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“You got this, Micha,” Eldon said. He brushed his hair for him. “Calm down.” The customers always got a different Micha but the real one was the biggest cry baby Eldon had ever known.
He’d met his fair share of people over his years but Micha took the cake for being the softest and sweetest. Arden’s earlier words came back to him, and he stared at Micha as he fixed his makeup.
Could this be fake as well?
Micha’s pink eyes glanced up at Eldon and as they stared at each other, Eldon didn’t see it. He was pretty good at mapping out other people’s bullshit, and for the life of him he couldn’t believe that Micha was playing all of them.
He let a smile appear on his face and went back to fixing Micha’s hair in a half updo.
“There.” He placed his hands on Micha’s broad shoulders. “You look gorgeous.”
Micha’s cheeks tinged with the most tantalizing blush, and the sound of his blood rushing made Eldon want to take a bite. He shouldn’t want any more blood; he’d had his fill, but Micha was teasing him just by sitting there looking all helpless. It was the predator side of him that wanted to hunt down any prey.
“Arden should have picked someone else.”
Eldon stood Micha up and fixed the thin black bow that completed his outfit. “I think he chose right.”
Micha rolled his eyes, and they got a little misty. “He’s been singling me out a lot lately.”
True. Eldon would have to talk to Arden about it. He understood if the dragon was skeptical of Micha but bullying him wasn’t the way to go either.
“Or he has high expectations for you. After all, you draw in a crowd so easily.”
Micha didn’t look too convinced, but he gave Eldon a curt nod. “Spooky could have played Alice. Or you.”
Eldon shook his head, picked up his hat, and spent it around before placing it on top of his head. “I’m the Mad Hatter.” He grinned, fangs and all. “And Spooky got the best role for him as the Cheshire Cat.”
Micha opened his mouth and Eldon pressed a finger to his soft lips. For a moment, he was distracted and wanted to replace his finger with his tongue.
“You have the role and you will do fine. Now come on, the last thing we need is for Arden to have to come and drag us down there.”
Micha whimpered and it was honestly hot, but Eldon ignored it like he did all the time. The momentary lapse in judgment with Gamble wouldn’t be happening again. He needed this job because he felt useful at PGD. And Eldon refused to go back to the life of being nothing but a monster in the shadows. Here he was praised and adored.
Eldon shook his head as memories began to resurface; the last thing he needed was to remind himself of his past and of the crushing loneliness he’d faced. The truth was that there wasn’t much to his backstory. Mostly, it involved being on his own, scrounging for meals, and finally finding Arden.
Things were different now. He had a purpose. Sure it wasn’t grand like saving the world or feeding the homeless. But Eldon made people smile and gave them an illusion and escape from their everyday lives. And to him, that was a calling worth having.
He opened the door, and already other hosts were hustling down; they were still a little short-staffed, so no one got to have a night off, but it was the life they had chosen.
Eldon and Micha made their way down, and Eldon stopped as the pixie sisters walked in through the back door. They were some of the few hosts that lived outside of PGD.
“Noel, you’re not in your red queen outfit yet?” Eldon asked.
Her naturally pink cheeks went red. “I’m not good at being the mean one.”
Eldon kept his sigh back; getting upset with her wasn’t going to solve the issue, and the last thing he wanted to do was have something else placed on Arden’s shoulders. If he was going to show the dragon shifter he could handle more around the bar, then he needed to deal with this.
“She’s right,” Casey said. She was identical to Noel, except her blue hair was slightly darker than her sister’s.
Eldon smiled. “I know, Noel, but you are amazing at being the star.”
Noel blushed harder, and her pixie wings fluttered, showering the floor in glitter. Eldon was tempted to take a step back. Glitter was the worst. It was damn near impossible to get rid of and the pixie sisters were the main culprit of it. But he stayed his ground.
“I don’t know. I was going to ask Arden if I could switch.”
Casey shook her head. “He’s been a hard ass lately.”
Eldon didn’t let his displeasure show on his face. Had they tried to find out why or make his workload lighter?No, they only care about their problems.
