Chapter 6
NOAH
We got a whole ten minutes of pure adrenaline on the cliff-trampoline before a half-asleep and scruffy cameraman named Roy came rushing out to film for their episodes.
As soon as he started rolling, the mood between Skye and me dampened dramatically.
And not just because I was uncomfortable with the constant scrutiny, either—Skye’s shine noticeably dimmed, too.
Still, it was the best choice of my first day introductions, camera or not. Skye showed me how the cliff was also rigged for climbing and rappelling, and then let me play with his motion-tracking drone camera. If not for Roy—who smoked, by the way—it’d have been a top-ten core memory kind of day.
“So, Noah,” Roy prodded as Skye and I eventually called it quits and made our way back to the house. “How are you settling in so far? Are you excited to start the challenges?”
Skye gave me a shrug and grinned like he also wanted to hear my answer.
“Um, yeah,” I awkwardly replied, not stopping to engage in a whole interview now that I had lunch on my mind. “It’s going to be an adjustment, for sure.”
“Can you elaborate on that?” Roy pushed, puffing as he struggled to keep pace with us up the track to the house.
No…not really? I had gotten way out of the habit of speaking on camera since closing down my Norah Sparkle account, and I was fairly convinced whatever I said could and would be twisted into something awful.
So I just gave a tight smile, shrugged, and hurried the fuck up to get inside the house ahead of Roy.
“There he is,” Ace announced as we made our way into the enormous open-plan kitchen.
Zeth looked up from his sandwich, his eyes narrowed slightly as he eyed me with confusion. “You survived a morning with Skye, huh? How was it?”
I bit my lip, glancing over my shoulder at Roy, who was panning his camera around the room. “Yeah, it was…cool.” My stomach rumbled hard, and I grimaced. We’d skipped breakfast entirely, and I was fucking starving.
“Noah, do you like grilled cheese?” Torin asked from his spot in the kitchen. He wore an apron but seemed like he was shirtless underneath, judging by the naked expanse of his strong, tanned arms. Fucking hell, he was a beautiful man.
I nodded enthusiastically, sliding into one of the vacant barstools, leaving a gap between me and Zeth. The way he watched me was more than a little off-putting—like he knew I was a fraud. “Who doesn’t?” I replied with a nervous laugh, hyperaware that the cameras were still rolling.
“You’ll get used to it,” Minho said quietly, sliding into the empty seat beside me. “The cameras, I mean. And if it reassures you, they literally work for us. If there’s anything you don’t want making the episode cut, you just say so, and it’ll be cut.”
That actually hadn’t occurred to me, that the team had any creative control over the footage. A small sigh of relief escaped me, and I offered a tight smile his way. “That’s good to know.”
His answering grin made my stomach flip, and I swallowed hard.
He’d tied up his hair in a little ponytail, and it was a really good look on him.
Having all that inky-black hair pulled back from his face seemed to highlight how delicate his features were and offered no distraction from the intensity of his gaze. It was…overwhelming.
“Any preference for ingredients, Noah?” Torin asked, jerking my attention away from the little trance Minho had just put me under.
“Um, cheese?” I replied with another weak laugh, praying that my face wasn’t as pink as it felt. If I didn’t stop drooling over my new teammates, they’d work out I was a girl in no time. Or maybe not. Maybe they’d just assume I was gay?
Speaking of…Skye had just sat down in August’s lap on one of the sofas, and August was absentmindedly rubbing the younger guy’s shoulders while continuing his conversation with Xavier.
Was there a sexual relationship between them?
The whole team oozed female-gaze sex appeal all over their online presence, but that didn’t mean it was the truth.
I knew perfectly well how fake it could all be.
I wanted to ask, but it was way too soon.
“Skye took you out to the cliff?” Ace asked, leaning his elbows on the counter opposite where I sat, his gaze intense and far too observant. “How’d you like his setup?”
“It’s really cool,” I said honestly, nodding. “I live in an apartment, so the space you guys have here is crazy.”
“You should see the track.” Ace chuckled. “Our land here wasn’t big enough for everyone to do everything they want, so we have a second property near Yorba Linda.”
By “track” I had to assume it was mostly Xavier’s area, since he was the biker. Motocross, BMX, road bikes…anything with two wheels and high energy was Xavier Stone’s domain. Fuck, was I drooling again?
Torin rounded the counter and dropped a plate in front of me. “Grilled cheese, extra cheese,” he announced with a wink.
“Where’s mine?” Minho asked with a pout, staring longingly at my food as the mouthwatering scent of buttery toast wafted to my nose.
Torin reached over me to flick Minho in the forehead. “Use your words like a big boy and ask nicely, Minnie.”
Shock held me frozen as I glanced between the two of them. Was this…an argument? Or flirtation? I was so fucking confused.
Minho just smirked back, then turned his eyes all big and round like some kind of adorable woodland creature. “Please, can I have one too, Tor?”
“Of course!” Torin replied, heading back to his stove. “Once I’ve finished Ace’s and Skye’s.”
“Here, have half of mine,” I offered, pushing my plate across after picking up one half. “If I’m still hungry when yours is ready you can return the favor.”
Minho gave me a sidelong glance but took the sandwich anyway.
“You should eat more,” he murmured, taking a bite of the steaming sandwich, “but I’m not one to throw stones in glass houses, so thanks.
” He gave me an affectionate sort of shoulder bump that made me go all warm and gooey inside, so I took a huge bite to save myself from responding.
“Good, you’re all here,” someone said a few minutes later, and I looked up to find a sharply suited man in maybe his mid-fifties having just strode into the kitchen area. “Noah, nice to see you here. Are you settling in well?”
I quickly chewed my mouthful and swallowed before answering. “So far, yeah…” I trailed off with confusion, because I had no clue who this man was. None of the guys seemed concerned or surprised by his presence though.
“Good. It occurs to me we never officially met. I’m Mr. Leight, the team manager.” He didn’t try to offer a smile to seem approachable in any way, and that checked out from what I had learned about him during contract negotiation.
My mood soured, and my eyes narrowed. “I see.”
A brief flash of amusement crossed his face, and he tucked his hands into his pockets, shifting his attention to Ace. “Engagement from the introduction stage has been great so far, most clicks and views spiking on Team Olympus announcements as anticipated.”
Ace nodded, like this wasn’t news to him at all.
“Skye, I understand you spent the morning with Noah, yes?” Mr. Leight arched a brow in Skye’s direction, and I noticed that he’d shifted off August’s lap and now sat a short distance away.
“Yes, sir,” my roommate confirmed.
“Good, the Acolytes are dying to see the two of you working together. This afternoon I want Noah with you, Minho. We need some short-form content uploaded today, so can you get some of those trending dance challenges filmed?” Mr. Leight pulled his phone from his pocket as he spoke, barely giving either Minho or me the courtesy of eye contact as he made his demands.
Minho didn’t seem bothered, shrugging one tattoo-covered shoulder and tossing me a teasing smile. “Depends if Noah can dance or not. Otherwise all I can promise is a whole lot of blooper reels.”
Mr. Leight glanced up from his phone, meeting my panicked eyes, and I nearly choked on my mouthful. He knew damn well who I was and that I’d spent my entire fucking childhood on Dance Babes, but I couldn’t exactly admit to that here.
“I’m sure you can teach him,” the manager muttered dismissively. “Doesn’t need to be perfect. Just get it done.”
My brow dipped with irritation at his tone, but Minho draping his arm over my shoulders stilled my tongue.
“Can do, boss,” he said with an edge of sarcasm.
His subtle squeeze of my upper arm implied he knew I was about to get mouthy and was warning me not to.
But how? He didn’t know me and had no reason to know how badly my temper had just flared.
Mr. Leight was already in my bad books before ever meeting, but now? Now I really disliked him.
“Good. Ace, I expect to see your interaction projections and content concepts for the Games in my inbox by Friday. Noah, can I speak with you privately, please? We have some house rules to run through.” Mr. Leight turned and strode out of the room without even waiting for me to respond.
My mouth fell open in shock. Was that man serious? Who the fuck did he think he was?
“Just get it over with,” Minho murmured with a sigh, dropping his arm off my shoulders, much to my disappointment. “I’ll meet you in the practice room when you’re done.”
I gritted my teeth but bit my tongue. The cameras were still rolling, and I didn’t need to go offering up sound bites that could be used against me at a later date. After meeting Mr. Leight, I was less confident that the guys controlled the content after all.
Luckily I didn’t have to search all over the house to find the bad-mannered man, as he was waiting in the impressive entry foyer with an irritated look on his face. When he saw me approach, he opened the door and gestured for me to follow him outside onto the porch.
“You could have cut your hair shorter, Noah. You still look like a girl.” That was what he said. No pleasantries or even hello? What a dick.
I quirked a brow and folded my arms. “My hair is barely an inch longer than Minho’s, and no one thinks he’s a girl. Didn’t you know? Gender fluidity is very fashionable right now.”
Mr. Leight’s eyes narrowed, and his jaw flexed.
“You seem to be under the impression that you’re doing me a favor with this act, Noah.
This is for your protection. Do you have any concept of what the boys’ fans would do if they discovered Norah Sparkle living at Mount Olympus? Let alone if they connected you to—”
“Enough,” I hissed, cutting him off before he could say Peaches.
No matter how badly I’d wanted to keep the whole porn thing quiet while my lawyers gagged Rich in iron-clad NDAs, we had needed to come clean with Team Olympus management for several reasons, not the least of which was damage control, in the potential event of a scandal.
“I’m doing my part, but it seems like you only want to make things difficult.
Why am I sharing a bedroom with Skye? How do you expect me to keep this under wraps when I am literally never alone? ”
Mr. Leight’s jaw ticked again and his lips tightened. “Changing that now will only raise more questions. You’ll figure it out, Noah, or our contract is void.” And Miles would be doing rehab in prison.
The message was loud and clear. “Is that everything, then? Can I go?”
The sharpness of my tone made him glare daggers. “Just don’t fuck it up, Noah. The Acolytes will skin you alive, and you know it.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. Team Olympus’s fandom was toxic as fuck and not known for their compassion or logical thinking when it came to the boys. Parasocial didn’t even touch the surface of how some of their fandom behaved.
“Oh, and the fans are already loving your interactions with Minho, so feel free to lean into that harder. As much as they’d rip your spine out for being a girl, they go feral for an implied same-sex relationship.
Go figure.” With that bomb dropped, Mr. Leight strode down the porch steps and slid into the backseat of his waiting sedan.
Well, fuck. Maybe I didn’t need to stop drooling over the guys after all.