The last thing Jay had expected to find himself doing during the women's rumble match was thinking provocative thoughts about Erin, but that was what was happening. He was in the tour bus with Maya Mizrachi, with the show on the TV. But one of the makeup ladies had shown up to get her ready to go to the ring, leaving Jay sitting by himself while the women did their thing at the other end of the bus.

The women's rumble match was in progress, in its early stages. It hadn't gotten interesting yet, and none of the women Jay worked directly with were yet involved. That was why he had looked at his phone, loading up X. Of all things, the algorithm had chosen to show him a quote post by someone that he had never heard of. The post read 'If she was in my kitchen she wouldn't have time to clean it.'

The post that had been quoted was not intended to be sexy at all. It was from an account offering videos of really disgusting houses getting a deep clean. The woman doing the cleaning looked eastern European, with long blonde hair. She was gorgeous, there was no doubting that. What caught Jay's attention was that she was wearing pink rubber gloves. It made him think of Erin's fetish, and that combined with the quoted post alluding to the cleaning lady getting a good fucking was what had set his mind in motion.

How might Erin like a bit of role-play, he wondered. Actually, he already had an answer to that. She had practically suggested it herself when asking him to tape her up and indulge his own kink, therefore she was almost certain to be up for it if her own kink was the centre of attention. There was also something about casting the super rich and powerful Erin Voight as a cleaning lady that felt sexy, although he really didn't understand why himself. It just did.

Something to suggest to her soon, he decided. Real soon. She had practically pleaded with him to be more adventurous when it came to their sex life. With his newfound confidence, she would get her wish.

"On your phone during the rumble, Jay? Seriously?" Maya asked from other end of the bus.

"Erin texted me," he lied smoothly.

"Checking I've not lost the plot already?" she said, obviously joking, but maybe with some seriousness lurking in there somewhere. She had to be aware that there was a question mark against her temperament.

Jay put his phone in his pocket and looked Maya in the eyes. "Erin has the utmost confidence in you. I mean that. And I think we both know neither of us would be sitting here right now if that wasn't the case."

Maya was a very upfront, straight-talking person, he had quickly learned. That was probably why she rubbed some people up the wrong way. But it did mean she responded well to being spoken to that way herself.

"That's fair," she said with a small nod that didn't disturb the makeup lady too much. "I'm not going to let her down. Or you. I know you've gone in to bat for me."

"I have, and I will, so long as you keep your head on straight."

"Noted."

The final part of the rumble match was the section that Jay had written and run through with the key people involved earlier in the day.

Usually the ring would have many wrestlers in it near to the end of a rumble match. This time, highly unusually, with the number thirty entrant about to be revealed, only Hailey Upton was in there. This was largely thanks to Raquel, who had entered number 28 and gone on a rampage, eliminating everyone in the match with ease and devastating power, until Upton had been able to rush her from behind and bundle her over the top rope.

This left Upton only needing to eliminate the incoming number thirty to win the match and the guaranteed championship opportunity against Clementine.

Jay was with Maya, as planned, behind the curtain, with the final moments before her entrance now at hand. As a veteran wrestler himself, he knew that leaving her in her own headspace was for the best right now. This was going to be a huge moment for her, one she had probably thought would never happen. Now it was a reality.

He saw her standing with her eyes closed, her lips moving silently. She was saying a prayer to whatever god Jewish people believed in, he suspected. Had finding religion helped her to overcome her demons? If so, good for her, he thought. Religion wasn't for him, but what did it matter how others became better people so long as they did it? He wondered how proud Erin would have felt if he had been able to say that out loud to her. But no, she was busy at the production desk directing the show.

Out in the arena, a ten second countdown appeared on the enormous video screen above the entrance. This was it. He saw Maya take a deep breath, then start punching herself in the side of the head. An odd way to fire herself up, but she wasn't called the wildcat for nothing.

"Five!" the fans counted along with the display on the screen. Hailey Upton stood in the middle of the ring awaiting her final challenger. In character, she had no idea who it would be, but the real Hailey knew of course. Jay wondered how she felt right now. The last time the two women had set eyes on each other, Maya had been beating the living shit out of her. Erin's idea to have their first reaction to each other happen on live TV was risky, but possibly a stroke of genius.

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The buzzer sounded. The low, rumbling baseline at the start of Maya's entrance music played. It took the crowd a second or two to connect the music to a name, so long had it been since she had been on TV. Then the roof started to come off the place. At least, it would have if the event wasn't taking place in an outdoor stadium.

Now quite an accomplished director, Erin made sure to get a shot of Hailey's face on the screen for a few seconds. The process of drawing money with this rivalry started now, although it was going to have to wait until Maya had worked her program with Clementine.

Hailey was either doing a great acting job or the moment was genuinely tough for her, Jay saw. She looked like she was reliving what had happened all those years ago.

As Maya made her way to the ring, a wild, manic look in her eyes as befitted her character, Jay got a real buzz out of the moment. Yes, it had been Erin who had pushed to bring Maya back, but this moment had a hell of a lot of his input behind it. He was proud of that.

Maya got into the ring and stood face to face with Hailey. Their noses were almost touching each other. Maya's music stopped, being quickly replaced by a 'holy shit' chant from the fans. They were lapping up not only the return that had at one time been thought of as impossible, but also the fact that Maya was immediately in the ring with Hailey.

The two women stared at each other, and Maya slowly cocked her head to one side like a cat looking at a mouse it had cornered.

"She's good," Jay said to himself. It was small touches like that which made it seem like she had a screw loose.

The stare down ended with both women throwing fists at each other, beginning a battle that lasted over five minutes before Maya eliminated Hailey for the win. Jay noted two things: Firstly, the fans erupted again, proving the decision to have her win correct. Secondly, both women had worked the short exchange with absolute professionalism. There had been no stiff shots or excessive force used by either of them. He felt sure Erin would have noticed that too.

It wasn't long before Hailey walked back through the curtain, while Maya celebrated her big win in the ring, with loud pyros erupting around the top of the stadium.

Jay was the first person Hailey went to, thanks to the position of trust and responsibility he now held for all of the women's division. She looked emotional.

"Great job out there. Are you okay?" he asked her as they embraced.

"I'm not sure how I feel," Hailey answered honestly.

"Well you did a brilliant job. That stare down moment was fire."

"I had goosebumps. But at the same time, flash backs. It was surreal."

Maya's in-ring celebration concluded. Erin sent the show to a commercial break, allowing her a moment to step away from her desk and give Hailey a hug and some praise. She then surprised Jay with a peck on the cheek.

"That was some amazing TV you just created. Thank you."

He didn't know what to say to that, but he liked how it made him feel. Appreciated. Loved. Both of those things meant the world to him. But was the praise deserved? Yes, he realised, because Erin's wording was right on the mark. Maya, Hailey, Erin, the commentary team, the cameramen, all of them had worked to perform and present the moment. But he had created it. It gave him an immense feeling of pride and satisfaction.

Maya came through the curtain. She had only performed for ten minutes or so in total but she looked drained. It was the emotions that had done that, he realised, not the physical effort. The first person she went to was Hailey. They were now face to face as people, not characters.

"Congratulations," Hailey said, sounding like she meant it.

"Thank you," Maya said, sounding like she meant that too.

Then they embraced each other. It started off as a fairly weak hug, but Jay saw it get tighter as the emotion of the moment hit both women. He understood. What he was watching was closure for both of them. It was tough to keep his eyes dry.

He sensed someone arrive beside him. He looked and saw it was Clementine, her timing almost perfect.

"You okay?" he asked her, not having had a chance to talk to her since her match earlier in the night.

"Yeah, good. You?"

Jay smiled broadly. "I'm doing great."