Unfiended

Chapter 2

Air. There were a lot of things Seth needed in that moment—Becky, normalcy, for Becky to be herself again—but fresh air sounded like a good start. When one of the roadies mentioned seeing Becky and Roman head towards an exit, Seth thought he might be able to accomplish two things at once: find Becky and clear his head a little bit. He would have preferred to do the latter before the former, but he knew time wasn't on his side. Bayley and Sasha would be—or at least should be—taking Charlotte to see Hunter and get medical help, so if he wanted any unguarded answers from Becky, he would need to get them quickly.

Luckily, between Becky's bright hair and Roman's impressive height, they weren't hard to spot. They were sitting on a parking barrier by one of the equipment trucks, the night cool enough that their breath rose in foggy curls. Normally Becky would be shivering if it was cold enough to see her breath, but she seemed curiously fine with the chill. As Seth neared, Roman shot him a weighty look. "Hey, man. Becks and I thought we'd get some air." His voice reminded Seth of the tone people used with wild animals they were trying to calm or around children when they were discussing something the kids weren't supposed to know.

Seth glanced down at Becky and tried to do a quick assessment without being obvious. Her eyes still held a hint of amber, but he thought that could just be a trick of the parking lot lighting. She kept picking at her nails one by one, starting with the pinky and working her way to her thumb before starting over again, so he crouched in front of her and held her hands. "Hey, babe. Everything okay?"

Becky nodded easily. "Yeah. Roman just asked if I wanted some air." She glanced up at Roman, who was standing within arm's reach, and smiled. "I wasn't sure where you were, or we would have asked you to join us."

A small shudder tightened Seth's shoulders. After all the mess with the Firefly Fun House, innocent phrases like join us had become inexplicably ominous. "I ran into Bayley," he continued slowly, watching Becky's face for any sign of a shift in mood. "She said you and the other Four Horsewomen were making a Happy Birthday video for Sasha's brother."

Becky nodded again. "Bayley and Sasha did a Happy Birthday rap for him and then Sasha left him a message. . . ." Her eerie calm started to falter then, and she frowned as she looked down at one of the parking lot's faded painted lines.

Seth looked up at Roman, who shrugged helplessly. "Did you and Char hang out after? I know you haven't seen her for a while." He eased closer and squeezed her hands gently.

"Sasha left him a message," Becky repeated, nodding as if confirming something with herself.

"And then what?" Seth ran his thumbs across her knuckles slowly, more to steady himself than to help her refocus.

Becky's eyebrows dipped, eyes darting back and forth as she thought. "Sasha left him a message. . . ." She started blinking jerkily, putting Seth in mind of a scratched CD, unable to move past the point of damage. Then she lurched forward so suddenly that only Roman's quick reflexes kept her from falling to the asphalt. "Then Roman came and asked if I wanted to get some fresh air before the show." She glanced up at him as if looking for confirmation.

Seth and Roman shared a look over Becky's head, interrupted by Seth's phone. He pulled it from his pocket and grimaced when he saw Hunter's number on the screen. "Give me a minute. I need to take this." As he turned away, he saw Roman sit beside Becky and start talking about his kids. "Hey, Hunter, listen—"

"No, Rollins. You listen." Hunter's tone was all business. "Where's Becky?"

He briefly thought about bringing up the fact that he and Becky weren't attached at the hip, but he knew that was a moot point. "I'm with her right now. Roman brought her outside for some fresh air—"

"Inside. Now. My office." Hunter's curt orders were punctuated by a harsh beep as he disconnected.

Seth took a deep breath before turning back to Becky and Roman. "Hey. That was Hunter." He shot Roman a quick look before continuing. "He wants to talk to us before the show, so we should probably head in. . . ."

Roman wrapped his arm around Becky's shoulders and squeezed. "C'mon, Irish. Good thing you're short: You can hide behind one of us and Hunter probably won't even realize you're there." He stood and offered his hand to her, but Becky seemed transfixed by the darkness beyond the dented panel of the fence. "Becks? Something wrong?"

Becky stood on her own and shook her head. "I think I forgot to wish Sasha's brother a happy birthday." When she looked up at Seth, her gaze was achingly innocent. "Do you think she'd do another take?"

A chill crept down Seth's spine that had nothing to do with the weather. "We can ask her. But we should probably see what Hunter wants first. You know he hates to be kept waiting."

The three of them headed inside then, Seth and Roman exchanging fraught looks while Becky kept glancing back at the dented fence; Seth had to grab Becky's elbow so she didn't tumble over one of the parking barriers. There was no way she could wrestle safely tonight, and with no answers for tomorrow and beyond, Seth started to worry that he might not lose Becky to another guy or even his own insecurities, but to herself.