My Heart

“I’m in here with Tamia,” Triston says.

“What!” Alexis yells. “Tamia? Are you in there?”

“Yeah,” I say, as clearly as I can with my trembling voice.

“Maybe wait for us in the kitchen,” Triston suggests.

“I…” I’m sure I hear Alexis swallow. “Yeah, maybe that’s for the best. What the hell?”

The last bit is loud enough for us to hear, but I can tell Alexis is speaking to herself. She’s asking the universe what’s going on. She can’t believe something like this could ever happen, let alone is happening.

“I couldn’t do it,” Triston says, as he begins to get dressed.

I place my hand on his arm. “I wouldn’t ask you to lie to her. We had to face this eventually.”

He presses down on my hand, I feel the heat of his skin flow into me, warming my cold body. “Honestly, Tamia, I’m nervous.”

I smile shakily. “Me too.”

We walk down the hallway together, but we stand apart, as though purposely distancing ourselves.

Before Alexis interrupted, I felt my core tingle again, promising more pleasure. I felt my clit humming in that irresistible way.

Even though Triston’s wearing clothes again, I can still see him naked, his muscles sweaty and hard.

I push all those thoughts away – or try to – as we walk into the kitchen. Alexis is standing at the island, resting her elbow against it, tapping her fingernails. Her foot drumming against the floor. She looks at us and then looks quickly away.

“You two just had sex.”

Triston sighs. “Alexis—”

“You did. You can’t deny it.”

Triston shrugs. “You’re right. But that doesn’t mean I want to talk about it, either.”

“Seriously, what’s going on here?” Alexis snaps, looking at me. “I don’t understand. I didn’t even know you two liked each other.”

For a second, I’m sure I’m going to laugh. The idea that we like each other feels so inadequate, so far from the truth. We became one when we had sex, we bonded. His child might already be growing in my belly.

“It’s complicated,” Triston says.

“Well, uncomplicate it.”

“Maybe you should sit down.” Triston gestures to the chairs. “Maybe we all should.”

“Dad, my heart isn’t going to burst from standing up!”

She softens a moment later, eyes glassy when she looks at me again. “How long, Tam?”

“A few days.”

That’s the truth. We kissed not that long ago. And yet it feels like so much longer, like so much has happened since then.

But how am I going to explain our bond? Can she ever understand? Can anybody?

“And you didn’t stop to think, I don’t know, maybe having sex with your friend’s dad wasn’t the best idea?”

She’s trying to make her tone sharp and cold, but she can’t hold back the emotion. It causes her tone to tremble as she holds back tears.

“I don’t know,” I whisper, my mind a mess, my body aching and hungry for Triston even now.

“You don’t know?” Alexis glares.

“Yes, I thought that,” I admit. “But I couldn’t stop myself. I’m sorry, Alexis. I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

“So you were planning to tell me?”

“Yes,” Triston says.

“Yes,” I echo.

“That’s interesting because I seem to remember catching you in the living room. It would’ve been nice if you’d told me before you decided to fuck in our house.”

She paces back and forth, opening and closing her hands as though she needs to move. “I can’t believe this. This night is the worst.”

“What happened at the concert?” Triston asks.

“I freaked out, okay? There were so many people there. I kept thinking about what it would be like, all the noise, all the yelling. My heart started beating too fast and I didn’t want… I thought I might have an episode. Or whatever. So I got a cab home. I left pretty much straight away.”

Triston moves forward, hand raised as though to place it on her shoulder.

Alexis shifts away, waving her hand. “Leave me alone. Just don’t touch me. I don’t even know how to process this right now. You’ve never had girlfriends. And now… I can’t. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“Alexis,” I call out.

She strides past me. “I can’t.”

I hear her sniffling as she marches through the house. Each footstep sends a reverberation through my heart.

Triston places his hand on my arm, and we both wince as she slams the door.

“Should we go after her?” I whisper, my voice low… as though we need to sneak around now.

“I don’t think so,” Triston says. “She needs to cool off.”

“I’ve never seen her like that before.”

He nods, giving my arm a firm squeeze. “I have. She gets little spurts of anger sometimes. She has since she was a kid. We just need to give her time.”

“But what then? Maybe she’ll be angry tomorrow too.”

He swallows. “Yeah. She might be. But we have to give her time.”

“About what…us?”

He draws me into his arms, pressing us together. His hands spread across my back and he leans down, his forehead resting on mine.