Chapter 10
NOAH
over the next few days I spent a huge amount of time in Ace’s office, brainstorming ideas of how we could both prove my legitimacy in stunts and display teamwork when everyone had such incredibly varied skill sets. Oh, and get enough Cliks to win the first round of the games, of course.
Sometimes Xavier and Z joined us, sometimes one of the other guys, but it was evident they relied on Ace to build out the concepts for their content and looked to him for leadership in all areas.
He’d told me a thousand times I didn’t need to come up with the ideas myself, but after I read the comments from fans—and haters—I felt responsible.
And angry. I was angry and needed to prove myself.
“I feel like some of the other teams took this stage into consideration better than you did,” I muttered in frustration after the dozenth discarded idea. “Look at GeeGee… They’re basically carbon copies of each other. This challenge will be a fucking breeze for them.”
Ace shrugged. “Yeah, but they’re all relying on Angela’s following to get them the Cliks. The rest of them are barely sitting in the top five hundred creators whereas the eight of us…”
I nodded, understanding that part perfectly fine. Technically August was top twenty—currently ranking number sixteen on ClikByte’s most followed accounts—but the rest of us sat firmly in the top ten. I was holding second place very smugly after having overtaken Xavier just a few months ago.
Minho was first. I couldn’t even dispute that because I was one of his followers myself.
“I have an idea scratching at my brain,” I mumbled, raking my fingers through my short hair with a tired groan.
“I just can’t quite connect the dots. We need it public, right?
Really public, lots of eyewitnesses. But we also have to do something that involves the whole team, so it’s not good enough to have me and Skye jump off the top of a hotel or some shit.
” I was just repeating everything we already knew.
“It’s late,” Ace said, nodding to his clock hanging on the wall above his computer monitors. I glanced at the time and was shocked to see it was past midnight. “Sleep on it. Maybe it’ll come to one of us in a dream.”
Yawning, I scuffed my feet out of Ace’s office and headed back toward my shared room with Skye. To my surprise, he was still awake and scrolling ClikByte on his phone in bed.
“Did you guys come up with something?” he asked, putting his phone down as I hunted for some sleep clothes.
Boys—in my experience—didn’t wear cute PJs, so I’d had to adjust to wearing baggy boxer shorts and an oversized T-shirt to bed.
I desperately wanted to sleep without my chest binder on but couldn’t risk taking it off while Skye was awake. Dammit.
I shook my head, yawning again. “No. Maybe the challenge will be something totally different anyway. Maybe they’ll give us some unexpected twist like…” My brain hurt too much to think of a silly hypothetical.
“Like doing a synchronized dance in dinosaur suits?” Skye suggested with a lopsided smile. “I’d totally do that. Sounds really easy and funny, too.”
I snickered tiredly. “Same. We’d make cute dinosaurs, you and me. Not sure about Xavier, he’s more of a Godzilla.”
Taking my clothes with me, I slipped into the bathroom to get changed and brush my teeth before returning to my bed. Skye had already turned the main light off, thoughtfully leaving my reading light on so I wouldn’t walk into shit getting to the bed, and I groaned as I climbed under my blankets.
For a few minutes, comfortable silence settled across us, and I made another mental note about how glad I was to be sharing with Skye. Literally any of the other guys would have me in a nervous, hormonal mess trying to sleep in the same room as them, but Skye made me feel safe and calm.
“Hey, Noah?” he murmured softly some moments after I flicked off my reading light.
“Mmm?” I replied, already on the edge of sleep, despite how uncomfortable my body was to be trapped in the binder still.
He paused a second before replying. “You shouldn’t sleep with that on, you know? Your, um, back brace. It’s not good to wear it all the time.”
Suddenly I was wide awake. “What?” It came out squeaky with panic.
“Sorry, I wasn’t going to say anything because you haven’t mentioned it, but Minho told me you might have a back injury that you’re supporting, and I noticed you wear a brace under your shirt.
You can take it off at night, that’s all I meant to say.
I won’t tell anyone you’re injured, if that’s what you’re worried about. ”
Words totally failed me. He’d said it in a jumbled rush, like he didn’t want to make me uncomfortable but at the same time wanted to reassure me that our room was a safe place. Fuck…he was the best roommate I could have hoped for.
I bit my lip, debating my options. I was wearing a huge T-shirt, and I was under blankets.
And I was far from a D cup on the best of days, so really, where was the harm?
I’d just been paranoid because the industrial-strength hook-and-loop fastener of the binder itself was loud as hell, and then I’d need to explain it.
Which, apparently, I didn’t need to anymore.
Back injury. That was why Minho mentioned hurting my back during the kitchen water fight—he’d clearly felt my binder under my shirt and made assumptions.
“Did I make things weird?” Skye asked when I said nothing. “Ignore me. I just…I hope you know that you’re totally safe in here. I would never betray your trust, no matter what.”
I wet my lips, my breathing shallow and my spine rigid. He was referring to my “back injury” that he seemed to think I was hiding for some reason…but his words meant so much more than he fully appreciated.
“Not weird at all,” I croaked, forcing the words out before I really made things awkward.
Then before I could talk myself out of it, I reached under my shirt to rip the Velcro open.
The sigh of relief that gusted out of me couldn’t have been stifled if I’d tried.
“You’re right. It really sucks sleeping in that. ”
Skye gave a small chuckle in the darkness. “Well, don’t do it again. It’s bad for your ribs and shit.” His blankets rustled as he shifted in his bed, yawning dramatically. “Good night, Noah.”
“Night, Skye,” I whispered, tucking my binder under my pillow and getting comfier than I’d been the whole time since arriving at Mount Olympus.
When I woke up the next morning, I scurried into the shower while Skye was still sleeping slack-jawed and sprawled across his blankets. By the time he woke, I was fully dressed in my masculine disguise but feeling like a million bucks.
Downstairs, I’d barely finished pouring a coffee when Z found me, rubbing his half-closed eyes with the heel of his hand. “Ace is looking for you, bro. Pretty sure he just woke Skye up.”
I frowned over the rim of my cup. “Skye’s already awake… sort of.” He had mumbled something about caffeine but then dragged his pillow over his head before I’d left the room. “What does Ace need?”
Z shrugged, leaning against the counter and clearly struggling. “Dunno. Aw, is that the last of the coffee?” He glared daggers at the nearly empty pot I’d just poured mine out of.
“Sorry.” I winced, trying to avoid eye contact, because proximity with him was a lot.
Hanging out while he composed music a couple days ago had nearly driven me insane, purely from the magnetic pull he seemed to exude.
Weirdly, my brain had already decided that I knew the way he would kiss…
what he would taste like…how he’d fuck… “Um, give me a minute, I’ll make another. ”
Z just pouted and eyed the mug in my hand mournfully. “Sure. Want me to hold that for you?”
I was flustered enough that I handed it over without a second thought, only to have him grin smugly and take a huge sip.
“You— Z, that’s not very nice!” I exclaimed, reaching for the mug and catching nothing but air when he moved it up and out of my reach.
“Okay, ha ha, very funny, use my height against me. Here I was feeling bad for you, and you’re just using dirty tricks to steal my coffee. ”
The way he laughed was fucking mesmerizing, and I nearly forgot what we were talking about as he met my eyes. His were a dark moss green that worked so damn well with his wine-red hair and lightly tanned skin. My lungs tightened, and I needed to force myself to breathe as I ducked my gaze away.
“I guess I’ll make more for myself then,” I grumbled, turning my back on him and swallowing hard as I tried to pull my shit together. My face was warm, and I was terrified he’d catch me blushing. What the fuck would these guys do if they thought their newest team member was crushing on them all?
Z groaned, moving closer and reaching around to offer my mug back to me. “Shit, bro, you’re making me feel like a bully. Here. I only wanted one sip anyway.”
I took it, holding my breath when our fingers connected, but then he ruffled my hair and I jabbed him playfully with my elbow. “Asshole.”
He laughed. “Guilty. Oh here’s Ace. Move. I’ll do this.” He placed his hands on my hips and physically shifted me away from the coffee machine before I could protest.
“Eight!” Ace called out as he crossed the living area toward the kitchen. “I worked it out!”
My brows shot up, Z’s casual contact all but forgotten at the sight of Ace’s dark eye circles and familiar T-shirt—the same one he’d been wearing last night. “Did you sleep, Ace?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. But I worked it out. Don’t you wanna hear?
” Somehow over the course of the last couple days, this had become a joint obsession between Ace and me.
Secretly, I loved it. Ace was an insanely hard worker, and everything I’d seen of him in the week since joining the team, I really liked.
Which was confusing, with how vehemently my brother hated him.
Miles was usually such a good judge of character.
Then again, he had been friends with Rich. So maybe not.
“Go on, then.” I nodded, moving out of Z’s way as I sipped my coffee. Then my brain tripped over itself, remembering Z just drank from my cup and that meant that—
“High ropes course,” Ace announced with a grin, snapping me out of the perverted train of thought I was heading down.
I wrinkled my nose, confused. “Uh…okay. Elaborate.”
Ace pulled out his phone, swiping across browser tabs until he displayed an ad for a “corporate team-bonding activity center” which showed a picture of some middle-aged twat in a suit, rigged up with a safety harness, walking across a high-wire while his equally corporate friends cheered him on.
“Okay…” I repeated, scrolling through the description of the perfect way to bond your corporate team. “Elaborate more, please.”
Ace shot me a smirk. “High ropes course, rigged up in the gap between the triangle towers, during the Dazed Dayz festival. Maximum publicity for how many people are there, undeniable that it’s legit, fucking loads of danger factor, and displays teamwork. It’s perfect, right?”
I blinked a couple of times, looking back at his phone and the grinning idiots in suits and safety harnesses. “No safety net?” I murmured thoughtfully.
Ace’s smile dropped, and a small frown creased his brow. “The finer details we can negotiate. But as a concept…?”
I nodded slowly, running it through in my head, actually visualizing how it might play out. “As a concept? It’s perfect. But logistically? I have no idea how we even begin to pull this off.”
Ace’s grin was back, bigger than ever, and it ignited a warmth within me that was almost scary. “Don’t you worry about that, Eight. We have more than enough connections to make this work.”
I believed him, too. Team Olympus was more than just the eight of us, after all. It was a huge fucking company with billions backing it. If Ace wanted something, he got it. My place on the team was proof of that.