11

Back at her hotel room later that day, she paced the floor. Looking down, she saw Colt’s leather jacket left on the floor behind the door. Picking it up, she smelled the leather and the woodsy smell of his cologne. She loved his scent. Slightly smiling, she caught herself before that feeling of longing took over.

“No. Holly. Stop it. Focus. Davis is playing you and Retribution like fools. Also, trying to end Slade’s come back. You can’t let this happen.”

She knew Davis wasn’t stupid enough to get rid of Slade. He was too much of a draw with fans. For some reason they wanted to get control of Colt. Presumably to get his crowd following to sway in The Alliance direction. That would mean more money for those involved in that faction. So far, The Alliance was full of mid-card talent. No big name draws. Holly thought that must be why Davis was doing all this. He couldn’t have his own team jobbing out to the top stars.

Talking to herself, she tried to figure out what to do from here. “Holly play it cool. In the meantime, I won’t let Colt beat me tonight. Stop thinking like that. He is just a stupid guy. You had sex. So what? It’s just… sex. No. Forget that. That belt is yours. I just hope if I win, I don’t have to fight my brother. If I have to fight Wraith, I might as well lay down in the middle of the ring and let him pin me.”

She paced the floor, biting her fingernails in deep thought. “If I can beat Colt at all. He’s pretty powerful. Damn it. Why does he have to be so sexy? And he’s not that bad. None of the Retribution is. They are great guys. But now they all hate my guts. Colt probably really hates me.”

A knock came on the door and Holly went hesitantly to open it. “Oh. Hey, Cy. Come on in.”

“You’re going against Colt tonight?” Cyrus sat on the bed, rubbing his hands together nervously. He didn’t seem happy.

“You heard?” She asked as she straightened the pillows on the bed.

“The entire roster knows. Colt has been back at the stadium throwing a freaking fit. He finally calmed down and barricaded himself in his hotel room until showtime. He knows you’re tough. He won’t let you just take that belt. And since you both hate each other…”

He stopped in mid-sentence when noticing a used condom wrapper on the floor. Looking back over to the chair in the corner, he saw the leather jacket.

“Whose jacket is that?” Cyrus’s voice deepened.

Holly followed his eyes to what he was looking at. Then it was. Proof of what she had done.

“Crap. Cy, it’s not what you think.” Cyrus got up, and she tried to calm him. “Cyrus, stop!”

“That’s Colt’s jacket. I’m going to kill that son of a bitch! I warned him!”

He shoved Holly out of the way, taking off down the hall to Colt’s room. Holly tried to stop him, but he was far stronger than she was.

“Cyrus, stop. Please! Don’t do this.”

She put her hands on his chest, trying to get him to stop. He swatted her away, pounding on Colt’s door.

Colt opened the door and saw Cyrus’s face was red with anger.

“I told you to not touch my sister.”

WHAM!

Cyrus hit Colt in the face, and they fought in the hallway, rolling around blow-by-blow. Holly tried to separate them to no avail. With the pounding commotion against the walls, everyone on the hotel floor heard them.

Wraith with his friends, Gage Stone and Jacob Justice, had been playing cards in the next room and heard the fighting. They ran out and separated the two.

Wraith stood in between them asking, “What’s going on here?”

Cyrus and Colt both looked at Holly.

She rolled her eyes with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest like a spoiled brat. “Nothing.”

Cyrus shook his head in disbelief. “Nothing? You two are sleeping together!”

Colt glared at her, wiping the blood from his lip. “Don’t worry. It will never happen again. Right, Holly? Quite sure she is incapable of affection toward anyone. She doesn’t know how to treat people. Hateful heartless bitch! See you in the ring. I’m not letting you take my title.”

He spat the blood from his mouth onto the floor and walked down the hall, away from them all.

Wraith stood for a minute just looking over the scene. He grabbed Holly by the back of her shirt and moved her to her room.

“HEY! Stop it! Let me go!” she yelled.

Cyrus following behind, almost seeing red.

“Get in there! What the hell is going on?” Wraith asked, furious with what he had witnessed.

“Nothing.” She looked embarrassed, trying to avoid eye contact.

“NOTHING! You’re going to sit there and lie to my face with a used condom wrapper laying on the floor and Colt’s jacket on that chair?”

“It was a mistake, okay? He hates me. It won’t happen again.”

She looked away with her lip trembling. Wraith was scary even to his sister.

Wraith knew her too well. Something wasn’t right. “What did you do, Holly?”

“What I always do. Fuck them and forget them. Better him than me. I just beat him to the punch.” She looked up, glaring at her oldest brother.

“What?” He was getting angrier by the minute, hearing his little sister talk like that.

Cyrus rolled his eyes. “She’s bluffing. She hasn’t even had sex before.”

“Yes, I have. Lots of times.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Well… I… Colt and I had sex. Right after, I told him to get the fuck out. He’s all butt hurt about it. He can go cry to his sisters in Retribution about it later. Freakin’ pussies.” She flopped back onto the bed, crossing her arms over her chest with a bratty pout.

It disappointed Wraith to hear those words. As much as she talked big, he knew she was not a girl to sleep around.

“Colt isn’t just some man whore that fucks every woman he sees. Maybe in his early years he might have, sure. But not for years now. He’s a good guy. If he was interested in you, it wasn’t just for cheap sex to him. I’ve known him long enough to know that. Hell, I don’t think I ever really remember him ever being that way.”

“So what? Because we had sex, that means I have to fall in love and live happily ever after?”

“No, but you don’t have to be such a pain in the ass to everyone either. You can’t use people like that, Holly.” Wraith knew she was hard, but this was just heartless.

Cyrus paced the floor. “He used her too, Wraith.”

“Bullshit, brother. You know Colt better than that. He may be cocky and likes to mess with Davis to get a rise out of him, but he’s not a bad person. You know as well as I do how much of a pain in the ass Holly can be. Ever since that douchebag, circus freak Adam dumped you, you’ve been acting like a fucking psychopath. Get over it, Holly. People break up all the time. That doesn’t mean you have to turn into some raging lunatic because of it,” Wraith scolded.

Cyrus nodded. “He’s right.”

“Cyrus! You’re taking his side? I loved Adam. He said we would be together forever. He dumped me because I...”

Wraith shook his head realizing why his sister was hurting. “Because you wouldn’t have sex with him.”

Cyrus stood up, getting irritated. “Well, that was a year ago and you’re still dwelling over it. You think he is sitting around crying over you?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t even care about him anymore. But why should I let someone get the chance to hurt me again? Don’t fall in love. You don’t get hurt.” Holly rolled over, throwing a pillow over her face so they couldn’t see her crying.

Wraith stood over her, scowling. “I want you to apologize to Colt.”

“No way!” Holly sat up. Seeing the look on both her brothers’ faces, she grunted. “Fine.”

“One more thing.” Wraith crossed his arms, looking down his nose at her. “Take a dive tonight.”

Holly’s eyes got wide. “No! Why? I can’t lose tonight. Do you know what that would do? I would lose all leverage with Retribution that I gained so far.”

“That’s your problem.” He leaned over to her, looking her in the eyes. “For Slade.”

She looked over to Cyrus who was shaking his head yes.

It confused Holly how they found out. “You knew?”

“Why do you think we choose you? Stick it to Davis and get some payback for Slade and Candy. I know he means well by whatever it is he thinks he’s doing for the business. With Candy being pregnant, it’s not the time for these games. She doesn't need the extra stress, and neither does Slade.”

“How did you find out?”

“I overheard him a few weeks ago trying to plot something. I figured by the way you were acting today at lunch you found out too. Davis wants Colt to lose the belt. He’ll try to cheat to help you win. Slade took a dive for you once. It’s time you do for him. He went out on a limb to keep you from getting caught with those drugs in LA you were carrying for Adam. You don’t even do drugs but were trafficking for that loser. Slade got busted for you. Thankfully, he didn’t get jail time. That jackass you were so in love with was bad for you and you know it. That relationship almost cost Slade his career. You were always like a little sister to him.”

“I can’t do that, Wraith.” Holly dropped her head.

“You will or you will have me to deal with.”

Cyrus added, “Me too.”

Wraith and Cyrus walked out, leaving her to only her thoughts. She knew they would hold true to that threat if she didn’t do that right thing.

Walking over to the chair, she picked up Colt’s jacket, hugging it tightly. She didn’t want to hurt Colt. Maybe Wraith was right. She needed to get past this hate for men she held. She also had to figure out a way to make Retribution trust her and help Slade.

A few years before, Slade flew out to LA to help her. More than once. He had a baby on the way and a new wife. This job was important to his new family. Candy, Slade’s wife, was becoming her friend through Isis, and she didn’t want her actions to hurt her either. Since her few weeks as IWX, she was feeling like she had her family back again and she was ruining it for all the wrong reasons.

Holly knew her brothers wouldn’t put her in this position if they didn’t think she could handle things.

She grabbed her bag and headed to the stadium. It was going to be hard, but she had to show Davis that the IWX roster wasn’t there for his sick amusement. She had a decision to make, and she had to make it fast.