Brightside | ✓

42 | blaze of glory

Eddie didn't like when the head honchos of the WBA called her in to chat. Especially after she'd spent time in jail. Even worse was when she woke up with a post-concussion syndrome headache pounding through her skull.

"Miss Yamaguchi, the board is ready for you."

Eddie had to wear heels. The sound of them clicking against the hardwood was enough to make her stomach churn with unease. A pencil skirt and sleeveless blouse she'd borrowed from her sister were cherries on the cake of fly-ridden shit she was likely to be served at the meeting. Where the skirt hugged her sister nicely it barely fit over Eddie's hips; August was taller than her but Eddie had more muscle to her. She was grateful she could sit without the zipper ripping. Hoped that the shirt—too big in the chest, too small in the shoulders—didn't tear down the back like she was Jennifer Walters transforming. It was hard to complain when August had given her a bed to sleep in since the night at the bar—letting her borrow nice clothes because she had a mild panic attack about going back to her own apartment was how her and her big sister had always been. Eddie caused problems and to the best of her ability, August fixed them. She didn't know how to explain anything that happened and all August did was hug her, tell her they could talk when she figured it out, and offer her some pyjamas to sleep in.

Last time she'd met with the board, every single member of it was present. Likely because she'd punched one of their employees as an employee in an extremely public setting. This time, only a couple members had done her the honour of flying out to San Francisco once news got out of her arrest. Which, because she was who she was, didn't take long. Hardly the night before Real Hollywood had the scoop and had posted footage taken by bar patrons' cell phones. None of that mattered to her when Axel hadn't spoken to her in days.

The three members who faced her greeted her like she was still in handcuffs.

"Ms. Yamaguchi, take a seat, please."

The four of them sat down and Eddie could feel the sweat on her palms as she knit her fingers together on her lap. She fought against the urge to crack her knuckles.

"We're assuming you know why you're here."

Eddie wanted to ask why but she knew that wasn't going to win her any brownie points. "I am."

"When your first..." A male member of the board cleared his throat in the middle of his sentence. "...incident occurred, we have it written here that you were told what would happen should another event like this take place, correct?"

"I—" Eddie looked at the three individuals. "This was a personal incident. Not at a WBA event."

"The individual who was hospitalized after this incident has filed a lawsuit against us for your reckless actions," he said.

"That'll never—How is it your fault?"

"We're not here to discuss the state laws for battery, Ms. Yamaguchi," the only woman at the table was stern, but far gentler than the men. "This arrest and the assault give the WBA a bad look. Especially when it's the second infraction for you in a short period of time."

"I can apologize—"

"They're calling for your removal from the WBA entirely," said the third person, another man.

"They can't—They're not the board."

"There's a system in place for when a member of the association requires discipline. You were read it last time, would you like it repeated?"