Booking Glory-Chapter 93: Caught In The Middle

"You seem a bit preoccupied today," Rob heard Dacey comment as she sipped her coffee.

"Hmm, I guess so," Rob said breaking out of his thoughts and gifting her with a small smile.

"Why? What’s the matter?" Dacey asked in concern.

"Nothing, it’s just some feeling. You know the kind that you get. As if... as if... you feel as if something bad is going to happen, but don’t know what it could be. I have been feeling this way for some time now," Rob said finding it difficult to put it in words.

"What is the worst that could happen?" Dacey shook her head. "There have been a lot of people praising you ever since that article came out two days ago. The newspaper hasn’t stopped singing praises about you and you are clearly the star of LWC currently. Even us wrestlers aren’t as popular as you in LWC now."

"That is exactly the thing that is making me feel a little out of sorts," Rob said frowning. "I am a booker. My role is behind the curtain. The spotlight should never shine at me."

"Isn’t that a good thing? At least, now other people know about your talents, right?" Dacey asked in confusion.

"I don’t know. Something feels off," Rob said shaking his head.

While it may look like Rob is being a little paranoid to Dacey and others, Rob knew that he had ample reasons to feel so. He knew that a storm was going to hit the wrestling industry soon and didn’t want to be anywhere near it.

However, with the way things were going, he felt like he was being pushed to the center of the storm involuntarily. He knew people like Mr. Wagner and Steven are old foxes and are not easy to deal with. So, his recent rise in popularity always felt a little off to him.

Moreover, he had seen people dragged down from high up on the altar within hours in his old world. As they say, the higher your position, the harder your fall. And currently, he was being touted as the next big thing in the industry. This wasn’t some small title to carry.

So, these constant heaps of praises he has been receiving of late were not making him comfortable at all. Rather, they were making him nervous. He felt as if there was someone guiding this whole thing from the shadows.

And there was a reason for him to feel so as well.

When the article came out, Rob had been a little miffed about being pushed into the spotlight like this by Todd. So, he had called up Todd intending to give him a piece of his mind.

However, when he spoke to Todd, he hadn’t been able to convey his annoyance. Rather, he had felt even more weirded out by the words that came out of Todd’s mouth. Some of the things Todd said, made alarm bells ring in Rob’s mind.

Things have been a little weird in LWC as well. There was a subtle shift in the way that Mr. Gibson, Robin, and Mr. Wolfe were treating him these days. Outwardly, it looked as if they were very happy with the exposure Rob had gotten from the article.

But, some of their actions and reactions indicated to Rob that they may not be that happy with how things have changed since the article came out. Especially, Robin had been really free with jibes and thinly veiled insinuations of late.

He had thought that his relationship with Mr. Gibson would have returned to how it was before after their conversation. But, he had been wrong with that as well. There was a sense of distance between them now and Rob didn’t know how to deal with it.

The most surprising thing was the distant manner in which Mr. Wolfe had been treating him of late. If anyone asked Rob who was the one who showed him the ropes of this business, Rob would gladly point out that it was Mr. Wolfe. He had immense respect for the old-timer who didn’t bother about playing politics backstage.

His relationship with Mr. Wolfe was always like that of a mentor and mentee. But, ever since the article came out, Mr. Wolfe had been a little bit more formal with him. Gone was the sense of closeness he had enjoyed with Mr. Wolfe. These days, they were like two colleagues who worked closely with each other.

This disturbed Rob a lot.

He didn’t know how to handle this. He felt that any step he might take might end up being the wrong one these days. So, he too had distanced himself a bit and chose to concentrate on elevating the women’s division further.

With this recent fame, came an added burden. Right now, many eyes were watching him from the shadows. They are waiting to see if he could elevate the women’s division further or if this was the entirety of his talent.

Rob knew that the only way for him to prove his worth was to make sure that the women’s division performed exemplarily at the upcoming PPV. After last week, new plans needed to be implemented for the women’s division.

The change of plans entailed establishing as many as four new women as viable competitors before the PPV. He didn’t have much time to do that and he only had a few weeks to pull that off.

The more famous he was, the more the expectations piled on him. If he failed to live up to them, then it would be a severe blow to his career as a whole. So, he needed to deliver at this upcoming PPV. And the task for it was not simple either.

With his relationships with his colleagues becoming a little complicated, Rob had no one else but himself to rely on at this juncture. Exchanging ideas or trying to brainstorm them is out of the question for now. The pressure was entirely on him at this point.

So, he had been busy with his work of late, leaving no time to investigate the source of this uneasiness.

That nagging feeling he has been having of late has not vanished completely. Only when he relaxed like this with someone, will it come back to occupy his thoughts. It looked as if Dacey had picked up on it as well.

"Rob, I think you are worrying too much about stuff that doesn’t matter. Just let it go. What will happen, will happen. There is no use fretting over it," Dacey said consolingly and patted his hand.

"I hope so," Rob let out a weak smile and shook his head to clear those thoughts away.

The one good thing that had happened of late was that his relationship with Dacey had accelerated in its progress. Now, there were a lot of touch and feel between them, and Rob felt like things were good in his romantic life at least. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" Rob asked Dacey.

It was already Saturday and Rob was really looking forward to spending some time with Dacey on Sunday. He had a hunch that his life as a virgin in this new body will end tomorrow. So, he wanted to do everything he could to increase his chances of that event happening.

"I don’t have any plans. Do you have something planned?" Dacey asked Rob back.

Rob knew that getting a woman to spill what she wanted to do or discuss was like pulling teeth. They would act like they didn’t care about anything and would be fine with going along with whatever the man wanted to do.

But, in reality, it was anything but true.

In the case of discussions, whatever topic you may bring up will always end in receiving one-word answers that wouldn’t give you any room to move forward with the conversation. After a while, you will get frustrated and start to doubt life.

Sometimes, they would want to discuss certain things. But, they wouldn’t tell it openly. During those times whatever you discussed will be met with unenthusiastic responses as well. Knowing what is in a woman’s mind is the stuff only sages could accomplish.

Similarly, the moment you start to come up with plans, they would shoot them down and tell you they want to do something else. If that happened, it was better. But, there was something even worse than that.

They would agree to your plan and then when it goes into effect, they would come up with a multitude of reasons to not do it. Whether it be a movie date, or a dinner date, or whatever the hell you planned, there is always a high chance of it ending up in shambles due to a woman’s mercurial nature.

So, finding something that would both interest Dacey and he was going to be a huge pain in the ass. And Rob always dreaded this kind of conversation. But, it was his responsibility as a man to initiate conversation and make plans. So, he had no other option other than to bite the bullet.

"No," Rob said groaning inwardly. "How about we make a plan now?"

"How about a movie?" Dacey asked mischievously causing Rob’s face to blacken a little.

The last two movie dates have not gone as he envisioned. The first one was the stuff of nightmares and the second one was not at all how he envisioned things to go. Rob was already hitting the bottom of the barrel with movie date ideas currently. He really didn’t want to touch them anytime soon.

"Ha ha ha..." Dacey laughed seeing Rob’s reaction. "You should have seen how your face went all black when I mentioned movies. It was hilarious."

Rob could only grit his teeth and smile in embarrassment.

Before the conversation could go any further, Rob felt a tap on his shoulders. Rob turned to look and found a young woman in her mid-twenties smiling at him. Rob felt that her face was vaguely familiar, but didn’t know where he knew her from.

"Hi, Rob Williams?" the woman asked with a small smile.

"Yes," Rob nodded automatically and smiled back. "And you are?"

"Stacy Patridge, she works for PWP," Dacey’s voice answered Rob’s question from behind.

Rob’s mind noted that there was a small amount of hostility in Dacey’s tone. But, he didn’t pay much attention to it at the moment. He didn’t feel like being rude to someone who came up to talk to him.

"Hi Dacey," the woman gave a fake smile in Dacey’s direction and turned to Rob. "I am Stacy Patridge. An up and coming professional wrestler. I currently work in PWP on their weekly shows. I didn’t expect to see the much-touted Starmaker here. So, I just wanted to drop by and say hi."

The woman extended her hand and Rob shook it automatically as the action was ingrained in his mind.

"It’s a pleasure," Rob smiled in response and gestured for her to sit in a nearby chair. "Do take a seat. I felt that I have seen you somewhere, but just couldn’t place where. Forgive me, I haven’t been in the industry for long."

"No worries," Stacy said airily taking her seat and turning her body to face Rob, completely ignoring Dacey who was seated beside her. "I don’t mind. I am not famous or anything. I am just starting out in my career as well."

Rob smiled in response to that. He saw from the corner of his eyes that Dacey’s posture had suddenly turned defensive and she had her arms crossed before her chest region. She was looking at Stacy with clear disapproval on her face.

"Even though you have just entered the industry, the impact you have had is truly remarkable. I was really floored after reading the article in Wrestle Reports about you," Stacey said leaning forward.

The way Stacy had deposited herself, her tits were placed on the table and her top button was undone. It gave Rob a clear view of her cleavage if only he could look down a bit.

However, after being in the vicinity of female wrestlers in LWC and spending much time with them, Rob had a good amount of self-control to not do that. Even then, it was a monumental task for Rob.

"Thank you," Rob replied politely, "You don’t need to believe everything they write. They are merely exaggerating things."

A breathtaking smile blossomed on Stacy’s face and she chuckled causing her breasts to heave a bit. Being this close to her, Rob had a clear vision of her ample heaving breasts. With how her top buttons were undone, he couldn’t help but glance at those beauties with a sneak look or two.

"You are being modest," Stacy slapped his arm in a friendly manner. "Everyone knows that everything they have written in the report was true. Don’t need to be shy about your accomplishments."

Rob chuckled in response. He suddenly felt his neck heating up a bit causing him to remember who he was with. Inwardly groaning at his predicament, Rob tried to act as nonchalantly as possible.

"Ahem...thank you, thank you," Rob said coughing to hide his embarrassment.

"I would really like to get to know you better. If you are free right now, can I pick your brain a little? You know from one wrestling professional to another. Maybe you can help me with..."

"Ahem!" a loud cough from Dacey cut short anything Stacy was going to say further.

Stacy slowly straightened herself and looked at Dacey with a sickly sweet smile on her face. The thing that made Rob’s hair stand on edge was that Dacey was also having the same sickly sweet smile on her face.

He knew that something bad was going to happen when he saw both women staring at each other in a competitive manner. And he didn’t know what to do about it.

He couldn’t obviously ask Stacy to leave abruptly as it would be rude. As for continuing his conversation with Stacy, he would only do that if he had wood for brains.

"Dacey!"

"Stacy!"

"Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I forgot you too work for LWC, right?"

"I am the current LWC Women’s Champion!"

"Oh, I must have missed that episode. Don’t worry, I will catch up on it. Anyway, congratulations. Who knew you had it in you to become a champion? Right!"

"How is your career in PWP, Stacy?"

"Oh, it is a bit difficult. After all, the competition there is much more than in lower leagues. Still, I have somehow managed to earn a title shot."

"Oh! That’s great! I knew you had it in you! It must be very hard to rise to the level of becoming a challenger."

"Not much. It is however harder than being a champion in a lower league."

"So, are you still single? Didn’t find anyone yet?"

"No, I am still waiting for the right one. I did date a couple of guys, but things didn’t work out. What about you?"

"Oh, I am dating Rob now," Dacey said triumphantly gesturing at Rob as if she was showing off a prized possession.

Rob who had been watching this train wreck proceed right before his eyes, smiled when he was mentioned and nodded at Stacy.

"Oh! That’s great!"

Stacy’s cheer was completely false. Even Rob could tell that. Let alone Dacey. Still, Dacey beamed brightly and nodded in acknowledgment.

"How long have you guys been dating?" Stacy asked turning to Rob.

"Hmmm, around three weeks I guess," Rob answered truthfully.

"Oh, then you guys haven’t been dating for long," Stacy brightened up a little. "I mean, you guys are still in the early phases then. Good for you Dacey," Stacy said throwing a smile in Dacey’s direction.

"I have always been worried about her, you see. It is hard for her to find the right guy considering her age and past. It’s great to see her finding her feet again," Stacy turned towards Rob and said with a small smile, causing Dacey to grit her teeth behind her.

"Oh! That means I am intruding on your date. I am terribly sorry. I was just excited to meet you. I wanted to discuss some ideas I have with you, you see. How about tomorrow, Rob? Are you free?" Stacy said looking at Rob eagerly.

Before Rob could even think of a response, Dacey answered for him.

"He is coming to my home for lunch tomorrow," Dacey said sweetly.

"I am?" Rob asked in bewilderment.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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You can also check out my other book [Demon Immortal] and see if it is to your liking.

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