Stroking his hair, I sighed into the quiet.
We were here. We were back.
I was home.
It took a shower, a marathon fuck in almost every position I knew, and another shower before we finally collapsed into a satisfied heap in his rumpled bed. He had his arm around my shoulders, and I rested my head on his chest, and for the longest time, we just lay in comfortable silence. I think I even dozed off for a little while. I know he did.
What eventually drove us out of bed was our growling stomachs. We were hockey players, after all, and there was only so long we could go without eating, especially after engaging in some, shall we say, intense cardio.
We ended up ordering delivery from that awesome Thai place again. While we waited, we settled in Avery’s living room, curled together on the couch instead of sitting too far apart.
“I feel so much better,” he said on a happy sigh.
I chuckled. “Most people would after a couple of orgasms.”
“Well. Yeah.” He drew away enough that he could look at me. “But I meant… about everything else. Being back here again.”
Sobering, I nodded, and I ran my fingers through his hair as I said, “Me too. It feels like we were apart a lot longer than two days.”
“Yeah. It does.” He clasped my hand in his and brought it up to kiss my palm. “I’m just lucky you’re this stubborn.”
“And I’m lucky you were willing to listen, so I think we’re even.”
He cuddled a little closer to me. “Eh. I’m not keeping score.”
“Neither am I.” I stroked his hair again. “And… I’m sorry. For freaking out on you.”
Avery was already shaking his head. “No.” He sat up again, opening up more space between us but not letting goof my hand. “You had a lot going on that I didn’t know about. Sounds like stuff even you didn’t know about.” He ran his thumb along the back of mine. “I think we can just chalk this up to both of us realizing we need some help, but we can still make this work.”
I nodded as he spoke. “Yeah. It’s been… eye-opening, that’s for sure.”
“It has.” He searched my eyes. “And you really think seeing a counselor would be good for us? Together, I mean?”
“Absolutely. We’re both coming into this with a lot of baggage that we don’t need to trip over, you know?” I trailed my fingers down his cheek. “So let’s talk to someone while we’re still good instead of waiting for problems to crop up.”
Avery blinked. “Oh. Hell. I never thought of that. People usually go to counseling when they’re already in trouble. I didn’t even realize it was an option when…” He gestured at himself, then me. “When things are okay, you know?”
“I never thought about it before, but this whole thing—it spooked me. I’d rather we nip things in the bud than let it get as ugly as my parents’ marriage did.”
His forehead creased. “They’re still together, aren’t they?”
“They are. And they’re happy now. But…” I whistled, shaking my head. “It was pretty bad there for a while.”
“I bet.” He kissed my palm again. “I agree—let’s not do that.”
I smiled and reeled him in for a kiss. “So… off season? We’ll find someone for us?”
Avery nodded. “Good idea. Things are going to get pretty crazy soon. Playoffs and all that.”
“Yep. And you’ll be back to playing again soon, too.”
“Yeah. I will.” He smiled faintly, but he dropped his gaze as some worry crept into his expression.
I tipped up his chin. “What?”
“Just…” He pressed his lips together, then took a breath. “My conditioning loan starts next week. So I’ll be in Wheeling until I’m reactivated.”
My heart sank a little. We’d just put ourselves back on the rails after that brief but awful bump in the road. I wasn’t ready to be away from him. “It’s only a couple of weeks, though.”
