Chapter 34
Thirty Four
Val
Morning came faster than I had anticipated as I hopped out of bed and began to get dressed in the black sweatpants and hoodie Kaden and I had picked out the night before.
Simple, comfy, and matching. I appreciated the love and care he showed me last night, but I still had an anxious feeling building in the pit of my stomach.
It had me worried today wasn’t going to run as smoothly as he had assured me it would.
I was greeted with an electric energy as I stepped into the arena lobby.
In the distance, I could hear the sound of a crowd, regardless of the fact it was still hours before the event began.
I couldn’t let them distract me though. I needed to remain silent and focused.
Suddenly, I was reminded of Kaden’s presence as he placed his hand on my lower back, helping navigate the concrete maze of hallways to my dressing room.
I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck, staring into his eyes as I let out a sigh.
Kaden smiled and pushed my hair behind my ear. “You’re going to do amazing. Regardless of what happens today, I’m so proud of you.” He leaned in and kissed me deeply, sending butterflies fluttering like crazy in my stomach. “I love you, Val.”
Hearing those words flow from his mouth never got old. The more he told me, the deeper I felt it. We barely had time to set down my bags before I could hear the footsteps approaching us from outside the door. “You two look incredible!” Arlo walked in, beaming, holding two insulated cups.
“Thanks.” I smiled at him and gladly accepted one of the cups. “I hadn’t had a chance to grab coffee this morning and I definitely needed it.”
Kaden raised his brow, “Don’t forget to hydrate too, just because you claim coffee to be a bean soup with a water base, doesn’t mean you don’t need actual water, too.”
I glanced over to see Arlo shaking his head, indicating he wouldn’t be coming to my rescue for this one.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Kaden who then pushed his shoulder back in a cut-it-out type of way.
“I just wanted to congratulate you both on this sell-out! Everyone wants to see this match!”
Kaden gave Arlo a clipped nod, continuing to keep his focus on me. He was intense, but in a good way. “Well, don’t forget it’s also for a good cause.”
“This is true, he agreed.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. “Since the event has raised so much, what if we divided it up and donated to multiple charities, but still keeping the theme the same?”
Arlo nodded. “Sounds like a great idea to me.” He paused. “Well, I’ll let you two get back to it, I’ll see you in a bit man.” He held up his fist to me to bump. He was always a good, necessary distraction of positive energy and Kaden was so lucky to have him as his best friend and business partner.
It wasn’t long after Arlo had made his exit. Suddenly the door was creaking open again, and I was grateful Kaden and I hadn’t gone our separate ways yet.
Mark.
What was he doing here? He stood in the doorway radiating a gross and cheap aggression with a synthetic bravado, a sneer twisting his mouth.
“Well, well, look at the happy couple.” His words drawled as his eyes swept back and forth between Kaden and I.
The air went stagnant and my blood began to run cold.
“You’re in the wrong room, Mark. You are not accredited to be back here.” Kaden’s voice was stern. “You have ten seconds to leave on your own accord before I have security remove you.”
Mark laughed, it was high pitched and strained. “You playing tough in front of your little princess?”
Kaden didn’t raise his voice, instead he just stood there, his eyes fixated on Mark.
It was seemingly enough to crush Mark’s flimsy ego.
“I’m not asking again. Get out of this space, now.
” His tone was a statement of finality as Mark’s face flushed red.
He spat a curse and retreated, slamming the door behind him.
I stood there in silence, waiting for the residual energy to clear the room. When the coast was clear, Kaden turned back to face me and placed his hands on my shoulders, applying a firm and grounding pressure. “Where’s your head?” he checked in.
“I’m good, focused,” I responded quietly.
He nodded and reassured me, “Good. Don’t worry about him, I’ve got it covered. We will give the crowd a better show than they paid for.”
Taking a deep and steady breath, I was startled by the door flying open once more, but this time the energy was completely different. It was a whirlwind of noisy cheerfulness.
Summer appeared, shouting, “Surprise!” as she ran toward me, her arms opened wide.
“You didn’t think I would miss this, did you?
” She rushed over and embraced me with the biggest hug.
“Now, you get out of here and I’ll take it from here.
” She smiled at Kaden who kissed me on the forehead and left me to be at the hands of my best friend.