Chapter 13 Jon
JON
I’m not a good person.
I cheated on my girlfriend. I lied to her. I’ve been lying to her.
My mind is stuck on Margeaux.
Sammy is back home with his mom. I smoothed things over with Wendy, and she was more understanding than I anticipated. She’s simply heartbroken that Sammy is dying. We all are. I’ve never felt so helpless.
Nicolette is leading the charge in us moving in together.
I just keep telling myself that I got swept up in the novelty of Margeaux.
She’s so magnetizing. Nicolette is beautiful.
I can’t ignore that. She won me over with her sweet, bubbly nature.
I liked that she also worked in the medical field and cared about helping others.
She’s smart. She finished college and comes from a good family.
She offers a life of stability—something I’ve always wanted.
Then, why am I sitting in my apartment alone on this Thursday evening, with my phone on silent, my door locked, and my TV tuned into PEW’s Thursday Night Throw Down? Because I’m not a good person. I’m a bad guy.
I can wear the white coat and offer the best care to my patients.
None of that excuses my behavior the last couple of weeks.
I’m hurting Nicolette every time I think about Margeaux; every time I wonder if Margeaux is thinking about me.
Picturing myself in bed with Margeaux. Fuck, to bury my face between her muscular legs and hold her thick ass in my hands.
Of course, I’m already semi-erect just thinking about her.
I want to memorize her tattoos and learn what they mean to her.
Her poison ivy tattoos should serve as a warning to all men.
Once you get a taste of Margeaux Wild, you’re doomed.
I’m an addict. I’m addicted to Margeaux Wild. And like every other addict, I keep telling myself this is the last time that I’ll think about her. That I’ll allow myself this last indulgence. Bad people lie to themselves, too.
The TV screen comes to life with the opening logo of the PEW strobing, with bright lights, and clips from previous matches playing in the background.
The live crowd is going crazy, holding up signs for their favorite athletes.
If I were standing in that crowd, would Margeaux even notice me?
She’s probably already forgotten me. I’m nobody.
She’s Margeaux Wild! She has thousands of fans.
I’ve stalked her social media, tempted to reach out to her.
It would be pointless, and so pathetic. She saw her opportunity to leave me in her rearview mirror and took it.
She probably has hundreds of guys reaching out to her, wanting a minute of her time.
The mere thought of other men talking to Margeaux has me feeling a certain type of way.
I vaguely pay attention to the initial matchups.
I’m impressed by all the athletes. Their bodies are well-trained.
I try not to feel self-conscious when looking at some of these dudes.
This one guy, Travis “Ice Man” Hurley is massive.
He’s the size of some of the tractors from our farm growing up.
I’d hate to be in the ring with him. That’s the type of guy Margeaux wants.
After a couple of matches, I’m noticing that these wrestlers are all shapes and sizes.
As a shorter guy, it’s easy to feel like I’m not man enough because of my height.
Seeing one wrestler named Maurice Fontaine—a French wrestler—just dominate the ring, despite being the same height as me.
He’s also more muscular, but he’s taking on guys way taller than him, and showing that short men can be kings, too.
Maybe I’ll watch his matches more in the future.
It's finally time. Margeaux’s match is being announced.
She struts down to the ring. She’s wearing a black and purple sequined, two-piece outfit.
The top is a deep-v sports bra,and it looks like it’s leather.
It shows off the tattoos on both her arms perfectly.
She has a belly button piercing too. Her black hair is framing her face in waves, and it looks like she added a couple of purple streaks to the front, which makes her dark eyes pop even more.
She grabs the microphone from the ref and smiles out at the crowd.
“Some of you may know that I’ve recently caused a little trouble,” she pauses, pinching her thumb and index finger together.
The crowd yells a mixture of cheers and boos.
She opens her arms and encourages them to get louder.
“I hope the world is starting to learn who I am, and what will happen if you cross my path.” Another pause.
A devious smile. I’m leaning forward, hanging on her every word. “Chaos.”
The crowd gets so loud and wild. Like her. I wipe my bottom lip free of drool.
“I’m here to put you in your rightful place!
” Another female voice roars from a distance and Margeaux looks around, trying to find the source.
From the top of the ramp, a medium height, well-built.
blonde woman dressed in a bright blue two piece comes stomping towards the stage.
“I may be new around here, but I’m not scared to show you that the world doesn’t want chaos.
The world wants me, American Beauty.” This woman, who I’m now learning is Talia Tanner, looks like a classic beauty queen, pageants and all.
It's like watching a comic book come to life—good vs. evil, hero vs. villain. How have I never been into wrestling before?
The match has a hasty start, and the ref has to tuck and roll out of the way when Talia Tanner runs full speed and slides under the bottom rope into the ring.
Margeaux waits in the middle of the ring, waving Talia over, taunting her, baiting her.
The two women lock up, gripping each other behind the neck, pushing and pulling against one another.
Margeaux has the size on her opponent, but it’s clear, Talia is strong, and is going to give a good fight.
Margeaux easily throws Talia to the floor, then grabs the back of Talia’s head, by the root of her dark blonde hair, and repeatedly slams Talia’s face into the floor of the ring.
Three, four, five times! I know this isn’t real, but that has to hurt, right?
I mean, it really looks like Margeaux is truly slamming Talia’s face into the floor.
Talia rolls away from Margeaux, her face buried in her hands.
Margeaux works the crowd, waving her arms to signal for them to get louder.
They cheer as Margeaux climbs to the top rope and my heart is in my throat as she flies through the air, aiming to flop on Talia.
Except, Talia rolls away at the last second and Margeaux belly flops on the ground, and now it’s her turn to groan and clutch her face.
A piece of me feels her pain and I flinch, touching my own face in sympathy.
I really hope she isn’t hurt, that she’s just very good at acting.
Talia crawls across the ring, pulls herself up using the ropes, and manages to get to her feet before Margeaux.
Talia uses the ropes to give her extra momentum so she can slingshot into Margeaux just as she’s getting to her knees.
Margeaux falls flat on her back, and now it’s Talia’s turn to work the crowd.
She gets on the floor, and holds Margeaux down.
The ref slams her palm against the floor and the crowd counts with her.
Talia only manages to hold Margeaux down for a one-count before Margeaux bucks her hips up, and then grabs Talia by the back of the neck.
Talia starts squealing, trying to smack Margeaux’s hand away from her hair.
Margeaux gets up from the floor, still gripping Talia’s hair tightly.
Oh, wait. It’s not her hair, it’s her ear!
Margeaux is gripping and twisting Talia’s ear like you would an insolent child.
I’m all too familiar with how painful that is.
Margeaux slaps Talia across the face, sending Talia to the floor. Margeaux takes advantage of her position and kicks Talia in the stomach so hard it has Talia rolling under the ropes, and she falls off the ring and onto the outside floor.
Holy shit! This is such a great match!
“Come on, Margeaux!” I shout to the TV, hoping my soundwaves make their way to her pierced ears.
Talia tries to get to her feet but is wobbly and keeps collapsing to the floor. I didn’t even notice Margeaux climb to the top rope and now she jumps off and crashes into Talia just as she gets to her feet. Both women go crashing to the floor, Talia taking the brunt of the force.
I’m sweating, gripping the edge of my couch. This is amazing. She is amazing.
Margeaux gets up, the black booty shorts have ridden up and are showing so much of her juicy butt cleavage. FUUUUCK. She grabs Talia by the nape of her neck and tosses her into the ring. Talia gets up and to her feet before Margeaux is finished climbing in.
Talia slams Margeaux’s face into the corner of the ring and pulls her to the center of the ring before Margeaux can fall backwards. Talia grabs Margeaux’s arm by the wrist and whips her across the ring, sending Margeaux to the opposite corner, her back slamming into the padded area.
The crowd is so loud through the TV, I feel like I’m there.
“Finish it, Margeaux! Come on, you got this, Beautiful!” I surprise myself with my outburst, but I don’t have the attention span to analyze it.
Talia runs full speed at Margeaux and collides into her. Margeaux groans from the impact and slumps into the corner of the ring, her arms propped on the top ropes to keep her upright.
“Come on, Baby!”
Talia gears up to slam into Margeaux again, but Margeaux surprises everyone by hitting Talia with a fucking Spartan kick to the stomach. How are these women not bloody and broken?? I’d be on my back, begging for mercy if I were there.
Talia stays on her feet, clutching her stomach in the center of the ring.
Margeaux takes two confident strides over and grabs Talia’s face in both hands so that she’s facing Margeaux.
Margeaux sends an air kiss to Talia before she throws a tornado kick into Talia’s chest. For such a tall and muscular woman, Margeaux shows such impressive levels of grace and coordination. My jaw is on the floor.
“What was that move?!” One of the announcers shouts.
“I dunno, Mitch. But it has Talia Tanner spinning until she’s so dizzy that she’s falling to the floor and can’t get up,” the second announcer says.
“That looks like Margeaux Wild’s new finisher, the chaos kick.”
I smile as I watch Margeaux pin Talia and the crowd chants her name when the ref slams her hand down for the count of three.
Margeaux jumps up and holds her hands over her head with pride. She turns around and holds her hand out for Talia. Talia tentatively accepts it, but stays in a kneeling position. The ref hands Margeaux the microphone.
Still breathing heavily, she speaks into the mic, “You were a great opponent today, Tanner.” She pauses and the crowd applauds Talia.
“But, why are we fighting each other when there are bigger threats out there?” Talia cocks her head to the side, not understanding what Margeaux is saying.
“Join me. Let’s bring more chaos to the world and take the championship for ourselves. ”
Talia looks around, unsure what to say or do. Margeaux is asking her to become a villain, to change sides. There’s no way Talia will say yes. The announcers were talking about how Talia is about taking down the Below Zero team.
“I will follow you, Queen of Chaos.” Talia bows and the crowd is going crazy with what just happened.
“You better be scared, Glam Squad! The Queen of Chaos is coming for you!” Margeaux says into the camera.
The television cuts to a commercial break and I’m left feeling dazed and confused like I was the one in the ring who just promised my unending devotion to Margeaux. I need to see her again.