chapter six: one of these things is NOT like the others

The laptop was open, sitting on the marble island where she'd served Ak breakfast what seemed like ages ago. Had it really only been a few weeks – she hesitated before bringing up Skype – no!

A month, she whispered, looking down again at the screen of her cell phone, at the rather one-sided conversation she'd woken up to.



Wild Bill Reed had been like an uncle to her, from the moment her actual blood uncle had become more like her father. He'd always been more critical of her than Bill had, certainly more gruff and particular than Layla had been. He'd never been like this, though. Tough love was one thing – she could handle that. She'd grown used to it. This felt far angrier and the more she obsessed over the words, the more she felt like breaking down and crying or just crawling back into bed, spooning Ak's pillow and waiting for him to get back.

"Put on your big girl panties," she chastised herself, making a farting noise with her mouth before letting out a sigh. "Okay. It's just a video call. Can't be all that bad.... so... let's get this over with," she mumbled, flipping the heavy, wet braid over her shoulder as she reached for the neon orange wireless mouse, flicking her status to ONLINE. "Then ice cream. All the ice cream in Boston."

Of course WBR was on. He'd probably been hovering in the office all day, waiting for her. She clicked on his name, waiting out the doooo-de-doot-doot-deee tones of the Skype dialer, bobbing her head to it. When Bill's face filled the screen, even pixelated from the slight lag, she twiddled her fingers in a sort of wave.

"Sorry. I had to go to the gym this morning to meet Lex – not like I could stand him up after I begged him to come so, like, called you first thing after I got back and showered and–" she ran out of air, pausing to take a breath, knowing that Bill was going to steamroll right over her by his expression.

"Kasey, I'm very disappointed." Those silver brows of his lowered over his eyes, hidden behind the rims of the glasses – he only wore them in the office and rarely when he knew someone could see him. Even though he was in his fifties now, he was still vain about appearances.

That, coupled with his opening salvo, made any rebuttal die on her lips. She bowed her head, breathing shallowly as she waited for him to lay into her.

"Well? What have you got to say for yourself?"

"It..." her mouth went dry, tongue sticking to the roof as she reached for the bottle of ice water on the table, "okay, it's honest-to-God not what you think. It's not... Fear and Loathing folded. So there aren't facilities I can use in Vegas. There was no point in staying – going back – you know? There's a good gym here in Boston. And if I end up... there's... there's talk of a second show. One that's completely local and I really think that might be where I should aspire to be and George is really mad at me because I keep ditching him with Mr. Gowan and I mean, it's a really good opportunity for me here in Brutal Force and Mr. Adler seems like he's pretty pumped about having me and he's got a good head for business and this is top level talent here instead of the wash out nobodies in FLW a-and there's really no need to worry because I'm–"

"Philadelphia." Bill's voice came out quietly, the cities ticked off on his thick fingers, "Fort Lauderdale. Vegas. Chicago. New York. Miami–"

She flinched, "to be fair, that last one didn't actually happen because... because of..." her chin quivered, making biting her lip a necessity until the urge to burst into tears subsided. Philly had been Ryan Mackenzie, the fellow married wrestler she'd ended up with while working for Rocky Mountain Pro. Fort Lauderdale had been the Kincaid brothers, Cody and Christian. She'd slept with both and legitimately dated neither. Vegas had been Lex Collins with a return later for Richard Specter and that single match she'd had in Sin City Wrestling. Chicago had been Kyle Kilmeade, the biggest piece of garbage in the business. New York had been Jason – she couldn't even remember his last name. Miami had been the dream. Disney and a house by the beach and someone who'd promised to love her forever – Hunter Donimari. He'd bailed a few months after her injury, claimed he'd honesty tried to make it work but that she was too difficult to be around.

Unlucky in love? Yeah, maybe just a little.

The last one hurt the most because he'd been the only one who'd actually lasted longer than a few weeks, a few months.

"Bill, you can't... that... it... it was an accident. Against Jenny Williams – Famularo now – I think Lex faced her in his very last SCW match and it's... she's..." her lips worked but no sound came out other than a pained squeak. It was still fresh, that wound barely healed even though fifteen months had passed. "That's unfair to bring up. You know it."

"It's reality, Kase. You know I'm not gonna sugarcoat–"

"Could at least not be a dick about it?" she countered, shaking her head. "This last year, you don't get it, okay? You don't understand a damn thing about this... about... about..." she faltered, her voice shaking and now it wasn't fear. No, that trepidation had been replaced with a cold anger that started to simmer in her guts.

"Let's talk about Minneapolis. I remember, Kasey. Remember you laid up in that hospital bed, wonderin' if you were even gonna pull through. You know what else I remember? You tellin' me not to worry. That everything was gonna be fine. That that boy was gonna marry you, was gonna look after you. I remember drivin' eight hours to pick you up at the bus station in the middle of the night not even a month later. I remember listenin' to you cryin' your eyeballs out for weeks on end. You might be doing your best to bury your goddamned head in the sand and blithely waltz into another catastrophe but Layla and I aren't–"

"Fuck off." The words came out cold, the tone more like the way Ak would talk down to an opponent than her usually meek, respectful tone. She felt a little thrill at the look of shock on Bill's face, knowing she probably wore a similar one but once uttered, she couldn't call the words back. Hesitating, she found that she really didn't want to. She was sick to death of them treating her like she had nothing in her head but air, as though she was some clueless child instead of a twenty-five year old adult.

Bill opened his mouth to reply but Kasey cut him off, shaking her head.

"This isn't about you. This isn't about Layla or the damned school or Uncle Billy or whatever else you want to make it into. It's not about warning me against making some stupid fuckin' mistake," her voice shook but she forced the words out. No going back now. "I get it, okay? You think I'm stupid. You think I'm some fragile little doll, like I need to be protected because heaven forbid I fall down and get broken but you know what? You can't live if you're on a friggin' shelf, Bill! You can't... you can't be somebody if you're up there in some collection, still pristine, still dusty and all mint on card and I'm never gonna do a damn thing for the Summers legacy if I don't... if... if I can't stand on my own two feet. On Tuesday, I'm gonna be in Atlantic City. I'm gonna get in the ring with Claire Collins and Aidan Carlisle and Amber Ryan... half of the damn Boardwalk champions... and I'm gonna give them a run for their moment. I'm gonna make Mr. Adler smile. I'm gonna make Ak proud and I'm gonna–" she swallowed hard. "I'm gonna win. I'm gonna build momentum and I'm gonna go to Redemption and beat this girl with the ugly stars tattooed on her face and I'm gonna LIGHT THE MOTHERFUDGIN' RING ON FIRE AND THERE ISN'T A DAMN THING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT WITH ALL YOUR STUPID DOOMSDAY PROPHECIES!" She paused, breathing hard, her face almost as red as her hair from yelling.

"Kase–"

"No." She licked her lips, taking another sip of the cool water. "You don't get it. This isn't some escape. This isn't like Kyle or Ryan or Richard Specter. I love Akragth–"

"–do you even know his real name?"

She didn't pause, didn't even bat an eye even though she heard the jingle of keys then the door opening. "Of course I know his name. And if you think I'm going to tell you... you're out of your damn mind. That's none of your business, either. The last thing I want you doing is digging into his past – he has a right to his privacy. Just like I do." She paused this time, her voice staying level even though she heard the door closing softly behind her. "Just send me the damned key for the locker so I can come and get my things."

She didn't bother to wait for a reply, snapping the lid of the laptop closed, knowing it would end the call the second it dropped into sleep mode. Swiveling on the stool, she smiled although her eyes were still red-rimmed. "Hey," she murmured, already moving to her feet as though she was drawn to him, "I... uhm... I could really use a hug." With that, she flung herself into his arms, burying her face against his chest, immediately comforted by Ak's strong embrace.