Chapter 7
NOAH
Four days after getting discharged from the hospital—-and four days after Ace’s surprise visit—-I found myself nervously watching the elevator floors tick past on my way up to the seventy--first floor of Olympus Group Headquarters.
“Are you sure you don’t want Skye or Torin here?” Jared asked for probably the tenth time. “I don’t mind making the corporate dicks wait if you’d be more comfortable with moral support on your side.”
I flashed him a nervous smile. “That’s what I brought you for, silly.”
My manager rolled his eyes with a short laugh. “Oh, gee, here I thought I was acting in a professional capacity today. I wore my own suit and everything.”
“And no baby spit-up on this one,” I noted with a nod. “Very impressed.”
“Thanks. I had a spare jacket in my car,” he replied with a grin. “We can keep this short and sweet, though. It should have been handled via email. To be fair, I don’t know why they feel the need to force this in-person meeting.”
I was inclined to agree. The morning after Ace’s visit, I’d checked in with Jared and Kelly, letting them know that I was done with Team Olympus.
Kelly confirmed that if Ace was the one to terminate my team participation, the company couldn’t interfere, and I’d walk away unhindered by continued repercussions.
Ace had made himself pretty fucking clear how he felt during his visit, so the whole dog--and--pony show of making me come into Olympus headquarters was entirely unnecessary.
Extra frustratingly, there had been a small handful of photographers lurking outside the building, but thankfully I’d had the common sense to dress androgynously, with a heavy, oversized hoodie and loose cargo pants to hide my curves.
“Besides,” I continued, answering his original question with a heavy sigh, “I don’t need to make things any more uncomfortable for the team than they already are.”
Jared smirked. “I heard Minho punched Ace. Is that true?”
“Yeah.” I grimaced. He had not been pleased about the stolen car, the stolen keys, and even more not pleased when he discovered the bruises on my neck. “Twice, actually.” Skye had been howling with laughter as he told me all about it that next day.
“I knew I liked him for a reason,” Jared said with a wide grin, “and not just because he’s a baby whisperer when Isla is fussy. Are you still planning on telling him the truth about you once we’re done here?”
I nodded firmly. “One hundred percent. I should have told him weeks ago, but yes, definitely. I really hope he doesn’t hate me, but if he does…
well, I guess better I know now than later.
” The elevator doors slid open, and I stifled a groan of anxiety as we stepped out onto the polished marble floors.
Olympus took their name way too fucking seriously.
The receptionist greeted us with a polite smile, recognizing me without us needing to state who we were meeting with, and showed us through to a conference room. She offered us tea or coffee, then left us there to sweat.
“Stop fidgeting,” Jared murmured when my knee started bouncing. “Sonny Flickman feeds off nervous energy like a psychic vampire, remember?”
I snorted a laugh, remembering the one and only other time I’d met the Olympus Corp CEO.
Aside from the fact that he barely ever blinked, he’d had a real lack of color to his skin that made him seem decidedly dead.
“Good point,” I agreed, attempting to relax.
Like Jared said, this should have been all done via email and lawyers, so the fact that Olympus Corp insisted on a face--to--face meeting had my nerves on edge.
They kept us waiting a full fifteen minutes after the scheduled meeting time, and I was glad I’d accepted the receptionist’s offer of coffee so at least I had something to do while we waited.
Of course Jared kept me entertained with adorable anecdotes of Isla’s baby achievements and gushed over what an amazing mom Kelly was turning out to be.
The two of them had an enviable relationship, still utterly smitten with one another while maintaining their own careers and a newborn.
It was a lot of stress, but they were both handling it with admirable grace and teamwork.
Eventually, the Olympus Corp CEO arrived at the boardroom along with four whole--ass lawyers in suits, Mr. Leight, and…
Ace. Crap. No one told me he would be at this meeting, and for a moment when our eyes locked.
I completely forgot how to breathe. All I could picture was the cold fury in his gaze as he grabbed my throat and the lust--filled heat as he made me come.
The angry purple bruising around his left eye gave me a small spark of both satisfaction and guilt, making me all the more confused.
“…kept you waiting,” Sonny Flickman was saying to Jared with a plastic smile as I ripped my eyes away from Ace with a deep inhale. Now was not the time to let my emotions get the better of me. Or maybe it would only help their decision to terminate my contract?
“Not at all,” Jared replied smoothly, standing up to offer Sonny a handshake. “Noah and I only just arrived ourselves, so I’m glad we didn’t keep you waiting.”
Funny. Jared was great with the passive--aggressive bullshit. He also politely shook hands with the whole lot of them while I stayed in my seat. Rude? Sure. But after Ace’s aggressive bullshit the other night, I wasn’t in the mood to play nice.
“Noah, you’re looking well,” Sonny commented as they all took their seats, pulling out paperwork and laptops. “I understand you’re recovering well from that unfortunate incident with the fan?”
I snorted a most unladylike noise. “Unfortunate incident?” I repeated, shaking my head with disbelief. “Is that what we call assault and attempted murder? Cool, good to know.”
Flickman’s eyes narrowed and his lips pinched briefly as he stared me down. “It was a tragic accident, Noah, and we at Olympus Corp are thrilled to see both yourself and Ace are recovering so well.”
An angry noise escaped me, and Jared gave me a pointed look of warning, making me shut up rather than rise to the obvious bait. Across the table, Ace stared at me just as unblinking as Flickman, but he seemed more like he was trying to work out a puzzle.
“Sonny, I appreciate you taking the time to meet with us.” Jared smoothly steered the conversation back on track. “But I admit Noah and I are both a little confused why this required a personal conversation. Noah’s legal counsel has reviewed the contract and it all seems cut--and--dried.”
The pale man interlaced his fingers on the tabletop, nodding thoughtfully.
“Yes, the point raised in your communication is correct; however, we thought it pertinent to have this little meeting to clear the air. Noah seems to be of the impression that Ace has terminated her position on Team Olympus.”
I frowned, confused as fuck. “He has.” I slid my gaze toward Ace, who just scowled back at me, giving nothing away.
“Have you?” Flickman addressed the Team Olympus leader.
Ace maintained eye contact with me as he shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of. Noah and I exchanged some heated words regarding her deception. Perhaps she misread my intentions.”
I nearly choked on air. Misread his intentions? What, when he put his hand around my throat? Or when he made me come on his fingers? Either way, there was no misreading his intentions.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I snapped, losing my chill. “You made your feelings crystal--clear the other night and—-”
“Did I?” He cut me off, tilting his head to one side.
A small smile touched his lips and my blood pressure increased tenfold.
Did this asshole think this was funny? “Noah, I expressed my disappointment and frustration about being lied to and deceived, but at no point did I terminate your place on Team Olympus. I’m sorry if you felt that way. ”
My jaw dropped. This motherfucker…
Jared cleared his throat, giving me a not--so--subtle bump with his chair. “I think we have entered into this meeting with very different expectations of the outcome. Mr. Hart, it was Noah’s belief that she was no longer welcome on Team Olympus. Are you saying this is not the case?”
Ace shifted his cool blue eyes away from mine to address my manager directly. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Regardless of our personal feelings, NoFear is a key element of Team Olympus, and it would be disadvantageous to remove him from the competition now that Clik Games are resuming.”
Cold dread swirled through my belly and I shifted in my seat. What the fuck was his end game here?
“However, this does bring us to the uncomfortable matter of your past, Noah,” Sonny Flickman added with a cold, condescending smile. “More specifically, how this is to be handled going forward now that several members of the team are aware of your, er, disability.”
A startled laugh barked out of me. “Did you just refer to my vagina as a disability? Tell me this is a joke. Jared, they’re wasting our time. Let’s go.”
“Sit down, Miss Fearly,” Flickman snapped when I started to push my chair back from the table. “Despite your intentions, our contract is still in effect, and if you choose to terminate it, then you will be subject to the repercussions, per our agreement.”
Shock and disbelief froze me in place, and I slowly shifted my gaze back to Ace to gauge his reaction to what was clearly a threat from his CEO. Frustratingly, his face wasn’t giving anything away, and Jared gave me a small headshake from the corner of my eye.
“Fine. Tell me, Sonny, how would you like to handle my disability?” I said it with a sneer of disgust, and one of the silent lawyers choked on the sip of water she’d just taken.