Catching Hearts

by Celia Crown

  He wants it to take, to put a baby in me. I don’t oppose that notion as I welcomed it with a tilt of my hips to let his cum pump deeply into my pussy.

  Julie’s knowing eyebrow lift and her man’s teasing grin gets ignored when they walked past us to take the other side of the back seats.

  I sit by the windows with Adam beside me, I feel enclosed and safe with his body blocking and shielding me from wandering eyes.

  “Get some sleep, guys!” the coach shouts from the front as I notice he’s the last one to get on the strangely comfortable bus.

  “The place we’re going to eat at is an hour away, so let your bodies rest. Y’all did amazing today, I’m so proud of you! Food is on me, order whatever and however much you want!”

  A round of hollering cheers on the coach to give more rewards, the man contemplates through the silence I hear. I’m too short to see over the headset of the seats in front of me.

  “Two days break!”

  Julie screams her glee while the man next to her shouts excitedly.

  I smile contently with my hand encased in Adam’s iron hold, he hasn’t let go since we strolled out the locker room. Warmth seeps out of his colossal form, it lures my eyes close in tiredness as I put my head on his arm.

  He makes a great pillow.

  I would have assumed that the muscles made from stone would be a painful thing to lay on, but after I have slept with his arm under my head all those nights ago, I was proven wrong.

  His arm shifts and he stole the make-shift pillow from me, I whine faintly at his cruelty. My eyes drop from exhaustion and I have no energy to take that arm back as it weighs more than my leg, his strength is unmatched for my sorry excuse of arms.

  “Don’t be so mean!” I whimper wetly at him.

  Actions speak louder than words; his hand grips the back of my head and I’m too weak to fend off his advances so I let him do whatever he wants like I’m playdough in his hand.

  My head gets a special spot on his muscular thigh, and once again I’m shocked at how comfy it is.

  Red light, green light. It’s that child game that links the mystery of these muscles. When I touch it, they become firm cushions. When I don’t touch, they turn into stone. I should feel special about this new discovery, but this stupid finding sounds so ridiculous that I’m laughing at my own silliness.

  “What’s so funny?” Adam murmurs, running his hand through my hair.

  I hum with a sigh as he rubs my skull, “Tell you later.”

  He hums back in agreement and we fall in silence with the entire bus sleeping like logs.

  Consecutive bumps of the road are the cutting point for me to fall into a deep sleep, but that uneven rocking motion also lures me like a siren for sailors.

  I fall into a dreamless sleep, the hand on my head calms my heart with a blanket of security from Adam even when he’s resting.

  When I come to, the bus has pulled into the entrance of a fancy restaurant. His hand slips from my head to the small of my back as I stretch my body with a satisfied mewl. A wave of heaviness settles deep in my bones, I wasn’t the one who played an intense football game, but I might as well be embodied by one of them or they transferred their energy onto me.

  Either way, I’m groggy and staring into space.

  “Come on.” Adam leads me, helping me out of the seat as he supports my weight with his arm around my shoulder.

  “Did I just play a game?” I grumble, sluggishly walk to the front of the bus.

  “Ditto, my friend,” Julie resonates behind me.

  She adds, “Even sex isn’t this tiring.”

  The man behind her declares through clenched teeth, but I ignore them the best I can with Adam following close behind. His big hand is on my back every step to make sure I don’t fall face down on the dirty bus walkway.

  “I guess I have to up my game if you still have enough energy to step on my manhood.”

  Julie’s snort is loud and broadcasted to the world, “You’ll have to wait until I get my beauty sleep or else the only thing you’ll eat is my ass.”

  The man crackles, “I’d be a lucky man.”

  I blink at the brightness from the yellow lights, the restaurant looks more casual than a black-tie occasion. That’s good because I look like a hot mess; hair spiking to different directions, crusty eyes that I had wiped away, and the big yawn that I shield with my hand. I still have enough awareness to know my manners.

  The room we are guided into is a private room with five tables that have four chairs at each. The air conditioning is coming from some crack because I feel the slight breeze, but I don’t see any opening. There’s a flat-screen tv on the wall where everyone can see it, the room is a neutral color so it’s pleasing to the eyes.

  Julie sits on one side with her man while Adam and I take the other side. Everyone finds their own seating and a round of chatter hits the air, it ranges from the game to what kinds of food they want.

  I don’t have much of an appetite after waking from that nap, I feel like I’m more tired than I originally felt. My back slumps lazily on the chair, hands resting on my lap with my eyes fluttering.

  “I haven’t seen you this tired since our move to the apartment.” Julie glance up from the menu.

  I groan, my mouth dries. “Did you forget we had to carry boxes up the stairs?”

  “How could I forget, that was the time I started my morning runs. Builds up my muscles and now I don’t have a problem with weights.”

  My brain went in the other direction, too sexual for a time like this. “I bet you don’t.”

  “You should work out, maybe start with stretches. God knows your muscles are the stiffest things.”

  I put a stop to that line of thought, “Not in a million years.”

  “Not even for me?” Adam cuts in, my head roll back onto the chair and stares up at him.

  He’s too beautiful, the lights above his head are halos to his presence.

  “Sorry, handsome boy. Not even for you.” I smile loopily.

  “Mr. Romero, speaking as a man, what’s the best way to seduce a woman?” Julie turns to the man beside her who sets down his menu.

  “I know women are attracted to me when they see me playing, it’s the adrenaline that spikes that hormone.”

  Julie giggles, “I can attest to that. I think that Adam can run a hand through his hair and Evie would fall to his feet. With the right amount of reward, she will soon be joining my morning runs.”

  I blink at the ceiling and drops my chin to my neck. “You overestimate your power, Julie. Nothing takes the number one priority of sleep.”

  “You sleep so much that it’s not humanly possible. How are you still alive?” her lips twist in utter bewilderment as she pulls the tablet from the charger on the wall.

  Using technology for customers’ order would help the restaurant in its flow and put less stress onto waitresses and waiters.

  “I survived this long, I can’t give up now.” I cock a grin and lift myself into a better position.

  I sigh heavily.

  Julie comments, “You’re an old lady.”

  “Thank you, old man. We’ll be fossils by thirty.” I throw back at her.

  She rolls her eyes, tapping on the touch screen as she orders food for herself and the man leaning over her shoulder.

  We order after them, Adam chose an option with rich protein while I chose something lighter. Waking up with gut pain sounds terrible, it happened once while I shoved down a whole slice of pizza because I needed sleep, but I was too hungry.

  I woke up in cold sweat and the need to haul my ass to the toilet.

  “Now that I’m really looking,” the man in front of Adam purses his lips with eyebrows knotting, “You give me a weird vibe, bell pepper.”

  My green eyes look at Julie, turning to the man before answering, “What?”

  “I want to be mean to you,” he said, leaving that sentence unfinished as I scramble to think what hidden meaning behind his words
is.

  “Why can’t you remember my name?”

  Oh, is that what’s bothering him?

  I sigh, and my shoulders lift before dropping with a tug on the tight skin at the junction of my neck.

  “It’s nothing personal,” I said, “I’m just really bad with names.”

  He nudges his chin to Adam, “You remember his name in like three seconds.”

  I don’t know what to say as I try to understand why Adam’s name stuck to me like no one else. I’ve always had this problem, from elementary school to now. Every year, I can recall a handful of names and it’s hard to ask someone for help when I can’t remember their names even if we have been in the same classes for the entire year.

  “Don’t feel bad.” an awkward tug at the corner of my lips stretches, “I’m not isolating you.”

  “Feels like it,” the grown man pouts, dropping his chin on the table edge while looking at me with puppy eyes.

  His shoulders are too wide and muscular to be reflected as an innocent dog, he’s more of a yeti in all aspects concerning his size.

  “It took me three months to memorize Julie’s name.” I offer him a small smile, an unspoken apology in my eyes.

  “She called me Josephine once.” Julie butts in.

  “I said I was sorry,” I tell her with pleading eyes.

  Julie reaches across the table and link our fingers together; the familiar action makes me smile.

  “I knew a Josephine, and she was a bitch,” she grumbles and hisses under her breath.

  “She stole my boyfriend, that cheating bastard and stupid hoe. It was on prom too! I was looking forward to it! If the night went well, he would get his dick sucked.”

  A laughter bubble from my stomach and I cough to cover it as she rambles on about her ruined prom night. She’s saying something about a pink dress, hooker heels, and sexy makeup when I feel a strong hand knead my thigh.

  I peek at Adam from the side of my vision and his smile strikes an arrow in my heart, spilling love from the opening to let it seep and embrace me with warmth.

  Sneaking one hand away from Julie’s energetic storytelling, Adam thumb the back of my hand as he intertwines ours.

  This is something I will never give up on.

  A familial relationship with Julie, the budding friendship with a man with the same name as Walter from Prometheus, and the love between Adam and I.

  Epilogue

  Adam

  Four Months Later.

  Little Evie has been acting differently for the past few days.

  My suspicion wasn’t that strong at first; small changes in her tone, that feet shuffle, and big green eyes blinking innocently to wash away my wariness. Then it got worse, the skepticism swirls like thick syrup in the back of my mind when I see her; she’s occupied by staring into space, changing the passcode to her phone, and the guilty looks she would give me when I caught her whispering to Julie.

  I trust Evie completely, but it’s her friend that’s problematic.

  That girl drags my Evie into situations that can be avoided if she had a bit of brain cell. Whenever I bring that issue up, Evie tells me that without Julie, she wouldn’t have been at the VIP meeting to see me.

  I respond with the truth, I met her before that and it’s without the help of that troublemaking girl.

  That keeps her quiet because she knows I’m right.

  I can overlook the stupidity of her friend, but I can’t ignore the lingering suspicion that Evie is hiding something from me. We have no secrets, she airs out all her thoughts if she gets a chance. I let her in on my secrets that not even my family knows, she never judged me on my choices or future plans.

  Evie already has an engagement ring on her finger, signaling men to fuck off from what’s mine.

  She’s been planning the wedding since the moment I slip the ring on, her indecision on the theme of the wedding pushed back the potential dates. She wants it to be perfect, but she’s got too many ideas bouncing in her head that make her do that little nose scrunchy thing.

  It’s adorable to watch her argue with herself.

  Asking my thoughts about the wedding plan is useless, all I care about is that she’s walking down the aisle to me.

  “Oh! So stressful!” she whines, plopping her forehead on my back after I turn off the treadmill when I reached my goal.

  I need to amp up another mile next time.

  The training gym in my home has been a big help since I don’t want Evie to go out that much, the rowdy media sensation is still running on the fact that she’s a homewrecker. I wanted to set the facts straight, but she convinced me that what people think is unimportant.

  She said they could paint her as a mythical creature, but it doesn’t make her love for me any less true.

  “Ew, stinky!” she yanks her head back and scrunches her nose at me.

  I twist around, her small feet steps on my gym shoes and instantly regrets it as she stumbles back.

  “I love a sweaty man, but after seeing Julie’s Romeo getting evaporated from his sweat, not even you can be that sexy.”

  She blinks and shakes her head, “No, you’re still the sexiest. You emit pheromones to attract gorgeous beings as they flap their wings that causes a turmoil in you because you want to stay faithful, but their call is so irresistible.”

  Putting her hand to her mouth to hide the gasp, moving to her heart to clench her shirt with a dramatic head tilt that has her other hand pressing to her forehead.

  “Oh, how can I forgive you?” she sobs dryly while I stand there wondering why this doesn’t bother me one bit.

  I guess I’m too used to it.

  “You have taken my beating heart, poisoned my thoughts, and crushed my soul with your grace! What do I do, oh dear boy, I cannot live without you, but your betrayal left me hollow!” she twists her face away from me, fortifying her melodramatics with a laughable cry.

  Since she doesn’t go out much anymore, she has been binge-watching a bunch of old movies. I should have put a limit on how much idiocy she can take in, she has finished most the Shakespearean plays and now she’s moved onto fucking Bollywood movies.

  I wipe the sweat off my forehead with a towel and drop it on my shoulders, natural daylight shining through the glass windows to create shadows from the gym equipment. It’s warm on my back and it’s increasingly hot as it sizzles on my skin.

  “When you see me, do you know the despair I have fallen in?” she sings.

  Spinning like a princess, she falls into my arms.

  “You’re acting weirder than normal, are you okay?” I ask, a slight pressure on the tip of my shoes gives her height to kiss my lips.

  “You cannot fathom the crippling fear within my heart, the heart that you so cruelly tore out with your ladykilling philandering!”

  I love this girl to death, I’d do anything for her, but sometimes I question my own head. What the heart wants, the heart gets, and it wants this unique girl.

  “Declare your love for me and your sins will be forgiven.” she breathes, smothering her lips over mine.

  I would have toppled back but my feet stay firmly planted on the ground, my arms crush her small body to mine as she kisses me messily.

  “I love you,” I said, chuckling against her soft lips.

  She coos, “Oh, you sly man, you mend my heart to your will but I will always forgive you. My love for you exceeds all bounds, may the three of us step into the bright future.”

  As dramatic as my Evie is, she’s not that slick with her intentions. My keen ears picked up on the words that made my heart shudder in hope, I stop her endless kisses on my lips with two hands on her shoulders.

  “Three?” I swallow thickly.

  She beams, wiggling three little fingers at me. “Three.”

  I crash my mouth to hers, muffling her squeal of surprise as she moans with an airy laugh. Wrapping my arms around her waist, a protective flare in my stomach sets a limit to how much strength I can put into her body. I’m
restraining as much as I can with happiness flooding my blood with a type of euphoria that makes me woozy.

  Dizziness sways my balance, I adjust my legs to squeeze the living daylight out of my Evie. Her bright laughter rings in my ears as I laugh with her, my chest rumbles with a purr as I move to her cheek.

  Those light specks of freckles get so much devotion from my lips as I kiss them fervently with long seconds of lingering.

  I have so much to say to her, but I leave that for later. Her lips simply set on top of mine in a brief kiss, a puff of air hits my lips with her licking the plumpness.

  “Is that the big secret?” I raise an eyebrow.

  She giggles faintly, “Yeah.”

  Her dainty feet stay on my shoes as she sways in a mock slow dance, I indulge her little moves and rub her back soothingly.

  She hums a gentle tune for a while, gifting my hearing with her melodic voice.

  “I didn’t know how to tell you,” Evie murmurs, resting her head on my chest to hear my rushed heartbeats.

  I scratch her scalp, she shivers at the sensation. “What are you afraid of?”

  She replies, “I’m not afraid. I know you’re going to be the best father.”

  Her silence is a way for her to gather her thoughts, I rock our body in a wave of slow tranquility.

  “At first, I wanted to surprise you.” she sighs, her lax body slumping to me.

  I can hear the pout in her voice, “I wanted to try those surprise pregnancy reveals to you, like bombarding you with baby clothes or throw my pregnancy test at your face.”

  I lift her off my feet to the ground by her underarms, she glances at me with an owlish cock of her head.

  “I suspected something,” I mention, pushing her out the gym room with a hand on the dip of her waist.

  She’s shocked, “You did?”

  “You weren’t so subtle.”

  Evie puffs her cheeks at me, “I had you fooled, just admit that your Mount Fuji sized ego took a blow to the pride-land.”

  “Yes, yes,” I agree promptly, “This inflated ego is your doing, Evie.”