Page 7 of Botched

Alex must be magic. Or the man’s really good at making magic happen.Somehow, he convinced Aurora to come grab drinks with us after the show. Okay, so, we’re not alone. Kai and Sammy, the mediocre-looking girl who lost to Aurora, came along too. It’s a start, though. I get a chance to spend more time with her and wear her down a little bit more…except she hasn’t even looked my way.

She’s sitting between Kai and Sammy, devouring some cheese fries that they ordered from the bar. They look disgusting; the fries are soggy from how much of that plastic-y cheese sauce is drenching them. Yet Aurora is devouring them like they’re the most delicious thing in the world.

I can’t keep my eyes away from her lips. They look so damn soft. I want to feel them against mine. I want to feel them wrap around my cock. After swallowing down a cheese fry, there’s a bit of cheese left on her lip. Her pink tongue swipes it away, and I can only imagine her tongue lapping at other things. Fuck, I need her.

Watching her makes me want a cheese fry.

Without asking, I reach out and attempt to grab one from the plate. Before I can clasp the edge of one of the fries so I don’t get my fingers covered in the orange-ish cheese, Aurora smacks my hand away.

“We ask before we take,” she says matter-of-factly.

I arch an eyebrow, taking it as a challenge. She wants me to play nice? Fine. I can try for a minute. “May I please have a cheese fry?”

Her head tilts. Her hair is out of her ponytail. Auburn locks frame her face, stopping right above her shoulder. “No,” she answers. She picks up the fry that I had reached for and pops it into her mouth, eating as slowly as possible.

For a moment, we’re not in a bar full of people. It’s just the two of us. She’s the most distracting person I’ve ever encountered. She changed out of gear after the show, into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. She’s gorgeous.

I can’t take my eyes off of from her. That little tease? It’s going to haunt me for the rest of the night. When we entered this lousy bar, I decided that I was going to take home the easiest target…as long as she was pretty. Yet all I’ve done is stare at Aurora as she’s ignored me.

“Theo,” Kai addresses me and I raise an eyebrow for him to go ahead. Damn him for stealing my attention away from the vixen across from me. “Any chance you’re going to be a gimmick’d match for your next title defense? Maybe a cage match?”

I scoff, as if I get a say in that. That’s up to Nathan. Whatever he books, I do (within reason). I get a lot of say in exactly how my character is booked, but he makes the final decisions. I also have no interest in doing something like a dog collar or a strap match.

“Not likely,” I say, speaking into my shitty beer. Alex promised me better drinks. He lied. “Matches like those are how careers are cut short.”

“Hext does ‘em,” Sammy speaks up. “His career has been pretty long-going.”

Most nights, Sammy would do it for me. She has a pretty enough face, sharp features, and a dark pixie cut. She’s a little on the chubby side, but not in a bad way. She was decent in the ring. Next to Aurora? Shepales. There’s no competition.

I can’t stop my eye roll when she brings up Hext. It’s not a surprise. Everybody fawns over Weston Hext, especially people in the indies. He’s the ‘one who made it.’ They look at him like some savior. It doesn’t help that he got Juliette signed, even though everyone knows she was going to end up signed anyway. He just made it happen quicker. Now, they all seem to think Hext is going to magically appear at their show, see them, and get them signed too.

“Hext…is a special case.” I’m not going to sit here and bad-mouth my co-worker in front of a group of wannabe stars. The last thing I need is for it to somehow get back to him, and then Hext wants to act like a macho asshole backstage.

After chomping down on another cheese fry, Aurora snorts. “Is that jealousy I detect,Theodore?”

The way she says my name makes my cock stir in my pants. It makes me want to grab her from across the table and put her sassy mouth to use. Settling back in my chair, my gaze zeroes in on her again. This time, I make sure it’s obvious that I’m staring.

“And why would I be jealous?”

“Because people love Hext.”

My jaw ticks when she says that. Underneath the table, my fingers press into my thighs through my slacks. Why the fuck would I care that people love Hext? I don’t want these people to love me. I want them to envy me. I want them to want me. I don’t want love. That’s never been important to me.

Leaning forward, I settle my elbows on the sticky wooden tabletop. “Do you? Do youloveHext? Would you get down on your knees for him, put that pretty mouth of yours to work so you can get a smidge of a chance at a contract? Because that’s the closest you’re going to get to getting signed, Aurora. I watched you tonight. You’re not good enough for a real contract.”

I don’t know why I go for the low blow immediately; I always do. When someone wiggles under my skin, my first instinct is to hurt them as much as they bothered me. Everyone else at the table isnow tense. I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my lips like arrows, aiming to strike Aurora down.

For once, I wanted to shut my dumb fucking mouth.

The light slowly drains from those green eyes and is replaced by something much darker. Something a lot like hurt.

I know that I fucked up.

Before I can even try to say something that might be able to fix it, Aurora simply stands up and walks out. She doesn’t retort. She doesn’t even look back at me.

I go to stand, but Alex stops me and shakes his head. The look on his face tells me that that’s a terrible idea. All I know is I have to fix this some way, somehow.

Chapter Six

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