Wrestling

"One more, she said we shouldn’t hurry back on her account," Jey said, lowering himself back onto the mat.

Bambietta crouched down beside him, pressing her palm flat against his knee to guide him. "Fine. Five minutes. Then we’re actually leaving, Jey. I’m not kidding this time."

He held the stretch as she counted under her breath. When the five minutes actually passed, she stood and offered him a hand, hauling him up with more effort than his weight really required.

They gathered their bags from beside the mats. Fenrisha still hadn’t come back down from the spa floor, and neither of them felt like waiting around for a proper goodbye. Bambietta pulled her phone back out and fired off a quick text before slipping it away again.

"Told her we’re heading out," she said. "She’ll probably just call later."

They made their way toward the stairwell, instead of the main elevator. The air changed the moment they got close, that scent that had followed them since the hallway downstairs. The spa area scent.

"We have time for the steam room," Bambietta said, glancing sideways at him. "Loosens everything up better than stretching does anyway."

"I thought you wanted to get home."

"I do. In a few minutes, C’mon." She was already walking, not waiting for him to argue. "You’ll thank me later."

Jey shook his head but followed her anyway. The room attendant handed them each a folded white towel and pointed toward the changing stalls without needing to be asked, recognizing them the same way the front desk had. Fenrisha ran a tight operation. Everyone on staff knew the members who mattered.

Jey changed quickly, wrapping the towel around his waist and leaving his workout clothes folded in a locker. When he stepped back out into the hallway, Bambietta was already waiting, her own towel tucked and secured, her damp hair pulled up off her neck.

"I’m not the slow one this time," she said.

"Payback for this morning."

The steam room sat at the end of the corridor, a glass door fogged over from the inside. Bambietta pushed it open and the wall of heat rolled out to meet them almost immediately. They stepped inside together, the door clicking shut behind them, sealing off the rest of the spa floor.

It was empty. No other members had made it up at the time, and the low hiss of the steam vents was the only sound besides their own breathing.

Jey sat down on the tiled bench along the far wall, letting his head fall back against the cool stone behind him. The heat worked into his ribs almost immediately, loosening something that had been locked tight.

"See," Bambietta said, sitting down beside him. "Better than stretching."

"Yeah, for those who actually stretched." Jey replied, mocking her.

She elbowed him lightly in the side, careful of the bruise, then let her head rest against his shoulder. The steam curled thick around them, blurring the edges of the room, fogging the glass door until the corridor outside disappeared completely.

"You know," she said after a moment, her voice lower now, more relaxed. "This might be the most relaxed we’ve felt in weeks."

"Feels weird to me."

"Good weird or bad weird?"

"Good," Jey said.

He let his eyes close, focusing on the heat instead of the noise in his head. Her hand found his on the bench between them, fingers loosely lacing through his own.

They sat like that for a while, neither one saying much, the steam thickening and thinning in slow waves as the vents cycled on and off. Jey could feel his muscles giving up their tension one at a time, his ribs, his shoulders, the base of his skull.

Bambietta shifted first, pulling her hand free to wipe a bead of sweat from her collarbone. She glanced over at him, a small, deliberate smile tugging at her mouth.

"What? I can tell you’re looking at me," Jey said, without opening his eyes.

"I’m allowed to stare. You’re my boyfriend."

"Feels different when you do it like that."

"Like what?"

He opened one eye. She was sitting slightly angled toward him now, her towel damp and clinging, her hair falling loose from its knot in the heat. She looked unbothered by the fact that he’d caught her.

"Like you’re planning something," Jey said.

"I’m always planning something," she said. "That’s how I keep you interested."

"You don’t need to do much to keep me interested."

"See. You’re pretty boring." She reached over, dragging one finger slowly along his forearm. "Someone has to keep things exciting."

"We’re literally in a steam room. As exciting as things get."

"Exactly," she said. "Very exciting. Very private."

Jey turned his head to look at her properly now, catching the exact moment her teasing smile shifted into something a little more dangerous. She held his gaze without backing down, her finger still tracing slow lines against his skin.

"Bam."

"What?"

"We’re supposed to be getting home."

"We will...eventually." She leaned in closer, her damp forehead nearly brushing his. "I never said we had to rush."

The heat in the room had nothing to do with the steam vents anymore. Jey reached up, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face the same way she’d done for him a hundred times before, and she caught his wrist gently, guiding his palm to rest against her jaw instead of letting it drop away.

"I guess a little delay wouldn’t hurt," Jey said quietly.

He laughed under his breath, the sound low in the thick air, and she leaned in the rest of the way, kissing him slow and unhurried.

When she pulled back, her eyes were bright, her lips curved, more mischievous than innocent.

"I changed my mind." She stood up first, offering him a hand the same way she did downstairs. "Come on. I have an idea."

"An idea," Jey repeated, letting her pull him to his feet.

"A better one than sitting in here until we both pass out from the heat." She tugged her towel a little tighter, glancing back at him over her shoulder as she reached for the fogged glass door. "Fenri did say to make ourselves comfortable."

"She meant the gym."

"She meant the whole building," Bambietta said, pushing the door open. The cooler air from the hallway rushed in immediately, a sharp contrast against overheated skin. "Trust me."

Jey followed her out into the corridor, both of them still wrapped in their towels, dripping faintly onto the polished floor. The hallway was empty in both directions, the muted spa music drifting from somewhere overhead, the whole floor quiet enough that their bare footsteps were the loudest thing around.

Bambietta led the way without hesitation, moving past the massage area and the sauna doors toward the small bank of elevators tucked at the far end of the corridor, the ones marked for hotel access only. She pressed the button and turned back to look at him, her damp hair sticking to her neck, an easy confidence written across her face.

"Third floor," she said, as the elevator doors slid open. "Fenri gave us a room anyways."

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