10. Ronan

The last practice goes well, like the many before it.

Helena the Hobbit and Irene the Ink Sprayer hit their ring marks, as do Camie and Chey. Their routine is down pat. I know it's a hit when I laugh, cheer, and boo in all the right places.

It's been over two weeks now of weight training, sprints, hitting the mats, and getting their sketch just right, but Chey and Camie are fighters.

Even at the lowest moments, when the four literally trip over each other"s limbs, or jump off the ropes and miss their targets, they can laugh at themselves and try to try again.

And it's Chey who amazes me the most.

"Get up. Let's try that again," she insists, ignoring how much she's already put into practice.

"But we're beat," the other wrestlers say.

"Tough titties. We're not leaving this ring until we can coordinate our moves blindfolded."

"Blindfolded!" they protest.

Helena, Irene, and Camie look to me to referee this discussion and tamp down Chey's enthusiasm. I shake my head and cover my mouth with my hand. I can't let the girls see how happy I am with Chey. Ever since developing Disastra, Chey's confidence has soared. No longer is she acting in someone's shadow. She is her own person. Someone who hungers for more.

"Aw, c'mon, Ronan. Stop this human bulldozer. She's running us ragged," Helena says.

"And so she should. Stay in that ring until Chey says you can come out." I offer a stern expression, belying my laughing eyes.

Despite not being signed to any franchise, all four put in their all. I'm so dead proud of these girls. They've worked hard to make a team worth being signed, and I know someday they will be. And more and more, my biggest source of pride is Chey.

If Joseph knew of their secret, if he could see Chey in action like this, he would be bowled over with pride. I envision him yelling from the gym rooftop. "Chey, you're beyond your mother's guidance now. You are Moira, only a superbly better version. It's time to walk away from the past."

But I know it's a fantasy in my head. I don't discard it. I file it away.

I climb the bleachers to get a better look at the tag team from above.

Chey's moves… They're so aquiline. Her body seems to float over the mat. Her take-downs excite me. They're exacting, forceful, and filled with confidence only a veteran has. Most shocking to me is the fact that Chey acts almost as if she were an orc. She's strong but with feminine grace.

My heart beats faster when she's in the ring. I assume it's the same for every other man watching such beauty and perfection. But maybe it's not. Maybe I don't want it to be.

Chey finally lets the girls take a break.

I step down to make notes at the coach's table. It's not long until Chey comes over. By her crooked smile and overactive eyebrows, she's in scheming mode. The only question is, scheming for whom? I sit back with a wide smile and crossed arms and await what will be an amusing show.

Chey sits atop the table and leans over. "You know, my dad would be thrilled to have you and the revamped Lawless on his roster. He'd gladly buy out your contract and give you whatever you needed to transform Lawless into a good guy, an avenger of justice."

I chuckle. Oh, so she's pitching me. I sit back and digest her words, wondering where all this is coming from. Is this display solely in aid of caring for her father's franchise success? Or is this something more?

I gaze up at the statuesque beauty, finding it damn hard to keep my thoughts straight. Or my hungry orc eyes. I force a sober look and nod often.

"Plus, your brand would be a money-maker for Dad. Lawless is a household name around Briarwood and beyond. Your fan base is so large. Dead easy to promote. There are so many costs in starting up a new franchise. You joining Fool's Gold could be a win-win for you both."

I so want to buy into her master plan. I figure my head is woozy from Chey's body scent, a heady mix of jasmine and sweat. Orc manna from heaven.

"I appreciate what you're saying. But your secret training sessions would come out in the open if Joseph took me on. You know it would. You and I couldn't hide under a bushel then."

"Yeah, maybe so. Maybe it would be worth it."

I hear her words, but I also see her face. The former doesn't agree with the latter. Her conniving expression morphs into a less jovial one — pensive, concerned. All the confidence I just witnessed in the ring dissolves in front of me.

Chey is a different woman when she faces the prospect of revealing Disastra to the world. I figure her change in demeanor is more about keeping a lid on her new persona than any heck she would get from her father if Disastra were exposed. But I keep those thoughts to myself.

Chey rattles on about their four-wrestler tag team skit, but my mind wanders. There's so much riding on Chey's reveal. Beyond her fantasizing, I know the timing has to be just right.

Everyone in town knows Raucous Entertainment wanted Joseph to invest in their franchise. Not start one of his own. Instead, the wise ex-wrestler did a surprise takedown maneuver of his own, bought up a dilapidated arena and gym, and started Fool's Gold.

He's said nothing to me about swiping artists from Raucous, but I wouldn't put it past the business guru. He knows this cutthroat business inside and out, as a wrestler and now as an owner. And he knows something else Raucous has never understood. Wrestlers work like dogs honing their characters, so they want ownership of those brands. They want power in and out of the ring.

It's that factor alone that draws me to Chey's dad.

There are so many other factors that draw me to Chey.

Chey continues to talk, yet my mind wanders again, this time to softer, warmer thoughts.

My body warms. I tell it to tamp down. Business thoughts, Ronan. Keep your eyes on the prize.

Problem is, the prize is sitting so close to me right now. To stay objective is a herculean feat even for an orc.

"Okay, we girls are headed for the showers. Talk later?"

"Sure, yes, of course." I pick up my pen and feign focusing on my training chart.

Chey walks away, and my eyes instantly follow her lithe figure. She disappears and my reasoned thoughts resume.

I figure I can afford two more months of this living and training in secret. It's not a big ask from Chey or me. I'll abide by her wishes, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not champing at the bit for the reveal. I know Fool's Gold doesn't have many female wrestlers and her dad would sign her in a heartbeat if she wasn't so stubborn about refusing his help.

She'd be a standout, a diamond in the rough, a rose among thorns. If I could just convince her of that and that Disastra is the way to get there.

My thoughts quickly swerve from the altruistic to the self-serving. I'd like to see her more willing to come to Fool's Gold. If I got an offer from them, I'd like to know that she would follow. I can't imagine training at any franchise without seeing her train beside me in the gym.

Joseph wants her by his side, and so do I. In and out of the ring. My thoughts linger on a day when she and I can be close. Oh, so close. To be every day enveloped by her beauty and her strength and her scent and her smile. Heaven.

But my fantasy of Chey stops cold when my thoughts jump to her stubbornness. I wonder who she gets it from? Her mom or her dad?

I'm worn out trying to convince her to permanently drop Archimedes for Disastra. Her refusal makes my ears smoke! That woman needs her head examined.

The media hype she'd get from signing at Fool's Gold as Disastra would be huge. I can picture the billboards. O'Malley's Tag Teaming Again! Not to mention the free rein on how Chey develops her alter ego. It's a wrestler's dream come true.

Maybe I need to be more patient. Maybe this secretive training time away is what she needs. It could help her to hone her tag team skills with a new partner in Camie. To up her confidence once more after losing her mother. But as I see her workout — a beautiful body in fluid motion, her focus and determination to get every move in the ring so right — I want so much more for Chey. So much more.

I watch her chat with the other wrestlers, and I chuckle. She's definitely not a rule-breaker. Not someone like me who barrels in the demands. So, it's a double pleasure to watch Chey develop her bad side like it's been there in hiding all along and needed a powerful man to draw it out of her.

My body reacts to her aggressive side. How could any orc behave any differently? A badass beauty. A perfect package. The fact that it's something I've helped mold is both flattering and humbling because the truth is that I know it's something inherent in her from the start.

I never could have taught her the kind of talent she possesses. The best trainer in the world couldn't. I've never known a woman like Chey, not in all my years of coming.

The best of both worlds, orc and human.

Can such a mix work? Can we work?

I keep my thoughts to myself, for I only desire one answer. I don't want to speak it out loud and have anyone take it away just yet.

"I'll be here, and I'll wait, Cheyanne O'Malley," I promise her retreating back when I see her walk across the far side of the gym, far out of earshot. "I have all the patience in the world, for you, in all ways. For no one else. I'll wait."

I only hope her realization of Disastra being her future comes with her realization of me being in that future, too.