Page 45 of Full Body Hit, Part 2 (Alpha Omega Hockey #6)

CHASE

D espite Auston’s words the previous night, Chase didn’t expect him to be up. Still, the morning felt a little more open, a little fresher, as he went to have breakfast. He decided that he’d go into town again, sending Auston a text and ordering a car.

The day was hot, the sun stinging, and Chase took refuge in the cool shops, eventually taking lunch at a bar with an outside patio.

He watched the people passing by, gaze snagging on the couples, feeling the absence in the chair across him.

He wished Sammy were there. It was a funny thought, that his friend wouldn’t have left him to his own devices like this, loyal to a fault.

Chase couldn’t help but remember Cancun. How close he’d felt to Auston, floating in the water with his legs wrapped around the Alpha’s hard body, how it felt as if they were escaping reality and building their own little world.

His phone buzzed just as Chase was finishing his meal.

Daddy

Hey. You still in town?

Chase

Yeah but I’m just finishing up

Be there soon

Daddy

Ok, I’ll be in the room

Chase liked the message and put his phone away.

He felt oddly numb as he got to the hotel, mood fitting the artificial coolness of the lobby.

The air was a little stale in their room but the window was open, Auston lounging in the nest but straightening as Chase came in.

“Hey,” Auston said quickly. His complexion had improved—he’d showered, at least, even though he was pale, the skin under his eyes bruised.

“Hey,” Chase replied softly. He set his stuff on the table, lingering there.

“Can we—can we talk?”

Chase looked Auston over. He’d never heard the Alpha sound so uncertain. “Yeah.” He swayed in place before deciding to take his shoes off and get on the bed, right outside the perimeter of the nest.

Auston stared at him, licking his chapped lips. “I’m really fucking sorry.”

Chase picked at his nailbed. “It’s…I mean, I get it. I do. I just…I know you’re sad. I’m not telling you not to be sad. I just…” He laughed humourlessly. “When we mated, my first thought was—I’m never going to be lonely again. And these past few days…I’m just lonely.”

The scent in the room turned dark and pungent, a small, hurt sound leaving Auston. “Baby…”

Chase waved him away. “It’s been two days. I’m seriously fine. It’s just weird being here in Spain and feeling as if I’m in the way, you know? I think we should just go home and…deal with stuff there.”

Auston swallowed audibly. “I…if you wanna go, we’ll go, but—give me one more chance. Just one more day. I promise I’ll get my shit together.”

Chase sighed, smiling slightly. He crawled forwards until he was sitting next to Auston, inside the nest this time.

“I don’t need you to get your shit together.

You can be sad and mope and…whatever you need, but I just want to be there with you, okay?

I don’t want to feel like I’m watching you. Like I’m not allowed inside.”

Chase reached over, squeezing Auston’s hand, and Auston pressed back immediately. “I know. I mean, fuck, this was supposed to be a honeymoon, and I’m just…” He shook his head. “I’m here. I’m here with you.”

Chase’s smile wobbled, but it only grew. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“And…maybe this is something to bring up to your therapist? When we get home?”

Auston nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

He crawled on top of Auston, straddling him, tucking into his chest, nose in Auston’s neck, drinking in their combined, mated scent.

***

The next day dawned hot and sticky—not outside, but in the room, Auston draped over Chase, crushing him to the bed. Chase wasn’t sure how he was getting oxygen, but it felt nice, all that weight on him, steadying the core of him, keeping all the loose pieces in place.

Auston was still visibly sleepy as he woke up, but he followed Chase to breakfast easily, piling his plate full and knocking back two cups of coffee.

“Wow,” Auston grunted after he’d polished off the last of the bacon. “I fucking needed that.”

Chase laughed. “Are you sure you don’t want more? You only had like seven pieces of toast.”

“I hadn’t eaten properly in like two days.”

“Oh, does alcohol not count as food?” Chase said lightly.

Auston tensed but then cracked a smile when he saw Chase didn’t mean anything by it. “I think beer is actually on the food pyramid.”

“Yeah…I don’t think that’s true.”

Auston hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe I should become a nutritionist.”

“Great, now I’m going to visit you in jail after you kill all your clients?”

“Aw, you’d visit me in jail?”

“ ’Course.” Chase shrugged, smile playing with the edges of his mouth. “You’re my mate. I’m your ride or die.”

Auston’s expression did something complicated, a sort of softening of his edges. He reached across the table, squeezing Chase’s hand, eyes and scent glowing.

The day went by slowly. They lounged at the beach, Auston slathering Chase in sunscreen despite spending most of the time in the shade.

There was a breeze, but it was hot, travelling from Africa, making the air dry.

The sea was freezing in comparison, but it was a relief to go in, as painful as the first few seconds were.

Chase eeped as the water lapped at his thighs, scared to go any further. “Help.”

Auston chuckled, grabbing him from the waist and striding forwards, ignoring Chase’s shouts, the cold enveloping their bodies, and then suddenly they were under the surface, Chase clinging to Auston.

They surfaced together, Chase spluttering. “That’s not the kind of help I meant,” he complained, but Auston just laughed, spinning around, Chase cutting through the waves as he hung off Auston like a koala.

The sting of the cold went away after a while, and Chase rested his head on Auston’s shoulder, smelling salt and Auston and them, closing his eyes and letting the sunlight filter through his eyelids and paint everything orange and gold.

It was a good day. Auston wasn’t talkative, but he was present, staying close enough to touch at all times. Chase didn’t need him to talk, or to be cheerful. He just needed him there.

“Do you still want to leave?” Auston asked him that night.

“No. Today was perfect.” They had eaten at the beach and gone to their room, sticky with sweat and salt and sand. They’d showered, skin sensitive from the sun but left squeaky clean, reborn.

Auston smiled, kissing him, and fell onto their hotel bed, everything soft and intimate.

Chase had needed this. Words weren’t necessary. He just needed closeness—Auston kissing his face, his neck, sinking his fingers into Chase and stretching him slowly.

Chase gasped, legs splayed, inviting the bulk of Auston’s body, the heat of his skin, his breath. They kissed deep, wet, dirty, and when Auston finally started fucking him, stretching Chase to his limit, they just breathed into each other’s mouths, so close they were an inch from devouring.

“Love you, baby,” Auston whispered, and Chase held him tight, feeling him everywhere, so deep into his heart it had become the scaffolding that held it up, the nutrients that kept it red and alive.

“Love you,” he said like a promise and let go.

***

Chase didn’t manage to find a nearby rink in Spain, but he rented one out as soon as they got home. He surprised Auston a few days after they landed, telling him to close his eyes and driving him there.

“You wanna train already ?” Auston said, but the slant of his mouth gave away the joke, his eyes soft around the corners as he pulled Chase towards him and landed a kiss on his head.

Chase had their skates in the trunk, taking them out as Auston carried the sticks.

It was quiet and still inside, a strange contrast to the usual activity in the Spirits’ arena.

The guy who had rented them the ice time had promised it would be all theirs.

Apparently, he was a big Spirits fan, and a few signed Jerseys on top of the renting fee had ensured they wouldn’t be filmed or interrupted.

“You don’t gotta worry about that,” the man, Bob, had said. “I see one of the press sniffing around and I’ll boot them out myself.”

It was colder than Chase was used to on the ice, what with it being so empty and having forgone any padding. His chest warmed up the moment he saw Auston skating, though—the way the Alpha’s shoulders relaxed, his face going slack and peaceful.

“You wanna play keep away?” Chase asked eventually, after simply cutting through the ice for a while.

Auston grinned. “Eager to get your ass kicked, huh?”

“Yeah, as if, old man.”

In truth, Auston might not have been faster or more physically agile than him, but his bulk and his experience outdid Chase easily.

Auston didn’t even bother pretending he was into the game for long, instead crowding Chase against the boards and pinning him there, laughing as Chase cursed and wiggled out of reach.

It devolved into tag pretty quickly, Chase’s peals of laughter echoing across the silent stands.

Auston got him for good just as Chase’s legs started to ache, scooping him around the middle and swingling him.

“ Auston ,” Chase protested, but he was grinning too hard to make it sound stern.

Auston spun him, pressing their chests close, cheeks flushed and eyes bright.

They just stood there for a while, breathing the same air, basking in the same moment.

Auston lifted a hand to cup Chase’s cheek, smoothing a thumb under his eye. “I love you so fucking much, baby. You know that, right?”

Chase took a breath.

Yeah. He did know. He was filled with Auston’s love, felt it all the time now, a thing that was becoming part of who he was.

“Yeah, Daddy. I know.”

Chase leaned upwards for a kiss, and Auston gave it without hesitation, melting them together.

“I love you too,” Chase whispered. “See how much fun this can be? You have so much to give…the kids are gonna love you, and you’re gonna love teaching them to love hockey like we do.”

Auston bumped their foreheads together. “This is what my future looks like, huh?”

Chase hummed. “Yeah. Does it look good?”