Page 126 of Full Body Hit, Part 1

Jasmine tried climbing up higher, Auston grabbing her by the armpits and drawing her in so she was wrapped around him like a goddamn limpet.

It took forty minutes as a human jungle gym for the twins to let Auston go. He fled to the kitchen, where his mom and dad were lightly arguing about pistachios for some fucking reason. His mom was wearing a loose dress, thick dark hair shot with grey and pulled up in a complicated bun. Her eyes were as sharp as always, a mole sitting over her left eyebrow.

His dad was almost the opposite, stocky where Auston’s mom was lithe, his face square and nose bulbous, thick moustache brushing his upper lip.

Ariana was leaning on the counter, watching them with a glass of wine in her hands as if she were observing a particularly entrancing game of tennis. Her brown hair was pulled back, large, straight nose wrinkled in amusement. She lit up when she saw Auston, though, and he waved her away.

“Don’t start,” he growled.

Their mom stopped short, frowning at Ariana. “Are you annoying him about his post-NHL plans? We agreed we wouldn’t bring that up.”

Ariana laughed. “Nope, but thanks for breaking the pact.”

Auston prayed for strength from the universe. “I’m fine.”

His dad nodded, patting Auston on the back. “Of course you are. If you ever run out of things to do after you stop playing, you can come help me with the gardening,” he said with a disturbing amount of earnestness.

The fuck I’m helping you garden, I’ve never touched soil a day in my life must have shown on his face, because his dad frowned.

“You could learn a thing or two from tending roses, you know. Patience, for one.”

Ariana butted in, “Dad, come on. Auston is a hall-of-fame NHLer.”

Auston narrowed his eyes. That had sounded like a compliment, but…

“He doesn’t have time for us little people and our mortal hobbies like gardening. What is he, a peasant?”

There it was.

Auston rolled his eyes. “When was the last time you gardened, peasant?” Auston asked. He turned to the fridge. He needed a snack if he was going to survive a second more with his family. He paused in his collection of sandwich ingredients. “Where’s my cheese?”

“Oh, I threw it away. It wasn’t good,” his mom said. “You really should be more careful about dairy.”

“Wait—I bought that like a day ago, what do you mean it was bad? Did you look at the expiry date?”

“I didn’t have to. I tasted it. It was bad.”

“It was vegan cheese, mom. It’s supposed to taste like that,” Auston gritted out.

Ariana snorted loudly. “His body is a temple, Mom! God.”

“It was bad,” his mom said decisively.

Oh, God. He really wasn’t going to survive the holidays.

He loved his family—really, he did—but Jesus Christ, were they annoying.

“I need to take a shit,” Auston proclaimed, ignoring the protests that followed him to the bathroom.

Which was, coincidentally, the only room that locked.

Why hadn’t he put locks on the bedroom doors? Deadbolts, even.

He took his phone out of his pocket before sitting on the closed lid of the toilet and then, when that made an ominous creak under the bulk of his weight, on the edge of his bathtub.

Aunix

Pretty sure my mom thinks vegan cheese isn’t a thing