Page 15 of Heartbreaker
Juliet’s best and brightest.
While I would normally be ecstatic to receive such a compliment from someone like Brody—someone on the main roster, and not to mention a legacy in the industry—right now, I can barely digest the words.
“Nice to meet you, Brooks,” Raelynn says, still a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Um, yeah,” he says, tearing his gaze away from me. “You too, Raelynn.” Turning back to me, his voice seems to falter, and his hesitation catches the attention of everyone around us. “S—Savannah,” he finally sputters out.
“Brooks.” The name feels foreign on my tongue, and I instantly hate it. That’s not who he is…not to me.
I catch a quick glimpse of the look Juliet and Brody share, the knowing one that tells me we have been anything but subtle. She chuckles, shaking her head before she shoos both men away. “Alright, boys, enough distracting my girls. Go on, get.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brody says, offering her a mock salute. “We’ll see you in a few weeks!” He grips John’s shoulder and turns him away from the ring, away from me, and away from the impending storm I feel brewing.
And when they’re finally out of earshot, Raelynn turns on her heel toward me with a suspicious glance. “Okay, what wasthat?”
“What?” I ask.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the way you andBrooks Taylorwere just eye-fucking each other in front of everyone.”
I roll my eyes. “No, we weren’t.”
“Uh, yeah! You were.”
I ignore her continued pestering to climb out of the ring. I have to get out of here. Right now. I don’t want to have this conversation, but I especially don’t want to have it here. Not with Rae. She isn’t exactly subtle. The last thing I need is someone like Harper overhearing. When my feet hit the ground, Raelynn is already there, blocking my escape.
“Juliet, back me up here,” Raelynn pleads. “Were they not just eye-fucking each other?”
Juliet chuckles, crossing her arms. “You know, I’m not usually one to stir that pot, but you’d have to be blind to missthat. And even then, I think a blind man could see it.”
“You guys are being ridiculous.” I scoff. “Are we done?”
The smirk that lights up Juliet’s face only serves to make the knot in my stomach grow ten times bigger. I am so screwed. Goodbye, EWE, it was nice knowing you. “Yeah, you guys are done. Make sure you stretch and ice that back, Savannah.”
I wave her off, picking up my pace. The whole way to the locker room, Raelynn tries to pry the answers out of me, almost like sheknows, but she wants me to admit it. I glare at her, ready to tell her to shut up, but my attention is drawn to Brooks, standing near the lobby doors. His attention wanders from his conversation with Fata to me. I command my feet to move, to walk into the locker room, but they don’t listen. At the same time, Raelynn turns to see what has captured my attention, and Fata does the same. His stark white smile slowly creeps onto his face. After a moment, he chuckles, slapping a hand on John’s back, and guides him through the double doors.
“You still want to tell me nothing is going on?” Raelynn asks, and this time, when I meet her stare, I don’t deny it.
A sense of overwhelming dread washes over me when I park in front of the whitewashed metal walls. I’ve never felt like this, not even on my second day when I thought I was going to die as I dragged myself out of bed. No, not even the aching pain deep in my muscles could deter me from getting out of the car, but this…this could. How did this happen? How did I not know? How did I not figure it out before now?
I hate to admit it, but after practice last night, I went home and looked him up on the internet. Is that creepy? Probably. But I had to know what I was dealing with. What I found only stressed me out more. Somehow, I missed the part where the man I’d been thinking about for the last eight months is one of the top wrestlers at my new job…No, not just one of them. He’sthetop wrestler.
John joined the main roster of EWE four years ago, and once he gained his footing, he took the wrestling world by storm. However, he’s been out for an injury for the last six months after tearing his Achilles when an aerial landing went awry. That’s why I haven’t seen his face on any programming, but now that I know…I see him everywhere.
In the midst of it all, I called my best friends back home because I needed someone to talk me off the ledge, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell any of my brothers what was going on.
“He’s going to think I’m a fucking stalker, for fuck’s sake.” I sighed, pacing the length of my living room. A split screen showed Cassandra on one side of my laptop, and on the other, I could hear Kingsley rummaging around her bedroom in the background. “What are the chances that when I change careers, it would behiscareer, too?”
“You know, I think you should take this as a sign,” Cassandra said, and Kingsley’s voice sounded from the background in agreement.
“A sign?” I scoffed. “A sign of what?”
“That you guys were supposed to meet.” Cassandra’s eyes glittered on the screen. Her jaw hit the floor as I detailed the events from yesterday, from my initial interaction with Brody to seeing John, to what Raelynn and Bennett had said outside before I drove away. “It’s just like you said. What are the chances? You have a one-night fling, never expecting to see him again, and then he walks into your new job! Sounds like destiny.”
Ever the optimist.
I dropped my face into my hands with a soft groan. “And he’s one of their biggest fucking stars.”
“A bonus!”
