Page 33 of Anchored To You

And now here I am, sitting on my bed, waiting for Talon to get home so we can study. And yes, I may have thought about ways I can try to convince him to skip the studying and get right down to the naked business, but with a test coming up, I probably need to actually buckle down and study.

My textbooks are spread all over in front of me, my highlights and pens all ready to go when Talon walks into the room, his hair a disheveled mess.

“Fuck, sorry I’m late. I stayed after at the restaurant to earn some more money and damn it was busy as hell. Also look at this,” he spins around, showing a huge dark brown stain on his ass.

Not able to help myself, I laugh loudly before shoving my hand over my mouth to stop. “Did you shit yourself?” I ask, wondering what that stain could be.

“No,” he whines, stripping out of the pants and tossing them into his hamper. “Some little Centaur was playing around with the syrup and when his mom wasn’t paying attention, he dumped the whole damn bottle onto the floor. Guess who didn’t see the mess and slipped in it, falling on their ass? Me. And because it was so close to when I was getting off, there was no reason to come home and change. So I’ve been wandering with my damn pants glued to my ass.”

Not being able to stop myself, I burst out laughing again, tears trickling down my cheeks. “I am so sorry,” I choke out between laughs, trying to calm myself down. “I bet your ass tastes delicious though,” I tell him, grinning like a fool when he pops a small smile.

“I’ve never done anything sexual with food before,” he says, short circuiting my brain. Oh great, now all I’ll be able to think about is what type of food will taste the best on Talon’s naked body.

“Well, damn, maybe that’s something we need to try.” But not right now; I need to focus on this test.

I thought for sure I would flounder by now, not able to keep up with school, work, and baseball, but somehow I’ve been thriving. Studying with Talon has helped me stay focused in class and actually manage to understand what I’m reading. And as much as working straight after practice sucks, there’s so much downtime that I’m able to find time to hide behind the bar and get some more work done. And the guys on the team have been so supportive as well. They’ll quiz me while we’re out on the field tossing the ball and forth. Sometimes we won’t leave the field until I’ve answered every question they asked me correctly. Maybe I need to have more confidence in myself that I can do the things I put my mind to.

“Boo,” Talon replies, pulling me from my thoughts. He smiles at me, tossing his black leather backpack onto the bed. “You’re right, study first, then other things after,” he waggles his eyebrows, the carefree Talon from last year shining through.

It’s taken a long time for him to let his guard down around me again. Ghosting him last year was a shitty move on my part and I get why he’s kept me at arms length since the beginning of whatever it is we’re doing, but when he jokes with me and smiles so easily, it reminds me of the night we shared last year. If only I had figured my shit out last year, maybe things would have been different. But as he’s standing here in front of me, a smirk on his face because he knows exactly what he does to me, I can’t help but think that things worked out the way they were supposed to.

Talon and I spend the next two hours glued to our textbooks trying to cram as much information into our brains as we can. My head is swimming with different vocabulary words and so much information, but I’m confident that I’ll be able to do well enough on my test.

Slamming my book closed, I arch my back, stretching widely as a huge sigh escapes my lips. “Finally,” I breathe, glancing over to see Talon close his own book.

“You know what sounds pretty perfect right now?” he asks, getting up off his bed and walking closer to me.

“Oh, I can only imagine,” I purr, reaching out and dragging my finger down his chest.

“Yes, that. But also swimming!” He says excitedly, bouncing in place.

“Do you want to go swimming?”

“Hell, yes. If you’re up for it?” His hand stops my finger before I can travel any farther down.

Glancing up into his eyes, I can see how excited he is about this. And the fact that he's inviting me makes me want to do anything he asks of me. Anything and everything. "Let's go," I tell him, standing up then clasping his hand.

"Wait, wait, wait," he chants, locking his feet in place, trying to stop me from going.

"What's wrong?"

"I need to put on some clothes. And so do you." He releases my hand, walking over to his dresser and reaching for a pair of shorts.

"Damn it," I whine, dramatically stomping my feet. "I was hoping we would go swimming naked."

"Ooo, skinny dipping?" He fans himself with his hand before laughing loudly. "As much as I would love to go swimming naked with you in the middle of the forest, that's in the middle of our college campus, in the river that tons of students go to... I think I'll have to pass. Shorts are a must."

"Shorts are a must," I mumble incoherently, acting like a child. "Fine," I tell him, grabbing a pair of shorts off the ground and dragging them up my legs. "Don't come asking to touch my dick under the water, 'cause who knows who might be in the river and see what you're doing."

"Oh my god," he barks out a laugh, shaking his head. "You're ridiculous. Let's go."

Talon and I walk out of the dorms, heading down the cobblestone street to the forest. The moon is out, shining brightly, reminding me that the full moon is coming soon.

"Do you like full moons?" I ask, staring up into the sky. Astrology, the sun, the moon, and the stars have always fascinated me; they are full of mysteries.

"The full moon and I have always had a love/hate relationship. When it is a full moon, most shifters' abilities intensify. This means that the slightest touch of water usually causes me to shift into my fins. Which isn't my idea of a fun time when I'm in the movie theater or hanging out with friends. I mean, it's beautiful, yeah, but I probably don't have the same experience as you."

"No, I guess we don't have the same experiences with it. I didn't mean to bring up something that has bad memories," I say, feeling like shit because I never thought about how his journey with life might differ completely from what I've gone through.