Page 5 of Botched

He narrows his eyes. “Dude, you can’t be serious. Didn’t your fiancée break up with you this morning?”

I shrug again. I don’t want to talk about Veronica. My jaw ticks and my teeth grit when Alex brings her up. I don’t want to wonder whether I threw away something good. She hasn’t even called me since I left her place. But…I made my bed and I have to lie in it. I’d prefer to lie in it with Aurora, at least for tonight. Letting those thoughts get shoved to the back of my mind, I smirk over at Alex. “What? I can’t get laid because of the break-up? That’s stupid. And I’m not actually in love. It’s just a phrase, Alex.”

From the way Alex looks at me, I can tell that he wants to say more. Either he wants to tell me that I’m a douchebag or he wants this conversation to end. I’m sure he plans to try and get in my head over drinks tonight, and get me to open up about my feelings and the breakup. Probably try to convince me to ‘fix it’.

I don’t want to.

He settles on saying, “Whatever you say, man,” before he goes back to watching the match.

My eyes follow except they go to Aurora. She goes up to the top rope so damn effortlessly. It’s like she was made to be up there. She makes sure that she has her balance before she does a textbook-perfect moonsault, a back flip. It’s gorgeous, the way her body rotates, the way she lands on her opponent.

For a moment, I’m impressed with more than her body. My mind wanders, not to what we could do in the bedroom with how flexible she seems, but the idea of how GRW could use a woman like her…

Fuck.

I haven’t even spoken to this woman and I’m already acting pathetic. Thinking about putting in a good word with Nathan? Whatis wrong with me? Sure, a woman isn’t going to take my spot, but I don’t scout talent.

I circle back to what’s easy.

“I think I might be able to hit. What do you think?” I ask Alex with a smirk that makes him roll his eyes.

Chapter Four

AURORA

Islip out of the ring and as I walk back up the makeshift aisle, fans reach their hands out for high fives. It’s a small crowd tonight. Indie shows don’t draw thousands of rabid fans. They rarely have the reach that bigger promotions have. But I still feel like a star as I reach out and smack my palm against theirs. For these few moments, I get to feel like a real star. I’m Aurora Dawn. Not Aurora Bennet who works at‘Rise and Roll Bakery’in Bennington, Vermont most days of the week.

Later tonight, I’ll pass out in my shitty hotel bed with the paper-thin duvet, but right now, I feel amazing. I head towards the curtain so I can slip back into the makeshift locker room and get out of my sweaty gear. Hopefully, with enough time I can be back to hide in the back with Alex and watch Kai’s main event match.

Before I can get past the curtain, someone whisper-hisses my name. I stop, looking over to see Alex standing behind the gated-off portion of our production area. Next to him is the devil himself.

Okay, that’s not fair. I don’t know Theodore Abrams. He might not be evil, but everything I’ve heard about this man tells me otherwise. It makes sense the devil would be drop-dead gorgeous.

He’s wearing a navy blue button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The fabric of the shirtclingsto his muscles. He’s broad and tall with dark honey-brown hair. It’s just long enough to run your fingers through and it curls at the end. Why the fuck am I even thinking about running my hands through his hair?

I head over, slipping around the gate to where they stand. The crowd’s looking toward the ring as the ring announcer gets them hyped up for the next match. I try to play it cool as I stand there. I am not impressed by this man. We work in the same business. He’s just had more success. That doesn’t make him better than me. He’s not my boss. I try not to even look at him, focusing my gaze on Alex. But pretending tall, dark, and evil doesn’t exist isn’t easy when I keep looking at him from the corner of my eye.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“You looked good out there,” Alex says. “And Sara wants me to extend an invite to the baby shower.”

I don’t want to go to Sara’s baby shower. I’ve said a handful of words to her. Plus, that’s an almost four-hour drive on a good day. I don’t get a whole lot of days off and the ones I do are usually to book indie gigs further than a couple hours from Vermont. I don’t have anything in common with Sara. I don’t say any of that, of course, because I don’t want to come off as a bitch. I nod. “I’ll think about it.”

When I go to turn away, the devil opens his mouth to lure me in.

“Aurora, right?” Theodore steps closer to me. “Theo.” He holds out his hand.

I reach forward and clasp it in mine, giving it a shake before looking up at him. Oh. Those are really pretty brown eyes. Pretty brown eyes, full lips and a face chiseled by the gods themselves.Fuck. “You can call me Rory, everyone else does.”

Theo makes a face like I suggested he should swallow gutter water. “I don’t like Rory,” he says as if I’m supposed to give a single fuck that he doesn’t like the nickname I’ve gone by sincebefore I can remember. Before I can tell him that, he drops my hand and tilts his head to the side. “Y’know, I can honestly say I’ve never seen someone move as fluidly as you in a ring. You’re like poetry in motion.”

I’m trying hard to convince myself that I don’t care what Theo thought of my match. Why would I? He also told me that he doesn’t like ‘Rory’. His opinions shouldn’t matter to me.

But this one does. I’m not desperate for praise. I know I’m good at what I do, but Theo…he’s in the big leagues. Getting his attention could mean there’s the slimmest possibility that I get signed to GRW. His attention could mean a shot at my dreams. So, I can play it cool.

Mocking his motions, I tilt my head to the side. “Yeah?” I flash him a grin. I’m not the pillar of seductive beauty right now. My makeup’s a little messy from sweat. I’m fighting the urge to wipe at it and smear it across my face. I know my ponytail is a mess too. “Thanks...a lot.”

Theo smiles at me anyway. It’s not a surprise that his smile is wrapped in sin and temptation. “Yeah, I’m serious. You’ve got a bright future in the industry. And from a technical standpoint, you’ve got the best moonsault that I’ve ever seen.” He sounds so damn genuine too.

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