Chapter 54
54
ADAM
B eing in The Garden is like being inside a giant tire with LED screens in the centre suspended above the stage. I’ve performed in front of audiences of over 19,000 here before. Now I’m performing in front of an audience of about 15, including the crew.
Despite everything, I thought that when I set foot on the stage the same old buzz would fill me, that a wave of nostalgia would wipe everything from my mind and I’d get swept up in our storyline. But I feel nothing. Nothing except a vague sense of deja vu—that feeling you get when you’re stuck in a dream you’ve had before and you thought you resolved.
I move through the choreography on autopilot. It’s a good thing we rehearsed so much because I’m seriously off my game. I’m thinking of Belle and his father and worrying about how the surgery went.
I throw Todd off me and grab him into a headlock, punching his guts. He breaks free and clocks me in the jaw. I fall back, playing the drama as he hits me again in the temple. I can hardly see out of my right eye due to the color I just gave myself, but I see a blur of tan and brown at the edge of the ring.
Todd kicks me to the mat and is about to bodyslam when suddenly, there’s a blonde man in a rumpled tweet suit standing between us.
Jonathan? I push myself up, blinking in case Todd hit me too hard and knocked something loose.
“Alan, I’m getting reports that this is The Beast’s boyfriend ,” Rod is saying. I look to their table. Was this planned?
Geoff is clutching his nose, hand dripping blood.
Not planned.
Todd glances to the ref and holds up his hands to show Jonathan he means him no harm. Jonathan spins and drops to his knees over me. His hands are on my face, gentle and searching for the source of the blood.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss.
“What are you doing here?” he shoots back. “It’s dangerous. ”
I grab his hand to stop its searching. “It’s just color. Remember, I told you?”
The ref falls to his knees beside us. “Whatever the fuck is happening here, management wants you to play this up. We’ve got thousands on stream. It’s the biggest match since the pandemic started and you’re not going to fuck this up.”
“I’m sorry,” Jonathan says. “I should have gotten here sooner.”
The commentators are now saying how we’re having a very intense discussion with the ref, which is their way of saying we need to speed things along.
I turn to the ref. “Here’s the story. The Beast was tamed, but he’s out here tonight fighting for love. Feed them that line. Chev is going to do a heel turn. It will be good for his career. He’s out to prove himself by defeating The Beast, but The Beast doesn’t want to fight. He only wants to protect the man he loves.”
The ref nods and then dashes off to speak to Todd. I clutch Jonathan’s hands. “Todd’s a professional. He’s not going to hurt you. But he might throw you around a little. Just trust what he says, okay? You’re the most dangerous person in this ring right now.”
“Me?”
“Because you’re untrained.”
I don’t wait for his response. I stand and dramatically push Jonathan behind me, shielding him.
“This has never happened before in the history of wrestling,” Rod is saying. “What you’re seeing today is truly unprecedented.”
“They say we’re living in unprecedented times, Rod, but this is really something.”
I meet Tod’s gaze. He gives a small nod. He’s willing to go along with my plan. He stalks towards us.
“What, what’s Chevalier doing?” Rod asks.
Todd tries to come for Jonathan, but I block him. He tries to get around me, I block him again, drawing myself to my full height. Todd slams a fist into my gut and I double over as if winded.
“Run!” I tell Jonathan.
He darts out from behind me. Todd grabs him. I hope he’s gentler than it looks. He squeezes him against his chest, hand to his throat, and I know he’s whispering instructions. The announcers are having a ball with the story they’re spinning, but I can’t pay it much attention. I prowl around the two of them, just like a beast, looking for an opening to get to Jonathan.
Jonathan kicks back and Todd lets go of him, but not his jacket. Jonathan manages to squirm out of the jacket and retreat to the other corner. Todd tosses the jacket aside and we face each other. Nostrils flaring, breath coming fast and angry. I return to the choreography we practiced and head butt him. He bodyslams me.
“Want to tap out?” he murmurs as he presses his forearm on my neck.
Him defeating The Beast won’t read the same now Jonathan’s here.
“We need more drama,” I respond, covering my mouth with my hair.
He eases up his grip, places a foot on my chest instead and hits me with a double axel handle.
I make a few aborted tempts to get up, then grab his foot and twist so he falls down on top of me. I roll over and pin him. The ref runs over and starts to count, but Todd kicks out at the last second.
We circle each other again. I’m trying to get a read on what Todd wants to do next. We trade a few blows and he delivers a spinning wheel kick. I stagger back, letting him come on the offensive. He rains down blow after blow, pushing me into the corner.
Then, out of the opposite corner, comes Jonathan. He sprints for Todd and jumps on his back, pulling him away from me. I hope to God that was planned.
Todd makes a good show of struggling to shrug him off before reaching back, grabbing Jonathan’s shirt and hauling him over his shoulder. Jonathan slams to the mat and I surge forward, driving Todd back into the corner with a high-impact turnbuckle thrust.
I pin him in the corner, roaring and driving my fists into him. He jabs upwards and I jerk back as if hurt, giving him space to escape. As he climbs to his feet, I aim a kick at his torso, but he grabs my ankle and slams me down again. Then he starts to climb the ropes. I clutch my ankle, giving him time to prepare his splash.
Before he can dive, Jonathan’s there, standing between us again. Fuck. I cry out and it works to get Jonathan’s attention. He kneels down by me again. I pull his face close, ready to tell him to get out of the fucking way.
He kisses me.
I have no idea how a real crowd will react, or what will happen online. But the fake crowd roars. Rod and Alan are losing their shit. I don’t know if it’s good or bad but it sure is entertainment.
Todd pulls Jonathan away from me, throwing him to the side.
He double stomps my chest. I roll away and he grabs my legs and wraps me in a figure-four. He’s giving me another opportunity to tap out, but this still isn’t dramatic enough to be a career maker for him. It’s not a good enough story yet. I sit up and cry out in genuine discomfort.
I manage to roll over, reversing the pressure. He drops the leg lock and crawls away. He’s crawling towards Jonathan. I grab him and lift him in an overhead press. Thankfully I can still manage this. Rod makes some comment to the same effect, impressed that after 10 years out of the ring I can still lift a man over my head. I can, but I can’t hold him long. I toss him over the ropes.
Fortunately, he lands safely. That was a risk I didn’t intend to take today. I stalk after him, ducking beneath the ropes. Todd’s still playing up his disorientation, so I grab his head and drive my knee up into it.
Geoff is sitting at the one announce table, next to Rod. He’s still nursing his nose, so he doesn’t catch the look in my eye. But Rod does. Rod’s great. He grabs his laptop and scrambles away just in time for me to throw Todd onto the table. The table obediently breaks. And I get the added joy of hearing Geoff squeal. I hope he was close enough to Rod that it got picked up on the mic.
I take a second to check Todd is okay. He’s blinking up at me from the floor, but doesn’t give any indication he’s actually hurt. The medic runs over to him to check. I turn and climb back beneath the ropes. Jonathan is standing in the centre of the ring looking lost. I lift him and sling him over my shoulder.
He makes a little surprised sound.
“Are you hurt?” I ask as I carry him up the stage towards gorilla.
“No. I’m really sorry about all this.”
It’s all I can do not to start laughing.
“Beast!” he shouts the warning one moment before Todd drop kicks me in the middle of the spine.
It’s improv, so I’m not prepared for it. I stagger forward, automatically moving to protect Jonathan rather than my own face. I go down hard and winded. The stage is not padded. Jonathan scrambles off me.
“I don’t believe what I’m seeing, Rod. Is the boyfriend challenging Chevalier?”
I manage to roll over and see Jonathan, holding his fists up. Guess Geoff taught him something after all. I rub at my chin where it connected with the ground. Todd stalks towards Jonathan with a look of such anger that I feel a spike of genuine fear for him. Again, Todd grabs him, but instead of throwing him to the side he holds him in a chokehold and dangles him off the stage.
That’s too far. It’s too much. Jonathan isn’t trained. I manage to get to my feet, do quick calculations in my head then fly at Todd, aiming my shoulder for his middle. With any luck I can knock them both down. But instead, Todd drops Jonathan off the stage. (It’s not that high, my higher self tries to say). Todd allows me to push him back towards the ring, then he locks my head under his arm and falls back in a DDT.
My head nearly connects with the stage. It’s a narrow miss. The real danger is close enough that the adrenaline finally floods me. I need to end this. I need to check Jonathan is okay.
Todd lets go of the headlock and crawls away. Usually I’d play up the drama by staying down a bit longer, but instead, I get to my knees and roar, giving him a split second’s warning before I grab him in a half nelson and transition it into a cobra clutch. He’s pinned, but we’re outside of the ring so I can’t do a finisher here. I wrench him upwards and toss him into the ring again. He sprawls satisfactorily. I mount the ropes. Rod announces what I’m doing, so Todd doesn’t have to see me.
I let the tension build as I get my balance on the top rope and then leap into a big splash, landing my full body weight on top of Todd. Or that’s how it will seem. Really, the impact is spread out across his and my splayed limbs. Still, it’s the ideal position to pin him, which I do.
The ref, rushes over and makes the count. I watch Todd’s eyes. If he wants to kick out, if he still wants to finish this as the guy who slayed The Beast, I’ll let him. But he doesn’t move. The ref counts three.
The bell goes, music blares, the fake crowd cheers.
“What we’ve seen today is truly historical!” Rod says. “The Beast, fighting for love, has defeated The Chevalier! There are some things that are more powerful than fame, more powerful than fortune!”
I block out the rest as I head to where Jonathan was dropped. My heart in my throat. He’s sitting on the floor and I jump down to check on him.
He’s panting, a little rumpled, but laughing. I grab him and hug him to me, not caring what the cameras might see. “How the hell did you even get in here?” I ask against his hair.
“Friend of a friend of a friend. Pretended I was a big wrestling fan and organized a ringside ticket.”
“Which friend?”
“Philip has a friend whose father sits on the MSG Sports board. Brian told her it’s my birthday.”
I brush away the damp curls from his face, checking his neck to make sure he really isn’t injured. His fingers trace the skin above where I cut myself. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do this?”
“Because I knew you’d worry. It was a calculated risk. I knew it was likely I’d be fine.”
“What if you weren’t? What if you hit your head too hard? I saw the way he was hitting you?—”
“He was pulling his punches.”
“Still. God, Adam, what if something had happened? What about the children?”
I frown. I don’t have an answer for that. How do I say that the only thing that mattered in the moment was ensuring Jonathan was okay, that his Dad’s medical bills could be paid. “Your father. How is he?”
Jonathan swallows. “He’s fine. He… he wants you to move in with us.”
My heart stutters. I’m not sure I heard him right. I’m about to ask a clarifying question when none other than Cliff McHoman marches out of gorilla.
“Where is he? Where the fuck is he?”
Cliff is a short shit with delusions of grandeur. He inherited the promotion from his father and has been tangled up in scandal ever since. Still, he’s the big boss man.
He spots me. “What the fuck was that, Beast? I give you this opportunity and you bring a civilian in? And you don’t get to decide when there’s a heel-turn. That isn’t up to you! I hope you know you’re never working in this industry again.”
“Hadn’t planned on it,” I say, calmly.
Geoff comes running up. He’s limping a little. I guess the table might have partially fallen on him. Oops. “Sir, you should see the buzz. The clip of the kiss is already going viral.”
McHoman throws up his hands. “Because that’s the last thing I fucking need.”
“Sir?” Geoff seems genuinely confused.
“Do I have to spell it out for you?” He directs his ire at Geoff. “This is wresting. Wrestling . We’re not the gay sport.”
“You’re not a sport at all,” Jonathan says. I look at him, shocked. But he’s got his chin sticking out, facing down one of the most powerful men in my world with no problem. My heart swells with pride. “You’re not a sport, you’re theatre. And I don’t think you’ll find a single person who’ll disagree that gays belong in the theater.”
McHoman’s face goes bright red. He points towards the exit. “Out! Get the fuck out of my sight before I call security!”
It would be my pleasure.
Brian, Zane and Elam are all waiting for us outside.
Brian waves his phone at me. “Holy shit, man. I hope your contract included a cut of the streaming take because this is insane. I think you’re going to make the evening news. Years from now they’re going to be featuring today on Jeopardy and shit.”
Elam is also clutching his phone. “Your fandom is very happy. They were already shipping you with the mystery guy from your auction.”
I laugh and hug Jonathan to my side. “I still have a fandom?”
“A rich one,” Zane confirms. “You haven’t seen your auction results yet, have you?”
Later, at Elam’s house, after we’ve cleaned up and had a talk, we call the kids. They’re delighted to see Jonathan and news of the fight has even managed to reach them (via Ray, no doubt). They want to know when we’ll be back.
“My father can’t fly for the next six weeks while he recovers,” Jonathan tells them. “So I’ll need to stay in New York a while.”
They’re all crammed around my chair in the control room. Alisha is sitting with Enrique on her lap and Ben and Mal are peering in from the sides. All four faces fall at this news.
“Does that mean we won’t get to see you again?” Ben asks.
“No, it doesn’t mean that.” Jonathan looks to me. I nod. He turns back to the kids. “We wanted to know if, after, you’d like to live with me and my father in Surrey?”
“What, all of us?” Mal asks, at the same time as Alisha asks, “What do you mean, ‘live’?”
“Live as a family,” I clarify. My heart is beating so hard. What if they don’t want that? I don’t know what I’ll do because I want it so badly, but after everything, after all the upheaval in their short lives, if they would rather stay at the estate, I’ll have to agree.
“Adam too?” Ben asks.
“Adam too,” Jonathan confirms. “It’s a big house with a large garden, close to good schools. It’s where I grew up and… I’d love for you four to grow up there too.”
Alisha holds up her hands. “Wait a minute, what are you saying?”
Ben bounces up and down. “He’s saying he wants to keep us.”
“You want to adopt us?” Mal asks. “Forever?”
“Forever,” Jonathan confirms.
He glances at me and I know the time has come to confess. “Actually, the paperwork is already done,” I say. “But we don’t have to move to Surrey if you don’t want to. We—that is, you four and me—can stay at the estate if you’d prefer. It’s quite out of the way, but if you want to?—”
“—what do you mean the paperwork is done?” Alisha asks.
“I mean that you aren’t going back into the system. I want to be your father.”
The children look at each other and start talking all at once. Alisha tells me they need a minute and ends the call.
I sit in tense silence with Jonathan. We’re on Elam’s couch and I can hear him singing to himself in the kitchen. Jonathan doesn’t say anything. What happens next is up to the kids.
The phone rings and I answer immediately. “Okay,” Alisha says. “We agree. On one condition.”
“You name it,” I say.
It’s Ben who speaks. “Can Ray and Meredith and Lilly-Iris and Angus come visit?”
I laugh, relief flooding through me.
“Of course they can,” Jonathan says. “Whenever they like.”