Page 15 of Full Body Hit, Part 1 (Alpha Omega Hockey #5)

He imagined pretty pink lips stretched around him. For some reason, Chase’s face drifted in front of him, those eyes that pleaded to be praised, that ripe mouth.

“ Fuck ,” he shouted as his thighs clenched, dick twitching wildly as he came all over his fist, so much come dripping down it was as if he’d knotted.

He had to just sit there for a moment, catching his breath, sweaty and spent.

He dragged himself into consciousness eventually, snapping another picture and sending it over.

Charlie

Daddy

Please

Auston wiped his hand on his sweats.

Aunix

I want you to do something for me. It might be a little difficult

Charlie

Anything I promise

Aunix

I’m going on a business trip tomorrow. I want you not to come until I return

There was a pause.

Charlie

Ok daddy

Aunix

Yeah? You haven’t even asked how many days I’ll be gone

Charlie

It doesn’t matter

I’ll be good

Can we still talk though?

Aunix

Of course

Cant go without my baby for that long

Charlie

I would miss you too

Auston grinned at his phone, chest glowing with light.

***

“Damn. Kids these days don’t know shit about poker, huh?” Auston laughed, putting his cards down on the little plane table.

Everyone around him groaned, Sammy wrinkling his nose dramatically. “You’re cheating. I know you’re cheating.”

“I mean, I’m not above cheating.…You guys just aren’t good enough for me to need to.”

“Shake out your sleeves,” Sammy demanded.

Auston grinned. Slowly, he reached into one of his shirt sleeves, making a show of wiggling his hand inside. He gasped theatrically and took his hand out with a flourish, middle finger up.

Noah laughed loudly as Sammy gave him an exaggerated eye roll. “You suck. I’m going to sit with Chase.”

Auston flicked his gaze to where Sammy was pointing, just catching Chase peering over the back of a seat like a little kid.

“He knows he can play too, right?” Auston grumbled.

There were general snorts and pointed looks directed his way, and, okay.

Auston could maybe admit—to himself, in the privacy of his mind—that he was a little tough on the kid.

In his defence, the kid didn’t care—he hadn’t smelt distressed once in the whole season, which was quite the fucking feat for anybody, let alone a rookie.

And, sure, Auston could soften up, but he’d decided to focus his energy on the rest of the team.

Charlie was right. Auston had spent his whole career building the legacy of a leader, and he wasn’t going to just throw that away his last year in the league.

So he actually hung out with his teammates. Took them out to a good steakhouse for dinner, even bought them a few drinks.

Milla, as everyone called Vincent Alamilla, was one of the younger guys, and seemed particularly interested in Auston’s experience.

“Was it harder to get the cup the first time or the second in the back-to-back?” he asked.

Auston chewed on a piece of steak as he thought about it.

“Honestly, it was fucking hard both times. There’s a sort of…

boost you get at the start of the off-season.

You’ve made it, you’re ready, and you have it in you to go full force.

After three rounds, though? It’s pure fucking perseverance.

No matter your mentality or how much belief is in the room, your body is exhausted, you’re beat up, and you have to find it in you to have more than the opposing team. ”

Milla nodded, brown eyes wide and bright, taking it all in.

Jimmy, one of the guys on the third line, piped up. “What’s harder, making it to the finals and losing, or being kicked off the first round?”

Some of the guys groaned in sympathetic pain.

“Man,” Auston laughed, “the loss itself is the same. But when the sting leaves, losing in the finals is a lot better—you proved something, right? To yourself, to your team, to others. That kind of pressure isn’t for everyone, but it works on a winning team, I think. ”

He was peppered with questions for the rest of dinner. Noah seemed engaged but kept mostly quiet. Auston made a mental note to sit down with him and answer any stuff he was wondering about but was too self-conscious to dig into in public.

The kid was a good captain; he just needed time to mature fully into the role.

Honestly, it felt good to be interrogated. It proved that Auston hadn’t ruined anything by being closed off the past couple of months.

It was liberating to shake the crust of bitterness that had built up the last few years, to live in the present instead of drifting from nostalgia for the past and hopelessness for the future.

The only person who seemed uninterested in what Auston had to say was Chase. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that the kid spent the whole dinner looking off into the distance or frowning at his plate—it was clear Chase didn’t like him, and the feeling was mutual.

Auston didn’t care about Chase’s disinterest…and yet his gaze kept getting snagged on Chase’s pale, surly face, a scab Auston kept scratching at.

Everybody was chipper and smiling as they returned to the hotel, slapping him on the back and ribbing him for getting the tab.

Auston took it happily. This was what being a veteran was supposed to be, not sitting in the corner, hunched like a mopey gargoyle defending its castle.

He was tired but relaxed as he made it to his hotel room for the night.

He washed off the plane smell and put on something comfortable, turning on the TV and flicking it to a sports channel before settling on the bed.

It was only later that he thought to check his phone, grinning when he saw there was a text waiting for him.

Charlie

Hey daddy

Aunix

Hey, baby. Good day?

Charlie

Mmm it was okay. I kind of have a coworker who hates me but he’s been grumpy enough that nobody else has gotten too close but today everybody was joking around with him

Kind of annoyed me because he’s been a complete dick to me

Auston frowned at the idea of someone being mean to Charlie.

Aunix

Been a dick how? Is it something you can take to HR?

Charlie

What’s HR?

Aunix

Human resources. There should be a department in the place you work that deals with inappropriate behaviour at work

Charlie

Oh right no it’s not that bad I guess he’s just really critical of my work and I guess maybe it gets to me a lot because I used to really look up to him so it sucked when it turned out he was a giant asshole but it’s fine

Aunix

If he ever crosses a line, you should go to HR, baby. Okay? I know it can be intimidating to advocate for yourself but it’s important to learn that skill. That, or tell the asshole to go fuck himself…as long as you don’t get in trouble

Charlie

Lol ok I will

Thanks for looking out for me

Aunix

Always

Charlie

You’re on your business trip right? Where are you?

Auston paused for a few seconds. He could say the truth—but if he kept doing it, Charlie would figure it out for sure.

Aunix

Atlanta. You’ve been?

Charlie

Not yet, but I also have some business trips and that’s one of the places they’ll send me. Is it nice?

Aunix

It’s all right. There’s a bar nearby I’m banned from, actually. Shenanigans from another life

Charlie

OMG for real? Ok well now you have to tell me

Aunix

Well…remember I was young when this happened

Charlie

Ok

Aunix

I might have gotten slightly too intoxicated in the establishment and there were some Omegas who’d been with us, they got on the bar to dance…I might have joined them

Charlie

Oooooohmg lolol wow so you were like a bit wild when you were young huh?

Aunix

It was the culture at my work at the time, honestly. I’ve mellowed out a lot, trust me

Charlie

So what you’re saying is that if I got up to dance on a bar counter you wouldn’t join me?

Aunix

I mean I might make an exception for you

Auston laughed at the string of emojis Charlie sent, filled with disco balls and dancing people and hearts, feeling his chest get all soft and mushy.

Charlie

Do you like to travel if its not for business?

Aunix

I honestly don’t do it a lot. You like to travel?

Charlie

I haven’t done much either but I’d like to. I love the look of those really white dunes you can sandboard down or those places you can do zip lines or like those really remote places where you can just walk around in the jungle or whatever

Aunix

So what you’re telling me is that if we travel together it’ll have to be some adventure thing

Charlie

Are you scared??

Aunix

You wish, kid. Just wanna see all that bravado go up in smoke

Charlie

Yeah right daddy I’m the one who’s gonna be holding your hand

Didn’t you just say you stay home all day and do nothing but knit or something

Aunix

Brat. I should take you wakeboarding, see who ends up on their face first. My bet is not me.

Charlie

Ooooh I’ve always wanted to wakeboard but my mom wouldn’t let me she’s pretty strict about that stuff

Auston winced at the reminder of how young this kid was. He couldn’t remember the last time he didn’t do something because his mom would disapprove of it.

Then again, he hadn’t taken his mom into account when he was Charlie’s age, either.

Aunix

You two close?

There was a pause.

Charlie

Ummm I guess I don’t know

We do talk several times a week she’s pretty insistent

Aunix

I’m getting that ‘close’ is maybe not the right word

Charlie

Yeah I don’t know I guess we’re just really different

I think she just doesn’t like the way I am? I’ve never actually said that before but I think she legit doesn’t like me. Like it isn’t just that she doesn’t love me. She doesn’t like me at all. I can’t remember the last time she said something nice to me. Maybe about my job?

Auston sat up, resting his back on the bed’s headboard. Charlie kept typing.

Charlie

Or I dunno maybe that sounds really dramatic. I guess she just wants a lot from me and sometimes I don’t really know how to give it to her

Aunix