Wrestling with Love

By Rachel Patterson

Rebecca Allston is 27 and still figuring out her life. She has just gotten a job at the Worldwide Wrestling Corporation as a secretary, which in this job market took nearly a year. Rory Burns is one of the stars of the WWC, a heel with eight years in the company. He is ready to leave his job when he meets Rebecca. The chemistry between them is obvious. But will their budding affection survive the demands of their boss, Damon Lowry, that they stay loyal to him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rachel Patterson
• Release date: Dec 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311351890

Rachel Patterson

Rachel Patterson, also known as the "Kitchen Witch," is a High Priestess of the Kitchen Witch Coven and an Elder at the online Kitchen Witch School of Natural Witchcraft. She's the author of twenty books on Witchcraft, including Curative Magic and A Witch for Every Season. She is a regular contributor to Pagan Dawn magazine and Witchcraft & Wicca magazine as well as websites Patheos Pagan and Witches & Pagans. Rachel was added to the Watkins 'Spiritual 100 List' for 2023. She lives in Hampshire, England. Visit her at www.RachelPatterson.co.uk.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Rebecca Allston was late. She cursed as she struggled into her pantyhose, hopping on one foot and looking frantically around for her shoes. This wasn't good. It was her first day in a new job, and this tardiness wasn't going to give anyone a good impression. It wasn't really her fault that her alarm was set for the wrong day... right? Sure, she was a little scatterbrained sometimes, but she couldn't help it that her new phone required a day of the week for the alarms and she had overlooked that detail.

Stupid, ugly piece of crap, she muttered, finding and cramming her toes into her plain black pumps. She flung her purse over her shoulder and rushed out the door, nearly forgetting to lock the door.

At least she was able to get a cab right away. Normally she would walk the two and a half blocks to the Columbia Heights metro station, but the trains could often be slow and she didn't want to be any later.

The cabbie peered at her in the rear-view mirror, obviously amused. You alright, miss?

Yes, she said, Just a little late. She gave him the address, which she was pretty sure was just off of Embassy Row near Scott Circle. His eyebrows raised a little in surprise or maybe shock before he caught himself and smiled again.

You're the boss, he said, a little subdued. She didn't really get the reaction, but she had other things to worry about. Luckily the driver was a good one and was able to bypass most of the morning traffic. On the way over, he played a song that involved somebody with a big ol' butt which made Rebecca laugh and forget her nervousness for a moment. The cabbie told her the artist was actually from DC.

Despite the driver's skill, it was approaching 9:30 when she stepped out of the cab at 1262 16th Street. She tipped the cabbie well and peered up at the nondescript office building in front of her. There wasn't time to really absorb much information about the place, as she had to dash in, smoothing her suit skirt as she walked through the door.

A receptionist beamed up at her. Are you Miss Allston?

Yes! she said. I'm so, so sorry I'm late.

Oh, don't worry about that. I'm sure Mr. Lowry will let it slide this time. It can be a little hard to find this place.

As the receptionist picked up the phone, Rebecca gulped. Damon Lowry was the head of the Worldwide Wrestling Corporation, the company she had just landed an administrative position with. Was he going to be her direct boss? She hoped not. He was kind of notorious for being a really tough guy.

The receptionist got her attention. Miss Allston, you can go right up to the fifth floor. The elevators are right behind me.

Rebecca walked over to the elevators and took a deep breath as she rode up to the fifth floor, which seemed to be the top, although from the outside it had looked taller than five floors. The thought was dismissed as silly as soon as it came to her.

The doors opened and a man was standing there, arms crossed, but with a slight smile on his face. He was taller than Rebecca, and she inhaled sharply as she met his gaze and recognized Damon Lowry himself.

Miss Allston, I presume.

Rebecca's throat had gone suddenly dry, so she just nodded instead of risking her voice coming out in a squeak.

May I call you Rebecca? His voice had a slight British accent, and a touch of amusement, Rebecca was happy to note.

Of course, she managed. And... well, I'm very sorry I was late this morning.

That's alright, Rebecca, as long as it doesn't happen again. Now let's get you to your desk.

The next ten minutes were a nervous blur where she followed Mr. Lowry around and tried to absorb as many details as possible. It seemed like he wanted her to jump right in. Finally, explanations over, he went to his office, which was a little uncomfortably close to her cubicle. As soon as the door closed, though, she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing.

When she opened them, a petite brunette was standing in front of her. Rebecca startled a bit.

Sorry to bother you! the woman exclaimed. I'm Janet Eaton! I work in the next cubicle over! I just wanted to know if you needed anything!

Rebecca smiled. This Janet woman was sure perky, in the way that made you feel like you needed to perk up too.

Actually, Janet, she said. Where can I get a cup of coffee around here?

Janet helped Rebecca settle in, and by lunch time she felt a little more comfortable, and like she might actually succeed at this job.

As soon as lunch time rolled around, Damon Lowry appeared from his office. She realized she hadn't seem him once since the morning. She wondered if he ever needed to use the bathroom, and then had to stifle a giggle as she realized he was walking right up to her desk.

Rebecca. I'd like you to go to lunch with me and some of our talent today. You'll need to know all of them, so we might as well start.

They took a private car over to the restaurant, which was a nice one, Founding Farmers over on Pennsylvania Avenue. The 'talent' seemed to refer to the group of wrestlers already at the table. Rebecca had watched a little bit of WWC programming before, so she vaguely recognized most of them, though she didn't know any names.

Luckily, Damon introduced her. Rebecca, I'd like you to meet some of our top earners. Tom Gibbons, Mikhail Luberov, Rory Burns, and David Pulley.

They all smiled at her and said hello. They were certainly all big men, at least muscle-wise, though some of them were a bit shorter than she would have expected. Most of them were fairly attractive, too, which she guessed made sense given that they were TV performers, but it made her a little nervous about her own appearance.

Lunch proceeded normally, though she didn't attack her burger with as much relish as usual due to her nerves. She laughed a lot and thought all the men seemed pretty nice.

They all left to go back to the office. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and Rebecca was able to find easy tasks to last the whole day. She left feeling pretty good about the first day, though as she left at five o'clock she noticed Damon Lowry watching her after she got onto the elevator. He definitely made her nervous, though he didn't seem so terrible, at least not yet.

See you tomorrow, Miss Allston, he called after her. Perhaps you could watch our Monday programming?

Sure, okay, she called back, and the elevator doors closed.

She took the metro home and changed into her sweats. She fixed herself a pasta dinner and switched on Monday Night Wrestling at 8 o'clock, and settled into her cushy couch to watch.

Chapter 2

Monday Night Wrestling was a live show. Rory Burns felt the normal sinking sensation in his stomach at the start of it. This was going to be yet another tough night. He didn't think he could keep doing this much longer.

Being a fairly in-shape guy with some boxing experience, he had decided to try out for the WWC eight years ago. Damon Lowry had just risen up the ranks to take over the company and personally picked Rory as the newest WWC wrestler. Ever since, Damon had considered Rory part of his core team, perhaps even the favorite.

But it wasn't easy being the bad guy every week, and often more than once a week. Like most heels, or villains, Rory was a big guy, standing 6 It had begun to wear on him fairly quickly to not just play a bad character but to be constantly thought of that way by anyone he met. The worst part, perhaps, was that every week he found himself enjoying being that bad guy, at least a little, and it scared him.

Unfortunately, his contract was a rather awful one and he couldn't just quit. He wished he'd had a lawyer all those years ago to go over the contract. Maybe he would have known about the clause against quitting before he was too injured or old to wrestle, or until Damon Lowry decided to release him. Had he known, he might have declined the job, but he wasn't sure. It had been such a dream at first. He did love performing.

Well, he thought. Most people who meet me expect me to be mean, but that girl at lunch didn't seem to really know who I was.

He recalled the woman. Rebecca, her name had been. A pretty thing. Too bad she would find out sooner or later what working for Damon Lowry was really like.

He shook his head and finished putting on his costume, which was basically a tiny black mankini covered with a kilt, elbow and knee pads, and black combat boots. He did his pre-show meditation, which basically consisted of letting himself think all of the hard and hateful thoughts that he usually tried to push aside.

Today he was going to be wrestling against the WWC's second-favorite face, Tom Gibbons. Tom was only 5and a bit more conventionally attractive than Rory, and had somehow been picked as a good guy, even though in real life their personalities were more or less reversed. This would be the match right before the headliner, and Tom was going to win after Rory tried to end the match with an illegal move.

Rory sighed. The scripts were nearly always the same. It wasn't that he cared that it was scripted at all, that was fine. Some of the wrestling was real, after all, and it was certainly a very physical activity. He just wished they would give him some originality every once in a while.

An image of his father's Scottish estate entered Rory's mind. His father was ailing and was talking about passing the estate over to Rory before he could no longer manage it. He shut out the image as soon as he was able and tried to focus on his anger at not being able to go home. That would make his performance all the more believable.

Tom entered the dressing room to get ready, and Rory quit daydreaming and looked at him.

Hey, Scotch tape, he said. Ha, you like that one? Scotch tape? Cuz you're Scottish?

Aye, Rory said wearily. That's a clever one, Tom. You should be a comedian, truly.

Tom narrowed his eyes. Asshole. Just you wait until I beat your ass later. I'm gonna make it hurt, too, just for that insult.

Great, Rory said. I can't wait. He was really just trying to get Tom to shut up. He couldn't stand the man.

Tom smirked and sang the chorus from Eye of the Tiger as he put on his costume, which was nearly identical to Rory's but red, white and blue.

See you out there, dumb ass! Tom called cheerily as he left, presumably to go kiss Damon Lowry's ass.

Rory did some breathing exercises and stretched before going out onto the floor. He had been right before. It was going to be a long night.

Chapter 3

Rebecca had thought she would be bored watching wrestling, since she had stopped after moving away from home. It had mostly been something she'd catch if her dad wanted to watch it. So she was surprised when she actually found herself enjoying it on its own merits.

She noticed that the characters mostly played heavy-handed stereotypes of good or bad guys. There was a lot of really melodramatic acting, and it was clear that some of the punches were emphasized with a foot hitting the ring.

Still, the men were mostly rather good performers. And who didn't like watching well-muscled men get sweaty with each other? She recognized Mikhail from lunch in one of the early matches, wrestling under the name Russian Rocket. It wasn't until later that she actually saw a match between two guys she had met. It was the guy with the Scottish accent, Rory, against one of the shorter ones, Tom. Rory was called The Scotsman - how original, she thought - and Tom just went by his name.

Tom Gibbons came out to the ring to a rock version of God Bless the USA. He roused the crowd, spouting off a few lines of patriotic dribble. He seemed cute, but not really that intriguing. The lights dimmed, and a loud number, all bagpipes and screeching guitars, came on as the announcers sounded excited and afraid, and recounted all the evil-doings of The Scotsman recently.

The lights came up to reveal Rory, in a kilt and seemingly not much else. Rebecca looked at his face, dusted with stubble and with a wicked-looking grin, and felt heat spring to her belly. The expression was probably supposed to look evil, but she could imagine it as a playfully naughty smile in the bedroom. Her imagination was helped along by the fact that his chest was bare, showing his fantastic abs and pecs, and a fairly thick shock of chest hair. She couldn't help but imagine herself running her hands over his excellent physique, gently pulling on that hair... She shook herself out of that line of thinking before she started drooling or something.

The match was much like all the others. A lot of fake punching, plenty of throws and chokeholds, and the destruction of the Spanish announcers' table. She smiled when that happened, since it was such a common thing in the old days of WWC that it had become a joke between her and her dad. After ten minutes of throwing each other around, the Scotsman tried to do a piledriver, but was told off by the ref for attempting an illegal move. Tom took advantage of this to do his finishing move on the Scotsman, some kind of throw that was apparently called the 'helicopter toss',and won the match. Then the Scotsman had beat on Tom for a while, she guessed to show his evilness, and had to be dragged out of the ring by the ref.

Both men were surprisingly believable as their characters. They were excellent showmen and clearly in great shape. She cast her memory back, but didn't seem to recall either of them seeming overly good or evil in real life. She remembered that Tom Gibbons was one of the most popular WWC wrestlers and that a lot of women found him very attractive. But she preferred the dark and mysterious type, and that was what Rory was. She wondered how he could pull off being so angry on TV when he was so obviously mild-mannered in real life. She would have to compliment his acting skills when she next saw him.

As she went to bed that night, she kept seeing Rory's face. She was so curious about him. She hoped he'd be around the office so she could get to know him a little better. She smiled as she was falling asleep. Who knows, maybe she'd find more than work at this job…

Chapter 4

Morning dawned over the nation's capital. The alarm clock blared, and Rory swatted at it to make it snooze. He could hear