12. NOVA

NOVA

Chapter twelve

It's been one hell of a couple of days but tonight is the night. Friday Night Beatdown. I hang out with the stage folk and some commentators out near the stage while the wrestlers are currently staged in dress rooms.

We're getting ready to bring my idea to life, live on national television.

I look around and imagine that my family would be proud. At least my mom would be. But my father, that's a truthfully, predictable easy no.

Maybe he'd find out what I did and call me an even bigger disappointment then he made me feel. Maybe his only daughter is actually disgracing the family name by being here.

But now's not the time for those intrusive thoughts. I bite back the sting of tears threatening to break the damn and do what I do best.

Pretend.

Pretend that my father would actually approve of who I grew up to be and acknowledge my accomplishments.

We move around the stage and pinpoint the best camera angles as I go over the script with everyone one more time.

Before I know it, fans start to fill the audience seating, the stadium surrounding us starts to echo with laughter and roars as people of all ages grab their seats with their favorite wrestlers' merch or their big, colorful signs.

My eyes widen in appreciation, remembering what it was like to be one of them. Fuck my dad, because if he's not proud of me, I'm fucking proud of me.

Part of me wonders if I followed this career path because it was some kind of fucked up way for me to seek his approval, even though he's not alive for me to justify that. But while that may still have some truth to it, it's this moment right now that I know…I did this for me.

"Alright everyone. The show starts soon. Time to head backstage." Shawn waves everyone out of the stage area and we all march up the ramp toward the back arena.

Before I exit, I turn around one more time to soak in the euphoric feeling that is the sport of wrestling and I smile, knowing that the little girl in me is screaming.

That's when I see a small child, she looks to be about seven or eight. She reminds me of me a little bit. Her pigtails are curled and she's wearing a bright pink princess dress. A princess in a kingdom of animals. Sounds about right.

"It's beautiful. Isn't it, little one?" I look over to see that Hunter and Krew are both standing at my side, tucked behind the curtains but still able to be seen by onlookers.

"What are you two doing out here? You should be in the dress rooms." I suddenly feel my excitement melt into danger. But it's a danger laced with ashes of lust, burning delicately across my skin and leaving me hot yet again.

"We have time for some autographs." They both dip past me, neither attempting to avoid brushing my skin with their own, smirks on both of their devilishly smug faces.

"Wait." I stop them and look back out to the little girl I noticed moments ago. "The one with the princess dress, start with her please." I nod to the girl who sits with her mom. They both look her way before giving me their approval.

"Anything for you, sweetheart." Krew leans in and presses a gentle kiss to my lips and I fight the way it makes me feel.

Emotional?

I told them we couldn't do what we did again. And I meant it. Or at least I pretended to. But something secretive and coveted caresses my insides as I watch them walk away until they approach the little girl.

I watch a few moments longer to see her face light up and her mom's reaction is just as awe worthy. I smile to myself before dipping back behind the curtains and start to walk down the hall to meet up with the others.

But a force so intense stops me in my tracks.

And I know…

"What do you want, Mr. Stone?"

I turn around and catch sight of the shadow lingering down the hall. I can feel him staring at me, it's like cold, steel bullets piercing through my skin.

"I warned you, Nova. And I will stay true to my promise." A deep voice rumbles through the hallways and proves just how weak my body is when I feel the shockwave of his rough timber vibrate in my center as he says my name.

I can't make out anything other than his shadow. The lights in the hallways he's standing in are off, whereas I'm standing in nothing but pure bright light.

"So you're the mysterious texter." I find the courage to say, even though I assumed as much.

"I will come for you, little star. On the count of three." And before I have time to process what the fuck any of what he just said meant, the shadow is gone and I'm once again weak to my unannounced and certainly indescribable arousal.

But I won't let some controlling psycho ruin this night.

This is my night.

***

It's two hours into the show. I've watched most of it from backstage but the main event is about to start and I shamelessly begged Darnel to let me out into the arena. Normally, backstage crew members don't get front row seats but he accepted my pleas and got me as close as he could.

To my surprise I'm standing right next to the princess, literally front row to the ring, and she gives me a smile before the lights change and the music starts indicating the start of the main event.

A bassy remix of Reverse by Sage The Gemini takes over the stadium speakers and picks up in a roar as the lights go black save for the blood red strobes that set off in a scattered pattern across the crowd. Two men walk out from behind the curtain and stand at the top of the center stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Now introducing, for the main event title match, the undisputed tag-team champions, KREWWWW RIIIIVERRRSSS AND HUUNTERRR DODGGGGEEE." Pyrotechnics go off around them as the announcer's voice vibrates through the crowd. The audience goes crazy. Mostly in a spine tingling reaction of cheers and shouts. I swear I even hear a chick beg Krew to be her baby daddy. If only she knew.

I look behind me to see signs thrown up in the air and kids sit on their dad's shoulders while their mom's cheer unashamedly. Everyone eats up their entrance as they strut halfway down, carrying their championship belts while sporting their tight-pant ensembles before taking off in a full run and sliding into the ring under the first rope.

My heart threatens to break out of its confines from how hard it's pounding in my chest. The adrenaline rush I feel as I watch these men interact with the crowd as it breaks into fits of applause, the lights still flashing around us as their music dies down.

Even the little girl is wide-eyed and in awe.

Before the next team is announced, Krew makes quick work of showing off as he rips his shirt off his body, he looks at me and only me as he does it and I have to bow my head and hide my blush as my stomach fills with butterflies.

A funky beat starts up and red, white and blue lights take over the headlights.

"Introducing their opponents. And competing for the tag-team championship title. JUUUUUSSTIIIIIIN RIIICKYYYY AND LUUUKAAAAA VAAAAANCE. THE U. K. O. BOYYYSSSSSSS." The announcer's voice, once again, rumbles over the crowd before she turns to leave the ring.

Krew uses his foot to hold down the bottom rope for her while Hunter lifts the middle allowing her to bend down gracefully and safely exits down the steps.

The ref enters the center of the ring while one member of each team exits and stands on the outskirts. Hunter stands in the center with his opponent, Luka. They look completely in their element.

The bell rings signaling the start of the match and everyone cheers in excitement.

The match goes on for about fifteen minutes. They've tagged out at least two times each at this point, But now, it's Hunter and Justin.

Justin has Hunter in a headlock. To the little girl next to me, it looks life-threatening. To me, I can tell it wouldn't be all that hard to escape. But I won't fill her in on my secret. Instead, I cheer with her. Screaming for Hunter to break free. I'm glad she's cheering for the same team I am.

I see Krew reach his hand over the ring rope, offering a chance for Hunter to tag him in. But Justin pulls Hunter further into the center of the ring and away from his chance to get free. Justin keeps hold of his headlock for about thirty more seconds before Hunter lifts his weight, pushing his shoulders into his opponent's chest and lifts his feet off the ground. Everyone gets louder as Hunter has Justin's arms still wrapped around his neck but he's regained leverage. He lets out one big grunt and pushes his entire weight, throwing Justin over his shoulder, releasing his hold, and landing him back first into the mat.

That's my boy.

He trots over to Krew and tags him in. Krew jumps the ropes as Hunter exits and the crowd explodes again.

Krew walks over to the guy laying on the floor and lifts him up by his arms and drags him to one of the turnbuckles, positioning him so that he's sitting up against the corner.

Krew runs to the diagonal corner, bouncing off the turnbuckle before he runs toward Justin and shoulders him in the chest.

That was real.

And it looked painful.

Like I said, most of it is scripted but some of the stunts they pull are real.

Justin lies there, seemingly helpless as Krew repeats the move, running from corner to corner. But this time, Justin rolls his body over just as Krew reaches the turnbuckles and ends up ramming into the hardness of the corner instead.

He winces and holds his shoulder, and I know that has to hurt whether he can take it or not. The crowd starts to boo as Justin tags his other member and Luka immediately starts whaling on Krew.

Of course, you can hear the slaps of skin on skin as Luka swings his hand against Krew's chest but it's all a ploy, a sound effect to feign real action. But it's exciting, nonetheless. Krew seems to slump under his attack and his opponent mimics Krew's last move. But before he can make it off the opposing turnbuckle, Hunter reaches out and twists Luka's arm so that he's facing Hunter and Hunter swings his fist at Luka's face. This garner's an argument from the ref as the crowd cheers in approval.

Hunter is now fighting with the ref as Luka stumbles to the center of the mat from Hunter's blow and this gives Krew a chance at a pin. He pushes Luka down the rest of the way so he's flat on his back and he throws his arms over his chest.

The ref is still fake arguing with Hunter about his cheating agenda and the crowd counts down.

"ONE. TWO. THREE." But the countdown doesn't matter if the ref didn't catch it. Right before the ref finally turns around, Justin reaches under the ropes and yanks Luka by his feet, sliding him out from under Krew's body and out of the ring.

The crowd boos as the cowards stay standing on the outskirts of the ring just at the base of the ramp while Krew and Hunter egg them on to get back in the ring.

The UKO boys have their backs to the stage as they catch their breath. If the ref had been paying attention, Krew would have won that. But that's now how the script goes. I did write most of their story so I anticipate the next move.

That's when the lights turn off and the arena goes black. The crowd knows what this means. Screams of excitement erupt as flashlights for phones light up the arena.

A slow beat starts. The crowd quiets down as they wait for the beat drop of a deep and bassy rendition of Mount Everest to implode which also signals the effect of creepy, white lights flashing in three seconds spurts.

The small amount of light allows us to see the UKO boys feign fear as they look around frantically for who's about to come out.

Fireworks finally explode from their prospective stances as the devil himself emerges from the stage. The lights start to dim back on and his music starts to die down just as he makes a break for it down the ramp. The UKO boys have no time to escape before Zayd spears both of them, head bowed to guide him to the space between them and his arms strike at their chests at the same time as he drives through them, knocking them flat on their asses.

He stands up straight while flipping his dark, wet, curls over his head as he roars into the sky. His fists stretched out on either side of him as his chest vibrates from the roar that rips from his throat.

I feel it.

Everywhere.

And he gives me a thigh-clenching, heated glance before he jumps into the ring and stands in the middle of Hunter and Krew.

Looking at them in their zone––all three of them together in the middle of the glorious ring herself––causes so many different feelings to circulate throughout me. Listening to the crowd chant all of their names as they witness an unexpected chain of events renders me proud.

It only takes a few more seconds for the UKO boys to almost be disqualified by count but just as the ref shouts ten, the boys jump into the ring and my boys jump to action.

Zayden grabs Justin by the wrist and tosses him over his shoulder. At the same time, Luka gets pushed back and forth between Krew and Hunter before one of them clotheslines him. Zayden finally tosses Justin on his back before turning and jumping up just to drive down into him with his elbow.

Both of the UKO boys are now pinned. Luka is under Krew and Hunter, and Justin under Zayd as the ref and the crowd start the countdown.

"ONE. TWO. THREE!"

Music explodes in tandem with the roars of approval from the crowd. Santana Ingles, the announcer, stands up from her chair and starts the winning announcements.

"Ladiiiiiesss and gentlemennnnn. Your winnnerrrrsss. And still the UNDISPUTED tag-team champions, KREWWWW RIIIIVERRRSSS AND HUUNTERRR DODGGGGEEE. Accompanied by, and still your UWE world heavyweight champion, ZAYYYDENNNN STOOOONNNNE!" The little girl next to me claps gleefully while her mama cheers with her.

The rest of the crowd shouts and chants as confetti floats from the ceiling and pyrotechnics erupt from all around the stadium.

The boys all hold up their belts as they scan the crowd and roar their alpha-male roars.

But my heart stops when Zayden turns to look at me, dead in the eyes for what feels like a solid minute. And right before he jumps out of the ring he mouths something to me.

"RUN." Panic rises as he lands on the ground and stalks toward me. Run? What the hell does he want me to run from?

What a minute…he wants me to run from him.

I decide to do myself a favor and listen to him, taking off in a hurry through the crowd and back toward the stage.

I jog up the stairs, so as not to trip, and hide behind the curtains.

But I don't believe he's chasing me, not in a stadium full of people.

So I turn to peek out from behind the curtain and I see that he's signing the princess's UWE poster.

My heart fucking melts. But just as quickly, I recognize danger when he looks straight at me and walks past everyone else, heading my way.

Almost as if he's stalking his prey.

"Oh fuck," I whisper to myself before bolting into the back halls.