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“Yeah. Lightning speed. Liam isn’t trying to hurt me, us, by warning me, you know?”
“I know. Beyond the big mouths out there, I’m more interested in how you feel about all this. How are things between you and your dad? I never wanted to come between you two. I tried to explain the other day, but Joseph wasn’t in the mood for explanations. Has it ruined everything we’ve been trying to achieve, do you think?”
Chey gets up and paces around the room. I can tell she feels caught on the ropes, as we insiders would say.
“Dad and I are fine, or well, we will be. It’ll take a bit for him to digest this development. But he knows I’m no longer a kid. I can and will choose for myself who is in my life. It’s just the daddy’s little girl syndrome, you know? He was trying to protect my honor by taking you on in public like that. Some old-school act by a hurt father. Underneath it all, I think once I tell him I don’t need defending, he’ll be sorry about the whole thing.”
I get up and take Chey in my arms.
“Please believe me when I say I tried to do anything to not hurt Joseph. He forced me to hit him. I knew he wouldn’t let up until I did. So, I gave him a light punch. But he fell down. He wasn’t hurt. Or, well, maybe his ego a bit. I never wanted to face him in a ring, God no.”
Chey reaches up and caresses my cheek. “I’m sure you handled it the best you could. I have bigger fish to fry right now than Dad’s hurt ego.”
“What do you mean? Listen, come into the kitchen. I’ll make you some dandelion tea. You look like you need something for your nerves, and I hear humans like that.”
Chey nods, follows me in, and takes a stool along the island.
“Mac made me attend a meeting with Fritz and Lena.”
I look back from heating the tea pot. “Oh, yeah? What about?”
“Well, Mac learned about Disastra. He confronted me about it. So I knew I was in trouble walking in, but it was nothing like I expected. They want to end Archimedes and have me play Disastra full time. And I’m sitting there, dumbfounded, racking my brain. How did Raucous find out? I thought you and I were keeping it well under wraps.”
“They know about Disastra? Shit. Someone’s been snooping around our training sessions, that’s for sure. And I thought we were being so careful.”
“Me, too. I’ve been going over and over the last few days. And Ro, I can only come up with one person who would benefit from hurting me and my future career. The one person we thought might tell must have not waited a full breath before shooting her mouth off.”
I look blankly at Chey. The kettle whistle blows. I get up and prepare the tea. I reach for the dandelion container, sift the flowers from the earth worms, and steep the hot water.
“Chey, okay, cough it up. Who is on your suspect list?”
“It’s Dee Dee, Ro. I feel it in my gut. She slobbers over you day and night and wants a wrestling career of her own. She told me the other day she had put it together, remember? If she hurts me, in her warped mind, she thinks she could be up for both – getting with you romantically and taking top spot with Raucous.”
I laugh. “Okay, that’s funny as hell.”
“Funny, maybe, but can you think of anyone more devious to go to such lengths?”
I pour the tea. The green liquid swirls in the cups with the goat’s milk and honey.
My eyebrows pop. “Now that I think of it. No. I can’t. Dee Dee is a hanger-on extraordinaire. Like a groupie on speed. And she’s been champing at the bit to leave training for a wrestling gig. For what? Like ages. Yeah. I get what you’re saying. Man, oh, man. How pathetic.”
“Pathetic is the word. And now seriously damaging.”
Chey sips her tea and makes a face. I try not to smile.
“Chey, Dee Dee, her hanging around… that’s due to me. I am so sorry she’s undermined you like this. I never saw her as anyone but a harmless groupie. I figured, smile, offer an autograph, and the chick would eventually tire of me and go away.”
Chey turns and grabs my arm. “God, no. It’s not your fault. Dee Dee is caught up in her own fantasy. She probably thought she was helping you by blabbing on me, or some such weird belief. You could have never seen this coming. Not in a million years. I figure it was us getting close that tipped her over the edge.”
We both sip at our teas, drowning in our own thoughts. How did we get here and how do we get out from under this mess? I finally break the silence.
“I guess we couldn’t hope to keep Disastra under a lid forever.”
Chey sighs. “Yes. And maybe I needed this push. Now that the secret is out, I have to accept Archimedes’ time is past. Dead and gone, like…”
I look over at Chey. Her lips quiver. I stay quiet, knowing this is her moment to finally come to terms with it, and she needs to do this for herself.
“Like… like my mom.”
