- Messages
- 10
- Points
- 13
[ OAXACA STREET MARKET - SATURDAY, APRIL 4TH ]
It was a lazy Saturday afternoon; warm, sunny, and with a slight breeze blowing. The EAW Specialists Champion, Auburn Ware, was strolling through a modest, yet bustling market doing the tourist thing on this most unorthodox stop on EAW’s schedule. To be a part of a historic show made the young Elitist smile, and knowing that TLA was sponsoring this on his own as part of the ‘Make-A-Foundation’ was something she could certainly get behind. Auburn had spent some time with Javier Torres and his family, communicating with them in both Spanish and English, thanks to her background of having lived all over the world as a child. It had been a humbling experience for Auburn, but she was used to situations like this. Her parents were humanitarians in their own right, having finally set up their respective clinics in the heart of a poverty stricken region in Zimbabwe. It was days like these, this particular Saturday, that made Auburn grateful for how she had been raised and the values her parents and family had instilled inside of her.
She came to a pause at one particular stall that had an array of brightly colored dresses and tunics, not unlike the dress Auburn was currently wearing. It was a navy blue strapless maxi dress that hugged her curves before fanning out at the waist. Brightly colored floral print made the dress stand out, and Auburn had paired it with a pair of gold gladiator style sandals. Her long, dark hair was pulled back into a wavy ponytail and large Chanel sunglasses covered her face so she wouldn’t be immediately recognized. Auburn didn’t mind being stopped and greeted by fans, but on this particular day, she had a lot of things on her mind. She looked through the dresses, selected a bright orange one in her size, and handed the woman at the register more pesos than the dress was actually worth. The woman gave her a grateful smile and Auburn moved on, but that troubling feeling she had since arriving at the market was back.
She felt like she was being watched and while she wasn’t scared, she also couldn’t relax and enjoy her day. A lot of different things had been happening to her as of late and she wasn’t used to constantly dwelling on the same thing. The thing she couldn’t shake was of course a man, and that man was Damon Lazarus. Just thinking about him caused Auburn’s face to flush and that also annoyed her. She had no idea how she was going to manage to stand next to him tomorrow night, and in a way, she was kind of dreading it. Damon intimidated her and it was his eyes that did her in. They were crystal clear and cold, full of life, experience, and hardship. There was something cruel inside of them if someone were to misstep or get out of line, and remembering Damon smirking after being electrocuted at Shock Value caused Auburn to shudder. She looked behind, to make sure no one was watching her, and though she didn’t see anyone, the hair on the back of her neck was standing.
“Get a grip,” she mumbled to herself.
She crossed the small dirt street where several food and beverage stalls were located. Auburn stopped at one that advertised iced coffees, dirty sodas, and cappuccinos among other things and waited for the worker to acknowledge her.
“Hola! How can I help?” the young woman asked.
“Can I just get an iced vanilla latte please with cold foam and caramel drizzle?” Auburn didn’t typically indulge or treat herself, especially the day before a show, but she needed something to settle her nerves. “Or make me more jittery,” she said once the barista went to fix her order.
All the more, this slithering sensation continues to creep along in the crevices of her own mind. Despite any internal attempts within her head made to mediate the matter at hand, she couldn’t shake the lingering feeling as her eyes proceeded to glance around. No sudden movements, simply scouting accordingly with strictly her gaze alone—‘until.
“Hm…?”
Auburn glances to her left completely, as if she spotted a figure from the distance with their own set of eyes peering toward her. Despite there not being a vast array of people frequenting the stalls, nor the environment as a whole, this lost gander from her perspective proved to be elusive. A very brief squint follows suit, before a voice allows itself to be heard rather loudly for her.
“Iced Vanilla Latte!” Auburn immediately tenses up & looks toward the vendor following the call for her order, and Auburn exhales sharply and nods to her as she pays accordingly. Another latte can be seen next to her own, and she tilts her head slightly as it appears similar to her own drink. “O-oh, I don’t believe I asked for another, sorry.”
“Ah don’t worry, this is for another customer before you, told us they’d be back. Muchas gracias!” She says to Auburn with a smile, as she returns back to the rest of her duties at the stall. Auburn nods with a small smile, not thinking too much of it as she exhales gently, nodding to herself, as she sets a palm over her latte.
…
“Oh, apologies.”
A larger, calloused palm is placed over her own hand, as Auburn’s gaze is slowly taken upward, with a familiar, towering sight beholding of the last man she would have liked to be directly in contact with. “Looks like we’ve both got similar, huh?” Damon Lazarus smirked, glancing down toward Auburn as his frame blocked the sunlight, casting a shadow over Auburn.
The shock of seeing the man who had been haunting her thoughts in person, outside of an arena, caused Auburn to startle. Her latte fell from her hands and hit the ground, sending the sticky iced coffee all over both of them. Auburn’s face turned bright red and she stumbled what she thought was an apology as she bent down to retrieve the now empty plastic cup.
“I… I’m sorry,” she whispered as she quickly gathered up the empty cup, lid, and straw and started to dab at her dress with the handful of napkins she had remembered to grab.
“Right, don’t worry about it.” He coldly said, as he decided to kneel himself down while snatching his own handful of napkins. “Honest mistakes, y’know, pardon my French, shit just happens, am I right?” He takes what he perceives as a gentle grip of her dress, as he tries to clean her dress accordingly, exhaling sharply. “Hate to get a good looking dress dirty, doesn’t help that it’s warm too, gonna simmer in all of that light.”
Auburn completely froze as Damon held on to the hem of her dress. She looked up at that moment to see his eyes watching her, and she lost all train of thought. He was far too close and she couldn’t breath. “I-I c-can get it. It was my f-fault.” Damon let the soft material of her dress slip through his fingers as Auburn swallowed the lump in her throat. He rose to his full height, which made Auburn feel very small and he extended his large hand towards her. Auburn stared at it for a moment but finally she placed her small hand in his. She nearly pulled back when a bolt of electricity shot through her body, and her eyes went wide with shock. Damon’s face remained impassive, but he made the move and pulled Auburn’s sunglasses off her face, moving them to the top of her head. “I’m sorry,” she apologized again, and looked down at the patch of ground that was in between them.
“Hey, it’s fine. Look, no harm done, this is an easy enough fix.” He rests his palms over her bare shoulders, looking down toward her with a very low grin as he gives a nod of reassurance. “Not the most exemplary of circumstances, but what can ya’ do? Can’t be too mad at you now, I’ve been dealt worse cards in my lifetime than a little spill.” His eyes are centered toward her, and they squint rather perceptively as he takes clear notice of her insistence to avoid eye contact.
“You know…” He steadily settles a finger just below her chin, and he slowly lifts said finger along her chin, bringing her gaze up toward him. “Some people may say, it is rude not to look another able bodied human being in the eye when conversing… Of course, I know you’re simply embarrassed. I’ll let ya’ off the hook with this one.”
Auburn clamped her mouth shut, not trusting herself to speak. Heat flooded her face and spread throughout her body and Damon, sensing the affect he was having on her, simply chuckled. He stepped to the side of Auburn, keeping an arm casually around her shoulders, and prompted her to walk with him. What else could Auburn do but follow suit? Damon casually sipped on his latte as they walked in silence, his was a comfortable one, Auburn’s was an unsure one. Damon led them to a small clearing where chairs and tables were set up for resting and eating, and he pulled a chair out for Auburn.
“Sit with me. We have things to talk about.”
She obediently sat and clasped her hands in her lap. This time, she did not advert her eyes from his, and she finally found her voice. “What could we possibly have to talk about, Mr. Lazarus?”
He spares a small grin, as he takes notice of her body language. The tendencies she has formed any moment they find themselves together, no matter how sparse these situations have been. “No need for formal honorifics, sweetheart. Leave it to Damon, that’ll suffice.” Although there is a seat across from Auburn that he can take, he takes a grasp of a chair from a table close to Auburn with a palm, and slides the chair right beside her own, as he then sits himself right next to the particularly timid young woman. His glance remains clear, leaning back against the seat with his arms crossed. “There is plenty to speak on, Auburn… Understandably, we have our match that is approaching soon enough, yet… We can’t keep ignoring that perilous elephant in the room, hm?”
Auburn shook her head and unintentionally looked away from him. Her face flushed once again. “I am not sure what you mean by elephant, Mr La-... Damon?”
Damon’s hand once again found her chin and he gave it a gentle, yet firm squeeze. He turned her face towards him and stared at her. “Eyes.”
Slowly, Auburn nodded, and satisfied, Damon let her go. “I know that you are probably unsure of me as a partner tomorrow, but I can assure you that I will be r-ready. I don’t really want Saori, Eris, or Ashlynn to see me falter now, so I will be able to do my part.”
Damon’s gaze remains set upon Auburn, their eyes looking right through one another as his presence commanded much of the respect—or worry, respectively. “I wouldn’t say I’m unsure, nor do I believe myself to be cautiously approaching this match. We have a job to do, all you’ve got to do is keep your head in the game & we’ll be just fine. For your sake, I know that you’ll smarten up once the bell rings & remind yourself of what’s important.”
He takes another sip of his latte, not sparing the glance away from Auburn before setting the drink down on the table in front of them. “So, with that being said… That isn’t quite the elephant I was speaking of.” A slight eyebrow raises as his eyes are set entirely on her. “And don’t tell me you don’t know, ‘cause I know that you do. I know you’re not a very good liar.”
Auburn swallowed the lump in her throat and looked down at her hands. She fiddled with a few of the rings on her right hand before remembering to keep her eyes on Damon. She glanced back up and bit down on her bottom lip. She shifted away from him, slightly but enough to be noticeable, and she pressed her fingernails into her palms. “You don’t really know me,” she finally replied, but the defiance in her voice was extremely weak. Damon said nothing and waited patiently for her to continue. Finally, Auburn swallowed her pride. Humiliation was written all over face and she squirmed in her chair, clearly uncomfortable.
Damon thought of stopping her moving, but he let it go for now. He wanted inside this woman’s head.
“There is no elephant,” she softly replied, pursing her lips. “I wasn’t expecting you to stare at me and it caught me off guard. That is all.”
A small chuckle emerges from Damon. “Yeah…? That’s all there is to it…?” His eyes examined Auburn’s movements subtly, acutely aware of the minimal details behind her actions that proved the discomfort—but most of all, the sheer vulnerability she experiences around him as well. “Well, it’s real’ adorable when you attempt to verbally hide what you’re really feeling, Auburn—but I’ve been doing this, much too damn long to be ignorant to what’s really going on. I highly doubt one simple exchange of looks is where this all ends…”
“Pardon?” Auburn blinked and she stood up, desperately wanting to put some space between her and Damon. She looked at the chair sitting across from them and moved to that one, much to his amusement. Auburn took a deep breath and thought about her words carefully. “I am not really sure what you are trying to insinuate but I don’t have an interest in you… I can’t. My career is the most important thing in my life and I just want to focus on that. I-I think we should just talk about our match tomorrow n-night. You said that I’ll smarten up once the bell rings? What does that mean?”
“…Right.” Damon’s smirk slowly forms, as he exhales slowly while remaining leaned back against his seat, setting a leg over his knee in a more comfortable posture as he looks toward her. “I’m pretty certain that is self explanatory, sweetheart. You’ll know when to stay out of my way, you’ll know when you have to tag me in, this & that & then some.” His gaze sharpens the further he looks at her, with a slight squint. “If there is any moment where you are inclined to, dilute your inner feelings for me, the ring would be the place to do so… Wouldn't you agree?”
Once again, Auburn started to squirm. She looked around at the marketplace and spied a booth that was selling beverages and snacks. She forced a smile on her face as she stood up. “If you don’t mind, I am going to step away and grab something to drink. It’s extremely humid today and well, your latte wasn’t the one that was dropped.” Damon was up just as quick, his hand landing on her upper arm. The briefest hint of fear flashed in Auburn’s eyes before she lowered them out of respect. “Allow me,” Damon smoothly replied. He guided Auburn back to the original chair he had pulled for her and sat her down. “Don’t move,” he ordered.
Auburn watched as he headed to get her a drink, and she knew it would be the perfect time to make a break for it. But something kept her glued to that chair; fear that Damon would simply find her if she were to leave. A few minutes later, he came back, uncapped a bottle of water, and sat it down in front of her. “There.”
“Thank you,” Auburn mumbled and took a sip.
“Back to our conversation…”
Auburn sighed, once again feeling embarrassed. “I am not sure what you are looking for, Damon. I know how to do my job and I won’t screw up. I won’t get in your way and I promise I will do the best I can. I won’t get distracted.”
Damon’s arms are crossed, standing before her as he’s looking down to her with a stern expression. “Yeah, I don’t doubt that you’ll understand this much. After all, this is a business of professionals, regardless of how chaotic this game tends to become… Nonetheless…” He slowly drags the chair over, not across from Auburn any longer, but not beside her either—situated at a ninety-degree angle across from her at the table, as Damon sits himself down while looking toward Auburn with his textbook, colder gaze. “Dozens, among dozens of elitists… You’ve been around more than long enough for your fair share… Seen ‘em all, frequented ‘em all… Yet…”
He glances downward briefly, as he couldn’t help but allow for a grin to emerge, nodding to himself. “…Somebody just had to stand out for you… For a mind that has kept itself so headstrong, focused on strictly the game… You just couldn’t help it, could you…?”
“It was a momentarily lapse, that’s all!” Auburn replied, her voice raising for the first time the entire conversation. “What did you expect? I’m not just a wrestler, but I am a wrestling fan too. I watched Shock Value. I saw what h-happened to you. I saw that you just s-shrugged it off like something like that was normal. That isn’t normal. You’re not normal. Y-you’re different and you intimidate me.” The admission caused her face to burn with shame and she looked at her lap. She didn’t want to hold Damon’s gaze anymore because he had just cracked through her first defensive wall. “I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to act around you.”
There is a brief moment of silence following her admission, as Damon’s gaze is brought back to Auburn with vested intrigue, assessing her emotional state as each second passes by. To be given a clear indication of her internal turmoil, the distraught nature behind her expression as she struggles to grapple with her own feelings toward him—this became a different matter entirely, one that Damon finds absolutely enthralling.
“…One…” His arm slowly reaches toward Auburn, as his palm settles along her shoulder, with his eyes piercing into the perspective of her with clear intent. “I’d be very careful with who you are raising that pretty voice with… Two… I am aware of how, intimidating I may come across, but that hasn’t stopped you from looking in my direction has it…?” His palm steadily slides itself along her shoulder, and up to her chin, with a firm cup of her chin as he imposes himself with precision. “No, it certainly has not… I believe, something far deeper lies beneath the surface here…”
Stubbornness set in for Auburn and she set her jaw. Another thrill shot through Damon as he had to forcibly make her look at him. He didn’t care if his fingers left visible prints on her porcelain skin, in fact he wanted them too. This time he squeezed her jaw enough to make her whimper. “Y-you’re hurting me,” she admitted in a small voice and put her hands on his arm. “I did warn you to keep your eyes on me when we are speaking, did I not?” Damon cruelly whispered, bringing his face towards her ear.
Auburn managed to nod.
“Are you going to keep your eyes on me now?”
Another nod.
“Good girl.” Damon let her face go and Auburn dropped her hands from his arm. The praise filled her with confusion and warmth, and she gave him a panicked look. Auburn stumbled for something, anything to say, and she flopped back in her chair. She folded her arms across her chest, unaware that a petulant look had crossed her face, and Damon chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” she finally asked.
His grin grew substantially, shaking his own head as he glanced away for a moment, understanding precisely how her actions painted the bigger picture. An exposé of admission & inexperience, intermingling with feelings she could not verbalize due to absences of such a connection in her wrestling-focused life. “…You don’t hate me, nor do you truly present any measure of disdain toward me, Auburn…”
“Frankly…”
His palm, then settled itself right over her knee, sliding itself beneath the slit of her dress as a firmness can be felt right over her thigh—as Damon’s smirk amplified tenfold, in another daring gesture. “It’s the opposite.”
Auburn jumped back, almost as if his touch had scalded her. In a way, it absolutely had. Her knees knocked into the table, turning over the water, as well as his coffee, and Auburn gasped. For the second time in an hour, she had made a fool of herself in front of Damon Lazarus, but he had gotten to his feet in enough time to avoid anything spilling on him. The water spread across the thin material of Auburn’s dress and she didn’t bother to grab any napkins. It was pointless. Disillusionment began and she turned around, doing her best to compose herself. It wasn’t but a few seconds later that she felt Damon’s hand on the back of her bare neck. “Clumsy little thing, aren’t you? Spilling multiple drinks and bumping into me last week, dropping your championship.”
Auburn balled her hands into fists, because he wasn’t being fair. “I didn’t bump into you on purpose,” she spat through gritted teeth. There was an edge to her voice now and his grip on her neck tightened, before sliding up into her hair and pulling her hair free from the hair tie that was holding it back. It tumbled over Damon’s hand and he got a nice grip on it, pulling her head back slightly. “You were on your phone, sweetheart. You may not have actively sought me out, but you did bump into me on purpose.”
“It was an ACCIDENT,” she snapped.
“Calm yourself.” Damon gave a brief tug of her hair, a vice-like grip employed as his eyes squint with purpose while glaring down upon her, his stature imposing itself all the more effectively as his eyes stare down at Auburn with focus. “Before I make you…” His words are venomous on every pretense, yet his expression details the satisfaction he finds from such a matter of this nature. In his blackened, deeply-rooted consciousness, he understood the inescapable, untold truth amongst himself & Auburn all too well. “In your precious, unchecked heart of hearts… There’s a first for everything, isn’t there… You don’t know how to feel, ‘cause this is truly something you haven’t experienced, admittance to it is inevitable…”
Auburn’s bottom lip quivered as she squirmed and twisted, trying to get Damon to let go of her hair. People had started to notice them now, and there were whispers. Multiple fans had started to gather. “Please can we go someplace more private?” she begged.
Damon nearly groaned, because his mind went somewhere that Auburn’s wasn’t. Her request was innocent enough and Damon let go of her before spinning her around and grabbing her by the arm. He hauled Auburn away from prying eyes, giving her only seconds to grab her bag and phone from the table, and she struggled to keep herself from tripping over her own feet as he strode away from the marketplace with a purpose. At one point, she did trip, but Damon was there to jerk her upright, albeit he was rough with her. She was aware that he was bruising her, but her heart was racing, and she couldn’t decide if it was from fear—or true excitement.
Auburn’s romantic history wasn’t much. One boyfriend who worked in EAW’s social media department a couple of years ago, but it had flamed out because she was far too focused on wrestling to truly give her all to a relationship. Since that break-up, she had been alone without talking too or fooling around with anyone because Auburn had wanted to work towards winning a championship. Now as Damon dragged her around a corner and into a back alley, she knew that something volatile was about to happen. He slammed her back against the brick wall and slapped his hands down on either side of her head to keep her from moving.
“What did you mean when you said ‘before I make you…’? Make me what?” Auburn’s voice was breathy and this time it was Damon who had to close his eyes.
“Some statements are better left open-ended… But….” His head shifted downward for a brief moment, his frame casting a large shadow over Auburn once more, as he breathed in deeply, the contemplation now running rampant in his own mind as he understands this will become another point of no return. After what felt like an eternal moment of prolonging, Damon understood where much of this would eventually lead, as by all intents & purposes he curated the inexperienced, timidly unfamiliar mind of Auburn Ware to lead into this moment.
His palms steadily clasp themselves onto her own, as he proceeds to raise them accordingly, pinning her hands against the wall, respectively beside her own head side by side as his gaze settles back upon her eyes—once more, this perilous point of no return. “…Now, you know the answer.”
Auburn tested his grip, but she was planted firmly against the wall. She tried to push, but Damon held her in place. Her heart rate picked up and her breathing was heavy. She didn’t dare look away from Damon—but, she couldn’t help but close her eyes and lean her face towards his. Damon felt his resolve slipping, but he knew better than to get ahead of himself. Auburn was wrapped up in the moment…
“No.”
Auburn’s eyes shot open. “I’m sorry?”
“You heard me. Trust me. I would love nothing more than to get a taste of what that pretty mouth has to offer me, but not yet. You’re not ready.”
Auburn’s face fell and she struggled to break free of Damon. Shame filled her and she snapped her head to the side to avoid looking at him. “I—You’re awful.”
“Maybe.” Damon affirms, as he steadily brings her hands together, clasping them with a single palm above her head, keeping them pinned against the wall accordingly as his gaze fixates over her. “But, this becomes necessary… Now I’m aware of how you truly feel, sweetheart, and the time will arise for all of this soon… But not yet…” His other palm, traces along her jaw as he builds a newfound grin at the corner of his lips. “There’s more to invoke ourselves upon, before you are humbly considered mine.”
Auburn’s knees buckle at the weight that his words carry. Damon’s grip on her hands tighten as the palm that cups her jaw moves from her face, to her neck, and down her chest. She whimpers, a mix of lust, shock, and worry, and the indecision has come back to her eyes. Damon drags his hand over her wet dress, slowly and methodically, while Auburn withers against the wall. He can tell she wants free of him, but now that he has her, he’s not letting her go.
“Are you going to be a good girl and keep your head in the match tomorrow night?”
Auburn’s eyes narrow and for the first time during this whole exchange, her pride seizes her. She refuses to answer him after such denial.
“…”
Damon’s silence spoke more loudly than any verbal cue he could give, as a drawn out exhale escapes him while the grip his palm provides around her hands emphasizes itself more tightly. “Do you really think… that remaining silent is the wisest thing to do right now, princess…?” His voice lowered in tonal clarity, as his palm slowly situated itself underneath her dampened dress, and placed along her bare hip, providing contact over the lace of which she least expected. “I’m only going to repeat myself once… Will you, keep your precious little head in the game tomorrow night…?”
Auburn swallowed the gasp that had arisen, as once again, Damon set her on fire. “If I don’t?” she managed to choke out.
His smirk emphasizes itself once more. “Careful now…” In a flurry of movements, Damon’s grip over her hands is maintained as his other palm shifts around Auburn’s back, before turning her around as he sets her face-first against the wall. With the placement of his palm underneath her dress, much of her lower body proved to be revealing—solely for his own prying eyes. “You are biting off, far, far, far more than your beautiful face can chew…” His palm slides along her presentable backside, not showing restraint behind the firm smack he provides along her rear while positioned behind her. “Don’t tempt me.”
With that, Damon let her go and stepped back. He enjoyed the look of the flushed and flustered Auburn Ware, in her own flurry of fulfillment & necessity from him, as she yanked her dress down and took several breaths to calm herself down. It was obvious to Damon that no one had ever put their hands on her the way he had just done, and that was when Damon knew he was going to enjoy impersonalizing his brand new toy. Auburn looked up at him with her big luminous blue eyes, as Damon took her hand. “Right… I’ll walk you back to the hotel, sweetheart...”
She nodded and kept her eyes on the ground as they walked silently out of the alley and back into the market, disappearing in the throng of people.
She came to a pause at one particular stall that had an array of brightly colored dresses and tunics, not unlike the dress Auburn was currently wearing. It was a navy blue strapless maxi dress that hugged her curves before fanning out at the waist. Brightly colored floral print made the dress stand out, and Auburn had paired it with a pair of gold gladiator style sandals. Her long, dark hair was pulled back into a wavy ponytail and large Chanel sunglasses covered her face so she wouldn’t be immediately recognized. Auburn didn’t mind being stopped and greeted by fans, but on this particular day, she had a lot of things on her mind. She looked through the dresses, selected a bright orange one in her size, and handed the woman at the register more pesos than the dress was actually worth. The woman gave her a grateful smile and Auburn moved on, but that troubling feeling she had since arriving at the market was back.
She felt like she was being watched and while she wasn’t scared, she also couldn’t relax and enjoy her day. A lot of different things had been happening to her as of late and she wasn’t used to constantly dwelling on the same thing. The thing she couldn’t shake was of course a man, and that man was Damon Lazarus. Just thinking about him caused Auburn’s face to flush and that also annoyed her. She had no idea how she was going to manage to stand next to him tomorrow night, and in a way, she was kind of dreading it. Damon intimidated her and it was his eyes that did her in. They were crystal clear and cold, full of life, experience, and hardship. There was something cruel inside of them if someone were to misstep or get out of line, and remembering Damon smirking after being electrocuted at Shock Value caused Auburn to shudder. She looked behind, to make sure no one was watching her, and though she didn’t see anyone, the hair on the back of her neck was standing.
“Get a grip,” she mumbled to herself.
She crossed the small dirt street where several food and beverage stalls were located. Auburn stopped at one that advertised iced coffees, dirty sodas, and cappuccinos among other things and waited for the worker to acknowledge her.
“Hola! How can I help?” the young woman asked.
“Can I just get an iced vanilla latte please with cold foam and caramel drizzle?” Auburn didn’t typically indulge or treat herself, especially the day before a show, but she needed something to settle her nerves. “Or make me more jittery,” she said once the barista went to fix her order.
All the more, this slithering sensation continues to creep along in the crevices of her own mind. Despite any internal attempts within her head made to mediate the matter at hand, she couldn’t shake the lingering feeling as her eyes proceeded to glance around. No sudden movements, simply scouting accordingly with strictly her gaze alone—‘until.
“Hm…?”
Auburn glances to her left completely, as if she spotted a figure from the distance with their own set of eyes peering toward her. Despite there not being a vast array of people frequenting the stalls, nor the environment as a whole, this lost gander from her perspective proved to be elusive. A very brief squint follows suit, before a voice allows itself to be heard rather loudly for her.
“Iced Vanilla Latte!” Auburn immediately tenses up & looks toward the vendor following the call for her order, and Auburn exhales sharply and nods to her as she pays accordingly. Another latte can be seen next to her own, and she tilts her head slightly as it appears similar to her own drink. “O-oh, I don’t believe I asked for another, sorry.”
“Ah don’t worry, this is for another customer before you, told us they’d be back. Muchas gracias!” She says to Auburn with a smile, as she returns back to the rest of her duties at the stall. Auburn nods with a small smile, not thinking too much of it as she exhales gently, nodding to herself, as she sets a palm over her latte.
…
“Oh, apologies.”
A larger, calloused palm is placed over her own hand, as Auburn’s gaze is slowly taken upward, with a familiar, towering sight beholding of the last man she would have liked to be directly in contact with. “Looks like we’ve both got similar, huh?” Damon Lazarus smirked, glancing down toward Auburn as his frame blocked the sunlight, casting a shadow over Auburn.
The shock of seeing the man who had been haunting her thoughts in person, outside of an arena, caused Auburn to startle. Her latte fell from her hands and hit the ground, sending the sticky iced coffee all over both of them. Auburn’s face turned bright red and she stumbled what she thought was an apology as she bent down to retrieve the now empty plastic cup.
“I… I’m sorry,” she whispered as she quickly gathered up the empty cup, lid, and straw and started to dab at her dress with the handful of napkins she had remembered to grab.
“Right, don’t worry about it.” He coldly said, as he decided to kneel himself down while snatching his own handful of napkins. “Honest mistakes, y’know, pardon my French, shit just happens, am I right?” He takes what he perceives as a gentle grip of her dress, as he tries to clean her dress accordingly, exhaling sharply. “Hate to get a good looking dress dirty, doesn’t help that it’s warm too, gonna simmer in all of that light.”
Auburn completely froze as Damon held on to the hem of her dress. She looked up at that moment to see his eyes watching her, and she lost all train of thought. He was far too close and she couldn’t breath. “I-I c-can get it. It was my f-fault.” Damon let the soft material of her dress slip through his fingers as Auburn swallowed the lump in her throat. He rose to his full height, which made Auburn feel very small and he extended his large hand towards her. Auburn stared at it for a moment but finally she placed her small hand in his. She nearly pulled back when a bolt of electricity shot through her body, and her eyes went wide with shock. Damon’s face remained impassive, but he made the move and pulled Auburn’s sunglasses off her face, moving them to the top of her head. “I’m sorry,” she apologized again, and looked down at the patch of ground that was in between them.
“Hey, it’s fine. Look, no harm done, this is an easy enough fix.” He rests his palms over her bare shoulders, looking down toward her with a very low grin as he gives a nod of reassurance. “Not the most exemplary of circumstances, but what can ya’ do? Can’t be too mad at you now, I’ve been dealt worse cards in my lifetime than a little spill.” His eyes are centered toward her, and they squint rather perceptively as he takes clear notice of her insistence to avoid eye contact.
“You know…” He steadily settles a finger just below her chin, and he slowly lifts said finger along her chin, bringing her gaze up toward him. “Some people may say, it is rude not to look another able bodied human being in the eye when conversing… Of course, I know you’re simply embarrassed. I’ll let ya’ off the hook with this one.”
Auburn clamped her mouth shut, not trusting herself to speak. Heat flooded her face and spread throughout her body and Damon, sensing the affect he was having on her, simply chuckled. He stepped to the side of Auburn, keeping an arm casually around her shoulders, and prompted her to walk with him. What else could Auburn do but follow suit? Damon casually sipped on his latte as they walked in silence, his was a comfortable one, Auburn’s was an unsure one. Damon led them to a small clearing where chairs and tables were set up for resting and eating, and he pulled a chair out for Auburn.
“Sit with me. We have things to talk about.”
She obediently sat and clasped her hands in her lap. This time, she did not advert her eyes from his, and she finally found her voice. “What could we possibly have to talk about, Mr. Lazarus?”
He spares a small grin, as he takes notice of her body language. The tendencies she has formed any moment they find themselves together, no matter how sparse these situations have been. “No need for formal honorifics, sweetheart. Leave it to Damon, that’ll suffice.” Although there is a seat across from Auburn that he can take, he takes a grasp of a chair from a table close to Auburn with a palm, and slides the chair right beside her own, as he then sits himself right next to the particularly timid young woman. His glance remains clear, leaning back against the seat with his arms crossed. “There is plenty to speak on, Auburn… Understandably, we have our match that is approaching soon enough, yet… We can’t keep ignoring that perilous elephant in the room, hm?”
Auburn shook her head and unintentionally looked away from him. Her face flushed once again. “I am not sure what you mean by elephant, Mr La-... Damon?”
Damon’s hand once again found her chin and he gave it a gentle, yet firm squeeze. He turned her face towards him and stared at her. “Eyes.”
Slowly, Auburn nodded, and satisfied, Damon let her go. “I know that you are probably unsure of me as a partner tomorrow, but I can assure you that I will be r-ready. I don’t really want Saori, Eris, or Ashlynn to see me falter now, so I will be able to do my part.”
Damon’s gaze remains set upon Auburn, their eyes looking right through one another as his presence commanded much of the respect—or worry, respectively. “I wouldn’t say I’m unsure, nor do I believe myself to be cautiously approaching this match. We have a job to do, all you’ve got to do is keep your head in the game & we’ll be just fine. For your sake, I know that you’ll smarten up once the bell rings & remind yourself of what’s important.”
He takes another sip of his latte, not sparing the glance away from Auburn before setting the drink down on the table in front of them. “So, with that being said… That isn’t quite the elephant I was speaking of.” A slight eyebrow raises as his eyes are set entirely on her. “And don’t tell me you don’t know, ‘cause I know that you do. I know you’re not a very good liar.”
Auburn swallowed the lump in her throat and looked down at her hands. She fiddled with a few of the rings on her right hand before remembering to keep her eyes on Damon. She glanced back up and bit down on her bottom lip. She shifted away from him, slightly but enough to be noticeable, and she pressed her fingernails into her palms. “You don’t really know me,” she finally replied, but the defiance in her voice was extremely weak. Damon said nothing and waited patiently for her to continue. Finally, Auburn swallowed her pride. Humiliation was written all over face and she squirmed in her chair, clearly uncomfortable.
Damon thought of stopping her moving, but he let it go for now. He wanted inside this woman’s head.
“There is no elephant,” she softly replied, pursing her lips. “I wasn’t expecting you to stare at me and it caught me off guard. That is all.”
A small chuckle emerges from Damon. “Yeah…? That’s all there is to it…?” His eyes examined Auburn’s movements subtly, acutely aware of the minimal details behind her actions that proved the discomfort—but most of all, the sheer vulnerability she experiences around him as well. “Well, it’s real’ adorable when you attempt to verbally hide what you’re really feeling, Auburn—but I’ve been doing this, much too damn long to be ignorant to what’s really going on. I highly doubt one simple exchange of looks is where this all ends…”
“Pardon?” Auburn blinked and she stood up, desperately wanting to put some space between her and Damon. She looked at the chair sitting across from them and moved to that one, much to his amusement. Auburn took a deep breath and thought about her words carefully. “I am not really sure what you are trying to insinuate but I don’t have an interest in you… I can’t. My career is the most important thing in my life and I just want to focus on that. I-I think we should just talk about our match tomorrow n-night. You said that I’ll smarten up once the bell rings? What does that mean?”
“…Right.” Damon’s smirk slowly forms, as he exhales slowly while remaining leaned back against his seat, setting a leg over his knee in a more comfortable posture as he looks toward her. “I’m pretty certain that is self explanatory, sweetheart. You’ll know when to stay out of my way, you’ll know when you have to tag me in, this & that & then some.” His gaze sharpens the further he looks at her, with a slight squint. “If there is any moment where you are inclined to, dilute your inner feelings for me, the ring would be the place to do so… Wouldn't you agree?”
Once again, Auburn started to squirm. She looked around at the marketplace and spied a booth that was selling beverages and snacks. She forced a smile on her face as she stood up. “If you don’t mind, I am going to step away and grab something to drink. It’s extremely humid today and well, your latte wasn’t the one that was dropped.” Damon was up just as quick, his hand landing on her upper arm. The briefest hint of fear flashed in Auburn’s eyes before she lowered them out of respect. “Allow me,” Damon smoothly replied. He guided Auburn back to the original chair he had pulled for her and sat her down. “Don’t move,” he ordered.
Auburn watched as he headed to get her a drink, and she knew it would be the perfect time to make a break for it. But something kept her glued to that chair; fear that Damon would simply find her if she were to leave. A few minutes later, he came back, uncapped a bottle of water, and sat it down in front of her. “There.”
“Thank you,” Auburn mumbled and took a sip.
“Back to our conversation…”
Auburn sighed, once again feeling embarrassed. “I am not sure what you are looking for, Damon. I know how to do my job and I won’t screw up. I won’t get in your way and I promise I will do the best I can. I won’t get distracted.”
Damon’s arms are crossed, standing before her as he’s looking down to her with a stern expression. “Yeah, I don’t doubt that you’ll understand this much. After all, this is a business of professionals, regardless of how chaotic this game tends to become… Nonetheless…” He slowly drags the chair over, not across from Auburn any longer, but not beside her either—situated at a ninety-degree angle across from her at the table, as Damon sits himself down while looking toward Auburn with his textbook, colder gaze. “Dozens, among dozens of elitists… You’ve been around more than long enough for your fair share… Seen ‘em all, frequented ‘em all… Yet…”
He glances downward briefly, as he couldn’t help but allow for a grin to emerge, nodding to himself. “…Somebody just had to stand out for you… For a mind that has kept itself so headstrong, focused on strictly the game… You just couldn’t help it, could you…?”
“It was a momentarily lapse, that’s all!” Auburn replied, her voice raising for the first time the entire conversation. “What did you expect? I’m not just a wrestler, but I am a wrestling fan too. I watched Shock Value. I saw what h-happened to you. I saw that you just s-shrugged it off like something like that was normal. That isn’t normal. You’re not normal. Y-you’re different and you intimidate me.” The admission caused her face to burn with shame and she looked at her lap. She didn’t want to hold Damon’s gaze anymore because he had just cracked through her first defensive wall. “I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to act around you.”
There is a brief moment of silence following her admission, as Damon’s gaze is brought back to Auburn with vested intrigue, assessing her emotional state as each second passes by. To be given a clear indication of her internal turmoil, the distraught nature behind her expression as she struggles to grapple with her own feelings toward him—this became a different matter entirely, one that Damon finds absolutely enthralling.
“…One…” His arm slowly reaches toward Auburn, as his palm settles along her shoulder, with his eyes piercing into the perspective of her with clear intent. “I’d be very careful with who you are raising that pretty voice with… Two… I am aware of how, intimidating I may come across, but that hasn’t stopped you from looking in my direction has it…?” His palm steadily slides itself along her shoulder, and up to her chin, with a firm cup of her chin as he imposes himself with precision. “No, it certainly has not… I believe, something far deeper lies beneath the surface here…”
Stubbornness set in for Auburn and she set her jaw. Another thrill shot through Damon as he had to forcibly make her look at him. He didn’t care if his fingers left visible prints on her porcelain skin, in fact he wanted them too. This time he squeezed her jaw enough to make her whimper. “Y-you’re hurting me,” she admitted in a small voice and put her hands on his arm. “I did warn you to keep your eyes on me when we are speaking, did I not?” Damon cruelly whispered, bringing his face towards her ear.
Auburn managed to nod.
“Are you going to keep your eyes on me now?”
Another nod.
“Good girl.” Damon let her face go and Auburn dropped her hands from his arm. The praise filled her with confusion and warmth, and she gave him a panicked look. Auburn stumbled for something, anything to say, and she flopped back in her chair. She folded her arms across her chest, unaware that a petulant look had crossed her face, and Damon chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” she finally asked.
His grin grew substantially, shaking his own head as he glanced away for a moment, understanding precisely how her actions painted the bigger picture. An exposé of admission & inexperience, intermingling with feelings she could not verbalize due to absences of such a connection in her wrestling-focused life. “…You don’t hate me, nor do you truly present any measure of disdain toward me, Auburn…”
“Frankly…”
His palm, then settled itself right over her knee, sliding itself beneath the slit of her dress as a firmness can be felt right over her thigh—as Damon’s smirk amplified tenfold, in another daring gesture. “It’s the opposite.”
Auburn jumped back, almost as if his touch had scalded her. In a way, it absolutely had. Her knees knocked into the table, turning over the water, as well as his coffee, and Auburn gasped. For the second time in an hour, she had made a fool of herself in front of Damon Lazarus, but he had gotten to his feet in enough time to avoid anything spilling on him. The water spread across the thin material of Auburn’s dress and she didn’t bother to grab any napkins. It was pointless. Disillusionment began and she turned around, doing her best to compose herself. It wasn’t but a few seconds later that she felt Damon’s hand on the back of her bare neck. “Clumsy little thing, aren’t you? Spilling multiple drinks and bumping into me last week, dropping your championship.”
Auburn balled her hands into fists, because he wasn’t being fair. “I didn’t bump into you on purpose,” she spat through gritted teeth. There was an edge to her voice now and his grip on her neck tightened, before sliding up into her hair and pulling her hair free from the hair tie that was holding it back. It tumbled over Damon’s hand and he got a nice grip on it, pulling her head back slightly. “You were on your phone, sweetheart. You may not have actively sought me out, but you did bump into me on purpose.”
“It was an ACCIDENT,” she snapped.
“Calm yourself.” Damon gave a brief tug of her hair, a vice-like grip employed as his eyes squint with purpose while glaring down upon her, his stature imposing itself all the more effectively as his eyes stare down at Auburn with focus. “Before I make you…” His words are venomous on every pretense, yet his expression details the satisfaction he finds from such a matter of this nature. In his blackened, deeply-rooted consciousness, he understood the inescapable, untold truth amongst himself & Auburn all too well. “In your precious, unchecked heart of hearts… There’s a first for everything, isn’t there… You don’t know how to feel, ‘cause this is truly something you haven’t experienced, admittance to it is inevitable…”
Auburn’s bottom lip quivered as she squirmed and twisted, trying to get Damon to let go of her hair. People had started to notice them now, and there were whispers. Multiple fans had started to gather. “Please can we go someplace more private?” she begged.
Damon nearly groaned, because his mind went somewhere that Auburn’s wasn’t. Her request was innocent enough and Damon let go of her before spinning her around and grabbing her by the arm. He hauled Auburn away from prying eyes, giving her only seconds to grab her bag and phone from the table, and she struggled to keep herself from tripping over her own feet as he strode away from the marketplace with a purpose. At one point, she did trip, but Damon was there to jerk her upright, albeit he was rough with her. She was aware that he was bruising her, but her heart was racing, and she couldn’t decide if it was from fear—or true excitement.
Auburn’s romantic history wasn’t much. One boyfriend who worked in EAW’s social media department a couple of years ago, but it had flamed out because she was far too focused on wrestling to truly give her all to a relationship. Since that break-up, she had been alone without talking too or fooling around with anyone because Auburn had wanted to work towards winning a championship. Now as Damon dragged her around a corner and into a back alley, she knew that something volatile was about to happen. He slammed her back against the brick wall and slapped his hands down on either side of her head to keep her from moving.
“What did you mean when you said ‘before I make you…’? Make me what?” Auburn’s voice was breathy and this time it was Damon who had to close his eyes.
“Some statements are better left open-ended… But….” His head shifted downward for a brief moment, his frame casting a large shadow over Auburn once more, as he breathed in deeply, the contemplation now running rampant in his own mind as he understands this will become another point of no return. After what felt like an eternal moment of prolonging, Damon understood where much of this would eventually lead, as by all intents & purposes he curated the inexperienced, timidly unfamiliar mind of Auburn Ware to lead into this moment.
His palms steadily clasp themselves onto her own, as he proceeds to raise them accordingly, pinning her hands against the wall, respectively beside her own head side by side as his gaze settles back upon her eyes—once more, this perilous point of no return. “…Now, you know the answer.”
Auburn tested his grip, but she was planted firmly against the wall. She tried to push, but Damon held her in place. Her heart rate picked up and her breathing was heavy. She didn’t dare look away from Damon—but, she couldn’t help but close her eyes and lean her face towards his. Damon felt his resolve slipping, but he knew better than to get ahead of himself. Auburn was wrapped up in the moment…
“No.”
Auburn’s eyes shot open. “I’m sorry?”
“You heard me. Trust me. I would love nothing more than to get a taste of what that pretty mouth has to offer me, but not yet. You’re not ready.”
Auburn’s face fell and she struggled to break free of Damon. Shame filled her and she snapped her head to the side to avoid looking at him. “I—You’re awful.”
“Maybe.” Damon affirms, as he steadily brings her hands together, clasping them with a single palm above her head, keeping them pinned against the wall accordingly as his gaze fixates over her. “But, this becomes necessary… Now I’m aware of how you truly feel, sweetheart, and the time will arise for all of this soon… But not yet…” His other palm, traces along her jaw as he builds a newfound grin at the corner of his lips. “There’s more to invoke ourselves upon, before you are humbly considered mine.”
Auburn’s knees buckle at the weight that his words carry. Damon’s grip on her hands tighten as the palm that cups her jaw moves from her face, to her neck, and down her chest. She whimpers, a mix of lust, shock, and worry, and the indecision has come back to her eyes. Damon drags his hand over her wet dress, slowly and methodically, while Auburn withers against the wall. He can tell she wants free of him, but now that he has her, he’s not letting her go.
“Are you going to be a good girl and keep your head in the match tomorrow night?”
Auburn’s eyes narrow and for the first time during this whole exchange, her pride seizes her. She refuses to answer him after such denial.
“…”
Damon’s silence spoke more loudly than any verbal cue he could give, as a drawn out exhale escapes him while the grip his palm provides around her hands emphasizes itself more tightly. “Do you really think… that remaining silent is the wisest thing to do right now, princess…?” His voice lowered in tonal clarity, as his palm slowly situated itself underneath her dampened dress, and placed along her bare hip, providing contact over the lace of which she least expected. “I’m only going to repeat myself once… Will you, keep your precious little head in the game tomorrow night…?”
Auburn swallowed the gasp that had arisen, as once again, Damon set her on fire. “If I don’t?” she managed to choke out.
His smirk emphasizes itself once more. “Careful now…” In a flurry of movements, Damon’s grip over her hands is maintained as his other palm shifts around Auburn’s back, before turning her around as he sets her face-first against the wall. With the placement of his palm underneath her dress, much of her lower body proved to be revealing—solely for his own prying eyes. “You are biting off, far, far, far more than your beautiful face can chew…” His palm slides along her presentable backside, not showing restraint behind the firm smack he provides along her rear while positioned behind her. “Don’t tempt me.”
With that, Damon let her go and stepped back. He enjoyed the look of the flushed and flustered Auburn Ware, in her own flurry of fulfillment & necessity from him, as she yanked her dress down and took several breaths to calm herself down. It was obvious to Damon that no one had ever put their hands on her the way he had just done, and that was when Damon knew he was going to enjoy impersonalizing his brand new toy. Auburn looked up at him with her big luminous blue eyes, as Damon took her hand. “Right… I’ll walk you back to the hotel, sweetheart...”
She nodded and kept her eyes on the ground as they walked silently out of the alley and back into the market, disappearing in the throng of people.
