Page 22 of Snapdragon

“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.