Page 128 of Wild Side
Then he’s gone.
Facing the cameras, heaving the belt above his head, looking smug as hell.
He makes his way back into the ring to address the audience.
Every eye in the stadium is on him.
But his eyes are on mine the whole time.
CHAPTER 43
RHYS
“I can’t even lookat you,” Anthony scoffs as he storms past me on my way out of the stadium. Elle was pissed too. She’d muttered something about respect for the business before walking in the opposite direction.
But I’ve spent over a decade respecting this business. Tonight, I respected my marriage instead.
The door slams behind Anthony, and I smirk because I know he can’t afford to get rid of me. No one has the crowd the way I do. No one sells the merch I do.
With my bag hiked over my shoulder, I head straight to Tabitha’s hotel.
After a single knock, she swings the door open, wearing only a pair of skimpy fucking underwear, and then she’s on me—arms around my neck, legs around my waist, lips on mine. She told me once that she’d climb me like a tree, and she does. I walk into the room and kick the door closed behind me, drop my bag, and carry her back toward the bed.
“I’m so fucking proudof you,” she murmurs between kisses. “I could burst.” Again, she kisses me. My lips. My cheeks. My neck. “How are you?”
I lie us down, pulling back to look her in the eye. “Beyond exhausted, but also horny as hell because my hot-as-fuck wife answered the door wearing strings for underwear.”
“Nothing less for a universal champion,” she teases, combing her fingers through my freshly washed hair.
“Thank you, Tabitha.”
“For what?”
I search her face, hoping to memorize every detail. The slope of her nose, the angle of her eyebrows, the swoop of the bow shape on her top lip. How can I encompass all the things she’s done for me in a thank-you? Especially when there’s still a tiny voice in my head that tells me I don’t deserve her. Or this happiness.
The troubled little boy in me rears his head now and then, wanting me to question everything I’ve earned. He reminds me that good things don’t usually last. But with Tabitha, it’s just a little bit easier to move past that voice.
“Turning my life from black and white to full color.”
She blinks back at me, lips tipping up into a sad smile. “You did the same for me. I help you find your color, and you help me find mine.”
I swallow, letting her words seep into me. I don’t know what to say back to that, so I just drop my head and kiss her.
Then I spend the entire night making love to my wife.
Tabby:
Tell Will he’s charming, but I still hate him. See you tomorrow. I love you.
Rhys:
Love you too.
I chuckle as I toss my phone into the dressing room locker. We’re in Anaheim tonight, a new market, but an easy trip from LA, since Saturday to Monday doesn’t give us much time to recover.
“Hey, Little Willy, my wife says you’re charming, but she still hates you.”
He just laughs. Will has his back to me, and I see the bruises from our match have slightly yellowed. “I’ll win her over yet.”
