New beginnings

Los Angeles: December 31, 2011, 9:00 p.m.
The bar was dark, save for the lights on the stage. Rosalie had found a place near the back of the venue, seated at the bar, and sipped at her drink. She’d come here on a whim tonight, to a New Year’s Eve show. One of the opening acts was giving a farewell concert, and it was one that she didn’t think that she could miss. So she had flown all the way out to California to catch it.

She’d told Johnny Electric that she needed a couple of weeks to get her head sorted out after her first few matches in the IWF. The professional leagues hadn’t been what she expected, and in spite of her initial success, she had found herself faltering far quicker than she would have liked.

“Hey, aren’t you that one girl?”

She blinked and turned around to face a guy who had the smell of beer on his breath. He was sporting a Brandon MacDonald T-shirt, and she had to chuckle to herself even as she lifted one questioning brow at the man.

“What one girl?”

“You know. That one girl from IWF. Rose something?”

She could either be offended or amused here, and she chose the latter. “Rosalie Knight?” she offered helpfully.

“YEAH! Her! The one that made her debut a couple months ago. Aren’t you her?”

Rosalie laughed and nodded. “Yes. That’s me. I’m surprised you recognized me. Not a lot of people do yet.”

“That’s so cool, dude. You’re hot. Not as hot as Ashlison, but… Sign my napkin?”

For a moment she was tempted to punch him in the face, but she hadn’t come here to start a fight. Instead, she just nodded and took the napkin and pen from him. He was drunk; she had to pray he wasn’t like this all the time. She gave him her autograph, and then smiled. “There you go.”

“Thanks, babe. Can I buy you a drink?”

This time she laughed rather loudly. He could just be trading the drink for the autograph, but there was something about the way he leaned on the bar next to her that suggested the truth of the matter was that he was hitting on her. “No, thank you… My boyfriend is in the band. Flattered, though.”

“Oh.” His face fell, and he lifted his signed napkin. “Well, thanks for this.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled warmly, politely at him as he walked away to find someone else to hit on.

She was saved from her own awkward thoughts by the lights going down completely, and the crowd hushed in anticipation. The band walked out onto stage and the noise began to rise, erupting into a roar as the first powerful chord was struck on guitars. Rosalie cheered with the rest of them, especially as the spotlight fell on the lead singer. Ethan Garrett was a handsome man in his late twenties, and in full command of the crowd. He raised his hands to get the crowd going, before launching into the first verse.

Rosalie bobbed her head in time with the music, not as extreme as the headbanging that was going on closer to the stage. She didn’t need to be up close to enjoy this. Somewhere in the bridge, though, in the middle of a guitar solo, the lead singer caught sight of her. She felt an odd sort of satisfaction as he stumbled slightly right there on stage, and blew him a kiss. He grinned, and then launched into the next round of the chorus with more feeling than ever.

After the show, she gathered with the groupies at the stage entrance. They were crowded, waiting for the band to appear, but she sort of hung back with her arms folded. There was no reason for her to beg for attention. Ethan came out first, followed by his bandmates. Some of the girls were crying because this was the last time they would get to see the band.

All else was forgotten as he caught sight of her standing on the edges of the group, and pushed his way through the crowd to get to her. “ROSALIE!” He scooped her up in his arms and planted a kiss right on her lips in front of everyone. She laughed into his mouth and pressed herself into him, into that kiss. There was nothing else for that moment, until he pulled away from her to stare down into her eyes. “I missed you.”

She laughed and kissed him again, briefly. “Really? I couldn’t tell.”

His grip on her waist tightened, and she felt the heat that radiated off of him. “Then I better make it more clear, yes?”

She grinned up at him. “Not until after I watch tonight’s pay-per-view.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him. Work was work, even if she wasn’t there, right?

“Tease,” he growled, and then dragged her toward the bus with him.




Rosalie sat on the hotel bed in Denver, watching the fight from last week against Dark Archangel on her laptop with a look of disgust. She could have done better. Should have done so much better than that. What on earth had happened to her? How could she have lost concentration to the extent of getting that dominated in the ring?

Was it because of her incident with Latoya Banks? She didn’t think so. Maybe it had shaken her more than she realized, though. Or maybe it was the fact that her head really wasn’t in the game. She snorted at herself and threw down the remote with annoyance, before rubbing at her wrist. It still ached in the dry cold air of Denver, but at least it hadn’t been broken. Just badly bruised. She was lucky. That lack of concentration could have killed her.

She shivered a little, and looked out the window at the fading light. They had all been reminded quite brutally just how easy it could be to die in this sport by the death of Dan Alexander. She had never particularly cared for the guy… but she didn’t think Stygian had done it on purpose. The police report had cleared him of wrongdoing… but it brought all of their mortalities into a new perspective. What if one of them had a heart condition they didn’t know about? What if one day they landed wrong? IWF was as real as it got, but there were still things they could all do to protect themselves.

“Cold, Rose?” The door closed as Ethan returned with dinner, and she smiled up at him with a shake of her head.

“No… just thinking about Dan. How dangerous this sport is.”

“Ah, I see. ” He paused , and then dug into the bag to hand her a beef and cheddar from Arby’s. She took it gratefully, unwrapping it and biting into it without a word. “Well, you knew what the risks of this sport were before you signed with IWF… Are you still sure that you want to do this?”

She thought about it while she chewed, and then she nodded, swallowing before speaking. “Yeah. I’m sure. I mean, how many people get to follow their dreams this way? You did… And I followed your example. This is where I’m supposed to be… I think I’ve just lost sight of why I’m here. That’s why I lost focus last week. I tried to phone it in, and it was a disaster.”

“My dream is you, Rose. Whatever you want to do, I’ll support it. Tried to eight years ago, but you were having none of that.” He grinned at her again, then took a sip of his coke. “Your timing was perfect, with the band breaking up. It lets us have a new start. Now we just need to make the most of it. What do you want to do?”

Another glance to the window, and she smiled faintly. “I want to be so much more than I have been. Someone needs to make being a female wrestler respectable again.”

Ethan laughed, and then brushed his fingertips against her cheek. “You’re hot when you’re all fired up.”

The look in his eyes was unmistakable, and she grinned. “Am I? Why don’t you show me just how much?”

He leaned in and kissed her.