Page 11 of Full Body Hit, Part 1

He’d housed a few rookies back in Baltimore, especially after he’d gotten the C. He’d done up his basement with a bathroom and private entry—the only thing he hadn’t added was a kitchenette. The last thing he’d needed was his house burning down because the nineteen-year-old that had been staying with him couldn’t boil water.

So, Auston had no fucking reason to dislike Chase.

Except for his scent.

Auston knew it was politically incorrect to judge someone solely for their scent, but it wasn’t like Auston deemed Chase unworthy because of his scent profile.

It was the lack of scent that got to him.

Or, no, not a lack of scent, but an absence of emotional scent—the changes in pheromones according to someone’s emotional state.

Auston used to give people the benefit of the doubt when it came to quiet scents. Some people were more private. Some people had to keep a lid on their scent because they were used to being around people who weren’t trustworthy.

There were legitimate reasons to learn how to control your scent.

But to do it that well? That was just fucking suspicious.

There was only one person Auston had ever met who could control their scent like that, and it was his shitty, manipulative ex.

God, Auston still didn’t know how he’d stayed with Hunter that long. Now that the relationship was long over and he could view it from the outside, everything seemed so obvious.

While he was in it, though, he’d been completely blinded by Hunter’s charm. His innocent, soft-spoken persona, his subtle scent. Auston had been intrigued, caught in the spell of drawing Hunter out of his shell, of taking care of him.

Turned out, Hunter didn’t need taking care of…at least, not in any way that wasn’t financial.

It’d started with Auston’s teammates. Hunter would get upset when Auston spent too much time with them, claiming that they got enough time together during road trips. Auston tried to explain that, as a leader, he had to go celebrate with the team after certain games, certain milestones.

Hunter wouldn’t listen. Would claim Auston didn’t really love him, that Auston was mean, abusive, neglectful.

That was the thing about Hunter. He’d never get angry. Would never shout or hit. What he’d done, it didn’t feel like abuse, but Auston could see now how he’d ended up as a shell of himself. Had been riddled with guilt, had felt useless, like a bad partner, a bad Alpha.

Hunter had used silence and tears as weapons, and Auston had suffered a million cuts.

Auston had diminished the time he spent with his teammates. Even on the road, Hunter would want Auston to call him instead of going out, and Auston would feel so fucking guilty he’d do it.

If Auston had been able to access to Hunter’s scent back then, he could have seen right through him.

Hunter wasn’t upset or scared or lonely. He was possessive, angry, and bitter, and it had taken Auston’s sister and his friend and teammate Mark to mount an intervention for him to snap out of it.

Now, he couldn’t help being suspicious when people could flatten their scent the way Hunter did.

The way Chase could.

Maybe it was unfair to the kid, but why would someone that young learn to control their scent that well?

The only reason Auston could think of was to manipulate people.

Auston’s skin crawled thinking about it, but it wasn’t exactly like he could tell Chase what to do with his scent.

What he could do was make it clear that he wasn’t playing along with the rookie’s game. Chase could bat his eyelashes and give Auston big, hurt eyes, but unless it seeped into his scent, Auston knew his chirping wasn’t really getting to Chase, and there was no reason to stop.

Beside him on the couch, his phone buzzed. He glanced at the lit-up screen, leaning closer to read the text that had just come through.

Mark

Stop ignoring me you dick

Auston rolled his eyes, picking the phone up. He unlocked it with a press of his thumb and then swiped into his friend’s contact.