Chapter 14

Nova readied herself for the short show segment with her father. The taped promo began Eric drawing a mustache and buck teeth on a political picture of the co-executive manager/wrestler, Edward West. Edward and Eric were bitter rivals on the show, fighting back and forth to be the sole manager of Powerbomb where the roster voted for the new man to lead them.

The end of the segment panned to Nova who sauntered over, placing her arm on Eric's shoulder. She nodded in agreement as the crowd erupted seeing Nova was there again, while the commentators questioned why.

The night before, at a special network event, Edward lost his spot as co-manager in a voting poll where Colossus helped Eric to cheat win. Eric became the sole person in the highly regarded position. The night set Edward back into position to return to the ring full-time, after a potentially career-ending injury, and started a new feud with Colossus.

After the cameras went off, Eric hugged his daughter. "Are you ready, pumpkin? When you go out tonight it's official."

"I'm excited. I cleared things up with Raven earlier. I think that took off some pressure."

"I'm glad. You don't need heat right off the bat with the girls. How is the training going?" He leaned back on his desk.

"Becket's a total douchebag, but he is a great trainer. I'm learning a lot. I won't admit it to him though. I wouldn't want to boost his overblown ego."

Eric laughed. His daughter was so stubborn, and he knew admitting that was tough.

"Well... get going, Nova. You have to get ready. We have another segment coming up." Addressing the quiet girl behind her, Eric smiled. "Claire, nice to see you again. She makes you her little shadow, doesn't she?"

He hurried them out and Claire smiled in agreement.

***

Nova made it back to the Colossus locker room and Becket was walking down the hall in the same direction. He turned back see her, looking more handsome than ever in his three-piece suit. She couldn't deny he was attractive. She used to have such a crush on him at WEC.

He stopped to wait for the girls to catch up to him, drinking from his water bottle. He kept his eyes on Nova but for some reason, it didn't seem aggressive. It was almost... alluring in nature.

"Claire, why don't head on in with the guys. I need to talk to the goth Barbie."

Nova rolled her eyes, and Claire looked for a cue from Nova to leave. She knew Nova didn't like to be alone with men but didn't know why. Even when the two wrestlers were working out in the ring, Claire or a security guard was with them. Becket had never been left alone with her.

"It's fine, Claire. Go on in." Nova didn't drop her gaze from Becket, unsure of what to expect.

Becket watched Claire as she walked into the room and turned back to the beautiful woman before him. "I just wanted to wish you well tonight. I know you've been nervous. I've been pretty hard on you lately. Raven told me you went to her and that was big of you to reach out to the girls."

"Whatever."

He shook his head and looked away, then back to her with a saddened expression. "Why do you have to be that way?"

"Why do you treat me like a child? I'm twenty-five years old. I'm not a teenager anymore. You're only six years older than I am but you act like we're worlds apart," she scoffed with a frown.

"Because you act like one. I didn't want to fight with you. I want to apologize for what I did last week. Spanking you. I know I embarrassed you, and I was out of line. Also... Jake's right. You look great tonight. Classy and... anyway... I like your rocker style, but this is nice too. I hate to admit this, but you really rocked the house last week. I have your last album on my playlist. It's a lot harder metal than before. I like it."

He smiled at her with his pale blue eyes glistening. It had been years since Nova realized how stunning they were. Blushing, she quickly looked away to stop herself from falling for his charms again. The man was supposed to be the enemy.

"You listen to my music?"

"Yes. Just don't tell your dad. He gloats about you all the time," he joked. "Eric turned me on to your music, but I don't want him to think he was right about anything."

Nova giggled, "Never. Let him think he was right about something, and you'll never hear the end of it."

"You have a pretty smile. Too bad you don't do that more often. Come on, goth Barbie. We have to get these guys ready for the show. Tonight's a big night," he said, ushering her into the room.

Nova pulled back questioning, "Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because you're letting me. When you drop the attitude, you're actually a cool chick. I hope I get to see it more often. And... maybe I could start being less of a hardass, too."

Nova gave a sly smirk and a chuckle. "Well, ya could work on that."

Becket just chuckled under his breath. He knew he was way too serious at times. He was starting to realize maybe there was more to this rockstar than he gave her credit for.

Maybe?