Chapter 22
NOAH
No one slept that night. I didn’t even bother trying, because the sight of Cat Kay’s sliced throat was imprinted so clearly on my brain that I was basically vibrating. After I emptied my stomach, we’d all spent way too long speculating about what we’d just seen.
The stream itself was gone, but dozens of screen recordings had popped up all over ClikByte, and the platform was struggling to get them all taken down quick enough. It was like a fucking hydra; cut one head off and seven more appeared.
Eventually we all hesitantly agreed it was a stunt.
Special effects and clever camerawork, designed to drive a flurry of Cliks for Cat’s profile.
Even so, there was no sleep coming easy for any of us.
We didn’t discuss it, but somehow we just ended up sitting around the living room all damn night with a marathon of movies playing with the volume down low.
Sometime the next morning, our doorbell chimed loudly through the house, and I raised my groggy head from where I’d made myself comfy in Skye’s lap.
“Who—?” I started to ask, but Ace was already on his way over to the video intercom unit on the wall.
“Crap,” he muttered. “Look alive, team. Leight is here to make our day ten times worse.”
“Ours?” Xavier replied with a yawn. “Nah, he’s here for Little Dude.”
I extended my middle finger his way. “Kiss my ass, Godzilla.”
He smirked back, not looking anywhere near as rough as I was feeling. “I don’t swing that way, no matter how many times you offer it up.”
My jaw dropped, and Torin shot me a curious glance. “You fucking wish,” I spluttered, barely clinging to my dignity while knowing my cheeks were bright pink. “Heard from your faceless porn star recently? Or is that why you’re suddenly so invested in my sex life?”
Xavier’s smirk slipped, and his eyes darkened with anger.
Yeah, I knew perfectly fucking well he hadn’t heard from her, but he didn’t know how I knew.
I really should stop bringing her up, though.
It was playing with fire, and Skye must have thought the same because he gave me a subtle pinch as if to tell me to stop.
“Cut it out, both of you,” Z interjected before Xavier could clap back with what would have undoubtedly been a cutting remark. “We’re supposed to be a team, remember? Which means none of this petty bullshit.”
He was right, but Xavier fucking started it.
Ace returned to the living room with the team manager then, ending our argument for now as we all sat up straighter. The man was intimidating as hell in his Gucci suit and pissed-off expression.
“You all look terrible,” he commented by way of greeting. “Did any of you sleep?”
“Ah, not much,” Ace admitted, folding his arms but not sitting down. “We weren’t expecting you this morning, sir.”
Mr. Leight grimaced. “No? After what happened to Cat Kay last night? I know you were watching, thanks to Noah’s extremely ill-advised comment on the stream. You didn’t think there would be an absolute fucking circus of press to deal with today?”
I inhaled sharply, straightening my spine. “But it was a publicity stunt for her team, right? Special effects and stuff?”
The team manager scowled my way. “No, Mr. Fearly, it was not. Police would like to speak with you about your relationship to Miss Kay, so I’ll take you there now. Please get changed and be ready to leave in ten minutes. Ace, we need to speak strategy about how to handle this.”
“Handle what?” Ace asked carefully, frowning. “We had nothing to do with her CB-Live, and Noah only—”
“Noah fucked up big time!” Mr. Leight exploded, roaring the statement in a rare loss of control.
He drew a deep breath, spearing me with an absolute death glare.
“Now not only are we dealing with the possibility of his involvement in a murder, but Minho’s fans are utterly furious on his behalf and piling hate onto Noah for the perceived slight against their favorite.
Do you have any idea how many death threats have come in overnight?
No? Well then, perhaps you need to think before you go off making public comments on a competitor’s account while she’s in her underwear. ”
Speechless, I just sat there, wide-eyed and mouth agape. All I’d wanted to do was build the girl up and reassure her, and now I was being questioned about her murder? Fuck. I really did mess up big time.
“Whatever you two had going”—Mr. Leight gestured between me and Minho—“it’s done. I need a fucking crisis management meeting to decide how we repair Noah’s popularity out of this.”
“Whoa, that’s a bit extreme,” Minnie protested, shaking his head.
“This whole thing will blow over when fans realize that he and Cat have literally never met, so us splitting up will only make things ten times worse and make him look more guilty. We should be making a point of not letting this change our dynamic because Noah did nothing wrong.”
That seemed to make the team manager pause with a thoughtful frown. I also appreciated the fact Minnie was sticking up for me, even if it was just to protect his reputation. Not that he would be suffering from the fallout if he was considered the victim in my theoretical betrayal.
“We can workshop some options with the PR team,” Ace said, smoothly stepping in. “But you don’t need to escort Noah to the police station. Xavier can take him in so we can get to the office and discuss our next steps.”
I grunted a small protest, not wanting to go anywhere with Xavier. But when the alternate option was Mr. Leight? Yeah, I could suck it up.
“Sure,” Xavier drawled, pushing to his feet. “I’ll go freshen up. You should too, Little Dude. You look like crap.”
On second thought, maybe I’d take my chances with Mr. Leight.
“I need a word with you in private before I go, Mr. Fearly,” the team manager snapped, gesturing for me to leave the living room with him.
Skye gave my hand a squeeze of reassurance, and I blew out a long sigh as I got up to follow. To my relief, Ace joined us, so I wasn’t totally alone with the prickly manager, and Mr. Leight shot Ace a frustrated glance.
“I said private,” he muttered with frustration.
Ace shrugged. “And I’m team leader, so I need to be privy to all business matters regarding my team. I am assuming you wanted to speak with Noah about the brand deal offer?”
My brows shot up with surprise. “The what?”
Mr. Leight gave a lightning-fast eye roll, but I caught it nonetheless.
“Yes. Deity Designs noticed you were wearing a pair of their sunglasses earlier this week and have expressed interest in signing you to their label. They have put forward a good offer, and if you’re interested, we can of course negotiate for more. ”
Shock rendered me speechless. Deity Designs was Ace’s brand, and admittedly they had some great clothes, but they were exclusively menswear. Which would work in the short-term, but when my real identity was eventually made public? Nope, that’d be a hugely shitty thing to do to their company.
“That’s very flattering, but I’m not interested,” I said softly and with genuine regret.
I’d never had a luxury designer brand offer before, and it was crazy tempting to just accept it and say fuck it to the details.
My deal with Hot Falcon energy drinks was totally different, and my only obligation to them was wearing their logos on my helmet and flight suit.
Ace looked like I’d just announced I was secretly a woman and had been catfishing him this whole time. Oh wait. Maybe not that shocked, but he was definitely confused.
“Why? Your only existing endorsement is with Hot Falcon, and this wouldn’t conflict. They pay really well and would supply you a full wardrobe from their upcoming collection, all you—”
“He said no, Ace,” Mr. Leight interjected. “Noah made it very clear when we negotiated his team contracts that he wasn’t interested in brand deals. It is simply my responsibility to present them nonetheless.”
I rolled my eyes, unable to help myself.
“Yes, because you made it very clear that any deals signed while I’m on the team will be subject to additional agent commissions despite the fact that I do not want or need your representation.
So thank you, but no thank you. You’ve squeezed me into a tight enough position here without me literally paying you for the privilege. ”
The team manager’s eyes narrowed with irritation. “Watch what you’re saying, Mister Fearly. Our agreement benefited both of us.” The underlying threat was crystal clear, and I swallowed hard to get a grip of my emotions.
Everything felt so raw this morning.
“Right, well, the answer is no. I’ll have my own manager reach out to them directly once the Games are over.” Because shit, maybe Jared could come to some kind of androgynous fashion agreement that would allow me to actually be me once I was free of Team Olympus.
I gave Ace a small shrug and started to leave because apparently I needed to be questioned about a total stranger’s murder this morning. Mr. Leight apparently wasn’t content to let me have the last word, though.
“Noah, I plan to work out specifics with Ace, but you should be warned that the company wants to see more appealing content in the next team Byte.” He said it with an edge of something dark. Threat? Warning? Fuck him, I wasn’t biting.
Ace gave a short sigh, sweeping a hand over his hair. “He means thirst traps, Eight. The company wants more thirst traps. Shirtless shit.”
Mr. Leight shrugged innocently. “It’s what the team is known for, after all.”
My jaw dropped as I stared at him in horror. “I can’t— That’s not going to work for me, and you damn well know it.”
“Yeah, he’s right,” Ace agreed. “Noah has a preexisting back injury that he wears a support brace for. Shirtless is out of the question for him.”
“I’m sure you can figure it out, Noah,” Mr. Leight said dismissively. “But if you change your mind about the brand deal, you know where to find me.”
Motherfucker.
Spinning on my heel, I hurried upstairs before he could see how effectively he’d just rattled my cage. And to what fucking end? He didn’t want my secret to come out any more than I did, but apparently he wanted the money from this brand deal more. No…he was bluffing. He had to be.
“Whoa, dude, chill,” Skye exclaimed when I blew into our room like the devil himself was chasing me. Maybe he was…just in a Gucci suit. “What did Leight want?”
Biting my tongue, I grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the bathroom with me and locked the door. Then turned on the shower to ensure we couldn’t be overheard as I dumped the whole pitiful conversation into his lap and then whined a little about how panicked I was.
“Yeah…” he said slowly when I finished. “Right. Huh. That’s… hmm. Well, for one thing, congrats on the Deity offer. That’s a really big deal, bro.”
I stared at him with a pointed look, and he grinned.
“Yeah, yeah, I know why you won’t accept it, but the fact they made the offer is fucking awesome. Not that I’m shocked, you’re hot shit, even as a dude. Wait, did you have a CB profile as, you know, you? Like as a—”
“Shhh!” I hissed, despite the fact I’d gone to great lengths to ensure no one would listen in the way Skye himself had uncovered my secret.
“And yes. But I don’t want to tell you what my pseudonym was or you’ll never look at me the same way again.
There’s a reason NoFear was anonymous for so damn long…
I have a lot of regrets about the person I used to pretend to be online. ”
Skye’s grin widened, and a teasing glint lit up his eyes. “Well, fuck, now I need to know. Come on, Twin, I’m the best secret keeper ever.”
I rolled my eyes because yes, he was. But I still wasn’t going to show him my Norah Sparkle content because I was fucking embarrassed. Not just for the shallow nature of it all, but also for Rich’s involvement. Prick.
“You’re missing the point, Twin,” I growled. “What the fuck do I do about Mr. Leight’s little threat to out me to the team?”
Skye shrugged. “He’s bluffing, for sure. Ignore him. He’s underestimating how protective this team is of you, and what lengths they’ll go to protect your back injury if you put your foot down.”
I bit my lip, nodding my agreement. He was right, but I also felt like a massive asshole for deceiving them. “Yeah. Or I take the brand deal and let him rip me off.”
“Nope, definitely don’t do that. Not on the first offer, anyway. You wait. Now that one brand has made a move, they’ll all be slobbering for a piece of Noah Fearly. How fucking funny if you get an offer from a predominantly women’s label, though, like Minnie’s deal with Portia.”
I snorted a laugh. “That’d be a hard pass. Minnie somehow still manages to look masculine even in a skirt. I’d look like a woman.”
“I should fucking hope so, all things considered,” he teased, ruffling my hair with his fingers. “Now, aren’t you supposed to be getting interrogated over a murder right now?”
I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. “Damn it. Yes. Okay, fuck off and let me shower.” Scooting off the vanity counter, I crossed to the door and yanked it open, yelping when I locked eyes with Xavier standing in the middle of our room.
His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he looked from me to Skye and back again. “What were you two doing in there?”
Words failed me. Skye was unaffected, though, brushing past me with a lazy laugh. “Making out, obviously. Why, you jealous?” Then he kicked the bathroom door shut with his heel, closing me in and cutting off whatever Xavier’s snarky response would have been.
Such a shit stirrer…but a funny one.