Page 3 of Hold my Reins

He took a sip, not sure what to expect, but it wasn’t bad. As he went to put it down, he stopped. The logo on the coaster caught his eye.

Monster Match.

He’d heard about it and laughed about it along with others when it was discussed. Who’d want to hook-up with a monster, right? That was weird. LOL.

But now he was in town and seeing monsters in the flesh for the first time, it might be fun to hook-up with one.

It would certainly be a story.

And if he didn’t take the chance now, when else was he going to?

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, typed in the app details, and downloaded it. Then he needed to answer questions he’d never considered.

What was he looking for? A friend, romance, sex, or kinky sex?

Wasn’t sex with a monster already kinky? Or was he boring?

Why wasn’t there an anything option? He could make friends if he tried…if he stuck around. He used other apps for sex if an uncomplicated, no-strings fuck was all he wanted. But it might be his only chance to hook-up with a monster.

His finger hovered over romance. He liked the idea of more, but people left. They couldn’t be relied on, and what was the point in giving his heart up only to have it thrown back at him?

Fine. Sex it was. That was easy, and he knew what he was doing.

Well, he did with humans.

Next was a list of questions, and he needed to come up with a name…and not the one he usually used.

He started typing, then deleted it as it was stupid. He tried again.

I_can_drive_a_stick

That was just as stupid and very un-subtle, but he couldn’t think of anything else. Fine, it’s not like he needed to do anything. He was curious. Exploring options.

He was pretty sure he’d said much the same the first time he’d gotten his hands in another guy’s pants and driven his first stick. He’d never tried anything else after.

His burger arrived, and he ate as he filled out all the information. He even found a half-decent selfie that he’d taken about a month ago.

Profile complete.

Now what?

He chewed on a fry, waiting for matches to pop up. Nothing. Ah well, the app had kept him entertained for a bit and made him think about what he wanted and liked. Knowing what he didn’t want and didn’t like only went so far.

Which is why he’d been on his own for the last six months.

Before that, he’d been folding up his mother’s life with no room for anything but grief. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat. She’d put off holidays and such, always thinking she’d have later to enjoy the things she wanted to do. That was one of the reasons he’d packed up and left. The other was the way all the memories were too sharp. It didn’t matter which way he turned—he got cut.

His mother wouldn’t be checking out the monsters from behind her beer glass. She’d be talking to them and wanting their life story. And because she’d been that kind of person, they’d tell her. She liked people…and she’d ended up with him. He’d been the weird loner at school, more interested in pulling things apart to see how they worked than hanging out with the jock and cheerleaders.

Together, they’d made a good team.

His phone pinged. He had a match.

So, some algorithm had matched his data to a monster’s. Given that he wasn’t sure about some of his answers, he didn’t trust the accuracy of it, but he was curious to see who he’d been matched with.

His username was Whitehorse. The photo was of a man—no, a kelpie—according to his profile. Whatever the fuck that was. He had skin like moonlight, and ears like… Oh, a kelpie was ahorse shifter. He had horse ears. His hair was also white, with streaks of green. Were they natural?

Wait, if he was a horse shifter, was he hung like a horse?

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