Chapter 6

6

TANNER

I clock into my morning shift at Mummy Mocha, bracing myself for the awkwardness. While Seth is chill, I’m acutely aware that his suitemate and best friend is a dryad. No, not a dryad, the dryad. Seth is friends with Kovi, who I knew as a kid as Cody. I go to school with the monster who stabbed me as a kid, the same monster who instilled in me an irrational fear of trees.

The same monster who tasted sweet, like strawberries and summer watermelon. A boy who grew into a sexy man…

I shake my head of lustful thoughts and put on my yellow apron. Given the way Kovi ran off last night, he’s clearly embarrassed. He likely doesn’t want anything to do with me. He shifted into his horrifying wooden form―the memory sends chills up my spine―and ran off. He hasn’t texted me or anything. This is a good thing, though…right?

I’m barely able to wrap my mind around it all when I turn on the coffee machines. The zombie busboy has taken down all the chairs and is opening the locked gate, signaling the start of business. Seth finishes counting at the cash register, then turns to me.

“Oh, hey Tanner.”

“Morning Seth.” I try to give him my friendliest smile.

“Listen.” He lowers his voice and leans closer to me while I refill the grinders. “I had no idea that Kovi…that he was your…that you knew him.”

I nod and half shrug. “I get it. It was…a million years ago.” I only had forest nightmares until I was a teenager.

“But still, that shit sounded brutal from Kovi’s point of view.”

I gulp and fixate on the brown coffee beans. No secrets between best friends, I suppose. “Yeah, well…”

“I hope this doesn’t affect your time at CU, or your decision to work here. Because you’re a good employee.”

I look at Seth in shock; he seems genuinely concerned. “I need this job. And I want this education.”

“That’s great. But if you don’t want to chat with me anymore outside of work, I understand.” He turns away, and I notice two students enter. “I’d still like to be friends with you, but…”

“Friends is good!” I say quickly. “I’m the new guy, I have a lot of work to do, and I could use some buddies, monster or otherwise.”

“Glad to hear it, bro.” He puts out his fist, and I happily bump it.

We spend the next five minutes serving coffee and pastries to the customers. With them settled, I get back to wiping the counter. Seth takes a new customer’s order, then taps me on the shoulder. “One more unprofessional thing before I teach you how to make a mummy matcha latte?”

My smile fades and I fixate on the cups in front of me. “Mhm?”

“Kovi is…a good guy. The best friend a monster could ask for. And he’s good at not accidentally shifting, we all are. So like, don’t let that deter you from getting to know him.”

I nod. Before I knew he was a dryad, Kovi and I were on track to hook-up city. And once upon a time we were friends. Maybe there is something between the two of us, but it’s all so soon. I’m starting a new school and a new job. It’s not like I can get over my fear of tree monsters so easily.

“I’ll…think about it,” I mutter.

“Good man.” We share smiles, and Seth proceeds to open ingredient compartments. “So, this is where we keep the matcha…”

On Friday, the end of my first week at CU, a tough realization dawns on me: my academic career so far did not prepare me for this. It’s one thing to be new to the world of monsters. It’s another to be completely overwhelmed by my first week of environmental science classes. I’m saving enough on tuition to afford books and a new laptop, but a fancy computer doesn’t help when you can barely interpret the lessons.

It’s not as if they’re speaking a secret monster language. The professor is a shifter of some sorts, and yes, monsters sit near me in the lecture hall. But that’s irrelevant―I honestly can’t keep up.

Public school didn’t care, and community college was a nice and slow pace; university is a different story. I’m tasked with studying all sorts of environments worldwide, as well as plant life cycles. And later in the semester we’ll be learning about how the Halloween Wave affected our ecosystems. Maybe I can go to office hours, but my two jobs mean my schedule is crazy.

I’m walking out of the lecture hall past the crowds of monsters and humans hoisting their backpacks and chatting. I can barely wrap my mind around what we learned today. I sit my frustrated ass on a bench as students wander in and out of the various rooms.

Before I can do anything, my phone buzzes.

“Hello?”

“Tanner! How are you, sweetie?”

“Aunt Hannah! I’m, um…well.” I don’t have the heart to tell my grand aunt that I’m struggling academically. She’s spent the last seven years supporting me, despite living on her retirement fund. She’s the only stable family I have, but I can’t rely on her to pay my tuition here or anywhere else if I flunk out. She has her medical bills to pay, and I want to pitch in.

“Are you working this weekend?”

“Pretty much every weekend,” I reply with a smile. “I can get you groceries on the way home. How’s your breathing?” Working construction gigs on the weekends isn’t the most relaxing job, but it’s consistent. That and the pizza gig got me through community college. My labor experience is why I’m majoring in environmental sci in the first place. Working at Mummy Mocha is so different, but I need to do what’s available to get a free ride here at CU.

“I’m fine, sweetie, don’t worry about me. I just want to make sure you’re having time to yourself.”

I nod and plop my book on a side table. “I’ll make sure to scrape up time to study, I promise.”

“Oh no, not that,” she replies over the phone. “I meant to go out, be young, have fun. Maybe meet a girl, er, I mean, a boy.”

Her words clench my heart. While she knows I’m gay, she’s never actually seen me with a guy. How could she? I’ve been too busy working to pay our bills to have anything more than the occasional half-hour hookup.

But she wants me to have a life, so I throw her a bone. “I…went to a party last weekend.”

“Oh, was it fun?”

It was a disaster. “Yup! But classes are starting, so I should focus on my schoolwork.”

“Okay, Tanner. You be good. Have fun with your new monster friends.”

I chuckle. “Thanks, Aunt Hannah. I love you, and I promise I’ll visit you soon when I’m not studying.”

“Don’t work too hard now! You’re finally at university, so enjoy it. You’re young and deserve to let off some steam.”

My heart continues to ache, but we bid each other goodbye. I can’t enjoy my time at college if I flunk out of my major. I sigh and pull out my textbook, seeing if I can interpret today’s lecture. Herbology this…geology that…

My reading comprehension is apparently lacking. I groan and hit the thick book to my forehead multiple times. All those morning shifts making coffee have made me sleep-deprived, and thus, cranky. Aunt Hannah is counting on me…

“Um, Tanner?”

I look up and nearly whine again; Kovi is standing in front of me. He’s wearing a red backpack over a gray t-shirt that hugs his built chest in all the right ways. With his fitted blue jeans, he’s the picture of sexiness. And he just caught me whining and smacking a book to my face.

“You okay?” he asks with genuine concern.

“Just peachy. Other than the fact that I don’t know shit.”

“The term ‘hitting the books’ isn’t supposed to be literal,” he says.

“It was worth a shot.” We share a chuckle and he sits next to me.

“Environmental 101 is kicking your ass, huh?”

I look down at my textbook and exhale. “I used to be so good at studies. But university is a different game entirely!”

“Yeah, there’s a lot to chew on when it comes to different habitats.”

I sigh then gaze into his perfect brown eyes. This is the first time I’m truly looking at him in a well-lit area. His dark skin is smooth, and if I ignore his pristine stubble, he looks just like that kid I used to play with. His lips look kissable, too…

I clear my throat to break out of my lustful thoughts. “I don’t want to be the dumbass who drops out of Creelin U after one week.”

“You’re not. And you won’t,” he says hurriedly.

“Why is that?”

He looks away and plays with his backpack straps. “I…could help you.”

“Really?”

“I took this class last year, and I aced it. When are you free? We could have a study session.”

Maybe it’s the stress or lack of sleep, but I’m so grateful I want to cry. I also want to bury myself in his pert pecs. But I have enough sanity to do neither. “Um…I work the weekends. And weekday mornings. But tonight I’m free.” A yawn escapes my lips and I rub my eyes. “You’ll probably be out partying.”

“I won’t.” He stands up and smiles. “I have to get to class now. But tonight, study sesh? Library?”

My heart swells and I beam at him. “You don’t have to.”

“But I can help.” He shoves his hands in his pockets, and he’s adorable on every level. “I want to. I…owe you.”

My smile fades. How could I have forgotten that standing before me is the dryad of my nightmares?

“Think about it,” Kovi says. “I’ll text you.” With that, he walks backward for two steps, then turns for the lecture hall.

I could seriously use the help in understanding biospheres. And what better person to assist me than a tree spirit shifter? The image of his true form still scares me, like I’m a nine-year-old again. But that was a lifetime ago. Seth says he’s a good guy. It doesn’t hurt that Kovi’s grown up to be crazy attractive. But he had to be the one monster I have a phobia of, huh?

I gather my belongings and head down the hall. Images of his handsome face at the bonfire waft through my consciousness, tempting me. The idea of studying in a private session with him has my pulse pounding, but from fear or arousal, I’m not sure.

Do I want to run and hide from Kovi, or jump into the sheets with him?