Lass Ride: Bonus Scenes

1. At the Cabin

Summary: Set a month or so after Becky left her friends in LASS RIDE: CROSSROADS. Becky's invited to the McMahon family cabin, but it's less of a request and more of an obligation.

When Becky heard the word cabin, her mind admittedly went to airplanes—unsurprising, given her work history as well as her mother's. When Hunter and Stephanie had invited her to their cabin, her first thought was that it was less of an invitation and more of a mandatory appearance, like some corporate team-building exercise. At least the scenery would be nice. Despite all her time in Canada, she had never been to a cabin by a lake, so she did a bit of research beforehand to figure out what to bring along. Since it was still autumn, at least she knew she shouldn't have to worry about snow, or at least she hoped not. Hunter had rented a trailer for the Authority—and Becky—to bring their motorcycles along, and she was at least hoping to sneak it at least a few good rides.

Apparently the McMahon definition of cabin and the regular one differed somewhat, because the building in front of her took up most of the western shore of the lake and extended far back into the woods. "This is a cabin?" she muttered as she hopped out of Cesaro's SUV. They had needed a convoy to bring all the guests: Hunter and Stephanie and their kids, as well as Becky, Cesaro, Randy, and a few other friends and their partners. As soon as she saw that Randy's wife wasn't coming along, Becky made a point of making sure she and Cesaro left before he could try riding with them. Avoiding him in such a large cabin shouldn't be too difficult, but she knew he would find some way to annoy her.

The sun rooms seemed to work nicely. There was one on the east side and another on the west, one for sunrise and one for sunset, and Becky thought Stephanie and Hunter must have forgot about them entirely, because she was the only one who seemed to use them. They were a bit dusty from lack of use at first, but that was easy enough to remedy, and then she had a tiny little haven—not that anything in the cabin was truly small. The windows allowed her excellent views of the lake, so she could tell when people were coming back in, and the natural light was perfect for reading. She made sure she socialized with the others enough so it wasn't suspicious, but as soon as she had a chance, she was back in one of the sun rooms, basking in the warmth and solitude.

Even when Cesaro found her hiding places, it didn't really bother her. Ever since she had returned to WWE, he had been good about respecting her space; even when he was essentially babysitting her, he gave her as much freedom as he could. It had been raining gently all day and the patter on the windows had almost lulled her to sleep when he knocked on the door. "Oh, were you sleeping?" he asked after she had mumbled a reply. "I can go. I don't want to bother you."

"You're not a bother." Becky didn't want to get up, though. She had sprawled under a light blanket and was quite comfortable. When she started to stir, Cesaro shook his head and sat on the floor, leaning back against the couch she was on. "You don't have to sit on the floor. Just give me a minute and I'll move. . . ."

"I'm fine here, Becky." It was only then that she realized he had a coffee cup in each hand. "I figured you might be avoiding the kitchen because of Randy," Cesaro said, turning at the waist to hand her a cup, "so I thought you might appreciate a coffee."

"Thanks." Becky turned onto her side and cradled the cup in both hands. It wouldn't be as good as some of the gourmet coffees she'd had with Cesaro on the road, but she doubted Hunter and Stephanie skimped either. "No one asked why you had two cups?"

Cesaro's shrug was, like him, elegant and understated. "They know I like coffee. Maybe they thought I was tired. They didn't ask, and I didn't offer."

Becky laughed. "Hey, that's my mantra. Merch is doing up the final designs for the shirt, you know." The cup was almost uncomfortably hot, so she settled for breathing in some of the steam.