When Stars Burn

Chapter Nine: Fright, Flight and Burning Bright

Julian glanced at his watch and shrugged. "I thought you were done fifteen minutes ago. It's fine. I can wait."

If I thought that meant he was going to wait outside all by himself, I was wrong.

He turned to the girls waiting and watching us with fascinated curiosity and said hi, starting an mini-explosion of flirty small talk and endless questions.

I forgot. This was Julian Wilde, after all—a predator at large surrounded by preys doing their mighty best to be caught.

I turned back to my customer and resisted the urge to yank her face back toward me and away from Julian so I could fix her eye make up and go home.

"Are you going to Hallows Eve later?" one of the girls ventured to ask with a breathy giggle.

"Yeah, of course," he answered. "I go every year."

"Are you going to dress up?"

"I always do."

"What will you be this year?"

"A pirate."

How original.

A pirate was perfect was for him—a charming, unapologetic rogue of questionable moral compass.

And I'm a hypocrite.

"I'm going as a sexy nurse."

"And I'll be a mermaid."

I snorted before I could stop myself and three or four heads swivelled in my direction including my customer. I quickly grabbed on to her head and covered the light black smear with another layer of liner before she could get away. With that quick fix done, I moved on to her other eye to match the look.

"And who will you be, Starlight?" Julian asked, daring me with an arched brow and a lazy smile.

I capped the liquid liner, finally done with my customer, and started to collect my tools. "I'll be the boring teenager sitting at home in her pjs, watching a horror movie marathon and screaming her lungs out because no one else is home."

His smile broadened. "We can stay home and do that too, you know?"

There was such a telling pause as our captive audience picked up on Julian's carelessly suggestive statement. I've never seen eyeballs roll back and forth in their sockets so much.

But there wasn't much to be done about it now. They'd all heard him and made their assumptions.

I decided that with nothing much left to lose, I'd give it a try anyway. "I'm sure you and your friends will have a blast at the party. There's no need to worry about me. I'd be perfectly happy to stay at home."

"It's Halloween. You're in college. And you have me," Julian countered with an attempt at logic. "There's no way you're going to be sitting at home alone. You'd be sad and lonely."

I gave him a thin smile, a bit unsteady at the casual way he'd said 'you have me' and made it sound like something else. "I'm touched but I'm sure it won't take long before you forget about your poor roommate."

"There's gonna be lots of girls there," someone from our small audience blurted out.

I smiled at her indulgently. "Thank you for the confirmation." I turned to Julian. "You heard her. I won't tag along and slow you down. God knows the night will already be too short in your opinion."

His eyes narrowed slightly at me, piercing and intense. "I can form my own opinion just fine, Star, and I'm not quite sure you're ready to hear it."