16. MONDAY — MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA #3
Finally, they managed to put ten feet between them. Rico had blood pouring from his nose and scratches against his skin. He looked at Evan, then at me standing by the monitors before spitting a mouthful of pink saliva on the floor and glaring at Silas.
“You think we don’t all know?” Rico wheezed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You think the entire locker room didn’t piece everything together long before? You’re trading titles for fucking blowjobs. That’s the only way a hack like Kincaid stays on top.”
Silas went still for a split second, a jagged grin splitting his face.
“A hack?” Silas whispered, the word sharp enough to cut glass.
He let out a dark, breathless laugh. “You think the man who’s been breaking backs and carrying this entire company for seven years needs my help to stay on top?
” He lunged forward, the sudden violence dragging three security guards with him.
“HE’S THE CHAMPION BECAUSE HE COULD SNAP YOUR FUCKING NECK IN THREE MINUTES!
YOU WANNA TEST IT?! SAY IT TO HIS FACE!”
Rico sneered, lunging against Evan’s chest. “He’s still a pathetic bitch playing captain save-a-whore for the biggest fuck-up in the building!”
Silas broke an arm free, pointing a bloody finger right between Rico’s eyes. “YEAH, WELL, YOU JUST GOT YOUR ASS HANDED TO YOU BY THIS FUCK-UP ON LIVE TV!”
He lunged again, ready to tear Rico’s throat out. I stepped in, wrapped my arms around Silas’s waist from behind, and hoisted his feet off the floor.
“Let me go!” Silas shouted, thrashing in my grip. “I’m gonna kill him! I’m going to fucking kill him!”
“I know!” I roared, tightening my grip. It took every ounce of my strength to haul him back and keep him away from Rico’s face. “I know, baby. Enough! It’s enough.”
I dragged him down the hall, away from the carnage and venom. Evan, thankfully, stepped in front of Rico, shielding our exit. The medical room sat to our left, and I kicked the door open, throwing Silas inside. It slammed behind us, allowing me to drop my enraged spouse and lock it.
“Si?” I whispered, the shock finally hitting me. “You called me your husband on live fucking TV?”
Silas paced the small room, wiping his mouth, smearing Rico’s blood across his cheekbone.
“Yeah.” Silas spun to face me, panting. “Yeah, I did, because that’s what you are.
And I’m not going to pretend like you’re just some guy I carpool with.
He called you a whore, Cal! I can handle them coming for me.
I can handle the legacy talk, but nobody, nobody, gets to say you didn’t earn your title. Not while I’m breathing.”
Grabbing the back of his neck, I crashed my mouth onto his.
Silas instantly melted into me, his tension disappearing as I kissed him fiercely.
When I pulled back, I rested my head against his.
A demand for him to call me his husband again lay on the tip of my tongue, but within a breath, we were interrupted.
BAM! BAM!
The door shook on its hinges.
“OPEN THIS GODDAMN DOOR! RIGHT NOW! BOTH OF YOU!” Presley’s voice roared from the hallway.
“You ready?”
“Let’s go face the music, husband,” Silas smirked, wiping blood from his lip.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!
” Presley screamed as I opened the door, getting right in Silas’s face.
“I explicitly told you to keep your personal life off my screen and that I didn’t want a circus!
You just turned my main event into a tabloid frenzy and brought chaos to my doorstep!
I have sponsors as well as the network calling me! ”
Presley pointed a shaking finger at Silas. “You’re suspended as well, indefinitely. Get your shit and get out of my building!”
“Wait,” Evan’s voice cut through the shouting. He stepped out from behind Presley, holding up his phone. “Presley, stop. Look at your phone!”
“I don’t care about social media posts!” Presley yelled.
“You should, because ‘husband’ is trending number one globally. Look at the videos.”
Presley paused his tantrum, his eyes scanning Evan’s screen. The frown on his face deepened, but the rage stalled.
“They aren’t mad,” Evan continued, looking at us with a wide grin.
“They’re eating it up, Presley. Check the comments.
There’s thousands of edits already. Everything from slow-motion clips of the punch, to edits of Silas screaming husband with music over it.
They’re analyzing every glance you guys have shared since Si came back.
Captions like: ‘finally real’ and ‘we knew it’ on every post. They aren’t calling for you guys to be fired.
They’re calling you legends. You’ve been dubbed the Wrestling Husbands and have gotten twenty million views in ten minutes. ”
Silas let out a laugh, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his torn shirt. He looked at Presley, who stared at the phone as if it were a foreign object.
“Well,” Silas drawled, the ghost of a smile curling the side of his bloody lips. “Guess we just made you a lot of money, boss.”