Page 37 of Beach Bats

Robbs shrugged. “I disagree. I know our friends. They love you. They will always love you.”

Zany wanted to believe that so bad.

“But it’s not my choice,” Robbs reminded him. “It’s no one’s but yours. You shouldn’t feel pressured.”

That was the thing. Zany didn’t feel pressured. The teammates that had played with him for awhile stopped asking. Aries had accepted Zany saying fae and never brought it up again. Except seeing Aries cuddled into Vin in his shifted form made Zany wish for things that he’d long given up on.

Being in his natural form was something that Zany only did when he was alone. Absolutely one-hundred-percent alone. The one time he’d dropped his guard, Robbs had shown up and caught him. But Zany loved to snuggle with people. He just didn’t allow himself to engage often. Even taking naps over at Aries’s had become a comfort for him yet Zany remained in his human skin.

He was just tired.

Zany hated hiding his true self.

“It’s not something that you have to decide tonight,” Robbs said.

Zany realized that he’d been quiet for too long. He nodded. “Okay.”

Pointing behind him, Robbs smiled. “I’m all done if you want to shower.”

Oh, oh wow, Zany had been so focused on himself that he hadn’t noticed that Robbs wore a pair of shorts low on his hips and nothing else. Like nothing else. And…and that outline in Robb’s shorts was very…there was no way Robbs was wearing underwear!

“See something that caught your attention?” Robbs’s words were full of amusement and maybe heat.

Zany shook his head. “Sorry! Sorry! I…” He stepped back.

Robbs pushed off the door to stalk forward. The sway of his hips, the bulge, humph, Zany might have whimpered.

Zany’s breath caught as Robbs stopped beside him to whisper into his ear.

“Be a good boy and get ready for bed,” Robbs ordered.

Zany squeaked and ran for the bathroom door.

7

Nix

“How does he do that?” Nix asked in wonder. Like come on, Luka was a big guy, much bigger than Nix and his brothers, and yet Luka was the only one that actually managed to stay upright on a surfboard.

“He loves the water,” Gem said. “Of course he knows how to surf.”

“I like the water,” Aries said. “And I still can’t do it.”

Gem shook his head. “No. Luka loves the water.”

Nix huffed. Really it wasn’t fair. This was supposed to be fun but he sucked at surfing! Aries and Gem weren’t much better than he was. Gem wasn’t big on water most of the time anyway, so Nix wasn’t even sure how hard he had even tried. Zany had outright refused to even get into the water while Vin and Evan were content to sit under their umbrellas, relaxing.

With Robbs, Marlin, Thomas, and Lithis out fishing for the day, which was the activity they’d picked to do, Nix had really been hoping that after a few quick surfing tips from the instructor that he could show off. That wasn’t going to happen.

Dropping onto his butt in the sand, Nix scowled as Gem shouted encouragement to Luka. Talk about showing off.

“Stop pouting.” Aries nudged his shoulder. “You can’t be great at everything.”

“Can too!” Nix argued. “I am good at everything. The best!”

Aries snorted. “The Iron Cup would say otherwise.”

With a dramatic gasp, Nix threw himself into Aries’s side. “I can’t believe you said that!”