The Bucket List (8 page)

"I'm going down there," Adam said suddenly when they saw
Corey and Rae heading for their table.

"Hey, I saw her come in first," Brian objected.

"What is this, high school?" Adam asked with an amused look.

"I'm coming down with you," Kennedy said. "I want to see her up close."

"Hey! It's Horny and Hornier," Corey laughed when Ken and Adam came to their table.

Rae, who'd been whispering a load of sweet nothings in
Mandy's ear, looked up to see the two buff fighters standing over her. They were both dressed in jeans and t-shirts that stretched across their chests. And they were practically eating her up. She felt the tell tale heat spreading through her body and struggled to kill it. How the hell was she supposed to find a proper relationship with all this temptation being thrown her way?

"Would you like to dance?" Adam blurted out.

"Sure," Rae replied with a little smile. "With both of you, right?"

Hey, it was just a dance! She could control herself and stop at that.

"I could handle that," Ken grinned.

Getting up, she gave them both a wicked smile and she brushed passed them as she led the way to the dance floor.

"Damn! I wish I'd put money on this dating thing she's trying to do," Corey laughed.

"What dating thing?"
Mandy asked.

"She's got it in her head that she needs to find a proper relationship," John answered.

"Well, what's wrong with that?"

"The girl's hornier than a pack of bitches in heat! She couldn't last a day with
no sex. Besides which, most people tend to bore her after she's done with them," Corey explained. "I don't see how that's going to work. Especially if she's taking both those men back to the room tonight."

"Both of them? Don't you guys mind at all?"
Mandy asked, open mouthed.

"If I was her, I'd have picked maybe
Ricky as well," Corey teased. "If the guy hadn't been injured in that ladder match, I'd have put my money on a foursome!"

"
Corey!" Mandy gasped.

"Hey, she's a big girl. She can handle that," he laughed. "Speaking of which, I see a certain group of ladies just dying to wallow in my amazing presence. Excuse me."

They watched him walk to a group of girls nearby who had indeed been trying to get his attention. Mandy shook her head and turned back to John.

"Wow," she laughed.

"Yeah," John agreed.

Dave nursed his drink as his eyes unwillingly found their way to the trio on the
dance floor. Fuck! It had been just one time. He did this sort of thing all the time. So why the hell did he feel like going down there and knocking those little punks down? The way Adam had his hands all over her body... The way Ken couldn't keep his off her butt... It was making him really angry. And it shouldn't. He was a grown man, he knew what was what.

"Man, I wish I was Ken right now," Brian said.

"Will you quit talking about that already?" Dave snapped. "Finish up, I need an early night. It's been a long day."

From his seat at the bar, another man watched her. He'd been watching her since she made her entrance and hadn't been able to tear his eyes off her since. The woman was like a witch, casting her spell on every person in the room, making everyone drool. All he was thinking was how he'd love to pull her away from Copeland and Kennedy and fuck her right there on the
dance floor. He hadn't felt like that in a long time.

But he knew he'd be way out of his depth. He didn't do
one night stands and this woman clearly lived for them. She loved attention, judging by the way she was lapping it all up on the dance floor and by all the exploits he's read about in the papers and magazines. Yes, he knew all about her. The girl had been around the block so many times and so fast she should have, by rights, been reeling. Girls like that made him sick. What made them think they could get away with that? He didn't conform to rules either, but the last thing he'd do was use another human being even if they were willing.

Besides, the woman was already taken. He'd watched her with
Steele a few times. The last thing he wanted was to start something with a woman in love with someone else.

"She's hot, isn't she?" Matt asked his brother.

Nate turned away from the scene and ordered another drink.

"I guess," he answered.

Of course she was hot. The problem was that she knew it.

"I wouldn't mind if she came up to me and paid me that sort of attention," Matt chuckled as he continued to look at the trio.

"I know. You've mentioned that a few times."

"Are you telling me that you wouldn't do her? I know you're still hurting,
Nate, but how could you resist that?"

"I don't like my women loose and fancy free."

"Not for a permanent relationship, no," Matt said. "But it doesn't hurt to have fun once in a while."

Nate
only grunted.

"Come on,
Nate. Loosen up a bit. I brought you out to enjoy yourself," Matt said, ordering another drink. "Stop sitting there like your cat just died. If you don't like Rae, there are plenty of other nice women in here."

"I don't need a woman to enjoy myself,"
Nate stated.

"But they help," Matt chuckled as a brunette in tight jeans and a tight top brushed past him and gave him a wicked smile.

"Why don't you go ahead," Nate suggested when he noticed the little exchange. "I'll be fine."

"You sure?" Matt asked, but he was already following the woman.

Nate shook his head and drained his drink. He'd have one more then he'd go. As he ordered it, he couldn't help looking at the trio again. He didn't need a second guess to know where they were going to end up later. He shook his head and looked away. How could anyone be so blatantly sexual? It was as if she wore a sign that said 'fuck me, I'm easy'!

Well, maybe it was better like that, when you knew what you were getting right from the start. It had taken him so many years to finally see through Beth and realise she wore the same sign. He was finding it hard to trust any woman after that. How could he have been so blind when so much of it had gone on right in front of his eyes? Well, he wasn't doing that again in a hurry.

Draining his drink, he got up to make his way out but backed into someone.

"Sorry," he started, turning around.

"Don't worry about it. I like being bumped into."

Nate
looked straight into the blue eyes of the woman who'd been the talk of the whole company since she arrived only two days before. Then she gave him a wicked smile as Kennedy and Adam led her out of the club.

He shook his head again at the sight then also made his exit. What he needed was an early night. If he didn't dream about Beth, at least he'd have a few hours' break from thoughts of that cheating, lying bitch.

Rae had been kicking herself since she left Adam's room, which was only an hour ago. She'd arrived only three days ago and she'd already slept with four people. It didn't help that
Corey had just laughed in her face about it. She knew he didn't think she could stick to just one person but that was because he didn't understand how vital it was that she did. John had been more sympathetic, telling her that she just needed a bit of self-control and she'd do it, but that was the one thing she'd never been able to master. If she could control herself, she wouldn't have been such a mess, would she?

The elevator stopped and when it opened revealed the one person she didn't really want to deal with. He was with Kendrick.

"Hi," Dave said as they got in.

"Hey," she smiled then looked away.

See, in the past she never had any of these awkward situations. She would have easily blanked him out and blatantly gone to work on his friend. She'd never given a shit about anyone else. But now she was trying to be nice. After sleeping with him the other morning, he had cuddled her and tried to start talking. The boredom had set in straight away. It wasn't that he was boring, in fact he was far from it, but she had found she still couldn't stand conversation with a conquest. She found it pointless. So instead of getting to know him like she had planned, she'd had to tell him she would never be with him again. She hadn't said it in a nice way, either.

"I'm Brian."

Rae looked at the eager young man next to Dave and smiled. The old Rae would have eaten him up right there. He was giving out the unmistakable signals but he was still so green. She could teach him a thing or two.

"Nice to meet you, Brian," she said, then turned back to her
diligent inspection of the elevator buttons.

"Did you have a nice night?" Dave asked.

Was that a hint of sarcasm? With a frown she turned her head to face the Animal and saw the expression in his eyes. So he knew about her little party?

"Very nice, thank you," she answered drily.

He would get over it.

"I don't get you," Dave started. "I don't get you at all."

"You don't have to," she smiled, letting out a silent prayer of thanks when the doors opened on the ground floor. "Have a nice life, Dave. And it was a pleasure meeting you, Brian."

With that she walked out, looking so good
no one would have guessed she was running on no sleep.

Irving
and the Cage Takedown roster were leaving the hotel that morning but Final Battle was staying on because the show that night was at the Blackhorn Center where they had held the Hall of Fame Ceremony on Saturday. She walked into the restaurant at eight as they had agreed, and saw him seated at a far corner. Stifling a little yawn, she made her way to him and hoped he wouldn't tell she was fresh out of an all night long tumble. Adam and Ken were... energetic, to say the least. They had more than kept up with her gigantic appetite which had come as a pleasant surprise. She had almost wished the morning wouldn't come but inevitably, it had and she'd had to tell them they could never do that again. There had never been a question of finding her Mr. Right between them. You couldn't start a relationship with someone you had a three-way with, even she knew that. There would be too many trust issues involved.

"Rough night?"
Irving as when she'd sat down.

"Yeah. Something
like that."

"I heard some things earlier about what you did last night with Copeland and Kennedy,"
Irving frowned.

Rae stopped her perusal of the menu and gave him a sharp look.

"Are you honestly trying to 'Daddy' me right now?" she asked with a sarcastic laugh.

"Well, I am your dad."

"Yeah, well I was doing mighty fine without you," Rae said as she put the menu down.

Irving
held her angry gaze with one of his own, one that would have made bigger, stronger men look away. But Rae was as stubborn as they came. She was, after all, his daughter.

"Are we back to this again?"
Irving asked finally. "If your idea of getting to know me is taking what you want and leaving what you don't like, then I'm sorry, little girl, that won't happen. I'm your father, I have a right to question your choices. You don't necessarily have to take my advice but I have a right to let you know what I think, to give you guidance."

"I'm 25 now, I don't need anyone's approval to do what I want. I know what's wrong and right and most of the time I choose what's wrong. That's my choice," Rae stated, her back up. She knew that sounded totally spoiled but she was kicking herself over the previous night as well.
No one would take her seriously after that and she didn't need Irving telling her that. "I've seen how Corey is with you, how he's afraid to say anything wrong. I won't do that."

Irving
put his menu down and folded his arms as he sat back in his chair.

"What do you want from me,
Rachael?"

Rachael
looked away from him and started fiddling with her menu. She wasn't going about this the right way, was she? She couldn't expect to build a relationship with Irving if she was as stubborn and selfish as she'd been before she had put him down on the list. She couldn't separate him from the rest of her life.

"Well?"
Irving asked.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "A year and a half ago you suddenly became the only family I have. I decided I have to get to know you but we are very different people. You're cozy nights in and good conversations while I party hard and live fast."

"Trust me, that's usually the way with parents and their kids."

"Yeah, but we're doing this 25 years too late. I don't know what to do," she stated. "That and the fact that I'm sure you won't like me once you know me. I'm the type of person who kicks people when they are down and laugh in the face of their misfortunes. I do bad things just for fun. I can count my real friends on two fingers. My life so far has been totally meaningless and I guess I thought building a relationship with you would somehow give it a bit of meaning, that maybe I'd matter to someone other than
Corey and John."