Monthly Bonus Content #1— Beach Trip (Part 1) (Patreon)

“The sea!” Felix yells, stripping out of his painfully fluorescent Hawaiian shirt and dashing towards the glittering ocean.

“I guess we’ve lost him for the next while,” I comment, bending down and sitting onto the beach recliner with care so as it doesn’t snap up around me. The stripey material sinks but thankfully doesn’t set off the delicate frame.

Ava sighs, staring out towards where Felix has sped into the clear blue waves, splashes of foamy froth exploding around him as he goes.

“So it would seem,” she replies through thinned lips.

Nat lays out a towel that isn’t even close to long enough to protect her tall body, afterwards kneeling down on it to secure the corners. Glancing over her, I get a very distinct feel of old Hollywood glamour as she pushes on a pair of cat eye sunglasses beneath her wide-brimmed hat with matching green ribbon, a monochrome one-piece swimsuit hugging her body and partly hidden beneath a floaty sarong.

She breathes out a contented breath and looks towards the rest of us. “This was brilliant idea.”

“No. It really wasn’t,” Mason scoffs. He shelters beneath the beach umbrella, still dressed in his uniform of thick jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, the usual scowl also adorning his sharp features.

I tilt my head as I examine his attire. “Are you sure you’re not going to overheat in that?”

He lifts a brow as a smirk tugs as his lips. “Are you asking me to get naked, Detective?”

Nat’s nose wrinkles. “Can you not? Just for one day?”

“I’m not the one who made the suggestion,” Mason says, nodding his head in my direction. “Blame [Name].”

“I asked a completely innocent question. You’re the one who turned it into…that.” I wave a hand at him in emphasis.

The conversation is interrupted as a splash of water suddenly sprays over the group, making us flinch and a low growl emanate from Mason. Felix is beside us in a flash, his bare, well-toned torso glistening with sea water droplets in the sun.

“You guys should come and try the water,” he suggests, flopping onto the recliner beside mine. Of course it doesn’t dare snap up around him.

Even beneath sunglasses I can see Nat’s entire face twist. “I think I can enjoy it just fine from here.”

Felix frowns before glancing down and rubbing down the wide bridge of his nose. “Right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry,” she mutters, patting him on the knee.

I cast my gaze upward to Ava, who is still standing stiffly behind the group, scanning the empty stretch of golden sand as though it harbours an army beneath it.

“Are you going to try to relax today?” I ask. “That was the point of this trip.”

“We are in unknown territory, Detective. I’m surprised any of you are happy to just…” She glances over our beach attire, throwing a more approving look at Mason’s sturdy outfit. “Be so vulnerable.”

“At least you tried to dress for the occasion,” Felix comments.

I’ve never seen Ava so casual, in a pair of linen trousers and an—untucked—lightweight cotton shirt. Her hair is still yanked back into a strict knot at the base of her neck, accentuating her strong jaw, set even more proud as she grinds her teeth together.

She glances at Felix and her expression softens. “I tried.”

“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea,” I mutter, leaning back on the recliner and staring up at the colourful stripes of the parasol above us.

“It was the best idea,” Felix offers. I almost roll off the recliner as he moves from his and shoves me over so as we both only just squeeze onto the same seat. “They’ll ease into it. And until then, we can have fun enough for both of them two.”

We slide our gazes over to Mason and Ava, who are glaring out at the scene ahead of us as though it holds only danger and threat, not the beautiful summer scene of a beach day.

“I guess we have no choice,” I reply, attempting a light laugh and finding it easier as Felix grins at me with a wink.

--

So a bit different for me this month. For a start, no romance in this scene!! What?! I know, right? :D

But when I was writing this I felt the real need for comfort and...I guess I felt a bit lonely, lol. So this scenario came from that. Just allowing myself to find some security again with Unit Bravo in a fun scene with no goals or anything specific. Just niceness.

It is a two-parter though, as I got totally carried away, hehehe! The other part will be released later this month as Monthly Bonus Content #2 :D