Chapter 33
chapter
thirty-three
Stella
I worked miracles this week, including sitting through the weirdest “publicity” date with Seven so far . Instead of an event, private home, or restaurant, we’d gone to a regular movie theater where they were airing a Seven Harrison marathon. We were seated near the back—the last row had clearly been set aside for us. Unfortunately, with Gem tied up on set once more as Seven’s stunt double, I actually had to attend these dates with Seven himself, rather than Shadow Seven—as Gem jokingly called himself.
The first movie to air was the schlockiest, most insane fantasy movie I’d ever seen. I barely recognized any of them from their parts. Gem and Seven shared the role of the prince, until the prince was cursed. Then Seven and Gem battled outsiders and each other as the competing parts of the prince’s personality. As for Ollie? I may never let him live down the pageboy haircut they made him wear.
Overall it was ridiculously cheesy and kind of adorable.
“Hopefully that didn’t suck for you,” Seven whispered against my ear before he stood. The audience was applauding as Seven was introduced. He stood in front of the packed auditorium and told stories about his time on that set.
Then he took questions. At the end of that, he rejoined me and they put on his next movie. Leaning toward him, I had to know: “How long is this marathon?”
“Five more movies, Stray. Don’t worry. I’ll cover the overtime.”
Rolling my eyes, I leaned back in the chair. This was one of their first truly teen movies. A pair of brothers and their best friend pitted against vampires in a beach town. It was absolutely terrible.
I loved every minute but only because of Gem being in it.
By the time we left, Seven had taken pictures with lots of the fans, answered questions, and played the good sport about everything. It was—enlightening. It also gave me some ideas.
Sunday afternoon found Seven driving, despite my objections, in a fancy hybrid SUV. I had to take my camera equipment out of the safe, but I had a bag to bring it all with me.
Everything else I’d need would be at the studio. Seven had asked me what to wear—now there was a question I didn’t get every day. I’d told him to dress like he had for the Notoriety shoot and to bring a couple of other outfits with him, something more casual and relaxed, along with something we could make dressier.
I really didn’t see me dressing him up more. He was too uptight as it was; we needed to loosen him up. Excitement threaded through me. This wasn’t about catching some scandal or documenting bad decisions to be sold later.
After entering the code for the lock, I opened the door to get us inside. “Make yourself comfortable,” I told him as I began my sweep. I’d used this studio before. I just wanted to see what my best options were going to be.
“What time are you expecting the makeup artist?” Seven asked, hanging his garment bags on the clothing rack at the side of the room, where some Chinese screens were set up for changing.
I grinned to myself, shaking my head as I turned on the lights and set down my equipment. “You like wearing makeup for photo shoots, Spawn?”
“What?” he replied, looking confused. “No, but it’s… That’s just normal for all editorial shoots.”
I raised my brows, meeting his eyes across the small studio. “Do you think you need makeup, Spawn? I’ve got some concealer and blush in my purse if you wanna borrow it.”
His eyes narrowed in a glare, and I tried really hard not to laugh at him. He was making it impossible to remain straight-faced though.
“I’m teasing, Spawn. Chill the fuck out. You’re handsome enough just as you are. You don’t need makeup. In fact, I daresay that was contributing to the whole wax-mannequin vibes you were giving under Janice’s lens.”
Seven grunted, like my statement shocked him. “You think I’m handsome?”
Okay, now I had to laugh. “Oh, that’s news to you? I’m literally fucking your identical twin on a daily basis, Seven, Of course I think you’re both handsome. You’re not on good terms with logic are you, hot stuff?” I snickered, rolling my eyes. “Let’s start with jeans and a T-shirt, no shoes. Give me a few minutes to test lighting.”
Not waiting for his response, I turned back to my task of ensuring the studio was set exactly as I wanted it and then set about tweaking my camera settings to align with the light. This was very different from my usual long-range telephoto snaps, and if I was being honest, I was terrified of fucking it up.
I’d talked a big game about Janice’s photos and had no actual confidence that my images would be better, but I had to try. I couldn’t let Seven approve those lifeless, stiffly posed images in a magazine as big as Notoriety . After seeing her touch him inappropriately, I wanted even more to rob her of that payday too.
“Is this good for you?” Seven asked from right behind me, making me jump a little as he shocked me out of my internal musings. I spun around to find him right there in my personal space, making me retreat a step.
He’d dressed as I asked, but the T-shirt hugged him in all the right ways to highlight the muscles he worked so hard to maintain. If not for the permanent scowl set on his face, I could have been fooled that he was Gem, dressed so casually.
I nodded, my head whirling with ideas for posing. “Yep. Stand over there on the tape mark, so I can check lighting against you.”
He did as he was told, not making things difficult at all, which was…unexpected. I slid into professional mode, acting like I carried out studio shoots with major celebrities every damn day, while internally I was sweating buckets that I couldn’t make it work.
Five frames in, I relaxed. I already had gold. Why the hell had I been so worried?
Letting the anxiousness slip away, I confidently guided Seven through the poses I had been researching all week from my favorite editorial shoots over the years. He nailed them all. Every damn one. It blew me away, considering how stiff and awkward he’d been in front of Janice’s lens, which made me think that likely wasn’t the first inappropriate interaction they’d had.
Gross.
We stopped after a couple of hours, and Seven ordered us food and drinks delivered so we could refuel. As we ate, he told me more about the current project that Gem was working with him on. It sounded downright dangerous, and when I sent Seven to change into the next outfit, I popped off a quick text to Gem. Just checking on him.
“Okay, how do you want me?” Seven asked, reappearing out from behind the changing screen, and I nearly dropped my phone. His hair had become messed up while he changed, and he was back in the same outfit he’d worn for Janice: white button-down unbuttoned and a pair of Calvin Kleins that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Fucking hell. This identical-twin thing was starting to mess with my head because my pulse was racing just from looking at Seven.
I needed to swallow hard before finding my voice. “Um, just give me a sex. I mean a sec.” Fuck! “Give me a second while I drag that couch over.” Hiding my flaming face with my hair, I hurried across to the side of the studio where an assortment of props and furniture was stored. I wanted Seven on the brown leather Chesterfield, but it took more effort than anticipated to make it move.
Thankfully, I had a big, strong man there to help, and between the two of us, we got it into position under my lights.
“Sit,” I murmured, waving a hand at the leather seat as I adjusted the height of the diffusers and dialed through the warmth of the lights.
He once again did as he was told, and I tried really freaking hard to keep my mind out of the gutter when I caught him rearranging his dick in those tight, white underpants.
Once I was happy with the light, I stepped back to where I’d left my camera, then glanced over at Seven. He’d slouched back on the couch while waiting and had an elbow propped up on the arm with his legs spread wide.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “That’s perfect. Don’t move.”
His brow dipped ever so slightly as I quickly fixed my camera settings and took a few test shots. Then I sighed and shook my head when I looked at the previews.
“Can you…” I pursed my lips, analyzing the little image on my camera screen. “Can you stay exactly as you are but this time try putting a little more sex in your eyes? Look at me like I’m Clara Belle.”
I raised the camera back to my face, clicking a few shots before grimacing. “Okay, scratch that, you look fucking constipated. Can you just pretend you’re looking at someone you actually like ? Give the camera your best panty-dropper smolder, Seven. I know you’ve got one in there somewhere.”
He shifted slightly, then wham .
Fuck. I think my own panties just drowned with the instant flush of heat as his gaze hit me through the camera lens. Holy crap . I was unprepared.
“Like that?” he murmured, seeking validation.
“Uh-huh,” I replied in a somewhat strangled voice. “Perfect. Move around a bit, try some different positions.”
He did as I asked, such an obedient man, and my throat tightened with desire. I tried to mentally remind myself it was just the identical-twin effect. I was so intimately familiar with Gem and they were identical, so my body just thought he was Gem.
Right?
Right.
“Hold that,” I ordered when he struck a pose with one leg hitched up on the sofa and his head tipped back into the light. “Don’t move for a sec.” I just needed to fix the way the shadows were falling over the side of his face, which I did with a minor tweak. Then when I tried another shot, I realized his shirt wasn’t quite right.
“Stay there,” I murmured. “I need to fix this.” I put my camera down, then moved over to where he posed on the couch and tugged the edges of his shirt farther apart, revealing his golden, toned abs in full flex.
“Stray,” Seven said in a rough voice, pulling my gaze away from his abs, where I had just zoned out. Fuck, had he just caught me checking him out? “Is that drool on your chin?”
Panicked, I wiped my face of all expression. Then instantly groaned when Seven’s lips curved in a smug-as-fuck grin. Totally busted. “You’re an asshole,” I muttered. “It just so happens you’re a sexy asshole. Don’t let it go to your head, Demon Spawn.”
Forcing myself to take a step back, I turned away to retrieve my camera once more as I took a few calming breaths. This was Seven …not Gem. Except, that was part of the problem.
Swallowing hard, I brought the camera back to my eye and tried to focus on the art. Except he took that moment to run a hand through his hair and flex his body, and an embarrassing sound escaped my throat. Fuckity fuck, had he heard me? Surely not. It had been quiet. Just in case, I fake coughed a couple of times.
Nice. That covered it up.
“Okay, try a different pose,” I suggested but as he shifted his position, I spotted a big problem through the lens of my camera. A big…hard…problem.
“Seven!” I gasped, lowering the camera and putting it down on a stool so I could gesture wildly at the issue. “This isn’t a shoot for Playgirl . No one needs to see that.”
He shrugged, unconcerned with the way his briefs were stretched out of shape. “I don’t know what you want me to do about it, Stray. I can’t control the fact that my dick thinks you’re looking at me like that.”
My mouth went dry. “Like what?” My question was so high-pitched, it was comical.
Seven smoldered at me, fisting his dick through the fabric as he shifted on the seat. “Like your head is blurring the line on which Harrison twin is here, maybe thinking about having Gem bend you over the arm of this sofa and fuck your pussy until you screamed.”
“I’m not!” I protested, my cheeks heated. “That’s…insane. Trust me, Seven, I could tell you two apart in the dark.”
His brows rose with curiosity. “Ah, so that look in your eye is just for me? Good to know.”
Panic. Utter panic. “What? No, that’s not what I said. You’re twisting my words, Seven.”
His lips pursed, and his hand shifted on his cock. “Am I? I don’t think I am.”
I forced a humorless laugh. “Well, trust me, Seven, you could literally kiss me right now and I’d feel absolutely nothing for you. My panties are bone dry, in case you’re wondering. All of this is doing nothing for me.”
Somehow I’d drifted closer while we spoke, and quick as a whip, he sat forward and grabbed my wrist in his strong grip. A sharp tug pulled me off balance and I tumbled into his lap with a startled gasp, which he smothered with a bruising kiss.
My brain totally short-circuited. I hadn’t been lying about knowing him and Gem apart well enough that I wasn’t picturing Gem in his place—that was the fucking problem. I was attracted to Seven , and now that he was kissing me, I lost all grip on my protests. My lips parted and his tongue delved inside with determination while his fingers flicked open the button of my jeans.
Shock rippled through me as I realized he was taking me at my word, and I tried to squirm away but his grip on my wrist was impossible. Within seconds, his hand was inside my jeans, and inside my utterly saturated panties with his fingers slipping between the folds of my heated, swollen pussy.
“Liar,” he growled against my mouth, and it was the kind of feral sound that made me whimper with need. Almost against my will, my hips rocked against his hand, encouraging his fingers to slide deeper and I moaned. Fuck. I was totally busted now, but at the same time, so was he.
A deep rumble vibrated his chest as I stroked my hand down his body, then stroked my thumb over the slick tip of his erection, already poking out of his underwear like the garment simply couldn’t contain all that meat anymore.
Seven groaned, then released my wrist to roughly yank my jeans and panties down in a frantic motion. I helped by kicking them off my legs, not breaking our kisses for more than a few breaths, then his hand returned to my pussy and he thrust two fingers inside.
When I tugged his underwear down to fully fist his cock, he made another of those growling noises and swiftly manhandled me to kneel on the couch. I whipped my shirt over my head and unclipped my bra in record time, then gripped the backrest as he stood behind me.
His fingers swiped through my aching lower lips a couple of times, but right when I thought he’d insert Tab A into Slot B, his palm cracked down on my ass cheek and I yelped.
“What the fuck, Seven?” I gasped in shock as he massaged the already-heated flesh.
“That’s for lying to me, Stella. Do it again and you won’t like the result,” he explained. Then smacked me again, harder, and my pussy clenched. “And that was just for fun.” Then he slammed his cock into my tight cunt with one brutal thrust that saw me scream out loud.
My whole body tensed and quivered, but the heat swirling through my core promised such a good time, I couldn’t even be that mad about it. Still, considering he’d just proven he and Gem truly were identical in all departments, he could have taken that entry a little slower. That’d ache later for sure.
“You’re such an asshole, Seven,” I moaned, even as I rocked back on his thick cock like a greedy whore. “You didn’t have to be so rough.”
In answer, he smacked my other ass cheek with an open palm, then hissed a breath as my pussy clenched around him. “Yes, I did.” He replied. “So you’ll be too sore for another of your marathon fuckfests with my brother and best friend later.”
A low chuckle rolled out of me then, my breath coming in short, sharp pants as I rocked on his cock, increasing the depth of his thrust. “You’ll have to try harder than that, Sev. I have plenty of stamina.”
“So I’ve heard,” he grumbled, then smacked me again, and I yelped loudly. “I’ll settle for making sure you can’t sit without thinking of me. Especially when your sweet pussy grips me like that, holy fuck …Stella.” Another smack, and this time I cried out.
My backside was flame hot and so freaking sensitive, I could hardly form complete thoughts. I needed to come. That was all I could focus on. I needed to come so freaking badly, and those smacks with his cock buried deep inside were building the pressure to something terrifying.
“Holy shit ,” I moaned when he delivered another few smacks in quick succession, swapping sides. “I’m so close, Seven. I’m going to come…”
“Good,” he grunted, planting a foot up on the sofa to fuck me deeper. “Come on my cock, Stella. Say my fucking name while you do.”
Instead of smacking me again, he reached around and found my clit with a brutal pinch.
“Fuck!” I exclaimed. “Shit… Seven! ”
He didn’t slow to wait out my climax; instead, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and jerked my head back as his hips pumped. He fucked me with all the pent-up frustration of weeks of living together. He hadn’t been joking when he said he wanted to make it hurt—I’d bet anything I couldn’t walk straight later—but that ferocity only intensified my orgasm further.
When he came, it was buried deep inside me with absolutely no effort to pull out—like he wanted to fill my pussy with his cum regardless of potential consequences. Both Gem and Ollie had been fucking me without protection, but they’d been crazy careful about pulling out at the last moment.
Thank fuck for my IUD, that’s all I had on that subject.
He grunted as those hot jets filled me up, his fist tightening in my hair as he dipped a kiss to the top of my spine, groaning my name. “ Stella …”
“I still hate you, Seven,” I whispered between gasps for air.
He laughed then, and his cock jerked inside my throbbing pussy in the most incredible way. “The feeling is mutual, Stella.”
Fucking hell, we needed to stop using each other’s real names. This was feeling way too intimate for my liking. Then as he slid his thick cock out of my slick core, he slapped my ass and I jerked like he’d electrocuted me. He laughed harder then, and it was an infuriatingly smug laugh.
“Gem’s going to skin you alive,” I grumbled, pulling my clothes on over my exceptionally sensitive butt. Then dread curled through me. Would he also skin me alive for this?