Shiver
- its.brittanyb
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
"“I make sure he understands whose mouth this is. Whose body is this? Who does he fucking belong to? There’s only one person allowed to touch him, and that’s me.”
REVIEW
Would I read this again? Yes No Maybe
Spice Level Legend How spicy is this book?
Tropes | Trigger Warnings |
College romance, Hockey romance, Forbidden love, Bi/Gay awakening, Morally grey MMC, Opposites attract, MM romance, tutor/student | Mild homophobia, Co-dependency |
SUMMARY
Want to just skip to the spice? I got you - Chapters 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 34, 36
This is Book 1 of For Puck's Sake. All books can be read as a standalones.
Egon Wolf is a sophomore in college trying to balance a social life, the hockey team, and his academics. He’s not doing a great job. He is close to failing every single class and if that happens - he loses his scholarship, which means he is off the hockey team and out of college.
Rakesh (Rake) Aahnu is a graduate student who is finishing up his doctorate in Biochem and masters in physics. On top of all of that, he student-teaches two classes. When he’s not doing any of that, he is pursuing his other hobby: seducing straight guys. Rake has never been in a serious relationship and is open about the fact that he just wants to fuck em and leave em. He is currently on the look out for his newest straight man and he is drawn to athletes. He tries to leave the hockey team alone because his uncle is the coach.
Egon gets called into Coach Adak’s office after practice because the coach was contacted about him not doing well in his classes. The coach doesn’t want to lose him on the team but also, he doesn’t want to see Egon fail. He gives Egon a business card for a tutor. Egon immediately texts him and gets an immediate “No” back.
Rake gets a phone call later that night from his uncle. Rake had given his uncle 5 business cards, to give out to those who REALLY need it. So far his uncle has only used two. Coach Adak tells Rake about Egon, Rake said he already got a text from him and he already refused. His uncle convinces him to reconsider. After hanging up with his uncle, he texts Egon back about where and when to meet.
Rake immediately likes Egon, as a person. Rake doesn’t think that Egon is a normal jock - all muscle, no brains - but that he is an actual smart guy, who is just really overwhelmed.
With Rake’s help, Egon slowly raises his grades and starts to feel like he is actually understanding his classes. But with tutoring, classes, and hockey, and a new friendship with Rake - Egon doesn’t have much time for his girlfriend, Temca.
Some of his teammates try to warn him that she is cheating on him but Egon just ignores them. Rake catches her canoodling up to some other jocks but he doesn’t want to be the one who tells Egon because he doesn’t want to hurt him.
One evening, Egon is on his way to Rake’s. Rake just got back to his apartment, and when he walked in his building, he sees Temca sucking face with some other guy. As Rake gets to his door, she comes up behind him and offers to suck him off if he will keep quiet about what he saw. Rake is like please stop touching me. Egon sees all of this and gets upset. Not so much that Temca cheated on him, but that she was touching Rake. That she was propositioning Rake.
Rake takes Egon into his apartment and they end up cuddling. This is not the first time that Egon has spent the night at Rakes. One night after practice, Egon was exhausted and just collapsed into Rake’s bed and fell asleep (after stripping down to his boxers by the way).
Egon feels an attraction to Rake but is confused because he’s straight, he has never ever been into guys. Rake is into Egon, more than he wants to admit, but doesn’t push him.
Their relationship starts off slow (....kinda). Egon is very much co-dependent and a little needy. But he is super sweet and we must protect him at all costs.
Rake is really attentive and loving and gives Egon everything he needs. If Egon is needy, it's because Rake is always providing him what he needs. Tutoring, food, a place to rest, relax, cuddles - everything.
Egon doesn’t come out to anyone but his teammates see him always with Rake and them touching a lot. At midterms, Egon is really nervous because of how much weight the midterms are for his total grade. Rake tells him that if he passes all of his tests and wins the game that week, then he will get rewarded. Egon tells him what he wants for his reward is anal. Rake agrees.
Luckily for Egon, he passes and wins. They have a very sex filled weekend but by Sunday, Rake is making it real awkward. He’s scared. He is scared of his feelings towards Egon. He is scared of Egon’s feelings towards him. And he’s being a real big fucking baby. And how do real big fucking babies handle their feelings? They run. So that’s what he does. (I just read this book, so I’m still in my feelings (aka still mad at Rake)).
Come Monday morning, Egon can tell something is wrong, and Rake is really standoffish and distant. Then he fucking ghosts him. After a week of Egon trying to find him and get in contact, Egon stops. Not because he’s over it but because he falls into such a deep depressive state, that he quits eating and drinking and becomes hospitalized. His teammates really rally around him. (At this point, you might be thinking, why didn’t Coach Adak say anything? Well, I forgot to mention, Coach got an NHL job and left mid-season). Egon returns to practice, games, and classes but only physically. Not mentally nor emotionally. He hears nothing in class. He practices like shit. They start losing games.
Meanwhile, Rake is feeling awful (as he should). He thinks what he needs is just a good hookup, so he heads to his favorite spot. On the way there, he walks by a tattoo shop and instead of hooking up, he goes in and gets a hockey related tattoo on his chest.
A whole month passes and Rake is walking by the hockey arena during a game. He overhears a bunch of boos and realizes that the team has been losing and spectators are blaming Egon. Rake goes into the game (he was attending all the games until he started ghosting) and he sees Egon. He immediately can tell something is very wrong. He gets Egon’s attention and at first Egon thinks he is hallucinating (as he has done before - how very Bella Swan of him). Once he realizes Rake is really there, he starts to play better.
After the game, Rake is waiting for him. He asks if Egon will talk to him. They go back to Rake’s apartment. Rake apologizes a lot. Tells Egon that he was scared, he’s never been in a relationship, he doesn’t know how to do this, and he knows that he isn’t good enough for Egon. Egon forgives him WAYYYYY too easily.
During their month apart, Egon is now failing his classes again but with Rake’s help he manages to pass all of his classes for the semester.
Rake and Egon just go right back to being inseparable. Egon forgives him, Rake feels guilt but not nearly as much as he should. On Christmas break, Rake and Egon elope on their way to Rake’s family's house. Egon admits they have moved way too fast but he doesn’t regret anything.
Epilogue shows 2 years later - they are still together. Egon has graduated and has a job with a NHL team as a certified athletic trainer. Rake and him bought a house and Rake is surprising him with a kitten.