8. Spencer
When Eli suggested a tropical getaway for Christmas, I’ll admit that I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea. We wouldn’t have time to do any sightseeing, and going out in public together is always a risk. But having this whole villa to ourselves, and the private beach beyond the garden gate, has totally erased any worries I’d had when we booked it.
We finish our breakfast and clean up the leftovers, the four of us working in harmony without needing to speak. Tori heads toward the pool first, sitting back in a chair to soak up some of the sun’s warmth. Looking like a vision with her hair loose around her shoulders, she’s practically glowing with happiness.
“This might be the most relaxed I’ve ever seen her,” Eli mutters to me as we admire her from under the cover of the patio.
Smiling slightly, I nod. It still amazes me that I’ve been granted this second chance with Tori, and seeing her happy brings me a type of joy I didn’t know could exist. Oli strides toward the second bedroom, returning a moment later with a mesh bag of towels and other unidentifiable lumps.
“Want to go check out the beach?” he asks, loud enough for Tori to be included in the conversation.
She sits up with a grin, nodding eagerly before leaping up from her chair. I chuckle and lope after her as she books it toward the gate, with Eli and Oli following. My eyes drift across Tori’s back, following the lines of her curves until I reach the hem of her sundress. It’s short, much shorter than anything I’ve seen her wear before, and the fabric bounces and flows with her steps, occasionally granting a peek at her bright blue bikini bottoms. I force my eyes away before I embarrass myself by popping a tent in my swim trunks.
Setting up camp on the beach is easy when you have all the space in the world to spread out. A massive beach blanket goes down under the towels, providing a protective layer from the sand. We found a pile of umbrellas at the foot of the stairs, and we’ve staked two down to give ample shade. The lumps in the bag turned out to be sand toys, like buckets and little trowels, and Oli sets them near the edge of the blanket.
“You gonna build me a sandcastle, Ace?” Tori giggles when she sees them.
We all look at her, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge at the clear challenge in her voice, underscored by her wry smirk. I glance at my teammates, and it’s like a switch flips. All of us scramble into motion, grabbing as many sand toys as we can before we take off toward the shoreline. Tori’s laughter follows us as we begin frantically scooping up wet sand.
“Set a timer, sunshine! May the best castle win!” Eli calls out, plopping down and starting to build.
Tori lets out a cackle before shouting that we have twenty minutes. I don’t even glance over at Oli or Eli as I focus. I have an advantage, growing up close to the ocean my whole life. Mom had a camp on the lake until Katrina took it out, and she liked to take long weekends there during the summer. While the beaches weren’t made of soft white sand like this one, I know more than the basics of making structures.
“Who are you building that shack for? A sewer rat?” Eli snipes from my left, laughing at his own joke.
“It’s not the size that counts, but how you build it,” Oli fires back through gritted teeth.
“Hey, Tori! Does size matter?” Eli shouts.
“In sandcastles? Or are we talking about something else?” I can hear the amusement in her voice.
“Oh, sandcastles, of course. I don’t know how you could infer that I was talking about — Hey! That’s cheating!” Eli starts, then cuts himself off.
I glance upwards and see water cascading down Eli’s frankly massive mound of sand, Oli snickering to himself as he returns to his creation on my other side.
“Sorry, my hand slipped,” Oli says innocently, setting down the half-empty bucket of water beside him.
Shaking my head, I smile to myself as I shape the outer wall of my sand fortress. Eli retaliates by “accidentally” stepping on one of Oli’s towers as he “loses his balance” on his way to the water to get a bucket of his own. They go back and forth, each sabotage attempt less subtle than the last, but that suits me just fine. I have to shield my structure from a volley of kelp at one point, but as long as they focus on each other, the more work I can get done before Tori calls time.
“All right, boys. Step away from your castles. I’m coming over to judge,” she says as she silences the klaxon blaring from her phone.
I sit back with my hands in the air, admiring my work. It’s not huge, but it’s got a main keep with a pair of towers on the sides, little pebbles acting as windows, and a large shell as the main door. I even managed a decent moat and driftwood bridge, but I ran out of time to add the water.
Tori heads over to Oli’s first, and I glance over, smirking to myself. Eli wasn’t kidding about the size of it. It only stands about a foot tall from the ground to the tip of a little kelp flag poking out of the top of the singular tower. He found some sea glass somewhere along the way, and made a pretty incredible mosaic on the front, which he says is a stained-glass window.
“And the best part is that this is just the entrance to the rest of the base. All the cool stuff, like the ice rink, the indoor pool, the gym, the twelve bedrooms, are all underground.” He finishes his explanation.
Eli scoffs, but I can’t help but laugh along with Tori. I hate to admit it, but that’s a clever tactic. Tori doesn’t remark on it, though, before she stands in front of me, her hands on her hips. I look up at her face, my breath catching in my throat as I take in her appearance above me. Her blonde highlights flash like strands of gold in the tropical sun, her complexion taking on some color.
“This is pretty cool, BlackJack,” she says, breaking my trance.
Clearing my throat, I turn my attention to my castle, pointing out the features I worked hard to create for her. I don’t have any fancy story or secret rooms, but it’s sturdy and detailed without being over the top.
“This is amazing. I love the little shell door.” She smiles as she looks it over, and my heart beats faster at the sight of her smile.
She moves on to Eli’s… Well, it’s not so much a castle as it is a sand village. Instead of one large building, a dozen or more little houses are scattered across a hill of sand, each one with a shell for a roof, and paths connecting them. There is a slightly larger house, and all the paths seem to connect to it.
“This is my home,” Eli says proudly, an arm sweeping over his creation.
I turn my body to face him more, head tilted in curiosity. Tori crouches down to inspect it with a furrowed brow.
“These cabins are for all of my brothers and sisters,” Eli says, pointing to a close grouping of about a dozen little houses, “and these are where the bonded adults live. And we’ve got a few guest cabins over here. And this is the central house, where there’s a massive kitchen, and a family room with games and books and all sorts of other things.”
“And what are these?” Tori asks, pointing to a small group of cabins set away from the rest.
Eli’s smile is soft, but there’s a heat in his eyes I recognize. “Those are the omega cabins. When someone goes into heat, they get to nest in there and ride it out with their alpha or alphas,” he explains, tenderness in his voice.
Tori doesn’t respond at first, her eyes distant as she gets lost in her thoughts.
“Do you have a nest at your house?” I ask gently, not sure if I really want to know the answer.
Tori shrugs at first, but then eventually shakes her head. I glance at Eli, and we share a moment of concern, though he’s more worried than I am. While I don’t know much about the different dynamics, I do know enough to understand that Tori not having a nest of her own is a big deal. But it sort of makes sense; she’s admitted she hasn’t gone through a true heat in over six years. So maybe she’s just never had the desire to make one?
“And here is where a meteor hit the compound, fired by from a certain underground bunker a few castles down.” Eli points to a serious crater on the edge of the build as he fires off a half-hearted glare over my shoulder.
Looking up, I find Oli standing behind me with his arms crossed over his chest. I catch the tail-end of his serious frown and lowered brow before it disappears in favor of a smirk. Tori seems to snap out of whatever trance she’d fallen into and giggles, getting to her feet and brushing the sand off her knees.
“Well, they’re all pretty good. But I think I’m going to give it Eli for having the most shells,” she says, tossing her hair over her shoulder before she flounces back toward the shade.
I get to my feet with my jaw practically hanging to my knees. “I thought it was a sandcastle building competition…”
Tori shrugs. “It was. But then I decided it was a shell gathering competition. Too bad you didn’t hear me tell you that over all the bickering,” she replies with a teasing lilt.
Oli and I share a look of bemused irritation before we take off down the beach, scanning for shells in the sand. Eli is right behind us, joining the frantic search, each of us filling our hands before heading back to the blanket to pile out little offerings at her feet like rockhopper penguins.
Eventually, the sun and its inescapable heat force us to retreat to the villa. We leave the majority of the shells on the beach as we clean up, trying to spread them back out rather than keeping them in the piles. But before we do, Tori takes a small sampling of each pile with her, the pretty shells clutched to her chest like so many precious gems, giggling to herself.
Those penguins have the right idea, I decide, giving their mates shiny things to win their affection. And it seems their tricks work on stubbornly independent omegas, too.