There was a split second of silence before the crowd literally erupted. I couldn’t remember ever hearing so many boos in my life. And I was the daughter of the Young Bucks—I’d heard them get booed more than anyone else in the world.
Papa slumped to the side, barely catching himself on his hand before he fell straight over. His eyes were glassy and fixed somewhere in the distance. Almost as if he had been knocked dazed. Or as if he were crying.
The sight of it—whatever it was—broke my heart. There was a sudden, overwhelming rush of guilt at having hidden this whole thing from them. I knew now that Dad and Papa would have understood the whole thing. They knew how to tell amazing stories. And they would have helped me tell this one. But I’d decided to keep them out of the loop. Mom and Nikki, too.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to think about having to face Mom backstage. She was going to murder me, least of all because I’d legitimately knocked my sister out with a superkick.
“Mattie,” came Dad’s voice from behind me. He’d pulled himself up on the apron and practically clawed his way under the bottom rope into the ring. “What happened?”
His blue eyes bounced between me, Papa, and Nikki. He looked as if he couldn’t figure out where to focus and the confusion on his face just broke my heart even more. How was I ever going to make this up to them? To explain it?
Dad crawled over to Nikki and shook her. “Nikki? Nikki?” He shook her again, tapping her hard on the cheek. “Nicole!”
I stayed rooted to the spot as I felt some of the resolve at this whole thing slip away. For a moment, I wanted to take it all back. When he couldn’t wake Nikki up, Dad rolled to his feet and stomped across the ring toward me. He pointed back at my sister.
“What happened, Mattie? Did Cash do that?”
In my mind’s eye, I saw Bub sitting at the production table watching the screen. Waiting for me to make a move. To do something. Anything. We’d spent so long planning this. I couldn’t let it fall apart so soon.
Before I could speak, music blared through the arena. Dun. Dunana-dunana-dunana-dunana-na. Burberry patterns lit up the big screens. Dad and I looked toward the tunnels. Behind us, Cash laughed. Papa came to and started crawling toward Nikki.
“Cut my music,” Maxwell said from the top of the ramp. “Cut my music. Cut my music.”
He stopped and stood staring down at the ring. There was a smirk on his face that made me feel mildly ill. Of course, he hadn’t come alone. Wardlow hovered behind him over his right shoulder. Shawn Spears was on his left, a steel chair emblazoned with his logo in his hand.
“Bucks, Bucks, Bucks,” Maxwell sighed dramatically, shaking his head. “Looks like you’re having a bit of trouble. And you needed your little girls to come save you.”
He took a few steps forward. The others followed right behind him. “Pathetic. You’re too old and too stupid to realize that it’s time to move on. You’re not the top of the food chain in AEW anymore, boys.” He wiggled his thumb between himself, Wardlow, and Spears. “We are. Isn’t that right… Mattie?”
The smirk curved into an evil grin as he met my eyes. I sucked in a shallow breath and turned to look at my Dad. He looked at me with confusion in his blue eyes—the eyes that Mom always said were so much like mine. He glanced at Papa, who was trying to shake Nikki awake. My gut churned. I hated that I’d actually hurt my sister.
“Tea?” Dad whispered in disbelief.
I forced myself to scowl. “I’m not that little girl anymore.” Not giving myself time to think, I took a firm step forward and slammed my knee into the side of Dad’s head. He looked stunned before slumping back onto his heels.
The crowd booed even louder. Some shouted horrible things at me, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was how worried I was for Nikki and how I was going to explain this to my parents when it was all over. Maybe I could get Bub to do it for me. Most of this had been his idea to begin with.
Maxwell started laughing as I rolled beneath the bottom rope and hopped to the ground. I backed up the ramp, doing my best to sneer at where my family sat in various stages of disbelief. Cash and Dax had pulled themselves to their feet and walked just a few feet behind me.
“Good job, Jackson,” Dax said just loud enough for those in the front row to hear. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“Shut up,” I tossed back, trying to push as much venom into my words as possible. “I don’t give a damn what you think.”
He laughed. I turned my back on the ring and looked up at Maxwell, Wardlow, and Spears. When I was halfway up the ramp, I stopped and propped my hands on my hips. I let myself bask in the boos of the crowd—in the reality that I’d tossed a heel turn at them out of nowhere and they’d gone from loving me as the princess of AEW to hating me in half a second. The smile and heat on my face just then was genuine.
Now there was just one thing left.
“Come on, Mattie,” Maxwell said, taking a few sauntering steps toward me. “Come to Daddy.”
He held out his arms, a look on his face that was so smug that I had to fight the urge to walk right up and smack him. Instead, I tried to look coy and sashayed the last few feet between us.
And went right past him. Wardlow loomed over me with his broad shoulders and serious expression. He was in a grey suit and plum colored shirt that had clearly been tailored perfectly for him. His brow rose as I settled my hand on the center of his chest.
My God, I thought with a snapping realization, he’s solid. And warm.
Wardlow looked confused. The expression only deepened as I slid my arm around the back of his neck and practically jumped into his arms. He wrapped me in them as I hooked my legs over his hips. Those dark eyes went wide just before I crashed my lips against his.
***
“That was brilliant!”
“What the fuck was that?”
“How could you?!”
People started shouting the moment we came through the curtain in the back. I glanced at the monitor nearby and watched as my fathers helped roll my little sister to sit up. Papa was still oozing blood. Dad looked like he was crying.
Bub stood up from the production table with a wide smile. This whole thing had been his idea. It had taken him weeks to convince me to go along with it. And even longer once he told me who he expected me to betray my family for.
Mom was still sitting there staring at me with her eyes wide. I could see the tears that threatened to spill out. I hadn’t just betrayed my sister and our tag team. I hadn’t just turned my back on my fathers. What just happened was more than a pair of superkicks and a V-trigger. It was ignoring everything that had made me who I was.
A hand wrapped around my upper arm and whipped me around. Maxwell stood with an angry snarl on his face. “What the fuck just happened, Jackson? That wasn’t what we agreed on! You just made me look like a fool.”
Shawn chuckled behind his hand. Dax and Cash looked away, clearly trying to hide their amusement at what just occurred. Only Wardlow had a truly neutral expression. I watched him from the corner of my eyes. He had his hands clasped in front of him and his deeply dark eyes were fixed on me.
Good God, it made me feel small.
I shrugged. If I was going to be part of the Pinnacle, I supposed it was time to start acting like one of them. “What’s the first thing you told me, Maxie? Play the best angle. And I did.”
His jaw dropped as I stepped around him and hooked my arm through Wardlow’s. He arched one brow but didn’t speak. I looked back at Maxwell and grinned. But before I could say another word, I saw my mother stand up. Loud thumping came from the steps leading down from the face tunnel. Dad came thundering around the corner. Papa wasn’t far behind, but he moved sluggishly from blood loss and having to carry my sister.
I saw them coming. Saw the absolute betrayal and hurt and anger in their eyes. Dad was a few feet away. Adrenaline spiked through me. I couldn’t bring myself to explain the whole thing to them just then.
Without thinking, I grabbed Wardlow by the hand and took off running as fast as I could down the hallway. It felt like dragging a ton of bricks behind me, but it strangely never occurred to me to let go and run away on my own.
“Mattie?” Wardlow’s voice came out low and quiet, tinged heavily with confusion.
“I’ll explain later!” I shouted back. We skidded around the corner. The back door of the arena was in sight. Momentary freedom was within reach. I could avoid having to face my family for just a little bit longer. I had time to figure out how to tell them why I’d kept it all a secret. Why Bub, Maxwell, and I had cooked this whole thing up behind their backs.
Someone shouted my name from behind. My heart dropped down in my chest. I could feel it settled against my stomach. It made me want to vomit.
“Mattea Kourtney Jackson!” My mother’s voice echoed through the hallways. It was just a matter of time before she caught up with us.
Wardlow slowed as if he were planning on turning around. I yanked hard on his hand. “Don’t you dare!” I hissed over my shoulder. “I’m not ready to explain all that to them right now!”
“Hey!” Another voice came out of nowhere just ahead. Kat Prince appeared out of a doorway, a mischievous grin on her face. “That was brilliant. Here. Take these. It’s the black one with the car seat in the back.”
Kat had tossed me a set of keys. She winked.
The fear in my chest relaxed just a little. “Thanks, Aunt Kat!”
Without another thought, I dragged Wardlow through the door into the darkness. I pressed the keys into his large hand and gave him a desperate look. “Please, just get me out of here for half an hour. So I can figure out how to tell them why I just did that.” Wardlow watched me for a fraction of a second—as if he would say no—before gesturing me to go ahead of him.
Guys we know what’s about to happen. The media and the haters are going to try to slut shame Tay for the RFI video. They’re going to try to compare it to Kanye’s Famous video. Because they’re predictable and stupid.
We need to ban together. Our new favourite word is “consent”.
You tell them that difference is consent. You tell them Taylor did not consent to Kanye calling her a bitch. Taylor did not consent to Kanye placing a naked wax replica of her in a bed with a rapist and misogynists.
Taylor is a woman expressing her sexuality in 2017. She is the only one who gets to decide how to dress her body. Whether she feels sexy and empowered by showing skin or covering up, its her damn decision. Different things empower different women.
