Page 129 of Full Body Hit, Part 1

“Come on, I’m allowed to be surprised. You’ve been single since…forever.”

Auston rolled his eyes.

“For how long has this been going on? How did you meet? Do they live close by? Oh my God, can we meet—”

“Abso-fuckingly-lutely not. He’s not even here at the moment—he’s with his mom for Christmas.”

Ariana narrowed her eyes, obviously trying to see if that was a lie. “Convenient. Okay, so it’s a he. How did you meet?”

Auston debated skirting around the truth, but his sister had an uncanny ability to know if he wasn’t being honest. They’d gotten into enough trouble together during their childhood to know when the other was up to something. “Online.”

“What.”

“Plenty of people meet online,” Auston complained.

“Yeah, normal people. Who aren’t allergic to putting themselves out there emotionally. I just…I’m surprised that you set out to find a partner.”

Well…it had been more about finding sexual gratification than finding a partner, but he wasn’t about to admit that out loud. “Well, I did. So.” He shrugged, studiously cutting the trash-recovered vegan cheese.

“Wow, okay. Damn, little bro, I know I’m giving you shit, but I’m seriously proud of you. What’s he like, then?”

“He’s…sweet. Thoughtful. Intuitive. Kind.” His hands paused in their sandwich-making task as he imagined what his baby was doing. What he looked like. How he felt.

“Oh, shit. So it’s like that, huh?”

Auston snapped out of it. “What?”

Ariana leaned against the counter, tilting her head to the side. “And you guys are exclusive? Wait, you never told me how long you’d been talking.”

“Like two months. And, yeah. We’re exclusive.”

“Did he recognise you? Is he, like, a hockey noob or a fan or what?”

Ah, shit. He’d really been hoping she wouldn’t ask that. “Well…okay, can you be fucking normal if I tell you everything?”

Ariana held her hands up. “I’m literally the normalest person ever.”

“So…we haven’t met face-to-face. Oh my God, don’t fucking give me that look,” he complained when Ariana’s eyes practically bugged out of her dumb face. “We both have our reasons for being anonymous. I don’t know his, but whatever it is, I respect it, okay?”

“Bro, you are one hundred percent being catfished.”

“How is that…he hasn’t shown me pictures of himself. Of his face I mean. And we’ve video chatted. So, no, he’s not catfishing me.”

“Oh, right, you haven’t seen his face. Well. Okay. Still sounds fucking weird.”

“Well, I’m in a weird situation.” He finished his sandwich, putting half on a separate plate and sliding it over to Ariana, who’d been eyeing the food the whole time.

“Oh, thanks.”

They munched quietly for a while.

“You really like this guy, though? He’s legit? I just…you’ve always been so scent-focused, especially after what happened with Dickwad.” She snarled the last word, her nickname for Hunter.

“Yeah, well…if the way I’d been doing things was going to get me anywhere, I’d be there by now. This is…it’s good, okay? I don’t wanna dissect it. I just wanna…have it. And take care of it. And see how it goes. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

Ariana regarded him, chewing slowly. “Okay. Yeah. That’s fair.”

Auston side-eyed her. “Yeah?”