Page 16 of Unleashing Mayhem
There was no pause at all before Nightmare’s answer this time. “You don’t annoy me, little human.”
Matty couldn’t resist snuggling even closer, every inch of his body pressed against the demon in his bed. He’d never cuddled someone like this. He understood why people liked it.
Matty let his thigh brush against Nightmare’s hardness again. “I could help, if you want.”
The body in Matty’s arms tensed, every muscle held still. “Explain.”
“Well, you took care of me all night, so I could—could take care of you. That way. If you wanted. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I could figure out a hand job, I’m pretty sure.”
Matty might have been inexperienced, but he came from a crude world. He had an idea of what men liked. And Nightmare might not have been a human man, but he seemed to have somecorresponding parts Matty was familiar with. By the…shape of it, at least.
What were those pants made of, anyway? Demonic linen? They didn’t hide much, whatever they were.
And Matty knew from overhearing Sascha and Kai these past months that some demonsdidenjoy sex with humans. Quite a bit, judging from the sound of it. Like,a lot.
“An exchange,” Nightmare said, after a moment.
“Yeah.” Matty nodded, his chin rubbing against Nightmare’s chest. Definitely some sort of demonic linen on the shirt end of things. It was slightly rough against his skin but not uncomfortable.
“There’s no need,” Nightmare told him.
“Oh.”
Matty was weirdly disappointed by that, which was kind of a surprise.
For numerous, life-saving reasons, Matty had pushed down the sexual side of himself for years. No ogling, no flirting, no daydreaming of any kind. Unless it was in the very darkest dark of night, under the covers, when he had occasionally furtively and franticly brought himself to completion.
But cuddling with Nightmare was nice, and it could have been even nicer to really…touch him. Bare skin to bare skin. He was so big and strange and powerful, it made something clench in Matty’s lower belly just to be near him. Was that a thing? Were people turned on by big monsters, or was that just Matty being abnormal again?
But the thought of Nightmare calling Matty “sweet” in that low rasp while Matty made him feel good…
Matty shivered. He liked that Nightmare called him that. Matty didn’t feel sweet most of the time. He felt…broken, and kind of jagged, but also weak and useless. Basically the worst combination a person could be.
Maybe all humans were sweet to Nightmare though. Maybe their lack of skull faces and antlers and shadow fingers made them all soft and squishy in his eyes.
“What now?” Matty asked, holding back a sigh. He didn’t want to make Nightmare feel bad for refusing him. He probably just wasn’t attracted to little underfed weaklings who let bad dreams scare them out of sleeping.
“I have fed,” Nightmare told him, and he must have been talking about munching on Matty’s fear all night long. “So should you.”
Finding something to eat. That was reassuringly practical. “I haven’t gotten groceries in a long time,” Matty warned him.
“We’ll go to the market, then.”
“You want to go grocery shopping with me?”
Nightmare made a vague sound of affirmation. “And then you will tell me how to find the men who scare you.”
“Oh, I don’t know how,” Matty told him. Nightmare angled his head down, and now Matty could see his striking face, although his expression was still unreadable. Matty tried for a smile. No change. “I’ve been hiding from them,” Matty explained.
And even with Nightmare here, protecting him, the thought ofnothiding—of poking his head out of the sand in a way that meant anyone could find him—was too much to bear.
Matty untangled himself and hopped off the bed, stumbling a bit when the sudden movement made him lightheaded.
He looked down at himself. Oh. That was where all the blood had gone. “Oh, look,” he said senselessly, pointing to his crotch. “I have it too.” He looked back up to Nightmare dazedly. “Maybe I’ll shower before we go, if that’s okay.”
Nightmare inclined his head, his white eyes sort of glowing. He looked…very large, lounging there on Matty’s bed. Even without the antlers.
Oh God, did I really offer to jerk him off?
