13

After the match with Colt, Wraith and Cyrus went to Holly’s side, taking her to their locker room. Once the locker room door shut, she pushed them away. She rushed across the room throwing herself down on a bench putting her head in her hands. She looked so broken.

Cyrus pulled up a folding chair and sat down next to her. Not saying anything, just patting her knee, hoping to give her some comfort. He looked up at Wraith, who looked pleased she made the right choice.

Wraith quickly grabbed his phone. “I’m going to go call Slade. He needs to know what’s going on.”

She looked up. “Don’t tell Colt. Please. I need to do this on my own. He thinks he hurt me and couldn’t go anymore.”

Wraith shook his head yes as he dialed Slade’s number.

Cyrus waited until Wraith was out of the room before he had a heart-to-heart with his baby sister. “Sis. Why did you sleep with him?”

“I don’t need a lecture, Cy.” Holly ran her hand through her long hair.

When she raised her head, he could see her eyes were red from holding back the tears.

“No lecture, Sis. I just want to know.” Cyrus sighed. “I hate seeing my little sister hurting.”

“I don’t know why I did it?” She looked up at the ceiling. “I think… I like him. I wanted him to be my first. I was sick of pretending to not be a virgin. I am sick of people hurting me and I’m sick of being the brunt of people’s jokes.”

“I thought so. How is this not getting hurt, little sister? Doing what you did to Colt just made sure you ended up hurt. You did it to yourself. I know you and Colt have been fighting since we brought you here. Wraith does too. We know about everything. The bars, the strip club. All of it. This is not you. Whatever is going on with you is going to cause you to self-destruct.”

“Cyrus, everyone hates me. Do you realize my only true friend is Isis? The people at the sideshow don’t even talk to me anymore. Candy and Sahara are nice, but we just met. They probably hate me now too because of what I did to Colt.”

“Well, the only one who can fix that is you. I know it’s difficult, Holly, but you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. You don’t need to fight to gain the respect you’re seeking. Respect is earned. Listen, talk to Colt. I think you will see you may have more friends than you realize if you’re more open to it.” He rubbed her head and left the room.

Opening the door Colt was standing there almost ready to knock. He dropped his hand and looked over Cyrus’ shoulder at Holly. Cyrus nodded to him, stepped to the side, leaving them alone to talk.

“Holly?” Colt stepped in.

She looked up at him. “What do you want?” She looked away, trying to hold back the pain she was feeling.

“I was just checking to see if you’re okay. Are you hurt?” Colt went over and sat next to her.

She let out a slight chuckle. “No. You’re kidding me, right? I’ve taken harder beatings than that. I think you were going a little soft on me.”

“So… you took a dive.”

She shook her head yes.

“I thought so. Why?”

“There is a lot you don’t know about my deal with Davis. I’m not ready to talk about it. I’m sorry about last night. I just got scared.” She looked over with tears forming in her eyes.

“Scared? Of what?” Colt leaned over, resting his elbows on his legs, and folded his hands. He couldn’t look her in the eyes. Not just yet. If he did, he would break.

“Being hurt. It felt so nice being with you. I just was afraid it would end. It always does. People never stay with me long. I guess you know I’m not easy to be around. So, I guess I figured it was easier to hurt you before you hurt me.” She dropped her head.

“You never gave me a chance to show you I wouldn’t hurt you. I’m sorry about earlier. The guys are too. I just talked to them about it and we know we upset you. Saying those things was wrong. I hate myself for saying it.”

Colt looked down at the floor, shuffling his feet nervously. He grabbed the chewing gum from his pocket and started chewing like a madman. Somehow it always soothed him. Right now, it was doing nothing but making him more agitated.

“Do you really think those things about me? I know you think I’m a psycho bitch. Do you… hate me?” She tried fighting herself to not let him see her cry. She hated anyone to see her cry because it made her feel weak. After years of being bullied, she learned that was just a way for them to target her more.

“No. I don’t hate you. Not really. I really wasn’t expecting what happened last night to happen. It wasn’t until we kissed in the limo I realized how much I wanted to be there with you. I just wish you weren’t so cold and angry all the time. I knew from the start that I thought you were attractive. When you’re not being combative, you’re cool to be around. The problem is, you never let that last too long before you want to argue or fight with someone. I get it was your job to put us in line, so to speak, but do you have to be so angry all the time?”

“Colt, you don’t understand. I never wanted to be like that to you and the guys. I hate to admit it, but I sort of always liked Retribution. I thought you guys were cool. I just had a job to do.” She giggled.

“Tell anyone that I’ll kick your butt.”

He gave a soft chuckle. “I get that it is why they brought you here. It’s your job. I’m talking about trying to kick the shit out of us. The guy at the bar, the five guys you went to jail over. The other times I heard Wraith complaining about bailing you out of jail for fighting. Why do you always have to be so mean?” Colt looked over with sad eyes, trying to get any understanding.

“I don’t know. I guess I was just so used to people being mean to me. I thought it would be easier if I just didn’t get close to people. When you’re bullied most of your life, you tend to not want to take any shit anymore. Then I grew up and men always think of me as an easy piece of ass. Even though I don’t sleep around. I’m not like that. Truth is, I hate it when people treat me like that.”

“Then why me? Why let what happened between us happen? You were a virgin, weren’t you?” Colt tried to understand.

“Yes… I guess… I trusted you. You’re different. As much as Davis and Sam tried to tell me otherwise, I’m seeing this group of great guys that normally would be my friends. The head of it all is the only man, other than my brothers, I feel is my equal. You don’t take any shit and don’t give any unless provoked. I know I tried to seduce you, to manipulate you. It’s part of how I was going to get you to do what I needed you to, for the job.”

“I noticed. I think you are sexy, but it didn’t feel right.”

“I quickly saw you were not like other guys. You really were not falling for it. Even though you got a little turned on.” She giggled, looking over at him. He just smiled. “In my head, I did it to get under your skin. Deep down, I just wanted to be near you. Wraith and Slade always told me you were a good guy. I just needed to see it myself to know for sure.”

“This bullshit of trying to beat us up all the time. Is that over? To be honest, I will not allow you to keep doing that. I would never hit you outside of that ring. I ask the same respect from you.” Colt was serious and his tone was clear.

“Promise. As long as you do nothing that constitutes of you deserving it.” She smirked, nudging him.

“I’m serious, Holly. You can’t keep going around beating people up. If you’re going to be my girlfriend, then I expect you to act a little more civil to people.” He looked seriously into her eyes.

“Whoa! Who said anything about girlfriend?” She sat back and looked at him wide-eyed.

“I would think by now you would realize I get what I want. What I want is you,” he stated, and he reached over to kiss her hand.

“You always get what you want, pretty boy?” She smiled a half-smile, teasing him.

“Sure do. How about we start over and I take you on a date? No dive bars. I don’t drink and it’s not my thing.”

“I’d like that. But first, there is something I need to do. We need to go get the guys and all of us go have dinner or something. I need to apologize to them too. I also have some things business-wise we need to talk about. My brothers need to be there. It’s important and you must trust me. I know you have no reason to, but I need you to do this. Okay?” Holly gently squeezed his hand.

“I’ll go get the guys. Get out of that ring gear and we can go.” He kissed her forehead as he stood up. “Holly, this better not be some kind of trick. I genuinely care about you. For the life of me, I don’t know why, but I do. Don’t make me regret trusting you.”

She shook her head yes. It was a chance at a new start.