Bree Lancaster

Breakdown 7-11-24

{{ Friday, June 28
Kenner, LA
Bree’s home }}

Is it weird that I kinda feel bad for Deanna Frost? I mean, she has Enigma targeting her and Jessica Winters, one of the new signings, Mike Knox, has been eyeing her championship, and I can’t forget the rumor that she and Selena have split up. She’s booked to face me, and… well, I can’t show sympathy in the ring, and I didn’t. Knox walked out, Deanna finally noticed, and I took my shot. 1, 2, 3. Did it feel good to get a win back? Yes. But did it feel good to take advantage of someone’s troubles for personal gain?

Also yes.

Okay, that’s a bit of the old me talking. But I did say “kinda” feel bad for her. I still don’t like her. I admit she got exactly what she deserved when Enigma accepted her challenge… and chose to have their match on the Rise Pre-show. I laughed. Hard. But, I know how it feels to have everything go wrong, lose what you thought was untouchable, and not be able to find up. In that sense… I hope she learned something and can start to recenter.

As for my center… I’m pretty sure I found it. Josh and I are in my kitchen, we got back from Houston a little before noon. The babies are napping upstairs and Josh is making sandwiches for a late lunch. I’m sitting at the island with my laptop. I have several open tabs, all of them different real estate sites.
“This is so dumb, a lot of these houses are listed on every one of these sites.”
“Seems smart to me. The agent posts it everywhere, gets more eyes on it, sell faster.”
“Okay but, that doesn’t help me. It’s just wasting time because I’ve already seen all of these!”
“Then pick one site to look at and close the others.”
I look up at Josh over the top of my laptop screen. “But what if I miss one that’s only posted on one?”
“Then that’s not the one we were meant to buy.” Josh steps across from the counter to the island and grabs my laptop screen, then starts to slowly close it.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I grab his hand.
“If all this will do is stress you out, then I don’t want you to do it any more today. You should be in a good mood after last night.”
“I am in a good mood! That’s why I wanted to start looking for real. Let go.” I squeeze his hand.
“I’ll let go… if you close every site but one and focus.”
I stare at him a moment. “Okay.” Josh gives me a look. “I’ll only use one, I promise.”
Josh lets go, and grins. “Good.” He goes back to the other counter. “Did you want your bread toasted?”
“Yes please.” I start clicking X’s, and end up with one site open. He’s probably right. “Now tell me, what do you think we should be looking for?”
“Four walls. A driveway. Preferably a roof.”
“Josh!” I laugh.
“Okay, okay,” He laughs, then answers seriously. “Honestly? Single story. I’m not looking forward to climbing stairs every day when I’m sixty and can barely walk.”
“I was thinking that, myself. My house before this one was like that.” I click the filter options and check the appropriate box. I then glance at the location box. Wait. “Okay, before I go any further, did we decide on this side of the river or the other side?”
“I don’t think we did.”
“Okay. Because I was thinking we should be on your side. Closer to the Academy.” And my brother and Amy.
“I thought you loved being close to the lake?”
“I do. But there’s the river. I can find a levee to run on anywhere around here.” I grin.
“Anywhere you want is fine with me. Except the actual city. Too crowded.”
“I will never buy a house in the city of New Orleans again. The property taxes are asinine.” I only had to pay that one year for the Carondolet Street house, but holy shit, I nearly fainted when I saw that bill.
“See, this is why I’m leaving most of this to you. I don’t know any practical things like that here.”
“Okay, then I’ll use my judgment there. What about the house itself though? Four bedrooms like here, you think?” Josh sits across from me at the island, and slides me a plate with my ham and cheddar sandwich, toasted bread, with pickle spears on the side. “Thanks, babe.” I grab a spear and go back to the site.
“What do we need four for? Us, the kids, and a spare.” That would likely usually be used by Alex, I thought. Assuming he stayed here after what happened. I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.
“We have a boy and a girl. They can’t share forever.” I tried once to put Heath and Jalyn in separate rooms here. It didn’t go very well.
“True. Think we’ll be able to separate them by the time they’re in school?”
“I hope so.” I check off another box. The list of results shrinks by half. “Speaking of school… I should ask Amy where the better ones are so I look in the right neighborhoods.”
“Didn’t her kids go to private school?”
I look up, face squinted. “How do you know that?”
“Jaina said something about her school at the gym recently.”
“Oh. Yes, they did. In that case, school districts don’t matter and I’ll ask her about where they went.” I skip that section of filters. “Okay, I have one must-have.”
“What’s that?”
“A pool.”
“Oh, absolutely.” I check off another box.
“Okay. I think that’s everything…. Anything else?” Josh shakes his head. I click ‘see results.’ “Seventy-six options. One of these will be the one. Do you want to look at it with me?”
“No. I trust your judgment. The house itself isn’t as important as who will be living there. You, me, and our babies.”
I smile at him over the laptop screen. “Okay. I’ll narrow it down to a few then show you. I want you to love it, too.”
“I’m not getting out of expressing some kind of opinion on this, am I?”
“Nope. This was your idea, you know.”
“Well we can just forget it if you want…” I see the smirk he’s trying to hide.
“Absolutely not!” I know he’s joking, but I already called an agent about listing this one for sale. No backing out now.
“I didn’t think so. I’ll be happy to make a choice when there aren’t seventy-six options.”
I laugh. “Deal.”

We have our lunch while I read ads and look at pictures. After eating, Josh goes upstairs to check on the babies. I hear him talking, I assume on the phone. He’s been dealing with some rough things lately, I had hoped that talking about houses would distract him. I hope I didn’t push too much and make it stressful instead of something to look forward to.

I’m on the third page of results when Josh comes back down the stairs, carrying Jalyn.
“Look who’s awake.”
“Hey princess.” I wave at her. “Just her?”
“Yeah, the boy is snoring. But this one smiled and said Daddy when she saw me. So I picked her up and she asked for Momma.” He grins. I’m still getting used to that from her, even though it’s been a few weeks now.
“Momma?” Jalyn repeats, and reaches an arm out towards me. Oh my heart. I pull myself away from the screen and get up.
“Yes princess, what is it?” Josh carries her towards me and she leans over for me to take her. As I do, she leans on my shoulder. “Hey you.” I kiss the top of her head.
She makes herself comfortable, but doesn’t say anything else. I guess she just wanted me to hold her.

I sit back at the island, and scroll through ads with one hand, still holding Jalyn, half in my arm and half sitting on my lap. In the back of my mind I think about the ritual I went to with Jaina last week, and what the goddess told me. The mother I was worried about sends her blessings. I’m convinced that came from Erica and no one can make me believe otherwise. Not that I’ve told anyone. Not even Josh. He’s not super into any kind of religion as far as I’ve ever been able to tell, and I think he’d think I was crazy if I mentioned it.

Amy wouldn’t, though. I should talk to her about it. I decide to do exactly that, then go back to the listings. One catches my eye.
“Ooh, look at this one, princess. What do you think?”
Jalyn lifts her head and looks. “Pwetty.”
“Yes, pretty, isn’t it?” I bookmark this one. It has one Hudson stamp of approval at least.

{{ Monday, July 1
Gretna, LA
El Patron Mexican Grill }}

I have a dozen house listings saved. I know Josh isn’t going to look at them all, so I’ll have to pare it down some more. But I’m letting it sit a few days before I go over them again. Today, I asked Amy if we could have lunch together. Her mood lately has been… different. Ever since the VWA show where she got concussed, she’s been off. Both Wyatt and I think it’s a side effect of the concussion, but Amy won’t hear it. She says nothing is wrong. The way she’s been speaking to and acting towards Simon Lyman lately tells me otherwise. Maybe when the concussion knocked loose her fear or whatever she said, it also broke whatever filter that had kept her from acknowledging him, and all the built up anger was spilling out. She had reason to be mad at Breakdown, Simon attacked Sharper, and Amy ran out to his defense. I’m hoping today will get her mind off the whole situation.

El Patron is just a few blocks down the street from the Academy so it’s a regular lunch spot for us. We’re sitting at our favorite table in the back corner. After ordering, Amy gets to the point.
“So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“I didn’t say I wanted to—”
“You never ask me to lunch unless something is on your mind.”
Damn. “Fair. Okay. So, remember I told you I went with Jaina to one of her group things?” Amy nods. “Well, for the solstice I went with her again. Apparently they’re more of a coven than just a group like she told me at first. They’re called Sacred Sisters, and—"
“Oh for fucks sake.” Amy sighs and rolls her eyes. My eyes widen.
“You know them?”
“I’ve heard of them, yes. I had no idea that’s who Jaina was involved with, and now you?” Amy shakes her head. I remembered how the first time I went, Maia told me ‘some people’ had complaints about Amy.
“Is something wrong with them?”
“They don’t have the best reputation around the community. They’re said to be manipulative, allow teens in too young, and are anti-male. That’s just as bad as how Abrahamic religions exclude the divine feminine. It’s a duality, ignoring either is disrespectful.”
“I didn’t see any of that from them. Although now that I think about it, one or two of them could have been teenagers…”
“Well, just keep your shields up around them. If anything starts to feel off, just bail.”
“I will. But I wanted to tell you about the ritual.”
“Okay.”
I tell Amy about the ritual and the goddess’ message. She listens intently, and when I finish, she looks down at her hands. I know that look; she’s trying to decide how to say what’s on her mind in a nice way.
“Bree…” Amy looks up. “That sounds like a newspaper horoscope.”
“What?”
“Generic and could apply to anyone. It sounds like she put on a show.”
I frown, and think back. “Really? Because she sounded completely different, moved differently.”
Amy leans forward and stares at me. “You were literally married to an actor. Who did voice changes.”
I sit back. “Oh.” I forgot Amy had watched Dom’s show that I hated. “I hadn’t thought of that. But what she said was so… relevant.”
“Tell me exactly what she said, word for word.”
“Okay. She said, “The mother you have been concerned with for some time is not troubled or grieved by your actions, and she sends you her blessings, with love.” Now how could that—”
“That’s all? Nothing about her daughter or you being a mother figure?”
“No, but—”
“Okay. Imagine you went there with something else on your mind. Like… worried what your mom would have thought about you and Dom splitting up and how you got with Josh.” I frown. Mom would have been absoloutly horrified at my behavior. “Now think about those words again.”
I do, and frown more. “Okay, I see your point. But it wouldn’t work for someone who’s mom isn’t dead.”
“Sure it would. She said ‘the mother,’ not ‘your mother.’ That could be anyone on your mind who happens to be a mother. People hear what they want to hear.” I feel my frown deepen. “I’m not trying to upset you, Bree. I’m just telling you what it sounds like to me.”
“I know. I wouldn’t want anything less. It just seemed real.”
“I could be wrong. I hope I am for your sake, and Jaina’s. But please keep your eyes open around them.”
I nod, still thinking about every detail of that night, trying to see it through different eyes – Amy’s eyes.
“Would you come to—”
“No.”
I blink, shocked. “But—”
“They don’t like me, and the feeling is mutual.” I didn't know she knew their opinion of her. There must be more to this Amy isn't telling me. Yet.
“Okay, I respect that. I’ll be wary”
“Thank you.”

ON CAMERA

A lot of people might not remember, or know this, but Scott Reed and I have some history. Other than the ‘Bree-show’ the year Blake and I booked a Tag Title match that Beard and Juice won that got reversed the following night… I still feel bad about that by the way. But other than that, I hadn’t paid much attention to him at all until he started talking to and began a relationship with a good friend of mine, Imogen Reed. You might remember her. Orange hair, tattoos, foul mouth. You remember. Anyway, I thought she could do better and for a long time, I couldn’t stand Scott or the fact that she was with him.

And then Gen got pregnant.

I admit, I had my doubts. A lot of them. But somewhere along the way, Scott proved every one of them wrong. He did everything he could for her. Left wrestling, got married. They had twins. Gen and I didn’t speak as often as before after that, but when we did, I made sure to tell her how happy for her I was that I had been wrong. Yes, I know they separated, but my opinion of Scott didn’t change. I won’t go too much into detail here, it’s not my story to tell, but everything about what happened after broke my heart.

Scott, you know it did. And the way you handled everything afterwards… made me respect you even more.

So when you came back to the ring after having enough of seeing all the shenanigans and wanting to do something about it? I was damn happy to see it. I have to tell you though… have some doubts about your methodology. Listen, I understand being angry about an injury taking you away from what you love to do. I can even understand wanting to get some justice for that. Kirsten Scott was responsible for that with you, and I get it.

But it’s been a long time now. She didn’t end your career after all, you’re back and you haven’t lost a step. Your match against Deanna Frost showed that to the world. She only retained because of interference, there’s no doubt in my mind that had that not occurred, you would be United States Champion instead. Might I suggest letting this vendetta against Kirsten go?

I know it’s not what you want to hear, but I also know how freeing it is to let go of old grudges. It leaves you with more energy to face what needs to be faced now. And my personal opinion is that’s what Kirsten is doing now, standing up to Selena Frost’s arrogance. If she could put her trust issues aside to align with Kandis against that evil bitch, I think maybe… you can let the past go for the greater good, too. Kirsten isn’t the same woman who injured you. People change, Scott. You did. So did I. if you want to do the right thing, then stop distracting her from what she’s made her purpose, and find something positive to throw your energy to. You’re better than wasting your time and dimming your light chasing old enemies. That is the truth, and I need for you to believe that.

Lux Veritatis forces us to see and recognize even the hard truths that we’d rather ignore, or leave in the shadows. Maybe you’re focusing on the past because you can’t see what your future holds. None of us can, though. We have to trust that the light will lead us true, down the path ahead. Not retreading one already traveled.

Our match isn’t a title match, CHBK held a tournament to find my next challenger. That winner, Yuyo, is already set to face me at Rise to Greatness. But if it were up to me, I wouldn’t have a problem with you getting a chance. I believe you should have been in the tournament, and should I leave Rise still Adrenaline Champion? I will happily face you again with it on the line, no matter what happens this week at Breakdown.

I’m looking forward to this, too. I watched your match with Deanna back in preparation. I know what you’re bringing to the ring. I know you want to get your momentum back after being screwed out of that match. Both of us would love to have a boost right before Rise to Greatness. I know the fight I have ahead of me there. You don’t know yours yet, and maybe the outcome of me versus you will determine that. Rest assured that I’m not looking past you to Yuyo. I underestimate no one, everyone I face gets my absolute best, everything I have to give on that night. Anything less would be disrespectful, and I will not disrespect you or the memory of my friend by doing that.

You and I are both all about doing what’s right, aren’t we? Bring your best, Scott. I will bring my all, and may the better fighter win.