Page 14 of Full Body Hit, Part 1

Chase was shifted off Auston’s line, and the game picked up. Auston managed an assist during the power play, and then Sammy punted one in from Noah’s feed in the third.

They lost by one, but at least they’d gotten their shit together after the first period.

Noah stood in the middle of the room, just east of their team logo stamped on the floor—some guys were superstitious about stepping on it. “Good try, boys, almost made the comeback. I think we still deserve a drink or two after that.”

Cheers sounded from some of the guys. Noah grinned, going around clapping people on their shoulders.

Auston sat on the bench in his stall for a minute, taking the scene in. People appeared in good spirits despite the loss, the room stinking like Alpha and a little like the three Omegas on the team, except Chase.

He glanced at the kid. He was nodding at something Sammy was saying, mouth arched down, eyes squinting like he was hurting or something.

Auston took a deep, subtle breath. The smell of someone injured was usually pungent, and Auston had a pretty good nose, but there was nothing detectable in the air.

He shrugged it off. Not his circus, not his monkeys.

Auston forced himself to go out to the bar with the rest of the team despite his body screaming at him to go home, sit on his couch, have a beer, watch something, and then go to bed when the remnants of adrenaline had washed through him.

Instead, he was stuck in a too-loud, too-dim bar with gleaming countertops and lights shaped like insects for some fucking reason. The servers were wearing bright-purple uniforms, which looked so ridiculous Auston almost gave up on the spot.

“Damn, this place is sweet,” one of the wannabe-rookies said.

Auston reminded himself that turning around and leaving without a word would be detrimental to the bonds he was trying to build with his new team.

Even though they were a bunch of idiots.

Was he old? Or was this place shit? He honestly couldn’t tell anymore.

His old captain instincts flared to life as he saw all the underage rookies light up with the possibility of getting drunk. He corralled all of them to a table before he could even grab a drink.

“Two drinks each and no shots,” he ordered, fishing out his wallet. He pointed at the more responsible of the lot. “You’re in charge of ordering the drinks. You can open a tab with my card—return it immediately. Got it?”

The bushy-tailed kid nodded, taking the card.

Auston supervised just enough to make sure they weren’t going to immediately go wild and left them to it.

He sat at the next table beside Noah, who was staring at the bar with the surliest expression Auston had seen on him yet. Auston followed his gaze, realising what the problem was when he spotted Sammy and Chase at the bar, Sammy clearly flirting with a large Alpha beside him.

Auston sighed. God, this was such a young team—even the captain was stumbling along.

“You could go over and talk to him,” Auston suggested.

Noah flinched slightly. “Huh?”

“The thing with Sammy. Just go over and hang out with him if you don’t have the balls to make a move.”

Noah choked on his spit. “I—move? Why would I—”

“Save it, Cap. The crush is visible from space. If you don’t wanna do something about it, don’t ruin the friendship by staying on the sidelines and getting all bitter.” He pushed Noah almost off his chair. “Go. Hang out. Don’t get in your own head.”

Noah stood up, swaying in place for a moment before straightening up and taking a step towards the bar. He paused, though, looking back at Auston. “Uhm…thanks. And, uhm…I’m not really that obvious, am I?”

Auston rolled his eyes and shooed him away.

It was only when he made sure that everybody was settled with ridiculously-coloured drinks and not getting too wasted that Auston went to the bar.

He shouldered a path to the bartender and ordered a normal beer like was decent and appropriate.

They didn’t have normal beer. They had craft beer.