64

Sahara and Isis made their way out of the locker room, looking for Candy and Slade, but the couple was nowhere to be seen.

When a hysterical crying followed by hiccups echoed down the hall, Isis pulled Sahara along. “It’s Candy. She’s really upset.”

“I hope she’s okay.”

Slade walked past them with his head hung low and his hands shoved in his gym short pockets. He looked like he had ripped his heart out. Tears threatened to escape the corners of his eyes, clearly worried. “When she’s ready to talk, I’ll be in the ring. Unless you two want to tell me what’s going on.”

Isis looked at her friend and back at Slade. “She didn’t tell you?”

“She’s too upset. She asked me to leave her alone because she didn’t want me to see her cry. I didn’t want to push,” Slade said, shifting back and forth, staring at his feet.

Sahara sighed, reaching to rub his arm to comfort him. “It’s not our place to tell. Candy is having a hard time right now. I hate to say it, but... I think she is ready to give up on wrestling.”

Slade looked up, desperate and pleading. “Give up? No, she can’t. It’s her dream. She’s worked so hard.”

Isis took his hand while patting his shoulder. “She’s scared, Slade. Candy has a lot of things in her personal life that is awfully hard for her to talk about. Just give her time.”

Gage stepped up behind them. “What’s going on? Isis, love. I’ve been —”

Stopping mid-sentence, he looked down at her hand in Slade’s. His face instantly showed his jealousy, as always. She was his, and no one touched his girl.

Slade glanced over to his long-time friend and saw the look in his eyes. He rolled his eyes as he pulled his hand back before Gage hit him. “Bro. I’m not hitting on your girl. Calm down, you possessive weirdo. She’s trying to help me with something. Candy’s upset and I didn’t know how to help her.”

“Where is Candy? Why aren’t you tethered?” Gage was possessive, but also very protective. Especially regarding his friends.

Isis went to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his chest to calm him. “Remember what Candy told you a while back? Gage, she’s crying. She needs some time to herself.”

Gage looked around. “Where is she?” His friend was hurting, and he was the only man Candy had ever confided in. He would protect her if need be. “Is that asshole here? Do I need to kick someone’s ass?”

Slade looked confused. “Who?”

Isis tugged on Gage’s t-shirt to say, “Gage, no. Slade doesn’t know. Don’t make things worse.”

Sahara tried to fight back tears, wanting to tell Slade everything. Her best friend was hurting, and she wanted to help, too. They all did. “Slade, there are things you don’t know about Candy. We’re the only ones who do. Something happened during her first week here. Gage helped her. Just leave it at that. Please,” Sahara pleaded.

Slade looked to Gage, his mentor, asking, “Bro? What’s going on? Is Candy in trouble? She was going to talk to me and just broke down in my arms, crying. She asked to have a few minutes alone. I won’t push her back into those cuffs until she can calm down. If you want to rat us out to Davis, go ahead. I’ll take the heat for not being cuffed but this stupid publicity stunt means nothing if she’s hurting.”

Gage shook his head in agreement. “No one’s going to tell. It goes no farther than this conversation. To keep things fair, I’ll give you a half-hour to let her calm down. We are the only ones in the arena, so we will keep it to ourselves. Listen, Slade. I know it worries you. When Candy is ready to tell you, she will. I’m sorry, but we all promised to respect her privacy. My advice, as your friend; don’t push her. Let her come to you. For now, just be there for her.”

Slade shook his head, agreeing, and looked back toward her cries. It was clear to all of them the worry that consumed him. Unbeknownst to everyone, Gage and Slade had been confiding in each other about their struggles, sharing their genuine feelings about the woman they cared for. Gage was starting on the right track with Isis, and he wanted the same happiness for Slade, too.

They all dispersed, and Slade sat down on the floor, waiting for her to come back. Flipping the cuffs in his hand, he leaned his head against the cool brick wall. The urge to drown his worries in his old ways consumed him. Just a drink or one pill flooded his mind. When he was high, he didn’t have to think. He didn’t have to feel.

Then the look of pain in Candy’s eyes flooded his thoughts. The urge to use again, to dull his pain, dissipated. He would stay clean; for her. He was two years sober, and he wouldn’t give in to his old demons. Whatever was going on, he would be strong for her. If that was his motivation to stay clean, it was a good one. She was worth the fight.

Candy slowly walked up the hallway and sat next to him on the cold arena hallway floor. He watched her take the cuff and place it back on her wrist in silence. Laying her head on his shoulder, they sat without a word for some time.

“When you’re ready to talk, I’m here for you.” Slade kissed her temple.

“I know. I just can’t right now. Slade? Will you hold me?”

Giving a reassuring smile, he kissed her tenderly before pulling her onto his lap. “You never have to ask.”

They sat for a long time, just holding each other. Sounds of the cleaning crew down the hall and people setting up for the night’s show in the distance were the only sound filling the empty halls.

“I want to go home.”

Slade leaned his head on hers, asking, “Are you leaving me already?”

“No. I’m going to stay. I have to, for you and me. I just miss my mom. I can’t see her until after Summer Mayhem. I haven’t been home since I started at IWX.”

“You still want to finish out the week with me and these stupid handcuffs?”

“Yes. Someone has to get that belt away from Gage.” She giggled. “Retribution doesn’t back down from a fight, right?”

He smiled, giving her a big hug. “Damn right we don’t. Candy, I have something I’ve been wanting to ask you. Would you like to be my date for the Summer Mayhem wrestler’s ball? It’s the night before the big show and I know we’ll be tethered. I just thought a proper date would be nice. Rather than because of them forcing us to be together. I don’t have a date and I was thinking maybe —”

“Yes! I would love to be your date.”

Slade felt his heart leap in his chest. “You will?”

“Yes. I will. Not like we can have any other dates. It would be creepy. We have to be together, anyway, right?”

“Oh. So, you said yes because of this stupid challenge.” Slade looked away, disappointed.

“No. I said yes because I would love to be your date for the party, even if we weren’t tethered together. I like you, Slade. I know you are having trouble believing that, but I do. I just can’t be in a relationship right now. It wouldn’t be fair to you. Things are just really hard for me and I need you to understand.”

“Candy, please talk to me. If something is wrong, let me help you.”

“I wish you could. I don’t think anyone can help me. People think we have this perfect life as wrestlers. Sometimes being a celebrity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, huh Slade?”

“No, Sprinkles, it isn’t.”

“I will tell you when the time’s right. I want to focus on us, and not on my problems. You are the only good thing going on in my life and I want to keep it that way.”

“I feel the same way about you.”

“There is one thing we need to talk about.” She adjusted herself to look him in the eyes saying, “Your drug problem.”

Slade blinked back the shock from his face. “What about it? I’m not still doing it.”

“I know. I need to know how long you’ve been clean. It’s part of the reason I am worried about us getting close.”

“Two years. I can’t lie. I had a couple of setbacks. For a year, I’ve done nothing to threaten my sobriety. I promise. That’s far behind me.”

“How did it start?”

Slade leaned his head back on the wall, trying to remember. “Well, it started when I got injured a while back. I was out for a long time.”

“Your knee injury? When you and Dawson Inferno were in the ring and he fell on your knee? He was my friend at Wrestling Masters. He felt terrible about that botched spot.”

“Yes. It was before he and the Tyson brothers left IWX. It scared him that he could’ve ended my career. I was on a lot of heavy pain meds after surgery. Like many people on the road, the drinking was a little out of hand too. Partying and getting high was just part of life for a lot of us back then. I was young and the girls and parties were fun. Gage was never much into that stuff, and he took me under his wing. He told me if I kept hanging with the side of the IWX roster who were only there for the chicks and parties, that I would never be a star. He had this over-the-top bachelor life going on before he met Isis, but he was never an addict like me.”

“He’s right. Just look around us. The ones who do that constant party life are the mid-carders or jobbers stuck without better opportunities. Davis will never give them a push.”

“Right, and I was right there with them. After I got hurt, I got loaded almost every night when I returned. Gage, Colt, and Davis forced me into rehab. That was before they cracked down on drug testing. After I got in the fight with Cyrus, Davis said if I didn’t stay clean he was going to fire me. I had hit rock bottom so took the help. Anyway, why are you asking me about this?”

“If we are going to do this, I need your word that life is over. I have never done those things, and I don’t intend on having someone I care for being part of that. I deserve better. You deserve better.”

“I promise. That is far behind me. I still go to meetings and I take my sobriety seriously. That part of my life is behind me now. I would never make you have to deal with the old me. You’re too special to me to risk it.”

Candy hugged him around the neck with a hum. “I believe you. Now can we go to eat lunch? I think I have a California roll calling my name.”

Slade chuckled. “Now who has the addiction?”

“Candy and sushi don’t count.” She stood, pulling him from the floor. “I’m hungry. Move it!”