Page 59 of Botched

“I’ll find Juliette and send her in too, okay?” I add.

She turns her head up to look at me and nods slowly. Walking over, I brush my lips over her forehead. Just like she did in her sleep, she leans into the touch.

“Be back,” I promise before I slip out of the room.

As I’m searching for wherever Nathan’s office is this week, I pass Micah, who’s talking to Clara. Probably about the brat that they have together. He sees me, says something to her, and follows.

“Theodore?” The thick accent makes me turn to look up at him. His blond hair is down, and he’s wearing a hoodie that’s rolled up to his forearms.

“I’m busy right now, Duvall. We can talk about our program together later.”

“This isn’t about our program. It’s about Aurora.”

My eyes narrow as I look up at him, arms crossing over my chest. He has my attention. I don’t like it. I don’t like where this is going. “Yes?” I bristle, waiting for him to say something so I can ruin his handsome face.

He looks off for a moment and says, “Austin had something to do with it. He’s been talking about it nonstop. Last week, he was saying he wants to find a way to get back at you for getting his match taken away.”

As Micah speaks, I feel numb. I went from hurting for Aurora to feeling a white-hot numbness as I think about Austin having something to do about the situation.

“Why would he target Aurora if he wants to get back at me?”

“Maybe he has eyes and can see how gone ya are for her like everyone else. Or maybe he thinks you’ll lose some of your steam if ya lose your valet. Either way, I’d check that out if I were ya. Assuming you’re aiming to get some revenge.”

Revenge hadn’t been on my radar. I assumed it was a random hack. Some internet lowlife targeting female wrestlers, and Aurora was the easiest victim, something like that. I’ve been angry, but I haven’t had anyone to unleash that anger on.

Micah’s just given me a target.

“You’re sure he had something to do with it? Aurora said that she lost her phone at the hotel and—”

“Austin took her back to the hotel,” Micah says. He stops and curses under his breath. “She was drunk. I didn’t want her at the bar much longer, and Austin offered to take her back. I told him that she had nothing to do with his problems with ya and he said he wasn’t gonna do anything about it. Lying arsehole.”

“He could’ve taken her phone,” I say. It clicks in my head and that’s all I need. Without saying a word to Micah, I start to storm away from trying to find Nathan’s office and toward the men’s locker room.

I slam the door open, greeted by the scent of cologne and sweat. Eyes turn toward me because I haven’t set foot in the regular locker room since I won the title. I prefer my own for a reason.

My eyes seek out only one person and I find him in the corner with Jameson.

“Slater,” I say, getting his attention.

Austin looks up at me and he has the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. His too white teeth stand out against his orange skin and fuck, at least I have a target.

“Theo, what’s up, man?” he asks.

Walking over to where he stands, I shrug. “Ah, you know, not a lot.” With no more precedent, I reel back and slam my fist into his face, connecting with those too white teeth.

His head snaps back and then it snaps forward. I punch him again. I hear a snap sound. Blood covers my knuckles as it drips from the spot where he’s now missing a front tooth. I look at him, considering what just happened and decided that that isn’t enough.

As I pull back to hit him again, someone grips my arm from behind. Whipping around, I’m face to face with Hext. He’s looking at me with those blue eyes and a scowl on his scarred face.

“Enough,” he growls.

Fucking veteran trying to control the locker room. “He’s the one who hurt Aurora,” I hiss back to him. “He leaked her pictures.”

Anger flashes in his eyes as he looks past me, over at Austin who Jameson is helping to his feet. “Did you do that shit, Slater?” he asks.

“It’s just some pictures,” Austin says, speaking with a lisp because of his missing tooth. His hand is covering his mouth, trying to stop the bleeding. “I was just going to fuck her, but she kept shutting me down.”

Hext lets go of my arm and steps back. “One more wouldn’t hurt.”

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