Bubbles (ClikByte #2)

Chapter 1

ACE

“Ace!” Noah’s panicked scream echoed through my throbbing head just seconds before I blacked out again, striking the back of my skull on the edge of the pool as our attacker knocked over the chair I was tied to.

For a moment…nothing. Then white--hot pain lanced through my wrists and I clawed my way back to consciousness with enough clarity to realize I was underwater. I was underwater, in agony, but no longer bound to the chair that must have come in with me when our attacker knocked me backward.

Lungs burning, I kicked off the bottom of the pool and surged back to the surface.

I barely managed to grab one gasp of air before once again blacking out and slipping back under the water, though this time I woke almost immediately.

Not good. I needed to get out before I lost consciousness again, or I might not make it out at all.

Somehow—-through sheer rage, probably—-I found the edge of the pool and hauled myself out with a monumental effort.

The whole world tilted and swirled, spots dancing across my vision as I dragged my lower body out of the water and lay there on the tiles, gasping for air like a goldfish out of its bowl.

Concussed. I was definitely concussed. After being hit in the garage, then again on the side of the pool, it was no fucking wonder my skull felt like it’d been kicked by a moose. The attack… Fucking hell, we’d been ambushed. How had I been so stupid not to see that coming?

Noah.

Fuck.

Noah…

Forcing my eyes open again, I looked around as best I could manage from my prone position and grunted with frustration. Nothing.

With a pained groan, I pushed myself up to my knees and frowned when blood pooled on the wet tiles in front of me. Was that from my head? It was a lot of blood. A lot. Surely if that was from my head I wouldn’t be conscious?

Ah. My wrist. A deep cut sliced through the back of my hand above my thumb and around the side of my wrist where it must have cut something important.

Now that I was staring at it, the pain throbbed in searing lightning strikes through my whole arm, and I winced as I clapped my other hand over the wound.

I needed to…

What was I doing?

Police sirens screamed through the night air, and I blinked around at the empty pool surroundings once more. I was alone. The attacker must have fled after I was knocked unconscious. But…

“Ace!” someone bellowed, and I flinched so hard I collapsed back onto the tiles on my side, just barely rolling to save my head another hard knock.

Moments later Torin and Skye came sprinting into the backyard wearing nothing but their underwear and flapping robes, looking like they’d come straight out of the photoshoot without pausing to get changed.

“Holy shit!” Skye exclaimed, skidding to his knees at my side and rolling me onto my back with gentle hands. “Ace, fuck you’re—-”

“Noah,” I gritted out in a moan of pain. “Where’s Noah?”

Skye looked around frantically, shaking his head with panic. “I—-I don’t know. Ace, what—-?”

“Noah!” Torin boomed a split--second before diving headfirst into the pool with a huge splash.

My stomach bottomed out, and my vision blacked. Noah… No. No, he couldn’t be in the pool, because if he was in there then…

She. If she was in the pool—-

“Skye, help me!” Torin yelled as he resurfaced in the pool with his arms full of my worst nightmare.

Ignoring my own injuries and spotty consciousness, I pushed back up to sitting as Skye hauled Noah’s lifeless body out of the pool. How long had she been in there? How far gone was she? Why the fuck was she in the water?

Glancing at my injured wrist, a sick sensation of understanding dawned.

She’d saved me.

And potentially drowned in the process.

“Ace, shit! You’re bleeding a lot,” Skye exclaimed as Torin started CPR on Noah’s small, helpless body. Fuck, I should have seen it. She hadn’t even really tried to hide the fact she was a girl, and now that I knew, it was painfully obvious with how delicate her features were.

Dark spots danced across my vision again, and my balance tilted dramatically. Skye cursed and slid across the tiles to catch me before I cracked my head open. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from Noah and Torin.

“Noah…” I rasped as Skye used the belt from his robe to apply pressure to my wrist. “Is she—-?”

Skye sucked in a shocked gasp, his eyes wide as he stared back at me, and I groaned. He already knew. Of course he fucking did. They’d been sharing a bedroom for nearly two months. Were they…more than friends? They were extremely close friends, but was that something more?

Fuck. Why did that idea cause my insides to twist in jealousy?

“You’ve had a bad head injury, Ace, bro,” Skye murmured in a shaking voice, his whole face tight with worry. He glanced over to Torin but just swallowed hard. The glow of red and blue lit up the yard, and Skye yelled out for help, guiding first responders to us with his voice.

But Noah…Noah was nonresponsive.

I kept my eyes on her as long as I could, until she was blocked from view by a broad--shouldered paramedic, then I stopped fighting the weight of my own eyelids. They would save her because that was their job. Right?

They’d save her, she’d be fine…and then she could explain why the fuck she’d lied to us all and pretended she was a guy this whole time.

Except I had a sick feeling it was my own actions that caused this chain of events because I distinctly remembered the first time I’d met her.

As Norah, that was. I’d threatened her then, so was this her revenge?

My own consciousness dipped in and out dozens of times as paramedics loaded and transported us via ambulance to the hospital for treatment.

It was impossible to track time during the parade of faceless doctors and nurses and cords and needles, and eventually I let the cloud of exhaustion carry me away.

I peeled my eyes open with a wince, light stabbing through my skull like an ice pick, but instead of finding more medical strangers around my bed, it was my best friend who reached out to flick the overhead lights off.

“Is that better?” Xavier asked in a soft voice. “I just left the lamp on.”

I tried again and groaned when the eyeball pain was less severe with the dimmer light. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Xavier just grunted.

“Where’s Noah?” I asked, looking around the room with panic choking me as it all came flooding back.

Xavier scowled, shaking his head. “Does it matter? This is all—-”

“Yes, it matters!” I snapped, attempting to sit up before he pushed me down with a firm hand against my chest. “Xavi, even you aren’t cold enough not to care if Noah’s dead.”

“What?” He looked offended and taken aback. “Little Dude’s not dead. He’s down the hall.”

The relief hit me so hard I actually blacked out for a moment. Noah wasn’t dead. That—- Wait, Xavier said he. So he didn’t know Noah was—-

Oh fuck. Noah is Peaches.

Their initial argument slammed into my head with startling clarity, and all the pieces clicked together.

Why she seemed to be holding such a bitter grudge against Xavi since hearing how obsessed he’d been with Peaches…

and the implication that her content was nonconsensual.

This was a bigger mess than I’d even started to appreciate.

“I need to see him,” I said, trying to sit up again, only to be blocked by Xavier once more. “Cut it out! I need to see Noah.”

“You can’t,” Xavier responded, pushing me back down and this time pressing my nurse call button.

“For one thing, you just suffered a severe concussion, nearly bled out from your wrist, and need to be resting. For another, Noah’s manager isn’t allowing anyone into his room.

Also…” He trailed off with a grimace, and that did nothing for my nerves.

“Also what?” I demanded, clenching my fists, then wincing at the flash of pain in my heavily bandaged left hand.

Xavier blew out a heavy breath, glancing at the door before answering. “He’s still unconscious. Torin managed to get his heart beating with CPR before paramedics got to you, but he hasn’t woken up.”

My mouth went dry and bile burned in my throat. “At all?”

Xavier nodded. “From what Skye said, they aren’t sure if… They don’t know how long his brain was deprived of oxygen, so it’s unclear when he will recover and what lasting damage has been done. If he ever does wake up.”

The door opened then, and a middle--aged nurse with silver--streaked dark hair came bustling in with a chart in hand, smiling when she met my gaze. “Ace, it’s good to see you awake again. How are you feeling?”

I shook my head, unable to answer the nurse when Xavier had just dropped that gut--wrenching news in my lap. “Wait, Skye told you? How does he know—-?”

“For some reason, Noah’s manager is allowing Skye access. Him and Tor but no one else. He wouldn’t even give any justification for that hard line, either, just told us to take it up with Olympus management if we had a problem with it.” Xavier at least seemed genuinely pissed off about it.

I frowned, itching to get out of bed and speak with Jared myself, but the nurse was already strapping a blood pressure cuff around my arm and checking the various screens beside the bed.

“You’re worried about your friend?” she asked in a gentle voice as she pulled out a pen light to check my pupil dilation.

“Yes,” I admitted in a hoarse voice. “Do you know how he’s doing?” I had no idea whether the hospital staff knew Noah’s real identity or if this was under wraps thanks to her manager. But if she never woke up, what difference did it all make?

Fucking idiot. Why the hell was she even in that pool?

The nurse shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. Your company has both your rooms and files under strict confidentiality. Only his primary care team know anything. Same goes for you, Ace. Waterview Private takes privacy very seriously for our patients.”

That wasn’t news to me, as this wasn’t my first stay at Waterview.

Hell, Xavier had visited often enough that half the ER was on a casual, first--name basis with him.

It was the type of hospital where public figures, celebrities, and politicians could be treated without their medical records finding their way into the tabloids before they’re even discharged.

Somewhat reassuring. Also explained why Xavier still thought Eight was a dude.

The nurse—-Sharon—-ran through all the standard observations then told me she’d be back with some water and juice shortly. When she left, I swung my gaze to Xavier, who huffed a frustrated sigh.

“I’ll grab Skye,” he muttered, pushing off from the wall he’d been leaning against. “You can grill him yourself.”

I frowned. “Why Skye and not Torin?”

Xavier shrugged. “Torin hasn’t left Noah’s room since they transferred him from ICU last night. I’ll grab Skye.” He started toward the door, then paused and glanced back at me. “I’m glad you’re okay, Ace. You kind of scared me.”

I forced a smile to my lips. “Can’t get rid of me that easy, Xavi.”

Except if Noah hadn’t saved me, I would actually be dead right now.

I owed her my life, but at the same time I was fucking livid about her deception.

As callous as it might seem, I was almost glad she was unconscious so I could take a minute to process everything and work out what the fuck to do from here.

“Goddamn it,” I muttered into the silence of my empty room, scrubbing my uninjured hand over my face—-because I didn’t want to lose Eight, even if he never really existed to begin with.