Chapter 32: Girls Day Nightmare
I needed this. A day out shopping. Not so much time with Kallie and my younger sister. My de facto “best friends”. But there we go. Beggars can’t be choosers. I needed the time to get away. To forget the heavy conversations of the past and what Finn and I had talked about. Those moments that blurred the lines of a business partnership and made me remember what we once had.
What we could of had.
And what we lost.
But as I moved along each floor and past each store I couldn’t help but shake this horrible feeling. I was being watched. I knew I was. The visit from Jace fucking Pleasant made that clear. I had never really escaped that life. I never was too far away from the all seeing eye of those Romani fucks. But, I didn’t want to let that knowledge ruin me. To stop loving my life. So now, in a act of defiance I was out, walking around. Pretend ding everything was normal.
But that is all it was. Pretend. Each step I took was a lie. As Kallie and Tasmin laughed and chatted next to me, holding their large bags full of everything from clothing to a new phone case each, while I sipped my coffee and kept my sunglasses on inside, looking like a complete asshole, just so I could keep my eyes darting to see if I could find my little spies.
But, I couldn’t see anyone. They were good. Maybe too good. Gypsies had never been known for subtlety. In fact they were as blunt as a hammer most of the time.
So, were they really watching? I had to ask myself over and over again. Were they there or was it all a trick just to screw with me? It was maddening, so in a way it worked. I shook my head trying to break myself out of the fun I found myself in. Tasmin let out a large laugh followed by a snort. I raised an eyebrow as Kallie turned her head ”OH MY GOD SHOOOOOES”
She took off running. The sweet summer child of stupidity. Well, that was unfair. Kallie was actually smart. She just did stupid things. One of which is named Aiden. But, she was adorable in her own way. I shook my head and turned to sit down on a bench, Tasmin looked over at Kallie but instead of following her decided to sit down next to me, crossing a leg over the other. I could feel her eyes burning a hole right through me. I tried to ignore her, I didn’t want to break the silence. It was a game of verbal chicken and I wasn’t going to lose.
But Tasmin had the same idea.
We both sat silently, watching as Kallie criss crossed the store. Excitedly bouncing as she grabbed every shoe she could find before looking at the price and very slowly placing it back on the plastic display. Tasmin tapped her fingernails on the arm rest, looking around and fiddling and clicking her tongue. I just sipped my coffee, sitting still and letting out a deep, relaxing sigh. Tasmin then lost our little game, speaking first. ”So, what’s up? You’ve been quiet…” I chuckled and shook my head, she talked like this was a new development.
”I just have alot on my mind.
Tasman tilted her head to the side, studying Me and trying to understand the words as well as disown their meaning. She knew me well enough to know that anything that I said, usually came with a caveat and to take everything with a grain of salt. I’d become very good at hiding my true intentions from other people. But my younger sister knew me well enough to know when I was trying to hide something. ”You just seem, absent. Worried. There’s something else to, something I don’t see in you much, or at all.” Tasmin paused and shook her head, she was going right for the throat. ”It’s fear.”
I ground my teeth together. I hate the fact that she was right. I was afraid. I was terrified. After the visit that I had, I felt like my freedoms had been taken away. My freedom to talk, my freedom to act like my usual self. I was here in public, walking on eggshells and that made me angry. my nostrils flared and I took in a deep breath, turning into my sister. I suppose she had earned the right to learn what was going on. ”Jace came to see mee.” I could see the change in her demeanor. From the corner of my eye. I could hear her breathing change. Tasman wasn’t stupid, she knew what this meant.
[coloe=lightblue]”Why?”[/color] The single word, question rate of desperation. I shook my head, not answering right away as I took a sip of my coffee. Tasman Hans fidgeted as she looked around and then tilted her head. ”Did he…want you back?” I shook my head. ”Are you sure? He was completely in love with you for a long time” she was right, there was a time when that man worshipped the ground that I walked on. Even changing his attitude toward what his culture was capable of, when it came to women. But that wasn’t what this was. And I knew it.
I took a deep breath, steadying my nerves. ”They never stopped watching Tas. After I left. They’re probably watching Amber too…” I pushed my lips together, doing it to make sure that my voice didn’t quiver or quake. Trying to hide just how fearful I was that will be being watched at that exact moment. ”He came to let me know…”
”But…why now?” she looked confused and concerned. And I understood why. You had gone by, and I have been able to live my life normally. I’ve been able to become famous, earn money, live a good life. Go in and out of relationships. “If he didn’t want you back and they have been keeping tabs on you the whole time, why tell you Kay?” I closed my eyes and shook my head before taking my sunglasses off and turning to look at my younger sister.
My eyes came to rest on hers, she needed to know the entire truth. She needed to know what he told me, so she could also come to her and conclusions. ”He contacted me…because of Finn.” I paused, Tasmin stayed silent, but the confusion was there, even deeper than before. ”There is someone who has been visiting him, Jace told me he’s Yakuza. It made them come out of hiding. To ask me about it. I told him I had no idea what the fuck he was talking about.”
Tasman shook her head and cleared her throat. She was clearly struggling with this information. Sweet little thing. [color]lightblue]”Yakuza? Finn? That’s…no.That’s bullshit. I bet it was an excuse Kay, you can’t believe that right?”[/color] maybe Tasman was right. Maybe it was all bullshit. But there was something eating at Me deep down in my stomach. Something that said there was more truth in his words, and I wanted to let on. All that I wanted to believe.
”I don’t know….I don’t want to believe it. But, it’d explain alot.”
I trialed off and became silent. I didn’t know what else to say. I looked around, I wondered were we being watched right now? There were a few people who would occasionally look over. Would they look like the gypsy men and women that I had met before? Or would they look like just regular every day Americans? I shook my head and put my sunglasses back on. Tasman stared at me, wanting to say something, anything. But before she could, we be interrupted.
”Oh my god these shoes. Check them out!” Kallie stood there, holding four full bags, a smile on her face and a pair of pink and white converse boots on her feet. I smiled and gave a nod before getting to my feet. Tasmin just stayed silent and sighed heavily. ”Was it…was it something I said?...”
In defense of a division.
”Silence”
Kayla couldn’t help but laugh with a small shake of her head.
”That is all I’ve gotten from our suppose world champion. I wanted to get this out of the way first because I didn’t want to dwell on it later on. As one half of the mixed tag team champions, I have a duty to defend these championships, and to make sure the eyes of the world are on this division. However, one of the best things about these championships coming back is that anyone who holds these titles is no longer tied to just these championships and justice division. I can elevate these championships by also going for other titles. And that world championship is when I want to get my hands on.”
“But instead of addressing Me, all I’ve had is silence. Because our world champion is a useless coward, who would rather face the drugs of this company, then face someone who would be a challenge. And that is what this is about, that is what holding championships is about. You want to find the best challenges and face them, so you can increase the value of the championships you hold. Beating people who aren’t that talented who don’t deserve championship matches isn’t exactly the way to go about it. I told the two former champions that. But they didn’t want to listen because they are nothing but a pair of whiny, arrogant children who don’t know what the wrestling business truly is.”
“And now that I’ve been able to move past everyone’s favorite dip shit and Finn and I have been able to defeat the former champions. It’s time to move on. It’s time to go to bigger and better things. At least that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself.”
“Eiley had a tremendous upside. Noticed that I’m using had, the past tense. Because I don’t think she’s ever going to come back. And honestly? Good riddance. I’m so happy when the trash takes itself out. See in this company, we need people who are strong. We need people who are ready to take the world by storm and make damn sure that the divisions are cared for. People might not like my attitude, and they might not like the fact that I swear and carry on and put my coworkers down, but the truth is, I’m compelling television. When I am holding a championship, it feels important. that Internet championship was important when I had it over my shoulder or around my waist or was holding it above my head. It felt like a big deal, just like these mixed tag team championships do while Finn and I are holding them.”
Kayla pulls her half of the mixed tag titles up and throws her title over her shoulder. Kayla laughs to herself and adjusts the title belt.
”This match should have happened already. In fact, if it was up to me, it would’ve happened at the last SuperCard. And it’s a match that deserves to have a bigger audience. You see Ben and Sam beat the former champions that we were forced to defend the championships against. how is that fair. I campaign for this match to happen. I am a firm believer that you earn what you take. And Ben and Sam earned a championship opportunity at us. And instead of getting their fair shot back then they had to wait. And this might sound strange coming from Me but Ben and Sam are a team that at least lives up to their billing most of the time.”
“Ben Jordan. An incredibly skilled technical wizard and a former world champion. A guy who has been in this company for so long that his name has become synonymous with those three letters. There would be no shame in losing any type of match to a man like Ben Jordan. Finn is also a former world champion and could also be a future world champion. He is someone who can stand to toto with Ben Jordan in that ring. Even with Ben Jordan chisel 1950s leading man good looks.”
“In fact, this match might just be a feast for the eyes.”
“Ben you are one of the best in this company. I’m not gonna sit here and bullshit about it or blow smoke up your arse I’m being completely serious. You’ve been consistently one of the top superstars here and while so many others will look at your success and want to just what you’ve done lately. We can all see that the truth is you’ve been on auto pilot. You’re an auto pilot right now, dragging Sam into these matches. And as good as she is, she has definitely not been the woman that she used to be. But you? You could still be one of the best, and you could still be a world champion.”
“If you chose too.”
“I don’t think you want that any more. I think you are content with being in the mixed tag team division, and while Finn and I want to make sure these championships mean something while trying to get the other championships you just want these. You just want to take Sam and win the mix. Tag team titles and be a top name in this division. I think you are happy with that and complacent. And the word complacent and Ben Jordan don’t really come together that often. But now? Now you are getting in the ring and having to face myself and Finn. And Finn is unlike anyone you’ve ever had to step foot in the ring with.”
Kayla shrugs, feeling the truth in her heart about the whole situation and clearing her throat.
”Samantha Marlowe. A woman who has been in this company for so long that her name has become branded in the minds of every single wrestling fan around the world. A woman with so many championship rains under her name that she should be not just in this company, Hall of Fame, but the white wrestling Hall of Fame. And I do believe that. Sam, you are someone who has earned the right to be respected. You are someone who has earned the right to call yourself one of the best. However, you are also someone who seems to not know when to quit.”
“You are still relevant in this company. You are. You are not quite at the level of Mercedes Vargas when it comes to being a stupid irrelevant idiot who doesn’t know when to retire, but you are slowly getting there. You have retreated to this division with Ben Jordan to try and capture these titles. For you, it’ll be the second time. You won them with Caleb storms. Back when these championships were, to be honest, nothing. these titles have gone up and down in the mindset of so many people when it comes to sinner city wrestling. Sometimes people think that they are exciting, it is great to see these amazing mixed tagteam matches. And other times people just want to forget the exist.”
“Well Finn, and I want to make sure that people never forget them again. And hell, maybe just maybe you and Ben would also make a great champions. But the aim of all of this is to win. We want to be the longest, reigning, mixed tagteam champions of all time and to do that we have to beat you. and the unfortunate part Sam is that you can’t even see that you aren’t on my level.”
“Don’t worry, not many women are on my level.”
“You ask someone with a positive record. But a barely positive one. You look at what I’ve accomplished in the last year that I’ve been in this company, and I have beaten some of the best names that have ever stepped foot in this ring. I have one championships and I have avenged every single loss that I’ve had. while you bounce from match to match, not really caring and not really showing why people should care about you. To be quite honest with you, Sam, my heart weeps for you.”
“Cause you should be celebrated.”
Kayla chuckles and throws her arms in the air.
” but now, whenever we see your name on a match listing, most of us just kind of shrug. Most of us will just go, “oh, look a Sam Marlowe match”. And move on with our lives. When the fancy my name on a match sheet they know they are gonna be entertained. They know they’re gonna be entertained by the things that I say, by the things that I do, by everything that surrounds a match that I’m involved in. Look at the last time you all saw me. the amount of controversy that surrounded that match. I am “must see” television. You are “must turn the channel” television. You and Ben are going to do everything you can’t come for these championships you are going to do everything you can’t win them. I know that. I can respect that.”
“Finn and I will do everything we can to keep them. Now, I’m not going to say that it’s a foregone conclusion that he and I are going to walk out with those championships. Anything can happen. And you and Ben certainly have the history in the past to step up and win these. but it would take a lot. Because Finn and I, we are a team. We are the team. We are the champions. And it is your responsibility to try and beat us. The last shot you had was at limitless. The same team that looked us in the eye and told us that we couldn’t beat them. The same team that we beat twice. The same team where we beat the opponents in singles competition to the point where I’m fairly certain they’ve broken up, and one of them has left the company.”
“Good riddance.”
“But you two, you two lost to them and I can’t fathom why. You got your win back and at that point, I thought you should have come at us. But you had to wait. And that entire time that you’ve been waiting. Finn and I’ve been winning. He could be a world champion, I could be a world champion. but before we can get to that, we have to defend these titles against you too. And I have no problems making sure that people remember just how good of a team Finn and I are. So come us with everything that you are. I’m going to enjoy reminding the world that you are irrelevant Sam and that Ben quite honestly deserves better.
