Page 65 of Free Fall

We weren’t even kissing, just pressing our mouths together, playing with our tongues and groaning, biting, sighing.

“I love you,” he told me as he came with a breathy shudder, his cock pulsing as he filled me with his cum, stuffing my pussy up with him like it should be. I wanted to stay locked with him forever. “Fuck, I love you so fucking much, Zelda. It’s been torture without you. Waiting to be ready.”

“I love you too,” I hurried out, flopping my arms up and over his shoulders to pull him closer to me, even though there was no more space. I just needed him, in a way I couldn’t explain, like, if he wanted to crawl into my skin, I’d let him.

We stayed there, sweaty messes, dripping and panting, until our heart rates calmed and our limbs functioned again. He remained buried inside me, his cock softening and squelching with our shared mess between my thighs. We remained tangled, silent as we both processed the leaps we’d taken together. How could anything return to how they were now? How could I walk forward in life without this toxic dump of a man at my side?

The sun began to set, twisting the sky blue into navy, throwing purple and red across the clouds and through the studio.

“What’s the time?” I asked, unwilling to turn my head and look at the clock. He could see it better, anyway.

“Almost six.”

I gave a deep sigh, allowing myself another moment to relish this connection. Even though he’d gone soft inside me, I could still squeeze my muscles around him and savor the way our bodies remained bonded. “I don’t want to go,” I confessed. “But I have to.”

He stayed silent, and I realized that, for once, the ball was in my court. He was waiting for me.

“Come home with me,” I said, lifting my head at last to look into his eyes. “Come home.”

In welcoming him back into my life, I knew I had a lot to handle. The fall out, from my family to my friends, would be harsh. I’d broken things with my dad back then, and though it wouldn’t stop me, fear that this would shatter things beyond repair struck me.

Luca’s fingers ran down my spine, his heart beat in time with mine, our eyes connected.

It was time to get this shit show on the road. Face the consequences and hope we came out the other side without too much casualty.

Thirty Five

Luca

ThesideeyeZeldaand I got from Franco as we left the studio was nothing compared to the scowl on Avery and Seren’s face as I encroached on their space. They stood, side by side, in their kitchen, glaring at me with matching looks.

Zelda ignored the tension rolling off them and flittered around the room as she made us all dinner, a quiet hum spilling from her as she pulled out vegetables and rummaged through cupboards.

Leo sat beside me, chatting my ear off about his day at preschool. When Zelda and I had picked him up on our way home, he’d recognized me, giving me a happy little wave before diving onto his mother. Zelda narrowed her eyes at me when he started talking about getting ice cream again, and I could only shrug.

Her emotions about what I’d done hadn’t healed. It wasn’t over. Just paused. For now. I’d take it, though.

“The banana was mushy, and I didn’t like it,” Leo told me, his voice high and jumbled, like he couldn’t get the words out fast enough. “I didn’t eat it.”

“Fair enough, little alien,” Seren said, softening and smiling at him, looking between us. “Shit, he’s your double,” she told me.

“Ah, she speaks,” I responded with a smirk. Both Seren and Zelda glared at me again, Zelda shaking her head and turning back to her task while Seren’s burning stare didn’t waver for over a minute. Leo kept chattering, and I just waited it out. I needed to win them all over, and it was clear I was nowhere near with Seren. Avery looked easier to crack.

He shook his head at me when I gave a poor attempt at a smile, though it broke when Leo tugged on my ear to balance as he reached over the counter to grab a toy.

“I wasn’t there for most of it last time,” Avery started, pointing at me, his dark brown curls messy with the day’s activity, ruining the angry effect he was going for. “But if you dare fucking—”

“Ave,” Zelda muttered, moving in front of him as she lowered his finger down. “Take a breather.”

“There for what?” I asked, looking between them. The tension in the kitchen was picking up again.

The three of them stared at each other for a few moments, a long conversation between old friends with just their eyes.

“For all the shit you put Zelda through,” Avery blurted, ripping his gaze from his friend’s as Zel swore under her breath. “You messed with her, Luca. Ruined her life.”

Leo climbed off my lap, his chubby legs scrambling onto the counter. I let him go. He played with his toy car, his voice raised and high.

“You didn’t see her after you impregnated her and fucked off,” Avery continued, his fury showing in redness on his cheeks and tension on his jaw. He was a delicate-looking man, elfin features and a slim frame, but the way he was defending Zelda would make you forget that, he no longer appeared messy, but firm. “You didn’t see her slug it through the last bit of her pregnancy while coping with the loss of her family, her home. You didn’t see it, you can’t simply swan the fuck back into her life like you did nothing wrong.”

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