Chapter 5 - Unavoidable

The limo ride back to the mansion proved to be a pleasant affair.

It was just the three of them together and Yael’s limo was equipped with a mini drinks bar. So they sat and chatted and drank as the time and scenery flew by.

Yael turned out to have a decent sense of humor and with both Stelle and Lynan there, the conversation never really lulled.

Lynan felt a little bad about raining on Stelle’s parade and getting dragged along but at the same time, he was relieved that he got to avoid the cramp and drama on one of the other limos.

Yael had come out by himself in his own limo so he could use the travel time to catch up on work and Lynan almost felt bad that they were impeding on that.

Not bad enough to request a limo switch though.

He felt a little less awkward in the man’s presence after that.

He apologized to Stelle for stealing away her alone time with Yael but she waved him off with a grin.

“It’s fine. It made it less awkward with you there actually. I didn’t know what to talk about! Anyways, I get a whole day with him to myself soon,” she looked like a cat with both the cream and the bird.

And so, the first week rolled by.

Taylor took to snubbing him and glaring- something that made Lynan happy as it was much better than listening to him whine.

Honestly, the man never seemed to stop whining. It was the worst.

He spent the day of Stelle’s solo date just sitting around, playing games on his hand held game console in companionable silence with Liev and a man named Caleb.

Until Amy, as Amulet now insisted he call her, gate crashed with alcohol.

Taylor’s loud screeching started up again soon after and any protest at the alcohol was gone.

He slept well that night.

They had another free day after that, although this time, Yael was holed up on a long conference call for work.

The contestants found themselves left to their own devices for the day with a warning that the group date theme the day after next was ‘talents’.

Cue simultaneous groan from most of the contestants.

On the plus side, they had a fair amount of time to prepare for a possible talent show.

How cheesy was that? Ugh.

Lynan decided to turn some of his parkour moves into a kind of acrobatic dance.

He had loved doing parkour when he was in high school and had joined a club to keep up the hobby when he got older.

He was just one of those people that enjoyed being active and moving helped clear his head.

He conferred with the creepy twins who were dancers to find a good song to use.

They were a little less creepy now that Lynan had spoken with them more but the finish each other’s sentences thing still threw him off.

His day was interrupted when he was dragged through the mansion to a small room with a computer and a webcam attached.

A stressed looking man sat at a desk in the other corner with multiple screens set up in front of him and he gave him introductions without even looking up.

“I’m Collins, main editor and in charge of the cameras and live streams. You get your hour of family time, we’ve already contacted them ahead of time so it’s all set up and ready to go. I’m here to make sure nothing crazy happens but otherwise, go with your life. Be warned that everything is still recorded and may appear online or on the TV show, got it?”

“Yep, got it.”

Lynan made his way over to the computer and noticed a familiar voice calling program he had used before.

It was already set to a contact labeled ‘Katz Family’ and he clicked the call with the video button.

It picked up almost at once and he was engulfed in noise instantly.

“Lynan!” both his parents were there along with his sister and most of his close friends.

“Hi guys.”

“Lynan, darling.”

“Hey my brother.”

He groaned, he recognized that tone of voice from his sister.

“Just how awkward can you be?!”

They described what they had seen online so far and while everyone agreed that while the ‘save the lost child’ thing was a good idea, he really needed to work on his game.

Bed hair, dino pj’s and nearly falling flat on his face?

Awkward penguin as one of his friends called him.

Then his mother called him a ‘cute little housewife’ for helping the girls learn how to cook and Lynan threatened to hang up before they let him off the hook.

Maybe this talk to your family time wasn’t actually a good idea.

*****

They all quickly fell into something of a routine.

Amy won the talent show with her cute song and dance routine.

Lynan managed to mostly break dance and didn’t look like an idiot doing so, this is according to Liev so he mostly trusted the man’s judgement.

He spent another few days swanning around the mansion and avoiding all the drama.

This generally meant avoiding Yael, which defeated the point of being there, but Lynan was happier with his relative peace and quiet.

He had found an excellent sunny spot where he would curl up with a book in the afternoon and nap a little. He needed to recuperate his energy after dealing with the others.

Sometimes, he even borrowed Sato the chicken for nap time just to give the poor thing some peace as well.

*****

Lynan was stretched out in the window seat again, book cast aside and dozing in the warm sunlight when he felt himself being shifted.

He shuffled over and blinked sleepily as he was pulled up on to something very warm and solid. With a yawn, he settled back down and quickly drifted back off to sleep.

When he awoke a little while later, it was a slow process.

He was exceptionally comfortable as he stretched languidly. It was then that he noticed that his pillow was a little too hard and it MOVES. 

Caramel brown eyes blinked open, and he took a long time to process the difference.

He was still stretched out on the window seat but his pillow was actually… Yael’s chest?

The man had an arm wrapped around his waist and Lynan’s book open in front of the man as though he had been reading it.

Amused dark jade eyes looked down at him and for a few heartbeats, they just stared at each other.

Suddenly, Lynan’s body kicked into gear and he pushed back, trying to escape.

Where to, he didn’t know, because all that was behind him was the glass of the window as freedom lay on the other side of the tall man.

“Oh no, you don’t,” the arm wrapped around his waist did its job in keeping Lynan trapped in place and he looked around wildly. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

Lynan gave up trying to get away and instead stayed in his partially sitting position so he could look at the man without being so close.

“No, not intentionally.”

“Really?” Yael’s eyebrows rose almost to his hairline in clear disbelief. “I’ve had copious amounts of time talking one on one with everyone else but you are never to be found or quickly sneak away when I do find you. I’ve seen you napping here in the sun a few times and decided that’s when I would catch you. I was beginning to wonder if you were solar powered.”

Lynan snorted at that. “Yeah, I run on sun rays and caffeine.”

“Noted,” Yael’s eyes twinkled with barely concealed amusement. He tugged Lynan back down onto his chest and shifted around before settling. “If you wanted to sleep some more, you are welcome to. I am quite enjoying your book.”

Lynan found that he couldn’t settle down now that he was aware on just what he was lying on but at the same time, he enjoyed the firm chest under his cheek.

They started talking about the book and then went from there. Favorite books, TV shows, food. They moved on to other topics and Lynan was surprised at just how comfortable the conversation could be once he got over his initial awkwardness.

By the time Yael had left to go and finish up some left over work, they must have been talking for hours.

Lynan gathered his book and dragged his feet into the kitchen only to be pinned in place by more than one glare.

These were the gazes that pinned Liev that first night and he was far more impressed by his seeming imperviousness now that he was experiencing it firsthand.

“Playing hard to get just to steal all of Yael’s time, huh Katz?” Taylor’s sneering voice cut through the heavy silence.

“Not intentionally. Anyway, Yael came and sought me out. And I probably slept through half of the time he was there,” Lynan strode towards the fridge and began pulling out ingredients for dinner, relieved when Amy came over to help.

Until she tried cutting something and he quickly stepped in to remove the knife from her hands. It offered a good distraction though.

“Ugh, even worse,” Taylor kept on babbling.

Whatever else the man had said, he just tuned it out and focused on making dinner.

Lynan’s cheeks tinted red every time he remembered the feeling of Yael’s deep voice rumbling through his chest under his ear though.