Page 78 of Catch Me (Becoming Us #4)

Travis

Was I breathing? I didn’t know anymore. When I was asked a question, I answered, but I didn’t really care about this. A few minutes ago, we were on the verge of falling behind, and now, we were World Series winners.

“You made a heart to someone today,” the woman with the microphone said. “Want to tell us who it was for? I’m sure everybody wants to know if it was romantic.”

I smiled. “It was. He’s the reason we won today.”

“How so?”

“He’s my good luck charm.”

“Come on, Trav. Give us something. You always love talking.”

I laughed and looked up at the suite, then scanned the crowds. A lot of people were still hyped and some were filing out.

“Well, he’s...” I trailed off when I saw Roman. His smile was huge, and my train of thought didn’t stand a chance.

She asked another question, but I ignored her and headed for Roman. I dropped my glove and ran, unable to focus on anything else. When I reached the edge of the field, I climbed the wall until I was face-to-face with him, then I stopped .

“Shit, I don’t want them to see—”

“Let them see,” he interrupted.

Swinging my leg over the rail, I dropped down beside him and took either side of his neck before I kissed him. He flung off my baseball cap and ran his fingers through my hair, then gripped it to hold me to him. After another few seconds, he pulled back.

“You did it.”

I laughed and leaned my forehead against his. “I fucking did. But...” I looked at the camera crew who was heading over to us. They’d definitely captured that whole thing. Actually, it was being broadcast on the big screen.

“No hiding,” he said. “I left because you didn’t deserve to be hidden. So, fuck everything else.”

My eyes watered, and I took a shuddering breath. “You’re sure?”

“It’s too late now. I’m in this, Travis.”

With a grin, I pinched his chin. “Let’s go before they try to ask me more questions.”

“Aren’t you supposed to talk to them?”

“What are they gonna do about it?”

I grabbed his hand and started jogging toward the exit.

People moved for us, and a few tried to say something, but I wasn’t going to be fan-friendly right now.

My team just won the World fucking Series and Roman outed himself to the world.

For me . Everyone and everything could hold on for a damn minute.

“What about your stuff?” he asked when I dragged him out the door.

“I’ll come back for it.”

“Your coach is gonna kill you for running off.”

“Let him try.”

When we finally made it to my Jeep, I opened the passenger door for him and pushed him inside. Ignoring the stares, I jumped in and put my hand on Roman’s thigh, then waited an insufferable amount of time to make it onto the street.

“Travis, what are we doing?”

“Starting a ritual.”

“You must be in cahoots with Tilian.”

When we finally made it to the ice cream shop, I winked at him.

He huffed, then got out of the car and followed me.

I laced our fingers, unwilling and unable to keep my hands off of him right now.

H e didn’t know what he’d done by claiming me out there.

All of my reservations were gone, and he was going to learn what I’d meant when I told him I was clingy.

“Can we get two pints of lemon bar and two of the cinnamon roll?” I asked the guy at the counter. After I swiped my card, I pulled Roman off to the side. “If I eat two pints, you don’t get to judge me. I played seven games in ten days.”

“You didn’t play them all.”

“Don’t ruin my high.”

“You do you.”

The guy set a bag on the counter and nodded to me. Roman grabbed it, and this time, he tightened his grip on me and led us out the door. After putting the bag in the back, he shoved me up against the Jeep.

“I don’t know if we’re dating, but I want to.”

If I didn’t stop smiling soon, my lips might get stuck in this position. “We just kissed on live television. Yeah, we’re dating.”

“I’m going home tomorrow.”

“Oh.” I tried not to show him how disappointed I was.

“I’d change my flight, but I’m meeting a client who’s local. But I can come back after.”

“Or I can go to you.”

“You’d rather come to my four hundred square foot studio?” he asked with a laugh.

“Everything has been here. I want to be part of your life too. House, studio, car, field, anywhere you are.”

He put a hand on my chest and stared into my eyes. “What else do you want?”

“I want to reorganize my life to include you. I want to watch you draw and do yoga with you when you’re grumpy. I want to get online again in whatever ways I can and use the ridiculous amount of money I’m making to help people.”

“All of that sounds amazing except the yoga.”

“There’s one more. If we’re using the guys as a reference point and taking my arguably unhealthy attachment to you into consideration, it probably won’t take very long at all.

” Taking his chin between my fingers, I kissed him slowly.

“I want to fall in love with you, Roman Valdez. And once I do, I want to do it all over again, every day. ”

“Get in the fucking car.”

I cocked my head, trying to read his expression. He kissed me deeply and pressed me more firmly against the door.

“Get in so we can get back to your house,” he said. “You thought this ice cream couldn’t get any better, but that’s because we haven’t eaten it off of each other.”

“Well, good thing tomorrow’s laundry day.”

*****

Everyone was acting crazy, and I couldn’t blame them. We paid to occupy a bar tonight without any other customers, and between the players, their partners, and other invited guests, it was pretty packed.

“How do you have a beer?” I asked West.

His eyes widened, then he broke into a grin. “I’ll take it to my grave.”

I looked at the other guys suspiciously and found them all with a drink.

I knew for a fact that a few of them weren’t twenty-one.

Well, we’d just won the World Series, so I just didn’t care, and there was one person in each of the relationships who was of age.

They could be responsible for their boyfriends.

“Have you seen Roman?”

West turned in a circle. “Nope. Did you already scare him off again?”

“You’ve always been my least favorite.”

“I’ll allow that only because it’s your big day.”

Walking past him, I scanned the faces around me.

I wasn’t concerned that he’d run off, but I didn’t like not knowing where he was.

We’d done a LIVE together before we came here—after our ice cream session.

I was surprised when he offered to come on with me, but I was also ecstatic.

A lot of my followers already knew about him because of the game, and they were happy to see me online.

It felt really damn good. Sen might have been right when he told me I needed to find a way to keep doing it without fucking things up for my career. It already made me feel more whole.

Except the other part of me was currently missing.

Since I’d done a lap around the bar, I decided to head outside. There were a few tables in the back and a spot to play corn hole, which was where I found Roman. He was tossing a bag, and I would’ve joined him, but I heard him talking .

“I don’t know what to do...No, I haven’t talked to him. That’s the problem...Yeah, ever since the game...Can’t I just ignore it? I don’t know if I can do it.”

I smelled smoke and saw that he was holding a cigarette, which didn’t mean good things. Ignoring the fact that he was on the phone, I came up behind him. He heard me and turned around, then pursed his lips. I took the cigarette from him and brought it to my lips, then gave it back.

“What’d he say to you?” he asked whoever he was talking to. “See, why would I want to call him? I don’t care if he’s my dad!”

My chest felt tight when I heard the despair in his voice. He wouldn’t talk to me about it earlier, but I knew that it would affect him. All he told me was that he’d never regret what he did, which made me feel a little better at the time. I wished he would’ve been more open with me, though.

His eyes were watery and I couldn’t stand it, so I moved behind him and pulled him against my chest. When I tucked my face into his neck, he leaned his head on top of mine.

“Yeah, Mom, I know. I’ll call him when I’m home tomorrow.

..No, I don’t need you there. He’ll just blame you and say it’s because of Ross’ family.

..Not Til either. He doesn’t have anxiety when it comes to people like him.

He’ll say something out of pocket...Yeah, I’ll let you know what happens. I love you too.”

He tapped his earbud, then slumped back against me with a sigh. I kissed his neck, followed by his jaw and his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Don’t say that. It’s just a part of the whole fucking journey, I guess.”

“Your mom’s right. Let people be here for you.”

“I do. That’s the only reason I’ve made it this far, but this is different. I know you understand that.”

“Sure, but if I had anyone in my corner back then, I might not have felt so lost along the way. Maybe my anger wouldn’t have grown so much.”

“How did it start?”

I led him over to a bench and sat down. “I started thinking I was gay at twelve. It was hard for me to process it because there was a lot going on at the time and it wasn’t a priority.”

“Will you tell me? ”

Memories of that time surfaced, ones that I didn’t think about often anymore. There was the scent of saline and the rhythmic sound of monitors while I stared at cream-colored walls.

“We were in Texas,” I said. “That was part of it. Not everyone is bad, but I was still freaked out about it. The thought of what could happen made me feel helpless. I didn’t want to be gay, but I knew that if I was, I couldn’t change it. That fear made me angry, like yours did.”

Roman took my hand and faced me. I turned, then offered him a rueful smile.