Page 25 of Teaching Ms. Tingle

“Well, it seems obvious why you asked to speak with me today. Can I get an explanation as to what is going on?”

“Sir, Kinsley and are together. We’ve been together for a while. It started before she began tutoring me,” he explains, squeezing my hand when he tells the little lie. “I tried to explain when it was decided she would tutor me. Her position is not a factor. You can suspend my scholarship or kick me off the team, but it won’t change our relationship. We won’t stop seeing one another. I am of age, a consenting adult, and I pursued her.”

“I see. Ms. Tingle? Don’t you think you should have disclosed this earlier?”

“Yes, sir, I should have. I was against tutoring him for this reason. But I did not want to let you down. Or the football team. You made it clear he needed to pass English to continue to play. I would hate to let the team and Coach Lucas know we all let them down.”

What am I saying? I am lying along with my boyfriend. My important to the team, and to this school, boyfriend. As Dean Vickers turns away, hands steepled in front of him in that way he does, Kane grins at me. We both know exactly what we are saying right now.

The Hawks need Kane to win another championship. Winning again would bolster enrollment, alumni donations, and interest more division one players in Hollow Oaks University. This is not the scandal I feared it was. Kane will graduate in a few months, might even go on to the NFL. If he does, the last thing people will care about is who he was fucking as a senior.

Dean Vickers slides a look at us over the top of his glasses. He knows exactly what we are doing. We are putting him in a position to either accept that we are together or punish us for it. If he does that, Kane will stop playing for the Hawks. Without him they might not win a championship. Without saying it, we are blackmailing the dean. He has no choice but to go along.

“I understand. None of us want to let Coach Lucas down. Why come to me now, if you were trying to keep it private?”

“Another student saw us together while we were at a tutor session. It was innocent, sir, I swear. He has made passes at Ms. Tingle in front of several other students. Some of those who knew we were together. He wants to out the relationship to embarrass us. To embarrass the team, you Dean Vickers, and Ms. Tingle. I won’t allow it. I will quit the team and school before I let that happen.”

Turning to him, I shake my head. I know he might just be bluffing, but even hearing him threaten it makes me anxious. He is so close to finishing his degree. He has aced his biology courses so far, and his English has come so far. These last core classes are all that stand between Kane and his degree.

“No, no you will not. I will resign first. I do not want to embarrass you, Dean Vickers, or Coach Lucas. If I resign at the end of the semester, no one has to know. I can find another position somewhere else.”

“No. You love being an English professor, Kinsley. You love it. It helped me decide what I want to do with my degree,” he announces, stunning Dean Vickers as much as he stuns me.

“What would your plans be, Mr. Hilton?”

“Coach Lucas and I had a long talk. Going to the NFL is an option for me, and if I want to support you, it would be a good option. I am worried about your heart, Kinsley. If something were to happen to you.... but if I become a coach, if I work with Coach Lucas...I could support us both. I could do what I love, and I could make sure if you ever got sick again, I would be able to get you the best doctors. Dean Vickers, what other courses do I need to become coaching staff?”

This moment suddenly feels so important. He is not asking this to throw the dean off the scent of our affair. He is not asking this to for more ammunition to force the dean’s hand about the affair. Kane is asking this because he means it. And I recall him coming to my place after that talk with Coach Lucas. He seemed so resolute about our future and now I know why.

“Well, that’s a wonderful choice, Mr. Hilton. Perhaps a semester of sports management? You would have your kinesiology and sports studies. I think that would be above and beyond Coach Lucas’ expectations.”

Kane grins at me, the very same grin he gave me the first night he showed up at my door. He claims he came to get out of being tutored, but I think we all know better. Maybe he was trying to do the right thing, but who said it was wrong for us to fall in love? It’s not and now I know all my fears that he would leave Harmony Hollow without me were wrong.

“Kane,” I whisper, reaching out to touch his handsome face. “You want to become a teacher? A coach?”

“I do. Watching you do it, how can I not want to do something I love the way you love it? Being in the NFL was always Plan B for me. You will always be Plan A, baby.”

“What do you two need of me?” Dean Vickers says, clearly a little uncomfortable by the fuzzy feelings stirring in the air between us.

“Alec Wetz needs to stay away from her,” Kane’s voice changes as he turns to face the dean. “If he threatens her again, if he is inappropriate towards her again, I will not be held responsible for what I do to him.”

“Yes, of course. I understand. Ms. Tingle, do you need anything more from me? I will of course assign a new tutor. We want to be certain no one doubts you finish your English course with no influence from Ms. Tingle.”

Shaking my head, I cannot look away from Kane. I am so proud of him. Not just for making a decision that he had been struggling with, but for being so willing to take care of me. I had no idea my health was a concern for him. It makes all those mentions of him taking care of me make sense.

Thanking Dean Vickers, we excuse ourselves, walking out of his office with our hands tightly linked. Before today I might have dropped his hand as we head to his truck. Now, I don’t. I even let him draw me close to his side, his thick arm draping across my shoulders. Maybe people look at us. They might whisper about how the hot jock is fooling around with his teacher.

All I know is my hot student is the love of my life.

We ride to my place in a comfortable quiet. His hand stays at my thigh, both of us smiling big. The moment we get inside the house, he spins me, slamming my back to the door. His head dips, his breathing ragged as he drags his mouth against mine.

“I love you, Kinsley. You might know that, but I have to say it. I am so fucking in love with you. I have been since the moment I saw you sitting at that fountain. I wish I had gone to you then, but as long as we’re here now, nothing else matters. I love you, teach.”

Crashing his mouth to mine, he lifts me against the door. He carries me to my desk in the den just off the front door. I imagine this is a fantasy both of us have had. He strips me down and is inside me before he tears his mouth away. Staring down at me, his eyes are so soft as he makes love to me slowly.

“I love you, too. You might know too, but saying it feels so good. I can’t believe I didn’t say it sooner. I wanted to. I love you, Kane Hilton.”

Bending over me, he presses his mouth to mine as he thrusts into me slowly. “I love you so fucking much. Nothing else matters. God, I wanted to fuck you on your desk for so long, kitten,” he moans before we both laugh.

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