Chapter 46: Sweet dreams are made of..
Sleep is supposed to be the moment when you recharge your batteries. At the end of the day after whatever it is you’ve been doing, working out, doing your job, even housework or simply doing nothing, sleep is supposed to be the moment where anything that happened melts away and when you wake up, you have all the energy you need.
But, that’s not what was happening for me tonight.
I was tossing and turning, unable to get into deep sleep because something was on my mind. Everything that has been going on with Finn and his family, everything that I’ve been going on with the people I used to call family. The Romani. It was playing on me. I was trying not to care, trying to move past it and just let Finn take care of it. But I couldn’t.
My mind started drifting back, remembering what it was like living with The Romani. The rules and regulations. All of the different people that I knew, were people who were supposed to be my family. People who are supposed to care about me. But in the end, they all just use each other for their own means. I was only 19 years old, the first time that I knew that there was something deeper and more disgusting with these people.
Before that, there were signs that there was something wrong. The way the men looked at the women, the way they treated them, the way they treated each other. It was all horrible. I just didn’t want to admit it. In the beginning, Jace was a great guy. He was loving and caring, but all of it was just to get my walls broken down so he could control me. Manipulate me. Try and make me into his pretty little gypsy princess. But that cloud of manipulation was slowly starting to slip. The only problem is I was so young and stupid that I fell right into the trap and when I realized what was going on it was simply too late.
That’s where my dreams were taking me, to the nightmare of my past. I was nervous, I was going to talk to Jace about what I’d seen at the little bar in New York. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door stepping into the bedroom that I shared with Jace, he was sitting back in a chair, twirling a pen between his fingers, his long hair was tied back in a bond and his other hand was stroking his beard. He was a giant of a man, muscular, he looked like he should be swinging a battle axe on some ancient battlefield not spinning a pen in his hand while looking over paperwork.
”Hey, can we talk?” emotion Me to come in and sit down. Not even needing to say anything. I cleared my throat and moved over sitting across from him. ”So, last week, the whole thing at the bar. I’ve never seen anything like that before. Jace….I don’t want to go anywhere near places like that again if that’s what’s going to happen.”
He stopped twirling the pen, putting it down on the notepad before turning and looking at me. He clapped his hands together in his lap, tilted his head looking me up and down. ”That was a rough night huh?” I gave a small non-, he smiled back and cleared his throat. ”So, no more collection visits?”
I shook my head. He smiled. I exhaled. Like an idiot, I felt that he meant it. I actually felt relieved. Anyone could see what was going on. How deep in all of this I was. But I was never going to get out, and he knew it. ”Thank you… I wasn’t sure if I should say anything because I knew that you wouldn’t have meant for us to see that for it to happen.”
He smiled again, something that I now know was nothing but a mask. The happiness, The easy-going nature. Even the caring side of him. The side that would caress my cheek hold my hand and treat me like a piece of gold. All of that was nothing but a mask. A mask to hide the controlling manipulative asshole that he was. ”I understand Kayla…I do..” I stood up, I went to walk past him but he reached out and grabbed my wrist. ”I understand, that you want a free ride here.” his voice deepened, the look faded from his face and the colour from his eyes.
He was cold, colder than I had ever seen, and turning faster than I’d ever seen before. Not even my father had a look that cold in his eyes, not even Angel Blake had a look like that in his eyes. I was scared to death at that moment. ”No…Jace I didn’t”
”Shhh.. do you want to live here with us. You want our protection and you want to know all about what we do. But you don’t want to contribute. You and your sister were there for a reason, but you don’t wanna help. You just want all the perks but do none of the work” he stood up. Still holding onto my wrist. His grip tightened and I could feel his power.
”Jace..you’re hurting me..” he grounded his teeth together, he squeezed harder and leaned in. His eyes were almost black and my heart raced. I could tell he was angry, I could tell he was at a boiling point. I swallowed hard and looked down. He took a deep breath and released his grip.
”Get the fuck out of my sight”
I had never been that scared before. It was a fear that even now had woken me up from that nightmare. And instead of being in my comfy bed, lying next to my boyfriend who I was deeply in love with I was sitting in the lounge room looking out the window. Taking deep breaths trying to calm myself down. It was moments like that that made me the woman that I am today.
Someone who has been able to end up in a happy relationship despite everything. It took both myself and Finn so long and took so much effort to be able to say those simple words to each other. To let each other in. And even then we are subdued in our affections.
I want to give him more, I want to give him everything. But memories like that, memories like that night, and everything else I’ve ever been through is what is stopping me. This whole thing involving Dickie and The Yakuza as well as the Romani isn’t just a gang war that we’ve been pulled into. It’s my shot at being able to get it all out of my system and be the woman that he deserves.
”Can’t sleep?” I laughed shaking my head before looking over at him. He stepped to the side and reached down putting a hand on my shoulder, allowing me to grab a hold of it. ”Well…if you need me…you know where I am.” I gave a small nod, and he went back into the bedroom leaving the door open for me. But that night I couldn’t get any more sleep. Not after what happened. Not after what I remembered.
I’m such a fucking mess
Why?
”The royal pain tour. What a way to kick it off huh?”
Kayla can’t help but smile. Her long black hair was tied back and her arms folded over her chest. Wearing the brand-new Wolves shirt featuring herself and Finn
”I will be defending my world bombshell championship. But, before I get into who I’m defending the title against and why let me just clear up a few things when it comes to my match against Luna. You only need to realize something, I’m not the bad guy here. everyone will sit there and look at the little nickname I gave myself, dream killer, and they’ll think that I’m some kind of horrible person for beating people or destroying people who are trying to realize dreams. In fact, it’s something that many people pointed out.”
“Luna had a dream. She had a dream of becoming a world champion. Is the same dream that her husband has. And I guess it’s part of the course. Luna is definitely good enough to become a world champion. Just like Alexander is good enough to be the world champion on the mens side. There is just one small problem with their dreams, they are currently living in a world with Finn and I exist. they are in a company where we are at the top of the mountain and we refuse to get pushed off”
“I don’t dislike Luna. I’ve said many times that I believe her to be an amazing person. She has a similar aesthetic to me and an attitude and outlook on life that I can agree with. But here’s the problem. I’m out for myself and for my legacy and my future and my career.”
“I’m out to live my dreams”
“So, I beat her and kept this championship. And I’m waiting for someone to be good enough to step up and take it from me. Luna won the blush from the past and the guaranteed her shot at the bombshells championship. And many people are saying she should get another opportunity. But he’s the thing, as much as I like and respect her. I think that’s horseshit. So, Luna, I want you to watch this promo and look me right in the eyes when I say this. You want a shot at this? Go to the back of the line and earn it like everyone else. I’m done with you.”
She takes a deep breath and clenches her jaw rubbing her teeth together before backing up. The world bombshells championship in the mixed tag-team title that she holds sitting next to each other behind her. Kaleb reaches up and taps against her jawline, black painted fingernails contrasting nicely with her almost porcelain skin.
”Now, where does that leave me? Well, I am privileged enough to know the next two challenges for the two championships that I currently hold. I’ll be rolling into climax control to defend the world bombshell championship and after that, Finn and I will be defending the mixed tag team championships against Alexandra Calaway and Miles Kasey. Again”
“As much as I greatly dislike that he and I are having to defend our championships against those two again let me just say that at least they earned it. They earned it by beating the Barnharts but they still earned a shot at those championships. The mixed tag team championships at least mean something to people now. That is because of myself and Finn. We have people earning opportunities to face us”
“Earning opportunities.”
“That seems to be a novel concept. There are plenty of ways to earn a championship match. There’s the number one contenders match which the two numb nuts who Finn and I will be facing for the mixed tag titles dead. There’s winning a tournament like Luna did with the blast from the past. there is straight-up calling out the champion over and over again while winning matches and being undeniable. Guess who did that? That’s right, Me.”
She chuckles and shakes her head looking over to the side before her demeanor changes and she stands angry about something.
”Seleana Zdunich. My little soapbox rant about earning championship matches was definitely directed at you. Because you’ve done nothing to earn this. You’ve done nothing to earn the right to get to even look in the general direction of the world Bombshells championship. I have been going out beating the best of the best and I’m undefeated this year while you have done nothing but get your arse beat up and down the goddamn card. Yeah, that’s right undefeated in 2024. In fact, the last time I lost was a year ago….”
“Since then Seleana, I have been the best in this company. I have beaten everyone who they have put against me. I talked myself into a world championship match because I was being overlooked and I was tired of it. I had the record to prove it. But you? All you have is a record of failure. A record of slowly disappearing into mediocrity. And for some reason, they’ve decided to hand you a world championship match. They just hand you things and I have no idea why. they’ve handed you roulette championship matches which you failed to capitalise on. Hell when I first won the vacant Internet championship you were in that very match and you had that opportunity handed to you and you were dumped over the top rope then too”
“And the last time you and I stepped foot in a ring one-on-one I made you tap out and sent you home a loser.”
“But this time the steaks are raised because my championship is on the line. And strangely enough, you’ve been in this position before. You’ve been in the position where you get a championship match plucked out of thin air against a dominant champion. The last time this happened, you shocked the world. You beat Alicia Lucas with help from your wife and you were able to call yourself a champion. But instead of running with it and enjoying your time as champion you decided to do the "right thing" and give her a rematch. At which time you had the shit kicked out of you and you lost.”
“So this time we’re just going to skip all that. Your wife knows if she gets involved in this match very bad things will happen to her.”
“But, as I talk about this I kind of realize why maybe, just maybe you might believe this is a good idea See, the same night that I beat Luna to keep my championship. You had a win as well, didn’t you? You beat former mixed tag team champion Eiley… congratulations. You’ve beaten someone who I have beaten so many times that to be quite honest with you I lost count. That doesn’t qualify you for this championship match. So the fact is that this whole situation has done nothing but piss me off. So we’re gonna get in that ring, I’m gonna take all of that aggression that I currently have built up out on you. And when the dust is settled, I will hold up my championship and it is the last time you will ever be in the same room as greatness.”
