Chapter Text
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a wrestler, in possession of good talent, must be in want of a Championship.
Chapter 1: First Impressions
He was just as egotistical as he seemed on tv.
It was impossible not to think that when he stood there lording it over all the other superstars backstage at the arena as if he owned the place. Seth Freakin’ Rollins. Even the name screamed that he was full of himself. Six foot one inches and 217 pounds of pure ego. Didn’t Ambrose call him that once? It made sense. Over confidence my name is Seth. It seemed to ooze from every pore of him. It was just too bad that in addition to the ego, he was also insanely hot.
That was impossible to ignore as I pretended not to look at him. But dear lord the man had presence. There was a aura and a sex appeal that seemed to radiate from him oh so easily. Not an easy feat when there were fit, handsome men all around.
Looking at him my brain reminded me that men like him; cocky, arrogant, sexy in the extreme, were dangerous. I had first hand experience of it. What did it get me? A shameful breakup on the front page of the tabloids and an embarrassing sex scandal I could not live down.
Yet, even though my brain was working overtime with dire warnings, my loins were ignoring them. They focused on other things like sending heat to my core to create that tell-tale tingle that signaled excitement and arousal.
Even in his street clothes he looked sexy. The simple tight-fitting Black Craft t-shirt that showed off his biceps. The messily perfect man bun slung low on the back of his dark head, the deep chocolatey brown eyes that could flash ego but also great warmth seemed terribly inviting.
And how could I not focus on the pair of black skinny jeans that curved to every inch of those spectacular legs of his. I have to admit, legs were always my weakness on a man. Long, muscular, strong. The kind of legs that were strong enough to support some really interesting standing sexual positions. My mind wandered naughtily, picturing me enjoying those particular positions with Seth. It was too much really to take in.
I wanted to look away from him but I couldn’t. So I watched him surreptitiously as he interacted with some VIP fans as they got their photo with him and the other superstars.
But that quick, sweet tilting of the lips he displayed with the fans grew decidedly into a smirk when he caught me looking at him. Oh God. It was written all over my face wasn’t it? Desire in all its torturous forms.
I turned away quickly and focused all my attention to the script I had been given for tonight’s episode of Raw. I could feel my heart race from the embarrassment of the situation. And now he was walking towards me. All that brash cockiness fully focused on me.
“Well, well, well if it isn’t the current Princess of Hollywood. I heard you were here tonight to host Raw and promote your new movie.” He held out his hand, “Hi, I’m Seth Rollins.” The cocky swagger in his normally annoying nasally voice should have been a turn off but damn if it wasn’t borderline seductive.
“I know who you are,” I said in what I hoped sounded like a normaI, disaffected voice. I didn’t take his hand in greeting. Way too dangerous to touch him. “We met once at a charity function WWE was hosting last year. Stephanie introduced us.”
He didn’t remember meeting me! Of course he didn’t. Ouch! I tried not to look disappointed by that. Not in a “don’t you know who I am” way a lot of Hollywood actors adopted but in a “of course he would never look at me or remember me kind of way.”
I immediately looked back down at my script, memorizing the brief lines I had been given. Don’t look at him. Don’t look at him.
Seth was about to say something. His face indicating he was about to lay on the charm when a savior suddenly appeared.
“Lay off, Rollins,” Sasha said as she handed me an ice cold water. Perfect to help me cool off in presence of The Kingslayer. “You don’t need to crowd our guest host.”
Seth rolled his eyes. “I am just being polite, Sasha. As the uh, face of the company it is my role to greet our guests.”
Sasha’s eyes crinkled with mischief at Seth, the way a little sister would find a way to torture her older brothers. “Face of the company? Then I should get Roman or maybe Cena. Brock of course is not around.”
Seth put a hand to his chest as if he had been actually wounded by her barbed words. “You just gonna knock me down like that Sash. Come on, man. And in front of our distinguished guest.”
He waved a hand at me and flashed a sexy grin that made me wonder what his kisses would be like. Would they be filled with a devouring, all consuming passion? I wanted to find out even though I was trying desperately not to show it.I tried not to smile at either of them.
Sasha sat down next to me and looked at my script. “Who are you working with tonight? I’m betting it’s The Miz considering the whole Hollywood angle.”
Seth cleared his throat, stroking his beard in a theatrical way.
“Oh it’s you,” Sasha noted at her friend, looking a little shocked.
Seth gave a little bow. “Yes. She is working with me,” he answered smugly. “Ambrose and I crash the Miz TV segment with her.”
“A-ha.” Sasha poked him in the chest. “Ultimately I am right.”
I chuckled at their banter. Life on the road had obviously made them good friends. Friendship was something I was sorely lacking after the scandal broke. Friendship was always fickle in Hollywood but it was non existent during a scandal, unless there was more money to be made off the story.
“Well, face of the company or not I accept your warm welcome,” I answered to Seth. “It is really interesting to see all this backstage life we don’t see on camera.”
Damn. I let that slip. I didn’t mean to let folks know I was a total fan. On set while I waited for scenes to be set up or during long mornings in the makeup trailer, I whiled away hours watching old eps of Raw and Smackdown. But I was also fluent about what was going on today. I knew all the storylines and I had my very particular thoughts on how to improve the bookings.
So it was fascinating to see how the superstars interacted with each other, killed time and prepared for the show. It was way better than eating a fancy fruit platter in isolation in the green room of a late night talk show.
Seth looked triumphant. “Ahh, so you’re a fan huh. Who is your favorite superstar?” That smug grin went all the way to his dark inviting eyes this time. Too damn sexy for sure! “From the current roster. Male, if you please.” He had thrust his hands in his pants as he made his demands and that caused me to check out his jeans, so tight fitting and distracting.
I gave him the dreamiest stare I could. “Roman Reigns. Strong. All those muscles and with eyes that pierce you. That hair. He’s a god. The kind you want to throw you over his shoulder and carry you away. He is so commanding in the ring and those spears look painful. But then you know all about that seeing as you faced him in the ring as his ‘little brother’. You remember that don’t you, Seth?”
Sasha snorted with laughter. For a moment I thought she was gonna do a spit take with her bottle of water.
The cocky grin on Seth’s face slipped just a little bit. I scored a hit. “Second favorite.”
“Mmm,” I pretended to think a moment. “Cesaro. Ahh yes. The Swiss Superman. Strips out of his clothes. Unstoppable with Sheamus. He also seems adorable on Twitter with his love of coffee.”
Sasha just guffawed again, covering her exquisite abs with her hands as she tried to not bend over with laughter. “Do you dare ask her for her third favorite Seth or will you continue to bruise your ego?”
Now challenged, Seth refused to back down. He leaned in close to me, placing both his hands on the arms of my chair. I tried not to greedily inhale his scent which was clean with hints of musk. Definitely a cologne I knew even if the name escaped me.
How could I think when he was looking at me with those deep, hooded eyes of his. Bedroom eyes. They gave me their full power and intensity, daring me to say something other than his name as my answer. It made me think what it would be like to look up into those eyes while I called out his name in another setting.
Mistake! My body was switched on between his proximity, those damn eyes of his, and his scent. There was an arrow of electricity arcing to my core as he looked at me so intently. I wanted desperately to cross my legs or leave this scene and escape to a private place where I could touch myself and think of him. He hadn’t touched me and yet I felt marked by him. Branded. His.
He stayed leaned in, refusing to increase the space between us. The tension amped up. His beakish nose seemed arrogantly tilted as he noticed my nipples hardening against the designer fabric of my top. He silently dared me to answer.
I couldn’t resist letting a smaller smile slip. “Braun Strowman.”
“Touché,” he said. His words a warm caress against my skin. And then he straightened up. Away from me. No! I felt stripped by him and now he was pulling away and taking that intense sexual aura with him
“I could keep going,” I said, determined to strike fully at his ego. “Mmm, AJ, Baron, ooh Kevin Owens. Now he’s a fantastic heel. The Usos. Oh definitely Neville is high up on a top ten list. That whole dominant king gimmick is great.” It was my turn for a smug smile to light up my face.
Hands on his hips, Seth perfected an annoyed pout as he nodded his head with my still growing list.
Sasha was still laughing. “Stop it please. I’m laughing so hard my cheeks hurt.”
She looked up at Seth. He had gone from a pouting look to a sad puppy look. It was a ruse of course but there was some truth visible that his exclusion from my list hurt.
“So no Seth Freakin’ Rollins on her list at all. Poor Sethie,” Sasha said. She got up and gave him a hug.
Jealousy coursed through me as her arms innocently curled around that neck of his and I turned away before the bastard caught the frustration on my face.
“You can stop calling me Sethie. The punishment for losing that bet ended a month ago Miss Banks.”
“And as for you Miss Hollywood Princess, you will find that Seth Freakin’ Rollins is ‘The Man’ in WWE, even if he isn’t on your list.”
He looked me over. “Unless there is another list you want to put me at the top of,” he said with a wink.
“Egomaniacs anonymous?,” I answered blandly, not resisting the witty repartee between us. In the movies this would be a “meet cute” but there was nothing cute about it. Certainly you could have a “meet lust” right?
“Our meetings wouldn’t be anonymous. We are egomaniacs. We want people to know what we do. We crave attention. Being desired. And anyway, we meet on Wednesday evenings if you want to come by. As a Hollywood A-lister I bet there is quite a lot of ego in you too. You can bring The Miz with you.”
I laughed at that. Okay, so we had better stop our jousting game of tit for tat.
“At least you didn’t mention Bálor on your list.” Seth looked at me a moment, all humor and smuggness gone from his face, his eyes serious and hard. “I’m serious. Stay away from him.”
There was a chill to his tone that I was not going to submit to. “You don’t own me, Kingslayer.”
Seth was about to answer when Bayley bounced over, all smiles. She slid a arm around Seth’s waist in a friendly pseudo hug. “What’s going on? I can hear Sasha laughing all the way in Catering.
I decided to fill her in. “I was just telling Seth Freakin’ Rollins here that he has no right to tell me to stay away from Finn Bálor. He doesn’t own me.”
A nervous chuckle escaped Bayley’s lips at the mention of Finn. She didn’t comment. Only tugged on Seth’s arm to leave. “It’s our turn on the ping pong table. We should go.”
Seth gave Bayley a smile that was protective. He hugged her closer and turned to walk away but of course he had to get in the last word. He turned his head to call out to me, “Next time we hang out I want you to ask me to name all my favorite Hollywood actresses. You may be surprised by my answers.”
Then he was gone. Those sexy thighs of his carrying him off to play ping pong and not torture me with his presence. I suddenly felt adrift.
“That was priceless,” Sasha said as she sank down into her chair again and flipped her vibrantly hued hair over her shoulder. She looked over at me. “Don’t worry about Seth. He’s just messing with you. It’s part of his charm.”
“Humph, I don’t know about charm but he definitely makes an interesting first impression.”
Sasha leaned in and looked at me conspiratorially. “Oh come on, I would have to be as blind as a ref to not see the sparks between you two.”
I dropped my gaze, unable to meet her inquisitive stare. “Oh, I am not in the market for a boyfriend right now. Things were pretty bad with my recent breakup.”
Sasha put her hand over mine. We had only met earlier in the day but she already felt like a confidant. “I know. It must be hard having the world know your business. Making assumptions.”
“It is. But its also hard to know who to trust, if you know what I mean.”
“I do. Being a woman in the company is hard. People make up all sorts of reasons for why you advanced up the ranks. None of it comforting.”
I nodded my head. I had been there too although in a different setting.
“Well you still need to shake off the ‘ring rust’ relationship wise and you are interested in my boy, Rollins.” The way Sasha said it, the words were more statement than question.
I bowed my head. Damn. It was that obvious. “I don’t know.”
Sasha however was not going to be denied. “Look, after the show we are all gonna go to a bar and relax, do some karaoke. Come with us and hang out. Seth will be there.”
I furrowed my brow. “I’m not looking for some long term relationship.”
“I’m not saying till death do you part girl. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, even if its only for one night.” She did a little dance in her chair, excited by her matchmaking attempts.
Even though I didn’t know Sasha long, I felt like she was an old friend. The kind where you might not see them for years but when you do get together you fall immediately back into a comfortable rhythm. The kind that wanted to see you happy with no ulterior motive.
“I feel its best that I’m just off men right now.”
“Okay. There are some hot girls on the roster who might be just the ticket.”
“I blushed. I didn’t mean like that.”
“Look, breakups are hard. Your ex was a ass for what he did to you and to be so public about it. But don’t give up on the human race because of it.”
She paused a beat. “Is it true you are taking a hiatus from acting for awhile?”
“Yeah. This is my last bit of contracted promotion and honestly I needed to get out of Hollywood for a bit.” Especially from the pitying glances of folks I met there.
Also, the possibility of running into my ex and having it filmed by some gossip rag terrified me. It wasn’t so much a hiatus as much as it was a self imposed exile.
Sasha was going to press though. Not out of nosiness but a desire to help and empathize. It was best to change the subject.
“So what’s the damage between Seth and Finn?”
Sasha sighed. “I don’t know all of it. They are both insanely talented and competitive. All I know is that their kayfabe feud became real.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It happens. WWE is a company but it’s also a family. You have to be family to allow someone to take control of your body in the ring. You have to have trust. When that is gone, well things get dangerous.”
“Have they ever physically fought like backstage, not in the ring?”
Sasha shook her head. The cascade of colorful waves settling around her shoulders perfectly. “Oh no. That’s a first class ticket to being fired around here. You can’t put your hands on someone. That would be throwing away your career.” She paused. “But enough about that. What does a girl have to do to get you to come out and sing karaoke?”
“Easy. Allow me to take down Seth Freakin’ Rollins in song form for calling me a Hollywood Princess.”
Sasha laughed. “Done.”
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