“I know you will,” I replied softly. He always listened to me ramble on about my interests. It started with my obsession with police officers and their pledge to be our protectors. Then there were the dry medical facts I practically lived and breathed through my years of medical school, and now it was my fascination with conspiracy theories.
He never minded chatting with me about birds being living dinosaurs or how Anne Hathaway and her husband were the reincarnation of William Shakespeare and his wife.
Clay didn’t believe in any of them, but he still discussed them seriously because they interested me. Ever since I was young, I’d gone through life knowing what my path was, knowing that I had to focus on that path to succeed and make mylao-baproud. Taking over the family clinic was what had been expected of me. It was a huge burden that I’d mostly come to terms with.
Clay never forced any of his expectations on me. On the contrary, actually, as he became a safe landing,allowing me to justbe. My promiscuous side and my need for his comforting kisses, my silly side, and the hours I could go on about the current theory I was obsessed with, he accepted them all.
He never judged me, and always came to me in the steady way he did everything. He nurtured the parts of myself that I pushed aside to focus on what was expected of me.
“There you are, Clay. I was wondering why you didn’t come with Dan,” Carol said, breaking the moment we’d been having. She’d just returned from chatting with the fair organizer about the rain that was forecasted for later in the day.
She informed us everything was still going on as scheduled. We finished setting up the area under the large tent, decorating it with paper crafts that the kids from the elementary school made during class. A large blackboard was stationed at the entrance listing the price of each hug, and there was a table in the back where volunteers would handle the payments and donations. The vast majority of the tent was for the volunteer huggers toschmooze with people to attract donors.
I couldn’t help but think we were selling our bodies, but hey, at least it was for a good cause!
Frederick arrived just before our official start time.
“Hey,” he said when he saw us.
He was wearing a tight black shirt that somehow made him look even bigger than usual. The kids were already obsessed with his giant form, and I now caughtmore than one passerby shooting appreciative glances his way as they passed our tent.
“I already know who’s going to rake in the most donations,” I muttered.
“Is there a prize for top hugger?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Bragging rights?” I offered, which earned me a snort.
We didn’t have a chance to talk more since the first wave of people had already joined us. As I expected, all the kids were starry-eyed when they saw Frederick. They all wanted hugs from him, which meant donations from their parents.
Clay was popular with the kids, too. Many of them seemed to recognize him as the police officer who patrolled the town.
Meanwhile, my customers were mostly the parents of the children. I had an occasional kid requesting a shy hug from me, but for the most part, they preferred Clay and Frederick. I couldn’t blame them, since I, too, wouldn’t want to be hugged by someone who poked them with needles. Kids loved showing me their strong side. They didn’t look towards me for comfort.
As for Frederick…I guess his giant teddy-bear size had made them all forget the fact that he was also poking them with needles at my clinic.
Clay laughed off to the side of me. I’d worried about how Clay would react to all the physical touch today. He was never the hugging type. The only people hereally hugged were his mom and me. He only hugged our friends on the rare occasion, and it was always on his terms.
So, I was relieved to see that Clay actually looked like he was enjoying himself. He listened intently to a kid who was excitedly saying he was going to be a police officer when he grew up, too, and wear the cool uniform just like Clay did.
Clay encouraged the kid with an intensity that said he fully believed the kid’s endeavors. He looked like a patient and caring father who believed in the success of their kid.
The women lingering around them didn’t hide their feverish eyes as they watched the interaction. They were looking at Clay like they wanted to have his kids. They didn’t hide the fact that they were obviously checking him out.
The dread of him getting with one of those women in the future crept up my spine like a horror movie.
Clay had only ever told me about women he found attractive, so it made sense he would end up with one. He’d find a woman to date, get married, have kids, and leave me as the depressed-as-fuck uncle.
It wasn’t like it’d be hard for Clay to find someone, either. More women had gathered around him.
Thank fuck he wasn’t wearing his police uniform. In his official blues, his hair tousled from wearing his hat, and the top buttons on his shirt undone to give us a tease of his hard and hairy chest, he was irresistible.
God,Iwanted to have his children. He could pump me full of his seed, and I’d have all the fucking children he wanted.
In the middle of figuring out how male pregnancies could work scientifically, someone poked my shoulder to get my attention.
“Hey, man!”
Hard arms wrapped around me, then another pair quickly followed.
