Post by Kevin Mears on May 20, 2023 19:22:09 GMT -5
Off Camera
With their first ever tag match together as a group coming up in just over a week, Kevin had invited the Aces to join him in Atlantic City to begin preparations for what was easily the biggest match they had had, what with it being against the reigning World Champion as well as her undefeated boyfriend and newcomer Madison. Living at Bally’s as he had, he had pretty much free reign and was known by most of the hotel staff. So when he went down to the bar, he was greeted by one of the waitresses and seated at a booth. He wasn’t there for very long before he was joined by the longest tenured member of the group, the Ace of Spades herself, Talia Skye.
“Have a seat.” He gestured towards the booth where he was sitting and already had a drink in front of him. “Make yourself comfortable. Serenity started striking it hot at the blackjack table, and I didn’t have the heart to ask her to quit while she was up by about three grand when I last checked.”
Talia motions for a nearby waitress to bring her a drink. “Nothing fancy. Dirty martini. I love a classic.” She awaits her libation and smirks at Kevin. “Yeah, let her keep up that lucky streak. Give her a few more hours and she may be able to buy this place. Serenity really knows how to hit it big.” Talia’s drink arrives and she daintily takes a sip, seemingly finding peace within the martini glass. “Now if only Uprising knew when to cash in. Have you heard… anything?”
“I have. I spoke with Jax earlier in the week, we’re gonna hammer out something one way or another when I get to the arena that day. He says he was distracted by other shit going on, which is why they let my contract expire. Probably busy being up Marisol’s ass, from what I’ve heard. So I’ll either have a new deal and be there with you both for the tag match or it’ll most likely be you two against two of them with me in your corner.” As he finished off his rum and Coke, he was brought another almost as though the wait staff knew without him having to ask. “I’ve also hired someone to help with all the contract stuff, because I’m tired of dealing with it between Uprising and now HGK wanting to sign me. I’ll introduce you sometime, her name’s Kat Jones. Dealing with promoters is what she does for a living, damn good too.”
“Sounds great. Lord knows with Morgan gone I could use another brain to handle all my contract negotiations. I don’t need needless diplomacy and backstage politics to cloud me.” She swirls her martini glass before finishing the rest in one go. “As for your contract bullshit. I will say… if they don’t sort it out quickly… there may not be a tag team match. We may have to play hardball. I can afford it. And if Serenity keeps it up, she can too. We can freeze them out if need be. Aces stick together after all.” She smiles softly at Kev. “If they don’t give you what you deserve, I’ll show them I’m no dancing puppet doing what they want regardless.”
“They know what I want. A world title match, top tier money with a favored nations clause that says I get paid as much as the highest paid person on the roster, no matter who it is. And a 2% chunk of the live gate for shows I compete on. They know it, Kat knows it. Anything short of that will be rejected.” Kevin seemed fairly confident he was going to get what he asked for, though it wasn’t clear if that was confidence alone or that he knew something else. “And when yours and Serenity’s deals come up, that’ll be the goal for you both too. I deserved a world title shot for a long while, but they weren’t going to let me challenge for it holding another title. That’s also part of why I did what I did for Serenity.”
Talia applauds quietly as Kevin explains. “It’s so nice to work with someone who knows exactly what they’re doing. You continue to impress me every day. Talented, smart, cunning …. And yes of course hot.” Talia receives one more martini which she holds out to cheers with Kevin. “To the best leader I’ve ever worked with.”
“Cheers.” The glasses clinked before he was about to speak again when he got a notification on his phone. He checked it quickly and started to smile before showing Talia a text message from Serenity informing him she was up to eight grand now. He put the phone away and returned his attention to Talia. “See? I told you I couldn’t bring myself to ask her to stop playing.”
First Talia smiled in approval of Serenity’s luck. However her smile turned suggestive before she spoke. “To be fair, when there’s the potential to hit the jackpot why would anyone want to stop playing Kev?”
“Exactly.” He replied. “That also brings up the next Diamond. So they let Carina go, in case it comes up. That’s the reason she’s not in the group anymore. If they don’t work here, that’s the end of the line. I haven’t found the right replacement yet. There’s been some interest from people outside the roster that would come in… but it’s gonna be a while till I have a list of finalists for you two to look over. One on the roster that’s new caught my attention, but she doesn’t stay very active so I haven’t been able to talk with her, so that probably is a non-starter. Otherwise, it’ll just be the three of us for the time being.”
“We will make it work regardless. It’s a shame about Carina, but the three of us are still more of a force than anyone else in Uprising quite frankly. So I’m not worried. I’ll keep my eye out on the off chance I notice anyone of interest, but until we find that fourth Ace, Three of a Kind is still a damn good hand to work with.” Talia stated, confidence flowing from her voice.
“Also we have a photo shoot coming up the day before Revolution. I’ve commissioned someone to take some pictures for us that we’ll use for merchandising. Like posters and that sort of thing, maybe shirts too. Notice I don’t let other companies sell my stuff? That’s because they take a cut. WIth me handling it, all the profit goes where it belongs. And I’ll make sure you both get your full value out of anything we make too. Imagine a poster of all three of us or signed stuff. Hell, even old ring gear that you don’t want anymore. People will pay good money for it, and I’d rather have the money than have to maintain the closet space.”
“Oh I get pervs asking for my old ring gear all the time. Maybe it’s time to make money off of it. That poster though… that’s a license to print money right there. Three god-like bodies on one poster? That’s a STEAL. It’s going to be hard to keep those in stock.” Talia began to crunch numbers in her head. If her eyes could turn to dollar signs like in the cartoons, they would. As she snapped back to the moment her demeanor became slightly softer. “ I have to say… thank you for bringing me in on this. It really has been the ride of a lifetime already. It’s nice to know that someone as incredible as yourself still finds value in a veteran like me.”
“You kidding? Hell… I went out and bought something for you and Serenity both. A little something that I think will make you even more Aces than you already are. Check this out.” He reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a deck of playing cards. But when he opened them and spread them out on the table, they were all the Ace of Spades and had Talia’s picture on them. “I always like to leave the Ace of Clubs for my opponents, I thought you might like to have your own to hand out.”
Talia smiled widely as she accepted the gift from Kevin. “ This is… this is amazing. I think this really seals the deal. That last piece to really make the Ace of Spades official. I have a feeling with the three of us standing side-by-side.. we’re going to need a lot of these cards. Thank you Kevin. This really means a lot to me”. She admired the cards in her hands. “And damn… you picked a good picture. I look incredible.”
He nodded in agreement. “There’s a number on that box too, that’s my seamstress who makes all my gear. Name’s Marissa. Get in touch with her and give her your measurements, she’s already been paid by me to design you some new ring gear as well as for Serenity to really get the whole message across. Aces need complementary ring gear, after all.”
“You really do think of everything. Every single detail.” Talia copied the number into her phone quickly before returning attention to Kevin. “But maybe it’s time for us to pause the business for a few hours. Serenity’s having a hell of a good time. Shouldn’t we follow suit?”
“One step ahead of you.” He finished his drink and got to his feet with her. “Follow suit…. Nice pun.” He tells her with a grin before they exit the hotel bar.
With their first ever tag match together as a group coming up in just over a week, Kevin had invited the Aces to join him in Atlantic City to begin preparations for what was easily the biggest match they had had, what with it being against the reigning World Champion as well as her undefeated boyfriend and newcomer Madison. Living at Bally’s as he had, he had pretty much free reign and was known by most of the hotel staff. So when he went down to the bar, he was greeted by one of the waitresses and seated at a booth. He wasn’t there for very long before he was joined by the longest tenured member of the group, the Ace of Spades herself, Talia Skye.
“Have a seat.” He gestured towards the booth where he was sitting and already had a drink in front of him. “Make yourself comfortable. Serenity started striking it hot at the blackjack table, and I didn’t have the heart to ask her to quit while she was up by about three grand when I last checked.”
Talia motions for a nearby waitress to bring her a drink. “Nothing fancy. Dirty martini. I love a classic.” She awaits her libation and smirks at Kevin. “Yeah, let her keep up that lucky streak. Give her a few more hours and she may be able to buy this place. Serenity really knows how to hit it big.” Talia’s drink arrives and she daintily takes a sip, seemingly finding peace within the martini glass. “Now if only Uprising knew when to cash in. Have you heard… anything?”
“I have. I spoke with Jax earlier in the week, we’re gonna hammer out something one way or another when I get to the arena that day. He says he was distracted by other shit going on, which is why they let my contract expire. Probably busy being up Marisol’s ass, from what I’ve heard. So I’ll either have a new deal and be there with you both for the tag match or it’ll most likely be you two against two of them with me in your corner.” As he finished off his rum and Coke, he was brought another almost as though the wait staff knew without him having to ask. “I’ve also hired someone to help with all the contract stuff, because I’m tired of dealing with it between Uprising and now HGK wanting to sign me. I’ll introduce you sometime, her name’s Kat Jones. Dealing with promoters is what she does for a living, damn good too.”
“Sounds great. Lord knows with Morgan gone I could use another brain to handle all my contract negotiations. I don’t need needless diplomacy and backstage politics to cloud me.” She swirls her martini glass before finishing the rest in one go. “As for your contract bullshit. I will say… if they don’t sort it out quickly… there may not be a tag team match. We may have to play hardball. I can afford it. And if Serenity keeps it up, she can too. We can freeze them out if need be. Aces stick together after all.” She smiles softly at Kev. “If they don’t give you what you deserve, I’ll show them I’m no dancing puppet doing what they want regardless.”
“They know what I want. A world title match, top tier money with a favored nations clause that says I get paid as much as the highest paid person on the roster, no matter who it is. And a 2% chunk of the live gate for shows I compete on. They know it, Kat knows it. Anything short of that will be rejected.” Kevin seemed fairly confident he was going to get what he asked for, though it wasn’t clear if that was confidence alone or that he knew something else. “And when yours and Serenity’s deals come up, that’ll be the goal for you both too. I deserved a world title shot for a long while, but they weren’t going to let me challenge for it holding another title. That’s also part of why I did what I did for Serenity.”
Talia applauds quietly as Kevin explains. “It’s so nice to work with someone who knows exactly what they’re doing. You continue to impress me every day. Talented, smart, cunning …. And yes of course hot.” Talia receives one more martini which she holds out to cheers with Kevin. “To the best leader I’ve ever worked with.”
“Cheers.” The glasses clinked before he was about to speak again when he got a notification on his phone. He checked it quickly and started to smile before showing Talia a text message from Serenity informing him she was up to eight grand now. He put the phone away and returned his attention to Talia. “See? I told you I couldn’t bring myself to ask her to stop playing.”
First Talia smiled in approval of Serenity’s luck. However her smile turned suggestive before she spoke. “To be fair, when there’s the potential to hit the jackpot why would anyone want to stop playing Kev?”
“Exactly.” He replied. “That also brings up the next Diamond. So they let Carina go, in case it comes up. That’s the reason she’s not in the group anymore. If they don’t work here, that’s the end of the line. I haven’t found the right replacement yet. There’s been some interest from people outside the roster that would come in… but it’s gonna be a while till I have a list of finalists for you two to look over. One on the roster that’s new caught my attention, but she doesn’t stay very active so I haven’t been able to talk with her, so that probably is a non-starter. Otherwise, it’ll just be the three of us for the time being.”
“We will make it work regardless. It’s a shame about Carina, but the three of us are still more of a force than anyone else in Uprising quite frankly. So I’m not worried. I’ll keep my eye out on the off chance I notice anyone of interest, but until we find that fourth Ace, Three of a Kind is still a damn good hand to work with.” Talia stated, confidence flowing from her voice.
“Also we have a photo shoot coming up the day before Revolution. I’ve commissioned someone to take some pictures for us that we’ll use for merchandising. Like posters and that sort of thing, maybe shirts too. Notice I don’t let other companies sell my stuff? That’s because they take a cut. WIth me handling it, all the profit goes where it belongs. And I’ll make sure you both get your full value out of anything we make too. Imagine a poster of all three of us or signed stuff. Hell, even old ring gear that you don’t want anymore. People will pay good money for it, and I’d rather have the money than have to maintain the closet space.”
“Oh I get pervs asking for my old ring gear all the time. Maybe it’s time to make money off of it. That poster though… that’s a license to print money right there. Three god-like bodies on one poster? That’s a STEAL. It’s going to be hard to keep those in stock.” Talia began to crunch numbers in her head. If her eyes could turn to dollar signs like in the cartoons, they would. As she snapped back to the moment her demeanor became slightly softer. “ I have to say… thank you for bringing me in on this. It really has been the ride of a lifetime already. It’s nice to know that someone as incredible as yourself still finds value in a veteran like me.”
“You kidding? Hell… I went out and bought something for you and Serenity both. A little something that I think will make you even more Aces than you already are. Check this out.” He reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a deck of playing cards. But when he opened them and spread them out on the table, they were all the Ace of Spades and had Talia’s picture on them. “I always like to leave the Ace of Clubs for my opponents, I thought you might like to have your own to hand out.”
Talia smiled widely as she accepted the gift from Kevin. “ This is… this is amazing. I think this really seals the deal. That last piece to really make the Ace of Spades official. I have a feeling with the three of us standing side-by-side.. we’re going to need a lot of these cards. Thank you Kevin. This really means a lot to me”. She admired the cards in her hands. “And damn… you picked a good picture. I look incredible.”
He nodded in agreement. “There’s a number on that box too, that’s my seamstress who makes all my gear. Name’s Marissa. Get in touch with her and give her your measurements, she’s already been paid by me to design you some new ring gear as well as for Serenity to really get the whole message across. Aces need complementary ring gear, after all.”
“You really do think of everything. Every single detail.” Talia copied the number into her phone quickly before returning attention to Kevin. “But maybe it’s time for us to pause the business for a few hours. Serenity’s having a hell of a good time. Shouldn’t we follow suit?”
“One step ahead of you.” He finished his drink and got to his feet with her. “Follow suit…. Nice pun.” He tells her with a grin before they exit the hotel bar.