Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

TYSON

I walk from my car to the suburban house and ring the doorbell. I’m excited that tonight is the Valentine’s Day fundraiser event. I should be ashamed that my crappy memory messed up some guy’s stuff and I all but invited myself to be his date as compensation. But I’m not ashamed about it. Because Ardsley is cute and sexy, and, yes, I want to spend more time with him.

So here I am, dressed in my dark suit over a plaid button-down shirt on his front porch. I’m ten minutes early, but I figured we could meet up and get our fake stories straight. Do I want this date to be real? Of course, but that’s not the deal. I’m here to accompany this monster as his date. This very attractive and endearing monster …

The door opens and I’m met with an older bald man with a gray beard. “Hello?”

“Hi, I’m Tyson. You must be Mr. Allen.”

“Oh, you’re Ardsley’s special friend.” He gives me a coy smile and leans on his rolling walker. I was hoping to see Ardsley before I met his pops, but maybe I should have texted, saying I was at the door. “I thought the dance was much later. Come in.”

“Thanks. And I’m here a couple minutes early…” My voice trails off as he leads me through the living room. He hobbles forward slowly, so I soak in Ardsley’s house. Beige-and-red velvet chairs and sofas are sprawled about with old magazines stacked on various brown coffee tables. It’s not spacious, but the property seems larger from the outside.

“Ardsley isn’t even ready yet, but you can go on back and surprise him,” he says as we walk past the tiny kitchen. He opens a screen door and lets me through. When I step outside, I understand why the house is so small; Ardsley’s backyard is massive. Multiple manmade mini-hills jut out from what appears to be a pool shaped like a snaking river. The front of the house hides this compact oasis, like a tiny rainforest here in suburban California.

“He’s always swimming around in there.” Mr. Allen waves his hand aimlessly. “Son! You got company!” he hollers, and I flinch.

When I turn around, I spot a blur of violet hop out and back into the water, splashing green liquid into the air. When the flopping finally stops, a strange yet familiar head pops out. “What, Dad?” The dude sounds irked, but I’m taken aback by his shape; he’s purple, with gills and a pair of fins sticking out of his neck. His skin is tougher, and his hair is gone. He’s so foreign to me, yet so Ardsley; shifters are crazy fascinating.

“Your friend’s here!” Mr. Allen yells. Ardsley looks at him, then at me, standing mere feet in front of his pool.

I give a meager wave. “Hi!”

“Eep!” Ardsley yelps, and I hear a zapping noise as his head dips back down into the water. After some splashing, the Ardsley I know, human skin and hair, pops out. “Tyson!” His face is one of utter bewilderment.

I turn around to see his dad leave, then turn back to him. “Hey. Your pops let me in. I’m five minutes early, I know.” I shrug and shove my hands in my suit pockets.

“You’re…an hour and five minutes early.” He looks off to the side as he wades in the water.

Huh ? I tear my gaze from his muscular bare torso and recheck my phone. “You texted me saying it’s at…”

“It starts at seven, it’s not even six,” he says.

When I look at my texts, I groan. “Ugh. Why did I think it was earlier?”

He chuckles in the water. “Sorry, man.”

“I’m so fucking forgetful,” I mutter with my hand on my forehead. “First the locker, now this? Why can’t I get numbers right?”

I sigh and sit on a nearby beach chair. Ardsley wades over and leans his arms on the cement pool deck. He gives a sympathetic smile and says, “It…happens.”

“Not to you though. You’re smart and work at the MM Institute. I’m the dumbass who couldn’t get into college.” I run my hand through my braids and sigh.

“Tyson…”

“Sorry, I’ll go and come back.”

“No, wait!” Before I can stand up, his voice stops me. “You can stay. I’ll uh, get dressed and wait with you.”

“Really?” I bite my lip, feeling once again like a pity date in front of this cool monster dude.

“Yeah. If you don’t mind hanging out with my dad as I get ready for the dance. I also have to cook dinner for him.”

“You…cook?” I lean on my knees in the pool chair. We’re a few feet apart, and he’s in the mini river, while I’m up above. There might be a metaphor here, but I’m not sure what it is.

He shrugs. “Only for my dad. I’m a shit cook, but someone has to help him out.”

“You do that for your pops?”

He shoots me a charming grin. “I need him to be healthy. So, yes, I typically cook a bunch of meals before I go anywhere.”

“That’s very…noble of you.”

“We only have each other.” His smile drops, then he beams at me. “But he’s not a shifter, so at home, there’s more river time for me.” He’s so relaxed and confident right now, I can tell he’s in his element in this green pool. His hair is all wet, and I want to run my hands through it.

“You’ve got a sweet setup.” I turn to my left and right. “You built it yourself?”

“One of the perks for working for the government. Grants from the MM Institute helped me pay for the construction.”

“Wow. I like it. It’s so…you.” His cheeks turn pink and I bite back a smile. “Even though we just met.”

“True.”

“You’re just so in your element in the water, which…duh, obviously.” I point at him and we share a laugh. “You’ve got moves in the water, my dude.”

“You should see me on the dance floor.” He shoots a lascivious wink, and I crack up. His face is precious: awkward and nerdy meets sexy and flirty.

“Speaking of which, I should get dressed, since you’re an hour early.”

I stand and cringe as he prepares to get out of the pool. “Sorry again.”

“No worries at all.” He saunters over to an opposite chair to grab an orange towel.

I brush off a stray leaf from my coat. “I’m such a fucking dumbass that I keep forgetting numbers, and I―” My words die in my throat at the sight.

Ardsley. He’s butt naked in front of me. He dries his front as he looks away, and the lean curvature of his ass is on full display. He was swimming nude? I guess that makes sense, since he’s an eel. But still, by my understanding, most shifters morph with their clothes. Ardsley clearly has no need to in his private home.

And now I’m frozen as he wipes his whole body, and I get to see his sculpted ass. My knees go weak as blood shunts to my dick. He may be an awkward guy, but his swimmer’s build is the stuff of legends.

“What’s wrong?” He turns around and hallelujah , his cock is a sight to behold. Ardsley is packing, and he doesn’t even realize he’s nude.

I quickly look up at the sky and bite my lip. “Um, you should uh, go shower.”

“What? I—oh shit.” He swiftly wraps his towel around himself. “Sorry, I…”

“No problem!” I yelp as I power walk to the door. It’s hard to move forward when you’re staring at the clouds like your life depends on it.

“I went swimming but, uh…I’ll go upstairs, and you can um, go hang out with my dad…”

“Uh, sure!” When I look down, Ardsley is opening the door with a towel wrapped around his waist. Crisis over, for now.

Thirty minutes later, Ardsley walks down the stairs as his dad chats with me at the kitchen table. Mr. Allen is a chill guy, with plenty of jokes and stories about monsters he’s met over the years.

“What are you two up to?” Ardsley asks with a skeptical look on his face. He looks handsome as hell in his striped pink button-down and black slacks. His hair is styled and pulled back, like a modern-day James Dean. My fake date fills up a pot with water and moves it to the stove.

“I was just telling your new boyfriend about all the monsters I’ve met.”

“Boyfriend?!” Ardsley yelps.

I snicker. “As I told your dad, we’re very, very new.” I try to mentally connect with Ardsley, letting him know I got this. “I told him how we met at the gym, I mixed up my locker with yours, then after the misunderstanding, I asked you out to lunch.”

Ardsley’s shoulders relax as he takes out marinated chicken. He smiles and looks up. “I guess that is how that happened, isn’t it?”

“And you didn’t bother to tell your old man until a few days ago.” Mr. Allen wags his finger at his son, and we all laugh.

“I…didn’t wanna jinx it.” Ardsley clears his throat. “So, anyway, I’m making spinach-based pasta and that chicken breast I marinated from yesterday.”

“I’d rather have the food you kids are having at the Valentine’s Day dance.”

“First of all, not kids.” Ardsley plops the chicken on an oven tray. “Second, it’s not a dance, it’s a fundraiser. And third…” He pops in the tray. “You need to watch your salt intake. Remember what the doctors said?”

He sits down next to his dad, who bristles. “I remember ’cause you remind me every day.”

“I need you to be strong and healthy.” He sits down next to us and puts his hand over Mr. Allen’s, and my heart warms at the sight. A cute, nerdy, charming dude who cares about family? How is this monster still single?

“I always am, son.” He places his other hand over Ardsley’s. “But you don’t need me to take care of ya anymore, ya got Tyson!”

He laughs, but Ardsley looks shaken. “Dad…it’s…very new.”

“But I promise.” I tap Mr. Allen’s shoulder. “I will take care of your son. I want to make him happy, because every time I learn something new about him, he makes me happy.”

I exchange a glance with Ardsley, and his brown puppy-dog eyes fill with an emotion I don’t recognize. That spark between us keeps growing and growing, an electric charge from a literal electric eel.

We spend several minutes having dinner with his pops and sharing laughs. He tells me all about what Ardsley was like growing up, and I grow fonder and fonder of this inadvertent new friend. After a great meal and plenty of laughs, it’s time for me and this handsome monster to go to the Valentine’s Day event.