CHAPTER FIFTEEN #3
I froze. That was a photographer. The possibility of strangers taking pictures of us had never crossed my mind. I’d tried looking up Cas online, but gossip sites hadn’t shown any interest in him. Meanwhile, his sister Gemma and her girlfriend were everywhere.
Stars above. I’m going to end up on a gossip site.
‘Damn paparazzi,’ Cas muttered. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘Does that happen a lot?’ my voice squeaked. His life was wildly different from mine, but it still shocked me to have a camera in our faces like that. At the end of the day, Cas was a Fox. I should’ve predicted this. I gritted my teeth, my hellflare tingling up my legs.
‘It doesn’t, actually. That was weird.’ He sighed. ‘I’ll handle it.’
I slid into the leather interior of his coupe as he held the passenger door open.
I was too distracted to admire the car, other than noticing the steering wheel looked like it belonged on an arcade racing simulator.
What would happen once people I knew saw those photos?
I’d tell my family and Estelle about Cas tonight, so they didn’t find out from a tabloid, but how would things change?
I imagined people in my neighborhood, their side-eyes and mhmms. It’d be worse when they found out he was a Pain Giver.
What if the photo caught my hellflare?
Cas pressed a few buttons on the console. ‘Polaris Blues’ came through the speakers.
‘Should I take our favorite shortcut?’ he said.
‘I think your car would be mad if we didn’t.’
He let me choose the music as we headed down the RRH, and of course I played Lila Blooms’ ‘Starlight’ and made him sing it with me, windows down as we cruised.
My hellflare faded by the second verse. I did my best to forget about the camera and the possibility of waking up tomorrow and everyone knowing my business.
If I wanted to give Cas and me a chance, paparazzi and gossip sites would come with it.
Him being rich, a Pain Giver and a Fox came with it.
I focused on the good moments: our kisses in the pool, Cas letting me pick his nail color – onyx blue for his fingers, clear on his toes. I’d almost moved past it when he apologized again.
He parked in front of my house. ‘I’ll figure out who it was. Sometimes, if you offer a fee higher than the journalists, photographers won’t sell right away.’
I laughed at the right away part. I wanted to raise my guard to the stars, but there was no turning back.
‘It’s OK. It’s time I told Estelle about you.
And Leo. And Daddy. Skye heard us on the phone the other night, so I’ve been bribing her with pancakes every morning,’ I admitted, then paused.
There was so much on the horizon that could go wrong, but I hadn’t felt this happy in so long.
‘How about you? Have you told your family?’ I didn’t ask what I really wanted to know – whether the Foxes would allow it.
I hadn’t forgotten how they brushed off my presence at Bay General.
They could stop this – us – before it even started.
But would Cas listen? He was different from his family.
That much I could tell. He could stand up to them, surprise me.
I wanted him to surprise me.
‘I’m going home to do exactly that,’ he said. ‘I was nervous today. I’m glad you said yes.’
‘I’m glad too.’
He leaned over and lightly drew my face toward his for a kiss. ‘So now that we’ve officially graduated from fake dating to the real thing, can I walk you to your door?’
I giggled against his mouth. ‘No.’
I kissed him one last time, just long enough to give him something to remember me by, then walked myself to the door.
He waited until I was inside before driving off, and I peeked out the front window to watch his car disappear around the corner.
This wasn’t going to be easy. But I owed it to myself to try.
He made me feel light, and soft, and worth it. He made my pain disappear.
‘Nova?’ Skye poked her head out of our room. ‘I have sour gummy constellations and fizzy drinks. I need a play-by-play – minus the kissy stuff.’
I grinned and hurried down the hall before anyone else noticed. Skye waited on my bed, her eyes lighting up as she saw the little burlap bag in my hands.
‘Ooo, what did he get us?’
I rolled my eyes and pulled the receipt from the bag. A few seconds later, I handed her a folded paper star. ‘This is for you.’ I sat down and opened the lemon and mint body butter. It smelled like my first – and hopefully not only – date with Castor Fox. ‘This is for me.’
I didn’t have a chance to sink into the aroma before the front door slammed and someone ran down the hall. Estelle burst into the room, furious. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
I balked, confused, then remembered the photographer. ‘That was fast.’ I sighed, reminding myself I’d just agreed to give Cas and me a real shot. ‘I was about to call you –’
‘I knew you felt bad for him, but I can’t believe you agreed to this.’ She shoved her phone into my hands, and my heart sank to my stomach as I read a headline I wasn’t prepared for: CASTOR FOX CAUGHT ENTANGLED WITH HIS PAIN CARRIER.