Monster mash, p.50
Monster Mash, page 50
I winced. “The site said rustic. I just didn’t think they meant this rustic.”
Rebel scowled.
I cleared my throat and glanced around, searching for the silver lining. “Oh, look! A fireplace! That ought to warm it up in here. I’ll go see if they’ve got any firewood out back.”
I ducked out the back door and immediately shivered. The sky had been spitting snow all day, but it was really starting to come down. The tiny, fenced-in backyard was covered in a fine powder, and I could barely see beyond the fence thanks to the snow. A frigid wind bit at my face and it felt like my tentacles were trying to freeze solid. I hurried to grab a few logs and rushed back inside.
Rebel was still on the couch, punching one of the pillows like he was trying to soften it. He didn’t say anything to me as I brought the wood over and arranged it in the fireplace in a way I hoped made sense. Then I went about searching for matches. I had no idea what I was doing or how to start a fire. I lived in a beach house in Miami with my eight sisters, for goodness' sake. Hurricanes were a more common annoyance than a cold winter.
When I couldn’t find any matches, I sighed and turned back to Rebel. “You wouldn’t happen to know how this thing works, would you?”
He arched a bushy red eyebrow. “You don’t know how?”
I felt my face flush. “I’ve never had to do it before. Could you show me? Just once. I promise I’m a fast learner.”
Rebel sighed and got up from the couch. He came over and fiddled with a chain I hadn’t noticed before. Then he pulled out all the logs I’d put in before bending over a small container next to the fireplace to retrieve something else. I knew I should’ve been paying attention to what he was doing so I could replicate it when I lit the fireplace in the bedroom later, but the moment Rebel bent over in front of me, I got…distracted.
Who could blame me when he was wearing tight jeans like that? The way they hugged his perfect ass made it impossible not to stare. I licked my lips, wondering about how it would feel to touch him. His skin looked so smooth, but humans were covered all over in fine hair, so maybe it was coarser. And his beard… Gods, I was jealous of that beard. Ever since I’d first seen it, I’d wanted to bury my face in all that human fur and just—
“It’s that easy,” he said, standing back up and pulling me from my thoughts.
I blinked rapidly, realizing I’d missed the entire demonstration. “Oh. That, um…That’s not as difficult as I was expecting. Thanks.”
Rebel looked me up and down, grunted, and went back to the sofa. Apparently, that was all the conversation we were going to have.
Not knowing what else to do with myself, I went to the quaint little kitchen, which the ad said was fully stocked. Unfortunately, that was also false advertising. The place had the bare essentials, but that was it. We’d need groceries if we were going to have more than bread and water to eat.
I spent the next few minutes putting together a quick grocery delivery order, leaving a large tip for whoever was brave enough to bring it out to us. I felt a little bad making someone work in such awful weather, but food was a necessity. Still, I wasn’t one to stick to just the necessities, not on the eve of Krakenmas.
Maybe that’s why Rebel’s in such a terrible mood, I thought. He doesn’t get to go home for the holidays either. I should make something special for him. I turned back to the app, adding a few more things before announcing to Rebel that I was going to shower. I needed to moisten my skin and apply more lotion if I didn’t want to shrivel up in that cold.
He just grunted and said, “Suit yourself.”
“The groceries might come while I’m in the shower,” I informed him. “Would you mind bringing them in?”
He finally looked up from whatever he was doing on his phone. “What?”
“The groceries. I figure everything will be closed tomorrow because of the holiday, so I got us some food. I hope that’s all right.” I chewed on my bottom lip, realizing I should’ve asked him if he wanted anything specific.
What did humans eat for the holidays? I didn’t imagine it was pineapple bacon wrapped scallops and citrus pomegranate salmon. Did they eat turkey? No, that was Thanksgiving. Oh, gods. What if he was a vegan or something? I didn’t even think of that!
“Whatever,” was all he said, and went back to his phone. After a minute, he asked, “Did you get anything to drink?”
“Um.” I thought for a minute. Did he mean tea? Alcohol? I’d gotten some prosecco as a present to myself, but I was happy to share it. Something about Rebel said he wasn’t exactly a prosecco person. “Of course,” I lied, flashing him a big smile, and added the first IPA that came up to my order on the way to the bathroom.
Just how long does Vic expect us to be snowed in here? I put my hands on my hips, looking out over the mountain of groceries he’d had delivered. When I agreed to bring them all in and put them away, I’d been expecting two, maybe three bags and a twelve pack. That’s what normal people bought to weather a snowstorm.
I should’ve known better than to expect normal from Vic Amares. He’d bought enough food to feed an army for several days, and fancy stuff too. Who the heck gets snowed in and thinks they should buy kale and prosecco?
Whatever. I hauled it all in and put it away while he took forever in the bathroom. I wasn’t looking forward to the cabin smelling like fish, since that’s mostly what he bought for protein, but I hoped it’d only be a day or two.
While he was still in the bathroom, I made a quick call to my gran, letting her know I was stuck in Toronto.
“Oh, sweetie,” she crooned, “don’t you worry about me. We’ll celebrate once you get home. You know the day doesn’t matter as much as the company.”
“I know, Gran. I just don’t want you to be alone.”
“I won’t be alone,” she promised. “I have Mr. Mittens here with me.”
Mr. Mittens was a cat, and I’d hardly call that company, but if she was happy, I couldn’t complain.
“I’m more concerned about you, sweetie,” Gran said. “Stranded up there in Canada, all alone for Christmas…”
“I’m not alone. I’m staying with…a friend.” I winced as soon as I said it. Vic was far from a friend, but what else was I going to tell her? That I was snowed in with my bitter rival, whom I found annoyingly attractive?
“Oh, well, that’s good,” she said, sounding distracted. “Listen, dear. You take care of yourself and you call me as soon as you find a flight back so I know you’re coming, okay? And you stay put. Get under some blankets and stay warm. Don’t want you catching a chill, now.”
I rolled my eyes. “All right. I will.”
“Love you, Rebel. Be good.”
“Love you back, Gran.” As soon as I hung up, I turned around and found Vic standing so close, I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Shit, man! Scared the hell out of me!”
“So sorry.” He fidgeted with his tentacles, seeming unusually uncomfortable and refusing to look at me.
Something heavy stirred in my chest. Why was I worried about making him uncomfortable? Why should I care what Vic thought?
I cleared my throat and gestured to the produce and dry goods I’d left on the counter for him to sort through. “What is all this? Lots of groceries for a day or two.”
“Oh, I thought I’d get enough to make a big dinner for the two of us tomorrow for the holiday.” He went into the kitchen and started putting things away, grabbing three or four things at once with his tentacles and shoving them into cabinets.
It was fascinating to watch him. His tentacles moved with a graceful fluidity that human limbs never could’ve achieved, and he was so efficient. It was like watching a dance, but all he was doing was putting away groceries.
“Rebel?”
The sound of my name on his lips sent a shiver through me, knocking me out of my weird trance. “Huh?”
He paused halfway through putting away a box of crackers. “I was wondering what humans did for Krakenmas.”
I scratched at my beard. “Oh, um, we don’t really… I mean, I don’t celebrate it. My family does Christmas, but…”
“That’s similar, right?” He closed the cabinets and turned around, leaning on the counter in a way that left his t-shirt clinging to the front of his body, highlighting his perfect pecs. Tentacles and pecs? Nature wasn’t fair.
I shrugged and looked away. “Sort of, I think.”
“Well, what do you do to celebrate? I’d love to hear about your family traditions!”
I sighed and turned away. “Look, Vic. I’m sure you’re real nice and an interesting guy, but I’m not really looking to make friends.”
My heart clenched, as he looked absolutely crestfallen.
“Oh,” he said quietly.
“I just want to get through this and move on. Forget it ever happened.”
He was quiet for a long moment before saying, “Just because the situation is less than ideal doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy each other’s company, Rebel.”
He leveled his gaze at me, and I swear I could feel a searing heat coming off of him. My stupid cock definitely took notice of the way he was looking at me and twitched, which was…interesting.
Whoa, whoa. Pump the brakes, Rebel. You hate this dude. He’s done nothing but make you look bad and steal your fans, sponsors, and spotlight since he showed up. You are not allowed to get a hard-on for your rival just because he’s sexy.
I cleared my throat. “I’m not good company, especially today. All I want to do is have a beer, eat some food, wash the airport off of me, and sleep through this whole thing.” And when I wake up, Vic is going to look a lot less tasty.
Yeah, that was it. I only wanted him because I was tired and stressed out. That had to be it, right?
“Oh. I see.” He hugged his tentacles tightly around his body, seeming smaller than his six-two frame.
I had the sudden urge to reach out and touch him, to apologize for being such an ass. He was just trying to be friendly and here I was, being my normal, rude self. Then again, we weren’t friends. We were barely even acquaintances. I had no reason to be nice to the kraken who’d nearly tanked my career over the last three years.
“I’m going to go shower,” I announced, and stalked back to the living room to retrieve my shower supplies from my duffel.
I thought a cold shower would be enough to set me straight, but I didn’t have the balls for it. After spending all day in a filthy airport, all I wanted was a good, hot shower to help me relax, so I wimped out at the last second and turned the knob all the way to hot.
Stepping into the hot spray did wonders for my sore back. Unfortunately, it did nothing to cool the heat in my blood. It didn’t help that there were little reminders of Vic all around me. He’d left his expensive body wash right there. I stared at it, leaning against the shower wall, imagining him in that same space just before me. What did krakens look like naked? Did he even have a cock? He had to, right?
I spent some time trying to wrap my brain around it. I mean, the guy didn’t have legs, just four tentacles he walked around on like legs. Maybe there was another tentacle between them instead of a cock.
I sighed and leaned against the cool shower wall. Since when was I so interested in kraken anatomy? I looked down and scowled at my hard cock. This is all your fault.
For a minute, I considered jerking off in the shower, but it felt too weird, knowing I had to share the space with the same guy I’d unavoidably be thinking about while I did it. Besides, I really didn’t want to think about all the ways Vic might use his talented tentacles to pleasure me.
Dammit, trying not to think about it was only making it worse.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I wondered and started vigorously scrubbing myself down. It wasn’t like I was normally such a horny bastard. Like any other guy in the league, I got plenty of action when it suited me, though it’d been a while. I hadn’t had a steady boyfriend in almost a year and a half, and my hookups were few and far between. It wasn’t that I didn’t want a relationship. My last one had ended badly though, with him insisting I was too obsessed with Vic.
I wasn’t obsessed with him. I just had to be better than him. If I ever wanted to get out of living in his shadow, I needed to focus on pulling ahead, and not putting out.
I’ve got this, I told myself as I finished up. It’s two, maybe three days and then it’s over. I can make it that long without turning into a drooling, sex-crazed goblin desperate for my rival, can’t I? I looked down at my dick and sighed, confidence waning. Then I turned the shower knob all the way to cold and shivered.
I decided to make fish tacos. Humans ate tacos. I was sure of that, and I knew they ate fish, though their diets had a lot more variety than kraken diets. We were pescetarian, so at least there was some overlap between what Rebel and I could eat. I only hoped he liked fish, or else it was going to be a long few days.
I was halfway through mixing up the coleslaw topping when Rebel walked out of the bathroom and I nearly dropped the whole bowl at the sight of him in nothing but a pair of grey shorts. I had known in theory that human bodies were covered in hair, but I’d always thought they’d look more like minotaurs whose bodies were coated in a fine brown fur. That wasn’t the case at all, at least with Rebel.
He had a broad chest with a dusting of curly dark hair over it that grew thicker toward the midline, turning into a gorgeous little trail that disappeared below the waistline of his shorts. His muscular legs were coated in curly red tinged hairs that I was suddenly dying to drag my tentacles through. He even had some on his lower back, though that was much less noticeable.
Desire pulsed through my body, and my face flushed as I felt my cock begin to stiffen. I almost groaned when Rebel bent over in front of me to go through his bag. Did the man have no mercy? Gods, that muscular ass was so fine. I could stare at it all day. I probably had spent days just staring at it, watching replays of him going around in the Superpipe or downhill on his skis. He had perfect form, but skiing and snowboarding weren’t what I was thinking about at all when I looked at him in that little cabin.
I should drag him into the bedroom and spend the entire holiday mating with him. I blinked at the sudden intrusive thought and shoved it away. Rebel had made it clear earlier he didn’t even want to be friends, let alone mate with me. What was I thinking?
I’m thinking maybe he’ll change his mind when I give him the most mind-blowing orgasm of his human life.
Rebel stood up straight and sniffed the air. “Are you burning something?”
“Shit!” I spun away, face burning with embarrassment. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing burning. I’d burnt the poor tortilla shell I was frying to a crisp. With a sigh, I fished it out of the oil and placed it aside to throw away once it was cool enough.
“What are you making?”
I yelped and jumped when Rebel’s voice was right behind me. “Goodness, you scared the life out of me. I nearly inked myself!”
He lifted a bushy eyebrow. “Can that really happen?”
“Yes, and it’s rather unpleasant.” I smoothed my tentacles over my shirt, trying to calm my pounding heart. “I’m making fish tacos. Do you, ah, like fish tacos?”
He frowned and picked up the blackened tortilla. “Not on burnt taco shells.”
“I didn’t burn it on purpose,” I protested and pulled the burnt shell away. “I was busy with the slaw and forgot.”
And distracted by all that gorgeous body hair and that toned ass. I gave him my best side eye. Why was he walking around half naked, anyway? I thought he didn’t like me.
I cleared my throat. “Aren’t you cold, dressed like that?”
“Nah,” he said with a shrug. “Cold doesn’t bother me. Besides, I only have my carry-on bag. My luggage got sent ahead, which means I’ve only got a single change of clothes. We might have to find some way to do laundry if this snowstorm keeps up.”
“Have you spotted a washer and dryer?”
“Doubt this place has one,” he grunted. “They don’t even have Netflix. You sure can pick ‘em, Vic.”
“It was the last place available,” I said, feeling overly defensive. I didn’t know why he was getting under my skin so much. I should’ve been happy he was speaking to me after giving me the cold shoulder earlier.
He wandered back into the living room, and I watched him pull on a white t-shirt from his bag. I was a little sad to see him hiding all that glorious chest hair, but I couldn’t blame him. It was getting chilly.
While he put another log on the fire and poked at it, I finished dinner and set everything on the table, making sure it was all arranged perfectly. “Okay, dinner’s ready,” I called and stood back.
Rebel looked up from poking at the fire, wearing a frown. “You didn’t have to cook for me.”
I shrugged. “I don’t mind.”
Slowly, he got up and came into the kitchen, eying the spread of ingredients on the table. I pressed my lips together and rocked back on my heels, nervously awaiting his approval. At least, I hoped that’s what I’d get. I was no chef, but I could make a decent fish taco. I hoped.
Rebel sat at the table and started putting food on his plate without a word. I took that as my cue to sit and took the seat across from him, watching him carefully as he selected ingredients for his taco. I made a mental note of the things he skipped over so I could avoid putting them in other dishes.
“So,” I said, carefully constructing my own set of tacos, “is it true that humans bring trees indoors for their Christmas ritual?”
Rebel paused just short of biting into his taco and lowered it. “You mean Christmas trees?”
“Is that what they’re called?”
“Wait, krakens don’t have Christmas trees?” He put the taco back on his plate without biting into it. “Well then, what do you put lights and garland on?”
I tipped my head to the side and blinked rapidly, confused about why anyone would put such things on a tree. “On the walls?”
