Page 18 of Dance of Ruin

Thoselights.

I start to giggle.

“How’re you feeling, Naomi?”

It’s suddenly a struggle to lift my eyelids as I raise my gaze to Gus.

His eyes aren’t twinkling when he looks at me now. He’s not smiling, either.

The lens cap is still on the camera sitting on the tripod in front of me.

“I… It’s hot,” I say quietly, my words jumbling together. Confusion claws at me, fading in and out, like I’m confused aboutwhyI’m confused.

I’m here for a photoshoot. I’m going to make five hundred dollars.

Easy.

Peasy.

Lemon squeez?—

My legs start to give out.

“Oops, let me help you,” Seb mutters, an edge in his tone that wasn’t there before. His hands land on my hips again.

Slowly, I sink limply into his arms.

What the fuck is happening.

“Why don’t you lie down, Naomi,” Gus growls into my ear. I feel a sense of weightlessness as I’m lifted and carried across the room.

Part of me doesn’t care. Part of me is still confused about being confused.

Another part is silently screaming blue fucking murder as I find myself laid across the bed in the corner.

The one with the camera on a tripod pointed right at it.

Hands begin to tug at my tutu.

“What are you doing…”

“We’re making a movie, Naomi,” Gus murmurs. His fingers slip under the strap of my leotard, his touch making my skin crawl. “And you’re the star.”

No.

No. No. No…

It doesn’t matter how many times I scream it in my head. It doesn’t stop the lights from dimming and the whole world from fading out.

But right now, that might be the best I could hope for.

5

NICO

“Gotta say, Carmy, power looks fuckin’good on you.”

My older brother smirks, watching me from the front steps of the house I grew up in as I kick the stand into position and slip off my bike.

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