Chasing The Dragon Chapter Four (RiTB)

[Tearra Skye]

Present Day….

I look over to Nikki, gently shrugging as we look over the fourth apartment today. It isn’t all that far from Froggy’s wrestling school, where we had been living and where Nikki had all her life. I have only been there a few years, while Nikki has been there since she was in the first grade. We both wanted to get out of that place. As good as it had been, I knew I could always go back if needed, but it was time to start living my life.

So why move into a place with Nikki? Well, how does Jay put it with Silent Bob? She is my hetero-life-mate. Nikki keeps me on the right path but doesn’t make me feel trapped. That’s something that some (ok, most probably) addicts have trouble handling. Being told what to do and forced to take whatever bullshit the twelve-step program makes them take leads back to relapse.

“What do you think? Like it?”

“Oui, çest-bien, but I don’t know….”

Judging by the look on her face, I think it might be too close to her dad’s school/home.

“Pourquoi?”

“C'est trop près de chez papa.”

I totally nailed it. I know Nikki just as well as she knows me. Nikki told me she didn’t have a lot of friends in her childhood. Froggy wasn’t a social type. He would stretch people who came over. He’d coax them into the ring, then next thing they knew, he would have them in a crossface or one of the many other submissions he liked to break people in with. Nikki’s mother, Gaetan, left when she was just a little girl, barely walking. A tall monster of a man whisked her away. Apparently, they had known one another long before Gaetan became pregnant. I sometimes wondered if Froggy was even her dad, but who was I to ask? My dad was my mom’s pimp. If he had his way, I would’ve started working the street corner before I was 16. Depravity craves innocence, he would say.

“Yeah, it is. Let’s go take a look at the place in Dorval.”

Nikki’s eyes light up as she nods. Montréal is an island, and in Pierrefonds, we were near that water in the north part of the West Island. Dorval was near the island's south end, so the water connected to Île de Perot and east towards Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Dorval was also an exciting concept because while it was a suburb city, it was its own entity on the island. Like how the Canadian Government made Quebec a nation within a nation, Dorval is a city within a city.

We are driving at least twenty kilometres over the speed limit in her silver 2009 Corolla, heading south on Sainte Charles Avenue towards Beaconsfield, when Nikki looks over at me with a smirk.

“Autoroute 20 is coming up, and there’s a condo for rent in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, let’s check that out first, eh?”

“... sure.”

Her smile was big, and I held on for dear life as Nikki took the exit way too fast. The worst drivers in the world are from Quebec. I’m sure she heard my voice's hesitation about it, and it’s because of the job I had before I met her and her dad.

May 2017 - Île de Perot - Pincourt

I walked up to the four-storey apartment building where I was put once my training finished. I was doing very well; I was one of the rare people on the island who didn’t have a French accent and a voice that could be mistaken for someone else. After all, we always started a phone call with “Been better, not feeling that well” to cover why we didn’t sound like the person they thought was calling. I am struggling with it all, but Kenny’s words ring in my ears of what this job is better than.

I reach the top floor and turn left off the elevator as I fish for my keys. The boss liked that about me. I am always the first one here, ready to grab a phone and dial away to find my mooch that might turn into what I have heard people in the “office” call a “Great White”. A “Great White” was a mooch with lots of money, had fully bought in and was willing to send whatever they could. I had found good mooches, but I still hadn’t found one of them.

After everyone arrived, I made my way to the bedroom I took for “my office” to start calling. The Boss wanted us dialling from 8:30 to 2:30 in the afternoon, five days a week. If you got real good at it, you could make an easy thousand dollars, as long as you get past the guilt, and I was having a real hard time with that.

“Ugh, what a shitty day. One number left, just call it and get the hell out of here, Tiara.”

The phone rings and rings but someone finally answers.

“Hey, grandma!”

“Oh, Allanah! You don’t sound like yourself. Are you feeling ok?”

“I have a bit of a cold, but I’ll be ok. Listen, I’m in trouble and need your help….”

After a few minutes, she agrees to talk to my lawyer, so I press the mute button and head out to the living room, where Ryan is sitting on the couch. He’s so cute. Shaggy blonde hair, green eyes, not fat but not skinny either, just a perfect in-between. He looks up at me with a smile.

“Got one for me? What’s the deets?”

“My name is Allanah; I told her I wasn’t feeling well and was arrested for distracted driving.”

“Nice! How much did you say bail was for?”

I turned my left foot side to side on the ball while looking up at him through my blonde hair that hung in my face.

“18k.”

“That a girl!”

Present Day….

“Oh, bébé, this place is parfaite!

Nikki and I decided to go with the top-floor condo in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, just underneath part of the Autoroute 20 on Bellevue Island and overlooking the Sainte Anne Rapids. I loved it the moment we looked at it. We both stood on the balcony with a glass plate and painted black brass railing housing the small of our backs that we leaned back on.

“Yeah, it’s pretty fricken’ great! Froggy looked so sad when we left.”

“You know, Tiara, when you tried robbing Papa, and he gave you the place to get clean, train yada yada yada, it filled the void left when Mama left.”

“I never really had a family before I found you two. Honestly, I would probably be dead or swallowing Gareth’s cock to feed my addiction and working for the man I call dad. Biologically, anyway.”

“Everything happens for un motif, oui?”

“True, it did happen for a reason. It got me training to become a professional wrestler, and was good enough to get signed into OCW. I still can’t believe I’ve started my career off 2-1!”

“A shame the referee was knocked out; you should’ve won. Now Calaway will lose to Egan.”

Truthfully, I knew I wasn’t meant to win. Calaway needed it more than I did. I try to ensure I don’t get ahead of myself or get too cocky. Wrestling was fluid, and people’s time on top came and went. As Froggy would tell me, you must be ready to grab it by the balls.

“I wouldn’t underestimate Calaway; she has as good a chance as anyone.”

“Maybe; too bad we won’t be at the show.”

“I’m going to enter the Rumble….”

Nikki’s eyes went wide with excitement. I was diving head first into OCW, which she has wanted me to do since day one.

“Tee, le femme fatale! That’s amazeballs! I will enter it too! Watch your back!”

She’s right; having her there with me would be wise.

“People will be taking note of you coming in with me. ”

“What do you think of The Commissioner?”

“She’s tough. Definitely a fan of the sport. Doesn’t put up with any bullshit, from what I have seen. Also seems to hate overly aggressive hardcore match types like Death Matches.”

“All a Death-Match does is bring you closer to le meurte.”

Nikki wasn’t wrong in that. People who make a living on death matches and extreme hardcore wrestling seem to have an earlier expiry date than those who don’t. Pardon the pun, but it is a death wish.

“Yeah, well, we aren’t gonna be in a Death Match Rumble, ours in the Bronx, and we should head back to your Papa’s to train this weekend.”

“Et Massacre?”

“What about it? We aren’t booked, so let’s focus on the twenty-seventh and do whatever we need to win. There are five opportunities to walk away with something more than we had come in with.”

I finish my drink and head back inside. I don’t know what did it, but I start to think about Ryan and, in turn, my first ride on the dragon.

May 2017 - Pincourt

Ryan was picking me up for a celebratory night of fun, and I was nervous. I had on a pair of white, black fishnet stockings showing off my thick thighs, a black mini skirt, a tight white tank top under a small black blouse and curled my long blonde hair. I grab my favorite black leather jacket and head out to the front of the house I am renting with Tabitha to wait for Ryan.

I am so nervous and thankful it’s a cool evening with a breeze that’s keeping the sweat under my arms and my inner thighs to a minimum. He is just so cute and has always been so sweet to me. It wasn’t long before he picked me up and took me to my favorite spot, É’toile Restaurant. I can never get enough of their spinach dip, served piping hot and made with real cream cheese and cheddar with real spinach.

It was when we got back to my place, and I asked if he wanted to have a nightcap where the night turned into something I would come to regret, but that was still a couple of years out.

“Maybe we can add to that nightcap.”

“What do you mean?”

“This.”

He smiled, pulled out a nickel bag full of pinkish-brown powder, and wiggled it back and forth.

“What is that?”

“This is China White, Tee. The cleanest heroin you can get.”

“But I don’t do needles….”

He laughed and put his right on my fishnet stocking-clad leg, squeezing gently. I won’t lie; I felt myself weaken at his touch.

“Naw, babe, this isn’t that dirty black tar those strong out street-walkers are fucked up on. This, you snort like coke. What do you say?”

I knew I should say no but feeling his fingers slowly slide down between my thighs, I was saying the words I never thought I would.

“Yeah, sure, ok. Let’s go inside.”

Tabitha wasn’t home, thankfully, and Ryan chopped two lines the size of a cigarette out for us. It burned the inside of my nose as it travelled through my sinus to the brain. The drips in the back of my throat had a flavour I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I liked it. It was only a few minutes before I felt butterflies in my stomach. The warmth of the refined poppies made me feel like I was floating.

“Oh my, this is amazing, Ryan….”

“You are amazing.”

Waves of pleasure cascade over my body, filling every pore of my being like ocean water through hot sand. More... I want more! How long I waited to feel his breath on my neck, his hands wrapped around my waist, his fingers caressing my lips. Our bodies are entwined in a primal dance, moving faster and faster to the rhythm of the creaking bed-springs, our skin bathed in flickers of neon from the antique fluorescent bar paraphernalia hanging on my wall. I can't hear myself moaning, but I must be since my throat is dry or is it the China White? I can't feel what my hands are doing, but the blood under my fingernails means I'm digging into his back. He's no longer kissing me but nibbling, biting, pulling himself toward me harder, his control over me untamed, animalistic. It's so hot in the room that even his skin is overheating, the bedsheets clinging to our sweat-soaked bodies.

It was sex, magic, and the beginning of chasing the dragon….

Present Day - TONIC

Me and Nikki after training all day, decided to go play the VLTs (Video Lottery Terminals) at TONIC on Pierrefonds Boulevard, just up the road from the wrestling school, to unwind and maybe play a game of pool. Nikki leaned back in the tall chair, her left arm behind over the back of it, and her right hand hitting the ‘Max Bet’ and ‘Minimum Bet’ buttons, occasionally taking a drink of the draft beer she ordered. I sat beside her, looking at my phone. Without looking over, she asks me a question.

“Waiting for a text?”

“Miss Strader is sending us a camera crew so we can promote ourselves for the Rumble on Sunday.”

“Oooh, la-la. Fancy. Ça-va for de Rumble?”

“How am I feeling? I’m ready. Nervous, but I am ready.”

“Time to make up for the stumble with Calaway.”

“It’s like your Papa taught me; you need to be able to let it go the second the bell rings. Letting a loss bring you down is the worst thing you can do. You need to learn from it, not cry about it.”

Nikki wasn’t looking at me, but I could see her eyes smile along with the grin on her face. Suddenly the little proper twirl on top of the VLT, and Nikki is on her feet with her fist in the air.

“Haha, bébé! J'ai gagné mille dollars!”

A thousand dollars? Of course, she won a thousand dollars. This girl has the biggest horseshoe up her ass I had ever seen. Figuratively, of course, but I don’t think she is that kinky, but no kink shame from me. The owner, Felix, comes over smiling and shaking his head.

“Nikole, I swear I’d go broke with these machines if you came in here more.”

“Be thankful she doesn’t.”

“Don’t hate the player, déteste le jeu! Haha!”

Felix takes the printed ticket.

“I’ll go get you the cash. Oh, and there’s a cameraman for you both from that wrestling company, OCW. It’s not busy, so you can film over by the pool tables.”

“Merci, Felix.”

“Oui, merci, Felix. Hold onto my money so I can win more from your machines later.”

I chuckle after she follows that up with a wink and that suggestive sexy smile of hers. The cameraman sees me waving at him, and I point to the pool tables in the far back corner. Nikki racks the balls, lays out to pool cues, and rolls them over the red felt top to ensure they aren’t warped. Nikki lines up her shot and breaks, the loud clack filling the air as dropping the yellow ‘One’. She always manages to get solids. I adjust my black leather pants and ensure my Blood Sugar Sex and Magik t-shirt is aligned with the waist of my pants. The camera turns on, and he nods to say we are on.

“Hey there, OCW Faithful! Me and Nikki are so glad you join us.”

“Oui, so thankful.”

“Don’t mind her; she isn’t a fan of doing what they call a promo. Truthfully, since my arrival, followed by Nikki’s, we haven’t really done one. Sure, we have allowed the OCW camera crew inside the wrestling school where we both learned the trade, but to stand in front of the camera and talk about why we are gonna win is new to us.”

“Oui, we prefer to let our ring work do the talking, que non? Your turn.”

I look at the table and see only the ball pocketed on the break has gone in. I line my shot up to put the blue-striped 10-ball in the corner pocket. I look down the length of my pool cue, aiming my shot and taking it as I look up at the camera.

“From what we understand, this is a first for OCW, just like it’s a first for us. Nikki has yet to step in the ring. I have only had singles bouts against Dylan Thomas, Cass Baumer and the new Craze Contender, Alexandra Calaway. I didn’t get the job down against Ally, but how I see it, everything happens for a reason. I was meant to lose that match so I could make history for OCW and, in turn, myself.”

I sunk the 10-ball but missed my next shot, so Nikki was up and leaning over the table, taking her shot, sinking the red 3-ball.

“I’m not an arrogant tool like many in the business. I don’t yell and scream. I am the greatest and get upset over a loss and quit a company.”

“Or take a leave of absence like a chienne.”

“Definitely not like a bitch.”

Nikki is pool-sharking me, so I just focus on looking into the camera as I take a sip from the bottle of Molson Ex Felix had brought me.

“I get to start in the ring with legends like Thaddeus Duke and Matthew Knox and next-generation talent Jack Sullivan. I don’t know when Nikki will enter the fold, but I know I will do whatever I can to still be in that ring when she comes out. While it’s my goal to win, what I am truly shooting for is to make Tearra Skye a household name not just in OCW but in professional wrestling as a whole.”

“Tee, bébé.”

“My turn?”

“Non, I won.”

I look at the table, and all I see are my balls. I chuckle as I sit against the side of the pool table and pat the side with my right for Nikki to join, and she does.

“On Sunday, when I start the Rumble with those legends, I will show exactly why I have been training to become a professional wrestler. I’m going to make a name for myself, and so is Nikki. With her at my side, anything is possible.”

“Tee, you need to give yourself more credit. You can definitely do it without me, but it’ll be more… amusement!”

“It definitely is more fun. On Sunday, I show that I am Chasing My Future, not the Dragon.”

“A bientôt, connards.”

See you later, fuckers. Haha. I love Nikki. We would pack tonight and head to NYC before Friday. I am nervous, but I know I can further my career with this event.