Chapter 18

18

TANNER

Once in his suite, Kovi gives me a toothbrush to freshen up. I make sure to thoroughly clean myself down below in his bathroom. I’m aware we’ve already slept together, but I still need tonight to be spectacular.

When I sneak my way back to his room, he’s already undressed under the sheets. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he a bought new comforter just for me. I hope he doesn’t mind me ruining it.

“Hey, you,” I purr as I crawl into bed. He titters and greets me with a kiss as I get to eye-level with him. Lips locked, I moan when he caresses my scalp. Then, I kiss down his neck, savoring his salty skin. His fingers trace my back and my hand travels his front as well. I’m delighted to find him hard as a rock already. My urge to make this last is overcome by impatience, and I crawl down to groin level. I want Kovi inside me.

I lick his balls and my nose nuzzles his carefully trimmed hair. Maybe he has some dryad pheromones, because I’m hard as a brick in record time. Before I can lick his cock, however, he pulls me up. When I look at him quizzically, he reveals the condom and lube packet in his hand. Call him a boy scout, because my boy is ready.

“How do you want me?” I ask, as he suits up. I lie back next to him and grin.

“What do you like the most? I want to please you,” he murmurs.

“Uh, on my back, if that’s okay?”

“Hell yeah,” he whispers.

In a blur, my man flops over me. Then, he pulls my ankles up. When I feel the slight pressure of his hands on my entrance, I instinctively grasp my hardness.

“You’re really ready, huh?” he murmurs.

“Yes,” I rasp. I stroke slowly, not wanting to set myself off. When he fingers me, that small pressure sends a chill up my spine. The very thought of him completely taking me has me leaking precum already.

“Kovi…please…” I whisper between gasps. It feels like a decade passes as he preps me with lubed fingers. What is he waiting for, a welcoming party ? After a minute, he at last puts me out of my misery by removing his fingers, and another pressure takes its place.

My life is irrevocably altered when he pushes further. I hyperventilate. Kovi is fucking me. Oh my stars, he’s inside me. His cock feels so, so good, I can’t even think straight.

“You alright?” he asks through a grunt.

“Yes, please keep going,” I rasp.

When he fucks further, I grab my own hardness. When he pulls back, I give it a gentle stroke in time. He gently repeats this motion twice, and I want so much more. Then, Kovi really amps up the pace of his lovemaking, and my vision whites out altogether.

He pushes in deep, and I stroke. He pulls out, almost completely, and I stroke again. Pleasure courses across every inch of me. I’ve missed this. No, it’s like I’ve never had anal sex before this moment. Alleyways and random car trysts barely made me feel a drop of emotion.

But Kovi is like a flood of amazing sensations. He fucks me like he’s concentrating on my pleasure, not his. In and out, he pegs my prostate, and I time his thrusts with my strokes. His sweat drips on me, and I gasp. The sound of our skin slapping will be etched in my heart for all time. I never want this to end.

But of course, it’s going to end. I stroke and stroke, my stiff dick strengthening. The man is killing me with euphoria, and he speeds up just the right amount. He fucks me deeper, hits me at the right angle, knowing I’m on the edge.

“Kovi,” I say with a strangled voice.

“I got you, babe,” he whispers.

“Kovi…”

Then, it happens—my orgasm engulfs me. I pulse with Kovi’s length inside me. My arm is a blur as I rapidly pull my orgasm out, and Kovi pegs me with his cock the entire time. Rather, I assume my hand is a blur, because my vision is gone.

After collapsing, Kovi pulls out, and I drift in and out of consciousness. I nearly startle when a damp cloth is pressed against me. Holy stars, Kovi is cleaning me . Not only is his sex unmatched, but he takes care of me after. How can a perfect man want to be with someone like me? He’s sweet, smart, witty, charming, and loves helping me get off.

What did I do to deserve Kovi Sampath?

I’m rapidly losing consciousness when he snuggles up behind me.

“You good?” he asks, kissing behind my ear.

“So good,” I mutter through a yawn. “So good.”

“I’m glad,” he whispers. With one more kiss behind the ear, he says, “Get some rest.”

“Mm, stay…stay with me,” I mutter. “Don’t leave…”

“I won’t,” he whispers. With that, I’m fully asleep, lost to the sands of a dreamy haze. I’m holding hands with Kovi as we lay on his picnic blanket by the river. With Kovi, my life feels complete.

Darkness …

Branches…

Thorns….vines…splinters…

The forest…reaching out…grabbing my face…

I’m lying on my back in a dark forest, and the trees grow larger. Then, one tree gains a demonic face and reaches down for me. No. Not again. Can’t let it…get to me…

This is that nightmare . I huff and try to will my arms or legs to move. I’ll do anything to make myself wake up. My muscles won’t respond, and my breathing quickens. The same nightmare has plagued me for most of my life, and tonight, it has taken a particular stranglehold on me. The darkness engulfs me, and prickles of tears threaten my eyes.

I blink once, then twice, but to no avail. The monster…it’s come for me. It always finds me. It found me when I was nine, and it’s back to seize me. Just because I know I’m trapped in a nightmare doesn’t make it any less horrifying. I can still feel the pain from when I was a kid, a sharp jab down my skull.

As the vines wrap around me, I clamp my eyes shut. It’s not real.

Then, I open my eyes. I’m not in the forest anymore, but instead, in a bedroom I don’t recognize. Another dream?

I look around at the darkness—where am I? What happened last night?

All I see are branches. Wood and leaves surround me, crawling up the walls. The dark forest has found me. The nightmare is here. Shit.

The branches of terror have finally followed me into the real world. I don’t know how the nightmare broke into my life, but it’s real. I touch my face, count my fingers, and yes, I’m awake. How are there vines and branches engulfing me?

My heart hammers in my chest, and I gradually turn to my left. The sight makes my heart stop and the blood leaves my face; it’s a monster. A face in a tree, an abomination of wood is lying next to me in bed.

It found me.

I leap out and yelp, pulling on the blanket. The tree figure sits up in bed and lets out a mewling noise. Its branch arms stretch, and my throat goes dry. I pull up the covers and tremble.

It found me . I can’t hide anymore.

The terror turns its head of wood and looks at me. “Tanner?” it says in a slow, deep tenor.

It knows my name? I shiver and crawl back, my eyes not blinking. I gaze in horror as it gets out of the bed. It’s all vines, leaves, and shards of wood that seek to pierce my skin. This is my personal hell.

It found me.

I don’t know where I am, or what I’ve done. I don’t even remember the last several years of my life. I’m a nine-year-old again. The devil of the forest has come to claim my soul, and tears prickle my eyes. I can’t stop shivering, I can’t talk, I can’t even breathe.

“Tanner?”

The creature steps forward. I’m not going down without a fight.

“STAY BACK!” I shriek. I find the nearest object, a wooden chair, then use it to pull myself up. My legs are wobbly, and I’m wearing only my plaid boxers, but I use the moment to shove the chair at him. It bounces off, not even deterring the beast, and it steps forward.

“Tanner, what’s…?”

“I said stay back, you fucking nightmare! I’ll NEVER let you HURT ME! DIE!” My fists tremble and I shout as I throw whatever pencils and books are on hand at him. He stares at me, unaffected by my desperate attacks.

I need to leave. The nightmare is here to grab me, and I need to run. My heart continues to hammer in my chest, and I need to make my move. I grab my clothes and turn to find what looks like an exit, then I bolt out the door.

The sudden light nearly blinds me—a living room? When my vision is back, I see two other creatures—a mummy and a lagoon monster meander close to me. What ?

“Tanner?” the mummy asks with a gravelly growl. They’ve come for me, too. Where am I? I turn around and see the tree abomination duck down to get through the doorway.

I step back and hit another wall. When I turn to my right, the two other monsters are gone. In their place are two normal-looking dudes.

Seth. Blake. I’m in a dorm. I touch my chest as it heaves—this is real. Opening my eyes, I spy the tree monster slowly morphing down.

Kovi.

He’s wearing nothing but black boxers and a look of confusion and despair. I take in long deep breaths through my nose in an attempt to get the anxiety down. After two minutes, my heart rate gradually slows. Turning to my right, the other dudes look utterly perplexed; clearly I woke them up.

The fog of the nightmare leaves, and I try to center my thoughts. The last several years come back to me. I’m at Creelin University. I’m a college student. I work as a barista for Seth, the mummy. I was sleeping over at Kovi’s.

Kovi, not a nightmare. Well, he was my nightmare as kids, but now, he’s so much more. And I called him that. I thought he tried to kill me just now. Seeing his heartbreak in his eyes, it’s obvious that he didn’t try to hurt me. But I tried to hurt him. I told him to die.

Shame threatens to swallow me whole as my heart rate speeds up again. I startle when a hand touches my right shoulder. Seth pulls his hands back and raises them up in an act of surrender. He and Blake are down to their boxers in their human forms and have nothing on hand.

“Hey, Tanner. It’s okay. You’re okay,” Seth mutters.

I nod and gulp, but my throat still feels like sandpaper. Looking up at Kovi, he stares down at the ground like his soul is shattered. Fuck . While the fear from my dream-state is still leaving my mind, I’m overcome with another emotion: embarrassment.

“I…I should go,” I whisper.

Seth and Blake turn to each other, then back to Kovi. I approach their door with my clothes in my hands, and take one last glance at Kovi. His look of utter defeat burns my heart. I feel awful knowing that I did that. I try to blink back a tear, but the emotions of the night have all piled up. The nightmare felt so real. But I was the one who caused the real harm.

“Kovi,” I whisper.

“It’s okay,” he says in a hushed tone. He shakes his head, still avoiding my gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“But…but you didn’t do anything,” I croak.

“Yeah, I did. I did years ago, and I’m so fucking sorry.” His voice breaks and he darts into his room. The suite is so silent, and after a beat, I look up at Seth and Blake.

“Hey, Tanner, listen—”

“I gotta go,” I mutter, cutting off Seth. I make my way into the hallway and, after a few steps, decide to get dressed.

After I take the cold, dark trek to my dorm—it’s not even four a.m.—I dash up to my room. I creep into my dorm and quietly undress, trying not to wake up my roommate. With my head on the pillow, I reflect on the past thirty minutes, then break down. The silent tears won’t stop pouring out, pooling in my eyes, then dripping down the sides of my face. I ruined the best thing that ever happened to me, not on purpose, but still.

The nightmare felt so real. The forest abomination came to harm me, and it succeeded, just not in the way I anticipated. And Kovi paid the price.