Page 30 of The Monster at the End of This Courtship

"It wasn't." There was no sugarcoating it. "Well. It was, at first. I was the life of the party. I was adopted, which made me different. Everyone liked me, until one day in middle school, they didn't. I wasn't in sports, I didn't like girls, and they stopped wanting to hang out with me. The girls started a rumor about me and the drug dealer at our school. They said we hooked up for blowjobs, and …" I laughed. "I made it a reality. He was bi andliked having a mouth on his dick." I took my shirt off. "I think that's enough for that question."

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"First in a long line of bad decisions."

"I was an impressionable kid, too. My parents weren't religious, but they both worked, so when our neighbor offered to take me to Bible school during the summer instead of taking me to Grandma's, they said yes. Worst decision ever. There, I learned I was going to hell if I even looked at another boy."

I bit back a question. I didn't want to interrupt as Axel explained why he thought he was straight.

"I took it to heart. I didn't look. I started dating any girl who asked, and then I ended up engaged to one with a baby on the way."

"Are you saying you knew you were bisexual?"

"I don't think I considered it," he said. "I was so young and impressionable. I removed myself from any situation where I might have thought otherwise."

"Wow." I couldn't imagine trying to live like that. I'd grown up out and proud. My parents were already in PFLAG for my trans cousin, so it wasn't a stretch for them to accept me. My classmates were closed-minded in high school, but not in college. I met other queer people and allies everywhere I went because I didn't hide who I was.

"Next question," Axel said, taking off one sock.

"What did you want to be when you grew up?" I asked.

"A construction worker," he said. "My dad worked construction. I wanted to be a supervisor on his crew, but I couldn't handle the physical labor. Ended up working at a sporting goods store."

"I wanted to be an astronaut." I laughed. "Can you imagine? A kobold in space? I would never have made it through basic training. We had an obstacle training course for gym class mysenior year. I couldn't make it up a rope to save me from drowning."

"I bet you could now." He traced his index finger down my chest. "We should add an obstacle course to our outdoor facility. Some ropes, tires. Barbed wire might be a little too brutal…"

I laughed. "I bet we could run it with our eyes closed. It might be better to stick to group sports. I'd love to see the females and betas join us, too. This will help build community."

"So would card parties and board games," Axel said. "Maybe we're not thinking big enough."

"Maybe we're thinking too much." I stripped off both my socks, since I'd forgotten to remove the first one. "What do you want to ask me?"

"Are you a morning person or a night owl? We were up half the night last night, and I still don't know."

"Morning person." I was a grumbly asshole to the beta who made my coffee that morning. "I didn't sleep, even after you walked me home."

"What did you do instead?"

"That's another question," I chided. "Answer this one. Early bird or night owl?"

He took off his remaining sock. "Both? Neither? It all depends on the day. I can stay up late one night and get up early the next, but only if I get enough sleep the rest of the week. As long as I keep my schedule consistent, I can be whatever you want me to be, sugar."

Sugar. My entire body shivered at the nickname. "Sugar?" My voice raised an octave higher than normal on the last syllable.

"If you don't like it, I can think of something else."

"No, I do. Is it weird that I like it?" I laughed. "I never expected to have someone call me a nickname. Now I have to think of something to call you."

"Now you," he said. "Answer the question. What did you do last night after I left?"

I was running out of clothes. I took off my pants, which left me wearing only the magical compression shorts that held in my slick. The shorts left little to the imagination, and when Axel ran a finger along my waistband, my cock twitched against the fabric.

"Well, first, I finished what you started." Before either of us thought too hard about what I meant, coming in my hand to the thought of more of his delicious kisses, I rushed ahead. "Then, I spent the rest of the night worrying about our future."

As much as I wanted to elaborate, I couldn't voice my fears aloud. My mind had raced with worst case scenarios. What if Axel changed his mind and went back to Earth? What if Weld changed his mind and demanded a fight to the death for my honor? What if the dragon changed their mind and decided to fry us all?

I shivered.

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