Chapter 6
Sloane cocks her head, brow furrowed, listening to the story Ally has been telling her for the last ten minutes.
She shakes her head, her chest visibly rising and falling with a heavy sigh, before she looks my way.
Her features soften, and the corner of her mouth ticks upward.
At first, I think she must be reacting to something Ally said, but Ally is staring at her phone.
There’s a subtle tug on my heart knowing her swift change in demeanor was because of me…
I motion toward the empty seat beside me, the one Brody occupied earlier.
Sloane excuses herself, making her way toward the front of the pontoon where the rest of us sit.
“This seat taken?” she asks with a gleaming smile. Oversized sunglasses cover her pale blue orbs, but I can still see the crinkle in the corner of her eyes.
“All yours,” I say, draping my arm along the edge of the boat.
She doesn’t leave a lot of room when she sits beside me, but enough not to raise any eyebrows.
There’s a space between my fingertips and her shoulder, and a tingle in my fingertips dares my hand to come closer to the tanned skin on full display beneath the thin straps of her dress.
I feel it, that same tug from moments ago, when she leans back in her seat, and my fingers finally graze her skin, warmed from spending hours in the sun.
“What do you do for work, Sloane?” Savannah asks across the boat, cuddled into Brooks’ side.
We have two hours until sunset and the fireworks show.
Every year, the explosions get bigger and brighter, and we have the ultimate viewing spot from the shoreline along our property.
Boats begin parking in the water in front of our house early in the day, and by sunset, it feels like a department store parking lot on Christmas Eve.
We’ll have to leave in the next thirty minutes if we want to get back to the house before there’s no room to navigate the water.
“Oh, I’m a…freelance writer,” Sloane says, and Gabe gives her a questionable look.
She ignores him, but I don’t. How can I when one of her best friends is looking at her like he wasn’t expecting that answer?
His gaze shifts to mine, and he quickly adjusts his features back to normal.
“I used to work at a local magazine in Boston. I recently left because they wanted to keep me in lifestyle, which isn’t exactly what I envisioned for my life as a writer. ”
Savannah’s brow lifts, and I already know what’s coming when she shifts her gaze to mine.
She has questions, a lot of them, like why I let a journalist infiltrate our group.
The thought didn’t occur to me when I invited her over last night, and even if it had, why would it matter? We aren’t Sloane’s preferred topic.
I rack my brain, trying to remember what magazine Sloane said she worked for.
I know she mentioned it, but I can’t remember.
A lifestyle one, maybe? That’s not so bad…
It’s not like a lifestyle writer would have any interest in wrestlers.
The one thing I can recall is that Sloane hated her job.
She wanted to do something more meaningful.
“My editor wants me to stay where I am, but I’m tired of writing about the next fashion trend or what some famous wife is doing to improve ‘the vibe’ in her house.
But if I want to keep my job, I have no choice, I’m stuck,” she told me that night.
“So, do something about it,” I said.
“What are you talking about?” Sloane asked, brow furrowed.
“You don’t like your job? You want to change lives? Then do something about it. You can’t change the world by just talking about it, Sloane. You have to get out there and do it.”
“Is that what you’re doing?” She looked up from the mug between her hands. Slowly, her lips inverted, trying to hide her smile. She choked out, “Changing lives one body slam at a time.”
“That’s so cool,” Rae says, from her place next to Savannah, pulling me back to the present. “I wish I could do that, but the gift of words has never been my strong suit.”
“Yeah, we know, Rae,” I say, earning a laugh from everyone on board, including her husband. Sloane tries to hide her own laugh, covering her mouth with her hand and clearing her throat.
Rae smacks Brody on the arm, only making him laugh more, and she turns to glare at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We’ve all seen your promos. It’s okay, because what you lack on the mic, you make up for in the ring.
That’s all that matters.” For as long as she’s been in the industry, you would think Raelynn would have mastered the art of the promo by now, but it remains one of her weak spots.
It’s not for lack of trying. She’s been spending more time at NextGen, specifically in the promo rooms where she can get feedback.
Still, she struggles translating her skills in the ring to the mic.
“Ally,” Gabe says as his sister joins us from the back of the boat, and her gaze narrows from behind her sunglasses. “You’re a fan of the show. What do you think about Rae’s mic skills?”
Ally gnaws on her bottom lip before giving Raelynn a sympathetic smile.
“I hate to say it, but he’s not wrong.” Ally winces, almost like it hurts her to admit it.
“You’re one of my favorites, but your mic skills aren’t the best…
They are much better when you’re a heel, though.
I think you should play a bad guy all the time. ”
Rae groans. “I don’t like playing a heel. That’s Sav’s forte.”
Savannah shrugs, then looks up at her husband with a smirk. “Especially when I turn against you.”
“I like it better when we’re a team,” Brooks says.
“Oh, like when she came back a few years ago!” Ally’s eyes light up, and I chuckle.
Her enthusiasm was palpable the moment she spotted Brooks and Savannah this afternoon.
“That storyline was amazing. I never thought Savvy Skye would come back to tag with Brooks Taylor after the way things ended. I mean, I hoped, but…I don’t think anyone thought it would happen. ”
She’s not the only one.
After Savannah’s abrupt departure from the company almost five years ago, it seemed like she was hanging up her boots for good.
She and Brooks broke up, she moved back to Texas, started coaching, and it seemed like EWE was a thing of her past, until it wasn’t…
In a storyline pitting Brooks Taylor against Spencer and Viviana Austin, it was only a matter of time before Brooks was going to need a partner to even the odds.
Amos and Noah kept her return a secret from everyone, including Brooks.
No one knew who was going to walk through that curtain as his tag team partner, but it was an incredible return and forced Savannah and Brooks to pull their heads out of their asses and admit they were still in love. But that’s not my story to tell…
“Yeah, it sure beats coaching high school cheerleaders,” Brody says.
I don’t think we will ever get over the fact that Savvy Skye, one of the best female wrestlers of this generation, left the company to become a high school cheer coach.
Sure, she’d been a professional cheerleader, and with her experience at EWE, I have no doubt she was great, but that’s not her. Savannah belongs in the ring.
“What can I say?” Savannah shrugs. “When Amos called, I couldn’t say no.”
“What’s he like?” Sloane asks, shifting forward in her seat.
“Who, Amos?”
Sloane nods.
“Well, he’s…Amos,” Savannah says, and the rest of us laugh because her description is spot-on.
Amos Rafferty is truly a force of nature. If it weren’t for him, there wouldn’t be an EWE. Hell, I don’t know if there would be a Wolf Bennett, Savvy Skye, Brooks Taylor, Brody Wilder, Rae Rose…The five of us sure as hell wouldn’t be here right now if not for him.
“Amos is an asshole,” Brody adds.
Brooks rolls his eyes. “He’s an acquired taste.”
Ever the diplomat. You’ll be hard-pressed to get John Brooks to say something out of turn, but especially when it comes to Amos or the company, and especially around new people.
The rest of us might be a little more inclined to slip up, but not him.
I swear he has a computer in his head that takes what he really wants to say and spits out the politically correct answer.
I guess that’s what makes him such a good front man for the company.
“But what’s he like?” Sloane asks again. “Brody just said he’s an asshole, but Brooks makes it seem like he’s—”
“Amos Rafferty is a lot of things. Some might call him an asshole,” Savannah says, pointing at Brody. “Others might say he’s just hard to please. He has high expectations—very high expectations—for everyone who walks through the door.”
“You don’t make it to EWE unless he thinks you have what it takes to be there,” Raelynn adds.
“And he will demand everything you have and more when you get here because he lives and breathes this business. If you’re going to work for Amos, then you’d better do the same.
But on the flip side, Amos is the kind of person who makes you believe in what you’re doing.
Makes you believe you’re part of something… bigger,” Savannah says.
“I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am today without him,” Brooks adds.
“I don’t know, man. I’m sure your charm and good looks could’ve at least landed you a gig as a male dancer,” I say, earning a deadpan look.
“Hey, maybe that could be your new ring name: Magic Brooks,” Sloane says, and bites down on her bottom lip. The whole boat erupts into laughter.
Still chuckling, Brooks shakes his head. “Please don’t give the man any new ideas.”