Page 41 of Full Body Hit: Part 2
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 hadbegged. 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—”
