before he cheats | a.cole

thirty one

I show up to Full Sail University around two the next day. Apparently I'm on the card tonight and I'm fighting against Candice LeRae in a non-title opportunity match. I don't know why.

As I do my pre-match exercises, someone knocks on the door of my little locker room. Marina walks in. She says, "Hey."

"Hey," I say. "What's up?"

Marina closes the door and says, "I heard about your match tonight with Candice. Why are they doing that?"

I shrug and say, "Beats me. It's a non-title match so my title is safe for right now."

She laughs and sits on the couch. "I might come for your title one day after all this Britt Baker stuff is done," she says.

I stand up after stretching and say, "Good luck trying to take it from me."

Marina smiles.

We make small talk while I do my exercises. She joins in.

I say, "We should have a tag match together soon. The two of us against maybe Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez or something."

Marina nods and says, "I'm in. Tell me when and where."

"Definitely after I recover from the pay-per-view," I say. "I'll talk to Regal to get it set up."

Marina says, "Yay, I'm excited."

I smile and say, "Roderick and Adam can be at ringside for us. That'd be cool."

She nods and says, "That'd be awesome."

There's another knock on my door and I say, "Come in."

The door opens and Adam walks in, Roderick right on his heels. Roderick closes the door and smiles when he sees Marina.

Adam walks over to me and kisses the top of my head. "Hi, princess," he says. I smile up at him.

"Hi," I say, getting on my toes to kiss him gently. "Did you hear about my match against Candice tonight?"

He nods and says, "I'm excited to be at ringside for you. This is the one time a week until we're open about our relationship that I can show my affection toward you."

I smile and say, "Don't start anything with Johnny tonight. We both know he'll be at ringside for Candice."

Adam laughs and says, "Don't worry. But if he comes at me then I won't hesitate to superkick him."

I laugh.

Roderick says, "I've got a match tonight with Johnny so I don't know if he'll be at ringside. He might."

"He probably will be since him and Adam have a long history together," I say. "I mean, they won Rivalry of the Year last year."

Adam laughs and says, "I can deal with him whenever and wherever."

Roderick says, "I know you can."

I laugh and finish up my pre-match exercises.

I begin to get ready for my match and Marina says, "Once you're relationship is public, the four of us should go on a double date."

"That'd be fun," I say, putting my hair in a ponytail.

Adam and Roderick nod in agreement. Marina smiles and says, "Yay."

There's a knock on the door and it opens, revealing Bobby. He's not alone. He has Marina and Roderick's son with him. Bobby says, "His sitter dropped him off because he missed his parents."

Marina gets up and walks over to Bobby and Troy. "Hey, buddy," she says, taking Troy from Bobby.

Troy notices me in the room and he hides his face. I smile. Marina says, "It's okay. That's my friend. Can you say hi to Angelina?"