Wrestling Desire 2 (A Contemporary Romance) (9 page)

“What do you have in mind?”  Emma eyed him warily. 

“I’m thinking a love triangle that puts a question on whether the baby is actually Holt’s.”

Her eyes widened as she stared at him in shock.  “You want to make it look like I’ve cheated on Holt?”

“That’s exactly what I want.”

“No.”  Emma shook her head.  “No way.  The fans will hate me.”

Gene scoffed at her statement.  “No they won’t.  A lot of the fans are still pissed with Holt for taking the belt from Derek and then cheating Bryan out of his title shot.  We capitalize on that by making it ‘appear’-” He air quoted the word. “to Holt that you’re cheating on him.  He’ll think it’s because of what he did to Bryan, but
in reality you’ll be planning
his birthday party, which is the reason for all the secrecy.” 

Holt’s brow winged up in surprise.  “Actually that just might work.  Who do you have in mind to play the part of the other guy?”

Gene’s face slid into one of his trademark evil grins.  “Garrett.”

“What?” Emma and Holt echoed.  “You want it to look like I’m cheating on Holt with his best friend?”  She shook her head.  “I don’t think I can do that.”

Gene let out an exasperated sigh.  “Sure you can, Em.  It’s not for real.  Marissa would kill me and hide my body if I tried to hook you guys up for real.”

“It would make sense,” Holt added.

Emma cut her attention from Gene to Holt.  “I can’t believe you’re even considering this.”

He gave a shrug.  “Well, it’s not as if you’ll really be cheating on me and it does make sense that you’d be planning my party with my best friend.”

She studied Holt for a moment.  He loved this company and would do anything Gene asked.  How could she say no when he’d already climbed on board? 

“Wait.” She held up a hand.  “Doctor Andrews says I’m about six or seven weeks along.  Even if we start this plot today
, how are we going to work it
so it’s believable?”

Gene’s grin returned.  “Don’t you worry about that little issue.  We’ll record some stuff with you and Garrett and back date the plot.”

Confused she glanced from Gene to Holt.  “I don’t understand. How are you going to do that?”

“We’ll get a few others involved to help.  Maybe I’ll even pull Marissa into it.  Nothing like a woman scorned to add to the drama.”  He clapped his hands together and rubbed like some evil villain.  “Yeah, I’m liking this more and more. Maybe we get some of your co-workers to show Holt and Marissa video of the two of you together, kind of sneaking around if you will. They can say that they’ve been sittin
g on the video because they weren
’t sure what it meant, but now that your pregnant, they thought he and Marissa needed to know.  That will plant the seeds and then Holt will do the rest to make the story look believable.”

“I don’t know,” Emma let out a sigh.  “I’ll still be getting vilified.”

“Not really.” Gene shook his head.  “We’ll make sure to show the later video with the audio attached so the fans can hear you guys planning the party.  That way all the heat ends up on Holt’s shoulders.”  He grinned.  “I can just see it now.  He has the pressure of defending a championship that was in the fans eyes, ill-gotten and ill kept.  Then on top of it he has to worry about whether his girlfriend is pregnant with some other man’s child.  He’s on the verge of cracking and the fans know everything.”

“Come on, Em,” Holt urged. “It will be fun and will drive the ratings through the roof.”

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Derek would have been sticking up for her, instead Holt was so excited about the idea, he couldn’t see how uncomfortable it made her.  How could she possibly say no?  God help her with what she was about to do.  “Okay, I’ll go along but I want it made clear that I’m not happy about it.”

“Duly noted,” Gene replied.  He clapped his hands.  “This is going to be great.”

She only hoped her brothers would think so. 

* * *

I’m pregnant.  The words hung in the room like a thick fog as she looked between her brothers.  “Please tell me this is some sick joke?” Bryan asked from where he sat perched on the arm of the chair.

“It’s no joke,” Emma replied.  “That’s the reason I’ve been so sick.  That was the reason I fell in the shower and busted my head open.”

Anger and frustration spread across Bryan’s face but he didn’t say anything more.  With the way he’d been acting lately she’d expected such a reaction from him.   He’d been edgy from the moment they walked in the door.  She doubted it would take much for Bryan to snap and go after Holt. 

Knowing she’d lost any support from Bryan
,
Emma looked from Derek to Holt and back.  “Please say something.”

After their conversation with Gene, she’d asked for a few days off to fly home and tell her family.  Now as she sat on the couch in her family’s home she wondered if telling them in person had been such a great idea, especially after Bryan’s reaction.

Derek’s brow knit and
he
rubbed a hand against his temple.  “Let me get this straight.  The reason you’ve been having dizzy spells and throwing up is because you’re pregnant.”

With what felt like a large lump stuck in her throat Emma nodded.

He glanced at Holt.  “And you’re the father.”

“That’s right.”

“I’m guessing this wasn’t planned.”

“I’ve been on birth control, so of course it wasn’t planned.”

He pursed his lips together.  “So what are you going to do about it?”

Shock filtered through her as her mind reeled with his question.  Was he asking what she thought he was asking?  “What do you mean?”

He leaned forward and rested his elbows against his knees.  “Do you want this baby?”

“I can’t believe you’re asking that.”

“I have to ask it, Emma.  It wasn’t planned and whether you like it or not, this baby is going to complicate both your lives. I just want to make sure it’s really wanted.”

Wide eyed she stared at him.  “It’s part of me.  It’s part of Holt.  No matter how surprised I might be, how could I not want it?”

Derek nodded and turned his attention to Holt.  “And how about you?  How do you feel about this situation?”

Holt reached over and squeezed her hand.  “I’ll admit to being shocked when she told me, but there isn’t a second that goes by that I don’t want this baby.  In fact, if you don’t believe me, let me prove it to you all.”  He slid off the couch onto his knees in front of her. “Sweetheart, you know I love you and I’d do anything for you, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then will you marry me?”

“Oh, give me a fucking break,” Bryan grumbled.  He pushed off the chair grabbed his jacket.  “This is absolute bullshit and I refuse to entertain anymore of it.”  Without looking back he yanked open the door and stormed out. 

Bryan’s reaction hurt, but she couldn’t manage to focus on him with Holt’s proposal hanging over her head. Her eyes went wide and she ripped her hand out of Holt’s.  “You’re crazy.”

“Crazy in love with you,” he replied.

She pushed up from the couch and walked over to look out the big bay window.  Why did he have to complicate things further by wanting to get married?  “I love you, Holt.  You know that, but I can’t marry you right now.”

“Why?”  The look of hurt that crossed his face sent a wave of guilt crashing over her.  The last thing she’d ever want to do was bring him pain.

“I don’t want you marrying me just because I’m pregnant.”

“That’s not the reason.”  He placed his hands on her shoulders and began to rub.  “I would have married you anyway.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him.  “I believe you, but others may not.  As soon as people find out I’m pregnant and that we’re getting married they’ll think you were forced into it.  I can’t live with that.”

“Then let’s
go to Vegas right now and get married.  We can announce a month from now that you’re pregnant and nobody would know the difference.”

Sadness filtered through her. He was trying so hard to do the right thing that he couldn’t see the damage marrying her right now would cause to his career.  “I love you, Holt, but I won’t marry you right now.”

With a sigh h
e let go of her and she felt a
sudden coldness at the loss of him. “Would you please talk some sense into your sister?”

“Emma,” Derek started, but before he could continue she turned to face him and shook her head. 

“Don’t waste your breath, Derek.  I’ve made up my mind.  I won’t let Holt risk damaging his reputation with the fans just to make an honest woman out of me.”

“I don’t understand,” Derek argued.  “What’s the big difference between now and later?”

“It won’t look as bad after the baby
is born.  If I’m getting along
fine on my own raising the child and we decide to get married then we’re doing it because we want to, not because it’s the ‘right thing’.” She used her fingers to air quote the words.

“I don’t care what the fans or anyone thinks,” Holt argued.

“But I do.”  She placed her hands on his chest and looked up at him.  “Ask me again after the baby is born and I promise I’ll say yes, but I just can’t right now.”

“Well,” Derek sighed.  “Whatever you two decide just know you have my blessing.”

Emma spun around to face him.  “We do?”

Derek’s face slid into a grin.  “We all know I’ve never really liked Holt, but he loves you and he makes you happy.”  He reached for her and pulled Emma into a hug.  “Ultimately that’s all that really matters.”

Relief swamped her.  She’d been worried about Derek’s reaction and for him to accept this situation, even support her, meant so much.  As quickly as joy arrived it left again as her mind moved on to her other brother.  He’d been so angry lately.  As if everything bad happening to him was somehow her fault.  She wasn’t sure what hurt more, his abandonment or knowing she couldn’t do anything to help him.  “What about Bryan?”

Derek dropped a soft kiss on the top of her head. “He’s just in a bad place right now. He’ll eventually come around.”

As much as it hurt her, she knew Derek was right.  Bryan needed to find his own path and fight his own demons.  Neither she nor Derek could do anything more for him.  More importantly she needed to focus on her life with Holt and the challenges they’d face together.  Having half of her family behind her was better than no family at all.

Wrestling Desire 3

Excerpt

Over the next thirty minutes Emma sat by and watched as Holt and Garrett worked out their moves and coordinated with the camera men.  She took her direction on where to stand when she came to the ring and then they were ready.  As No Holds Barred went live her nerves grew.  After three months of working the story for everything they could get, it all came down to tonight.  She wasn’t an actress by any means and had struggled to keep in character.  All she needed to do was pull off tonight and she could return to where she was most comfortable, behind the scenes.  At least until Gene came up with something else to drag her into.

Twenty minutes later she stood with Jill and watched the monitor as Holt put on his show.  Garrett took the cue and made his way toward the ring and Emma’s stomach began to roll.  They were professionals and would carry her if she screwed up.  Still, she didn’t want any mistakes on her shoulders. 

“Get ready,” Jill ordered and Emma moved to the entrance.  She watched her friend and Jill gave a nod.  Emma emerged to the roar of the crowd and ran toward the ring.  Focused on the match in front of her she headed for the back side of the ring where they’d told her to stand and climbed up the steps. 

“Holt stop this,” she yelled and did her best to look distraught.  “Holt, please listen to me.”

Ignoring her he continued his battle with Garrett who landed against the ropes just inches from Emma.  Holt charged at Garrett who ducked out of the way, but Garrett was too close to Emma and Holt couldn’t stop his forward motion in time.  He ran into the ropes, knocking Emma off balance.  She let loose a scream as she tried to keep her balance and failed.  Falling, her head connected with the aluminum steps and a resounding thud echoed through her skull as she toppled to the ground on her back. 

Pain bloomed through her head and blackness filled her field of vision as she rolled onto her side and went still.

* * *

“Emma!” Horror streaked through Holt’s system at the sight before him and he quickly slid from the ring.  “Baby?”  He knelt down and stroked a gentle hand along her temple while fear slowly began to take over.  They all knew of the dangers when being in or around the ring, which is why so much of what they did was scripted.  Still accidents were bound to happen.  Knowing that fact did little to assuage his guilt.  He’d knocked her off the ring and put both her and their baby in jeopardy.

Garrett quickly joined him.  “How bad is she?”

Holt shook his head.  “I don’t know. She took a pretty good crack to the head on the steps.”

Garrett stood, raised his crossed arms over his head and yelled to any staff members who might be listening. “We need medics now.”  Then he turned to face the ref.  “Joe, call the match because neither of us are getting back in the ring.”