Chapter 19
Evie
The Press Shoot
Psycho Killer: We’re on for tonight, Final Girl.
My early morning alarm woke me, and I stared at the text on my phone sent an hour ago.
How had he gotten up that early? It was four in the morning.
I hurried to shower and get to the studio, where Sebastian was already standing at the craft services table, drinking his morning Red Bull and eating a bagel.
“Mornin’, Final Girl. Did you get my text?”
I grabbed a water and nodded. “It’s early. What are we on for tonight?”
He rolled his eyes. “That movie premiere. You asked me to introduce you to Dourif. He’s going to be there.”
“Beep beep, Ritchie!” I hissed, looking around.
He smirked and spun on his heel. “I’m heading to makeup.”
I waited behind for Skye to get to set, and together, we went to hair and makeup. It took almost two hours in the chair before we were sent over to costumes. Bryce was there, putting on a stylized version of his Simon Says costume. It was a sharp, plum-colored ringmaster’s suit.
I shook my head. “I don’t know how you do this every day.” I pointed to the clown makeup on my face. “It’s hot.”
He laughed. “Well, the pussy I get makes up for it.” He made a circle with his finger around his own face, covered in similar makeup. “Bitches love a hot clown.”
“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 labeled first 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 Creatures already 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.
“Jesus Christ. You’re making me hot,” the photographer gushed as her camera went crazy.
I met Sebastian’s gaze. His eyes narrowed, but I could see the dark desire behind them.
We were asked to continue the pose she’d originally requested, and as he crawled between my legs, memories of our chemistry test flashed in my mind, and my breathing grew labored.
He dipped his head, placing his lips on my thigh.
A deep chuckle vibrated across my skin, running straight to my center.
“What?” I gasped as he ran his hands along the length of my legs.
“They shouldn’t have given you such light-colored panties,” he murmured, low enough for only me to hear.
My brow furrowed. He raised himself back up and pressed his chest to mine, cocking his head and whispering in my ear, “I can see just how fucking wet you are. You’ve soaked right through, Final Girl.”
A small shriek left my throat, and he pulled back, biting down on his lip as it curved into a taunting smile.
My heart raced so hard and fast in my ears that I couldn’t focus on what the photographer was saying, and Sebastian had to help.
I was practically a rag doll as he shifted me around to get the right shot.
I closed my eyes, trying to steady myself, but his lips on my arms and neck were making my skin hot and tingly.
Finally, the photographer lowered the camera, and people began to clap.
“We’re going to sell so many fucking copies of this magazine.
” Stacey, who’d been off to the sides watching us, shook her head, her eyes shining with dollar signs.
While we’d been shooting, Bryce and Skye had returned to set, covered in blood for their couple shots.
As I walked toward the dressing room, Skye stopped me.
“Evie, that was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Holy crap. You are—”
“It’s just work, Skye,” I said flatly. She gave me a look then rolled her eyes.
“You are delulu if you don’t see how hard he’s claiming you. No wonder Glenn backed off. Sebastian basically just wrote mine all over you with his tongue.”
I shivered and looked over my shoulder. He was coming toward us now. I shook my head. “He didn’t claim anything,” I said sharply, making sure he was within earshot.
“Are you talking about me?” Sebastian came forward. With his hands behind his back, he leaned on his heels and grinned. He grabbed my waist and pulled me into him, our chests bumping. “Skye’s right. I did write mine all over you.”
I elbowed him and rushed off set, slamming the dressing room door closed. Staking a claim over something that wasn’t his wasn’t going to change things. I sighed deeply and fell against a wall. How was I supposed to keep this showmance up when I was actively trying to keep away from him?
Letting myself feel something for him wasn’t safe. It would only lead to his heart breaking when I was gone, and I never wanted anyone to feel the way I’d felt when it happened the first time. I was steeling myself to tell him this when he entered the green room, blowing the door wide open.
Suddenly, forgetting my vulnerability, I opened my mouth to yell at him for making such a show.
Before I could say anything, he crossed the room, crushing his lips on mine.
His tongue invaded my mouth, and he placed one hand on my back, forcing our bodies together.
Finally, he pulled back, and then he spun me around and shoved me away.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked as he raised my dress, exposing my panties. The rattle of his belt sent a rush of adrenaline through me. I bolted upright.
“You talk a lot of game for someone who has no say in what I make mine.” He slid his hand up my thighs, lifting my dress, then spanked me, causing both a pinch of pain and a shiver of pleasure to come from my core. “Now bend over so I can make you come.”