Cornered: On the Ropes

Chapter 7

"Home sweet home." Liv pulled down her hood and looked around at the Performance Center, trying not to tear up. It had been years since she had been back, and she never thought she would see the place again in person. Now she was there to talk with Hunter and Shawn, two iconic wrestlers from her youth, and better yet, Rhea was with her. Since Rhea was still an active wrestler, she didn't have to disguise herself, but Liv still bet there would be dirt sheet headlines like Ripley spotted at Performance Center! in the coming days. Between her sunglasses and her hood, no one seemed to recognize her, at least.

Rhea nodded, draping an arm along Liv's shoulders. "Yeah. Lots of good times here. Not private-booth type good times," she said with a wink, "but fun."

"Are you sure about that?" Liv laughed. "I heard lots of rumours about you and the women's locker room here...."

Before Rhea had a chance to either confirm or deny, Shawn came out of his office. "Liv! Rhea! Great to see you both." He hugged them each in turn. "Hunter's back in the office, but the old man was too lazy to get up—"

"Old man my ass!" Hunter yelled back. "You're older than I am!"

"NXT keeps me young!" Laughing, Shawn turned back to Liv and Rhea, motioning for them to follow. "Come on. We've got water in the office and some snacks, if the old man hasn't eaten them all."

"Shawn," Hunter bellowed, "I swear to god...."

The sound of a chair being pushed back only made Shawn falter for a second. "Don't mind him," Shawn mock whispered. "He has a lot of teenage daughters, you know. It's stressful."

Liv batted her eyelashes. "I don't know what you're talking about. Teenage daughters are a delight."

Shawn laughed. "Somehow I think if I called your mother, she might disagree. Now come on before Hunter actually does get his ass out of his chair." Then he looked over at Rhea. "No one saw you two come in?"

Rhea shook her head. "Don't think so. Liv had her hoodie up and sunglasses on, so she just looked like any random gorgeous blonde," she explained with a grin, "and I'm on the main roster, so people would probably just assume I was coming to work out."

"Let's hope so. It's getting harder and harder to keep anything a surprise in this damn place." Shawn pushed open his office door and motioned them inside. "Take a seat."

Rhea let Liv take the one closer to Hunter. "So do you want me to help with her evaluation," she asked, "or am I just the cover story?"

"Good afternoon to you too, Rhea." Hunter sipped at his coffee. He might have sounded grumpy, but his posture seemed relaxed enough. "Liv, welcome back."

"Thank you. It's great to be back." Liv tried not to bounce in her seat. The discussion between her and Hunter at the arena hadn't been the end of things; it had merely been the beginning of a long line of paperwork, legalities, and text threads. "Rhea and Nattie have been helping me train, and Becky even came down for a few weekends. It felt just like old times."

"Glad to hear it." Hunter set his coffee cup down on Shawn's desk, ignoring the fact that his friend almost immediately lifted the cup and slid a notepad under it. "We're not too worried about ring rust. You haven't been gone that long, and it's obvious you were keeping in shape, so...."

Liv chanced a glance at Shawn. She wasn't entirely clear on who all knew about her stint as a stripper, and she didn't want to assume. "Does he...?"

Shawn grimaced a bit. "Yeah, I know. I'm not judging," he said quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. "I just know what kind of damage control we have to do for things now, and I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."