Page 15 of Full Body Hit: Part 2
Chase’s mouth twisted. “I mean…maybe I’m doing something that’s putting him off and he doesn’t want me to feel bad.”
Sammy opened his mouth, but Auston interrupted first with a blurted, “No.”
All eyes landed on him.
“I mean…I doubt it’s that.”
Jesus Christ. Someone shoot him.
“It just—it’s a big jump to attribute it to yourself when it’s probably something going on with your partner, right? People tend to be more incompetent than malicious.”
Sammy snorted. “He sure is incompetent.”
Chase hit Sammy on the arm, but he was still looking at Auston. “But…”
Auston interrupted. “Do you trust him?” His gut was swimming in something queasy as Chase’s eyebrows bunched up.
“Yeah. I do,” Chase replied quietly.
“Then maybe give him the benefit of the doubt? Maybe he hasn’t thought to bring it up because he’s caught up in other things. Which isn’t fair to you, but it’s a lot better than imagining he suddenly isn’t attracted to you.”
Chase’s gaze fell away, face turned ever redder. Under the table, Auston fisted his hands to keep from reaching out. He felt the sudden lack of eye contact like a physical thing, a touch taken away from him.
Chase cleared his throat. “I guess…maybe I don’t trust myself to keep his attention.” He laughed a little, a hollow sound.
“A good relationship depends on having trust in both parties. Maybe that’s something to work on instead of doubting your partner? And maybe tell him so he can communicate better to whatyouneed.”
There was a pause. Slowly, Chase nodded, a slight bob of the head. Beside him, Sammy was staring at Auston, practically gaping. “That was…actually good advice,” Sammy said.
“Thanks,” Auston replied sarcastically, but he tempered his tone with half a smile.
Sammy narrowed his eyes at him but didn’t start another argument.
Conversation slipped into less fraught topics, but Auston remained on edge, glancing at Chase whenever he could.
How the fuck was Auston messing shit up at every step? If there was a way to do this without making Chase feel like shit, Auston wasn’t figuring it out.
His thoughts quieted as the afternoon progressed, though. Watching Chase was fascinating. It was amazing, seeing him do something as simple as eat and talk and smile. How his facechanged with each expression. The brightness of his eyes. The way his nose wrinkled when Sammy said something off-colour, even as he laughed.
Auston didn’t know how he’d missed all that. How the emptiness in Chase’s scent had held so much sway, an infection affecting his mind, sick and feverish with resentment.
It should have been obvious that Chase wasn’t a deceptive person. Apart from his flat scent, there was nothing that would suggest it. If Auston had spent any effort on being unbiased, he would have seen it right away.
Auston had always brushed away his sister’s suggestions to go to therapy. She’d started after his relationship with Hunter and never really stopped. He was fine. Functional. A Stanley Cup champion.
There, sitting at that table, watching Chase laugh, reality fell over him, drowning him in rubble.
What the fuck had happened to him after Hunter? How had he allowed the changes that relationship had caused to harden and spread and calcify, turning him into the kind of person who would sneer at someone as sweet as Chase?
There was something wrong with him.
Something he had to fix if he wanted to be the kind of person he could be proud of.
***
Auston had enough self-control to wait until evening to call Chase, but the Omega beat him to it.
Charlie
