“What about… ‘Wylde and MacLean do America’?” Lucy said with a flourish, waving her arm as if she was Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune. In reality, there was nothing but a nearly empty shelf behind her as she and Rogan worked to sort through everything the Dark Man (and Lucy, but she’d never admit to it) had accumulated in the time he’d ‘settled down’ here in the Gulf Shores of Alabama.

Rogan chuckled. “Wouldn’t it be more like ‘MacLean and Wylde do the world?’”

“Wow.” Lucy shook her head. “Just wow. You make it sound so wrong.”

“You started it.”

Lucy simply looked down with a smile and went back to what she was doing. For some reason, sorting through Rogan’s condo was nowhere near as difficult as Lucy thought it would have been. Over the last few years, Lucy’s moved quite a few times and each time it felt like pulling teeth.

Maybe it was the company she kept as she worked. At least that’s the story she’s sticking with.

“We haven’t even picked out an RV yet.” Rogan chimed in, breaking the silence once more. “How am I going to know how much I can actually keep?”

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. “Listen, Dark Man. You moved here with what? A knapsack? You couldn’t have kept much in that buick, huh? We’ll figure it out.”

She gave him a reassuring grin and he returned the favor with a wink.

Lucy was looking forward to this, more than she was willing to admit openly. She never fancied herself to be someone who would be able to pick up and go wherever at the drop of a hat. She spent a good portion of her formative years hopping between shelters while she trained to be a wrestler. She didn’t have a true home until she’d finally captured the CWA World Championship – and from there she never had to worry about that again.

She never wanted to be without a home again, and in the years since she’s made perfectly sure of that – even if it was simply a hotel room. Living from place to place, with no certainty – That wasn’t something Lucy ever thought she could be comfortable with.

Enter Rogan MacLean.

Enter the man who’s made her challenge everything she ever thought she knew about herself. And here she is, packing up yet another place she called home – but this time, with no plan on where they’ll go, or what they’ll do. Sure, it made her stomach all knotted up – she was nervous. She was maybe even a little scared of the uncertainty – but she wasn’t lying when she told the Dark Man that she didn’t care where or what, as long as it was with him.

Lucy sighed, contentedly as stared at the last few items on the shelf. She could sort them out, and move onto another area of the condo, or she could do something a little more spontaneous. Very ‘Dark Lady’ of herself, if she did say so.

“Let’s go look at RV’s.” She says out of the blue, garnering a curious look from across the room.

“Yeah?” Rogan asks, his voice brimming with cautious excitement – And when Lucy turned around, his eyes couldn’t disguise it. She nodded her head.

“Yeah! We don’t have much time left, you know? We don’t wanna be lugging all this shit around in my Camaro. I mean it’s not exactly made for storage.”

“Right as always, Ms. Wylde.” Rogan replied, bringing himself to his feet. “Then let’s do it.”

 

“So ya’ll really be headin outta here, huh?” Trayvon said, pouring another round of drinks for Lucy and Rogan as they sat perched in front of the bar. The Pink Pony Pub had become almost a second home for the two of them – Especially Rogan. Lucy could tell there was a bitter-sweet feeling about leaving it behind for the Dark Man. And she could see that same bitter-sweet look on his face as his eyes wavered, staring down into his glass.

Lucy cleared her throat. “I mean, unless you can convince your boss to sell this place…” Her voice trailed off and when Rogan glanced over at Lucy – that somber look in his eyes was gone.

“I am going to miss this place, and all of you – but in a few days, the lease will be up and we’ll be moving on.”

Trayvon nodded his head. “Fair enough.”

On the other side of the Dark Man, Rogan’s favorite waitress placed her tray onto the bar and a hand on the Dark Man’s shoulder. “We’re gonna miss you too.” She said with that genuine smile that Rogan had come to admire so much. Shawna peeked around Rogan, making eye-contact with Lucy (Who’d been watching her like a hawk). “Both of you.”

Lucy doubted that Ms. Shawna would ever miss having her around here, especially since it took Rogan’s attention away from her – but Lucy smiled and nodded, regardless. However, Lucy’s eyes stayed trained on Shawna and that hand that remained glued to Rogan’s shoulder. She didn’t think of herself as a possessive woman, but maybe she needed to rethink her stance on that.

Sure, the woman was married (as Rogan had reminded her many times), but Lucy knew that look – that body language anywhere.

Finally, Lucy watched that hand fall limpy away from Rogan’s shoulder and she finally pulled her eyes away and back towards Rogan and Trayvon.

“It’s not like we’re never coming back, you know.” Lucy spoke up, her own hand running along Rogan’s arm until it was resting in his waiting hand. “I’m sure we’ll be back.”

Rogan nodded. “Definitely.”

“Well, even if you didn’t, I wish ya’ll the best either way.” Trayvon says, as he tidies up the bar a bit. “Where you headin first?”

Rogan and Lucy gave each other a look, both of them shrugging their shoulders in unison.

“Not really sure.”

“We haven’t gotten that far yet.” Lucy said, grinning up at Rogan. “But we do have a list.”

“Long list.”

“Might take us a while to get through it.”

After a long pause, Trayvon cleared his throat and when Rogan and Lucy turned their attention back to him, he shook his head and chuckled.

“I think you two gon be alright.”

Rogan scratched at his chin and nodded. “Aye.”

Lucy simply sat back and sipped on her drink as she listened to the two men move on with their conversation. Admittedly, she wasn’t listening to every single syllable that came out of their mouths, instead she was thinking about what she could only classify as a little bit of everything.

How much they still had to do before the lease expired.

Where were they going to go first?

Was Rogan really as content as he said he was? Did he really want to sell the Buick and move on from that part of his life?

Did she really deserve to face Montague in a few days time for another chance at the UGWC World Title?

That last one stuck with her as she thought about last week’s Synergy. She wasn’t lying, everything she said to Jet was the truth as she knew it. But it also begged the question, how could she put herself into that position, knowing what everyone else knows – that she hadn’t even smelled the world title in years – yet a few great showings should put her right back into the picture?

The answer was yes.

Unequivocally yes.

That’s just the way the landscape is in the UGWC. You win, you lose, but at the end of the day it’s always anyone’s guess who’s going to be the next in line for a shot. Montague’s had one hell of a run, and he’s earned where he’s at – So has everyone else that’s laced up their boots.

But Lucy knows deep down in her gut that this is her time. Her moment to step back up to the top.

And all she’s gotta do this week is topple Montague like she did at Outlast. Easy as pie, right?

She can’t help but chuckle at herself, which draws Rogan’s attention away from whatever it was that he was telling Trayvon.

“Something funny lass?”

Lucy always liked it when he called her ‘lass’.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I was just telling myself that all I’ve gotta do this week is the same thing I did at Outlast. Easy enough, right?” She chuckled again.

“That’s what I was just telling Trayvon here.”

“Yeah?”

Rogan nodded.

“Well, that’s the plan anyway. But I’ve lost to him enough that I know it won’t be that easy. Besides, he said it himself, I’m quickly becoming one of his favorite opponents.”

“Which means he got his eye on you, girl.” Trayvon adds in.

“Exactly. But luckily, I’ve had my eye on him too.”

She winked at Rogan and slid her empty glass across the bar.  Trayvon looked shocked, as did Rogan. 

“You don’t want another?”

Lucy shook her head. “I think I’m ready to get back home and get back to work. A lot of big things happening soon and I wanna be on top of em all.”