If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my Patreon!!!
Go to https://www.patreon.com/Tang12
___________________________
For a moment, the only sound in the room was the harsh, ragged breathing of the four men. Then, slowly, Sandro's fingers uncurled, letting Barry slump back against the wall. The champion stepped back, running a hand through his sweat damp hair, jaw clenched tight. Barry slid down the wall, chest heaving, face pale and blotchy.
His eyes darted around the room, wild and unfocused, his breath hitching with every inhale. Whatever mask of defiance he'd worn earlier was gone, shattered into pieces with now craziness replacing it.
Steve let out a slow breath, looking between the two of them. "Barry, you're done here. We're processing your termination. Clean out your locker. Don't make this harder on yourself and everyone involved than it already should be."
Barry let out a bitter laugh, though it was more a choked sound, something halfway between anger and defeat. "Yeah," he muttered, dragging a hand over his face, "yeah, I bet you're all real happy about this, seeing me humiliated and then kicking me out."
Dusty's gaze softened just a little, but his voice stayed firm. "You did this to yourself, Barry. You should have known that there's a line you shouldn't have crossed, but you did it anyway."
Sandro didn't say anything. He just stood there, eyes fixed on Barry, his chest still rising and falling as the adrenaline slowly drained from his system. His fists were still balled at his sides, suppressing the burning anger inside of him.
Barry pushed himself unsteadily to his feet, swaying for a moment before catching himself. Without another word, he shuffled toward the door, his steps dragging, his shoulders slumped. Just before he left, he turned, eyes cutting toward Sandro one last time.
"This isn't over, just wait," Barry said, voice hoarse, almost a whisper.
Sandro tilted his head, a faint, humorless smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, Barry. It is. You better stop and don't do anything you shouldn't do, or I will come for you."
Barry's face twisted, but he didn't argue. He turned and left, the door clicking shut behind him.
For a long moment, the room stayed quiet.
Dusty sank back into his chair with a sigh, rubbing a hand over his face. "Damn mess," he murmured. "But it's handled."
Steve gave Sandro a look, one eyebrow raised. "You alright, champ?"
Sandro let out a breath, rolling his shoulders. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Just… didn't expect him to go off like that."
Dusty gave a short nod. "You handled yourself better than most would've."
Sandro huffed out a small, tired laugh, sinking into the chair again, elbows resting on his knees. "Didn't feel like it."
The three of them sat there in the quiet, the tension slowly bleeding out of the room.
Back in the locker room, word was already spreading about Barry's sudden termination. Alexa had heard. She was sitting with some of the other women, her phone in hand, eyes downcast.
When she saw Barry's figure storming through the hallway, trainers giving him a wide berth, she knew it was over. Relief mixed with a gnawing unease settled in her stomach.
Later that night, as Sandro was unlacing his boots in the locker room, Alexa approached quietly, standing just behind him.
"Hey," she said softly.
Sandro turned, his eyes softening the moment they met hers.
"You okay?" Alexa asked, a faint, wry smile tugging at her lips.
Sandro let out a breath, the tension in his shoulders finally loosening. "Yeah," he murmured. "We're okay now."
Alexa took a seat beside Sandro on the bench, the faint creak of the wood under her barely audible over the distant echoes of conversation and laughter drifting down the hallway.
For a while, neither of them spoke. The room felt heavy with unspoken thoughts, with adrenaline still slowly ebbing away, and yet there was a quiet comfort in just sitting there together.
After a moment, Alexa let out a soft sigh, brushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Thank you," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
Sandro glanced over at her, one eyebrow slightly raised, a small, tired smile pulling at his lips. "For what?"
Alexa offered a faint, almost bashful smile. "For everything. For today. April told me… she told me the match between you and Barry was a shoot match. But it was so clean, so smooth that, honestly, if April hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have known that it was a shoot match." She gave a small, almost incredulous laugh. "You made it look like just another match."
Sandro shook his head, the smile on his face deepening, a wry glint in his eyes. "It wasn't that big of a problem," he said softly. "What Barry did to you… he needed to be dealt with. Today wasn't just about the match, Lex. It was about making sure he understood there are lines you don't cross."
His fingers flexed slightly at his sides, as though the memory still stirred something restless in him. "His termination by Steve and Dusty was a given. Honestly, he shouldn't be in this business anymore." His eyes darkened just a shade. "If you want, I can make sure of that."
Alexa's smile faltered, her eyes widening slightly. She quickly shook her head. "No," she said firmly, a touch of urgency in her voice. "No, it doesn't need to go that far, Sandro."
She took a small breath, trying to steady the nervous flutter in her chest. "If we… if we stepped to that level, we wouldn't be much different from Barry, would we? And I don't want that."
Sandro regarded her in silence for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then, with a slow nod, he let it go. "Alright," he murmured.
But in the back of his mind, he made a quiet note to himself, to have someone keep an eye on Barry. That parting threat, the way Barry had said "this isn't over" with that cracked voice… it didn't sit right. Sandro didn't plan to take chances when it came to Alexa.
Another silence settled between them, more thoughtful this time. Alexa shifted slightly, feeling the weight of the moment, the vulnerability hanging in the air. It felt awkward somehow, though not in a bad way, more like neither of them quite knew how to step away from the moment they'd just shared.
Finally, Alexa rose to her feet, smoothing her hands over the sides of her jeans. "I just… I just wanted to tell you that," she said, offering a soft smile. "I'm really grateful for everything. You didn't have to go that far, but you did. And I'll never forget it, really."
Sandro stood as well, nodding his head, his expression warm but quiet, his usual easy confidence tempered by exhaustion. "Anytime, Lex," he said gently.
For a heartbeat, it felt like they would part ways right there, like the moment was about to slip away. But then, almost on impulse, Alexa stood on her tiptoes and pressed a quick, featherlight kiss to Sandro's cheek.
Sandro froze, eyes wide, caught completely off guard. Alexa, cheeks flaming red, pulled back just slightly, her eyes darting to his with a mixture of shyness and nervous defiance. "That's your reward," she said quickly, voice tinged with a nervous laugh. "For… for what you did for me."
And just like that, before Sandro could even respond, Alexa turned on her heel and hurried out of the room, her steps light and almost frantic.
Sandro stood there, utterly still, his right hand slowly lifting to touch the spot on his cheek where her lips had been. His brow furrowed slightly as the realization sank in, he'd expected maybe a hug, a thank you, something friendly, something sisterly.
That's how he'd always seen Alexa, like a younger sister, someone he wanted to protect, someone whose talent and fire he admired.
But this… this wasn't that.
He let out a slow breath, a strange, unsettled feeling curling in his chest. Alexa was gorgeous, he'd always known that, even in his past life when he'd only seen her on TV.
But now… now, this moment complicated things in a way he hadn't anticipated. And for the first time that night, Sandro felt something stir inside him that had nothing to do with the adrenaline of the match or the tension of the confrontation, something far more confusing.
Meanwhile, Alexa was practically sprinting down the hallway, her face flushed, her heart hammering in her chest. "Oh God, what did I just do?" she thought frantically, pressing a hand to her burning cheek. She could still feel the warmth of the moment, still hear the way her own voice had sounded, shaky and impulsive.
Her thoughts were so jumbled, she didn't even notice the figure coming around the corner until she collided right into them.
"Ah, I'm sorry!" Alexa blurted out, stumbling back a step.
April caught her by the shoulders, steadying her with a quick reflex. "Whoa, hey, Lex, slow down—"
But before April could finish the sentence, Alexa was already backing away, words tumbling out in a flustered mess. "Sorry, sorry, April, I, uh, I have to go! I'll see you later!"
And then she was gone, disappearing down the hallway in a blur of blonde hair and nervous energy.
April blinked after her, brows lifting in mild surprise. She turned her head slightly, glancing down the hallway in the direction Alexa had come from. And then, a knowing smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"Well, well…" April thought to herself, amusement glinting in her eyes. It didn't take much to put the pieces together, the red face, the stumbling apologies, the direction Alexa had run from. Someone had clearly fallen hard for her and Nikki's boyfriend.
Back in his locker room, Sandro finally shook himself out of his daze, letting out a breathless laugh under his breath. "Unbelievable," he muttered, running a hand through his hair.
For the next several minutes, Sandro sat quietly, unlacing his boots with slow, methodical movements, his mind still turning over what had just happened.
He thought about Alexa's smile, the softness in her voice, the look in her eyes when she kissed his cheek. And then, as if on cue, his thoughts drifted to April and Nikki.
He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, fingers steepled together in front of his mouth. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" He wondered.
He wasn't naive, he understood attraction, understood emotions, but this was different. This was tangled and messy, and if he wasn't careful, it had the potential to blow up everything he'd been building, not just inside the ring, but outside of it, too.
And yet, beneath the swirl of confusion, there was a flicker of something else, something almost like warmth, like possibility.
It was late by the time Sandro finally stepped out into the night, the cool air brushing against his skin, the faint hum of the arena still alive behind him.
He pulled out his phone, scrolling through a few unread messages. One from April. One from Nikki. And then, surprisingly, one from Alexa, "Thank you again, really. Get some rest, champ."
Sandro stared at the screen for a long moment, a slow smile tugging at his lips. He tapped out a quick reply, "You too, Lex. You did great tonight." before pocketing the phone.
As he walked across the parking lot, his thoughts remained a jumble, caught somewhere between gratitude, confusion, and a gnawing sense that whatever came next, it was going to be anything but simple.
Two weeks blurred into a hazy recollection of wrestling rings, roaring crowds, and the constant, nagging question of Alexa for Sandro.
Currently, Sandro sat in his locker room, the past two weeks weighed heavily on his mind, a haze of emotion and exhaustion wrapping around him like a second skin.
He hadn't expected Alexa's kiss to rattle him the way it had, a brief, impulsive touch, yet it left a mark far deeper than either of them had likely anticipated.
For two weeks, she'd been avoiding him. Not in any overt or cold way, no, Alexa was far too kind for that, but in subtle shifts, the way she'd change direction when she saw him coming down the hallway, the polite but rushed "hey" backstage, the way she'd conveniently always be busy whenever their paths might cross.
___________________________
Name: Alessandro Zhang
Age: 19 (2009)
Birthplace: Orlando, Florida USA
Brand: FCW
Wrestling Style: Mixed Of All Style
Faction: Dragon Boom (Tag Team)
Championship History: 1x FCW Tag Team Champions, 1x FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion, & 1x TNA World Heavyweight Champion