“You can say that again,” I mutter. “Did you pay a damage deposit? Because I think this sofa needs reupholstering now.”

He starts to laugh and we stay there for a second, his arms warm around me and his laughter like bright spangles in the dark. It’s oddly wonderful.

Eventually, we half walk and half stagger to the bed and collapse into it without saying another word, but the silence is somehow comfortable. He pulls the covers over us and I take the opportunity to snuggle into him. For a second, he’s rigid as if surprised, and then I’m gratified to feel his arms tighten around me.

He kisses the top of my head, and we lie quietly, neither of us seemingly inclined to question what just happened. Suits me because a reckoning is no doubt on the horizon.

Zeb’s phone beeps, and I groan as he removes his arm from around me and reaches for it amongst the tangle of clothing I threw by the bed. Looking at the screen, he huffs. “Jesus Christ.”

I raise my head from its spot on his hairy chest. “What?”

“We won the hide-and-seek competition.” I start to laugh, and he grimaces. “Apparently, we couldn’t be found tonight.”

“Because we’ve been fucking in our room.” I snort. “We were playing a different game of hide-and-seek. One that Frances never considered in her War and Peace-sized list of rules.”

“They want us to go to the library to collect the prize.”

“No.”

He cocks one eyebrow. “Why?”

I send my hand down and cup his cock, which stiffens in my hand. “Because we’re going to carry on our winning streak. I want you again.”

“Aren’t we going to talk about this?” he says breathlessly as his hips start to churn, pushing his cock into my tight fist.

“No, the first rule of Shag Club is we don’t talk about Shag Club.”

“That is not a thing, and what a disgusting name for a club,” he pants, his voice catching in a moan.

“It’s definitely a thing.” I bend to lick up the length of his dick before suckling on the head, digging my tongue gently into the slit. I pause and look up at him. He’s watching me intently. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I say innocently. “Would you like me to stop so you can collect our holiday to the Caribbean?”

“Fuck the Caribbean,” he says hoarsely, lying back down on the pillows and throwing his arm over his eyes. “The Shag Club is in session.”

“That’s the spirit,” I say approvingly and bend back to my task.

Chapter Nine

Zeb

I wake up in the morning slowly and the first thing I realise is that I feel warm and lazy. That’s sufficiently unusual for me to crank my eyes open. When my gaze drops on the man lying next to me, I jolt upright like I’ve been electrocuted.