Chapter 5 #2
The smirk that lights up Juliet’s face only serves to make the knot in my stomach grow ten times bigger. I am so screwed. Goodbye, EWE, it was nice knowing you. “Yeah, you guys are done. Make sure you stretch and ice that back, Savannah.”
I wave her off, picking up my pace. The whole way to the locker room, Raelynn tries to pry the answers out of me, almost like she knows, but she wants me to admit it.
I glare at her, ready to tell her to shut up, but my attention is drawn to Brooks, standing near the lobby doors.
His attention wanders from his conversation with Fata to me.
I command my feet to move, to walk into the locker room, but they don’t listen.
At the same time, Raelynn turns to see what has captured my attention, and Fata does the same.
His stark white smile slowly creeps onto his face.
After a moment, he chuckles, slapping a hand on John’s back, and guides him through the double doors.
“You still want to tell me nothing is going on?” Raelynn asks, and this time, when I meet her stare, I don’t deny it.
A sense of overwhelming dread washes over me when I park in front of the whitewashed metal walls.
I’ve never felt like this, not even on my second day when I thought I was going to die as I dragged myself out of bed.
No, not even the aching pain deep in my muscles could deter me from getting out of the car, but this…
this could. How did this happen? How did I not know? How did I not figure it out before now?
I hate to admit it, but after practice last night, I went home and looked him up on the internet.
Is that creepy? Probably. But I had to know what I was dealing with.
What I found only stressed me out more. Somehow, I missed the part where the man I’d been thinking about for the last eight months is one of the top wrestlers at my new job…
No, not just one of them. He’s the top wrestler.
John joined the main roster of EWE four years ago, and once he gained his footing, he took the wrestling world by storm.
However, he’s been out for an injury for the last six months after tearing his Achilles when an aerial landing went awry.
That’s why I haven’t seen his face on any programming, but now that I know… I see him everywhere.
In the midst of it all, I called my best friends back home because I needed someone to talk me off the ledge, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell any of my brothers what was going on.
“He’s going to think I’m a fucking stalker, for fuck’s sake.
” I sighed, pacing the length of my living room.
A split screen showed Cassandra on one side of my laptop, and on the other, I could hear Kingsley rummaging around her bedroom in the background.
“What are the chances that when I change careers, it would be his career, too?”
“You know, I think you should take this as a sign,” Cassandra said, and Kingsley’s voice sounded from the background in agreement.
“A sign?” I scoffed. “A sign of what?”
“That you guys were supposed to meet.” Cassandra’s eyes glittered on the screen.
Her jaw hit the floor as I detailed the events from yesterday, from my initial interaction with Brody to seeing John, to what Raelynn and Bennett had said outside before I drove away.
“It’s just like you said. What are the chances?
You have a one-night fling, never expecting to see him again, and then he walks into your new job! Sounds like destiny.”
Ever the optimist.
I dropped my face into my hands with a soft groan. “And he’s one of their biggest fucking stars.”
“A bonus!”
“He’s going to think I knew who he was. That I’m a fucking psycho.”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little bit?” Kingsley asked, returning to the screen.
“No,” I snapped.
“It’s been…What? A year?”
“Eight months.”
“If you were a stalker, you would’ve been there long before now,” Cassandra said to further prove her point. “Sav, you didn’t know who he was. It’s not like you’re some groupie who has been following these guys around. I guarantee the thought never even crossed his mind.”
But a terrible thought entered mine. Could this ruin my career before it even begins?
Juliet was right, you’d have to be blind not to notice something was going on, and that was only confirmed by Bennett when Raelynn and I walked outside.
Bennett stood in the space between my car and Raelynn’s, waiting to throw his own two cents in on the matter.
And amid his flurry of questions, I realized that if he noticed, that meant it was likely that everyone else did, too.
Despite their constant badgering, I maintained my innocence.
“What if they kick me out?” Eyes locked on the ceiling, my thoughts began to spiral, thinking of all the ways this could ruin me.
“They’re not going to—”
“If he sees me as some wacko and wants me gone, I think they’d make that happen.”
“I think you’re overthinking this whole thing,” Cassandra said. “Did he seem weirded out when he saw you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” I sighed, trying to remember how he reacted.
A thousand-watt smile that slowly fell into a thin line, matching the look in his eyes.
He studied me with a narrowed gaze, trying to piece together what was going on.
It wasn’t exactly the welcome I had anticipated if I ever saw him again, but I can’t say I blame him.
This wasn’t exactly how I expected a reunion to occur.
“He didn’t really…say anything. Not that I wanted him to, because the last thing I need is someone thinking I’m fucking my way up. ”
“So, you’re not going to fuck him again?” Kingsley asked.
“Kins!” Cassandra and I shouted at the same time.
“Don’t Kins me. I’m just asking what we’re all thinking, and in my humble opinion, I agree it seems like the universe is offering you a chance to get another taste of it.”
Cassandra sighed, rubbing the space between her eyes. “Fuck him, don’t fuck him, whatever. But I think you should at least talk to him.”
“I’m overreacting,” I finally said. I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince more—me or them? “It’s not even a big deal. I probably won’t even see him again.”
Kingsley laughed. “Until you get called up.”
“And then you’ll be working with him four or five days a week,” her counterpart added.
“Seems very unlikely that he’d be working with a rookie like me. I think it’s better if I keep my distance—”
“I think that’s a bad idea,” Cassandra said, drawing out the last syllable.
“I concur. Avoiding it is a bad idea, Sav. You need to face it,” Kingsley said. “Talk to him.”
I rolled my eyes, mouse icon hovering over the big red button that would end the call. I needed some time to think about this on my own. Time to figure out what I was or wasn’t going to do. “I’m not going looking for this man. That would be stalkerish.”
“Okay, then the next time you see him, commit right now that you’ll talk to him.
You’ll make sure he knows you’re not some groupie stalker chick.
” Cassandra sat with her arms crossed, brow raised.
I knew she wasn’t going to let this go until I did.
I groaned, rolling my eyes again, and begrudgingly said okay before I ended the call.
Now, staring at the training center from behind my steering wheel, I don’t feel any more confident than I did yesterday.
With one final breath, I open my car door and get out.
Baby steps—each one will get me inside eventually.
It doesn’t help that today we are combining all classes of trainees to work on promos, and I am not looking forward to it.
If there is one thing I don’t think I anticipated about this new career, it’s the amount of acting that I have to do.
Wrestling is storytelling, and wrestlers tell a story in and out of the ring.
Delivering promos is just one of the ways to do that, and you have to make them believable and interesting, keeping the audience engaged the whole time.
Promos are one of the areas of this circus where I have yet to feel confident and comfortable.
Tugging my bag across the center console, I throw it over my shoulder and close the door. I turn and walk straight into the chest of none other than the one man I’d been hoping to avoid. John Brooks. John? Brooks? Brooks Taylor? What in the hell am I supposed to call him?
So much for keeping a distance.
His brow quirks as he stares down at me, followed by his mouth.
A mouth I’d come to know all too well during our night together, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think of how good that mouth made me feel.
I avert my gaze down to the ground, and it occurs to me that he isn’t wearing a boot or any kind of protection on his foot.
Does that mean he’s healed? You mean to tell me all of this is happening because he came here to—
“Mornin’, Sweetheart.” His voice draws my eyes forward, and his use of that name chips away at the mental barrier I put in place.
“John.” His name is barely a whisper. “I—I swear I had no idea. I didn’t…I didn’t know you worked here.”
He laughs. “I know.”
“I’m not a stalker.”
“Well, that is something a stalker might say.” The words draw a glare from me. “I’m kidding, Sav. I believe you. I had a feeling that night when you didn’t flinch seeing me or any of the guys in the bar. You only confirmed my suspicion when you saw Theo and couldn’t give two shits.”
“If I had known—”
“If you had known—what? You wouldn’t have joined the company? Savannah, I’d never ask that of you. I am curious, though. What happened to cheerleading?” John tucks his hands into his pockets. “I thought you were with the Wildcats.”
“I was,” I say a little too quickly. “But the longer I was in it, the more I wanted out. I’d been wanting out, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do instead.”
“So, you picked wrestling?”