The Sweetheart by Angelina Mirabella

Author:Angelina Mirabella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

FIFTEEN

While Byers and Stewart preen, belts aloft, in the center of the ring, you and your partner slink back up the aisle. The crowd is disturbingly quiet. Not exactly the exit you were hoping for, is it? You can’t blame them, really. They’re not quite sure what to think about you, the recently defeated heel, and your out-of-place bedroom eyes and rosy-lipped smile. Mimi, on the other hand, is easy to read. She stays two paces ahead of you, choosing instead to direct her rage at random spectators by reaching into the crowd and shoving them to the ground despite (or, perhaps, because of) the complete absence of provocation.

As you expected, Mimi is not the only person who is less than enamored with your performance. After she disappears in a huff behind the door to your dressing room, Joe, coming seemingly out of nowhere, steps in front of the doorway to prevent you from following her inside.

“When you take off the suit,” he says, “I want you to come out here and hand it to me.”

He hasn’t raised his voice, but you almost wish he would. Perhaps that might be less frightening than the undercurrent of rage you sense in his tone. He moves to let you through, and you disappear into the dressing room. Minutes later, you return to the doorway with the suit and hand it to Joe. He surveys the legs on the briefs. “You didn’t even have it altered.”

“There wasn’t time.”

“You could have—” he says, and stops himself, regroups. “What if you’d been disqualified?”

“But I wasn’t.”

“But you could have been. This was a title match, Gwen! It was too big to gamble on a stupid stunt.”

Your lips purse as if you’ve sucked on something tart. He has some nerve chastising you like this. So he doesn’t loan money. Fair enough. But if he is really so worried about morality, why doesn’t he pay you a fair percentage? Why does he charge his struggling protégés interest on their debts? If he were really looking out for you, perhaps you would have been less inclined to take matters into your own hands. “You’re the one who said modesty has no place in wrestling,” you say in a voice flattened with spite.

Joe stares at you, incredulous. “Let’s make something clear, young lady,” he says. “This is my game, and there is only one way that you can play it: by my rules.”

• • •

You knew Joe and Mimi wouldn’t be the only ones upset with your stunt. Sam was certain to be peeved, and probably more than a little, given his strong reaction at lunch earlier today. But all of that will disappear, you are sure, when he realizes what you have in mind for the rest of the evening. Later tonight, when he comes by your room, he will find you still dewy from your bath and ready to lose what is left of your innocence. What better way is there to confirm, without ambiguity, that you are his? It will be a fitting end to your triumphant day.

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