I walked into the ring gym that Damien gave me the details too. It was a small closed off gym, with only a ring and small props resting on the walls.
Wearing black tights with a white cropped tee, I made my way closer to the ring. Finn Balor was watching Rhea and Damien wrestle inside.
You can see it wasn't real. Damien had a cocky smile on his face, one he never let free during matches. I couldn't see Rheas face, but her hair looked soft and natural. She has black tight shorts on with a matching black shirt. Her back muscles were visible, all her strength on display as she tried to kick at Damien's feet.
Finn turned to me. "Hey there." His Irish accent peeped through at the greeting. "Heard you'd be coming. Welcome to TJD." He was kind.
"Thanks, I didn't have much of an option but, I'm looking forward to further my career." I kept it professional.
I peered up to the ring, to find Rhea watching me as Damien braced her from behind before lifting her up and swinging her up and over his head. She landed with a thump on the ground. Damien laughed at her pain, and helped her up.
They continued on.
"So you really agreed with D and Triple H on me joining?" I asked Finn.
He smiled at me. "Yeah, for sure I did. You're talented and I know we can help you make it to the top." He said. "Plus Triple H wanted TJD to continue on with causing mayhem through the WWE."
"Right, yeah." I say. "It was just out of the blue for me, especially with the little rivalry Rhea and I have had."
Finn laughs. "It was brutal between you two. But, Rhea encouraged that we recruit you. She needs a new Dom Dom."
I was taken back. "I am the new Dom? Rhea's puppet?" I asked him.
Finn answered quickly, watching the two in the ring. He shrugged. "I think, mainly, that's what they wanna go with. Rhea making her way through the WWE. The whole judgment day. Turning their heels and turning them brutal." I nodded, my nerves shooting through me.
Suddenly, boots slammed beside me. Damien jumped from the ring to welcome me with a fist bump. "New recruit, put a good playlist on. If it's crappy, then we won't be afraid to tell you that." He spoke deeply, passing me a phone. Probably his.
I typed in my usual playlist and let it ring through the gym. Damien nodded at the first time, enjoying the heavy beats. "I like it so far. I like it." He left to grab some water by the wall.
"Hey." A silken voice said behind me, lanced with a deep Australian tone. Rhea sat on the ring, looking at me and she had a faint smile on her face.
One that was completely different to the one she shows in the ring. "Welcome to TJD."
"Thanks." I shuffled on my feet.
"Ignoring everything that's went on between us in the ring, I'm keen to work with you, really." She said, that shocked me.
I didn't believe what Damien and Finn was saying until now.
"I wasn't sure where you stood with me." I told her.
Rhea lent back onto the ring, biceps on display. "Look, I'm not sorry for kicking your ass at the royal rumble. But I am sorry for how hard I was on you when I had just met you." She scratched her pink lip. "Sorry about that, you just pissed me off if I'm honest."
I tilted my head. "Damien said you may apologise, and honestly I didn't believe him until now. What about me pissed you off?"
Rhea thinks for a moment, sweat glistening on her skin. "You're new, and I've worked my ass off for years to get here. Don't get me wrong, I don't know you but. Then you are about to win the royal rumble only being in the WWE for 6 months. Plus... you attacked me once too."
I laughed. "So you're jealous?" Joking with her. "Sorry about that" I slipped it in.
"Jealous, you wish." She said, standing up from the ring and to in front of me. Her eyes strayed to my neck, my empty skin at my shoulders. "That wasn't the only thing that pissed me off, you know." Her mood changed, and she was serious when she spoke. Amusement in her eyes, this was the Rhea Ripley I knew.
"What else?" I managed to work out with her stare keeping me in place. My heart thumped as her warm and minty breath smothered me.
Damien jumped at my shoulder. "Hey, Mia.-" Finn cut him off. "Terrible name by the way." I rolled my eyes as Finn come to my other side. Damien spoke again. "Anyway, I was speaking to Austin Theory and he wanted me to ask if you were single?"
I took a step back. "Austin Theory?" I seconded him, confused. Damien confirmed what he said. "As in for Austin Theory?" Damien nodded.
I saw Rhea out the side of my eye, now back to sitting on the ring. She had her head resting against the rope, looking at me, waiting for my answer too. I saw the heat in her stare, I damned felt it.
Like she controlled me. For real.
Attention back to Damien, I shrugged him off. "All of this is deserving to a woman, no?" I said, motioning down my body with the ego I knew too well.
"Ah." Damien exclaimed. "Got you. Want me to tell him that or?"
"Go for it, it's not a secret. Or I didn't think it was." I said to him. Damien left the space, leaving Finn, Rhea and I by the ring.
"Let's get you two in the ring then." Finn said, pushing on my back to edge me towards the ring.
Rhea slid under the rope eagerly, now nothing showing on her face.