Page 54 of Shiver
His arms ease a little, but his hands are gently rubbing up and down my back. “You’re worried about your tests,” he says.
“Yeah. I keep seeing things in my head that Iknoware incorrect and they’re just going to keep growing wrong because I can’t think of the right thing. So my mind is adding things in that it’s convinced fit, but it’s like when you have a puzzle piece that looks right but it just doesn’t fit once you put it in the empty space.”
He chuckles quietly. The soft breath on my neck makes me shiver and I try to move in closer. Rake kisses the side of my head. “Change. Get on the couch. I’ll order some pizza.”
I nod and move away, though I really don’t want to right now. My skin feels tight and needy. But I do as he says, kicking my shoes off where I stand and pushing them toward the door where his are. Then I drag my bags to the side so no one trips on them.
Unlike the times where I strip my clothes off and leave them in a trail to his bed, I dump them together in a pile by his laundry basket, which has a mixture of both of our clothes at this point, and dig out a pair of sweats from his drawer.
I’ve had the mental argument that I should be bringing my own clothes. But the only changes I bring are clean underwear and socks, which are in my gym bag. Otherwise, I’ll throw his sweats on. I like to wear his clothes, remembering that his body has been in them, too. I never understood why girls liked to wear my hoodies, but now I totally get the appeal.
When I’m on the couch, Rake joins me once he’s changed as well. He pulls me into his arms where I can curl in his lap. I take a deep breath as he runs his fingers through my hair.
“Alright, here’s the plan. Tonight, we’re not studying.” Panic surges through me, but his fingers cover my lips before I can protest. Ineedto study every possible second. “You know this stuff, Egon. There isn’t going to be anything on the midterms that you haven’t already studied. You need a break from your stress. So tonight, we’re going to have pizza and watch TV. Tomorrow, we’re going to look at your past assignments and see the areas you’re not quite comfortable with. We’ll head to the gym downstairs to blow off some steam. And then we’re going to spend the rest of the day fooling around.” My body heats up at the words. My cock likes this plan, even as my brain is half-heartedly protesting.
“And then Sunday, when you’re well rested and sated to the point where you can barely lift your head, we’re going to leisurely study throughout the day. You’ll eat well-balanced meals. We’ll take exercise breaks. And then Sunday night, I’m going to make you orgasm so fucking hard, you’re going to pass out and sleep like a baby until Monday morning. Understand?”
Although his tone was all businesslike, the promises of him spending the next two and half days solely on me made me grip him all the tighter. He couldn’t see my face, which was good. I didn’t know what I looked like right then, but I was sure I didn’t want him to see it.
No one, under any circumstances, has ever dedicated this much time and energy to making sure I succeed at something.
“Yes,” I whisper. I turn my face into his bare chest and kiss him, squeezing my eyes shut. “Thank you, Rake. For always taking care of me.”
NINETEEN
RAKESH
The weekof midterms is stressful for the entire student body. Graduate students, depending on where they are on their track, don’t suffer the same hardships. We’re stressed year-round with our dissertations. And thankfully, online master’s courses are a little different. Shorter than in-person semesters, so our midterms don’t fall with everyone else’s.
I’ve dedicated today to grading papers. Locked myself in my office and forced my attention to remain right here. Not thinking about Egon, wondering if he’s freaking out or calm while he’s taking his midterms. We spent all of Sunday going over his work. What he knew, what he wasn’t comfortable with. By the time I got him in bed and used my finger to rub his prostate raw while sucking his dick until he shot with such force that he passed out before he caught his breath and his dick had stopped leaking, I knew he had a grasp on his classes.
I was confident about that. As long as he stayed out of his head, he’d be fine. But that was the true test. Staying out of his head. Most of the time, that was easier said than done.
We practiced using some of his hockey techniques to put him in a calm, focused state. When I could bring hockey into the equation, Egon found a way to get into the zone. Using his strength to his full advantage.
However, I hadn’t heard from him today. He had two midterms, and I was not at all interested to know how he thought he did. I had his student portal information. He gave it to me weeks ago so I could keep up on his assignments and see his grades. To know where he was and which classes we needed to focus more on.
Not that his midterms would be posted yet. Checking the time, he’d only just begun the first. And if my stack of midterms was anything to go by, I was sure his instructors hadn’t gotten around to grading them.
My mind drifted as I skimmed the paper, marking noticeably wrong answers and saving the ones I needed to look at more closely for later. This didn’t take much of my concentration, which is unfortunate since, again, my mind drifted to Egon.
Naked Egon.
In my bed. On his back. Legs spread as I lick his ass as he begged me to fuck him. I didn’t. Not with my dick. But I fucked him so good with my fingers as I clasped our slick cocks together and rutted against him. That was the loudest he’s ever been.
There was something intoxicating about that. Knowing that I had him so hot that he couldn’t contain himself. I didn’t know that striving to make an otherwise quiet lover shout would be so… arousing. Not that he was ever overly quiet. We just hit a new octave last night.
I shook my head. Fuck’s sake. I need to focus. While staring at the paper in front of me, I began reciting the names of Saturn’s moons in alphabetical order: Aegaeon, Aegir, Albiorix, Alvaldi… when I finished going from A to Z, I began again backwards: Ymir, Titan, Thrymr, Thiazzi, Tethys…
And thus I managed to spend the afternoon grading midterms by repeating the moons of the Milky Way’s planets, one after another, until I made it through the first class of papers. When I flipped over the last one and stared at my blank desk, I grinned.
That was probably the quickest turn around anyone has ever had in the grading of midterms. Maybe I broke a record.
Now the question is, do I enter the grades into the portals or give them to Dr. Deena for him to look at? I don’t do a curve. Not in a basic class. And after shuffling through the papers again, I don’t find that they need much adjusting, if any.
Meh. I’ll let Dr. Deena decide.
Tomorrow, I have my second class to teach—meaning the second of two midterms to give while I study my own work—and then hopefully grade them in the afternoon and I’m done for the week. Midterms aren’t so difficult.
