Page 85 of Heartbreaker
“This is between you and me, Taylor,”Spencershouts, pointing his finger in my direction. “Leave the women out of this.” His face now a darker shade of red, bleeding down into his neck and chest.Vivianaslides her hand into his as the crowd boos in response. “I’m not putting my wife in a ring with her.”
“Your wife would be lucky to step in the same ring as her.” The words come out harsher and faster than I mean them to. Cool it, I remind myself. Let’s try to keep it civil. Austin’s brow raises. He’s hit a real nerve, and he knows it, but two can play that game. “Maybe she could learn a thing or two about wrestling.”
Vivianagasps and looks at her husband, tearfully burying herself into his chest. It’s a bit dramatic, if you ask me, but the crowd eats it up. Her character—especially when she was known asFortuna—has always been a little over the top…And while she tries her best, she’s a mid-card wrestler at best. Putting her up against Savannah in a No DQ match is almost unfair.Spencerwraps his arm around her waist, comforting his wife, and glares up the ramp. “This isn’t over, Taylor!”
“You’re right.It’s not over until I bring the title back where it belongs.” I drop the mic and motion toward my midsection, using my thumb and index finger on each hand to represent where the belt should hang on my hips. “We’ll see you in three weeks!”
“That’s it, Sav!” Bennett yells from the outside the ring when I block Raelynn’s roundhouse kick. I take hold of her ankle and twist it at the same time I sweep her other leg from under her.
Rae grunts when her back hits the mat, but she resets quickly, climbing back to her feet. Using the ropes to spring forward, I slam my shoulder into hers in a shoulder tackle, sending her back down to the mat. Wasting no time, my fingers tangle into her long black ponytail and lift her into a headlock. With her head underneath my left arm, I fall backwards, letting my feet fall out from underneath me, and drive Rae’s face into the mat for a DDT.
Bennett slams his palm on the apron. “Finish her!”
As I untangle from the mess of limbs, the side of my shoe taps Rae’s side, and she sells the kick, rolling onto her stomach. I sit on her back and grasp her arms, pulling backward. It bends her back, driving her spine into my knee. Rae cries out when I reach around and wrap my right arm under her neck, further extending her back.
Bennett slides under the bottom rope, climbing to his knees to be eye level with Raelynn. “What do you say, Rae?”
Rae shakes her head vigorously. “Fuck off, Wolf!”
He asks again when I retighten my grip, and she cries again. “C’mon, what’s it gonna be,Rose?”
Rae tries to maneuver out of the hold, but she’s never been good at getting out of this. Today doesn’t seem to be any different. Guess some things never change. Finally, she submits, slapping my thigh.
“That’s it, break the hold!” Bennett moves his fingers in a circular motion in the air, as if someone were there to ring the bell. We fall to the mat in opposite directions when I release her.
“I do not miss that,” Raelynn groans, rubbing her back.
“Just be glad it wasn’t her real finisher,” Bennett chuckles.
“Been there, done that. I’m good, thanks.” Raelynn and I had spent many long nights together perfecting and planning our finishing moves and submissions, performing them on one another until we got them just right. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time working out the kinks in our muscles for days following those nights.
It feels amazing to be back in the ring, and with someone other than Juliet. Before today, she was the only person outside of Noah, Amos, and Brian who knew about my return. I’ve been meeting with her almost every day at EWE Headquarters in Houston since I agreed to come back. The first few days were hard. I had to work out the ring rust, and it felt like the first days of training all over again, but it was still the best I’d felt in years.
When Raelynn first pulled into the parking lot of the infamous new EWE training facility earlier, I wasn’t impressed. It looked more like a detention center than the old one did, with solid, tan concrete walls and square windows that lined the top just beneath the roofline. Two separate sections formed an “L” shape, meeting in what appeared to be the lobby with two sets of glass double doors and a sign that readElite Wrestling Entertainment Training Center, the only indication that this building isn’t a prison. However, what the outside lacked in curb appeal, the inside made up for tenfold. The moment I walked in, I found myself jealous that this place wasn’t around when I was in NextGen, but I wouldn’t give the years we spent in that old warehouse for anything.
I had been invited to the grand opening in the autumn after I left the company, but declined. I wasn’t anywhere near ready to be back; hell, I’m still not sure I am. Then I heard through the grapevine (aka my brothers) that it had finally opened with John standing beside Amos as he cut the ribbon.
“C’mon, Sav, my turn,” Bennett says, catching my attention. He coaxes me back into the center of the ring after a quick water break. “Rae went easy on you, but I’m not going to be as nice.”
Raelynn laughs from the corner of the ring. “You talk a lot of trash for someone who got swept by both of us the first time we got in the ring with you.”
He throws her a sour look over his shoulder, and I sweep his legs out from under him. Raelynn howls with laughter, and I stand over him with a cocked brow.
“That doesn’t count! I wasn’t ready!”
“Well, then get ready,” I say, chuckling to myself.
Bennett groans, taking his sweet time to push up from the mat, and I hear the lobby doors open and close. My two friends look that way, but I have a feeling I know who it is, especially after the phone call I got earlier. “C’mon, while I’m still young.”
“I miss the days when you weren’t so demanding,” Bennett says, bringing his attention back to our fight. We circle, sizing each other up.
“Oh, really? When was that?” I ask, and we lunge at the same time.
As we lock into a collar-and-elbow-tie-up with a soft thud—one of my palms on the back of Bennett’s neck, the other cradling his elbow—Bennett can’t hide that grin that splits his face. “You see who came in?” he asks in a hushed tone, but I ignore him, just like I’m ignoring the person still standing near the door.
I know why he’s here. Noah called before Raelynn and I left her apartment, warning me what was coming. Amos wants me to join Brooks in New York, starting tomorrow, for three days of media before we fly to Charleston for an untelevised show on Friday.
With a quick pivot of my hips, I twist my upper body and slide my arm around Bennett’s head, pulling him into a side headlock. I tighten my grip just enough to make him work for the escape. He wraps his arms around my waist, shoving me forward into the ropes, and when I turn back around, he’s waiting with a clothesline.
