Chapter 25
ACE
confusion and frustration and fucking rage flooded through my whole system as I watched Skye protectively guide Noah upstairs, the smaller guy shaking like a goddamn leaf and paler than Z’s bare ass in winter. Ask Xavier? What the actual fuck had he done now?
I stormed through the house toward the back patio just in time to witness Minho violently shove Xavier backward into the pool, then jump in after him. Fuck. It was worse than I had initially thought because Minnie was most definitely trying to drown Xavier right now.
“Let him up!” I barked, as I rushed out there to break up the fight. “Minnie! Cut it out!”
He glared absolute daggers my way, his black hair plastered to his face and neck as he hauled Xavier back to the surface with a handful of Xavi’s hair. “This isn’t fucking over,” he snarled at my best friend, shoving him away before swimming to the edge and hauling himself out.
“Someone start talking,” I snapped, glaring at the other guys who were all watching the scuffle in various degrees of shock and anger. Minho drew a breath, and I held up my finger in his direction. “Not you. August, talk to me. Please.”
August grimaced, handing Minho a towel. “Honestly, Ace, there’s not much to tell. We were all messing around in the pool, and Xavi tossed Noah in.”
“After Noah made it crystal clear he didn’t wanna go in,” Z added with a furious glance Xavier’s way as the bigger guy hauled himself out of the water with guilt and frustration etched across his features.
“Yeah, because he didn’t want to take his shirt off,” Xavier shot back defensively, “which no one was going to force him to do, but so what if he got tossed in fully clothed? You threw Skye in!”
“Skye was coming in anyway!” Z yelled back. “Noah had said a dozen times that he didn’t want to!”
Xavier threw his hands up with exasperation. “How the fuck am I supposed to know he can’t swim? I didn’t realize the famous NoFear was so fucking fragile.”
The stress of this team was starting to give me stomach cramps.
“He can swim just fine,” I snapped, interjecting before their argument could escalate into more physical shoving.
“Or I assume he can. It’s irrelevant. Noah said he didn’t want to go in because he has a phobia of being underwater, you fucking morons.
He was in an accident a few years back where he technically drowned, so I think it’s perfectly fucking understandable that he’s got some lingering trauma around being submerged. ”
Guilt panged in my chest for betraying Noah’s confidence on this matter, but Xavier’s ignorance could have caused some serious injuries, so in this case the safety of the team took precedence over keeping secrets.
And honestly, that revelation had the desired effect. Remorse and regret seemed to smack Xavier in the face, and his whole posture changed as he realized how badly he’d just fucked up. Then his brows drew tight with frustration and he shook his head.
“Fuck, Ace. I didn’t know that! I thought he was just being fucking precious about taking his shirt off or getting his hair wet or something.”
“You didn’t know because you didn’t need to know.
Even if he did just want to keep his hair dry, that’s his choice, not yours.
You’ve been acting like a real asshole lately, and it needs to stop.
” I was being harsh, but it was needed. Nothing else seemed to be getting through to him, and next time I might not be around to stop Minho from drowning him.
“We know he has a back issue, and throwing him in could have hurt that too. But all of that is irrelevant. He said no, dickhead. That should have been the end of the conversation.”
Xavier’s jaw dropped with an edge of outrage, as he gestured wildly. “I wasn’t trying to be a dick! I thought we were… I just… I thought he just needed a push to join in, and Skye didn’t have a problem getting chucked in so—”
“Bro, shut up,” Torin muttered. “Just say sorry and move the fuck on.”
For a moment we all just stared at Xavier, fully expecting him to dig his heels in and refuse.
But a moment later his shoulders drooped with defeated slump.
“I am sorry. You guys know I wouldn’t have done anything to deliberately hurt him.
I just… everything I do around Noah turns out bad, and I don’t know how to fix it. The dude hates me.”
I huffed a sigh. “I don’t think he hates you. But I also don’t think he likes you much.”
Xavier scowled my way. “Gee, thanks. Very encouraging, Boss.”
“Facts are facts, Xavi.” I shifted my gaze to the other four guys and swiped a hand over my face. “Go get changed, all of you. Then I want a family dinner, so if you had other plans, cancel them.”
That was mostly aimed at Z, but considering how much he’d been around the house lately, I had a feeling him and Tessa were in another rough spot.
Which didn’t shock me, since I really felt like he wasn’t actually in love with her anymore.
They were just together because they felt obligated, and that shit was sad.
They all dispersed, leaving me alone with Xavier.
For a long moment we just stared at each other, then he glowered. “I didn’t mean to scare him.”
“I know,” I muttered, running my hand through my hair. “But you did. This team…it only works if we’re actually a team. What is it about Noah that gets under your skin so badly? You guys seemed to be fine a few weeks ago. What changed?”
Xavier shrugged, grabbing a towel off one of the chairs to dry his hair. “Nothing. He just got it in his head that I deliberately sabotaged the high wire to prove a point, and he can’t let it go.”
I scoffed as he brushed past me. “Oh, come on. It started before that.” I walked with him back up to our shared bedroom—arguably the biggest—and flopped down on my own bed while he got changed into dry clothes.
“Look, I’m not going to torture you into talking about your feelings, Xavi, we both know that’d end badly.
But I do need you to try harder with Noah. The other guys look up to you and—”
“Yeah, okay,” he groaned, cutting me off. “I get it. No need to harp on about what a child I’m being. I’m well fucking aware. I don’t—I don’t know why he’s getting under my skin. I’ll try harder. Do you think it’d be a good idea if I cooked dinner to say sorry?”
I winced and gagged a little. The last thing we needed was for him to accidentally give Noah food poisoning or something. “I think it’d be better if you didn’t. But you could organize a replacement coffee machine. We’re all hurting from that argument, bro. All of us.”
He chuckled and threw his wet towel at my face. “Literally any one of you could have bought a new coffee maker the same day it broke, and you know it. Any of the staff would have picked it up and installed it for us.”
I grinned, shrugging. “I know. But it was your responsibility to replace it, so you learn not to break our precious toys.”
Xavier rolled his eyes dramatically. “Oh, but sure, I’m the stubborn one on this team. Should I go and apologize to Noah now or…”
I hesitated, thinking about how pale and shaken he’d been tucked under Skye’s protective arm. “Maybe wait until he comes down for dinner. Give him a minute to bounce back.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I gestured for Xavier to go ahead before answering it.
“Ace, I understand the team is all safe?” Mr. Leight asked in a guarded voice. “I’ve just spoken with Jeff, and he assures me that security measures are as tight as they can possibly be without relocating the team entirely.”
I blew out a breath, wondering if that might be an option. “Yes, everyone is fine. It sounds like it was a fairly innocent breach but definitely a wake-up call, given what just happened to Cat Kay. Have we heard anything more about how that’ll impact the Games going forward?”
Mr. Leight grunted a frustrated sound. “Yes, they made the call to cancel the live stream of the judging results and assigning the next challenge. We’ll be sent both the results and next stage information via email, and it’s up to each team to submit a ‘reaction’ video for them to use.”
“Yeah, okay, we can do that. What’s happening with Cat’s team?” Because those girls must be an absolute wreck right now.
“They’ve violated contracts and withdrawn from the Games entirely,” he replied in a gruff voice. “Which seems like a waste, considering the staggering increase in all their follower counts.”
My mouth opened but words didn’t come out. Stunned at his callousness was an understatement. “Yeah,” I finally croaked out. “Right. Well…if that’s all?”
“It’s not. I wanted to raise the issue of the Deity Designs offer for Noah.”
I frowned, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “What about it? He was quite firm that he wasn’t interested.”
“Yes, I’m aware. But when we passed that along to Deity, they more than doubled their initial offer. It’s now on par with what they pay you as Global Ambassador.”
Wow. That was huge… And for Noah’s first fashion brand? Very impressive. Deity must really want him to come in so aggressively. Actually, maybe that was why I had a message to call my agent back.
But it didn’t explain why Leight was telling me and not Noah or his manager. “So…you want me to tell him to take it?”
“Yes. He won’t listen to me, he thinks I’m just out to make a quick buck, but you know how valuable these offers are, so I think it’d be wise if you could just guide him in the right direction, Ace.”
Ah. “I’m sorry, Mr. Leight, but that’s not going to happen. If Noah wants to talk to me about it, then I’m happy to share my experience. But I absolutely will not persuade or pressure anyone on the team into taking a deal they aren’t comfortable with.”
There was a tense pause for a moment before our team manager gave a frustrated grunt. “I figured you’d say something like that, Ace. You drive me up the fucking wall, but you’re a good leader for those little shits.”
I grinned at what was undoubtedly his version of a compliment. “Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s it. I’ll have Marcy forward the Games info when she gets it. And you need to film more content for the next episode since bubble soccer got cancelled.”
“Yeah, we’ll sort it out. I’ll put together some concepts tonight and shoot them over for your feedback by morning.” Because I generally did all my best work between midnight and five a.m. for some wild reason.
Mr. Leight sighed, his tone softening for a rare moment. “Or you could sleep, Ace. This can wait for tomorrow. If your father knew how hard you were—”
“Ah, but he doesn’t, does he?” I said with a bitter laugh, cutting him off. “All he knows is that we’re growing his empire beyond anything he could have imagined when he got me into show business as a toddler.”
He responded with a sad laugh of his own. “You’ve come a long way since Chips Ahoy, Ace. Let’s workshop some ideas in the morning. Just take the night off and get some sleep.”
I didn’t agree, instead giving a noncommittal response and ending the call.
Then I laughed and shook my head. Chips Ahoy was where Leight and I first met, when he was a production assistant and I was a toddler dressed as a fucking chipmunk sailor.
We’d both come a long way, thanks to Olympus Corporation and the invention of ClikByte.
A night off kind of sounded nice, though. Maybe Noah would want to watch another one of those horror flicks like Sister Demon…