Security does a good job of keeping people moving, and before long, all the fans are gone, and the guys are off to do what they want to do. Relax. Shower. Drink. Fuck.
I follow them down the hall, watching as they step into their dressing rooms and close the doors. I knock the second I reach Aliko’s. He pulls it open, looking down at me with wide eyes.
“Hey, is something wrong?” he asks. Not in a cocky way, but with concern. I’ve never knocked on his door before, so the question isn’t unwarranted. It does make me suddenly nervous, though. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“I was just wondering if you wanted to grab a drink?”
“A drink?”
“If you’re too tired, I get it, but—”
“A drink sounds so fucking good,” he says, drawing out the words. “Can I get twenty minutes?”
“Take all the time you need. I’ll meet you by the back doors,” I say as I take a few backward steps. When he nods, I turn and head that way, pulling out my phone to figure out where the hell we’re going. I didn’t think he’d agree. Though I didn’t think too much about asking. It kind of just happened. But he said yes, which means I get to hang out with Aliko Anson, drummer of The Unbound. Holy shit. Hopefully, I don’t make an ass of myself.
Aliko meets me almost thirty minutes later, in his human form, dressed in a thin, long-sleeved black shirt, jeans, and boots. I can’t say I’m disappointed because I like him like this, but that monster form… it’s just so tempting.
Going out in public as human will bring less attention since fans don’t know him like this. I just hope he’s doing that for himself and not for me.
“Hey,” I say with a smile.
He gives me an up nod, his face expressionless. I swallow hard as he gets closer, and I see the perfection that is him. All hard and defined lines. He kind of looks like an asshole—complete resting dick face. I don’t know what it is about that, but fuck, I like it.
“Where are we going?” he asks.
His scent hits me. Something musky and fresh, like he showered, but there aren’t showers in his dressing room so I don’t know how he would have. I like the smell a little too much. We need to get going before I become inappropriate before alcohol.
“Found a place down the street,” I say.
“Cool,” he says, running a hand over his head. I push the door open and gesture for him to go first. We head out into the warm night, and I can’t stop smiling the whole walk there.
Chapter Three
Aliko
“You didn’t tell me this was a karaoke bar,” I say, glancing at Leif.
He grins, like he purposely left that part out.
We’ve been here long enough to find a seat at the bar and get our first drinks.
“Didn’t think it mattered.”
“You trying to get me to go up there to sing?”
“Would you?”
I shrug. “Maybe, but not tonight.” I grab my beer and take a mouthful. “Besides, if you wanted to hear me sing, you could have just asked.”
I wink at him, pushing my luck.
He hums a sound of approval, then brings the bottle of beer to his lips. A small drop slips out, gathering in the corner, and I have the urge to lick it up.
I see the way he reacts to me when I’m in human form compared to my monster form. When I’m in monster form, he’s flirty but distant. Careful. But when I’m like this? I think he’s into me. The problem is that I don’t spend a lot of time with him in this form. He knows this form, as do all the other staff, but when we’re together, it’s because we’re about to play and I always play as my monster. I don’t want to risk fans finding out this is who I am when I’m human, or else I’d never get peace.
I’ve never slept with someone in human form either, so I don’t really know what that entails. Like most thingshuman,I’m in the dark. It’s all a learning curve.
Intercourse as a kraken is… very different from what humans do, that much I know. And I know that only because I’ve watched porn—human porn. Well, there was that one time I came across two people dressed as animals, but I don’t talk about that.
