voice
calm and steady. “Ronnie,” she said as she mustered her courage. “It’s over. I
can’t be your girlfriend anymore.”
“What?” he screamed at her. “Oh, I get it. You’re with that wrestler!
You think he’s going to protect you? You think he’s going to love you like I
love you? You think he’s going to be your boyfriend and travel the world with
you? Bullshit, he’ll leave you once the next pretty girl comes along. I’m twice
the man he is. Wrestling isn’t even real!”
“It’s not about him,” she tried to tell Ronnie, though her voice was
starting to break. “This is about you and me. I can’t be with someone who beats
me. Not anymore.”
“Bitch!” Ronnie yelled back at her. “Tell me where you are! It’s not
over until I say it’s over. I’ll find you! I’ll kill you if you don’t come home
right now. I’ll fucking kill you!”
He was still screaming threats at her when she ended the call. He just
tried calling her right back, so she turned her phone off as she slid down the
wall to the floor as tears started to trail down her cheeks.
She cried because it was over, it was really over. She cried because
he’d threatened her and she believed he really would make good on it if he
found her, but strangely enough, she mostly cried about what he said about Jay.
His assurance that Jay would just leave her for another girl and she’d be all
alone scared her more than anything else. Mandy knew it was stupid, but what
could she do?
“Mandy?” Jay’s deep voice caught her attention as he rounded the corner
in the hallway. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she lied as she wiped away a tear. “Ronnie called,” she
admitted when Jay kneeled down to help her back to her feet. “He,” she sniffed.
“He threatened me again.”
“We need to call the cops,” Jay urged her, but Mandy still refused.
“We can’t!” she choked.
“Jesus, Mandy!” Jay snapped at her and when his arms raised up she
instinctively flinched and pulled away from him like he was going to hit her. Instead
he pulled her into his big, muscular arms and kissed the top of her head. “I
won’t if you don’t want me to,” he assured her as she trembled in his arms.
“But we should. I’ve been there, it won’t stop until you do something about
it.”
“What do you mean?” she asked as she pressed herself against his
muscular chest. He smelled of sweat and victory. They were man smells,
comforting smells.
“Don’t worry about it, baby girl,” he told her as he kissed her head
again. Then his lips moved lower and he used his hand to lift her chin and he
kissed her lips. His touch was light at first, but grew deeper as Mandy’s lips
began to kiss his back.
“We shouldn’t,” he said as he pulled back from her.
“I know,” she agreed, but she let her arms wrap around his neck and she
pulled him back for another kiss. She shuddered as his tongue met her lips, but
she parted them and let him explore her mouth while her fingers found his long
hair.
“I want you,” he whispered as their lips parted and Mandy answered with
a nod. The hall was still abandoned, but someone could come out of the
greenroom at any moment. They needed to find a more private space, and they
needed to find it soon.
“This way,” Jay said as he led Mandy by the hand down the hall. She
almost had to skip to keep up on her bad foot, but she didn’t care. She’d
wanted Jay since the moment she’d first seen him. It wasn’t the best time and
they both knew it, but their passion and need had clouded their reason. Mandy
needed him and she didn’t care what the consequences might be.
When Jay found the room he was looking for, he wasted no time in
pulling Mandy into it and kissing her as he lifted her on to a desk. He kicked
the door closed behind him and pulled off the shirt he’d put on after the match
before he found the light so that they could see each other in the small room.
With the light on, Mandy let