Page 36 of Botched
His eyes narrow and he glares at me before he throws his hands in the air. “Whatever,” he hisses. He gets into the car, slams the door, and speeds out of the parking garage, tires squealing.
I suck in a breath, push everything I’m feeling away, and call Mission Health back. Jade answers the phone again with the same bubbliness as before.
“This is Aurora Bennet. Go ahead and transfer my father to Mountain View. Thank you.”
Once she confirms, I hang up.
How the fuck am I going to fix what just broke?
Chapter Twenty-Five
AURORA
“Ican’t tell if he was an overstepping asshole or really sweet,” Jules says as she jams her fork into her hashbrowns, bringing them up to her lips and taking a bite.
It’s a little past one in the morning. Today is a show day, but I haven’t been able to sleep. Knowing that I have to see Theo later today makes me nervous. Unsure. I don’t want to cause a scene and fight with him backstage.
So when Jules shot me a text and asked if I wanted to grab breakfast in the middle of the night, I jumped on it immediately. It’s a welcome distraction.
Except I didn’t realize that Hext was going to be here too. My interactions with him have been slim, so basically the chair spot and after. He’s intimidating. There’s something about his face that just…scares me. Not in a mean way. He’s an incredibly handsome man. He also looks like if you say the wrong thing, he’ll rip you limb from limb.
He crunches a piece of bacon before shrugging. “It’s Theo. Probably went for overstepping asshole and stumbled into sweet. The fact that you even think he could be sweet worries me, Goblin.”
I haven’t asked about their relationship or even thought too much into it since Jules told me it wasn’t like it seemed. It just wasn’t my business; plus, I have my own shit to worry about. But sitting with them right now? It feels like there’s so much more there, despite the wedding band on his hand.
The nickname just adds to that theory.
Jules snorts. “I grew up with Theo. I—”
I cut her off. “Wait. You grew up with Theo?”
“More like…adjacent to Theo. His dad was always sniffing around mine, trying to get on his good side. I saw the Abrams like twice a year.”
There’s a quick debate on whether or not I should push for more information about Theo’s childhood. As much as I want to scream to the heavens that I don’t care…I do. I care a lot more than I want to admit. “What was…what was he like?”
“He definitely wasn’t a sweet kid,” Jules snorts. “Like his personality didn’t change as he grew up or anything. He’s always been a bit of a dick. But his whole family is that way. His parents are very Hamptons trips and stock market conversations. His sisters are bitches. They once spent an entire dinner giggling because my dress was ‘last season.’”
“His whole family sounds like a nightmare,” Hext chimes in.
“For sure. And they were always the toughest on Theo because he’s the only boy.”
“He was going to be a veterinarian before he got into wrestling,” I say, taking a sip from my orange juice. “He told me he did a few years in college for that before he decided to wrestle.”
Jules snorts. “Being a vet definitely wouldn’t have been good enough for Theo’s parents.”
I’m officially at the crossroads of whether or not I should press for more. I could easily leave it like it is, just take what Jules has told me already. But I’m curious, and I know that Theo won’tanswer my questions—if we ever talk to each other again after our fight in the parking garage.
“What about Veronica?” I ask. My curiosity had been piqued by the idea of his former fiancée since the moment Theo entered my life. Jules has painted it out like there was more to meet the eye since the beginning. Theo makes it seem like he’s the huge fuck up. There’s a truth lying between those two options, and I want to find it.
As soon as I mention Veronica, Hext groans. His blue eyes look over at Jules before they settle back on me. “Please don’t get her started on Veronica.”
She gives his bicep a little shove. “I’m not going to ‘get started.’” She uses air quotes. “Veronica’s a bitch. We had a huge fight backstage a few months ago. The dirt sheets sorta picked up on it but it got glossed over when Theo had his whole argument with a kid at a convention or whatever.”
If I said I didn’t check the dirt sheets, I’d be lying. Before I got signed, they were the closest I could get to having insider information about the big leagues. Newsletters and websites were ‘journalists’ report on wrestling rumors, from who’s getting signed or fired, to who’s planned to win the title next. Half the shit is made up for clicks or overexaggerated, but I don’t remember reading anything about Jules getting in fight with Veronica.
“I had to pick her ass up and carry her away before she got fired,” grumbles Hext.
Jules seems to ignore him as she settles back in the booth, pushing her plate away from her so she can really dive into the gossip. “So, we were in Vegas a few months ago. Theo came up with the idea of having Vegas showgirls escort him out for his entrance, and Nathan thought it was pretty damn genius. Anyway, long story short, they did it. It looked great. Really fit him.