Echoes of the Heart

by Casey, L. A.

  I was upstairs, lying on the bed in the room I was crashing in. I sat upright when footsteps pounded against the stairs and May nearly fell into the bedroom. I jumped with fright and pulled my AirPods out.

  “Mate, what the fuck?” I shouted, jumping to my feet. “What’s wrong?”

  He shoved his phone in my face.

  “You have the number one trending video on YouTube and your name is the number one trending topic on Twitter.”

  “What the fuck did I do?” I thought out loud. “You fucked a woman in a car park just the other day and only trended at number five for a few hours. How the hell am I number one?”

  “Your video is fresher and you can actually see what you’re doing.”

  “What am I doing?” I grabbed the phone. “What fucking video?”

  May reached over and tapped on the screen of his phone. I watched, in silence, as my on-screen self, along with Frankie, kissed the senses out of one another at the end of Southwold Pier. I sat down on my bed and watched the video from start to finish. Twice.

  “Mate,” May grunted. “If you get a hard-on, I’m smacking you.”

  I shifted because I did have a hard-on.

  “She’s gonna lose her fucking mind.” I swallowed. “Frankie, fuck.”

  “Is she at work?”

  “At home,” I answered. “When I woke up, it was close to eight. She had her morning shift at seven so I just left her in bed. She was exhausted.”

  May grinned. “Dirty dog.”

  I snorted. “Don’t tease her when you see her, you know how shy she is about sex. Having you poke fun at her for fucking me five times might just leave her face permanently red.”

  May blinked. “Five times . . . in one night?”

  “I haven’t had sex since before rehab and I can’t even remember it.” I shrugged. “Sex with Frankie, there was no way in hell once or twice was gonna be enough. Five times barely scratched the surface. I was sober for the first time since I last had sex with her, there was no chance that I was missing out on a second of touching her.”

  “Like I said,” May chuckled. “Dirty dog.”

  “Woof woof.”

  We both froze when there was a pounding on the front door.

  “Hayes and Angel are out.”

  “Go see who it is then.”

  “May? Risk?”

  I tensed. “It’s Frankie. Go open the door.”

  “Why me?” May demanded. “She’s your girl.”

  “This is your house.”

  The pounding intensified.

  “But I’m scared!” May lifted his hands to his face. “She scares me when she’s angry!”

  “Just let her in before she kills us both.”

  “I can’t stand you!”

  With that said, May left the room and jogged down the stairs. I heard the door open.

  “Hi, Frankie.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Upstairs,” May answered faster than a sinner in a confessional. “First door on the right.”

  The door closed.

  “Did something happen?”

  Motherfucker knew good and well what had happened.

  “Oh, just a video of me and Risk kissing on the pier the other night has gone viral and my face is plastered all over the internet. You know, the usual stuff I deal with on a Saturday morning?”

  I cringed. Oh, she was pissed.

  I looked down at myself and thought it would be safer if I wasn’t clothed, she never could focus very well when I was naked. Like the fucking Flash, I stripped out of my jeans, T-shirt and socks. I dove under the covers of my bed and shoved May’s phone under my pillow. Stupidly, I pretended I was asleep. I heard her enter the room and the second I heard her little gasp, blood surged to my cock. My mind flashed back to the multiple times I was one with her body just hours before. Those sounds she made, the look on her face and in her eyes. I knew I would think of them always.

  I made sure not to tense when she approached me.

  I swallowed when the bed dipped and her cool, soft hand slid over my back. She hadn’t done much but I was ready to fuck a hole into my mattress to find some relief. I shuddered when I felt her lips touch my skin as well as her soft hair as it feathered over me. I groaned when her teeth nipped my flesh. I rolled over onto my back, opened my eyes and reached for Frankie in the same movement. Her eyes widened when I grabbed hold of her arms and pulled her body down on top of mine before she had a chance to blink.

  “Risk!”

  I grabbed her hand and moved it down to my rock-hard length.

  “I want you,” I told her. “Fuck, I need you.”

  “You can’t be human.” Frankie pressed her mouth to mine. “You can’t be.”

  “I’ll always want to fuck you, baby. Always.”

  She groaned. “I came to see you because there is a problem.”

  “Yeah,” I hummed. “The fucking problem is I’m not sinking into your tight, wet cunt.”

  “Risk.”

  Jesus.

  One little syllable and she just about had me ready drop to my knees before her. Her breathy tone of surprise sent a shiver up my spine and caused my aching cock to throb. I had never in my life wanted someone as much as I wanted Frankie. I couldn’t get enough of her. She was wearing a lot of layers so as I pressed my lips to hers, I began to remove them. Her coat was the first to go, then her jumper. When her leggings hit the floor I reached to palm her pussy through her lace knickers but I paused because she winced.

  I opened my eyes and stared at her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Her face was flushed.

  “Risk,” she licked her lips. “Last night was the first time in a long time for me. We did it so many times . . . I’m sore.”

  I felt my eyebrows rise.

  “But in your kitchen . . . you said you had a lively sex life.”

  “I only said that because I knew you had had sex with so many women,” she mumbled. “I had sex with two guys to see if I could have a physical relationship with another man. I couldn’t. The last time was five years ago.”

  “Two blokes?”

  “Two.”

  That was still two too many for my liking but the sheer level of jubilance I felt was un-fucking-real.

  “No need to look so happy about it.”

  “I am happy, I know our time apart meant we could do what we wanted but holy hell am I happy, baby.”

  She frowned. “Wish I could say the same about you.”

  That was a low blow, but I deserved it.

  “Do you know you’re the only woman I’ve had sex with when I’m sober? The only woman I remember being with?”

  Frankie blinked. “What?”

  “I’ve taken drugs or drank a shit load in order to be with others. Their faces were always blurred, their hair was never red and their eyes were never green. I always saw you staring back at me. Last night, that was the first time I was naked with a woman while being completely sober and do you know why?”

  “Because you’re sober now?”

  “I’ve been sober for six months and still didn’t have sex when I’d gotten the offers. The reason is you, Frankie. Having sex with other women is a blur of nothingness . . . I only remember you. I only want to remember you.”

  She pressed her face to mine, I put my arms around her body and held on tight.

  “Now I wish I wasn’t so sore.”

  Surprise laughter bubbled up my throat.

  “We can always play a little.” I slid my hand down her behind. “I’m wicked with my tongue, as you know.”

  “Hold your horses, big man.” She schooled her features. “I’m here for a reason.”

  I sighed. “I know.”

  “You know?”

  “I just found out before you got here about the video . . . I pretended to be asleep because you sounded mad downstairs with May.”

  Frankie tried to appear angry, but her lips were twitching too much for her to be really mad.
<
br />   “You’re so cute,” she said.

  I tried to kiss her but she moved back as she sat up. She ended up straddling me, which I was more than fine with. I got comfortable under her, put one hand behind my head and the other up her T-shirt so I could hold onto her bare waist. She had the tiniest waist. She had wide hips, thick thighs and a big arse but everything else was tiny. Except for her mouth.

  “Are you gonna shout at me?” I asked, rubbing her skin with my thumb. “Because if you are, I vote you must always sit on me when you do it.”

  Frankie rolled her eyes.

  “I’m not gonna shout, this isn’t your fault, but I am freaking out.”

  “I know.” I nodded. “I get it, this is the first time any sort of spotlight has been on you. I know you’re scared but it is honestly okay.”

  “I just don’t get how us kissing on the pier is more newsworthy than May and Anna having sex in the diner’s car park.”

  Risk laughed. “Because all that video of May shows is the car rocking for ages . . . in the video of us, it’s clear to everyone what we’re doing. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes that I’m weak for you.”

  I wanted to make this all better for her because she genuinely looked stressed out over it, but there was nothing that could be done. Once something was made public, there was no taking it back.

  “This is a big deal, Risk.” Frankie stated. “You should see the awful comments about me under that video on YouTube. So many people think I’m fat and ugly and—”

  “Stop it.” I interrupted. “Look, trolls are all over the internet. People like that are miserable and haven’t got a good word to say about anyone because they’re sick inside. You could be the most flawless, kind-hearted woman to walk this earth and you will still be dragged through hell and back because I kissed you.”

  Frankie frowned down at me.

  “I just . . . why be mean?” Her shoulders slumped. “The world has enough hate, why not be kind?”

  “Darlin’.” I smiled up at her. “You’re a sweetheart, other people are mean-hearted. That’s just the way it is. The best thing for you to do is never read the comment section on anything you’re posted on. Ever. Your mental health will thank you.”

  She nodded. “So I’ve just to ignore it?”

  “That’s what I do.”

  She nodded. “Can I ask you a question? As I read those comments, a woman’s name popped up a lot. I just want to be certain you’re not in a relationship of any sorts with her because if you are whatever is happening between us is over.”

  “I’ve no clue what you’re talking about.”

  “Nora.”

  One word. That’s all she needed to say for me to sigh.

  “No, Nora and I aren’t in any sort of relationship and we never have been. I haven’t seen her in months, babe. I swear. The media . . . they twist everything.”

  “I believe you.”

  Her trust in me made my heart soar. Frankie exhaled a breath then she glanced down at her positioning on my body and she froze.

  “Are you . . . naked?”

  I grinned. “No, I’ve got underwear on.”

  She scooted back and looked down to make sure that I was telling the truth which made me snort. She stared down at my stomach, reached out and ran her fingers over my abdominal muscles, then followed the trail of dark hair that ran from my lower abdomen to beneath my boxer briefs. Her eyes scanned their way up my body. Slowly, and good god . . . She looked like she wanted to eat me up and I was so here for it.

  “You look like you’re sculpted from stone.”

  I shifted my hips so my erection brushed against her pussy; she hissed a little.

  “I’ve something else that’s a lot like stone too.”

  “I’m sore,” she reminded me.

  “And I’m good with my tongue.” I reminded her.

  Her lips twitched.

  “You’re looking at me like you wanna see me naked, Cherry.”

  Her hands flexed.

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Liar.”

  “How d’you know I’m lying?”

  “I can see it in your eyes.” I moved the hand under her T-shirt up to her breast and brushed my thumb over her nipple through the lace of her bra. “I know what you look like when you wanna fuck me, Frankie.”

  Her eyes fluttered shut, she shifted her hips, rubbing herself against me. I wanted nothing more than to reach down, free my cock, then push her knickers aside so she could sink down on my length but her comfort was my first priority. I came second. Always.

  “You’re full of yourself.” She licked her lips. “I don’t wanna have sex with you. I think I’ve had my fill of you, rock star.”

  “Oh yeah?” I sat up and came a hair away from my lips touching hers. “You don’t wanna fuck me?”

  Her little “No” was fucking adorable.

  “How about a kiss?” I pressed. “You wanna give me one of those?”

  I lowered my voice an octave and added a little rasp to my tone, just how I knew she liked it.

  “Don’t seduce me with your voice.” She glared at me. “I won’t fall for it.”

  “You’re too clever for me, Cherry. You always were.”

  Her hands slid to my head when I grinned, then she suddenly tangled her fingers in my hair and said, “Maybe just one little kiss.”

  I didn’t have time to respond before she pressed her lips to mine, forced her tongue into my mouth and kissed me fucking senseless. I always let her control our kisses when they first began, she was always so desperate to claim my mouth with a ferociousness but when she surrendered that control to me and let me control the pressure and the pace, I knew she was like putty in my hands to do whatever I wanted with.

  Our kiss broke when a voice came from her bag. My voice. Frankie sucked in a breath, jumped off me and dove for her bag on the floor. I stared at her, her arse really, but I was aware of how frantic she was to silence her phone. When she stood up and turned to face me, I stared at her.

  “I heard my voice.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “I did,” I said. “I hear it enough to know what I sound like.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  I smiled. Slowly.

  “Frankie, were you watching a video of me before you came here?”

  “No!” she replied, horrified. “I was watching the video of us on YouTube earlier and I must have turned the auto play feature on and this video of you just happened to be up next and it played all by itself.”

  I felt smug. She was watching videos of me.

  “I see.”

  My little redhead’s face glowed. I beckoned her to come back over to me, which she did. I took her phone, settled her between my legs with her back against my chest.

  “Pick a video,” I said. “I’ll watch it with you.”

  “O-Okay.”

  She scrolled through a bunch of videos then settled on one of the band playing a festival that I had no memory of. The audio was so shit you couldn’t even hear me sing over the instruments, but the visuals were quality.

  “How d’you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “That!” She pointed to me on stage in front of thousands of people on the screen. “That makes my asthma flare up just thinking about it.”

  I kissed her head. “I honestly don’t know, when I’m on stage with the guys, it just feels like I’m home. You know?”

  “No.”

  I laughed. “Being on stage gives me the same feeling you get when you wake up in the morning and look out the window at the ocean or when you walk to the end of the pier and watch a sunset.”

  She turned her head and looked at me. “You feel at peace?”

  “I feel at peace and so alive at the same time. It’s another world kind of experience.”

  She turned her attention back to the video and I leaned forward so I could see her face, and my heart thudded against my chest when I saw that she was mesmerised. She sli
d her tongue over her lower lip without realising she did the action, and when she glanced at me and found me watching her, she clamped her lips together and cleared her throat.

  So. Fucking. Cute.

  “D’you think you could come on stage one time and look at me just like you are right now?”

  Frankie’s lips parted. “Like what?”

  “Like I’m the only man in existence for you.”

  She leaned her face against mine, my eyes closed at the sweet gesture.

  “I kind of can’t believe you’re leaving tomorrow.” My eyes opened at her words. “You just came back into my life and now you’re leaving again.”

  “Hey,” I moved my hand to her face when she looked at me. “I’m coming back this time.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.” I kissed the tip of her nose.

  Frankie smiled. “I know we don’t really know what we’re doing with each other but I’m just happy to be able to be with you like this.”

  “Me too, Cherry. Me too.”

  She pecked my lips then looked down at her phone when it vibrated. She tapped at the screen and her eyes widened almost instantly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Anna and Hannah texting me,” she said. “They’re at work. Anna said a group of girls came in and asked for me. Saying they’re all mad at me for kissing you on the pier.” Before I could say a word she continued. “Hannah said they were really rude and called me . . . oh my god! Look at what your fans are saying about me. I’ve never been called fat and ugly this many times in my life.”

  “You’re not fat or ugly, these people are not Sinners.” I took the phone and scanned over the twins’ messages. “They’re just obsessed with me or the guys and think they get to decide who we date. It’s kind of our own fault though . . . we’re rock stars, we’re aren’t perfect. We’ve all had sex with groupies, we talk shit during interviews, we talk a certain way to our Sinners on social media because they like it. Sex is always a topic. Women are always a topic. Especially sex with women . . . fuck, we’ve actually been heartless bastards when it comes to women. I didn’t realise we objectify them so much because they always come to us so willingly.”

  Frankie remained quiet.

  “Maybe if we didn’t link women and sex together so often, our Sinners wouldn’t do the same when it came to the women in our life. Fuck. Looks like I’ve a shit load more to work on than just being sober.”