Page 57 of The Star

He takes another predatory step toward me. “Do a little spin for me. Let me see your ass in that thing.”

I narrow my eyes for a moment but decide to turn around anyways, putting my back to him. I hear him suck in a breath as he moves, then his hands are pressing against the flesh of my ass where it spills over the edges of the bodysuit.

“Carson,” I sigh.

He squeezes one last time before he removes himself from me, letting me turn around to face him. “You look scary-hot, Logan.”

I grin. “That’s what I was going for.”

“Why’d you get dressed up?” he questions as his gaze trails down my body, making chills run all over me.

“Halloween is my jam, so I figured even if I don’t have plans, that doesn’t mean I can’t still dress up.”

His brows raise as he looks into my eyes. “Just gonna sit at home covered in fake blood?”

“Well, I was going to have a little photoshoot.” I smirk.

“I’m going to a party at Hayden’s, if you wanted to come,” he offers, even as he winces through the words. It’s clear this isn’t an invitation he should be offering, even if he wants to.

“Nah.” I wave a hand, popping the teeth from my mouth and holding them in my hand. “I’m just gonna hang out here.”

His eyes find mine for a moment, making me suck air into my lungs. He leans forward, his eyes shooting to my lips as he does. Pulling back, I catch his gaze once more and shake my head.

His nostrils flare in frustration, but he doesn’t push it, just steps backwards and looks down at the floor.

“I’ll get out of your way so you can get ready, but I’ll clean up the makeup and stuff later.”

I turn, rushing through my bedroom door and slamming it behind me so he doesn’t try to follow. No matter how much I want to spend time with him, it isn’t a good idea and I know that.

* * *

At 1am, I’m sitting cross-legged on my bed, stuffing leftover candy from trick-or-treaters mindlessly into my mouth.Jennifer’s Bodyis playing on the TV, and I’m completely engrossed in a scene where she’s eating some emo dude. I’m still dressed in my makeshift Halloween costume, so I have a towel underneath me to not get any blood on my bed.

It turned out to be a pretty good night. I did a little photoshoot in my bedroom, then helped Sara hand out candy. We didn’t have a lot of kids come by – hence the candy I’m shoveling into my mouth – but I ended up having fun hanging out with Sara.

I’m unwrapping a mini-Twix when my bedroom door slams open, making me almost jump out of my skin.

Carson appears in the doorway, and I slap a hand to my chest before I yell at him. “You scared the shit out of me, Carson!”

He laughs, swaggering into my room and dropping down onto my bed so hard that my discarded wrappers fly in the air. I shake my head at him. “Excuse you?”

He peeks into the candy bowl between my legs, poking through it before pulling out a mini-Snickers. “Whatcha doing?”

I watch him as he unwraps it, then stuffs the whole thing into his mouth. “I’m watching a movie… What areyoudoing?”

He grabs another piece of candy from the bowl and holds it up to show me, speaking with his mouth full. “Getting some candy.”

I roll my eyes. “I mean, aren’t you supposed to be at a Halloween party?”

He chews between words, shrugging his shoulders. “Eh, it was boring. Wanted to come home. Hang out. You know?”

I look at him like he’s speaking German. “No, I don’tknow.”

He sighs, swallowing the last of his candy before he meets my gaze. “I didn’t feel like partying, I wanted to hang out with you.”

I scrunch my face up. “Why?”

He laughs. “Don’t play stupid, it’s not a good look for you.”

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