Page 5

Chapter

Five

CLAY

I never thought Nerdy Hottie would be so forward, but I’m very okay with it.

Putting down my phone, I turn to my roommate.

Yuki’s been playing Monster Mash Brothers on his Nintend-Ogre Witch console, like he does every night.

It’s a fighting game, and he’s been swearing at it nonstop for ten minutes, so I guess whomever he’s playing with online is kicking his ass.

He likes to be victorious, and doesn’t deal well when he’s outmatched.

“Hey, uh, I got a date right now. Or maybe just a hookup. Do you mind letting me have some alone time? I’ll return the favor whenever you want.”

Yuki rolls his eyes. After a semester, he’s used to me.

He hooks up about as much as I do, so we’ve come to an implicit agreement of just asking for what we want and being blunt about it.

No need to pretend we’re doing something other than having sex.

“Yeah, fine. I could stand to do some homework anyway. Text me when it’s safe to come back. ”

I grin at him. “Thanks!”

Slipping his laptop into his messenger bag and donning a large coat, Yuki gives me a funny little salute. Then, he heads out the door, taking his keys and phone with him.

I clap my hands once and survey the room.

Now, it’s time to arrange a little better mood.

I quickly fly around the room—okay, not literally fly since I can’t—and use my monster speed to tidy up, throw my trash away, hang up my clothes, and make my bed.

I turn off the overhead light and instead put on the bedside table lamp to really amp up the sexiness.

Finally, I inspect my face in the mirror.

Yes, I can see myself in mirrors: blue-black pompadour, purple eyes, and smooth, blueish skin. I’m not sure why I bother, since I always look the same. I can’t really do anything about my appearance. Even when I cut my hair, it grows back the next day to look exactly like this.

I reread the texts Owen sent, and my cock starts to swell even more.

I’ll happily show him what my mouth is capable of .

My deepthroating is legendary. I also can’t wait to feel what his hands are like when they’re on me.

I palm my hardening dick as I read. Nrgh, so good . The anticipation is killing me.

Since Owen says he wants my body, should I just be ready for him? I internally shrug. Might as well.

I tug my T-shirt over my head and shimmy off my jeans and boxer briefs. I sniff my armpits. It’s an old human habit I haven’t been able to shake even though I always smell fresh, clean, and seductive.

Glancing around the room, I don’t see anything else to do.

Yuki always turns the heat up in here, so it should be comfortable for a cute human like Owen.

Will he want some water or something? Yuki won’t mind if I borrow one of his bottles.

Humans can get dehydrated when they have sex.

I pull one out of Yuki’s minifridge and set it next to the lube and tissues on the bedside table.

With nothing further to do but wait, I lie down on my bed and arrange myself on my side, my head propped up on my hand.

I glance down at my body and nod. I look good, and my cock is very excited that it’s going to get a little attention from someone other than me.

I think it’s been a whole week since I’ve hooked up with someone else—that’s ages.

Ten minutes later, I hear a hesitant knock on my door. My vampire senses are going haywire. There’s a tasty morsel of a human right outside my room.

My voice drops to its lowest register. “Come in.”

The knob twists and the door opens. Light spills in from the hallway as Owen shuffles inside.

“Hey, thanks.” Owen’s back is turned as he closes the door, a navy blue parka in one hand, and a messenger bag in the other. He turns around, and we lock eyes.

He freezes, and I grin. Then, his eyes roam across my body, widening behind his glasses. His mouth opens, but no words come out. I can hear his blood coursing through his veins and sense it heating his cheeks. There’s the beginning of a distinct bulge in his pants. I can smell his arousal.

This is going to be fun.

Owen drops his messenger bag on the floor. “Oh, monster god,” he whispers.

I wave at him. “Hey,” I purr. “Come on in and get comfortable. You surprised me when you texted me, but I’m up for anything.” I gesture at my stiff cock. “As you can see.”

A bead of sweat shows up on his brow as he shields his eyes and turns slightly away from me. “Wha…wha…Why are you naked?” he yelps, his voice a higher register than usual.

“Um, so we can do it? Just like you texted me.” I scratch my jaw.

“I did not!”

“You totally did. You said you wanted to inspect my body.”

“Assess your body! ”

“Same thing,” I reply with a grin and a shrug. “So assess it.”

“Not like that!” he sputters, his hands gesturing up and down in my general direction. His eyes are still closed, so he’s really pointing more to my pillow.

I glance down again at my body. “What’s wrong with it? Is…is it bad?”

There must be some hurt in my voice because he cracks one eye open and assiduously looks me in the face. “When I said I wanted to study your anatomy for class, I didn’t mean that you needed to get naked.”

I frown. “How else were we supposed to have sex?”

“We’re not having sex !” Owen shrieks. He looks up at the ceiling and flails his arms about. “This is for our grade ! I wanted to, you know, learn about how your body is different from mine. Not suck your dick!”

I look pointedly from my cock to the front of his jeans where he’s already sporting a semi. “I mean, I’m noticing how our bodies are more similar than different.”

He sputters and shakes his head. “This is ridiculous. Can you please put some clothes on?”

I huff and frown. “Sure,” I say, chastened. I’ve never had anyone reject me over my body. In fact, that’s the thing most people like about me. Some people say my skin’s too cold, but on a hot summer day, I’m told there’s nothing better. Hot sweaty sex with a vampire can be refreshing.

I stand up and walk over to my dresser, my dick bobbing in front. “Hey, I’m sorry if this is too fast for you.” I pull out some athletic shorts, yanking them up my thighs. “Is this better?” I ask, my hands waving toward my chest and hips.

“Not really,” he mutters. “You’re still a…a total distraction.” He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Clay, I need you to be my lab partner, not—” he points to me—“whatever this is you’re thinking. ”

“You’re really sure you don’t want to have sex?” I ask, feeling dejected. “Because we can still do whatever it is you want to do for class. I’m just really good at blowjobs.”

Owen pulls his shoulders back, chin lifting up. “I’m sure.” He grabs his parka and puts the strap of his messenger bag over his shoulder. “I can’t study with you today. I’ll…see you in class.” He turns and leaves, slamming my door behind him.

I stare at the door, wondering what the hell just happened. And why is my chest hurting?

The next morning, I’m going through the noisy cafeteria line with Brandon and the n?kk.

I’ve got my usual O-negative while Bran’s tray is loaded up with bacon, fruit, scare-rambled eggs, and toast. The n?kk’s holding two cups of coffee, presumably one for him and one for Brandon.

He’s in his monster form, his gray, mottled skin showing and moss hanging off of him.

The dining hall is crowded because it’s snowing outside and everyone wants to stay in.

A group of harpies is gossiping in the corner, and some humans are playing on their phones even though their trays are cleared away.

“You seem different,” Bran remarks once we take our seats at a table. “Is something wrong?”

“I didn’t have sex last night,” I blurt, after taking a big sip of my breakfast blood.

Bran spits out his coffee and yelps. “What the hell, dude? I don’t need to know your sex life.” Steve hands him a napkin, and Bran gives him an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

My chest feels like it’s caving in, and my toes curl up. I want to hide behind something. “I thought I was going to hook up with my monster anatomy partner, but I read him wrong.”

The n?kk rubs his chin, his eyebrows squishing together as he frowns at Brandon. “Is sex something you often talk about with Clay?”

“Sometimes,” Brandon says. Light dawns in his eyes, and he turns to me. “When he said he wanted to ‘study,’ you thought he meant something else.”

“Yeah, I mean, isn’t that what everyone means when they say they’re going to study?” I bite my lip, then remember I have fangs so I don’t want to do that hard. I stare down at the table, then glance up again.

The n?kk shakes his head. “In Norway, when we say we are going to study, we mean we are going to study.”

“It’s the same in English,” Bran says to him. “Clay’s just weird.”

“I’m not weird!” I say indignantly. “But I’m pretty sure I just made things very weird with him last night. I’m wondering if he’s still going to want to be my lab partner anymore. And I need to pass my classes. I don’t want to waste my time here.”

“Oh monster god, what did you do?” Brandon asks, amusement plain on his face.

“It doesn’t matter,” I mutter. “But now I can never talk to him ever again.”

“That’s going to be a problem if you need to work together in class,” Steve says.

I sigh. “This is a monsterclusterfuck.”

A few days later, I’m hit with another monsterclusterfuck.

I’m headed for the RA’s room to get another key when the Vampire Gliding Enthusiasts all but corner me again in the common room of Karloff Hall.

Yes, I lost mine again. I really should just not lock the door.

But then when I don’t lock up, cute humans can come barging in and make me feel like monster shit by turning down sex. With me. Like, who does that?

“Clay!” Raymond says, appearing next to me. Ugh, he’s so much faster than me. It seems like he flew across the room when he likely just took a big hop.

“Hey,” I say weakly. My mind scrambles as I try to come up with an excuse as to why I have to leave the dorm right this second. In a snowstorm.

“Are you able to go gliding with us?” he asks.

“I might be busy that weekend.”

“You don’t even know what date we’re going,” Shannon says, coming up behind Raymond.

Don’t make me admit that I can’t do it , I chant inside my head.

“It’s just that we’re so busy with school.” I rub the back of my neck. “You know.”

“That’s precisely why we need a break! Feel the wind under our wings, so to speak,” Ray says.

“All vampires should stick together,” Shannon adds.

I give them both a tight smile. “Just email me the details.”

“We’ll be glad to see you there!” Shannon chirps.

That makes one of us.