Note: This chapter was ready yesterday but I wasn't satisfied with it so I took some time to edit and you get 500 words more in the process so all in all that's not so bad XD
Next chapter isn't written yet so I have no idea if I'll be posting one more today, but in any case, know that the updates will come quickly if not every day.
And I managed to write a whole day in a chapter again, we're progressing! I tried not to rush it this time, hope I did a better job than with the previous chapter:)
Constructive criticism is GREATLY appreciated, never underestimate the power of your reviews, they helped me improve so much with time *insert heart here*
I know I really have long periods of silence sometimes, but as long as I have ongoing stories here, I'll keep coming back!
So, thank you so much everyone for the reviews, I'm always amazed to see you're still reading me even after such a time gap between chapter 13 in December and now that I'm back to this fic :)
You sure want to stay on this ride with me!
DAY SEVEN – 8 contestants / 1 to be eliminated
Mello sighed when Danny opened the door to his room. Morning already, and he didn't even had a decent night of sleep.
"The nurse is here."
"Send her back." the singer mumbled, pulling the covers over his head. It was insanely hot but he'd rather sweat all the water in his body than face the day.
"You need her."
"Like hell. Tell her to fuck off."
The tall man shook his head and gave an apologetic look to the woman standing behind him. "Not today either then?" she asked rhetorically, quite happy she didn't have to deal with Mello. She had been sent back the day before because Matt had already done the job, and she couldn't hope for a better reason not to be here than the musician himself not wanting her: she knew his reputation. She turned on her heels and left.
"We need to talk." Danny said, as he fully entered in his boss' room and closed the door.
"Oh, are you breaking up with me?" Mello scoffed, sitting in the bed, "You could at least have brought me some coffee."
Danny rolled his eyes and went to fetch the required beverage in the kitchen. Once back, he waited, standing, while Mello sipped from the mug he was now holding.
The bodyguard wasn't exactly pleased when Mello talked to him this way and used him as a maid for his every needs, but he was used to it, and it was part of the Mello package. The good could be very good, although rare, but the bad was really bad. Right now, if a cup of coffee could help him be less of an ass, Danny wouldn't pass on the occasion. He had a lot to say to Mello.
"What exactly went through your mind yesterday?"
Mello ignored the question.
"I'm not kidding Mello, you may be my boss but I've never shied away from telling you when you're fucking up way too much, and this was it: you really fucked up. Do you realise that they could have used this against you to destroy your image completely?"
Mello deposited the mug on his bedside table and rested his back against the head of the bed.
Danny went on, seeing as he wasn't about to get an answer.
"Lou has a gigantic bruise, I had to make sure he wasn't traumatized by the way you treated him because he wouldn't stop shaking and crying, the other boys were all shaken as well, and the production has gone crazy. I'm not sermonizing you here, Mello, I'm not even considering the production's point of view right now, I just want to know why you flew off the handle like that. I'm kinda used to your temper, your day to day fuck-ups, I've had to deal with pretty much every situation possible from the day I started working with you but this..."
"This is what happens when I can't have some peace when I make it clear I fucking need some alone time." Mello replied calmly, making Danny all the more angry.
"Are you kidding me? You looked like a madman! I thought for a moment that you were having a bad trip or something!"
"You perfectly know I don't do drugs."
"Well, excuse me for trying to find a valid reason for this massive explosion. You've had your fair share of unexplained fits since I've known you but it had never been that bad."
"You want a valid reason? I'll give it to you: this is the way I am."
"And I'm supposed to be satisfied with that answer?"
Mello stared at the wall on the other side. Not once did he look at Danny during the whole conversation, and now he kept silent, Danny seething from the lack of explanations.
If at least he could see some remorse, some shadow of a regret in Mello, but no, nothing like that appeared on his boss' face. Just defiance.
Of course, he would try to discuss the matter with the producers and reason them, get them not to harass Mello when he disappeared like that, because he knew by now that when Mello retreated like he had done, it was best to leave him alone until he reappeared. But still, just because the production had insisted and called him anyway, turning into a giant shitstorm was totally disproportionate. Mello yelling at the top of his lungs, okay. Wanting to sex Lou up to relieve the tension, okay. But it had gotten much further. Too far actually. Lou would probably have been in a situation of rape, if not with physical fractures, it could even have been Matt since the boy was crazy enough to intervene... Matt. He needed to talk to Matt.
The redhead saw Mello's right hand man poke his head through the doorframe as he was playing on his Vita, laid on his bed.
"I was wondering when you'd come fishing for informations." Matt said casually, standing up and following Danny outside, "Let's get one thing clear," he added as they walked, "the only reason why I accepted to talk to you is because I need answers as well, so don't think you're gonna get away with it, you don't talk, I don't talk."
"Fair enough." Danny replied, sitting on a plastic chair as they reached a camera-free area in the garden.
Matt imitated him, keeping his mouth shut, waiting for the other to start the hostilities.
"What did he tell you?" the bodyguard thought that maybe the redhead knew more than him, since he had been able to calm down his boss and had spent the night with him.
"The usual sex talk." Matt mocked him. Seriously, Danny knew Mello better than him so he should know that the blond wouldn't have told him anything.
"Matt, I'm serious. He's never done that before, or at least not to that extent. He refuses to tell me why but it can't be just because they kept on trying to contact him."
"Listen, I obviously don't know more than you do, and I had a feeling that you were clueless from the moment you freaked out in front of him. I was hoping I was wrong but well, if anything, you just confirmed it."
Matt lit up a cigarette, and nothing more was said for a while, Danny fully understanding what the boy implied: he, as the one being the last shield between Mello and the world, had lost total control, and the place was unsafe as for now.
"He calmed down suddenly, spaced out for hours, then went to sleep. That's all I can tell you." Matt explained, exhaling the last puff of his cigarette. He knew it wasn't exactly what Danny wanted to hear, but that's all he had to offer. He kept for himself the fact that Mello cried, Danny didn't need to know that.
"Maybe I should force him to see a shrink..." Danny sighed and stood up, leaving. He didn't trust Matt, and although he itched to know the redhead's motives, he preferred to wait and see than ask questions that could make Matt wary, although he knew that he was treating the redhead differently: he would never speak of Mello with the other contestants. The fact that he always felt on the lighter side of the scale when talking to Matt didn't help with the feeling that Matt, in a few days, had gotten more out of his boss than himself in years.
But for now, he had to call the production. The good part of his contract with Mello was that the blond trusted him enough to let him room for negotiations at his place. Mello didn't always appreciate the outcome, but Danny had never gone against his well being and he knew it.
"That was so worth it..." Matt shrugged as he left as well, Danny giving him a look from afar. Neither him nor Danny knew much more...
"Boyyyys!" Mello shouted joyfully from the main room, half an hour later, the contestants that weren't already gathered around him coming downstairs in a hurry.
Matt searched for Mello's eyes but scolded himself mentally for that. The blond didn't look at him specifically now, and wouldn't for the whole time he faced the line of boys. Maybe he had been instructed by the producers to take some distance? It got at Matt more than he wanted to admit.
"Today you're going to dive head first into a passion of mine: motorbikes!"
Most of the boys cheered enthusiastically.
Mello went on: "Today's challenge will separate you in two teams. Each team will have an engine to build back from pieces, and obviously, the first one to have it up and functional will be winning. Charly, you'll be the captain of the blue team, and you there is the captain for the red team." He pointed out at a guy, Danny whispering his name as discreetly as possible to the musician, "Joey."
Mello distributed bandannas of each color to the captains. "Choose your team mates."
Matt wasn't too happy about working in teams, and a slight flashback came to his mind as he remembered how he was always chosen last in school when it came to forming teams.
But this time, he quickly realised that things had reverted when Charly, who was the first to take a pick, called his name, and that Joey made a face. Looked like being the teacher's pet had put him in an alpha position...
Charly chose the muscled guy with the tribal tattoo and Joshua to complete his team, Lou and two other contestants joining Joey's.
Mello scowled at Joshua, who averted his gaze. He wasn't responsible for Charly's choice, but it sure was bad luck to be in the same team as Matt, with Mello ready to skin him alive if he came too close to the redhead.
"The winning team will get to ride engines of my favorite brand on a circuit this afternoon, and the winning captain will have a one on one with me tonight. It was supposed to be a ride on the back of my own Honda, but considering my broken hand, I'm afraid I will have to change the prize. We're gonna ride horses!"
Danny had tried to dissuade Mello but the singer had insisted that he could do it.
Both teams were driven by bus to the garage where the challenge would take place.
On the floor, two separate spaces, each one with a carpet of the color of the corresponding team, and motorbike parts scattered on it. The tools, as well as a manual, were on a table nearby, one for each team.
They started working immediately, most of them clueless. The manual would be useful.
Mello arrived at the garage one hour and a half after the challenge had begun.
"How's it going guys?" he asked, sitting on a high stool and gauging the work already done.
The boys were very focused, and really nervous. On Charly's team, the brunette with the tribal tattoo and Joshua were arguing over a metal part while the captain tried to calm them down. Matt was reading the manual again, unable to fathom where this part was going. Well, except up Joshua's ass if he considered the brunette's threats at the moment...
The part wasn't in the manual, and another that they would have needed to move on wasn't on the carpet, Matt could swear it. The pieces were similar enough for things to be confusing, but the joint was a lot different, and there was no way they could fix this to the steering. He looked at the other team who was close to getting their bike finished, then at Mello, that he caught staring at him with a smirk. The blond quickly looked away.
Mello wouldn't do something like that, would he? Fuck, of course he would.
Matt didn't protest or let the others know that the challenge was cheated. Mello had his reasons, and whether they were good ones or bad ones, Matt wouldn't interfere and just wait and see. To him, Mello seemed like he had reverted back to the way he was at the beginning of the show: an asshole. He could be hiding things, or he could just have gotten tired of Matt, in both cases, Matt had no interest in stepping in. It didn't mean he wasn't curious, or even a little bit butthurt...
Less than half an hour later, the red team started their engine and proved it worked perfectly.
Mello had a satisfied expression on his face. He congratulated the winners, and offered beers to everyone. "Good job guys! Don't be sad, the blue team, you did an amazing job!"
If anything, that confirmed to Matt that Mello was back in the game, and acting his part.
"Go back to the mansion, I'll pick you up there at five boys!" Mello left after a while, still not giving a single look at Matt.
Lou, as he was getting ready for the date, made sure to be as obnoxious to Matt as possible.
"It looks like he doesn't care about you anymore!" the petite boy stuck his tongue at the redhead, who tried to ignore him, but the other went on, "He's gonna be all mine!"
"Along with three other guys." Matt mocked him. He wasn't jealous by any means, the only thing that bothered him was the way Mello was ignoring him. Somehow, he had liked spending time with the singer, and all the good he had seen in him looked like a wall of smoke hiding the asshole for a short time. He wasn't so sure anymore that he hadn't been wrong all along.
Lou went on with the half hidden insults and hints about how Matt was a loser, until Mello called the red team downstairs.
As much as he wanted to focus on his Vita, Matt was unable to. He cursed when, for the umpteenth time, he lost his game.
He glanced at the wall clock when he heard the red team minus Joey come back from the date a few hours later: 7:23pm.
Joey was holding the horse that had been assigned to him, trying to keep a distance with the animal.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of horses?" Mello snickered as he saw how cautious the red team captain was, Danny approaching with a grey mare for his boss. He was about to help him climb on the horse's back but Mello, even with only one valid hand, was swiftly sat in the saddle before Danny could make a move.
Joey did his best to get in the saddle as well, managing but being really uneasy up there.
"Wait for us here Danny." Mello instructed to his right hand man. Danny knew it was useless to reason Mello so he went to the bar of the stable and ordered a drink. He kept an eye on his boss as long as he had him in sight, hoping for everything to be fine.
Mello chatted idly with the boy, holding the reins in his valid hand, the two horses being pretty chill. Joey replied happily, enjoying the feeling that Mello was having some interest in him for once. They rode for half an hour, the time to make a full circle around the domain, and then headed back to the mansion.
Danny was surprised that the boy hadn't come back crying from the ride, it even seemed as if Mello had been nice to him, which made the tall man all the more suspicious.
It wasn't long until the contestants all got called downstairs for elimination, once everyone was back in the house.
Mello had a satisfied grin plastered on his face as he entered the elimination room. Danny on the contrary looked worried, that smile usually didn't bode anything good.
One after the other, the singer called the boys he wanted to keep. When he was down to only Matt and the captain of the red team, he called the latter.
"Joey, you were a terrible rider tonight, that doesn't look good for any other type of ride, to my opinion."
All the boys that had their pass already started to chuckle in the boy's back. Danny shook his head.
"Your ride ends here." Mello simply added, Joey opening wide eyes at the realisation that he was eliminated. Everything had gone fine, so there was no reason for him to be out... Vexed, he left without a word.
"Matt, please come here." Mello asked once Joey was out of sight.
The redhead approached, relieved. For a moment, he really thought that he would be the one to be eliminated tonight, with the way Mello had ignored him and apparently cheated the challenge to make sure his team would lose.
"Will you stay on this ride with me?" the bachelor asked, not looking at Matt in the face once. Matt didn't know what to think anymore: Mello was keeping him but he was also treating him as if he was invisible. Mello sure had a reason to do so, but Matt was starting to feel really bad.
"Yep." the redhead simply said before taking the pass dangling from Mello's hands as the blond handed it out to him. The musician hadn't even hung the pass around his neck himself like he had done for the others... weird. Really weird.
Once back in the main room, the contestants grabbed a few drinks and food, Mello throwing a little party. Matt sipped a beer, sat at the bar just like he had done the first night, but this time, Mello never came to talk to him. Getting a disturbing feeling of sadness growing in him, Matt finished his drink and headed upstairs, to bed. His Vita was of no solace so he tried to sleep, hearing the music and laughters from downstairs, making him all the more depressed. Damn, he was getting caught in the race when he had promised himself to keep his head cool, that was gonna be bad if he didn't have a hold on his feelings quickly. It was pretty stupid to react this way after all, he hadn't come here for a reason other than money and to win a bet. The rest had been pretty presumptuous, there was probably nothing good to expect from Mello.
Matt pretended to be asleep when Lou entered the room a moment later, after the music and voices had died down. He didn't want to have to deal with the nasty little bitch.
Once he was sure that Lou was sleeping soundly, Matt went downstairs to grab something to eat and then lounged on the couch in the main room with his gaming device and a bag of chips. He didn't want to keep on tossing and turning, better go through the night with Mario. Just the plumber, him and silence.
He almost regretted it thought, when he heard Mello's voice coming from his private apartments. It seemed to come closer and indeed, the door at the end of the corridor finally opened, Danny's voice joining Mello's, as they talked, trying to keep it down now hat they were in the public parts of the house.
Matt quickly lit his Vita off, not wanting to give himself away, and sank into the couch as much as he could. It was too late to go upstairs unnoticed.
"Just leave, don't worry so much for me, I'll be fine." the singer assured the other.
"I have my doubts, knowing you..."
"You don't have a choice anyway, take as much time as you need, I promise, I won't kill anyone." Mello chuckled softly, "I'll even let the nurse in, see, I'll be a good boy."
"You don't want Matt? I was about to go talk to him so he keeps an eye on you. I thought you'd prefer that to the nurse..."
"No, I don't want Matt. The production doesn't want Matt, the contestants don't want Matt, and now you're trying to put him under my feet?" mello's tone became hard.
"Okay okay! I'll be back in two days the latest, earlier if I can sort everything out faster."
"Danny, it's your family, you take as much time as needed, don't you dare coming back here until they're fully installed, and don't take me lightly, I'll call Lily to ask her if her dad made sure she had a new room all painted in pink, she never lies to me, you know that."
Matt was surprised by the kindness in Mello's voice right after he had seemed so unnerved. It was a premiere. It made his heart beat a little faster. Just a little. But it made everything worse, knowing that Mello was truly rejecting him from now on.
"I'll call you when I get there." Danny replied, laughing softly.
"Oh, take that with you. The code is one nine seven four." Mello added.
"You pay me well enough for me to sustain my family Mello, I'll be fine. But thank you."
"Consider this an extra then."
"Thank you. I may buy that Maserati I saw the other day..." Danny teased Mello, and Matt didn't need to see to understand that Mello had handed out his credit card to his right hand man. This was a side Mello never showed before in front of anyone here... Somehow, Matt was relieved to realise that Mello had indeed some good in him. He wondered why Danny had to leave so suddenly, apart from it concerning the man's family, but he hoped that it wasn't too bad.
Matt waited for Danny to leave and Mello to get back to his apartments before he lit his Vita back on. But things weren't any easier now that he knew that Mello obviously didn't want to have anything to do with him again. It just came so suddenly...
A couple hours later, feeling his eyes closing by themselves, Matt finally went to bed, Lou's light snoring lulling him until he fell asleep.