Chapter 13 - A Different Life (Neil’s POV)

Chapter 13 - A Different Life (Neil’s POV)

Neil slowly eased the sheet and blanket down from Avery’s body, savoring the sight of her naked form. He knelt at the foot of the bed carefully and leaned towards her sex, breathing the scent of her deeply. She had the musky smell she sometimes did after particularly spicy dreams. His tongue poked forward and caressed her labia, tasting the slight tang of her moistness. His mouth watered, wanting more.

As he continued to lap at her slit, she began to moan in her sleep. He pushed deeper, parting her lips with his fingers to reach the bud beneath. When he met her clit, she gasped and woke up. Her hand reached for his hair, not to pull him away but to hold him against her.

He inserted one finger into her, curling it upwards to stroke the inner walls of her vagina, seeking out the sensitive spot he’d come to know and love. Avery cried out when he found it, pulling his face in harder.

For several minutes he continued to please her with his mouth and finger, but pulled away before she came.

“Morning, Coach,” he said with a chuckle.

“God, Neil, I fucking love it when you wake me up like that.”

She pulled herself up in bed. Her nipples were erect, her face flushed. She glanced to the side. Locating her chair, she transferred to it quickly.

“Get the ramp,” she said. “I want you now.”

Neil grabbed it from its resting place against the wall. He placed it on the bed quickly, ensuring it was properly lined up to make Avery as comfortable and safe as possible. Then he reached for her. As he lifted her in his arms, she kissed him fiercely. He took just a moment to enjoy the feeling of her lips against his before placing her back on the bed.

The ramp lifted her back and hips, positioning her at an angle that meant he could enter her easily without putting his weight on her injured spine. He did so, the effect of his oral pleasures leaving her ready for him. As he felt her body welcome his cock, he moaned softly.

This felt good. Really good.

“God, yes,” she sighed.

“I love you, Coach,” he said as he began to move within her.

He leaned forwards, reaching for her breasts as he fucked her. He flicked her nipples, enjoying the squeak of fake protest she gave at the slight pain. When he leaned further, she reached for his own nipples, squeezing hard.

He yelped.

“Two can play at that game,” she said.

Still, she let go at once and instead gently stroked the stinging studs of skin. He moved faster, pulling away from her as he changed his angle, looking for the position that gave her the most pleasure. As his dick moved more directly over the upper wall of her vagina, she rolled her head back. He held the position, stroking her thigh with one hand and reaching to caress her labia with the other.

“You feel fantastic this morning,” she crooned. “Stronger, baby. God. Harder.”

He obeyed. His own orgasm was rapidly approaching and he only hoped he could hold off long enough that she’d be right there with him. She put her hand against her mouth, biting it as the intensity grew. She couldn’t wrap her legs around him, but Neil saw the many other ways her body showed her passion.

And then she gasped, rose on her elbows, her fingers tight in the sheets. She cursed, screaming a word of absolute ecstasy as the orgasm pierced her mind. When she collapsed back on the bed, Neil stopped. He hadn’t cum, but he didn’t need to.

“Don’t you fucking dare stop,” she snarled at him. “Not until you’re done too.”

He pressed on. So close. So fucking close. He thrust fast, pulling out, pushing in. Another minute. Rising passion. Tightening pleasure in his balls. And then…

The oblivion of an overwhelming orgasm shook him. The moment passed in seconds as he felt his seed jet from him. He collapsed forwards, using his arms to prevent him from falling on his lover. She was laughing, and so, he realized, was he.

Afterwards, they showered. It was something else they’d learned how to do together. With Avery on her shower chair and Neil standing, or sometimes kneeling before her, it wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it allowed them to wash each other. That had become another much-loved intimacy between them.

After dressing, Neil headed for the kitchen to make their breakfast. Eggs, bacon, French toast. It wasn’t the healthiest meal, but they’d both found ways of working off the calories.

“Hey,” he said, flipping the eggs. “Can you grab the mail while I get the food ready?”

“Sure.”

She returned with two envelopes, one for each of them. As Neil put the final strip of bacon on his plate, he saw his was just a regular letter and hers a much larger package. Both bore their respective colleges’ logos.

Avery ripped open her envelope enthusiastically. The contents spilled on the table: a prospectus, a bunch of papers including something from the Disability Resource Center, and a letter. She picked that up and read it, grinning.

“Dear Avery Morgan…” she read. “Congratulations… admitted to the University of Arizona for the Fall Semester.”

She turned to look at him. “Oh my god, Neil, they said yes! I’m in! I’m in!”

She scrabbled through the other items from the package.

“Hey, there’s something from Coach Ramirez too! She says to reach out to her if I need help with the process and she’s looking forward to working with me. Oh god, it’s real. Neil!”

He leaned down and threw his arms around her. Of course, she was in. He’d never doubted it, but the delight on her face was wonderful. They kissed, perhaps even more passionately than they had while making love. That had been sex, and it was wonderful, but this was life. This was fulfillment.

“Hey, what is your letter about?” she asked.

He opened the envelope he’d received and pulled out a letter from the college. Avery stared at him as he began to read.

“Dear Neil Calloway, We regret to inform you that Dr. Brian Reinhardt has recently left our faculty. Consequently, the Sports Medicine courses previously scheduled for online delivery will instead be taught on campus by Professor Dianne Kendle.”

He froze. He had two courses scheduled with Dr. Reinhardt and they were core courses for his degree. They weren’t optional. And now, he couldn’t study them from Arizona.

“Fuck!” he said.

He slumped into his chair at the table, ignoring the plates of food still on the counter. This was the one thing he hadn’t expected, and the one thing that could stop everything they both wanted. He sighed deeply as he read the letter again, trying to wish the words into changing.

“Are there other alternatives?” asked Avery.

“No,” he said. “These ones he taught are pretty much mandatory. That’s probably why they didn’t just cancel them.”

“Well, you can’t just hope they show up again. This is your final year.”

He stared at the single piece of paper that threatened their life together and made a decision. “I’ll transfer.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll transfer to the University of Arizona. I’ll finish my degree down there.”

“You can’t,” she said. “Look, I want you there too, but there’s no way they’ll let you do that this late. It’s May already. And I doubt all your credits will be accepted if you try anyhow.”

“I don’t care. I’ll restart if I have to.”

She laid a hand on his and squeezed it gently. “I won’t have you do that, Neil. Not for me. You’re too close to finishing.”

“I don’t CARE,” he said. “I care about you. I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said. “That’s why I’m saying no. I'd rather give up my own education than see you disrupt yours. I’m not even IN school yet. You’re almost done.”

“Are you kidding me, Avery?” he said. “Mine’s just a degree. I can do it anywhere that offers the same kind of courses. Even if it means retaking some of them. Yours sets you up for life. Coaching with Ramirez isn’t something you just give up.”

“I will if the alternative is you losing out.”

He wanted to argue, but he knew this mood. When Avery made a decision it didn’t get unmade. A small, sensible part of him knew she was right too. There was no reason to believe Arizona had spaces left this late. Even if they did, would they accept someone for just one year?

“I can at least look into it,” he said.

“You know your college,” Avery replied. “You’ve become friends with the people in your classes, some of them at least. You’re used to the other professors too. It’s too much, Neil. I want you to do well, not stumble.”

“But you need to go to Arizona,” he said.

“And you need to stay here. Besides, even if you did come it wouldn’t be the same. You’ve been able to be here all the time only because your degree was all online. If you transfer, our schedules won’t match. I’ll be home while you’re in class.”

“But you’re stronger,” he said. “You can do that. Not all the time, but still. Look at how easily you transferred to the chair this morning, how we take care of each other in the shower now.”

They sat in silence, pondering the future. After a while, Avery lifted Neil’s hand to her mouth and kissed it.

“You’re right,” she said. “I am. Honestly, even some of the ways you help me now I don’t NEED, I just LOVE how caring you are. It’s sexy watching you cook a meal, but I can do it.”

It felt like a slap. There was still a part of him that defined their relationship by her injury and the way she actually relied on him, an ugly little chaos gremlin whispering that she didn’t need him anymore and she might get rid of him soon. To hear her say the same thing terrified him. He closed his eyes as his insides roiled. That’s when he felt her lips brush his cheek.

“That’s good,” she said. “I don’t need you, I want you. You’re not even really my aide anymore. You’re my boyfriend.”

She planted kisses from his cheek to his ear and whispered, “And I can wait.”

“No, Avery, you can’t. You need to go now. Coach Ramirez has—”

“No, not that. I can wait for you.”

He turned to look at her, just as she went to kiss him again. Their lips met unexpectedly, making them both pull back for a second in surprise. Avery put her hand behind his head and pulled him back in. The kiss deepened. Their lips parted, tongues met. For a moment, every fear left as he tasted her mouth, the exact mix of toothpaste and French vanilla coffee that was Avery’s morning.

“What do you mean?” he asked when the kiss ended.

“It doesn’t have to be over,” she said. “We can do long-distance until then. I mean, I’ll have access to computers down there, you know. It’s not like this is the ‘90s when that was impossible, Neil.”

She was right. Except for one thing.

“Avery, I’m not gonna ask you to wait for me. That’s not fair on you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re sexy, Avery,” he said. “And smart. And funny. And a damn good coach.”

“I know,” she said.

That stung. It shouldn’t, he realized, but it did. She didn’t need him and she was well aware she was better than him.

“Neil,” she said, studying his face. “Do you know why I know?”

He shrugged.

“Because of you.”

“I didn’t make you any of that, Avery,” he said. “That’s you.”

“I know, but you helped me see it. And for someone like that I can wait.”

“Now,” he said. “But down there you’re gonna have everyone wanting you. You’re amazing, Avery, and I’m just… me.”

She slapped him. Not hard, not enough to hurt. It got his attention, though.

“Just what? And don’t you dare try to answer that. Neil, I want… no, I LOVE you, not someone else. Don’t you trust me?”

He did. When she posed it that bluntly, it made him face just how much he trusted her. Besides, it wasn’t like he wanted anyone else.

“Okay,” he said. “But I understand if you change your mind.”

She rolled her eyes. “Neil, you’re fucking frustrating sometimes, you know that? Fine, let’s leave it at we’ll see what happens. But I can tell you now, I’ll be back home at Christmas and I want you ready to wake me up the next day.”

He snorted. Since she’d rediscovered sex she’d become even more into it than he was. Maybe that was him too. Not that he was special, but he remembered her telling him how selfish her previous lovers had been. At least he gave a damn that she enjoyed herself.

He sighed. “Now I just have to figure out where I’m gonna live when you move out.”

“Here, of course,” she said, looking genuinely baffled. “Neil, our house is close to your college, and my mom and dad paid it off before they died. Why would you need to find somewhere else? Besides, this way I have someone to look after this place while I’m away.”

It made sense. And it gave him hope. His stomach growled, reminding him of the hunger he’d forgotten when his future seemed crushed. Neil stood up and went to fetch the breakfast plates, placing one at each of their places at the table.

“Bacon’s getting cold,” he said. “We should eat now. Then you should probably contact the DRC and maybe Coach Ramirez to see if you can get help with the support you still need, like cleaning.”