Page 17 of Full Body Hit, Part 2 (Alpha Omega Hockey #6)

CHASE

T he air was clear as they left the diner, their conversation having expelled the noxious gas that had built between them since the reveal, a yellow-green veil they left behind within the restaurant.

As Auston promised, he took Chase to the cinema next. Chase begged off the offered popcorn and chocolates. “I’m going to explode if you feed me anything else,” he whined.

“Well, I don’t want that,” Auston said.

Inside the theatre, even before the film began, Auston covered Chase’s hand with his, leaning in and asking, “Is this okay?”

Chase had to will his airways open, had to calm the chill and heat that had sprung across his body. “Yeah,” his mouth said, even though his brain had disengaged.

Auston had seen videos of Chase’s hole being stuffed full of the biggest dildo Chase had ever seen, but this simple touch, the warmth and strength of Auston’s fingers, the way they wrapped around Chase’s sweaty hand, was enough to take him through half the movie.

He couldn’t remember what they were watching.

He couldn’t remember why it had been such a bad idea to give Auston a chance—why he’d thought he’d be crushed under Auston’s indifference when Auston’s thumb was tracing patterns on the back of his hand, the calloused pad as soft as it could possibly be.

There in the dark, he could imagine it was Aunix holding him—the Alpha who had liked him from the start. The one who was gentle and caring, who had listened to Chase complain and soothed his fears.

It was the same person who had made Chase beg for release—that firm, tender voice Chase wanted to drape over his nest, the softest piece of cloth.

They were still holding hands as the movie ended but had to let go to gather their things and put their coats on. Chase tightened his fingers into a fist, feeling them tingle.

Chase made vague noises at Auston’s questions about the film, hiding the fact that he couldn’t recall a single second of it.

His neck was still warm, his mouth dry as they got into the car.

In the dim theatre, his body had gained a new awareness of Auston’s—had replayed all the moments it’d begged for the Alpha’s touch, every moment it had yearned with every cell to be this close.

Auston tried to fill the silence, but Chase couldn’t talk. His mind was floating in a glittering cloud above them, full to bursting with possibility, with the sudden realisation—

Aunix was near enough to touch.

“Can I walk you to your door?” Auston asked, voice subdued. Chase hadn’t even noticed they were outside his apartment, but he nodded, guiding the way into the cold night.

There was no one outside, the pavement wet from a rain shower that had passed silently while they’d been in the cinema. The air smelt of ice and tarmac and soil.

Chase stopped by the big glass doors leading into the building, the panes frosted, the doorman just a blur at his desk on the other side. He tucked his body between the brick wall that jutted out and the entrance, cornering himself in an attempt to steady his wobbly legs.

Auston’s expression was serious, eyes flat, mouth a sober line. Chase wanted to read something into it—maybe Auston hadn’t had fun, maybe he wasn’t happy with how things were going—but he was too distracted by the sound of his own heartbeat to think straight.

This was Aunix. This was Aunix .

Chase’s hand stung sweetly with the memory of Auston’s fingers holding it.

Auston cleared his throat. “Thanks for…for giving me a chance,” he started. “I, uhm…”

Chase watched as Auston glanced up and down the street, hands scrubbing through his hair, visibly uncomfortable in a way he’d never witnessed either Auston or Aunix be.

“I get if I’ve been too much of a dick for you to want this, but…I just want you to know I feel really fucking lucky to have gotten to know you, and if you ever wanted to be even just, like, friends…”

Chase blinked up at Auston, a veil dissipating. Suddenly, he could see the lines on his face, the bags under his eyes, the tension in his shoulders.

The fear of rejection that dripped off him.

Chase wasn’t alone in his fear and insecurity.

He wasn’t alone at all.

Chase took a bracing breath, leaned up, and kissed him.

Auston twitched, breaking the contact, but he swooped back in before Chase could second-guess himself. All at once, Chase was being devoured, a big hand cradling the nape of his neck, an arm around his middle, holding and dragging him closer as lips moved against his.

Chase couldn’t fucking think . His body took over, arms circling Auston’s shoulders, pressing in, body trembling at how desperately tight Auston was holding him.

Chase moaned as Auston’s tongue forced into his mouth, demanding, his back hitting the wall, mind spinning.

“Auston,” he gasped, feeling it everywhere, skin lighting up with it, so hot he was surprised when he opened his eyes and the air wasn’t steaming.

Auston groaned, forehead falling onto Chase’s shoulder. “Fuck.”

“Please,” Chase begged, suddenly desperate for it—he needed to be nearer, to be undressed, to be covered in Auston’s scent even if he couldn’t smell it. He needed to be opened up and fucked, filled, taken. Needed to be bitten and kept—finally, finally .

Chase found Auston’s mouth again, mewling into it, and Auston gave in again, sinking his teeth into Chase’s bottom lip, hands gripping him hard enough to bruise.

One of Auston’s big hands pawed at his thigh, his ass, and Chase was about to jump up so Auston could catch him when the Alpha pulled away, eyes glittering and lips wet and cheeks flushed.

“Wait. Wait,” Auston panted.

Chase whined. He didn’t want to wait—it’d been months already. Years, really, if Chase counted all his parasympathetic pining as a teenager. “Let’s go inside.”

“No. Baby, wait—we should take this slow.”

Chase scoffed. “It’s been months .”

“I mean, not really. We should…date, okay? You need to figure out if this is something you actually want—”

“I had a crush on you as a kid, you know,” Chase blurted.

Auston looked pained.

“After…after I presented—after they put me on the medication that stops me from being able to scent pheromones…you were one of the last things I smelt. I had a used jersey of yours, and I…I took it out and smelt it and it was the best thing I’d ever felt.”

Auston closed his eyes, swaying forwards, hands gripping Chase’s waist so hard he could feel every individual finger through his coat. “Fuck. Baby…” He leaned in, nose brushing Chase’s neck. “I can smell your slick,” he whispered.

Chase squeezed his thighs together, feeling the wetness there, soaking into his underwear. “Daddy…Daddy, please, you said you’d take care of me—”

Chase was cut off with another kiss, deep and feral, and the type of hunger that only multiplied the craving instead of satiating it, but just like that, it was over, steeping away. “No. Just—let’s take it slow. Okay? Please. For me, too. I need to…we need to make sure, okay?”

Chase could feel himself pout. “ I’m sure.”

“Baby, let’s take some time.”

“I don’t need it!”

“Baby,” Auston said more sternly this time. “Be good.”

That shut Chase right up. “Fine,” he huffed.

Auston smiled, eyes glowing, and Chase wanted him so much it was an ache at the very core of him. “I’ll see you at practice tomorrow, okay? You good?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Chase said, still pouting, and Auston laughed.

“All right. I, um…yeah. Get out of the cold, okay?”

Chase rolled his eyes. “Okay, Daddy,” he said, grinning as Auston twitched at the name. “See you tomorrow, I guess.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Chase peeked over his shoulder as he unlocked the door and stepped inside, watching Auston until the frosted glass reduced him into a pixelated blob.

***

Despite the fitful night of sleep, Chase was jittery as he got to the arena for practice. Sammy side-eyed him as soon as he spotted him, inspecting him closely and asking, “What’s wrong?”

Chase, who had been staring at Auston across the locker room, jumped at the question. “Huh? Nothing. What’s wrong with you ?”

“I’m not the one acting like a wet cat. Why’s your face doing that?” Sammy followed Chase’s gaze, landing on Auston. “What’s he done now?”

Chase blushed. He hadn’t told Sammy about meeting Aunix—about who it had turned out to be. Handling the aftermath of that little revelation would take three to five working days, so Chase would have to plan accordingly.

Auston didn’t do anything particularly strange during practice, but he stayed nearby, eyes intense. It had Chase shivering, his neck hot.

God, what would it be like to smell him? He wondered if there was a clue about how Auston was feeling there, tucked between pheromones, something that had Sammy frowning and wrinkling his nose.

Auston tapped one of Chase’s skates with his stick when practice was over. “Wanna practice your slapshot?”

Chase grinned. “Yeah.” He collected the puck bucket and got into position. “Can I feed you pucks first so I can see exactly what you do?”

“What, like you haven’t obsessed over videos of me?” Auston smirked.

“ Urgh , please,” Chase replied, but he didn’t actually have a comeback—he was probably half of the YouTube views on every single Auston Mazdaki video.

Chase hadn’t realised how much he’d been repressing in previous practice sessions as question after question bubbled out of him.

He watched his position as he took slapshots, asked him about why he chose an eighty-seven flex on his stick, why a P10 curve on a twelve-inch blade, which was crazy different from Chase’s P90.

Auston kept trying to be playful, bumping into Chase, smiling down at him, but Chase focused him on the task.

“Auston, come on. Go through the face-off stuff again, I suck at them.”

Auston’s grin dropped. “Damn, okay. I mean, we should really have someone here to drop the puck to practice, but—”

“I’ll call one of the assistant coaches, I know Paula is staying late. Oh, there she is.”