Chapter 5

My dress is a little itchy, the gold sequins digging in where it ends at my thigh. My shape wear is protecting me up until that point at least. Being a curvy girl is all fun and games until you have to fold up into the tiny back seat of an Uber in a tight, sequined dress.

I spent the full afternoon in the café researching every bit of information that I could find on Dragon Shifters. I didn't learn anything concrete.

Not. A. Single. Thing.

It seemed like every piece of information was contradicted by another. I even ended up on those websites, the ones that were very interested in dragon shifters, indeed. I don't think I realized quite so many different anatomies could exist, sexually I mean.

After that, I went home and got ready. I may have already downed a few shots of questionable whiskey that I found in the back of my cupboard before going down to meet Rosie in the Uber.

I rub at my chest now, feeling the burn there still. That whiskey had been opened a while. I'm sure I've already somehow poisoned myself.

I look over at Rosie, who looks stunning, as always. She's wearing a cobalt blue slip dress that makes her bright blue eyes sing. Her chocolate brown hair is softly waved and pinned back to hang over one shoulder.

"You look stunning," I tell her. "If I were a man, I would be drooling over you right now."

"What if you were a Monster?" she gives me her signature brow wiggle that she does when she's teasing.

"Stop!" I exclaim. "We're done talking about Monsters. I'm so over them right now."

"Bah! Don't think I didn't see you on those Monster lover sites earlier."

I blush, sometimes Rosie observes a lot more than you think. I should have been more discreet.

"What were they like, anyway?" she continues, missing my embarrassment entirely. "What kind of Monster was he? Your co-star?"

"Well I couldn't tell at the time, but Frank got the info. He's a Dragon Shifter…"

"A what?!"

"I know! That's what I was researching all day today. But before you ask, I literally know nothing. I couldn't find anything online."

I glance up at that moment, catching the disapproving gaze of the Uber driver in his rear view mirror. The judgment in his eyes sobering up all of the whiskey I had drank earlier. He looked disgusted, like I was a piece of gum he found on his shoe.

Luckily, the car pulls to a stop as we arrive at the club. I hop out quickly and wait for Rosie on the pavement.

The line to the club is massive, at least fifty people deep. It's going to take us ages to get in.

"Ugh," Rosie states, "remind me why I was all excited to go to a new club, again? Everyone and their Mother is here!"

"Should we go somewhere else, maybe?" I suggest. We are still standing near the entrance, contemplating walking down to the end of the line.

A group walk by us, heading straight for the door and skipping the line altogether. The bouncer easily lets them through.

"Either get in line or move along ladies!" The other bouncer keeping the line in check shouts to us.

"She's with me." A deep voice calls out, and I turn to see a stunning man with golden hair and tan skin. He's with the group that were just let through. We make eye contact as he continues, "her friend too."

Rosie whistles softly, before pulling me by the elbow and meeting the golden boy at the door.

He grins at me, one dimple showing on his cheek as he gestures us to follow him. I turn back to look at Rosie and she has a grin plastered on her face.

"You're that singer, right? Usually has funny colored hair?" Golden boy's deep timbre calls out from ahead.

"Yeah that's me," he stops, turning to shake my hand. The warmth of this closeness is intoxicating. I can definitely feel that whiskey kicking in for real now.

"I'm Cian," he says, leaning forward and getting more in my space. Oh, this man is into me. Thank goodness, I need a good sexy night to clear my head from everything going on.

"Flora," I say, a little breathless. "And that's Rosie."

He turns to look at her, "It's a pleasure."

His hand moves to my lower back as he guides us forward, the pulsing sound of the club music coming from down the hall.

"I couldn't allow two beautiful ladies to be left standing out in the cold." He grins at me, waiting for the reaction to his compliment. I smile up at him and flutter my lashes a little. "Would you like to join my friends and I for the evening? We have a private booth, that's where I'm going right now."

"Hmm…" I say, pretending to think about it. "What do you think, Rosie?"

She twirls a flirty piece of her hair around a finger, "I guess a booth could be nice."

"Then it's settled."

He keeps his hand on my back as we head down to meet his friends.

His friends are fun. Cian is fun, actually.

His lighthearted and playful flirting is exactly what I needed. He twirls me around on the dance floor, the golden sequins of my dress changing colors with the lights.

I've consumed a few more drinks now, the champagne and cocktails flowing at Cian's booth. From what I've gathered so far, either Cian or someone else's Dad is important in the government or something like that. So I think they get special treatment, or they're super rich. Probably both.

I don't mind why we're getting it, as long as it keeps coming and Cian's warm body still feels as good against mine. He spins me around again, before pulling my back tight against his front. His arms wrap round me and hold me there as we sway to the music.

I feel Cian's hands caress my waist before moving down to grip my hips. He tugs me closer against him, his hard cock pressing into my back.

I groan, tipping my head back and grinding against him. A warmth is pooling in my pussy and I make the decision to go home with Cian tonight. His cock feels so good pressed against me.

I twist in his grip and press my stomach against him. Looking up, I give him my best bedroom eyes, our dancing long forgotten.

His pale blue eyes find mine and I stretch up on my toes. I want him to kiss me, and I am giving him every signal that I can think of.

He leans down, his face close to mine. I can smell the alcohol on his breath, his hands gripping me tighter against him.

He bends further and I hold in a disappointed sound when he moves to the side. He runs his nose against my neck before speaking in my ear.

"I would love to kiss you right now, Flora." He grinds against me again, a little thrust involved this time and it is so difficult to hold in my moan. "But I can't be seen doing much more in public…. My Father would have my head."

His hand distracts me from his words, leaving tingles behind as he runs it up and down my back. "I'm sure you have to worry about that too? With your singing?"

Hmm…? Oh, yes. Conversation. I'm having a conversation.

"Yeah," I sigh. "I guess I am pretty important too."

I giggle at my own joke, but he's taking me so seriously. It's kind of adorable, actually.

"How about we hang out at the table a bit more? I'm not going to be able to control myself if we keep dancing like this…"

I let him take my hand, pulling me along behind him. I hold in a disappointed sigh. This was a bust. Maybe he might still want to go home with me, though.

But when we get to the table, he tells me he's going to the bathroom and deposits me with Rosie.

"That was weird," I tell her. "I think he is worried about publicity or something, I don't know. All I know is that asshole got me super horny and then fucked off."

"Fuck him!" she declares, taking a gulp of her drink. "Here," she says, passing me a cocktail, "drink up. You'll feel better."

I try to have some fun with Rosie, but I need more alcohol to kick into my system right now.

I take my phone out of my purse to check it. So many emails have come through since I left my apartment earlier this evening.

Scrolling through the subjects, I stop when I see an email from Noma with the subject:

Photos for approval.

It's an email to my team that I'm copied on. I click through immediately, eager to see the shots. I wasn't joking when I said I liked Benedict's work, and I was curious as to how I would look in the photos.

"The photos are here," I nervously tell Rosie.

"Ooh, lemme see!" she goes to grab my phone.

"Wait, I haven't looked at them yet. Here, look with me."

We both lean over my phone as I click through. The first few images are only me, and wow, I actually look good in them. I'm not always great at looking at photos of myself, but these I could get on board with.

When I click to the next photo, it's me and Sebastian. Rosie snatches the phone out of my hand. "You didn't tell he was that hot!" she exclaims. "We need to talk about when I ask you what happened and you say nothing. Because, bitch, this man is fine! I mean, look at those scales, and he's huge!"

"I know," I admit. "And that's not even our real height difference… they had me stand way in front of him to make the perspective better."

Her jaw literally drops. Then she leans back over the phone to look again.

"Umm, can I actually see the photo, Ro? You know, I would actually like to see it."

She flips the phone around so it's facing me. "You both look so good together. Like, your chemistry is palpable."

Rosie's not wrong. Sebastian's dark skin and hair contrast against my tan skin and honey blond. He's looking at me so intensely. I hadn't seen that side of him at all when we were taking the photos. He looks magnificent, and I find myself forgetting all about Cian.

Cian doesn't want me to forget him that easily though. Arms wrap around me from behind, "Hey baby, why don't we get out of—"

His words are quickly followed by a sound of pure and raw disgust. "Ugh! Why are you in a photo with that abomination?!"

He pulls away from me as I turn to look at him. I can see it in his eyes, the moment his personality switches, and a petulant little boy comes out.

"I can explain—" I start.

"Get out of our booth. Now." He gestures to the dance floor.

I stand still, as does Rosie, we're both in shock at his quick reaction.

"I said, get out of our booth." His voice raises to a shout, "you filthy monster fucking slut!"

Luckily, Rosie's brain is working better than mine, clearly sensing the danger here. She grabs our things and pulls us away before he can escalate things further. She drags me towards the exit, pausing in the hallway by the door to look behind us.

When we get outside, she wraps my jacket around my shoulders, pulling me out of the way and ordering us an Uber.

"It's OK, honey." She rubs my back. "Better you find out now that he's clearly a psycho."

It doesn't take long for the Uber to arrive. She guides me in to my seat and buckles me in.

"You OK?" she asks, patting my cheek.

I take a second before answering.

"Yeah…" my mind drifts away for a moment, seeing the hate in Cian's eyes again. "Yes. Sorry, I'm in shock."

I smile at her, "I'm good. I was surprised, that's all. Thanks for getting us out of there."

I realize she's holding my hand, and I squeeze her fingers once.

"OK. But I'm coming home with you." She declares.

"No, you don't have to. I swear I'm fine." I let go of her hand. "Besides, I have an early start tomorrow."

I'm trembling by the time I get home and shut the door behind me.

I sink to the floor, my head in my hands as I begin to sob. My chest constricts with heaving breaths and all I can do is lean into it.

I was just so shocked by Cian's reaction. People don't like Monsters, I get that. But to have such a visceral response. The reason had to have run so much deeper, right? He had said that his Father was important… maybe he was indoctrinated since birth into a crazy family. But still, how could someone hate with so much fire? Why did he care?

I think back to the Uber driver on the way to the club too. He was the same.

Were the Monsters that I met particularly kind? No. But did they deserve this kind of reaction? I don't think so. They may have been rude, but no one actually did anything to me. They could have, too. There was hardly any security in the studio. If they were all so bad, they would have taken advantage somehow, I'm sure of it.

Pulling out my phone, I look at the photos of me and Sebastian properly.

He really is looking at me like he cares. It's such a juxtaposition to what I experienced in person. I wonder if I was silently judging them with my own preconceived notions. Maybe I was no better than Cian, or the Uber driver.

I realize what I need to do.

I can't sit here and judge anyone else for their reactions. Not when I have an opportunity to change things. I can show people that a Human and a Monster can be friends. That they can go on dates. That they can interact without the world imploding.

I open up my text chain with Frank, the words ‘Dragon Shifter' seeming to jump out of the screen at me.

My fingers hover over the keys. Am I really going to do this? I don't know anything about Monsters, but I'm smart enough to know that a Dragon sounds pretty dangerous.

I'm shaking, and I have to delete and retype my message twice before hitting send.

Two words. Two simple words staring back at me.

I'm in.