Page 20 of Holiday Wishes and Tentacle Dreams
Doren sipped from their cup, but frowned when they found it wasn’t as sweet and creamy as they remembered. “Are you planning on declaring your interest in him?”
Rex frowned and steamed some milk. “That’s a weird way to put it. And I don’t know. There aren’t many gay guys in Linwood Falls during the winter, and…but why would he date a barista who’s never traveled fifty miles from his hometown?”
Damn. Doren couldn’t even be angry at the barista. It would be easier to fume and storm out, but now they were in the position of being both jealousandempathetic.
Doren wished he were surfing. That always made everything better.
Time to do that now. “I’m certain you shall soon find a paramour amongst the citizens of this beloved village.”
Rex said nothing, instead staring at Doren with an inscrutable expression on his face. Was he confused?
Doren shrugged and headed out the door. They couldn’t spend their time worrying about a barista’s love life. They had tocome up with a plan. Surfing. Surfing always made it easier to think.
Soon enough, Doren was out on the water, and they already felt better. The water, shockingly cold to a human, was the perfect, bracing energizer for Doren. Their mind went blank as the repetition took over. Swim out. Catch the wave. Focus on each move as they drove back to the shore. Swim out once again.
One hour turned into three, and Doren still hadn’t solved the problem of how to approach Jake. They were vaguely aware that the man might be watching from his window—alright, more thanvaguelyaware—but the surfing calmed their thoughts and helped them let go of some of their worries.
Some of them. The next morning, Doren still didn’t approach the house. Instead, they repeated the same actions. Peppermint latte. Surf for hours. Don’t think about how to talk to Jake.
By the third day, it had become a routine, but more than that, Doren was acutely aware of Jake staring out the window at them. The day before, just a few moments here and there, Doren had caught sight of him standing there.
On day three, though, Jake had turned his chair to face the sea. He watched for hours at a time. Had Doren not been doing their favorite activity in the world, they might have been nervous.
When Doren finished their third day of surfing and returned their surfboard to its hiding place, they knew something had to change. Shifting back into their true form, Doren brooded as they swam home.
They’d have to make a move. But what should that be? Jake always seemed to be at home. Should they just walk up and knock on the front door?
No, they needed something more suave. Something that showed just how interested they were. That they wanted morethan some fleeting moments of pleasure. That they wanted something real.
Wait.DidDoren want that? They’d met Jake barely a week before, and no matter what they built up in their head, they didn’t know the man at all. Why were they so obsessed? It couldn’t just be because of how attractive they found him.
Doren detoured from their path, needing more time to think. They made their way to the wreck of an old fishing boat. It had sunk maybe sixty years ago, and the rotting wooden skeleton it left behind was teeming with life.
As the sun set above, the algae bathed the wreck in an eerie green glow, the shimmering rays cutting through the water like paper-thin knives of light. Fish swam in and out of the many holes in the wooden hull like a slow-motion whack-a-mole game, and one end of the structure had collapsed in on itself.
Some might have thought it melancholy, but Doren found it peaceful. Carving slow shapes into the water surrounding the wreck, they considered why they were acting this way. What about Jake was so important that they’d defied their parents?
If Jake were of the same species…well, he wasn’t. He was human. But if he were of Doren’s species, Doren might suspect the two of them were bondmates. When two of their species’ physiologies matched, they found themselves inexorably drawn together. Nature itself encouraged the pairing.
Bondmates formed strong partnerships and families. Doren’s own mother and father were bonded.
But Jake was human. Their physiologies didn’t match at all. Yes, Doren could take a human shape, but at its core, their biology was not of Earth. Still, Doren couldn’t deny the pull toward Jake. The man had been a constant presence in the back of their brain since the moment they’d met.
It didn’t matter. If Doren wanted something with Jake, they needed to make a move. Even if it might end in disaster. Even ifDoren’s true form might disgust him. It was a risk they’d have to take.
Swimming up to the beach the next morning, Doren found Jake had taken the risk first.
Chapter Seven
JAKE
Dorothea was at it again. Her loud knocking echoed through the beach house, and Jake jumped out of bed as if someone had tased him in his sleep. It sounded as though a shotgun had gone off in the next room. Grabbing his phone, he cringed. 7:30 a.m.
Why would she do this to him? He hadn’t fallen asleep until four in the morning. Unfortunately, the symptoms of his mental illness included not only sleeping too much but also dysregulation of that sleep.
Jake had been up all night reading overbaked political opinions on social media. He was certain that his blood pressure was high. Heaping panic on top of depression was a terrible choice, but here he was. He wished going numb was an option, but that’s not how his brain and body worked. Instead, he produced the perfect combination of exhaustion and anxiety.
Both of which were now very much in play because it wasway too fucking early.