Nerdy Girl Nation (Nerdy Girl #1) (26 page)

Rob and Chance entered the backstage area to find several of their fellow wrestlers ready to congratulate them. The only person Rob wanted a glimpse of at the moment was Emma.

After a few moments, he caught sight of Emma with Aaron. She wrung her hands together and nodded to Aaron when she spoke.

Al and Ben were there to catch every moment, but Rob decided he would take the risk. He grabbed Chance by the arm and pulled him over to Aaron and Emma with him.

“Congratulations, gentlemen,” Aaron offered with a pat on Rob’s back. “I didn’t get to catch the end of the match, but I heard it was a fantastic victory.”

Chance smacked Rob’s bare chest. “This one got Vinnie on the ropes then jumped and pushed him back with both feet on his chest. When Vinnie bounces back, Bobby grabs Vinnie in a headlock and slams him to the mat. Easy three count.”

“Ah, the old Diamond Cutter gets ‘em every time.” Aaron shook his hand. “We’ll have more time to talk later, but Miss McLean and I have an announcement to make.”

Rob gazed into Emma’s eyes and saw turmoil there. He tried to silently communicate with her his worry but didn’t get a chance. A few seconds later, she and Aaron were on their way out to the ring.

“What’s going on?” Chance asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure as hell going to find out.”

Aaron’s music played as the two of them made their way to the ring. Emma’s mask slipped into place and the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile.

Just get through today.

Her motto ran on a loop in her mind the entire walk to the ring. When the two of them were in the ring with microphones in hand, the butterflies in her stomach seemed to turn into vicious bees stinging her in a constant steady stream.

“Only one match left tonight, but we wanted to address what happened earlier tonight in the Bombshell’s tag team match,” Aaron said and nodded for Emma to continue.

“Unfortunately, the injury Peaches sustained at the end of her match will keep her from competing in the Bombshell Tag Team title match with Cherry on Sunday.” Emma heard the sound of the fan’s hearts breaking.

“I gave Cherry and Peaches two options,” Aaron announced.

“To forfeit the match and letting The Ramona’s fight instead,” Emma said. The crowd booed and screamed in protest.

“Or,” Aaron spoke up. “Cherry could choose another partner.”

A collective hush settled over the crowd when Aaron stretched his pause out for several seconds.

“Cherry has informed me of her choice and her new partner has agreed to participate in the match.”

This was it. Emma felt like she would throw up any second. She swallowed hard and kept the false smile on her face.

“Ladies and gentlemen, making her in ring debut this Sunday night at Breaking Rules with Cherry in the Bombshell Tag Team Championship match is our own . . . Emma MacLean.”

The sound of thousands of gasps hit Emma’s ears before an uproar of applause soared through the arena. The crowd’s instant support took a large weight off Emma’s shoulders.

The rest of the segment was a blur, but she arrived backstage with the crowd’s continued praise. The awaiting chair held her weight as she collapsed when she stepped into the backstage area.

Someone thrust a bottle of water into her hand and sat down beside her.

“We can do this Emma,” Cherry whispered and took Emma’s hand in her own. “We’ll get started tomorrow. I’ve got faith in you.”

“You’re right. No problem. We can do this.” Emma twisted the cap off the bottle and took a swig of the cool water.

She almost spit when she saw Betty and Wendy approach them.

“Just because you’re the boss, don’t mean we’re gonna go easy on you,” Betty uttered with obvious disgust.

Emma stood and looked Betty straight in the eye. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

“So we got it all straight. When you go down on Sunday, no hard feelings.” Betty pasted a wicked grin on her face.

“Let the best Bombshell win.” Emma kept eye contact with Betty and prayed her confidence wouldn’t slip again.

Wendy pulled Betty back after a moment and Cherry put her arm around Emma. The pair walked to Emma’s dressing room and away from the cameras.

“What’s going on?”

Both Emma and Cherry were surprised to see Rob in Emma’s dressing room.

“I’m fighting on Sunday. Aaron wanted me in the ring eventually, but Peaches’ injury sped up the timetable.” Emma’s voice wavered a bit, but she kept her composure.

“I wouldn’t have asked her if I didn’t think she could do it.” Cherry shot Rob a glare.

“Oh, I know she can,” Rob exclaimed.

“You do?” Emma and Cherry asked at the same time.

“I’ve seen you. I know you’re ready, but do you?” Rob lifted one eyebrow with his question.

Emma took a moment to absorb everything. Rob supported her. Cherry was sure they’d win. Bill told her years ago she was born to be in the ring. Aaron was behind the whole mess a hundred percent. Most of all, the fans seemed excited to see her in action.

She closed her eyes and took a deep cleansing breath. “I can do this.”

“That’s my girl.” Rob grabbed her behind the neck and brought her into a ferocious kiss, taking away her cleansing breath in an instant.

“I knew it!” Cherry shouted and clapped.

Emma pulled back and placed her forehead on Rob’s bare shoulder, her hand on his sweaty hip. “You’re in so much trouble.”

“I don’t care. I’ll make it up to you later.” Rob pressed a kiss into her hair and pulled her into his arms.

Cherry shook her head. “I can’t wait to see how this is gonna play out.”

“Me too.” Emma kissed the side of Rob’s neck and squeezed him tighter.

“They can’t go in.” Aaron’s assistant pointed to Al and Ben.

Emma turned away from Aaron’s office door and studied the woman’s expression. She seemed a tad terrified, but she didn’t appear to be backing down.

“Mr. Russell said that any issues discussing private company policy were not to be filmed,” the woman said with as much confidence she could muster.

Emma let her sweat for a few additional seconds before nodding and removing her mic pack. She handed it off to the guys and entered Aaron’s office.

“What’s this all about?” Emma questioned and shut the door. It was then she found a furious Rob seated on the couch.

“Thank you for joining us, Miss MacLean. Please sit.” Aaron pointed to the couch where Rob sat.

Confused about what the three of them needed to speak about she hesitated, but when Aaron lifted his brow at her slight defiance, she sat next to Rob.

“As you both know, it is company policy for all wrestlers to provide a urine sample after they are out with an injury.”

Emma held up her hand to interrupt. “If this is about Rob, he gave a sample and I watched while the tech did the initial test. Everything was negative.”

“Yes, the initial test was, but after further testing, Mr. Breyer’s sample came back positive for Methamphetamine.”

“And it’s complete and utter fucking bullshit!” Rob raged. He jumped up and paced while pulling at his hair with one hand.

Emma lost her voice at the sound of Rob’s anger. She felt like she was in a parallel universe or something. Why in the world would Rob abuse drugs after being nine years sober? The answer was crystal clear to her. He wouldn’t.

Emma’s hands shook, but she tried to keep her voice even. “This has to be a mistake. Rob wouldn’t touch meth or anything like it.”

“Oh, he knows that.” Rob turned back to point at Aaron. “Doesn’t mean that he’s not suspending me until further testing can be done.”

“What? No!” Emma stood in outrage herself. “He and Chance have to fight at Breaking Rules.”

“Emma, it is per company policy. You know it. The bright side of this is Rob had a random drug test less than thirty days ago and it was clean. Plus, he has never had a positive test before. I think something is going on here, but until we get additional testing done, my hands are tied.” The wrinkle in Aaron’s usually smooth brow conveyed his worry over the ordeal.

“Take my blood, hair, spit. Hell, I’ll even jizz in a cup if you want me to. Jesus Christ!” Rob groaned and dropped down on the couch.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. I will take you to a different lab. I’ve already contacted the director and I’m assured she will oversee the testing personally.” Emma sensed there was something Aaron wasn’t saying.

“What else?”

Aaron turned to meet her stare and she gave her own brow lift. Her assistant in LA had dubbed it as her don’t-fuck-with-me look.

“Per policy, Rob is not allowed to have contact with anyone in the company until I inform him of the results.”

Emma felt like she had been kicked in the chest. She knew what that meant and so did the men in the room. No contact between Emma and Rob.

“How long?” Emma said without thinking.

“Forty-eight hours,” Aaron responded without pause.

Emma sank down and sat on the edge of the couch. Two days? It wasn’t much time. They went twelve years, but that was before. Now, more than two waking hours without him seemed like an eternity. Two days would place them at Thursday. With a negative result, there would be plenty of time to get Rob to LA for Breaking Rules.

“I’ll give you a few minutes and then I’ll go with Rob to the lab.”

Emma felt her head nodding but didn’t notice Aaron slipping from the room.

“This is bullshit, just like you said. I hate it, but Aaron’s right about the policy.”

Rob threaded his fingers through her hair and brought her lips to his. The kiss started off rough, tongues thrusting and chests pressing hard against each other. Then Rob tapered off to slow and sensual kisses, the kind that made her thighs warm and her bra too tight.

His lips smiled against hers. He pulled back and caught her gaze. “When they have taken all my bodily fluids and everything comes up negative, I will reward your faith in me.”

A quiver of her Kegel muscles told her she would be using them a lot more once those test results came in.

Kick.

Jab.

Punch.

Slap.

Pull.

Push.

Bounce.

Jump.

Pin.

Over and over and over.

Emma’s body had been pushed to the brink and beyond. Cherry was right there with her and Lazlo in an attempt to make every move perfect. For the first time in her adult life, Emma felt like she wouldn’t need her mask anymore.

“Holy shit, girl! You should’ve joined up years ago.” Cherry lay flat on the mat after Emma pinned her again.

Emma rolled off Cherry and let her ache soaked muscles rest for a bit.

“I was kind of busy.”

Cherry let out a hardy laugh. “Yeah, jet-setting with a billionaire. Rough.”

“The job wasn’t a picnic. Millions of dollars at stake every day. One keystroke could kill an entire deal. The pressure at times was unbelievable.”

Emma remembered one of her biggest deals where nine hundred and sixty million dollars was on the line. A few signatures on the dotted lines and the months of stress were over. Her commission was nothing to sniff at either.

“But you’re loaded now, right?” Cherry pulled herself up to sit.