Page 24 of Full Body Hit: Part 2
The hand on his arm tightened.
Auston opened his mouth, and—
“Okay,” Chase said, taking a step back. Auston broke the contact. “I’ll see you at practice.”
His heart was rabbiting so hard, he didn’t even hear Auston’s reply. He had to get out of there.
He nodded anyway, smile tacked onto his face, only able to actually breathe once he was outside the building, cold air filling his lungs.
That had been…there was no way Chase had read that right. Auston hadn’t been going tokisshim. Chase hadn’t been going to kiss Auston, either—obviously.
That had just been…nothing.
It’d been nothing.
He hurried to the car, taking his phone out with his keys.
He was calling Aunix as soon as he got home. That was the only person he wanted to kiss.
***
Logic had returned to Chase by the time he made it home and into his nest.
What a ridiculous overreaction. Nothing had happened. Auston had been perfectly polite. Friendly, even. Maybe it was the shock from the difference between the Alpha now and before that Chase was interpreting as…intent.
Interest.
And Chase—he didn’t have eyes for anybody but Aunix. Sure, being around a friendly Aunix stirred some old memories, but it was nothing more than that.
But lust couldn’t compare to the enormous ocean of feeling he had for Aunix.
Still, the urge to hear Aunix’s voice hadn’t dissipated.
He pressed his phone to his ear instead of putting it on speakerphone, needing to feel it near.
“Hey.”
The knots in Chase’s muscle loosened at the familiar tone. “Hey, Daddy. You busy?”
“Nope. Was gonna call you in a bit, actually.”
Chase grinned. “Yeah? Miss me, old man?”
Aunix’s reply was far more serious than the teasing called for. “You have no idea.”
Fuck if that wasn’t a slice to the heart. “Miss you too,” Chase whispered as if their conversations on the phone were due to living hundreds of miles apart instead of the paralysing fear of meeting face-to-face.
At least, it was fear on Chase’s part. He wasn’t sure what Aunix’s reasoning was, and it was impossible to ask without having the question lobbied right back.
“How was your day?” Aunix asked.
Chase bit the inside of his cheek, both tension and relief flowing through him.
There would be liberation in some sort of confession.
“It was good. I had lunch with a co-worker.”
“Oh?”
