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Niko and Kilian were both wearing large shirts above black gym shorts, and she already knew she was in for another hour of ogling her mates.

She loved the way those loose shirts of theirs bounced up while they were running on the treadmill, revealing only a few inches of skin at a time.

She also liked the way the material clung to the natural shape of their bodies after becoming soaked in sweat.

It was so satisfying when they tried to hide how amazing their bodies were, only to be betrayed by their clothes.

She had found herself more than a little distracted by them lately—not that she wasn’t being dragged into a bed, shower, or closet as often as Theodore, Cian, Kilian, and Oscar could manage.

Elijah also found time to get her alone quite often, but he never took things too far.

He seemed to be trying to date her before he took things further, and he wasn’t the only one.

He, Gabriel, and Mikel had all been snatching up evenings to spend with her alone without the cameras.

Elijah liked to read with her, and when they were lucky enough to have an overlapping free night, she would snuggle up onto the chaise in his room and fall asleep to his soothing voice while he ran his fingers through her hair with a firm, steady pressure that always made her eyelids feel heavy.

Gabriel, on the other hand, liked to watch movies with her.

They would order food from the dining hall and lock themselves into his room for hours after everyone else had gone to bed, sometimes flicking through short videos online that always launched them into debate or laughter—though it was usually her laughing while he stared at her with the tiniest quirk to his mouth.

Mikel had pulled her into his office late at night a few times, pouring her wine as they sat by the window in the dark, softly talking about whatever topics floated into their heads.

He usually told her about how useless the human group was without autotune, and she detailed some of the choreography ideas that had been forming in her head.

She liked talking to Mikel because she had yet to find a topic he didn’t fully embrace. He was pleasantly open-minded.

The four men she was sleeping with had quickly grown jealous and were now also trying to schedule dates with her. Only Moses and Niko seemed to be holding off, though Niko had her alone often enough while they sparred.

She almost felt like Moses was slipping further and further away the closer the others got to her, and that thought filled her with unease.

Save those thoughts for later , she tried to tell herself, but it didn’t work.

The day had officially started and later had arrived.

They pushed into the gym, and Mikel immediately began barking orders, gathering the others who seemed to have been standing around waiting for them to arrive.

“You good?” Mikel asked her, his attention shifting quickly to Kilian, who Isobel caught nodding in her periphery.

“Good as I get,” she answered, falling to the mat beside Theodore.

The great thing about Mikel and Kalen was that when they were in professional mode, they didn’t push her emotionally, and when they switched off that professional mode, they stopped forcing her to excel in her physical performance.

Both sides were intense, so she was glad she didn’t get it all at the same time.

“Good,” Mikel said, also checking in with Niko, who gave a short nod. Mikel wasn’t going to hover, but he wasn’t going to take her word for it, apparently.

Theodore gripped her thigh, squeezing lightly. His storm-grey eyes briefly flashed over her expression, searching for something. Whatever he was looking for, she was sure he would only find exhaustion.

She had worked off the panic.

He raked his teeth over his top lip and returned his attention to Kalen, who gave her a quick once-over.

“We’re cutting training time in half today,” Kalen announced, while briefly checking over everyone else.

Isobel did the same, searching out Oscar and Moses. They were both sitting on the mats with their backs against the mirror. Both of them raised a single, dark brow at her in greeting. They grew more and more alike every day. It was a little scary.

Gabriel and Elijah were paired up, stretching out their long, lean muscles.

Gabriel looked like he had stepped out of a photo shoot, of course.

His outfit wasn’t designer, but on him, everything looked like he had purchased it straight off a runway.

There was just something about the way he held himself, with a very compelling brand of precision and grace.

Elijah was a little more ruffled, with dark bruises smudging the skin beneath his eyes, though that cold, frostbitten stare of his crinkled a little as she glanced at him.

Almost a smile. It didn’t ease her worry over him.

He was clearly forgoing sleep again—something she had come to know was a particularly bad coping strategy of his.

Cian dropped to her other side, briefly curving over her, his nose tracing a path between her jawline and neck.

Unlike the others, he gave her no space to mask her feelings.

He scented them right off her skin—at least when they were in rooms that weren’t being recorded.

The more she tried to push her worries away or work them off, the more the guys seemed compelled to scent her.

Kilian had told her a few days ago that it was because her smell was very confused and muted like she was too numb to feel anything.

“I see there are no objections,” Kalen noted wryly, reminding her of his surprising announcement.

“Oh please, don’t give us half a session off,” Moses protested, his voice without emotion.

“This is my favourite part of the day. As soon as I leave this room, I’m like …

damn, I really miss having a medicine ball hurtling toward my stomach with enough force to take out a small elephant. Take me back.”

“I have some interesting news.” Kalen ignored Moses.

Isobel’s body stiffened as she remembered her father’s message from the day before. “Did you talk to my dad?”

Kalen nodded. There was a strange sort of look in his eyes. It almost seemed that he was more energetic than usual. There was a spark. A little hint of life trying to wiggle through the monotonous prison they had locked themselves into.

Her father had good news?

“What was it about?” she pressed .

“Braun hired someone who specialises in social media, although I think that summary is underwhelming for what this man and his team really do. He’s a communications and media expert with a very large group capable of … let’s just say manipulation on a large scale.”

Gabriel sighed. “A bot army? Really?”

“No.” Kalen shook his head with a half smile. “And you didn’t let me finish. They’ve been analysing the tone of the public when it comes to Eleven, and they’ve noticed a surprising shift.”

Elijah and Gabriel suddenly straightened, sharing a look with each other. Or more likely, an entire silent conversation.

“Is it what I thought?” Elijah asked, sounding like he didn’t believe whatever his own prediction had been.

Kalen and Mikel nodded.

“Oh my god,” Elijah spluttered, a laugh colouring his tone. “It fucking worked?”

“It almost worked,” Kalen clarified. “It’s heading in the right direction.”

“Mind explaining to those of us with an IQ below 170?” Theodore grumbled.

“I …” Elijah still looked a little shocked.

“Last year, I came up with the plan that we should all treat Isobel like a little dorm sister but sprinkle in a little bit of chemistry—I know I didn’t tell you guys to create chemistry; I just assumed it would happen naturally.

I thought, worst-ca se scenario, it would protect her from jealous fans and make us still seem romantically accessible. ”

“And best-case scenario?” Cian asked, curiosity piqued. “I want to ask why you didn’t tell us but?—”

“But if I told you every damn plan I come up with, I would be explaining myself all day, every day,” Elijah interrupted. “Yes, we know.”

“I’m trying to imagine you saying that in a humble way,” Moses mused, still without emotion. “Wow, this is so hard.”

Elijah was unfazed. Even the dark circles beneath his eyes seemed lighter with the sudden, sharp spark in his stare.

“The best-case scenario was that the sexualisation of our characters on the show combined with the complete lack of romance would make the fans a little desperate for more—and since they can’t have us, they would eventually start to fantasise about us with Isobel. ”

“What?” Oscar frowned over at Elijah. “So if we were together from the start, the fans would have hated us, but now that we’re not together, they want us together?”

“Welcome to fandom culture,” Gabriel answered with a shrug.

“Starting us all as equals in the group and taking romantic entanglements strictly off the table removed any notion of one of us being a threat to the connection the fandom has with us individually and as a group. But now we’ve proved there’s no threat, and we’ve proved our dedication to them.

We’ve each individually endeared ourselves to them, and we’re each special to the fandom in our own unique ways.

So now , they want to see more of us; they want all the sides we refuse to show them.

They want to read into every lingering look and whisper, and they can comfortably put themselves into the shoes of one of us or Isobel because they know us, relate to us, and love us.

They know they’ll never get any intimacy from us, so the next best thing is watching us give that intimacy to each other. ”

“That was the idea, anyway,” Elijah agreed, as everyone else seemed a little shell-shocked. Isobel was still trying to digest Gabriel’s explanation.