The Masked Singer

[Chapter Fifty]

Chapter Fifty

Shaking my head, "I'm not cold." I insist, but I have to stop myself from pulling my already soaking towel tighter around my body for warmth.

"You so are," he teases, "come here." He opens his arms for me.

Without my permission, Alex takes his towel and wraps it around my shoulders and then pulls my body against his chest. The extra layer stops another shiver from coursing up my spine.

"I'm not cold," I insist, but I don't take any means to move away from his body. Why is he so warm and cuddly all the time?

"Why are you so warm?" I question.

We're both standing outside of the pool with the breeze wafting past us. But the cold air only seems to be affecting me by the looks of it.

"I don't know." He laughs. With his arms wrapped tightly around me, we sway from side to side as he rubs his hands up and down my arms. As I press my head against his chest, I get lost in the sound of his heart beating. I even forget we're not the only people standing in this room.

"It's getting close to departure time, you two should showered and get ready to leave," Archer suggests.

"That's a good idea." I break away from his hold and start walking towards the exit. Alex is quick to chase after me. As we get to the door, he opens it up and I file out first. The three of us quickly move through the lobby and into the elevators.

We stand in silences as the elevator slowly passes from one level to another. When the door pings open - Alex wraps his arm around my waist and tugs me out into the hallway. Still in the toe curling awkward silence, we progress down the hall until we come up to our doors.

"Make sure you sort out the situation with Nathan. Riley won't be at the next stop," he whispers into my ear.

A shiver runs down my spine, but not from the cold. "I'll try and find him before we fly out," I explain. "But I'm not sure where I would go." I bite my lip nervously. I wouldn't know where to start looking either. Would he be in his room or would he have moved to start working somewhere else?

"I have a timetable that should have his schedule on it." He quickly unlocks his phone and searches for the information. Within a few minutes he replies, "Nathan's down in the restaurant covering someone's shift."

"Thanks." I try to smile. "But why do you have that information?"

"I still have to work here - on the occasion." He winks, "I used to work here. I don't get much of a chance with your crazy schedule," he explains.

"Don't bring me into your work schedule." I frown, "if you have commitments, you have commitments." I shake my head and walk away from him and walk inside my hotel room.

I slam the front door shut and press my back up against the door. With my wet clothing pressed up against the door, the water trickles down the back of my legs and makes me shiver. I desperately need to get out of these clothes and into something nice and warm before I catch a cold.

Looking to my left, I see Ava standing in the kitchen with a curious look on her face. She takes a sip out of her coffee mug and moves a step forwards.

"Why are you wrapped up in a towel?" she asks.

"Alex knows, and I don't know what to do about Nathan," I confess, "oh, and we went swimming."

"What do you want to do?"

"I know he deserves an explanation, but I don't know if I can give him the answers he needs."

"You can give him the explanation he wants; you just need to know what you're explaining."

"I just..."

"Think about," Ava dismisses.

Nodding my head, I walk into the bedroom and straight through to the bathroom. I waste no time in stripping off my clothing and stepping into the warm glow of the shower water. I pick up bottles of shampoo and face wash to clean the chemicals off my skin. While I'm at it, I use the bottle to sing songs to amuse myself and to create a vibrate atmosphere around myself to distract myself from the previous events.

For once, I wish I was heading to work in the studio. At least that would distract my mind and force me to do something else with my thoughts. Instead I'll be sitting on a plane without distraction and alone with my thoughts.

Once I'm finished washing, I wrap my towel around my body and walk out the bathroom. The cold water trickles down my legs as I progress further into the room.

On the edge of the bed sits two outfits and a note folded in half. Picking up the note, I read.

One outfit for Nathan, and one for the plain flight. Check out is in an hour and a half. Archer will be waiting in the lobby for you, don't be late!

Make good choices!

Ava.

I chuckle at the 'don't be late' warning, she knows me too well. I pick up the light blue denim shorts and pull them on. The bottom of the jeans is ripped and the threading brushes against my leg which tickles. Grabbing the black and white baseball shirt, I tug it on along with the long chained necklace of the channel symbols, which is a cute touch.

Once I'm dressed, I walk back into the bathroom and comb my fingers through my hair to try and straighten out the knots.

"That's the best I'm going to look," I grumble under my breath when I realize that I'm not going to be able to make it straight as what my hairbrush will do.

I rush out of my room and down the hallway to the elevator. As I get inside, I hit the ground floor button and the contraption swiftly moves. When the doors spring opens I step out of the elevator and quickly walk through the lobby and over to the downstairs restaurant.

At the entrance of the restaurant, I'm greeted by a tall thin girl with a bright smile on her face. It's strained and fake and there's purple bags under her eyes. I appreciate the warm welcome and can understand the feeling of tiredness.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" she asks.

"I'd like a table for one, hopefully in Nathan's zone?" I raise an eyebrow up and blink my eyelids rapidly in an attempt to be persuasive. The girl in front of me chuckles and nods her head.

"I'm sure I can arrange that." She picks up a menu from underneath the front counter and waves me to follow her. The inside of the restaurant is an elegant style of wooden furniture with beautiful

deep blood red table clothes on top with give it an intimate feeling.

Considering the style of the rooms, I'm surprised it isn't grey scaled, metal and cold feeling.

The girl leads me to the back of the restaurant where there's tables for two. She places the menu down on the table and smiles once more at me before spinning on her toes and walking back to the front counter.

As I continue to look around the space in front of me, I notice that the restaurant is starting to fill up. It's unfortunate that I'm stuck at the back, but I also think it gives us a bit more privacy from peering ears.

"Riley?" Spinning around, I find Nathan standing a few feet away from me with a shocked look across his face. "What are you doing here?" He tucks the pen and pad into the pocket on his apron.

"We need to talk." spe