Page 15 of Pure Silence

“I still might be busy, you know.”

“Ha! Well, good luck. You can tell your new fellow to come over. Let him meet a real wrestling legend.”

“Eat a dick, Flo.”

“Later, man!”

Goldie rolled his eyes and hung up.

It was weird to think that there were still people out there who were big enough fans of his to drop thousands of dollars on his old gear. He was surprised that he had become a trending anything after more than a decade had passed, but it made him smile. He actually sort of wished he had some of that social media stuff to check it out, but he decided it was better not to.

Goldie didn’t understand a whole lot about the Internet or how viral things worked, but he did know they didn’t tend to last.

This outpouring of praise and interest wouldn’t be around long.

He knew that was why Florence was making his move now, to catch Goldie and use his popularity for his own benefit. It was a shitty thing to think about his friend, but Goldie knew Florence was a businessman first and foremost. The podcast was important to him, and it would be good to get Goldie on if people were really that interested to find out how he’d been doing since his retirement.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

It would be nice to give fans his side of the story now that he wasn’t worried about losing a contract. He could tell them about the surgery and physical therapy and share everything he’d been through. He could tease about returning to the ring, really get them all going, and—

Purrcy began her morning yowling from the kitchen for food.

“Hang on, hang on,” Goldie called. “Daddy’s comin’. Be right there, your highness.”

Purrcy continued to meow.

Who was Goldie kidding?

The only ring in his future was the damn ringing in his ears from his headache.

Goldie wanted to get changed out of his sweats and get dressed for the day, but he knew Purrcy wouldn’t stop fussing until she was fed. He pulled out the frozen dinner he’d forgotten about from the microwave so he could pop in her food. He decided he could just eat it for a quick breakfast.

The meatloaf or whatever it was supposed to be was hard as a brick and just as tasty.

Maybe he’d skip breakfast today.

Once Purrcy’s food was ready, he set it on the floor for her. “There you go, madam. Enjoy.”

Purrcy stared at her bowl, and then flicked her eyes up at Goldie as if displeased with her offering.

“Remember. You, fuzzy butt, freezing cold.”

Purrcy meowed.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He tossed the old dinner in the trash and was crossing back by the front door to head to his bedroom when there was a knock on the door.

At this early hour, his heart clenched in dread.

His first thought was that his next door neighbor’s ex-boyfriend had come back around. The mother of two, Dana, had some trouble last week when her ex put his hands on her. Goldie had raced to her apartment when he heard her and the kids screaming, and he got a hold of the ex-boyfriend and dragged him downstairs.

All three flights.

Totally worth the backache the next day.

He was pretty sure that piece of human garbage was in jail now, but he couldn’t imagine anyone knocking on his door at a quarter of seven unless it was an emergency.

Goldie peered through the peephole.