Page 92 of Rebound
Me, on the other hand, I’ll do whatever she wants.
Including some ass play.
While I’ve never loudly talked about my sexuality, I’ve been with two guys and I know what I like. Including being the top in those relationships. When Tamara brings up pegging and exploring anal sex, it excites me. The idea of being pinned down by her and fucked sounds pretty good. I want us to do it all, in whatever ways we can and for however long our bodies will let us. Right now, making her come is truly the best part of our sex lives.
Unfortunately Monday shows up and as much as I want to keep us in bed another day, we have shit to do. After breakfast, and the kind of kiss that lingers at the front door, I watch Tamara drive away before hopping onto my bike. While she definitely needs to go in—this is her chance to close on the Julia Christopher account—I was hoping we could stay home.
I even had a plan. Tamara made space for my things in her room so I can empty the guest room. Then start planning the nursery. We sat in bed late one night while she went through all my airport purchases—a couple more stuffed animals, a onesie that reads my bad, were you sleeping? and a few toys. We’ve got a little longer before we finalise everything and once she’s on maternity leave, we’ll have the time to really plan this out well.
Despite crossing all my fingers and praying to every god I don’t believe in, the Indian Hockey Association stuck to their decision not to cancel the tournament. The good news is the player who was in a coma woke up. He has to go through years of physical therapy, but he’s already in recovery. They continued to stay quiet about the cause for the fight, so the IHA suspended them both. It’s the only decision I agree with. We don’t need folks turning into hooligans and almost ending lives.
Hockey is important, but not worth that much damage.
I walk into the facility and greet the folks who run the place. Coaching the team might be my job and I might have won medals, but none of this would be possible without the people who keep a place like this functioning. Since I was a kid, my grandparents told me the one thing I must always do in life is respect humans no matter where they come from. It doesn’t matter what their social status is, you treat them with nothing but kindness.
Afterwards, I head to the field. Since our first practice, I’ve made it clear to the players that they need to be at the facility before the coaches show up. The minute I set foot on the turf, we’re playing and if they’re not warmed up, that’s not my fault. This allows them to spend time together and become a team. Which is the most important part of this whole process.
“Good morning, Coach!”
“Morning, Visser,” I call to the captain. The rest of them echo the greeting and wave as I head towards the other coaches. One of them hands me an iPad with the plan for today and they take me through it. These guys, the assistant coaches especially, are folks who’ve done this before. They’ve coached smaller teams, worked on the sidelines with national teams. I’m a player first, so even if I have the experience, I defer to them when it comes to building plans. They do know better.
The tournament starts at the end of December, so we’ve got time to get these guys into fighting shape. Thankfully all other tournaments are done, so everyone’s in Chennai until we have to be in Rourkela for the season.
I step onto the field and blow the whistle hanging around my neck. “All right boys, let’s go!” They line up in front of me. “I know these last few weeks of training have been fun, but now we’re getting into the serious work. We’re running defensive manoeuvres this week. You know what that means?”
“Practising how to defend the opponents?”
“Exactly. Being a defender is one of the most important roles in any team. You protect your goalie and strikers, you give them the opportunities to score while stopping the other team from doing the same.”
“That’s why I only play defence,” one of them says.
I smile at the way he puffs out his chest. “But we’re switching things up today. You’re going to play every position for the next two practices. Another way to support your teammates is to know exactly how the field looks from their point of view. And how best you can help them.”
“Coach, why?”
Chuckling, I gesture to the other coaches. “Your new positions will be handed out today. If you can’t play offence, then you shouldn’t play defence. And vice-versa. Being a team means stepping in when your teammate needs assistance and how can you do that if you’re not good at their job?”
A round of groans and grumbles go through the group. It was one of my least favourite forms of training when I first started out with the national team. But it taught me so much about the sport and my teammates. We spend our whole lives playing one position and think we know the game. Until everything is flipped and suddenly the world looks different. That’s when you really become a team and everything falls into place beautifully.
My phone buzzes in my pocket as I step back and smile thinking it’s Tamara. Except when I pull it out, my heart drops.
Amma
CALL ME RIGHT THIS MINUTE.
I step off the field, but keep everyone else in sight as I dial my mother’s number. They’re not travelling, even though it’s all they seem to do since they retired, so she answers after the second ring.
“I don’t appreciate finding out about my children’s love lives through the internet. First Elias, now you? I wonder what nonsense your sister is up to.”
I wince. I don’t know if there’s any way to apologise, but then it clicks. She found out online. “Where on the internet?”
“That’s what you have to say?”
I sigh and shake my head. “I’m sorry, Amma. It’s been a lot and I’ve been trying to make sense of it all.”
She huffs and my father’s voice comes over the phone. “Hey Pat. You good, son?”
“He’s fine. Can’t you tell? Knocked some girl up, goes to cake tastings and talks about marrying her. And not a word to his mother!”
