Eden's Playground: Graystone Academy Book One, BE Kelly [good short books .TXT] 📗

The End

I hope you loved Eden, Anson, and Duff’s story! Now, buckle up and get ready for another Graystone Academy—Violet’s Surrender Book 2, coming in July 2021 from BE Kelly!

Gabriel

Gabriel Quick wasn’t looking forward to his first day of teaching at Graystone Academy. His best friend, Zander Kendry, stopped by his townhome earlier to wish him a good first day and handed him a six-pack of his favorite craft beer. He wished he could drink them all but that wouldn’t prove to his fellow professors that he was ready for the task of being the new Professor of Magic. He only had four classes, all of them with fourth-year students, and he was thankful for that. The last thing he wanted to do was babysit first-year supernaturals. But he wasn’t stupid, he knew that he got lucky because of who his uncle was. He was a legacy of a generous benefactor of the academy.

Zander had stayed for a couple of hours and they ended up ordering a pizza and watching some football. Gabriel loved that they were able to hang out more now that he was back in town and at the academy. Zander taught English at Graystone and he had been a professor there for five years now. He was one of the major reasons why Gabriel wanted to become a professor and why he agreed to take the position at the academy—to be closer to Zan.

They met when they were both first-year students at Graystone and God, Gabe fell completely in love with Zan that year. They were roommates from their second through fourth years and every time he thought about opening up and telling Zan how he felt, he found an excuse not to. They were both wolf shifters and even joined the same pack while they were at Graystone. Zander became his best friend, his brother, his world—and telling him that he was in love with him would end it all. Gabe had gotten good at hiding his feelings and accepting that Zan would never be more than just his friend. He could live with that because the alternative wasn’t something he even wanted to think about.

Coming back to Graystone was a dangerous game that he was playing. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep up the ruse but staying away from Zander wasn’t something he could do anymore. He wanted to be close to him again and now that he was back, things felt like old times between the two of them. Sure, they were older and had more responsibilities than they had when they were young kids attending Graystone, but they were still the same guys. Hanging out, watching the game, eating pizza, and drinking beer was in their wheelhouse, and the normalcy that hanging out with Zan brought him was needed.

Gabe had tried to find someone, he dated both men and women, trying to forget the way Zander made him feel, but nothing really worked. He found fault with each and every person he went out with—usually the fact that they weren’t Zander was their biggest downfall. He was almost thirty and all Gabe could think about lately was finding the right person and settling down to raise a family. He just worried that the right person had just left his house and telling Zan that he was in love with him probably wouldn’t go over well. Besides, Zander was seeing a pretty young undergrad at the academy. A young witch named Violet Channing. She was smart as hell and sexy to boot with her purple hair and curves in all the right places. Gabe had to admit—a lot of his late-night fantasies involved the three of them tangled up in his sheets together. He liked to give Zander shit about dating a woman so much younger than they were, but he had to admit—he saw the appeal. Besides, she was twenty-four and old enough to know what she was getting herself into with Zan.

He was about to turn in for the night when his cell phone rang. “Hello,” he answered.

“Hey man,” Zander said. “I left my jacket over at your place,” he said.

“You need it now, or do you want me to bring it with me to campus tomorrow?” he asked.

“My wallet is in the pocket, so I guess I need it. Otherwise, I’ll have to make my morning coffee here and miss out on meeting Violet at our favorite coffee place tomorrow,” Zander said.

“You two have been dating for all of two months and you already have a favorite coffee place?” Gabe asked. “What’s next? You two picking out china patterns and shit?” He knew he was giving Zan a hard time and honestly, it was because he was so jealous he couldn’t quite see straight.

“Ha, ha,” Zander drawled. “You up still? Can I drop by and grab my jacket?” he asked.

“Sure,” Gabe offered. “I was just about to head up to bed, but I can hold off.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He ended the call and Gabe realized his heart was racing. Every time he knew he was going to see Zander, he acted like a damn schoolgirl. He needed to calm the fuck down or his friend was going to start thinking that he lost his damn mind. Maybe he had—hoping for something that would never happen, but everything else had failed. Maybe it was time to come clean and tell Zander that he was in love with him and let the chips fall where they may. What did he have to lose? Oh yeah—just his best friend in the whole world.

Zander

Zander pulled into the open parking spot in front of Gabriel’s townhome. He was going to run in, pick-up his jacket and get the hell out of there. He had a plan that foolishly involved leaving his jacket