Addicted to His Heartbeat

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Rumors about the campus golden boy suffering from performance issues had spread through the school like wildfire. The campus anonymous gossip board had crashed, with thousands of comments relentlessly mocking him. Yesterday, I covered for my roommate's dorm inspection in the boys' hall. Room 250, Bed 4.

Hayes was bundled up in his blankets, refusing to get up. His voice dripped with arrogance. "Write whatever you want."

So, I didn't hold back. Consequently, my evaluation on the disciplinary whiteboard downstairs became the center of the entire university's attention.

[Hayes changed positions a bunch of times in bed, but he just couldn't get hard, soft as a boneless worm.]

A few hours later, he cornered me downstairs. "Piper." He closed the distance between us, his voice dropping low. "If you don't even try, how do you know I can't get it up?"

Chapter 1

"Piper! What the hell did you do?!" When my roommate burst into the room like a hurricane, I had just woken up from a rare, three-hour stretch of sleep.

"What's wrong?"

Sadie shoved her phone right into my face, eyes wide with horror. "Look at this yourself."

I grabbed it. It was a viral screenshot from the campus gossip board, showing the whiteboard from the boys' dorm with yesterday's inspection results:

[Room 203: Good. Room 207: Weird smell]

and so on. The most glaring one was the last line:

[Room 250, Bed 4, Hayes changed positions a bunch of times in bed, but he just couldn't get hard, soft as a boneless worm.]

The comment section had already spiraled into the hundreds.

[I'm fucking dying LMAO]

[Spread the word, Hayes can't get it up hahaha]

[Who is the absolute legend that wrote this? I need to meet her!]

[Stop laughing, guys. Hayes hasn't even slept; he's just been staring at his phone forever.]

[]

I stared at the screen before the realization slowly sank in. That "legend" was me. But I had a perfectly valid reason.

Sadie was a Resident Assistant (RA). Yesterday was a surprise dorm-wide contraband check, requiring everyone to be present. She was short-staffed, so I helped her inspect one of the floors.

When I got to Room 250, there was only one person inside. He was shirtless, with only a thin blanket draped loosely over his waist, sleeping with his head covered.

Honestly, I hated doing room checks too. Why should college students make life miserable for other college students? I originally planned to just half-ass it and move on.

But who would have thought that the strict Hall Director was right behind me, gripping a disciplinary clipboard.

So, I poked the human burrito. "Hey, get out of bed and cooperate with the check."

A hand with distinct, prominent knuckles slipped out, waved impatiently, and quickly retracted as he rolled over.

I remained speechless. I glanced at the furious Hall Director beside me and forced a fake smile. "Hey, wait until the inspection is over to sleep." Then I leaned in and hissed under my breath, "If you just wave your hand again, you're dead."

The blanket shifted. A foot poked out. Right in front of the Hall Director's strict face.

[]

The guy's voice was lazy and infuriatingly arrogant. "Write whatever you want."

Well, since he said so, under the Hall Director's murderous glare, I recorded it exactly as it was. It was just that my phrasing was slightly flawed. A tiny bit ambiguous.

I was actually feeling pretty guilty about it. Until I saw Hayes's reply in the thread:

[Piper from the Pre-Vet program, if you don't even try, how do you know I can't get it up?]

That sparked dozens of new replies beneath it. Several friends even texted me, asking when I got so close to Hayes. I pinched the bridge of my nose, fighting the urge to bash my head against a wall.

Fine. Pot calling the kettle black. Neither of us were saints.

Apologizing was off the table now.

Mutual destruction it is.

When Hayes cornered me downstairs, I was on my way to the campus clinic. The guy standing in front of me wore a casual jacket, looking like he'd just rolled out of bed, complete with a stubborn cowlick sticking straight up. He dragged his gaze up and down my face.

Catching sight of the dark circles under my eyes, he let out a harsh scoff. "Those eye bags is your conscience finally eating away at you?"

The dark bags were actually just a chronic side effect of my severe insomnia. But I actually slept alright last night. I managed a solid three hours.

Chapter 2

Hayes asking me that instantly triggered my rebellious streak. He was the golden boy of the campus; hardly anyone didn't know him. By the time we started talking, a large crowd of onlookers had already gathered around us.

I deliberately and exaggeratedly covered my mouth, shouting at the top of my lungs, "I'm so sorry, Hayes! It's totally my fault for lacking sex appeal! Maybe if I tried harder, you could actually get hard!"

"But I swear, when I looked at you, there was absolutely zero physiological response! Not even a flinch!"

I emphasized those last few words, letting them ring loud and clear across the courtyard. Then, I let my gaze drop pointedly toward his nether regions.

The crowd's eyes practically bugged out of their heads, devouring the drama like starving wolves.

Hayes stared at me deadpan. "Are you sure you want to play it like this?"

Huh?

Before my sleep-deprived brain could process the threat, he grabbed me with one arm, effortlessly tossing me onto the back of his matte-black Harley motorcycle. "Hold on tight."

I spent the entire ride on edge, yet somehow, without realizing it I fell asleep. Yes, it was pure witchcraft. I suffered from severe clinical insomnia. Falling asleep normally was nearly impossible for me.

Yet here I was, on the back of a roaring motorcycle, passed out against Hayes's broad back. I vaguely dreamt that I was devouring a massive double cheeseburger dripping with thick cheese and barbecue sauce.

Twenty minutes later, staring at the blatant drool stain on the back of his jacket, I fell into a deep silence. "My bad."

Hayes rubbed his temples and walked straight into the campus clinic.

Why did he bring me here? He couldn't possibly have known I was heading here and offered a personal chauffeur service, right? I trailed in after him, confused.

The campus doctor froze the moment he saw us together. "You two know each other?"

Hayes and I exchanged a blank look. "What?"

The doctor pointed a pen at Hayes. "He's the student with narcolepsy I mentioned to you last time."

Then he pointed at me. "And she's the one with chronic insomnia. You're both regulars here, and your conditions are bizarrely complementary."

"I've been meaning to introduce you two. How have the symptoms been lately?"

Hayes shot me an extremely complicated look before turning back. "I've been wide awake all day."

The doctor raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's rare for you. Any idea what triggered it?"

Hayes pointed a finger right at me. "The only thing different from usual is that she barged into my dorm yesterday and saw me half-naked."

Meanwhile, I stood there, dumbfounded. "To be honest, I've had insomnia for over ten days straight. But I actually fell asleep after that dorm check yesterday, and I just passed out on your motorcycle. The only thing different from usual is that I made physical contact with you."

As the words left my mouth, we locked eyes. A heavy silence descended upon the room.

Clearly, we were both realizing the exact same horrifying possibility: Had our conditions gotten so severe that we were altering each other's magnetic fields?

To test this wild theory, Hayes and I made a pact to avoid each other for three days. Consequently, I didn't sleep a wink for three days. If I had never seen the light, I could have tolerated the dark. But after experiencing those two glorious pockets of deep sleep three days ago, Hayes was practically a highly addictive drug to my system.

Early Wednesday morning, dragging dark circles heavy enough to rival a raccoon, I crawled out of bed. Sadie casually asked, "Piper, why are you up so early?"

"To go sleep with Hayes."

Chapter 3

Sure enough, his narcolepsy was kicking in again. I waited agonizingly for the lecture to end. When Hayes finally blinked awake, his eyes met mine. He instantly caught my drift, stood up, and headed for the door.

Suddenly, some girl blocked his path. She was blabbering about something, shifting left when he tried to step left, and mirroring him when he dodged right.

My nonexistent patience snapped. I barged right in, aggressively shoving past her, and grabbed Hayes's wrist to drag him out.

The girl immediately shrieked, "What the hell are you doing! Are you blind?"

I rolled my eyes so hard they almost got stuck in the back of my head. "No, but I'm so sleep-deprived I could single-handedly flip a semi-truck, so I have to take him with me right now."

She glared at me, sizing me up with pure disgust. "You're a total psycho."

I nodded frantically. "Yep, yep! And Hayes is my prescription meds. You're literally blocking me from taking my pills."

Seeing her choke on her own outrage was incredibly satisfying.

Beside me, Hayes let out a low, breathless chuckle. I shot him a massive eyeroll, gripping his wrist tightly and dragging him roughly out the door. Once we reached the campus quad, I crossed my arms. "You felt it too, right? Just hanging out isn't working anymore."

He rubbed his sleep-heavy eyes. "Yeah. Probably because you've sucked me dry."

If he didn't know how to phrase things without sounding like a smut novel, he could just keep his mouth shut. I shot him a few awkward glances and let out a dry laugh. "Do you think maybe it's because we aren't getting physical enough?"

Hayes's gaze snapped up. Sunlight filtered through the sycamore leaves, casting shifting shadows across his sharp jawline. He took a deliberate step closer, closing the gap between us, his voice dropping into a slow, lazy drawl. "How physical do you want to get?"

I was short-circuited by his intense stare. Acting purely on instinct, I went up on my tiptoes and aggressively bonked my forehead against his.

Hayes was clearly stunned by my headbutt. After a long beat, he rubbed his forehead, a genuine laugh bursting from his chest. "Are you an idiot?"

"Huh?"

Physical contact. How is that not physical?

Before I could even fire back a retort, his hand wrapped around my wrist. A second later, he yanked me hard against his chest. I crashed into his solid, warm frame, the sudden impact knocking the breath out of me.

Hayes dipped his head, his breath ghosting over the shell of my ear. "This is what physical means."

Listening to the steady, heavy thud of his heartbeat, I simply let out a dumbfounded, "Oh."

"But"

"This isn't exactly the time to talk," he murmured.

"But"

"You need to focus on the magnetic field."

I literally couldn't hold it in anymore. "But there are a ton of people watching us!"

Hayes froze, his body going rigid, and snapped his head around.

Just on the other side of the bushes behind us, a photographer for the campus newspaper was in the middle of taking a group shot. Right now, the entire row of students was staring at us, unblinking.

The photographer slowly panned his camera and snapped a clear shot of us intertwined. Even as he scurried away, we could hear his ecstatic shouting. "Tomorrow's front-page gossip is all mine! Hahahaha!"

I stared into the void. ""

Hayes stared into the void. ""

Sure enough, the next day, a massive headline dominated the anonymous gossip board. It roughly read:

[Campus Golden Boy Hayes Can't Get It Up! Relationship on the Rocks! Sucked Dry by Girlfriend? After Begging for Forgiveness, the Tragic Couple Shares a Tearful Embrace!]

I seriously needed a face-to-face chat with whichever aspiring journalist wrote that garbage.

Chapter 4

I genuinely wanted to pry open his skull just to see what kind of garbage was stuffed inside his brain. I figured this whole mess had to be cleared up. Hayes's reputation was practically in ruins, and since my stupid slip of the pen started it all, it was only fair that I fixed it.

So, I tracked down the guy who wrote that gossip post and demanded he delete it. I even set up a time to meet, planning to drag Hayes along to explain the entire misunderstanding face-to-face. I was going to force that aspiring journalist to write a formal retraction to clear Hayes's name.

The plan was absolutely flawless.

Until the day of the meeting, when Hayes showed up late. He strolled in thirty minutes behind schedule. The second he stepped into the boba shop, he strode right up to my table, locked eyes with me, and blurted out, "Can you sleep with me tonight?"

I stared at him. ""

The campus reporter silently raised his camera. Under my murderous glare, he slowly lowered it. Then, with a trembling hand, he picked up his pen.

Whatever. There was no killing this rumor now.

Hayes explained his sudden desperation: tomorrow was the rivalry game between our university and State. This was the ultimate showdown of the state university basketball league. As the ace forward, he was originally sitting out due to a minor injury.

But this afternoon, the starting player accidentally fractured a bone, and the team coach gave a strict order that Hayes had to step up. But with his narcolepsy attacks getting more frequent this year, he couldn't risk stepping onto the court without a solid guarantee. To ensure he had enough wakeful hours tomorrow, he needed to get physical with me for an extended period today.

Okay, phrased like that, it sounded incredibly wrong. But taken literallywe needed prolonged physical contactwhich meant sleeping together through the night was the only practical option.

I crossed my arms, a smug grin spreading across my face. "Heh, so you're begging me now. What's in it for me?"

Hayes deadpanned, "You have an on-call, human sleeping pill. What exactly is there to consider?"

I instantly grabbed his wrist, practically dragging him out of the shop in sheer excitement. "Let's go get a room! Hell yes!"

Hayes just sighed. ""

But we came out late, right during frat party week. Every half-decent motel nearby was booked. We only found a rundown, cheap little motel at the highway exit, and they only had one king bed left.

Making do for one night was fine. We had both showered before heading out, so we skipped the awkward bathroom shuffle. All we had to do was get in bed.

But I couldn't sleep. You ask why? Hayes. The campus golden boy.

Six-foot-one, rocking an eight-pack, a jawline sharp enough to cut glass, and he smelled ridiculously good. With a living, breathing specimen like him lying right next to me, even a nun would be wide awake.

Conveniently, Hayes wasn't tired either. He turned his head on the pillow, looking right at me. "Can't sleep?"

I nodded.

A slow smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Then let's play something fun."

I blinked. "What?"

Half an hour later, our conversation sounded exactly like this:

"Wow, you're so good at this. How are you lasting this long?"

"No, it's not going to fit, wedge it in carefully."

"Pull it out slowly, stop using so much force!"

"Oh my god, I'm so stuffed I'm going to burst."

[]

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone suddenly pounded on our door. Hayes and I exchanged a sharp glance.

Hayes got up to open it. A burly guy stood in the hallway, his face bright red. The guy rubbed his neck, looking uncomfortable.

"Look, bro, the soundproofing in this place is garbage. You guys just go to sleep early, alright? Damn, even a grown man like me is blushing listening to you two"

He peeked inside from the corner of his eye and locked eyes right with me.

The guy instantly froze.

Chapter 5

My face was covered in penalty sticky notes. I held a half-eaten slice of pizza in one hand, while an impossibly high Jenga tower sat right in front of me. My fingers were currently pinching one of the wooden blocks, delicately inching it out.

I honestly didn't know who was more embarrassed right nowus or the burly guy at the door.

After all that chaos, exhaustion hit me like a brick. I fell into a deep, heavy sleep. I didn't know how much time had passed, but I was tangled in a long, messy dream about the hairless Sphinx cat my department had adopted.

It always rolled onto its back, exposing its belly for rubs. Happy in my dream, I rolled over. My palm landed flat against a stretch of smooth, warm skin.

Still half-asleep and dreaming about rubbing the cat's belly, my hand instinctively started sliding around.

Suddenly, I brushed against a bump.

The texture felt wrong. Is the cat pregnant? Why is it so hard right here? Driven by pure, sleep-addled curiosity, my fingers pinched and flicked it