Page 53 of Botched

“She’s…not okay. She hasn’t gotten out of bed since I’ve been here.” He crosses his arms over his chest as I put the cat carrier on the couch, opening it so Rumour can come out and explore her surroundings. Kai continues. “She’s going through a lot right now, Theo.”

“As if I don’t know that,” I scoff, turning to face him. He’s an inch or two shorter than me, which makes me feel like I have a little more ground than I do. “Did you see them? The pictures?”

I don’t know why I need to know, but I do. Aurora’s nudes are evidently everywhere online, yet all I care about right now is if the man who’s annoyingly close to her has seen them.

I don’t want to think about anyone else I know seeing her like that. I’m supposed to be the only one.

He shakes his head. “No. And before you ask, because I feel like you will, I’m not going to look for them. It’s not like that with Aurora.”

I don’t believe him, but it also simultaneously relieves me of an insane amount of paranoia that I don’t want to acknowledge. “Oh, it’s not?”

“It’s really not. Rory’s a friend. That’s it.”

As much as I want to press him on that, I don’t. Not now. There’s something much more important to tend to. “Good,” is all I say before I gesture toward a closed door. “Roo’s room?” Without waiting for an answer, I start toward it, then pause. “Rumour, come.” I snap my fingers at the cat who stops sniffing curiously as a fake plant in the corner of the living room and just looks at me.

Listening is not her strong suit. I opt to walk over and pick her up instead of bickering with the kitten in front of Kai. She looks incredibly displeased as she struggles to get out of my arm. I wrap both of my hands around her tiny body, lifting her up in the air so her face meets mine.

“Listen, this is important, okay? Roo is sad. I’m shit at cheering people up. This is going to be on you, okay? Because I’m sure I’ll say some shit that makes it worse.” Behind me, Kai snorts and I shoot him a look. “Didn’t ask you, asshole.”

Then I head back toward the closed door and turn the doorknob. Darkness greets me, only a sliver of sunlight coming through closed curtains. “Roo?”

Chapter Thirty-Five

AURORA

I’ve had shitty days before. Everyone has. I’ve had days that I could easily chalk up to being the worst day of my life. This takes the fucking cake though.

When I woke up this morning, I planned to go to the gym, go visit Dad, get my head straight. When I opened my phone, that was surprisingly turned into the hotel’s lost and found the morning after I drunkenly lost it, I was greeted by a screen full of notifications.

Jules’s texts were the ones that I homed in on. Screaming at me to call her, asking if everything was okay. I had no idea what she was talking about until I checked my other notifications.

They were flooded with people talking about my nudes. Private photos that weren’t meant to be seen by anyone. I took them when I was feeling myself a few weeks ago. They weren’t anything super scandalous, but all my parts were now still seen by the world. The pictures were floating around the internet, probably for the rest of forever.

Everything came crashing down.

I’m going to lose my chance at working for GRW or any major wrestling company. No one is going to want me because of my ‘behavior’. They’ll claim it’s nothing personal, but I’ll see the looks in their eyes when they realize that I’m a nightmare.

I’ll be stuck working for pennies on the indies for the rest of my days because I know thatRise and Rollwon’t take me back either. Too much baggage.

Dating will be impossible. My friends won’t be able to look me in the eyes because all they’ll ever be able to see are my tits.

Kai came over and I let him in, expecting him to lecture me. To make me feel worse because that’s what I want right now. I want to sink into this pathetic feeling. I’m at rock bottom, can’t get any lower. Of course, he didn’t. Kai is too much of a fucking angel. He tried to comfort me and I kicked him out of my room.

I know he hasn’t left yet.

When the door cracks open, I roll over to glare at him. Instead, I realize how much worse shit has gotten.

Theo is standing in my doorway in sweats and a t-shirt. His brown curls are messier than I’ve ever seen them. In his arms, I see what looks like a shadow with the brightest green eyes I’ve ever seen.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Checking on you, baby doll,” he says.

“Leave.”

“Nope. Not gonna. You want me to leave, you gotta get your ass out of bed and kick me out yourself. We both know you ain’t gonna do that, so…” He kicks the door closed behind him and steps further into my room, into my space.

He sits on the edge of my bed, placing the shadow down on it.

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