Page 28 of Vexing the Viper

"Thanks, Nikolai."

Dad takes off after King into the locker room, and I breathe deeply. What the hell is going on with me?

Placinganother book onto the shelf, I smile when I realize I'm almost done. Coming into work today, I was shocked to see the amount of different books that needed to be shelved. The first few weeks of the semester are always the easiest in the library, but once students start getting focused on their studies, the more textbooks they tend to take out.

I'm placing another Intro to Mummification book on the shelf when a shadow falls behind me. I'm usually on my own up here on the third floor, but every so often stragglers will find their way up here.

"Hey Niko!" Kovi's voice flutters through, and I smile, turning around toward him.

"Hey, man. How have you been? Walk with me?"

"Of course."

Kovi is great company. He can shift into a huge tree monster and knows all about the inner workings of the forests. He alsohas his own trepidations about attending classes with humans. Well, one in particular. But him and his red-headed guy seem to be getting closer as friends, and maybe something more? I don’t know, but at least he doesn’t live with the guy.

We both notice an Intro to Monsterkind book on the ground and he picks it up for me. Only humans take the class, which seems to remind him of my own predicament. "How is it going with your new roommate? You haven't complained about him yet today."

I stop playing with the spine of the book before placing it on the shelf. "Things have been better. We're getting along more now. He might not have been as bad as I originally thought." I shrug, picking up another book off my cart and figuring out where it goes.

"Wow, really? The last time we talked it seemed like you really hated him."

"I never said that."

Kovi snickers, pushing at my shoulder. "You said ‘he's a human and I hate humans.’"

"Yeah," I mumble, avoiding eye contact. I was probably a little hasty with my shit talking, but to be honest, I didn't think we would be friends then.

"Oh, I see," he murmurs, a smirk playing on his lips.

"You see what?"

"Oh, nothing. I have to go help the dean, but I look forward to updates. Bye Niko." He scampers off, and I shake my head. Updates? I don't know what kind of updates he's expecting, but okay.

The rest of my shift goes by quickly as I’m running around the library doing my tasks. Before I know it, I'm walking in the door of our dorm and the sound of laughter is hitting my ears. Slowly walking to the living room, I wonder what I'm going to walk in on, not at all prepared for the sight in front of me.

Clearing my throat, I turn my head sideways. "Are... are you guys playing Twister?"

"Oh, geez. It was his idea." Mateo jerks his head in Sam's direction, and Sam falls down laughing.

"I would say it was King's idea since he was the one that had it packed away in his room."

"Hey, I like to play board games. So, sue me. Do you wanna join?" King says from the floor.

King and Mateo are still all tangled up in their positions and Sam is on the floor, dying of laughter–and it honestly looks like they're having a blast.

"I'm in."

"You are?" King stares at me wide eyed.

"I know how to have fun," I scoff, taking off my leather jacket and tossing it onto the couch. "Okay, start over. I’ll go first." King and Mateo jump off the mat while Sam hands me the spinner. "How did you get roped into this?" I ask Sam, grabbing the piece and spinning it.

"I came over to drop off King's extra mitt. Mateo was walking in at the same time. King invited me to stay, and eagerly let us know he had some board games up in his closet."

"Eagerly, huh?" I snicker, looking at King. There's so much about him I'm still learning. For some reason, I never pictured him as the type of person to sit around playing board games. "What other board games do you have?"

"I have tons. Don't worry, we have time to play them all, I'll make sure of it."

I spin first, placing my hands and feet where they say to go. King goes next, his hand landing dangerously close to my dick. I angle my body, but it's no use, his hand is right next to me.

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