The appearance of our boss causes all of us to stiffen a bit.

I haven’t spoken to him since the night he got me out of jail and he told me to stay away from this place for three months. He’s probably not too happy about me defying that demand and weaseling my way back here much sooner.

The boss’ grey eyes flick to me. “I’ll be expecting a demonstration of these skills after the show tonight.” Corey’s grin widens, but I can tell by the tone in his voice there’s a huge catch coming. “If he doesn’t impress me tonight, you are to leave the building immediately and I don’t want to hear another peep from you over the next two months while you finish out the remainder of your suspension in Detroit.”

That’s a steep penalty, but I’m willing to take that risk, because I know what Corey can do. “And when he impresses you, I want to be fully reinstated and I want to move my match up with Rex to the next live Tension event.”

He narrows his eyes into tiny slits. “Done.”

I fight back the smile that’s threatening to expose how happy I am because I know after tonight, Rex’s ass is mine.

The arena is eerily quiet as I step into the ring with Corey. The only people in the huge room are the two of us, with Mr. Silverman and Chip Seabourne sitting in the stands, waiting to judge Corey’s talent level.

“All right,” Mr. Silverman calls out. “Impress me.”

“You heard him, kid. Make me look good and help us both out.” I shake my shoulders loose and rock my neck a few times. “Now, come at me exactly how we practiced at Tough’s.”

Corey nods, and just like every other time we’ve ever stepped inside the ring, the playful demeanor he typically sports is long gone and is now replaced with an expression of pure determination.

We both are on our toes, anticipating the other’s first move, when Corey strikes first. He slams into me, attempting to twist me around and get me in a simple neck hold, but I get out of it easily before shoving him away. “You got to do better than that. He wants to be impressed, remember?”

Corey gives me a slow nod, and then comes back at me with three times as much force. It’s like a fire has been lit under him because the way he’s moving shows hunger and the need to prove himself.

I give in this time and let him get a few holds on me, not because I’m giving it to him, but because he’s putting on a hell of a show and deserves for me to help make him look good.

Corey grabs my arm and tosses me into the rope rings, where I bounce off of them and then run straight into his clothesline. His forearm collides with my chest and an audible crack echoes around the arena, and I have to admit it stung like a million bees shoving their stinger in my skin at once.

I lay there on the mat, and Corey bends down to grab me by the hair of the hair and pull me back up to my feet.

He draws back as if to punch me, but my boss orders, “Enough!”

Corey releases me and we both stand there in the middle of the ring with our hands by our side while Chip and my boss whisper amongst themselves.

“What do you think they’re saying?” Corey asks in a hushed tone.

I shrug. “Beats me. I gave up trying to figure out how these upper level think a long time ago.”

Finally Chip nods as if he’s in agreement and then both men face toward us again.

The owner of the company pushes himself up from the seat. “You’re in, kid. Be over at the training facility in Dallas next Monday morning.”

My heart pounds in my chest. “Does that mean I’m back?”

Chip glances over to Mr. Silverman who nods. “The ratings have been down since you’ve been gone and our social media has been blasted by the fans for suspending you. The people have dubbed you their real champion and they refuse to get behind Rex, so we need to get him out of the spotlight before he ruins my company.”

Corey pumps his fist and lets out a yell that people in the next state probably heard. “Hell yeah!”

“And, X?” Mr. Silverman adds. “You got your match against Rex. It will be right here in Portland, Tuesday night.”

This time it’s me that feels like yelling, but I manage to keep myself restrained and simply nod to the man as he makes his way out.

I hope Rex is ready, because I’m coming for him sooner rather than later.

Sitting in a conference room is a new experience for going over the script with the writers. Most of the time we sit in whatever room the writers are thrown in as we bounce from arena to arena.

Rex stares at the belt sitting on the table in front of him with both Vicky and Deena flanking his side.

I reach under the table and thread my fingers through Anna’s. It feels pretty fucking sweet to have her by my side right about now. It’s a great way to show Rex that no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t break us.

The room is eerily quiet while we wait on the boss to show up.

Mr. Silverman steps into the room, and I straighten in the chair. He never attends these meetings. This is serious shit.

He takes a seat at the head of the table and straightens his tie. “Let’s get down to business. Vicky take us through the play-by-play.”

She adjusts the glasses sitting on the tip of her nose. “To close the storyline up with Anna and Rex, she’ll need to accompany him out to open the show while he calls X out, and then we’ll have to have Rex accuse her of conspiring with X and kick her out of the ring.”

“I don’t like that idea,” Rex interjects. “I think Anna being on my side will keep the fans in my corner.”

“Agreed,” Deena adds. “If it helps I can be in X’s corner.”

Anna squeezes my hand under the table and I’m sure she’s hating their ideas just as much as I do.

“No.” the boss interjects. “No more games. Anna belongs to X and we are going with that. X gets the belt tonight.”

“That’s not fair! I just got it. You can’t take it away from me,” Rex argues with a whine in his voice.

The boss slams his fist on the table. “You had your shot and now it’s up and if you don’t like the way we’re doing things don’t let the door hit you in the ass.”

This time it’s me who smirks. It’s about time Rex gets put in his place by this company. They’ve let him get away with far too much for far too long. Things are finally going to be the way they are supposed to be.