Spa & exhaustion

AN: Here you go, bonus chapter. MORE POWERSTONES.

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After finishing his burger, fries, and soda, Alex leaned back on the rooftop couch and let out a long breath. He looked at the three girls, all still half-flirting, half-waiting for their promised massages.

He held up his hands.

"Okay, foot massages are gonna have to wait. I'm way too tired. Today wiped me out."

Max didn't argue. She nodded, her voice softer. "Fair. You looked like a superhero up there today."

Scarlett and Caroline both gave small smiles. They understood. The day had been long, loud, and full of pressure. Alex deserved a break.

"But," he added, "the spa is ready downstairs. I hired pro masseuses just for tonight. You're all getting the royal treatment."

Caroline blinked. "Wait… that wasn't a joke? You actually built a spa?"

Max rolled her eyes. "Girl, it's Moneybags. If he says he has a spa, he probably has a volcano jacuzzi and mood lighting that syncs to your chakras."

Caroline looked embarrassed. "I thought it was a rich guy joke!"

Scarlett just smiled and stood up, already pulling her hair into a bun. "Well, I'm not saying no to a massage I don't have to flirt for."

Alex gave them a wave. "Go on ahead. Head down the elevator to B1. Follow the eucalyptus smell."

Max stretched, popping a shoulder. "Let's go. I need to soak in a tub and forget the existence of Twitter."

The three girls headed down to the spa, chatting and laughing.

'Haaa... Feels so good to see them getting along,' He thought with a satisfied smile.

[Alex's Office]

Inside, Rachel was still at her desk, eyes focused, fingers flying over her laptop. Reports, earnings, press emails... she was deep in it.

Alex stepped in quietly and leaned against the doorframe.

"Still working?"

Rachel didn't look up. "If I stop now, I'll lose momentum."

He walked over, gently closed her laptop, and looked her in the eye.

"You've done enough today. Take a break."

She finally looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I still need to..."

"Nope," he said firmly. "Work can wait. You're exhausted. Hell, you did five times the work that I did, and I can't even imagine how you are still awake. So stop whatever you are doing and come with me or else..."

Rachel narrowed her eyes, "Or else what?

Alex smirked. "Or else I throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the spa like a stubborn little workaholic caveman princess."

Rachel blinked once. A little blush appeared on her cheeks.

"You wouldn't."

He stepped closer, voice low and dead serious. "Try me."

She held his gaze, clearly weighing her options. She could argue. She could push back. But then Alex cracked his neck and rolled his sleeves higher, like he was warming up for a deadlift.

Rachel exhaled through her nose and shut her planner with a loud snap.

"Fine. But if you drop me, I'm suing."

Alex chuckled. "If I drop you, I'll let you write the NDA for it."

Before she could protest again, Alex swooped down and, with a smoothness that suggested he had definitely done this before, hoisted her up over his shoulder. Rachel gasped, instantly red-faced.

"Boss! What the hell?!"

He was already walking toward the door. "This is what you get for working through post-launch euphoria. You don't fight fan mobs and media pressure all day and then not reward yourself."

Rachel smacked his back lightly. "I'm in a pencil skirt, you lunatic!"

"Then you'll look fashionable arriving at the spa like a sack of gold. It's a vibe."

"Put me down."

"Nope. Spa time. Eucalyptus and silence."

"I swear if someone sees us..."

"We'll blame champagne and poor decision-making."

Rachel groaned, burying her face in her hands as he carried her down the hallway like an absolute menace. But the small smile on her lips betrayed the truth that she wasn't that mad.

...

[Spa, B1 Level]

Max was already submerged in the bubbling hot tub, a cucumber slice stuck to her forehead like a lazy warrior's medal. Caroline was in a robe, sipping some detox tea with a towel on her head. Scarlett was face-down on a massage table, sighing as a mature Japanese woman worked tension out of her shoulders. 

Well, when it comes to massage, they are the best in the world.

Then the elevator dinged.

Everyone turned.

And there was Alex, grinning like a smug idiot, with Rachel over his shoulder, looking mortified.

Scarlett blinked. "You just… carry people now?"

Max grinned. "Yup. That's his new thing. He's a human Uber with caveman vibes."

Alex gently lowered Rachel down, who immediately adjusted her skirt with what was left of her dignity.

"I hate you," she muttered.

"You're welcome," he said, already tossing her a spa robe from a neatly folded stack.

Caroline whispered to Max, "Should we tell her there's a cucumber-infused plunge pool?"

Max shook her head. "Nope. Let her find out the luxury way."

Scarlett raised a brow at Rachel. "You look exhausted as hell."

Rachel sighed and looked at the steam rising from the hot tub, the plush towels, and the glowing ambient lights.

"Yeah, my back is killing me."

She took the robe.

Alex gave her a wink, then looked around the room.

"For the record," he said, "this is the most powerful girl gang I've ever accidentally created."

Max raised her glass. "To power. To hot tubs. And to our emotionally overwhelmed, slightly insane sugar daddy."

They all clinked imaginary glasses.

Scarlett couldn't help but laugh.

A few minutes later...

Alex and Max sat side by side in the oversized hot tub, surrounded by soft lighting that made even their chaos look aesthetic. Their towels were wrapped tightly, robes ditched somewhere on the floor. The spa had been designed for peace, but nobody told them that.

Max leaned lazily against his shoulder, the kind of lean that said "I own this man and this tub and possibly the moon." Her eyes slowly traveled down his chest like a food critic evaluating a very expensive steak.

She dragged a single finger across his abs, slowly counting under her breath like a kindergarten teacher with a very adult curriculum.

"Okay. One... two... three... four... five... six... wait, do ribs count? Nah. Never mind. Six-pack confirmed. All accounted for."

Alex raised a brow. "You act like I lost one on the way here."

"You never know," she said, flicking water at him. "You've been carrying women like bridal party gift bags. Thought maybe you got winded and dropped an ab in the hallway."

He laughed. "I think I dropped my will to live somewhere near the mimosa station."

From across the spa, Scarlett, still face-down on the massage table, mumbled through the headrest. "If you two start making out in that tub, I'm filing a noise complaint."

Max grinned and shouted back, "You better be tipping that massage lady. She's working your stress knots like they're personal enemies."

Scarlett groaned as the masseuse found a particularly evil muscle. "She already knows my secrets. I think she cracked open my childhood trauma somewhere near my scapula."

Caroline, now wrapped in a towel and on the table next to Scarlett, sighed. "I want to live here. Just... cancel life and pay rent in eucalyptus oil."

Rachel, on the other table, was oddly still, quiet, eyes closed, face in the donut ring of the massage bed. The masseuse kneading her back looked slightly intimidated, as if Rachel's stress might punch back.

Max called out, "Rachel, you dead over there?"

"Mmmmfff."

"What was that?"

Rachel lifted one hand weakly and gave a thumbs-up without moving anything else.

Another ten minutes or so passed...

Scarlett, now freshly kneaded and wrapped in a towel, sauntered across the tiles and climbed into the tub, water rippling around her like a movie entrance. She settled in smoothly on Alex's left, her eyes meeting Max's with a smile that was equal parts charming and challenging.

"Room for one more?" she asked, though she was already in.

Alex gave a relaxed grin. "Plenty."

Max's eyes flicked toward her, not hostile, just watching. She reached out to grab Alex's drink and took a sip like it was hers. It was.

Scarlett reclined back, arms stretching along the edge of the tub. "So, Comic Lord, what's the plan for tomorrow? You reinventing the fantasy genre next, or just casually inventing teleportation for lunch?"

Alex chuckled. "Tomorrow? I'm sleeping in and pretending I don't have five women and an entire fanbase trying to schedule my life."

Scarlett hummed. "Smart. Avoidance is self-care."

Max nodded, mock-serious. "Facts. That's how I got through high school. And taxes."

Across the spa, Rachel and Caroline emerged from their massage tables like sea creatures re-entering gravity. Both still towel-wrapped, both glazed in post-spa bliss.

Caroline yawned as she walked over, eyes barely open. "I feel like soup."

Rachel gave no words. She floated into the tub with the grace of someone whose muscles no longer held tension, just memory. She sank into the far end, eyes already closing.

"Don't. Talk to me," she mumbled, one arm flopped over the side.

Max waved lazily. "Hey Rach, just so you know, I claimed Alex's left leg. Scarlett's got the right. You can have an elbow if you're feeling needy."

Rachel didn't even flinch. "I'll drown all of you tomorrow."

Caroline tiptoed in and slid into the tub next to Rachel, curling up like a towel-wrapped cinnamon roll. "I don't want to move for three business days."

Scarlett tilted her head toward Max. "So... this is normal for you guys?"

Max smirked. "Define normal."

Scarlett chuckled, "I mean the hot tub gang, the foot massages, the overachieving billionaire who might be a closet himbo..."

Alex raised a brow. "Closet?"

Max reached up, gently flicked water at his cheek. "Baby, the door is off the hinges."

Caroline blinked from her corner. "What's a himbo again?"

Scarlett turned to her like a TED Talk was coming. "Hot, strong, sweet. Sometimes dumb. Rare. Valuable. Like gold but with better abs."

Alex sighed. "Thanks, I guess?"

Rachel muttered, "You forgot 'always surrounded by chaos he lowkey caused.'"

"Shhh," Max whispered. "The himbo is speaking."

Alex sank lower into the water like it could hide him. "I'm just here for the spa, guys. Can we go five minutes without a roast?"

Max looked him up and down. "Nope."

...[After another hour or so...]

The spa session was over. Muscles: loose. Minds: fogged. Joints: melted. The girl gang was now a gang of floating noodles, toweled and glowing with post-spa bliss.

Alex took them to the top floor. It was like a penthouse suite, the mood shifted to low, luxurious comfort. Everything smelled like warm cedarwood and jasmine.

Alex led the crew through the main hallway, barefoot and wrapped in a thick black robe that looked stolen from the gods. His hair was still damp, his eyes heavy, his face relaxed… but you could see the fatigue underneath.

Rachel walked beside him, equally quiet, equally done with the world. Her usual sharpness was dulled, eyes half-lidded, bun falling out. She didn't speak. She didn't need to. She looked like someone who'd hit peak capacity and was surviving on residual caffeine and foot rub fumes.

Max noticed it first.

"Hey," she said, softly nudging Alex with her elbow. "You good?"

He nodded slowly. "I'm fine. Just... tapped out."

Scarlett looked over, her voice warm. "You've been going nonstop all day. You deserve to be offline."

Caroline chimed in, towel in hand, "You don't need to entertain us, Alex. We're already sold."

Alex smiled at them all and shook his head. "No, I promised you a chill night. You're getting one. But Rachel and I... we're out of juice. Like, brain-dead out."

Rachel raised her hand in agreement. "I've already forgotten how to spell 'budget.' If I stay awake any longer, I'll start dreaming while conscious."

Max reached out and flicked Alex's arm. "Fine. Go nap, Billionaire Daddy. But first... rooms?"

He nodded and guided them through the hallway, stopping by three beautifully designed guest suites.

He pointed, one by one:

"Scarlett, this one's yours. View of the skyline, custom pillows, blackout curtains, and I think a hidden minibar."

"Max, Caroline... you've got the suite on the corner. Bigger bed, balcony, soundproof walls, and a complimentary questionable mini-fridge."

Max high-fived herself. "We better not find a raccoon in there again."

Caroline whimpered. "Don't joke. I still have emotional scars from Fridgegate."

Alex ignored them. Mostly.

Scarlett leaned against the door frame and gave him a soft smile. "Thanks, Alex."

He smiled back, sincerely. "You earned the unwind."

She stepped in, then turned and winked before closing the door.

Max and Caroline followed to their suite. Caroline was already texting room service.

Max, holding the tablet remote, tapped into the penthouse-wide music system and selected "sexy lo-fi jazz that doesn't ask questions." Just because.

Once they were settled, Alex and Rachel finally turned down the hallway toward his room.

..

[Alex's room]

Rachel took off her robe. She was completely naked. She moved wordlessly to the bed, flopped down face-first, and sighed so hard it sounded like an exorcism.

Alex pulled off his own robe, grabbed a bottle of water from the bedside mini-fridge, took a sip, placed it back, and finally let himself drop onto the bed next to her.

They lay there in silence for a few beats. No flirting. No tension. Just exhaustion breathing in stereo.

"I can't feel my spine," Rachel mumbled into the pillow.

"Good," Alex murmured. "Means the masseuse succeeded."

"Remind me to give her a raise."

Alex closed his eyes. "Done."

A beat of silence.

Then Rachel's voice again, soft this time. "Today was amazing."

He smiled faintly. "Yeah. We did something big."

Another pause.

"Let's not do it again for a while," she added.

Alex chuckled, eyes still shut. "Agreed."

....

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[6 advance chs] + [13 chs of Two and a Half Men: Waking up as Charlie Harper] [All chs available for all tiers]

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AN: Next chapter, a new female celeb will be introduced.