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Arden scoffed. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Bash answered before he shook his head. "It shouldn't concern me. This is a job, nothing more. Once it's done, I'll move on to the next place and I won't even remember this shit."
Arden tensed. Something about the thought of Bash leaving his side made him want to strangle the man.
"So, that's how it is?" Arden asked. "Things get hard and you abandon ship?" Heat rushed through his body and he took a step back. "If that's the case, pack your shit right now and get out of my bar. I don't hang onto disloyal assholes."
Bash didn't cower the way Micha would have. Instead, he stood his ground and scoffed. "I'm not going anywhere and I never said I would," he shot back. "I guess I'm just..." He ran his hand along the back of his neck. "Preparing for the inevitable. Everything comes to an end and I'm used to that shit. That's all. But I wouldn't leave them."
He gazed away as he said the last part and Arden forced his anger down.
"Who?" Arden asked.
"Them," Bash said waving a hand obscurely. "The others. And you need the help."
Arden stared at him. "I think it's more than that. You wouldn't leave Spooky and Micha or Eldon. Or even Gamble," he said. When Bash stared at him and narrowed his eyes, the dragon grinned. "Yeah, that's what I thought. If you're worried I'm taking advantage of any of them, I can guarantee you that I'm not. As a matter of fact, you can ask them for yourself. I wouldn't do that. And I tried damn hard to keep my hands off my hosts from day one. These men they just..." He trailed off and shuddered. "Got under my damn skin."
Bash nodded slowly. "Fine," he said. "I just don't want to see them hurt," he grunted as he turned and started looking at the shelves again. "Since I know you’re not doing that, I’m staying. What would you do without me anyway?"
Arden stared at his back as amusement played on his features. "I think I'd be okay."
"Nah," Bash said. "You'd be a fucking mess. I might as well keep helping out until this place closes and I have to pack up again. Moving so much is...annoying."
"Are you sure that's all it is?" Arden asked. He sensed there was so much more Bash wasn't saying. "Or are you just lying to yourself?"
"I need to focus," Bash snapped. He gazed over his shoulder, one deep green eye trained on Arden. "If you don't mind. Boss."
"Fine, but I’m helping you with the inventory," Arden countered.
He knew the chances that Bash had actually needed him were slim, but he stayed anyway just to watch the big bear shifter squirm. Arden took in his red locks and the way muscles bunched beneath his skin when he moved the inventory around. His round belly looked intriguing and Arden wondered if it was covered in a downy spread of that same red hair as what topped his head and covered his chin. Would it run from his belly and slide into his pants? Was there a wreath of fine, red pubes around his cock?
Arden shook his head and turned on his heels. Right, he needed to concentrate on the night ahead. Things were complicated right now, but the show must go on. Clients still needed to forget their worries and have a place where they could disappear into fantasy. It was what Arden had needed all those years ago and what he would continue to give his clients until he no longer drew breath.
Everyone needed a place to escape.
"Ready, Gamble?" Arden asked as he spotted the witch.
Gamble swallowed thickly. "Yes, I'm ready."
Arden grinned. "You're cute when you get nervous around me."
"Oh fuck y-" He cleared his throat. "I'm not nervous!"
Chuckling, Arden walked away. Gamble continued to protest and it only strengthened Arden's case. Maybe tonight he'd drag Gamble and Spooky into bed and remind them that he hadn't forgotten about them.
What about Micha?
The thought instantly flooded his brain.Micha can watch.Arden shook his head at himself and suppressed the chuckle that tried to spill out of him. There was something about the angel that always turned him into a full-fledged pervert.
As he took his spot behind the bar, Arden realized that he was smiling. Thinking about the misfits that worked for him had lifted his spirits without him even realizing it. He pushed his chest out and shoved his shoulders back.
Right, the world is not ending. This is a bump in the road and when it's over everything will go back to normal. His hosts would be happy, his misfits would thrive, and he—
Huh, what would he be? Arden once would have said he'd go back to being the old him, but he didn't want that. He craved the touch of Eldon's cool fingers against him in the dead of night as he held onto him, escorting him through another PTSD attack. What would he be without Gamble's smart-assed mouth and Spooky's dogged determination? How would he cope when there was no Bash to stand up to him and put his foot down just as hard as the dragon did? And how would he go on without Micha to cuddle and care for.
Arden's chest squeezed and a startling reality became clear. Each of them meant the world to him. They had become irreplaceable. He felt naked and raw accepting that truth, but he knew he couldn't ignore it forever.When and how had they gotten so close to his heart?
"Ready to work?" Eldon asked as he sailed by, tablet in hand. The flowy kimono he wore was a stunning gray-blue with golden flowers printed onto it. His dark tattoos stood out in stark contrast to the silk.
