Unfiended

Chapter 6

This is nice. The thought, hazy and warm, almost made Seth laugh. How long had it been since something had simply been nice? He was used to being busy, being stressed, being worried—being anything but calm, steady. But Becky hadn't had any more setbacks since her attack on Charlotte—if he didn't count her outburst in the kitchen—and she had been going out more and more. At first, she was working out at Black and Brave when it was only Seth and Marek there, just to be safe, but as she continued to improve, she expanded her horizons. Sometimes she would sit in the cafe and call Charlotte while Seth was teaching a class next door; other times she would stay at the wrestling school and watch the lessons, even offering praise or suggestions to the students from time to time. Becky's regular, sociable self was shining through more and more, and Seth was happy to bask in it. When he slipped once and called her his wife and she had her slow, shy smile for the first time in weeks, he felt like he won every championship in WWE all at once.

At the moment, they were doing nothing but lounging in bed, with Seth sitting up against the headboard and reading some messages from his brother while Becky was nestled against him, still dozing on and off. His free hand was idly stroking her back and whenever he leaned forward to kiss her head, he could feel Becky smile and cuddle in closer. He was certain she had almost fallen back to sleep when his phone rang; it even startled him, and he had to lurch forward to stop his phone from falling on her head. "Sorry, Becks. It's Marek." Wrapping his free arm around Becky's head to muffle the sound, he tapped his phone screen and held it close to his ear. "Hey, man. What's up?"

Seth heard alarms before he could make out Marek's voice. "I need you to come down to the school. Everything's fine, but the fire alarms won't shut off, so the fire department is here, and they need a bunch of information about the wiring and permits and I don't know where you have it. . . ."

"I've got it all here." Seth had been tempted to keep all the pertinent paperwork for the wrestling academy in the office safe there, but he had been advised to keep it off-site. Now he was wishing he hadn't listened. "I'll get dressed and head right over. I won't be long."

"Sorry, man. I know you're taking advantage of all the time you can get with Becks now that. . . ." Marek trailed off. He didn't know the full extent of what Becky had gone through or what she had done afterwards, but he knew enough. "If I could deal with this for you, I would, but they've made it clear they want to speak with the owner. . . ."

"Which means me. No worries, man. I'll be there as quick as I can." After he disconnected, Seth looked at his screen and groaned. His phone needed to be charged, but there wasn't enough time. He put it on the charging dock by Becky's before giving her a gentle nudge. "I have to go to Black and Brave, Becks. Marek said the fire alarm won't shut off."

Becky blinked slowly and looked up at him, but he wasn't sure how much she had understood. "Want me to come with you?" she asked.

Seth shook his head. "That's okay. You stay here and sleep. There wouldn't be much for you to do anyway. Hopefully it won't take too long to get things sorted out." He kissed her forehead and eased her down onto the pillows as he slid out of bed. "I'm just going to let my phone charge a bit while I'm in the shower and then I'll charge it in the car on the way over. Call if you need me."

"Mmhmm." Becky's eyes were half-open when he left the room, but he wasn't surprised to see that she was dozing again when he got out of the shower. Seth dressed as quietly as he could, kissed Becky on the cheek, and grabbed his phone off the charger. "Love you," she mumbled, reaching a hand out from under the covers to wave.

"Love you too. Be back soon." Seth was so happy to see Becky content that he almost forgot to go to his office and get all the Black and Brave paperwork. He took everything just in case, even if it didn't look relevant, and stuffed it in a messenger bag before pausing in the kitchen. If he made himself a coffee, he could leave the pot going for Becky, but she would most likely still be in bed by the time he got back home. He called in an order to his cafe instead, once again grateful his two businesses were side by side, and headed out.