiles.
My steps skitter to a halt. He's enjoying it, having this man pressed against him. I should have known. Star is so openly sensual, so excited about discovering what he can do with his body. And me, I'm just the first human that he came into contact with.
Yeah, he said I was beautiful and that he wanted to kiss me and all of those things, but it was just because I was his only option. And sure, maybe there was Mackenzie, but he seems to be into men. I can't believe I thought it was about me.
I realize I'm just standing here, watching the two of them dance, watching the way Star tips his head back against the man's shoulder and turns his face toward him.
And then he jumps away from the man, lunges away so hard that he knocks right into two girls who were dancing in front of him.
I see his mouth moving, apologizing. I don't know what's going on, but I don't move. Just stand on the edge of the dance floor and observe.
Star's wide eyes scan the crowd and snap to me.
“Mason,” he says, and just like that first day in the woods, I hear him like he’s speaking directly into my ear, like he’s standing right next to me. How does he do that?
The second I process exactly what happened, my feet are moving again.
Star thought the man was me. He thought the hands on him belonged to someone he knew, someone he trusted. Why else would someone touch him without his consent?
When he felt hands on him, it should have been me. I shouldn't have left him alone.
The bald man steps toward Star like he's going to try again to dance with him, but Star's eyes are still on me as I approach.
“Hey,” I say, stepping between Star and the man. “He doesn't want you on him.”
The guy raises his chin, and I start to think maybe this was a bad idea. I've never been in a bar brawl before. This guy is big and muscular. I'm pretty sure I'm not winning any fist fights here.
“You sure about that?” the man shouts.
“Yes, I'm sure. And if you had half a brain, you'd be able to tell.”
“He has a mouth. He can say no.”
Star leans around me, pointing his stern chin toward the man. “I do not wish to be touched by anyone but Mason.”
His arms come up to snake around my chest and waist, and I suppress a shiver. It's like he's claiming me, and it's intoxicating.
The man glares but leaves us alone, and I turn to face Star.
He takes my face in his hands. “Dance with me, Mason.”
He didn't have to ask. I’ve already made that mistake once.
As the music thumps, I take him by the hips and tug him toward me. It isn't like before, when we slow danced in my kitchen. I'm not hesitant now.
I wasn't sure before, but I am now. Starlight wants me and only me, and I want him. I wrap myself around him, getting as close as I can, and then we start to move together, chest to chest, hips to hips.
The music is loud, people pressing in on all sides, but all of Star's attention is on me. And even though he's the one with stars on his skin, I feel like I'm glowing.
What did I do to deserve the way this perfect man is looking at me? His hands grip me, arms, shoulders, neck, until they're sliding into my hair while he dances, throwing his head back so his entire neck is exposed.
Under different circumstances, I would hold myself back. I would be too aware of the people around us. But looking at Star, seeing the way he accepts himself, the way he doesn't care who's looking, the way he has no choice but to be entirely and completely himself, it makes me feel fearless.
I move closer and bite his throat, and then I kiss it in the same spot, and then lick it. I feel Star shiver under my hands.
With my mouth against his throat, I think maybe it would be harmless to say, here, where no one can hear me, that I've fallen in love with him, that I'm certain once he's gone, I'll spend the rest of my life thinking about this moment, dancing with a man who's unlike anyone I've ever met before or will ever meet again.
But before I can say the words, Star slumps against me. At first, I think he just wants to dance closer, but then I realize all his weight is on me, heavy and still.
I stumble under him. “Star?”
I can't see his face, whether or not he's conscious. I lower him to the floor, shoving people out of the way.
“Star?”
His eyes are closed. I press my ear to his chest. He's still breathing.
“Mackenzie!” I scream, until my throat is raw. “Mackenzie!”
My hands are shaking as we set Star down on my couch. He's conscious now, but there's a strange paleness to his face that has nothing to do with the color of the sky.
“Mason.” His fingertips brush my chin, and my stomach seizes.
“I’m going to take care of you, baby. Just hang on.”
I stand and turn to Mackenzie, who's almost as pale as Star is. Her worried eyes follow me out of the living room. “You're leaving?”
I rip open the front door. “I know someone who might be able to help.”
“To help you what?”
I glance over at Star. His eyes are closed now. “To help me send him back.”