Wicked Game

Chapter 5

Most wrestlers loved the days between shows. As much as they loved their craft—and they had to, if they were going to put up with the hectic schedules and lack of outside social lives for years on end—having some downtime away from the ring was essential. Rhea normally loved it too: it gave her a chance to play with her dog, call her family back in Australia, and hang out with friends who had nothing to do with the wrestling business—and usually sneak in another tattoo every once in a while. Waiting for the next house show this time, however, was almost unbearable. She had called Liv almost immediately after getting her note, but they both agreed that it was best to wait to talk so they had a chance to cool down and think about things. That was fine with Rhea—for about half a day. She had spent the rest of the time overthinking just about everything and annoying the hell out of Damian.

"It's between you and Liv," he had insisted. Hashing out things out with Damian had been much easier, as Rhea had suspected. They had been too close for too long to let much of anything come between them and after some reluctant humility on Rhea's part and grudging honesty on Damian's, they had both called each other idiots in a more-or-less affectionate way and decided to to put the incident behind them. Rhea hadn't entirely forgotten, of course—seeing one of her closest friends pretending to fuck her ex was a rather indelible image—but she was trying not to obsess over it. "I mean, I know I was part of the plan and I already apologized for that, but the heavy lifting? That's on you and her. Finn and I can't fix that for you two."

"You could... mediate," Rhea had countered. She and Liv were both rational enough that they shouldn't need a referee to have a civilized discussion, but Rhea was secretly hoping for a voice of reason, someone to shove them together, tell them to get over themselves already, and tell them both to smarten up. That wasn't Damian's style, though.

"You planning on kicking up a fuss?" Damian had only sounded slightly exasperated. Most of his tone was coloured with amusement, and Rhea had imagined him smirking slightly, thinking that the ill-advised plan was actually paying off. "You gonna flip a table like it's a contract signing or something?"

"No." What Rhea needed, though she didn't want to admit it, was someone to save her from her own stubborn pride. If she thought of it in a completely subjective sense, she probably would have done something similar if she thought it would help a friend. She had pretended to be Damian's girlfriend more than once when he needed a cover story and she would no doubt do it again. "I just don't want to fuck things up again, you know? I've already fucked up one and a half times—"

"One and a half? You're counting halves?" Damian had laughed. "Rhea, if you're counting halves, it probably counts as a full point. Just be honest. Be honest with her and yourself. Yeah, Liv shouldn't have done what she did, sure, but things wouldn't have gotten to that point if you hadn't been such an ass. It goes both ways, but nothing's going to change unless you get your shit figured out first. Work on that before you see her," he had advised, "and things will go smoother."

Rhea certainly hoped so. She had spent the past two days reflecting, being brutally honest with herself. She had talked with her sister and got some refreshing advice from her, along with some friends back in Australia. By the time the day she was meeting Liv rolled around, Rhea wasn't completely calm and confident, but she had achieved a measure of contentment. They had both screwed up and all she could do was own up to her part and promise to do better. Whether Liv accepted that or not was out of her hands. All she could do was be open, be honest, and be respectful.

And it was going to hurt. She knew it was. Honesty always did to some degree, especially when love was involved. It's one of those "It's going to get worse before it gets better" things, Rhea told herself as she went up to Finn's suite. They had a house show that night and Finn had suggested meeting after, but both Liv and Rhea wanted to get things out of the way ahead of time. Backstage would be awkward either way, but at least if they spoke beforehand, the conversation wouldn't be overshadowing their every move.