Chapter 11

"What do you mean, there's only one room booked?" Sebastian's voice is lined with deadly intent.

Unfortunately, the man behind the reception desk doesn't look phased at all. He's huge, even bigger than Sebastian, with green skin and tusks coming from his mouth.

I had used my phone's camera in the car to make myself look presentable before we went into the hotel. But I'm close to crying again, now. The receptionist has told us that there is only one room booked in the hotel for both of us.

It's too late at night to be calling Frank for a fix, and honestly I just want to close myself off from the world and relax for a bit.

"Can't we book another room?" I ask, quietly. "I don't mind paying for it…"

"There aren't any. We're fully booked." The receptionist's gruff voice replies.

I tug on Sebastian's elbow, trying to get his attention.

"It's OK. I don't mind sharing, and I think I would like the company tonight." I lean up a little to whisper, "I'm a little scared to be on my own here, if I'm being honest."

Is Sebastian kind of a dick at the best of times? Yes. But do I feel safe with him? Yes. Does that make me certifiably insane? Also yes.

"If you're sure…"

I nod. Sebastian holds out his hand for the key card. The receptionist places it in his hand and instructs us on how to get to our room.

We make our way to the elevator, Sebastian carrying both our bags in one hand like they weigh nothing. I follow him into it and watch as he presses the button to our floor.

"What?" he asks me, a slight grin on his face. "I can see you thinking. You want to ask me something."

I blush, it's not fair that he can tell that.

"Well… it's only… what kind of Monster was that man? The receptionist, I mean."

Sebastian chuckles, showing his teeth a little and I squirm at the sight. He's much more relaxed now, and it's really nice to see.

"He was what we call an Orc. We also aren't called men," he chuckles a little again, almost to himself more than for me. "That's a Human term. We're referred to as males and females. Or whatever you want that's in between, of course. But we're certainly not men and women."

The elevator doors open and he steps out into the hallway first. I quickly follow behind him, a little afraid of being on my own here.

Our room is simple, a giant bed and a small table with two chairs. There's a small bathroom through a door, and that's it really. I've definitely stayed in nicer places, but it's fine. I wanted to get away from the world a bit. Going home would not have been the distraction that I needed.

"This reeks of Karl…" Sebastian mutters under his breath.

"What?" I ask him. Wasn't Karl his manager?

"Nothing, my manager likes to play pranks on me sometimes." He sets our bags on the floor next to the bed. "I can sleep on the floor."

I burst into laughter, patting him playfully on the chest. "Hilarious! As if you would fit on this floor. It's fine, we'll both sleep on the bed. It's huge, there's plenty of room for us both, and we're both adults. We can control ourselves."

I laugh a little more to myself as I bend down and root through my bag to get my cosmetics bag and pajamas.

"I'm going to go change out of this dress," I gesture down at my uncomfortable ensemble. "Do they have room service here? I'm starving. Maybe you could order us food?"

He grunts, which I take as a yes, and lock myself into the bathroom.

God, I look rough. I rest my hands on the counter as I lean forward, examining myself in the mirror. I didn't do as great of a job as I had thought with tidying myself up in the car. There are still tear streaks in my makeup. Although, I do have to say that my wig stayed pretty in place.

I spray my wig glue remover onto my hair line before taking off my boots and dress. Surprisingly, my boots didn't get a single mark on them, which is impressive. My wig comes off easily, I've really honed my technique at this point. I scoop up my natural hair into a messy bun and wash off my make up.

I wasn't expecting to have company when I chose my pajamas for tonight. My high waisted blue shorts and baby tee not leaving much to the imagination. A little strip of my stomach shows, and I know my ass cheeks are hanging out. I really can't bring myself to care, though. Sebastian isn't into me, anyway.

Or is he, though? In the heat of everything that happened, I had forgotten what he had said to me before we danced. Sebastian had told me that he wasn't disgusted with me. But that didn't necessarily mean he was into me, either.

Surely, his behavior so far in our weird relationship would have been much better if he was interested. I sigh, applying my skincare and putting all my things away.

Sebastian is still wearing the same white t-shirt when I come back into the room. He's switched out his jeans for gray sweatpants, the waist folded over once to show a sexy strip of his dark skin. I can see the beginning of his ‘v' shaped muscles pointing south, there are some scales there too.

He's watching me, his jaw clenched tight.

"I didn't know what you wanted," he runs a hand through his luscious hair. "But I ordered us food. I got some different things. I'll eat what you don't like."

I go to reply, but then he reaches up, pulling his hair back into a bun at the back of his head. His stretch shows off more of his impressive abdomen. Holy hell, the man is hot. I mean, the male is hot. So damn hot.

I look away, packing my things away in my bag and putting my wig away properly. I hear the bathroom door shut, Sebastian having gone in there.

I sigh, placing my hands on my hips and looking around the room. At least the bed is big, I guess Monster beds would need to be a lot bigger than Human ones. I plop onto it, sitting cross-legged and picking up my phone to scroll.

I ignore all my notifications and text Rosie:

Don't panic if you see a video online with me looking disheveled. It was a misunderstanding and I'm totally fine and safe.

On second thought, I text that to my parents too.

I'm a little chilly, actually. I look around the room and spot Sebastian's hoodie. I'm sure he won't mind me borrowing it for a bit. He runs ridiculously hot anyway, he'll be fine.

There's a knock at the door, which must be the food. I hop up, toss my phone on the bed and open the door.

A beautiful person with blue skin is on the other side, a cart filled with different covered dishes in front of them. They do a double take when they see me. They probably didn't know that there would be a Human answering, so I don't blame them.

"Thank you." I say, moving to take the cart from them.

"I will bring it in, Madame." I go to move aside to let him past when Sebastian looms behind me. He places a hand on my waist to hold me in place, the other on the door frame as he leans forward.

"We'll take it in." He is cordial, but I can hear the menace in his voice.

"Of course, Sir." The Monster nods nervously, backing away down the hallway.

Sebastian waits until they are out of sight before moving me aside to bring in the cart. Once the door is shut, he turns on me, hands on his hips.

"You are far too trusting, Flora." He tuts at me, stepping forward. I move away, my back hitting the wall, essentially trapping myself in. "Do not let anyone else in the room. Do not wander from me. I can't protect you if you keep doing silly, trusting things."

There's a desperate sound in his voice, and I realize that he might also be a bit shaken from the events of the night.

"You're right. I think I keep forgetting where we are." I place a hand on his chest and look up at him. "I'll behave. If we're in the Monster side of town for a date again, I mean."

The heat of his chest warms my hand, reminding me that I was a little chilly. I shiver a little, "I borrowed your hoodie, I hope you don't mind. I was cold."

"You're cold because you're still in shock." He pulls away from me. "You need to eat."

Sebastian sets up the food cart next to the table, sitting down and gesturing for me to do the same. He pours me a glass of water, and only then do I actually realize how much food there is.

"It's on the company account, and they owe us." He says, reading my expression perfectly. He goes through the long list of what he ordered and asks me to pick what I want.

I end up choosing a bacon cheeseburger, tater tots, and I grab a few onion rings too for good measure.

Sebastian was right. I did need the food.

I start to perk up as I eat, chatting away enough for the both of us.

"Oh, I meant to ask you something," he looks up from his sandwich, ready for my question. "What did you do when we arrived at the club? It felt like you were smelling me? I don't know, the cameras were going and I didn't want to look weirded out."

A deep flush colors his cheeks and he coughs, choking a little on his food.

"I'm not sure you really want to know, Flora."

I shrug, tossing a tater tot into my mouth, the greasy salty flavor popping on my tongue. "Try me."

Does he think he can scare me out of hearing the answer? He clearly doesn't know one thing about me. I'm like a dog with a bone when it comes to a piece of gossip.

He sighs, setting his food down and wiping his hands on a napkin.

"OK, I'll tell you. But before you get mad, I thought it was the best thing to do for your safety. Well, clearly it wasn't enough of a deterrent, but I thought it was going to be."

He pauses for a moment, so I set my own food down. Something tells me I am about to hate what he is going to say, with the way he set that up.

"Go on…" I encourage.

"I was sort of… It was me marking you as mine, in a way. It's a way of us Monsters saying that we're claiming a mate. But I did it because I wanted to make sure that they knew you were off limits. That you were spoken for… by me…"

Oh. Why did that not make me angry? I think back through the moment again, about how good it had felt. I had liked it. And now, knowing what it was… my pussy throbbed. A claiming… that sounded amazing, for some weird reason.

Don't get me wrong, I am into some kinky shit, anyway. But this hit somewhere new for me, unlocked something new.

I shrug my shoulders, "I think it worked for the most part."

He relaxes a little, his shoulders, dropping slightly. We both get back to eating and speaking about nothing in particular.

We chill in our seats and continue chatting once we're done eating. I ask him about his music, and he plays a little for me.

I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't this. His music certainly has traditional folk roots underlying everything, but there was a bluesy and rock influence there too. There were also layers of sound added post-production, which he admitted that his producer was behind. It created a whole new sound that I hadn't heard anything like before.

I cringe a little when he asks to hear mine. It's not nearly as good as his, and he's been on the scene a lot longer than me too. His music has a refined sound that I haven't achieved yet.

"Please? I showed you mine." He teases, playfully pouting at me. That is a totally unfair tactic on his part.

"Fine, but please remember, I haven't released my first album yet. Just an EP and a few singles." I play my favorite piece for him. My sound is a lot more techno heavy than his. It's not that I make club music, but I want every song I create to have an energy about it, for it to give the listener energy.

I pointedly stare at the phone as the song plays, refusing to see his reaction. Silence fills the room as the song finishes. His slow clap has me looking up.

Sebastian has a huge grin on his face, which isn't something I've seen before. He's beautiful when he smiles.

"That was amazing, Flora." He leans forward, an excited energy about him. "And you've really only produced the EP and a few other tracks?"

I nod, a slow smile radiating from me. I preen with his praise.

"Can you play me more?"

At some point, we moved to the bed. We continued playing music for each other. Not only our own, but selections from our favorite artists, too.

It's so cool being able to hear music from Monsters, and I think Sebastian feels the same way about the Human music.

We talk and talk about music for hours, learning so much from one another. I actually can't believe how much he is speaking with me. I think that maybe small talk isn't his strong suit. But when you get Sebastian Orville talking about music… that's when you really get to hear his voice.

It must be after 3 am when my eyes start to droop shut, my voice slowing.

"Time for sleep." Sebastian tells me. I nod my head and let him pull the covers up over me.

I sort of sense him snuggling in on the other side of the bed, but I fall asleep too quickly to know for sure.

I feel like I am on a heated mattress. A firm, heated mattress.

It feels good, so I snuggle in further, sighing happily to myself. I do love cozy mornings.

It takes me a moment to understand that I don't wrap my legs around mattresses, and that mattresses don't hold me back.

Sebastian.

Holy shit. I am currently draped over Sebastian's chest, my leg wrapped around his waist, my hands fisted in his t-shirt. God, he feels good.

It's been a long time since I've been draped over a man like this. Never has it been with one so big, meaning I fit snuggly on his torso. His arms are wrapped around me, and I feel cocooned in the best way possible.

I decide to stay here for a bit. His steady breathing tells me he is still asleep, and I want to enjoy the feeling of the moment. I know it's never going to happen again.

After a while, I realize that I should get up before he wakes. Maybe I can get out of the bed without him noticing. That way he won't be embarrassed by what happened.

I carefully extract myself from his grip. Apart from one hitch in his breath, I don't think I wake him. I slide out of the bed, grabbing my bag and heading into the bathroom to get changed.

When I come back into the room, he is still fast asleep. So I fold his hoodie and put it on top of his bag.

"Sebastian," I whisper, trying to wake him gently. No response. Nada.

I end up having to call his name quite loudly to wake him up. He is super groggy, and extremely adorable. With his messy hair and rumpled clothes, he looks normal.

I sit down and scroll through my phone while he slowly potters about, getting ready for the day.

I'm home within the hour, questioning if any of it was real. Neither of us spoke much in the car, but we were both groggy from the late night and lack of coffee.