Between Shadow & Ruin (Fangs & Fae Saga Book 2)

sixty-two.

When we reached the hotel, Val and I entered the room to find everyone on the couch watching a movie, Ray and Aria were cuddled into each other on one end and Zane and Chris on the other. Val sat down to eat the food we picked up on the way back and I walked over to Zane to tell him there was food for him too. The three of us sat down to eat, watching the movie from the other side of the counter. Chris walked over to grab a beer from the fridge. He wrapped his arms around me from behind me, kissing my neck. I closed my eyes, placing my hands on his arms, taking in the scent of his cologne.

"How was Anna?" he asked.

"Well, she left her phone in her office and didn't hear the message that Val and I were there so we interrupted her and Sofia doing who knows what." Chris and Zane were laughing.

"No!"

"Yes! And then she had the nerve to answer the door, half covered in her robe. I saw way more of her than I needed to. Again." They continued to laugh as we ate. We finished eating, and stayed watching movies all night. It was nice spending time with my loved ones, not worrying about anything or having an agenda.

"Hey, doesn't this hotel have a pool?" Zane asked around eleven PM.

"Uh, yeah, I think. But it's probably closed by this point..."

"And between mine and Val's magic to unlock the door and the four of you being able to compel anything that breathes... I don't think there will be a problem..."

"Well, there is the problem that none of us have bathing suits?" Aria said.

"And?" Zane said with a smirk. The rest of us looked at one another, trying to figure out what to do. Ultimately, I looked at Chris to leave the decision to him as it was still his birthday.

"Yeah, fuck it, why not? You two going to come or are you going to let the whole 'no bathing suit thing' stop you?" Chris asked Ray and Aria. Ray raised his eyebrow at Aria as she bit her cheek while she thought about it.

"Alright, fine," she said, fighting a smile. We grabbed towels and headed to the top floor of the hotel, walking towards the pool. There was a cleaning crew finishing up. As we walked towards the door, they stopped us.

"Oh, I'm sorry. The pool is closed for the night," an older woman said.

"Not for us," Chris said, making eye contact. I could see a corner of a dollar bill he put in her hand. "For your silence."

"Oh. Well... you kids enjoy your night!" she said, walking back to her cart. Her and the rest of the crew disappeared down the hall. We walked towards the door as Zane reached for it and unlocked it.

"What about security cameras?" Aria asked.

"Oh, right." Zane pointed towards the camera and a stream of magic left his finger and hit the camera. "There. Now it looks like we're not here. Now, are we going to do this or what?" He held the door open for us, waiting for us to walk through. We got inside and he locked the door behind us, sealing the door. Zane was first to remove his clothes, pulling his shirt and shorts off, dropping them in a heap on the ground.

"Ugh, Zane," Val said, reaching to grab them to put them on a chair. He jumped in the water, and swam the full length of the pool, popping up at the far end with his hair sticking to his neck.

"You guys coming or am I going to enjoy this alone?" he asked, leaning his back against the side of the pool. Chris pulled his shirt, sweatpants and boxers off, draped them over the back of a chair, and walked towards the edge of the pool, sitting down before jumping in. Val and I took our clothes off, and I walked down the stairs into the pool ahead of her. I leaned my back against the side, watching Val as she finished undressing and walked in.