Was I angry when I found out we lost?

 

You better believe it.

 

I bolted. I couldn't even look at the ring anymore. I couldn't believe we had spent all that time putting ourselves in a dominant position only to lose. I just hopped the guardrail and vanished,

 

I had no idea Ed White and Cancer Jiles came out. I had no idea that an impromptu World Title Match was scheduled. I was too busy twisting and turning my way through the guts of the Mellon Arena. As I got back to the locker room, all I could think about was packing my gear and getting out.

 

Packing the gear wasn't an issue.

 

Leaving, however...

 

"Hey Chris."

 

The Girl Next Door.

 

"Tough break," she said.

 

"Uh huh.". I tried to walk around Kelly Evans, but she moved in front of me.

 

"Why don't you stick around for the victory party?  Eric's insisted you stay for it."

 

"Victory?  Victory?!?"

 

I took a breath to compose myself. It's not her fault that everything came tumbling down on us.

 

"What victory?" I said on a forced calm voice.  "We got beat out there."

 

"Plan B," she simply replied as she walked over to the nearby TV. I looked at the exit, but I saw that Brian Slater was blocking it completely.  Guess that was less of a request and more of an "executive decision".

 

As Kelly reached up and flipped the switch with her good arm, the TV flicked to life right as Cancer Jiles flew through the air and landed his patented 450 Mongo CHAWP!!! and won himself the World Title I've been seeking for the past few months.

 

With Eric counting the fall.

 

"What the..." was all I could say.

 

"We got 'im!" Kelly squealed excitedly, expecting the enthusiasm to carry over.

 

She didn't expect me to kick the nearby bench, splintering it into many tiny pieces.

 

Kelly jumped back, yelping.  Slater took a step towards Kelly. At that moment, I contemplated whether a kamikaze run through Slater was worse than this living hell I was going through right now, but decided against it.

 

I went over to the corner and sat on a folding chair, now completely dejected. Slater called for some DefSec guys to clear out the bench and bring in a new one, which they did with almost surprising efficiency. And Kelly...she stayed far away from me, no doubt fearing for her safety.

 

Fine by me. I wanted nothing more than to be alone.

 

~<*>~

 

When Eric came back, he did a doubletake at the splinters on the floor I hadn't seen before, and he yelled at some other guys to clean them up, which they did. Eric gave me a dirty look...no, probably the mother of all dirty looks...before he turned his attention back to calming Kelly down enough to "get things ready".

 

And soon it was like the circus came into town.

 

Greer, Walker, Jiles, Sawyer, and a bunch of other people whose faces I don't remember came sauntering into the locker room. They were soon followed by strippers and the other lecherous "yes-men" drug dealers that follow people like Cancer around.

 

I more or less stood in the corner, drinking whatever non-alcoholic drink I could get my hands on. Pickings were scarce as usual, but around TD I've learned to deal with that. I think I did some photo ops with Team Danger, and I had to dump a particularly pesky stripper on Greer's lap as gently as possible, making sure to sanitize my hands afterwards. But aside from that no one talked to me, and I was perfectly happy with that.

 

Well, that's not true. I feel bad that I spooked Kelly, which I had never wanted to do. But she decided to stay as far away from me as possible, and I can't say I blame her.

 

But anyway...

 

At the end of all this, when all the wrestlers had left to get their gear, the only three people left in the locker room were Slater, Eric, and I.

 

Eric, for his part, seemed to be back in a good mood. I’d say hookers and blow would do that to a man, but what’s even scarier is that the Baws was 100% sober and in control.

 

"Chris," he said to me, smiling.  "You're a lucky man for two reasons."

 

I raised an eyebrow, incredulous, but didn't reply.

 

"One, Ayesha knows some tongue tricks that would leave a normal man on his knees in worship. And two...because I'm smart enough to have a plan B," he said, a bit of the smile coming off of his face.  "Because if you had fucked this up for me, I would have cut your big dumb ass into pieces and had them mailed back to your wife to put back together."

 

I tensed as Eric walked up to me.  He put his hands gently on my shoulders, and I readied for the kick to the junk that never came.

 

"I guess Ty and Adam never told you that the first rule of Team Danger is that the family comes first.  So I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt for tonight.  Go home.  Kiss your wife and kids.  Write this down, because this display of mercy and understanding is a once in a lifetime occurrence.  When we hit the road again, we'll handle our business.  And we'll do it in-house, like all Team Danger business should be handled."

 

And that was it.

 

He took his hands off my shoulders and walked away.  But right before he could walk out of the room...

 

"Why Cancer?"

 

The question made Eric pause.  He stopped and stood for a moment, glancing back over his shoulder. For a second I think I could see a smile on his face as he said it:

 

"Because he deserved it more."

 

You know how they say that the ones who know you are the ones that know where to hurt you the worst?  Yeah, that was the spot.

 

I was stunned, and said nothing in response as he and Slater departed.

 

I don't know what happened after that.

 

One second I was standing in the corner, and the next, I was standing amongst the splinters of one of those old high-back wooden chairs (brought in especially for Cancer's lap dances by the champ's request) snapped into two pieces.

 

That's when I heard a new voice, one that hadn't been at the party before, and one that I knew would test my patience this evening.

 

“And after all the blood and sweat you’ve shed, the man who you shed them for tells you that you’re entitled to one night of mercy and understanding,” said Kai Scott, leaning against the doorway.  

 

“I’m not saying I wouldn’t be as angry as you, I’m just saying the chair isn’t the one who deserves it.”