Don’t Eat Your Human Boyfriend

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Elliot

I wanted to eat the new guy.

And by ‘eat,’ I of course meant… you know. Find out what his dick tasted like. Run my tongue over every inch of that sun-kissed skin. Maybe make him have a steak and drink a beer so his mouth tasted like all-American dude when I kissed the shit out of him.

I also meant I literally wanted to eat the new guy.

I contained multitudes.

Look, being a ghoul was tricky. We literally needed to eat human flesh to live. It wasn’t about fighting baser instincts by ‘denying’ ourselves. It was about survival.

All of us in our small community knew someone who knew someone whose cousin had tried to go ‘clean’ and ended up breaking into a graveyard when they let themselves get too hungry, digging up and consuming someone who’d been pumped full of chemicals or was well past their expiration date, then getting sick as a dog or losing their mind permanently.

We stopped thinking all that well when we were starving. We kinda stopped thinking altogether.

But I prided myself on being an ethical ghoul.

No eating humans willy-nilly. It was the main reason I’d started working at Broth with a Bite, a proudly independent eating establishment located in the food court of Creepy Court Mall, and still hadn’t left—free meals that I didn’t have to do anything abhorrent to eat.

I had no idea how our ‘special meat’ supplier obtained their…

goods. The manager, Liz, assured us that we used a reputable business that swore all the humans had died naturally, but ghouls didn’t exactly have the luxury of being picky.

Not when the alternative was roaming the streets late at night and tearing into the first person we saw because we’d let ourselves get too hungry and desperate.

Or landing a cushy job in a morgue or funeral home with extremely questionable operational standards.

But I’d opted out of that lifestyle. I preferred this one. And usually, I was totally fine working with the humans here. We had to have two kitchens at Broth with a Bite: the human one, with human staff, for our unsuspecting human customers. And the other one. The one I worked in and oversaw.

As far as the human staff were concerned, the reason for the separate kitchen was because we specialized in catering to a clientele with a very complex, unique set of dietary requirements.

Which, I mean, was the truth. They didn’t question it too much, because we did get a lot of customers of a certain… complexion.

Pallid skin that was almost gray. Sunken eyes that were permanently shadowed.

Teeth that were maybe a little sharper than they should’ve been.

Dark fingernails and prominent veins and the faint whiff of sweet almonds that always lingered around them.

The human staff just seemed grateful that they didn’t have to deal with the ‘difficult orders’ off the ‘special menu,’ so they mostly kept their questions to themselves.

At first, when I started working here at eighteen, it had been tougher to ignore the fact that there were several humans practically basting themselves as they sweated away in a steamy kitchen right next door—chopping herbs and vegetables, stirring big pots of fragrant stock, wiping garlicky fingers on their aprons.

Hissing when the fat from sizzling meat spat onto their hands, which—goddamn.

There was no other smell like it. Mouthwatering.

After working here for eight years, it was much easier.

We all got at least one meal with every shift, so it wasn’t like I didn’t already have a well-balanced diet containing plenty of tasty, nutritious human.

And like I said, ethical ghoul here. Although, in some small and overzealous circles, I was considered a lazy, immoral ghoul because I didn’t hunt for my own food.

But I mean, come on. This was the 1980s, for fuck’s sake, not the Middle Ages.

I was a busy guy. I had video games to play.

Beer to drink. People to fuck. That kinda thing.

Which brought me back to the new guy I wanted to eat. In various ways.

I was pretty sure even thinking that made me a depraved pervert.

My traditional ghoul grandparents would be turning over in the family grave if they knew.

But my relationship with humans was a little complicated given that they were a main food source for me and all.

Although, ghouls weren’t the only supernatural creatures who fed off humans.

Vampires needed humans to survive too, right? It wasn’t that different. Right?

That was what I told myself when I left the back office at the start of my shift, still tying my apron, and crashed directly into the unfamiliar person about to walk through the door.

His scent hit me first. Hot skin and sunscreen and something spicy, like he’d literally been marinating himself before coming here. My mouth actually watered.

Then he spoke, and his smooth voice made my skin prickle with a weird mix of lust and predatory instinct.

“Darn, sorry.” He chuckled, face turning bright pink, the heat in his cheeks only intensifying that delectable scent. “Already making a crappy first impression.”

“It’s all good,” I heard myself answer automatically, too busy staring at him to even fully take in what he’d said.

He was… perfection.

Messy brown hair that was short on top and longer at the back. Light brown eyes with little specks of green and long, dark lashes. An aquiline nose, square jaw, and cute little snaggletooth that I spotted when he gave me a shy grin.

And he was… meaty. There was no other word to describe him. Wide shoulders and thick arms and a sculpted chest, with the tiny curve of a belly under his tight T-shirt.

He was like my ideal sexual fantasy come to life, and the perfect meal. Which was so totally fucked up—I was fully aware. Like I’d said, complicated relationship with humans over here. So complicated.

“Um… I’m Ricky.” He held out his hand when I didn’t move. I finally tore my awed gaze from his face and blinked down at it, then I watched myself slowly reach out and shake his hand. My pale skin looked almost gray against his warm tone.

“Elliot.” My voice was a little raspy.

“It’s my first day.” Ricky blushed again and scrubbed a hand over the top of his head, ruffling his hair. “I mean, um, you probably know that seeing as you work here. Sorry.”

Fuck. On top of everything else, he had to be adorable. And that blush brought out the smattering of tiny freckles on his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, especially as it deepened when I continued to stare at him in stunned silence. Was I drooling? I hoped not.

“Okay, well”—Ricky shifted on his feet, then made an awkward attempt to get past me—“I should probably…”

Finally coming back to myself, I blinked and moved out of the way. “Oh. Sorry.”

My nostrils flared when he brushed past me and I caught another whiff of that scent. Instead of going to the kitchen, I found myself wandering back into the office and watching as he grabbed an apron.

“So you’re working in the kitchen, huh?” My voice came out a little huskier than normal.

Ricky jumped, not having realized I was still standing there. Turning, he gave me another sweet grin as he tied on his apron.

“Uh-huh. I’ve worked in a kitchen before, but I’m a little nervous,” he admitted, then flushed again as his eyes darted down my frame. “Are you, um—do you work in the… other kitchen? The special diet one?”

It wasn’t surprising that he’d already reached that conclusion. I looked like all the other staff who worked in the “other kitchen.” Same inhumanly pale skin. Same permanent shadows under my eyes. Same discolored fingernails. Same lanky, sinewy frame and somewhat gaunt features.

The ‘catering to special dietary needs’ cover for the restaurant was a pretty good one, to be honest. We ghouls didn’t look all that healthy by human standards.

“Yep.” I crossed my arms and leaned my shoulder on the doorframe. I was gonna be late, but fuck it. Ricky, I had already decided, was worth being late for.

“Liz said in my interview that it’s for a, um, rare vitamin deficiency that causes extreme allergies?” he said uncertainly. “That sucks, dude.”

I smiled, trying not to look like I wanted to sink my teeth right into him. Even though I totally did. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Pretty rad this place caters for it specifically.” As he said it, his dark brows twitched a little, like he was finally realizing how weird that actually was.

Then he shrugged with a chuckle. “I’m just grateful to have a job, but…

I’m kinda glad I don’t have to work in the super strictly controlled kitchen. ”

“Yeah, we’re locked down pretty tight in there,” I said absently, my gaze already roaming back over his frame. “To, you know, keep out any contaminants.”

I knew I should probably stop staring at him. I’d been told I could look a little creepy when I was focusing intently. The inhuman features—just enough to unnerve someone, but not quite enough to make them suspicious—probably didn’t help.

Plus, I had no idea if he was into dudes, but as he shifted from foot to foot and fiddled with the ties of his apron, I realized he kept stealing glances at me too.

And he was blushing again. His throat bobbed in a swallow, and when his pink tongue darted out to swipe over his lips, I felt a tingle in my pants.

I wanted to suck on it. And maybe bite down on it a little.

Not bite it off. Probably. Just… nibble on it.

Maybe his lips too. And his neck. And nipples.

I was now hungry and horny, and I really had to let us both get to work, so I straightened and gave him what I hoped was a sultry grin. “Well, better get to work. Have a good first shift, Ricky.”

His name felt good in my mouth. I was already having visions of myself screaming it in the throes of passion.

While being bent over the clutter-filled table in here, or maybe when he was on his knees in front of me.

I bet his mouth would feel blisteringly hot on my skin. Specifically around my dick.

“Yeah, thanks. You too.” Ricky blushed again. “I mean, have a good shift too. I know it’s not your first one… Um, will Brett be in the kitchen already? Liz just told me to come here and get an apron then head straight there…”

Brett was one of the cooks who oversaw the human kitchen. He was a mondo dick. I kind of didn’t like the thought of sweet, delicious Ricky having to work with him, but it wasn’t like I had any say in what went on in that small side of the business.

“Yeah, Brett’s working today.” I nodded at the big shift schedule on the wall. “What time does your shift end?”

“Closing.”

“Me too.” I tried to keep my grin from looking too predatory. “Maybe I’ll see you again later then.”

Ricky went bright red. “Y-yeah, maybe. That’d be… Um, okay, so I’ll… see you.”

“See you, Ricky.” Finally tearing my gaze from him, I turned and walked out of the back office, then down the short corridor to the second of the two kitchen doors. This one had a sign on it, SPECIAL KITCHEN STAFF ONLY, printed in big letters.

I paused with my hand on it and waited until Ricky made his way to the other door, nervously smoothing down his apron. He saw me and offered another sheepish grin before pushing open the door and vanishing inside.

I barely suppressed my sigh of longing as I did the same. Yeah, I wanted to eat the new guy. Eat him right up.