Page 12 of Full Body Hit, Part 2 (Alpha Omega Hockey #6)

“All right. That’s okay, baby. It’s okay if it’s ever not fine too, yeah?”

Chase nodded. There wasn’t much else he could do.

“What did you get up to with your friends, then?”

“Oh, well…we made a pillow fort.”

Aunix gasped. “And no pictures?”

A smile crept onto Chase’s face, chest loosening. “I did take a few, actually.”

Chase sent them over, the conversation devolving into talking about forts, and nests, and sleepovers—something Chase hadn’t done as a kid.

It was what Chase had been searching for. Just a normal conversation. He didn’t need to be comforted . He was fine.

Still. It was nice to just sit there and listen to his Daddy talk—about sleepovers when he was young, the mischief he got into. Things that Chase would never have dared to do.

He closed his eyes and let Aunix’s voice blanket him.

***

In the end, his mom stayed for three days.

And so did Sammy and Noah.

It was kind of fascinating to see Sammy and Chase’s mom interact.

Everything she said bounced right off him.

If she suggested there were too many people in the apartment, Sammy deflected about how thankful he was to have such a generous friend to let them stay.

If she wanted to watch tape, Sammy could act as if he were about to faint if he were presented with another minute of hockey and then put on a movie about a talking dog.

And Chase’s mom just…let it happen. Chase could tell she didn’t like it—her narrowed eyes, the way her jaw ticked—but she didn’t fight Sammy on it, too polite to outright say anything.

Chase was used to just going along with what his mom said. He didn’t even think to oppose her.

Not that he would even if he wanted to—it wasn’t as if she had any bad ideas. Maybe just…bad timing, what with always wanting to talk about Chase’s game, even when he was exhausted.

Sammy even accompanied them to the airport to drop Chase’s mom off, chatting for the full forty-five minutes it took to get there.

Chase wasn’t sure if he even breathed .

Chase’s mom gave him a curt pat on the shoulder and an even curter ‘goodbye’ to Sammy as they parted, and that was it.

His mom was gone.

Chase felt almost dizzy on the ride back, as if he’d been carrying some giant weight, had gotten used to the shape of it, only for it to be suddenly lifted off him.

He drove Sammy home to his very much not water-damaged apartment, idling by the entrance.

“You guys didn’t have to do that, but…thanks.”

Sammy ruffled his hair. “We all need a bit of backup sometimes. You good? Want to come in?”

“It’s okay—wanna just…”

“Rest a bit. I get you. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Yeah.”

Samy gave him an air-kiss and went to open the door before pausing. “Oh, wait. Um—did you tell Auston about your mom?”

“That she was here?”

“No—about the whole…medication thing. And her kind of stressing you out.”

“She doesn’t stress me out, she just—”

“Okay, okay. Sorry. I mean…did you tell Auston about your mom?”

Chase frowned. “No?”

“Really? Because he was the one who told us to go over to yours. He was freaking out, begging us to make up an excuse and not leave you alone with her.”

Chase stared at Sammy. “What?”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner—wanted to wait until your mom was gone.”

Chase didn’t even care about that—he was still stuck on all of this having been Auston’s idea. “Wait, but…what? Why would he do that?”

“I mean, that’s kind of why I was asking. Did your mom say something he could have overheard?”

He thought back to the night his mom had arrived—ambushing him in the car park. The jolt of fear that had gone through him. How disappointed his mom had been about the game. Auston showing up out of nowhere, saying they had dinner plans even though Chase was sure that wasn’t the case.

Had his mom said something to make Auston concerned enough to send Sammy and Noah after him?

“I don’t think so?”

“Okay, well…”

“I’ll ask him, I guess.”

Sammy scrunched his nose. “Okay. Let me know how that goes.”

“Yeah.” Chase nodded.

A small pit lodged itself deep in his gut as he watched Sammy go.

He was sure he hadn’t told Auston anything bad about his mom. The only people he’d told about the whole medication thing were Sammy and Aunix.

Sammy wouldn’t tell, and Aunix couldn’t even if he wanted to.

There was no reason for Auston to know about it.

No logical reason, anyway—no reason that wasn’t too ridiculous to even consider.

***

Chase bobbed in and out of sleep that night, skimming the surface and then being yanked back up, shaky and out of breath. His thoughts were waterlogged, sloppy—there was no reason for him to be feeling like this.

He finally gave up at six and moved to his nest. His bedsheets had been cleaned since his mom had slept there, but they felt strange, an unwelcome touch.

Even his nest didn’t succeed in calming him completely, but at least it was better than the open, vulnerable space of his room.

He was already exhausted by the time he made it to the arena, but he managed to fight through it, smiling and chatting and completing drills like there wasn’t a sickness bubbling in his gut, the fumes of it climbing up his throat until everything inside him itched and stung.

His gaze drifted to Auston as practice ended. The Alpha was talking to an assistant coach, lines of his face straight and serious.

Why would Auston send Sammy and Noah after him? No matter how many times he turned the question around, no answer made sense.

Auston had known it was his mom. It was objectively crazy to think anybody would need backup from their mom —especially someone with Auston’s happy family.

He changed out of his practice uniform in a haze, taking too long in the shower and suddenly snapping out of it.

He could have this conversation another day…but the wait would kill him.

Auston was still in the locker room when Chase finished getting changed. Chase watched him dress in his customary sweats and T-shirt, both a deep grey. It was casual. Relaxed.

Chase’s heartbeat was pulsing in his head, a throbbing behind his eyes.

There was going to be a perfectly normal explanation. There was no reason to be freaking out like this.

“Auston,” he called, standing up.

Auston looked up, smile immediate. “Hey. You good?”

Chase grabbed his bag. “Yeah, um…do you wanna grab lunch?”

Auston’s eyebrows sprang up. “Sure.”

There must have been something on Chase’s face because Auston’s expression dimmed, a divot appearing between his eyebrows.

“We can go to mine?”

“Yeah. That’d be great.”

Even if this was just going to be a silly conversation, he didn’t want to do it in public.

The ride to Auston’s was surprisingly familiar—something he would never have thought at the beginning of the season. He followed Auston into the apartment after they parked, breath tight in his chest.

Despite his nose-blindness when it came to pheromones, Auston’s space smelt familiar, a light, comforting smell.

Chase’s shoulders unwound marginally. It smelt like Auston.

He sat in his usual place on a kitchen stool, Auston going straight to the fridge with a, “You in the mood for anything in particular?”

Chase stared at Auston’s back. The thought of stomaching anything right now made him queasy.

The silence went on for too long because Auston turned, closing the fridge door. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Chase assured and then, out of the pit of him, “Did you tell Sammy and Noah to stay with me while my mom was here?”

It wasn’t as if Auston were moving, and yet the way he froze was visible, a sudden, complete lack of movement, “I…” Auston took a step closer, the kitchen island still between them. “Yeah. I did.”

Chase had expected that, obviously, but it still sent a little shock of dread through him. “Why?”

Auston tilted his head down. It was such an uncharacteristically shy move that it made Chase’s heart pound harder.

The silence stretched. The awful feeling in Chase’s stomach got heavier. “Auston?”

That snapped him out of it. “I…fuck. Okay.” Auston’s gaze finally met Chase’s, knocking the breath right out of him. “Chase.”

Chase shook his head. Auston hadn’t even said anything, but the truth was falling on him, crushing him slowly, bit by bit.

“I…I want you to know that everything I’ve done has been to try not to lose you.”

Chase slipped off the stool despite his wobbly knees. “What are you talking about?”

“I…” His eyes were electric. Painful. Knowing. “I’m Aunix.”

The world turned hazy. Colours bled into each other, thoughts spilling in incomprehensible patterns. His body wasn’t his. It was floating in a vacuum. All he could feel was his pulse, the rabbiting pace taking over.

Aunix . Even hearing that name said out loud was a break in reality.

His mind couldn’t take it all at once, the horrors dripping in through the shock—the intimate conversations.

The confessions about his mom, his scent.

The nudes. The videos. The way Chase had begged .

The things he’d said, and given, and revealed.

Daddy .

God. Oh, God. Chase had felt so safe. Had thought he’d found his home. His family.

He’d been so thoroughly, thoroughly fooled.

His lungs locked up, the kitchen spinning around him.

“Chase. Shit, Chase—”

A hand touched him, and suddenly Chase was warped back to Earth. He stumbled away, venom spreading from the warmth of Auston’s skin. “Don’t touch me,” he gasped.

Auston retracted his hand immediately, whole body flinching, a stool clattering as it was knocked aside. “Sorry. Sorry, just—try to breathe. One deep breath.”

Chase clutched the material over his chest, trying to draw some air in, out, in.

Fuck, how was he so stupid ?

“Why?” Chase asked, voice a tiny little thing. “Was it just you? Did you…did you show more people?” Was it all a ruse? Had Auston been dragging him along, the pathetic little Omega, laughing at how easily he pleaded for it?

Auston’s eyes went wide. “What? No . Chase—absolutely not.”

“Then why did you do it? To laugh at me?” The panic was rising again, a drowning tide.