𝘉𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘋𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌𝘋 | 𝘈.𝘏. ✔️

• Nine

"There's been a mistake- we should have eight keys." You laughed uncontrollably. Damn Garcia.

"No mistake. Six single rooms were booked with one double."

You looked over at Hotch with a pleasing face but he simply snatched the key and grumbled a quick thank you. You followed him over to the elevators silently, feeling the tension growing. Once you were both inside, you leaned against the wall.

"Garcia must've made a mistake. We can fix it tomorrow, no big deal. There are two beds- we stay in the same house."

He non-coherently nodded his head with a sigh, eye bags sunken on his skin and his shoulders now slouching instead of being pushed back. "Aaron, I don't have to stay in there if it makes you uncomfortable-" You began.

"No Y/N. I can't trust right now with everything going on. It is better if we stay in the same room- for your safety. You're right, different beds."

You listened intently, catching the waver in his voice as the elevator dinged and you both stepped off.

The room itself was extremely small. The beds fit with about two feet of space and the bathroom door was so close to the small closet that you began to wonder if you would get locked in there at some point. Neither of you spoke, scared of the delicate silence that was dancing between you like a glass that could so easily be dropped. To say it was awkward was not the right word- i'll be at ease would be better.

He let you shower first and you tried to do so quickly. You washed your hair and your body before brushing your teeth and throwing on pajama pants and an old t-shirt. He went next, a nearly identical routine until you were both lying in your separate beds under the covers, starting up at the ceiling fan roaming in circles. Your eyes chased it around and around. Goosebumps raised your skin but you were too scared to voice your coolness.

"Did you take your meds?" He asked into the darkness. You heard shuffling and you could tell he shifted onto his side.

"Yeah- after my shower," You answered curtly, shifting to your side as well. You couldn't see his face but you could tell it was displaying signs of exhaustion. "Thank you for coming here- bringing me here. I think I will finally have some answers to why this happened."

A slight buzzing noise came from the AC. "I want you to have justice," he says. "Bringing you here was a small step to that."

You gulped and fluttered your eyes closed slightly- sleepiness finally crashing a wave over your body. You sink further into the bed. "I used to stay at hotels a lot when I was a kid- I loved it so much. Me and my sisters used to steal the little soaps, sometimes robes if we stayed at a really fancy one."

"Sisters..." he repeated.

Your heart begins to beat out of your chest. Shit. The team has an understanding that Avery is your only sister and that you don't have much contact with her. Most of that is true. You don't choose not to have contact, you just both became busy with your own lives. When Sam and your mother died your family tried to shut it out. It wasn't something they wanted to grieve for so long. Your father took it the hardest but tried to hide it.

"Yeah- sisters," You whispered, a burning sensation forming in your throat. "I had another sister, Samantha Sky Marie,"

Thankfully he didn't ask more. That's what you admired about Hotch, his way to know people's boundaries without forcing himself upon them. You were weirdly at ease with sharing a little snippet of your past. "She was the one who always ran down hotel hallways and got us yelled at. My mom always called her the 'unheeding child'. Did you have a sibling like that?"

Hotch cleared his throat. "Sean. Always reckless. I tried to look out for him as a kid, filling the father role. I never minded it. He was safe, that's all that mattered."

"Did he get into a lot of trouble?"

A chuckle erupted into the darkness and you could feel the butterflies in your stomach. He never laughed but when he did, you wanted to record it and listen to it on repeat. "He was always in trouble, never with the police though."

You matched his laugh. "Sean and Sam would've been soulmates. Imagine the shit they would get into." You smiled at the memory of Sam coming home drenched in spray paint. She said she was 'expressing herself.'

You washed the paint off of her that night as she cried.

Swinging the covers off of you, you abruptly got off the bed. There was no need to look behind you to know he was tracing your steps over to the mini fridge. It was a shitty hotel but it had liquor. You grabbed a fireball shot and twisted open the cap. He didn't protest, he simply studied what he would see of your face in the little light that was illuminating the room.

Liquid cascaded down your throat but you welcomed the burn- enjoyed it. You grabbed another one and an extra for Hotch. It was nearly midnight. You walked over to his bed and slowly sat down on the edge, handing him the bottle.

To your surprise, he took it and easily downed it with a sigh of contentment. "I knew there was liquor. Shitty hotels always have it, it's like they know everything." You laughed.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

You took a deep breath and caught a glimpse of his sharp jaw line in the corruption. "Whatever you make it out to be. I can't read thoughts like you can."

"I'm not a mind reader," Hotch protested. "I study behavior, watch for cues on what to do- when to do it." His voice dropped into a whisper.

"You know so much that it scares me," you match his tone. You don't remember scooting closer to him but you did and you could smell the cinnamon on his breath and the heat rising on your neck.

"I'm observant, not telepathic," Hotch breathes. His bare chest rises and falls with each breath and your hand twitches at your side, begging to touch his skin.

You stare into his eyes, searching for the deep brown color. This is wrong, so extremely that you feel even more compelled to pull him close to you. You only have so much experience with this kind of stuff. Axel rarely kissed you- if ever, and you'd never had sex. God, what are you thinking?

"We should get some sleep," you say. "We have an early morning."

When you get off the bed, Hotch almost reaches out. He refrained. Knowing what you've been through not long ago, it would be reckless and selfish of him to ask you to stay where you were.

" Y/N?" Hotch called out.

"Hm?"

He hesitated when he opened his mouth to speak. After a few moments of contemplation, he closed it once again and simply rolled into his back. "Nothing."

You frowned, disappointed in the fact you didn't get to hear what he was going to say. You fluff your pillow and slide under the covers, now welcoming the coolness waiting for you. The hairs on the back of your neck were sticking to your skin and the shower that you took now seems useless. Maybe it was the fireball.

"Goodnight Aaron," you say.

-
A/N-

Jealously, jealously. I'm very behind on this book, sorry maybe? I've been trying to survive in this cruel high school life. I love y'all <3 Y'all thought they would kiss this easily? Hell nah. I like making everyone around me miserable. We have to remember everything that she had been through and everything will slowly prove together as the book continues. I didn't want a smut book with no plot and I have planned this book for months and have attempted to write it but never truly found a good place but I have now.