Chapter 24
SKYE
News of the streaker reached us right as Ace was in the middle of a heated argument with one of the creative directors around what the next stage of Clik Games would be and whether Cat Kay’s murder would delay—or even cancel—the games entirely.
When the text came through, I immediately put my phone under Ace’s nose.
He paused to read it, then shoved back from the table and gestured for me to leave with him.
Not that I needed the encouragement to haul ass out of there.
All the message said was, There’s been an incident at Mount Olympus, but all team members are safe.
It wasn’t until we were halfway home that we got more information, thanks to Torin in our team group chat, letting us know about the streaker’s cartwheels and subsequent tackling.
Reading that and seeing all the jokes from the other guys that followed—about the streaker being Torin’s biggest fan—helped me relax a little. Noah must have been okay or there’s no way the chat would be so relaxed.
“You and Noah are close,” Ace commented aloud after I replied in the group chat, joining in on giving Torin crap.
I glanced up from my phone, eyeing the side of his face while he drove. “Yeah. Is that a problem?” Because I knew he’d recently had heated words with Minho about his unsubtle claiming move with letting Noah wear his hat. And shit, Ace didn’t even know Noah was a girl.
“No, it’s not a problem,” he replied quietly. “I think it’s great that you two get along so well. You’ve got so much in common; you were always destined to be best of friends or worst of enemies. I’m glad you decided on friends.”
I grinned, thinking of how hostile Noah had been when we first met. “Yeah, me too.”
“How do you think he’s settling in with the rest of the team?” Ace asked in a weirdly emotionless tone.
I frowned, scratching my cheek. “Uh, it’s been nearly six weeks. I’d say he’s settled in just fine. Wouldn’t you? It feels like he was always meant to be on the team, and I think everyone seems…I dunno, maybe happier when he’s around?”
It wasn’t even a challenge to remember Noah’s masculine pronouns because to me, she was just as she presented. He. As he presented. Whatever. Noah was my best friend and that was all that mattered, regardless of genitalia.
Ace was quiet for a moment, considering what I’d said before he nodded.
“Yeah, I think you’re right. With the exception of Xavier.
Those two really don’t get along.” He said it with a grimace, and I got the feeling it was something that’d been playing on his mind for a while.
“Any ideas how we can fix that? Or maybe if you know why they don’t get along… ?”
I hadn’t been joking around when I told Noah I was a vault.
Nothing on this whole earth could make me tell Ace the real reason Noah was so angry.
That anger was 100 percent justified with context, but the problem was that Xavier didn’t have the context.
So he was pissed that Noah was pissed, and it was a whole vicious cycle of taking cheap swipes at one another.
“I mean…Xavier did drop him off a high wire and make Noah think he was about to die.” And that in itself was enough to create some ill feeling.
Ace frowned. “But Xavier knew the net was there, and that Noah would be safe.”
I shrugged. “Okay, but Noah didn’t know. Neither did the rest of us. The outcome is sort of irrelevant to how he’d have felt in the moment.”
Ace didn’t respond to that, instead just taking in what I’d said and thinking it over as he always did.
Arriving back, we discovered the security already doubled, and a police cruiser on its way out. Ace parked us in the garage, then headed out to speak with Jeff, our head of security, so I decided to go in search of Noah and the guys.
I meant what I’d said to Ace. Noah had brought a much-needed dynamic to our team, and everyone was benefiting from it. Even Xavier, despite how he was acting toward her. It seemed like a dumb observation even in my own head, but Noah’s addition to the team had mellowed out all the testosterone.
To my surprise, I found everyone outside in the pool.
“Uh, I don’t know why I figured you’d all be inside with the doors locked,” I commented as I approached where Noah sat cross-legged on a sun lounger. Of course she wasn’t swimming… would be a bit hard given the whole anatomic discrepancies situation.
Noah looked up at me from behind Ace’s Deity sunglasses that he’d let her keep. “There was a brief discussion about doing that,” she admitted with a grin.
“But then we watched the footage of the ‘intruder,’” Z said, pulling himself up out of the pool and shaking his red hair like a dog.
I couldn’t help glancing at Noah to clock her reaction, because she was so obviously attracted to him it was laughable.
“And Torin laughed so hard I thought he was going to piss himself.”
“Oh come on, it was funny!” Torin yelled from in the pool.
Noah, grinning, generously offered to explain the rest. “We decided that we weren’t actually in any danger and everyone was sweaty and gross from tennis so…we ended up here.”
“Yeah, except Noah refuses to come swimming with us,” Z added as he flopped down on the sun lounger beside my best friend. “Skye, tell Noah that five minutes without his back brace won’t kill him?”
I scoffed, kicking my sneakers off, then sitting on the edge of Noah’s lounger to peel off my socks. “You a back surgeon now, Z? If he doesn’t want to take it off, then we don’t question him. Got it? We don’t fuck around with peer pressure, bro, that’s not our vibe.”
“Yeah,” Z mumbled with a pout, “you’re right. Sorry, Noah.” Then he popped back to his feet and tackled me around the waist, scooping me up off my seat and throwing me—and himself—into the pool. Fucker didn’t even wait for me to take my shirt or jeans off.
The water was colder than anticipated, and shock seized my lungs for a moment before I kicked Z away and resurfaced.
“Asshole!” I yelled when he also popped his head above water, grinning broadly. “I was coming in anyway, you dick.”
“So I did you a favor!” Z replied with a cackle, swimming away before I could dunk him under.
Grumbling, I swam back to the edge and peeled off my T-shirt and jeans, tossing them out onto the side of the pool while Noah laughed. “Yeah yeah,” I grumbled, giving her a glower. “Very funny.”
Swimming away, I made a beeline for Z to get my revenge, but he hid behind August with unhinged cackles of laughter.
It hadn’t escaped my notice that he was spending more time with the team since Noah joined us, too.
Before, he was gone a lot of the time, sneaking out to see his girlfriend.
Maybe they were off again? Or maybe he was also enjoying the changed dynamic in our house?
Distracted as I was horsing around with Z and August, I wasn’t paying attention to Noah. Or Xavier. And it all happened so fast. One moment Noah was saying something about getting a drink from the kitchen, and then Xavier had appeared out of freaking nowhere to toss Noah into the pool.
“Dude!” Torin yelled in anger. “What the fuck? Noah said he didn’t want to swim!”
Xavier, laughing, just waved Torin off. “Chill, I didn’t make him take his shirt off. He looked like he needed cooling down.”
Except Noah hadn’t resurfaced.
Minho had clocked it faster even than I had, diving into the deep end from where he’d been sitting on the edge of the pool and hauling Noah’s spluttering, thrashing body back to the surface while I frantically swam closer.
“Out!” I puffed, panic ripping through me as all the worst-case scenarios ran through my mind. Had she hit her head on the bottom? Couldn’t swim? Fuck. Fuck. If she needed CPR, then everyone would know her secret, but right now I couldn’t give two shits. I’d rather that than have her drown.
Somehow between Minho, me, and August, we got Noah out of the pool, and to my intense relief, she started coughing up water almost immediately. Minho looked just as terrified as I felt, his eyes wide and worried as he rubbed the back of Noah’s neck and murmured shaking reassurances.
“Twin, what the fuck was that?” I asked in a strangled voice, swiping water from my face with a trembling hand. “Are you hurt? Did you hit the bottom?”
Noah wasn’t in any state to answer, though. Her face was sheet white, and the quiver in her arms as she braced on the tiles was violent. Like a panic attack. Fuck…was that what it was?
“Hey, Twin, let’s go inside and get some dry clothes on,” I suggested hesitantly, meeting Minho’s worried eyes with my own and giving a small shrug. “Minnie and I will help you up, okay? Tell us if anything hurts.”
Noah managed a small nod, her breathing in harsh, shallow gasps. “I’m-m f-fine.”
Bullshit, bro. But I wasn’t going to argue the point as we got her upright and I slung my arm around her slim waist to take most of her weight as we started inside the house. Minho walked with us, holding Noah’s arm protectively, but he couldn’t come upstairs with us.
“I’m s-scared of w-water,” Noah confessed in a harsh whisper as she started to walk a little stronger. “Of d-drowning. I panicked.”
Oh, fuck. I stopped dead in my tracks and dragged her into a hug, holding her trembling body tight like I could somehow take all the shitty trauma out of her life. It wasn’t fair.
“I’ve got this,” I told Minho in an attempt to sound brave for Noah’s sake. “Go kick Xavi’s ass.”
Minnie frowned with concern, then dropped a quick kiss on Noah’s wet hair before leaving us.
“Come on, Twin, you need dry clothes,” I murmured, giving her another squeeze before continuing through the house toward the stairs. We passed Ace in the foyer, who did a double take at seeing me in my boxers and Noah soaking wet and in shock.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked in a voice that promised violence and retribution. Ace took his role as group leader very seriously, and a part of that was protecting his members from everything.
My focus was on Noah, though, so I just scoffed. “Go ask Xavier,” I growled and guided Noah to continue up the stairs with me. We could deal with that shit after she’d come back to herself.