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Porter frowned. "How long will that take? I'm starving."
"I'll take you to the kitchen right now."
"Can I drop this stuff off first?" He held up his clothes.
"Hurry up."
Arden was just as gruff as the night before, but he didn't freak Porter out as much. At least he had given him a chance. And he didn't even know who he was. So, Porter hurried and tossed his clothes into his room before he followed Arden into the kitchen.
"You can use anything you want. Once you're done, I want you back in your room until I get everything straightened out here. More than likely Jaygen or Oz will be training you to be a host, but you'll get lessons from all of my top guys. And a few of the women too. They know how to keep this business profitable."
Porter frowned. "Is it hard? Being a host?"
"It's no different than flirting with someone you like. Seducing them a little. It can be daunting, but not impossible. Anyone who’s not a virgin can do it." Arden paused as Porter glanced away from him. "You're...not a virgin are you?"
Porter closed his eyes. "It's complicated," he whispered.
Arden didn't push and he was grateful for that much. It wasn't something Porter liked to talk about and it was nothing he wanted to remember. He forced his eyes open, not willing to go down memory lane. Not now when he was already reeling from everything that happened in the past twenty-four hours.
"Alright." Arden looked him over before leading him to the kitchen. "Get something to eat and then back to your room."
"Yes, I know."
"Good." The man placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll look out for you here. Okay?” Arden turned on his heels and the massive man walked away leaving him alone again.
Porter sighed and turned his attention to the fridge. As he looked inside, he quickly realized that he had no idea what to make. Never in his life had he cooked. There were always chefs, expensive dinners. Cooking was something that never crossed his mind until now.
"Shit," he mumbled to himself and dug around. "Okay, something simple maybe."
What the hell was simple?Their dinners were usually multiple courses of thick meats, fresh fish, pastas and lavish desserts. He rarely ate anything plain. Porter's stomach grumbled and he decided to say screw it and throw caution to the wind.
There was meat and cheese.That was good right?He grabbed mustard and squeezed a ton on a slice of bread before he tossed on a bunch of ham and cheddar. His first bite and he knew instantly he was never meant to be a chef. There was entirely too much mustard, it was as if he was eating spoonfuls of the condiment with just the slightest hint of ham. It tasted like shit, but he couldn't stop himself from scarfing it down anyway. Once his plate was cleared, he left the mess of cheese wrappers, lunch meat containers and dishes on the counter and walked back into his room, sure that housekeeping would take care of it.
Porter made it to his new room and looked around at the bare walls. His mood soured a little bit. He never expected to miss home but being in an unfamiliar place made him homesick. He glanced down at his bag. That was everything that he owned. Porter rooted around inside of it before he dragged out his clothes and decided to get made up. It would make him feel better.
Dumping out his makeup, he sat cross-legged on the floor and got to work. He wondered who was going to be assigned to him. If it was Jaygen, he was going to be intimidated for the rest of the day even if he didn't want to be. And yet, Jaygen made him want to push back because of his authoritarian way of speaking. Porter was free now and he didn't want to take orders off of anybody. But he couldn’t deny the part of him that wanted to cave to Jaygen. It nearly felt natural and when the man praised him it had sent an intoxicating rush up Porter’s spine.
What the hell is he?
The evening sunbathed the room in a soft glow and cast intricate shadows over the drawing Ozni had been doing. He glanced out his window over the small sliver of the city he got to see. During the day Silvercross City came off as just any other major city. There were barely any hints of the activity of the night before.
Ozni placed his sketch pad down and let his eyelids drop as he soaked in the warmth from the sun. It was his favorite time of the day. It didn’t matter how long he worked the night before or where he was at, Oz enjoyed lounging in sunlight. It was the only thing he liked about being the monster he was.When he’d been turned two hundred odd years ago and his maker abandoned him, he’d been by himself and the insatiable hunger for blood and flesh had been all-consuming. Unlike vampires who died when sunlight touched their flesh, Ozni was fine. Although, he hadn’t known that at the time. He’d never imagined he was a daywalker. A vampire that could walk around during the day, and a monster amongst his own kind. Even other vampires feared the ones like him; they were a rarity and known to go insane from their insatiable hunger. As he sat in his room the pain of hunger never left him. He’d eaten a few nights prior and that should have been enough, but it wasn’t. However, Ozni was strong enough to hold off the monster inside of him.
Ozni had spent the first hundred years of being a daywalker secluding himself to darkness and damn near going berserk with hunger. It was only once Arden had stumbled upon him and pulled Ozni from his seclusion that the vampire was given the chance to live differently. To bask in the sunlight once again and learn some semblance of control over his monstrous side.
There was a knock at his door. Scenting the air he got the smallest whiff of a tiger. Ozni abandoned his sketchpad and went to the door. Jaygen stood on the other side, his light blond hair perfectly groomed back, not a strand out of place and his clothing void of any wrinkles. He wore a light blue button up and fitted jeans. Even outside of the host bar, Jaygen carried himself with elegance. The tiger shifter prided himself on control. But that was his outward appearance. Ozni knew firsthand of the beast that prowled right behind those ice blue eyes. It rivaled his own.
“Arden is calling for a meeting,” Jaygen said.
Jaygen turned away from Ozni, forcing him to follow. Ozni knew the meeting would have something to do with the human that was in the building. He hadn’t seen him when he walked in, but the housing floor carried the scent of a human too strongly for it to be a random hookup with one of the other hosts. Jaygen stopped just outside the kitchen area. Not to Ozni’s surprise, they were the first ones there.
A deep growl emitted from Jaygen filled with deadly intent and a chill worked its way up Ozni’s arms. The very beast that lay in Jaygen was prowling just under the surface. Ozni glanced around the kitchen and saw what had Jaygen so riled up. He winced at the sight before them. Strewn all over the usually immaculate counters were wrappers and food items.
The communal kitchen was left in such a disarray. Normally, all hosts that stayed above the bar made sure to clean after themselves. Having a maid come clean everyday while most of them slept and were vulnerable made many feel uneasy. And yet someone had disregarded their common rule of cleaning after one’s self in common areas.
Ozni inhaled and knew instantly who it was, as the heavy scent of human hung in the air. Jaygen turned around and the anger that flashed in his blue eyes had Ozni reaching out and stopping him.
“Oz, let go of me, now,” Jaygen said in warning.
