Chapter 37
NOAH
By the time the elevator reached the lobby, I’d decided I didn’t fucking care what Ace did to Rich. He deserved all of it and more. My only concern was whether Ace would end up in trouble on my behalf, but even with that, I felt like he was smart enough to cover his tracks.
It was a weird thing, accepting the fact that I hated Rich enough I genuinely wouldn’t be upset if he died today.
For so many years, he was my whole world.
I was so in love with him that I overlooked all the warning signs, and that was the part I was most upset about.
That I’d been naive and stupid, simply because I had a romanticized idea of my brother’s best friend from our shared history together.
“Noah, what the fuck happened?” Xavier’s voice snapped me out of my introspective daze when I stepped out of the elevator.
“Where’s Ace? Did he do this?” He grabbed me by the back of my neck, using his thumb under my jaw to tilt my head back without touching my actual face.
Thank fuck, too, because my whole damn head was pounding, despite the aspirin I’d taken.
“Huh?” I asked stupidly, trying to work out why Xavier would think Ace had hit me. Then I remembered how Torin had outed Ace for choking me, and embarrassment flooded through me. “No, fuck no. Ace would never.”
Xavier’s expression said Ace absolutely would, but only if he thought I were a dude…and Ace knew better, so no, he wouldn’t.
“Then what the hell happened?” Xavier’s grip on my neck was tight enough that I didn’t try to wriggle free, and his gaze was like being caught in a tractor beam. “Someone hit you, Little Dude.”
It was a statement, not a question, and I wet my lips nervously.
The last thing I needed was for Godzilla to go stomping around Rich’s apartment and discover that the object of his porn addiction had been living right under his nose all this time and never told him.
That was the part I suspected he would take most personally.
Not the fact that I was a girl pretending to be a boy, but the fact that I knew perfectly well how obsessed he was with Peaches and I never came clean.
Oh well. Karma’s a bitch and all that shit.
“It wasn’t Ace,” I reiterated. “And it was an accident. I got between Ace and someone else, and this happened.”
Xavier’s expression darkened with fury, and I wondered if this was when he started breathing the atomic fire shit and burning down cities. Nah, not for me. Maybe for Peaches, though?
“What apartment?” he snapped, releasing my neck and slapping the elevator call button aggressively.
I scoffed, shaking my head. “I’m not telling you. Ace can handle it without your help, Godzilla.”
“What apartment, Noah?” he bellowed, as if yelling the question would make me answer him. It made me wonder if his brain actually fired on all cylinders or not. Probably not, after seeing some of his dirt--bike--wipeout clips. Then again, I was hardly one to talk.
“Saying it louder won’t make me answer, dickhead,” I replied with a sneer, then winced at how much a simple lip curl hurt my cheek. How fucking hard had Rich punched me? I’d definitely seen stars, that was for sure. “Just leave it. Ace is a big boy and can handle himself.”
Xavier swallowed hard, like he was trying not to lose his shit, but I suspected it was too late for that.
“I need to know what the fuck you’re mixed up in, Noah. I need to know what trouble you’re bringing to this team, so we can deal with it appropriately.”
“You do not need to know, nor does it have anything to do with the team. I’m dealing with it, and now Ace is dealing with it, and that is quite enough. But like, thanks for your concern, I guess?” Because it was kind of sweet that he cared, even though he clearly wasn’t a fan of me personally.
Xavier glowered, ruining the moment. “I’m not concerned about you, Little Dude, don’t go reading too much into this.
My primary concern is, and always will be, the future of our team.
Right now, corporate thinks you are what’s best for us, so unfortunately that means I will ensure that your baggage doesn’t fuck things up for the rest of the team.
So tell me what you’re tangled up in, and I will—-”
“You sound like such a good little lapdog,” I snorted, cutting off his rant as my patience snapped.
“Do you do everything that corporate tells you to do? You didn’t even blink twice when they wanted you to play gay with me for the sake of fan service”—-which also made me complicit in queer baiting the fans and I fucking hated that fact—-“and now you’re willing to fight my demons when I know perfectly well you’d rather toss me in a ravine.
What if corporate told you to quit the team, Godzilla? Would you do that?”
He threw his hands up with exasperation.
“Probably!” he barked back in anger. “I don’t think you fully appreciate my dedication to this team, Noah.
If corporate asked me to step aside to see Ace and the boys succeed, then yes, I would do it without question.
I owe Olympus everything, so if that means defending a sneaky, undeserving, little shit--stirrer like you, then so fucking be it.
Now tell me what apartment, so I can save Ace from himself. Please.”
That please added as an afterthought almost broke my resolve, but the elevator dinged and opened a moment later.
“Ace,” Xavier said with stunned confusion. “Are you…good?”
Ace stepped out, hands in his pockets, and glanced at us with curiosity. “Yeah. Why? Did something happen?”
Xavier and I exchanged an identical look, but Ace was already moving through the lobby. “Come on, let’s get home. You guys had a long day on set. Do you want to stop for bubble tea on the way?”
“Yes!” I agreed quickly, hurrying to catch up even as Xavier gave me a bewildered, what--the--fuck look.
I just shrugged back and followed Ace out to the street where Xavier’s bike was parked.
Ace’s car was across the street, so I bypassed the bike and went straight for the vehicle.
Call me crazy, but I wasn’t into plastering my body to Xavier’s back right now.
Nor was I crazy about pulling that helmet over my bruised face.
Once we were inside, Ace reached over and buckled my seat belt for me before I could do it myself, and I raised an eyebrow. “Ace?” I asked softly. “Are you okay?”
His gaze didn’t meet mine, but he shook his head ever so slightly, buckling his own seat belt before turning on the car and pulling out of the space smoothly.
He didn’t speak as we drove away from Rich’s apartment building, but the bruising on his knuckles as he gripped the steering wheel spoke volumes.
I bit my tongue to keep from peppering him with questions when he clearly needed a couple minutes, but one question burned so hot in my mind that eventually I just let it out.
“Is Rich alive?”
Ace glanced sharply at me, only for a moment, before returning his gaze to the road ahead. “Yes.”
I nodded with relief. Not that I gave two fucks about Rich, but Ace didn’t need that on his conscience.
I also didn’t need to know anything more, so I left it at that and turned on the stereo to fill the silence of the car.
It was my way of telling Ace that I was fine with him not sharing any more information.
That I trusted him, despite our friction.
As we drove, the tension in his forearms and hands started to ease, and his posture softened ever so slightly. When he pulled up in a space in front of my favorite Boba--Kitty, the one nearest the content house, he sighed heavily and tipped his head back against the seat for a moment.
“Are you good?” he asked softly, tipping his face toward me and studying me with worry.
A slight smile curved my lips as I met his gaze unflinchingly. “I got punched in the face today by a six--foot man. Good is probably not the word I’d pick.”
He nodded his understanding, glancing past me to the boba shop. “Do you still want bubble tea, though?”
I sighed heavily. “It won’t fix my face, but it also won’t hurt it so yes, obviously.”
Ace huffed a short laugh, unbuckling himself. “Silly question, I guess.”
We got out of the car, and I was surprised to see Xavier pull into a vacant spot behind us, his face like a thundercloud when he pulled off his helmet.
He could have just gone straight home, since he didn’t share my bubble--tea obsession, but he’d decided to tag along anyway.
Why? To pressure Ace for information or just because he was concerned?
Ace didn’t question it, though, so I kept my mouth shut and headed into Boba--Kitty ahead of the boys to place my order. The staff member working the register wasn’t one we knew, and she stared at the three of us with huge eyes as she took our orders and Ace paid.
He also asked for a cup of ice and a clean dish towel, which the girl quickly handed over with some concerned glances at my poor face. Ace wrapped the ice up and gently held it to my cheek, only letting go when I brought my hand up to take over.
“What happened?” she asked with concern before her workmate elbowed her sharply and hissed at her to shut up.
“Just a new stunt gone a little wrong,” Ace lied.
At the same time, Xavier offered his own bullshit excuse. “Noah slipped and smacked his face on a table.”
“You did?” the first girl asked in surprise, screwing her face up as she clearly tried to picture how that played out for someone who jumped out of planes on a random Tuesday.
I turned to stare at Xavier. “I did?”
Xavier must have reached the same conclusion himself because he rubbed the back of his neck and ducked his gaze away. “Socks on hardwood floors, you know? Never a good idea,” he sort of mumbled, then walked away to show some serious interest in the bulletin board offering animals for adoption.
“That makes sense,” the Boba--Kitty staff member said with a nod. “You need to be so careful with socks. I hope it was at least recorded for your next Mount Olympus episode, though. I love your at--home content. It feels so much more real than the short Bytes.”
Ace casually placed his hand on the small of my back, and I drew a deep inhale.
It was probably an innocent, mindless gesture, or maybe he wanted to remind me that everything we said would likely end up online at some stage, but my delusional—-probably concussed—-mind liked to think he secretly wanted to hug me and that was the best he could manage in public.
“I’m not certain that exact moment made it onto the recording, but some of it, maybe.” He said it thoughtfully, and I could already guess he’d be presenting us all with a pair of socks on our next filming day. And then the little devil on my shoulder gave me an idea…
“We definitely got footage of Xavier singing karaoke with oversized heart glasses on, though,” I bullshitted with a wide grin. “Surely that can make the cut, Boss?”
Ace’s hand on my back turned to a gentle pinch, and I just smiled wider, not caring that it hurt my face. “We’ll see,” he murmured with a stern look of warning. “But this is obviously confidential information, ladies.”
The staff gushed that they understood, then handed over our drinks right as a new group of customers entered. We got a few curious looks as we left, but I tucked my head and followed the guys back out to our cars before anyone could snap a photo of my already swollen and bruised cheek.
Or at least, I thought so. But before I even finished my brown sugar pearls, a photo was circulating the internet of us standing at the counter, me holding ice to my cheek while Ace’s hand rested on my waist.
Great. Just what I needed…more hate comments from Xavier and Minho fans.