When we started our MeTube channel we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. And that was fine, we only had ourselves to worry about—but now we have to consider Chloe in all of our plans.
And thank God for that. She’s a gift that fell from fucking heaven. An angel I sure as hell don’t deserve, but she also needs some sense of stability. Fucking life insurance and a place to call home. We can’t give her that if we fuck things up with our sponsor.
And I am the lead point of contact when it comes to business.
I never resented it before, but while Noah and Mason fuck around on the PlayStation and Enzo books spa days for him and Chloe—I’m sorting through bills, getting us plane tickets, booking us hotels.
And it’s a fucking grind.
When we board the private plane headed to LA, I know I have to rally the guys to talk business. Sure, we’ve decided about what events we are going to compete in, and Drew Riley will be at our oceanfront house when we land, but we need to talk finances. Which events we want to appear at over the next six months, we need to make a fucking schedule.
When we’re high in the sky, I try to get them to talk it out.
“Dude, can we do that after the ExSports?” Noah asks, grabbing a coconut water for himself. He sits down in an armchair, smacking Chloe’s ass playfully as he passes her.
“No, we can’t. The ExSports are a week long. What are we doing after? We planned on being in Tahiti for six weeks. I propose we return to Tahiti and…”
“Can we just play it by ear?” Mason asks. “I might need longer to recover.”
“Might?” Chloe furrows her brows. “Mason, you’ll have six weeks of physical therapy.”
Mason rubs his eyes with his fingers, hating his reality. And I get it. A week after we were told we had to show up at the ExSports, Mason is finally able to move around in a wheelchair and is no longer bedridden, but we all know it’s killing him.
“Okay, so do we want to stay in LA for two months? I got the beach house for two weeks, so if I need to change the reservation I need to do that, asap.”
“Can you just lighten up for like a few hours, Ethan?” Enzo asks. He’s standing behind Chloe, rubbing her shoulders.
“You think I want to be in the fucking driver’s seat?” I shake my head, pissed. “I want to be fucking around, working on video footage, be outside—instead I’m booking Airbnbs and fucking reserving our planes.”
“Whoa, dude, we get it,” Noah says raising his hands in defense.
“No, I don’t think you do.” I run my hands through my hair. “I need a breather, okay?” I step away from them and head down the hall to the private bedroom. Pulling the door shut I fall face-down on the bed. I may be the person taking all this shit on, but it’s not easy. I’m not a businessman. I love to be outside, feeling the fresh air and the exhilaration of playing hard. Not holed up with a laptop balancing the fucking budget.
The door opens and I lift my head, seeing Chloe slip inside, shutting the door behind her.
“So...,” she starts. “That was intense.”
“That’s a nice way of saying I fucking lost my cool.”
Chloe lays down next to me in the bed. We face one another, and she rests her head on her arm. She pushes hair from my face and our eyes lock. In that moment I forget the guys, the ExSports, Drew Riley, all of it. All I think is: I love this woman so fucking hard.
Her touch, her eyes, her body so close to mine. It’s more than I ever expected for myself. But here she is.
“You hold too much in right here,” she whispers, patting my chest.
“Are you really one to talk about that?” I ask, pulling her closer.
“Touché.” She laughs softly. “Enzo tells me just because some people have let me down, it doesn’t mean everyone will.”
She sees to the heart of things so damn fast. “If I ask the guys for help, they will agree, with good intentions. They aren’t assholes, they are the best guys in the mother fucking world—but I know them. Something will get screwed up with the reservations, something will be messed up with a rental. And then what? We fail you.”
Chloe frowns. “You realize you are assuming the worst about them, don’t you?”
“It’s a lot of spinning plates. And what happens if I drop one?”
“But Ethan, aren’t you tired of taking care of everything? Aren’t you tired of being the one who solves all the problems? Fixes all the mess ups? Aren’t you tired of doing it all on your own?”