Chapter 36
NOAH
Rich was having a full fucking meltdown, and to say it was uncomfortable would be an understatement.
On the flipside, though, I’d much rather deal with sobbing, emotional Rich than arrogant, angry Rich.
Which was why I was so goddamn irritated when Ace came bursting in like he was my personal fucking white knight come to save me from the big bad wolf.
Maybe I was mixing up my fairy tales, but the point remained the same. Because although the wolf had been content to lie on the sofa and lick his wounds when we were alone, he took the intrusion as a personal offense, and the mood instantly shifted.
For a minute, I just couldn’t be fucking bothered. They started yelling at each other, Rich on his feet as he faced down my well--meaning savior.
When they started shoving, I knew I needed to intervene.
Rich might have signed an NDA as far as I was concerned, but he’d already proven how little respect he gave court orders, and considering Ace had literally walked into Rich’s home without invitation…
Yeah, the tabloids would give him a juicy payday for this story if he decided to sell it. Even more if Ace hurt him.
“Okay, stop it!” I said, getting up off the couch and moving between them just in time to stop Rich’s fist from colliding with Ace’s nose.
Unfortunately I stopped his fist with my face.
A startled yell escaped me as my whole face exploded with pain, sending me staggering backward into Ace as my vision went wonky.
Holy shit, that hurt! It was in that moment that I realized I could never have maintained my disguise as a dude for much longer.
At some point, I’d have ended up in a fight with someone—-probably Xavier—-and my reaction would be a dead giveaway.
Like now. Because wow that hurt, and my eyes instantly started streaming. Not that I was crying—-it was just a physical reaction to the pain.
“Fuck! Baby, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—-” Rich started to fuss, reaching out to touch me, but Ace wrapped me up with his arm and spun us away, shoving Rich with his free hand.
“Get the fuck away from her!” Ace snarled, his whole body trembling with rage as he held me close. “Are you okay, Noah?”
“Her?” Rich spluttered. “Oh, I see how it is. You’re fucking the whole team, huh?”
Ace inhaled sharply just a split second before releasing me, then it was a blur of motion which sent me sprawling on my ass while Ace’s knuckles slammed into Rich’s nose.
Stars danced in front of my eyes, preventing me from interfering again, but I needed Ace to dial it down before he ended up charged with assault.
Rich was a vindictive piece of shit, which was why I’d been trying to sweet--talk my way into getting what I needed. So much for that plan.
“Ace, stop!” I shouted as I staggered back to my feet, my eyes still streaming from the pain radiating through my face. “Get off him!”
To my shock, Ace actually paused with his fist raised as he looked back at me with a stricken expression on his handsome face. “Noah, he—-”
“I said stop,” I reiterated in a firm voice. “Get off him!”
He stared at me for a long moment, his eyes conflicted. Then finally he released Rich’s shirt with a shove and stepped away while Rich swore and groaned on the floor.
“You broke my fucking nose, you asshole!” my ex whined as he held his hands to his face. “I’m going to fucking sue you for this, you son of a bitch.”
“No, you’re not,” I snapped, my patience officially worn out. “Get the fuck up, Rich. You’re acting like a baby.” The whole room dipped as I leaned down to grab his elbow, but I forced myself to ignore it, pulling him to his feet and pushing him in the direction of the bathroom to get cleaned up.
“Noah,” Ace said from behind as I prodded Rich down the hall, but he shut his mouth when I tossed a death glare over my shoulder. I needed to clean Rich up, get him to delete the fucking Peaches account, then I could deal with Ace in private.
Rich obliged when I pushed him into the bathroom, sitting down on the toilet lid and waiting while I ran a washcloth under some warm water to help him mop up the blood. It looked like it’d stopped bleeding already, which was probably a good sign.
Ace joined us just a minute later, picking me up by the waist and sitting my ass on the vanity. “Sit there, put ice on your face,” he instructed, taking the bloody cloth from me as he swapped it for a dish towel full of ice cubes. “Dicky is a big boy and can sort himself out.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” Rich spat, catching the washcloth that Ace tossed at his head. “I’m going to sue you so hard that your—-”
“Sue me for what?” Ace asked with a cold chuckle, gently moving my hand with the ice away from my face so he could check the damage.
“You just punched your ex--girlfriend in the face. Same ex--girlfriend who has legal action against you for revenge porn. Sounds like she should be suing you, Dicky, and I reckon she’d win. ”
“I didn’t—-!” Rich spluttered. “She— You—-!”
“Stop it!” I barked, glaring at my ex with all the hurt and anger I’d been trying to hide.
“No one is suing anyone. Rich is going to delete the Peaches profile permanently this time, and Ace…” I met his cool blue eyes as his hands casually rested on my hips.
His hands felt so right there. Like they belonged.
The way he stared back at me chased the train of thought totally out of my head, and I found myself thinking about kissing him again.
He’d made a mess of things, but he’d done it with the right intentions… Hadn’t he? Surely that meant he cared.
“Ace what?” Rich sneered, breaking the moment. “What the hell is in this for me?”
“Ace will let you keep breathing,” my team leader said in a voice that sent a shiver down my spine, “instead of accidentally pushing you off the balcony in a tragic accident.”
Not a single fiber in my being thought he was bluffing. Ace could and would make that happen and never see the inside of a jail cell for it. And that was scary sexy, not that I’d ever admit it to anyone.
“You heard the man,” I said in an embarrassingly husky voice, making Ace’s brow lift with curiosity before I ducked my gaze away as my cheeks heated. “Delete Peaches for good this time, and you never need to see either of us again.”
Rich glowered at us from behind his bloodstained washcloth, then got up and pushed past Ace as he leaned over the sink to rinse his face, making us wait for his answer.
“Weirdly, we won’t simply disappear if you ignore us,” I muttered with dry sarcasm. “You knew this would cause you a ton of issues in the first place. Kelly isn’t going to let your breach of contract slide, and—-”
“I can’t,” he snapped, glaring up at me with bloody water dripping from his swollen nose. “I can’t delete it.”
I stared at him for a moment, trying to compute what he’d just said and failing. “Sorry, I could swear you just said you can’t delete it. What the hell does that even mean?”
Ace kept one hand on my thigh as he hunted through Rich’s medical kit and pulled out a couple of aspirin to hand me. He didn’t speak, which I appreciated because he was clearly letting me handle things, but he also wasn’t giving me an inch of space.
“It means I physically can’t delete the account. I’m really sorry, Peaches, but—-”
“Don’t fucking call her that,” Ace growled, making me shoot him a pointed, wide--eyed look. So much for letting me handle it.
Rich rolled his eyes, then winced dramatically. “Fuck, dude, you really had to break my nose?”
“Yes, and you’re lucky that’s all I broke.
Never too late to change that, though.” Ace hummed thoughtfully, his fingertips drumming against my leg as I dry--swallowed the aspirin.
My head was pounding hard enough that I desperately needed the painkiller, and if I was totally honest, I was kind of worried about the state of my brain with a hit that hard after my recent coma.
“Rich,” I said with a pained groan as I put the ice back against my face. “I’m in too much pain for your dumb games. Explain what the fuck you mean, please.”
He gave a frustrated grunt, grabbing a dry towel to dab at his already purple face. “I mean, I wasn’t the one who reactivated it in the first place, nor do I have access to the account. So, sorry…can’t help. Now can you both just fuck off out of my house?”
He stalked out of the bathroom, and I stared at Ace in shock for a moment.
“What?” I squeaked, confused as all hell. Ace seemed just as puzzled, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Can I kill him now?” he asked quietly, and I wasn’t convinced it was a joke.
Swallowing hard, I pushed him back so I could hop off the vanity and follow Rich. “What do you mean?” I asked loudly. “If it wasn’t you, then why the hell did you tell Kelly I needed to meet you in person? If it wasn’t you, then who the fuck is it?”
Rich threw his hands up, heading for his fridge and pulling out a beer. “I told you earlier, Peaches baby, I lost everything when I got hacked. Including access to all my backup folders of our bedroom content and the account data.”
My jaw dropped. “You said you lost your gaming history! You were sobbing about all the time you’d invested in Warcraft Hunter.
At no point did you say, ‘Oh, also, some stranger has all the home porn that I illegally filmed and illegally kept after being court--ordered to destroy it all, and I just used that shithead’s behavior as a means to lure you back to me.
’ Don’t you think that could have been a fucking email, Richard?
How long ago did this happen? How long has—-”
I broke off with a sob, the harsh realization hitting me like a second punch to the face.
Ace was there to catch me when my knees weakened, wrapping me up in his arms and holding me tight as the emotions physically trembled through me.
“Dicky, you’d better start explaining before I really lose my temper.
Xavier is in the lobby right now, and I have no doubt he remembers that time in tenth grade when you tried to have him suspended for cheating.
” Ace loosened his grip on me, reaching for his phone, but I grabbed his wrist to stop him.
For one thing, why the hell was Xavier still in the lobby? And for another…Rich knew Xavier? Shit, of course he did. They went to school together, along with Miles.
“Calm down, Hart. There’s no need for empty threats,” Rich sighed, holding his cold beer to his face.
“Empty?” Ace muttered, and I shot him a glance of warning. Okay, sure, maybe a tiny bit of arousal too, but it was far too fast for him to catch.
Rich blew out a long sigh. “I don’t know what else you want from me.
My whole hard drive was wiped clean and all the data stolen.
I don’t have anything left to delete, and I have no clue who is now running the Peaches account, but they’re doing a scary good job of it.
Some of those deep--fake videos… I mean, shit, babe, they almost got me fooled.
” He laughed like this was some kind of joke, and I needed to hold my breath to stop from vomiting.
Ace looked like he was reconsidering the balcony threat.
“Why should we believe you?” Ace asked the important question, while my mind was reeling. Deep fakes? That meant that the content was not even me, right? Was that better or worse?
Rich grabbed his laptop off the coffee table and tossed it at Ace. “Check for yourself. It’s totally blank. Literally don’t even have bookmarks or passwords saved anymore. You have any idea how frustrating that is? Fucking nightmare.”
Ace drew a deep breath, shaking his head before meeting my panicked gaze. “Eight, go downstairs and wait with Xavier. I want to check that Rich is telling the truth before we go, okay?”
Numb. I was officially numb. So I just nodded and left before my brain could even catch up with my feet to realize what I was doing. It wasn’t until I was in the elevator, on my way back down to the lobby, that I second--guessed my decision to leave Ace alone with Rich.