“It’s okay,” Goldie soothed. “I’m right here, okay? It’s safe in here, all right? Just me and you.”
Purrcy growled, nearly finished with her food.
“And Purrcy.” Goldie paused. “You don’t hear anything from animals, do you?”
Day shook his head.
“Oh. Okay.” Goldie rubbed Day’s back. “You know I’m not really an angel, don’t you? You know that, right? I have pervy thoughts about other people’s assholes and stuff too. I lie. I lied to that cop today.”
Day peeked up at Goldie, and he shook his head. He hugged Goldie tighter.
Goldie sighed. “I don’t know why you can’t hear me. I’m not saying I’m a monster or anything, but I am definitely far from perfect, okay?”
Day smiled at that, and he touched Goldie’s cheek.
“How about we finish getting these groceries up and have some lunch?” Goldie managed a smile. “Maybe we can talk about some other ways to work on your mission?”
Day’s smile grew.
“Without killing anyone,” Goldie quickly added.
Day pouted.
They put the groceries away except for the frozen nuggets and macaroni and cheese. Day insisted on cooking for them, and he handed Goldie another beer and then steered him toward the couch. Goldie decided Day could probably handle the simple meal without any help, and sitting down honestly sounded wonderful.
Before he could turn on the television, he heard his phone beeping.
He looked around. “Hey, uh, where’s my phone?”
“Dear God,” Day called out from the kitchen, “please let my angel know that his phone is under the couch.”
Goldie bit back an annoyed groan. He leaned forward and tried to feel under the edge of the couch, but he couldn’t find it. He had to get off the couch and down onto his knees, his hips popping as he moved. “Motherfucker,” he grunted, straining to drop to his elbows to get a proper look underneath the couch.
He spied his phone and grabbed it, grumbling to himself as he climbed back on the couch. He flopped into the cushions, and he made a face when the only notifications he’d missed were calls and text messages from Florence.
hey man you gotta check out this auction
people are going nuts for ur stuff
u still have any of your gear???
what about your neon feather boa from our tag team championship
hit me up man!!!
Curious what all the fuss was about, Goldie did an Internet search for wrestling auctions. After a bit of scrolling, he found one being hosted by Global Wrestling. Once he accessed the listings, he was stunned to see his own memorabilia going for tens of thousands of dollars.
“Holy fuck,” he whispered.
There was a gold-colored Goldilocks toy, just like the one on his shelf right now, and the current bid was over fifteen thousand.
No wonder Florence was trying to find out what he had, the greedy jerk.
“Not for sale,” Goldie murmured as he said as much to Florence in a text reply.
While it was flattering that so many fans were clamoring for his merch now, he wasn’t sure what to do with his regained popularity. It wasn’t like he was in any shape to wrestle, and he was struck by the sharp prick of bitterness all over again at what he had lost.
He could have been a movie star like the Rock or John Cena, butno, he was a fucking trainer at a shitty little gym, trying to learn yoga to stay relevant as his body gave out on him.
