Chapter 50 – Sisters
For the first time ever, Kimber and Seth watched RAW together at home. So did their parents, Brynn, and of course, Johnny, who slept in various arms through most of it. The lack of Seth on the show and the birth of Johnny was announced during the opening promo, by Dean and Roman, and Kimber was touched by the crowd's reaction to the news, and the picture that was put up on the big screen. It wasn't the one Seth had sent out immediately after the birth, but one taken by Brynn earlier that day, while they were waiting to leave the hospital. Kimber in a chair holding Johnny, and Seth perched on the arm of the chair, his arm around her.
The new parents had worried about how their dog would react to the new addition, but Paulie was a good dog about it, and always wanted to be wherever the baby was, to watch and protect him.
Seth and her parents left the following Monday, Seth very early in the morning, and her parents in the afternoon, but Brynn stayed. Brenda also visited every day to spoil her grandson, and with all the help, Kimber was able to begin lifting light weights in her gym at home three days after giving birth, her breasts still wrapped in that huge elastic bandage. She knew she had to rehab her entire body. Pregnancy had stretched her out, not just her stomach, but her ligaments, tendons, joints, and muscles. Her favorite exercise was taking the baby out in the stroller, because she was doing something good for both of them. Often, Brynn would come along, and Kimber would end up walking Paulie while her sister, the doting aunt, pushed the stroller.
One afternoon, as the sisters walked down the road with dog and stroller, Brynn suddenly said: "I think I want to have a baby."
"I'm sure you will at some point," Kimber replied.
"Dolph told me he wants kids."
"With you?"
"Well, not exactly, we were just talking and it came up."
"You've only known him for four months, Brynnie."
"Um, excuse me, but how long did you know Seth before you got pregnant?"
"Almost four months, but that's different." Kimber blushed, knowing she sounded stupid, but it really was different. "We were together day and night for those four months. We got close very fast, I think because we already had so much in common. Before I signed with WWE, some people in the industry compared me to him, but at the time, I thought it was just because of talent, or because they'd heard about me and Raven cosplaying as him and Roman in the Shield."
Brynn laughed. "I remember that. You hated it."
"That I did. That cosplay phase she dragged me through was cheesy as fuck. I always felt like such an ass playing someone else's damn character, because my own character was freaking awesome."
"I think about it sometimes, getting into the wrestling industry."
Kimber stopped and looked at her sister, surprised. Paulie, grateful for a break, sat down at her feet. She didn't know what to say. She never wanted her baby sister to have to go through what she had during her early days on the main roster. And, some of the promoters and bookers in the indies were very shady, even predatory, and she didn't know if Brynn had the street smarts to handle those kinds of villains.
"You don't think I can do it." Brynn had stopped walking, too, and looked at her big sister, hurt.
"That's not what I said. I've known you all your life, Brynn, and I know that you can do whatever it is you set out to do." Kimber began walking again, because tears were coming. She knew that Brynn's appearances in the documentary series, and on the red carpet at the Hall of Fame ceremony had snagged WWE's interest, especially now that she was looking almost like a fitness model. "But it's hard, the things... The things I've gone through...fuck." She swiped at her eyes.
"Long story time?" Brynn asked, and stopped her sister with a hug.
She nodded and sniffled. "Yeah, I think so. I don't know what role you want to play in wrestling, but whatever it is, I assume you'd want to do it for the same company I do, and this is something you need to hear. It's not going to be any easier for you to hear than it will be for me to talk about it, but I need to get it out there."
Brynn nodded encouragingly, and they started walking again.
"I met Seth the first night I worked on the main roster. If he hadn't come along, it would have likely been my last night with WWE. I was expecting I'd be, you know, hazed to some degree, but I had no idea the level of resentment and hatred the other women had for me before they'd even met me. They jumped me in the locker room right after I got to the arena. They beat me and ripped off my clothes before whipping me with a wet towel and locking me out with nothing but the towel. Alexa Bliss was the ringleader in all of it, and during a match that night, she stomped on my wrist." Kimber touched it, remembering the pain even though it had long healed. "And it gets worse. You can't tell anyone about this, not even Dolph."
"Brit... Oops, I mean, Kimber, I would never do that."
"This really is hard to talk about," Kimber said, as they reached the turn around point in their walk. "After the match, they held me down and forced me to...lick them clean. Front and back. I felt so nasty...used... I..."
Brynn stopped her with a hug again, and Kimber felt her sister's shaking shoulders. "There's more," she continued.
"Just like any sexual assault victim, my knee-jerk reaction was to get in the shower. I did it with all my ring gear on, even my boots. I stayed in there forever, and when I came out, I found they'd stolen my purse and my passport. I had no money, no credit cards, no identification, no phone. I didn't even have my stupid glasses."
"Oh my god..."
"We should keep walking, or Johnny will wake up." Kimber peered in the stroller at her peacefully sleeping son. "I had no idea what to do but find someone to ask for help, but it was late, and I couldn't find anyone, and was afraid of getting lost, so I went to the door I'd come in that afternoon, thinking someone else would either come in or leave through that door, and whoever it was, I was going to beg them to help me."
"And it was Seth?"
"Mhmm. This is the story of how we met, and why I have a pizza charm. Even the worst night of your life can still become the best." Kimber smiled a little, and shook her wrist to view the charm.
"That's my eternally optimistic big sis." Brynn smiled, too. "Always finding a silver lining."
"He was all pissed off before I even opened my mouth, but I still told him I needed help, and that my purse and passport had been stolen. He snapped on me to quit crying, and made a phone call to Alexa, I assume, to try to get her to give my purse back, but she apparently refused and hung up on him, so he had no choice but to either abandon me at the arena, or take me with him."
"And he took you with him."
"Yes, even though he made it very clear he didn't want to, and even said he was only conveying me to the next town because nobody else would. He was really a jerk to me the first couple hours we were on the road, gave me the silent treatment until we stopped at a little Italian place. I was starving, but I didn't have any money, and I started crying. He pretty much told me to shut up, and that I could pay him back. It wasn't until he asked me what I wanted, and you, my dear sister, know what it was, that he finally softened a little."
"Pepperoni pizza," Brynn said.
"Yes. Pepperoni pizza. Turns out it's his favorite comfort food, too. Once we had that common ground, he softened considerably, and we got to talking. By the time the pizza was gone, it was as though we'd known each other for years. So there's the silver lining to this gross story I'm not through with yet.
"The next morning, Raven sent Seth a MoneyGram to cover my expenses, but I didn't get my purse back right away. Alexa told me that if I was a good little...puppyslut I could earn it back piece by piece... The locker room was my private hell. Whenever I was in there, I had to be naked, and down on all fours, leashed, collared. They harassed me constantly about how much I was fucking Seth, which I wasn't at that time, and Alexa even went so far to jab her finger in me so roughly that she made me bleed, just to see how much riding that big famous cock had worn me out."
"Oh my god..." Brynn swiped furiously at her eyes.
"I'm okay now," Kimber continued, and stopped to lock her hazel eyes with her sister's. "I did eventually tell Stephanie, you met her after the show, remember?"
"Mhmm," Brynn nodded and sniffled. "She's so sweet. I thought she was just teasing me about trying out, but she's been emailing me, and invited me down to the performance center the next time I go visit Dolph. After what you just told me, I don't know if I want to."
"It's a different experience for everyone, Brynn. The other women had a lot of resentment and jealousy towards me because I only spent ten weeks in NXT before moving on to the main roster, when most of them had spent years of their careers so far there. Their feelings led them to dig up every bit of dirt on me that they could find, and because I was careless, they didn't have to dig very deep. If you do decide to go to the performance center, and they take you on, you shouldn't have to deal with anything the likes of what I did. And, I will always have your back. I may have not been respected when I started, but I'm very respected now, and it's not where you start, it's where you end."
"I think I'm going to go for it. It's an opportunity few people get, and I'm going to take it."
"Then come on, let's go home. I'll take you over to the school. I can't do much right now, but I can at least show you a few things to give you a head start."
Later that night, after laying Johnny down to sleep, Kimber found Brynn in the house gym, sitting on a bench, bent over a binder that Seth referred to as his CrossFit bible. It was open to some printouts of barbell techniques.
"Taking up my religion?" Kimber teased, and pulled up a box.
"Well, you and Seth are really ripped. I'm going to need more muscles if I'm going to be picking up people and throwing them around." She chuckled, but her face was dead serious.
"You did okay throwing Marek around earlier."
"He helped a lot, though."
"That's what he's supposed to do, remember what I told you? Many things can't be done cleanly, or safely, without the help of your fellow wrestler, or wrestlers."
"Yes. I still think he had to help more than what he should have had to," Brynn sighed, and studied the pages.
"Brynnie, don't be so hard on yourself. Marek's a guy, you won't be working with guys. You'll be working with girls who weigh like one-fifty, tops, and most of them weigh less than that."
"Good point, but I need to be able to manhandle, or womanhandle, a girl who weighs more than I do right now, and the only thing I'm up to one-fifty on is dead lift; I'm at one-sixty-five, actually."
"Holy shit, baby sis." Kimber put her arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "I don't think I could do that right now." Pre-pregnancy, her one rep max on a dead lift was two-forty-five, but it was literally a one rep max.
"I want to try this," Brynn said, and pointed to a picture in the binder. "Thrusters?"
"That's what they are." Kimber got up and began removing the weights from the bar.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Technique before weight, young padawon. Go ahead, take the empty bar and get into position... Good... Open your grip just a little more... Perfect. Now squat, and push up from your heels and drive that bar above your head... Nice, Brynn, bring it down and do it again. Damn near perfect. A lot of people struggle with thrusters, and you got 'em right out of the gate. You've got great form."
"Thanks. Dolph helped me out when he came to visit last month. He said there was so much I was doing wrong it was a miracle I hadn't injured myself yet. I'm surprised nobody else at the gym ever mentioned it to me, but maybe they don't know any better, either." Brynn set the bar in place. "Should I add more weight?"
"Yeah, but go up slow. If it was really easy, put on the ten pounders. If it wasn't, use the fives, or even the two-point-fives. Do another three reps and see how it feels. Add weight and repeat."
"Got it." Brynn picked up a ten pound plate and slid it over the bar. Kimber got up to do the same on the other side, and as she was affixing the clip, she met her sister's eyes, and wasn't surprised by what she said next.
"I need to tell you something, and you can't tell Mom or Dad. I'll tell them soon enough, because I have to." Brynn took a deep breath. "The reason I've been able to be here for almost three weeks now is because I quit my job. I put in my notice right after I got back from New York."
Kimber immediately opened her mouth. "Brynn-"
"Don't say anything about betting all my money on that tryout, or about being a fool following my heart. I've been needing to make a change for some time now. I was so unhappy in Albuquerque I'm actually dreading going back, but I have to go back soon and move my things, because I just got an offer on my condo, and I'm going to take it. I'm moving to Florida. If I don't get in with WWE, I'll find another job, easily."
"You'll have to find another job anyway. You don't get paid to train."
"I have money. I made good investments, and the top offer on my condo was even more than I was asking. All I have left on the mortgage is thirty-thousand, and the offer is for two-fifteen, so there's another good chunk of money coming my way."
"Shit, who's your financial guy?" Kimber asked, wondering why she'd not yet invested more of her now-considerable fortune. "I need to start investing more, especially now that I've got a family."
"You haven't yet?" Brynn asked, her eyes wide. "Fuck, sis, you could be a multi-millionaire by now."
"Well, I'm married to one," Kimber replied, even though she realized she was already likely one, though it wasn't many multiples of a million, certainly not nearly as many as her husband had, she didn't want her sister to feel jealous, and they laughed together.
"Anyway, don't tell Mom and Dad yet. And my financial guru is Belle, you remember, I met her freshman year. I'll give you her number."
"I think our folks will take it just fine, Brynn. They might even be excited about it, like when I introduced them to Seth via video call, and announced we were having a baby. I was scared to make that call, and I know you're scared. But you should call them...tonight. They're two or three hours behind us, so it's not too late."
