Matt's POV

I muttered to myself as I searched for both my fiancé and my little brother. Evan had apparently told Miz and Morrison that they could sit with Randy and Adam, which was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. The four of them together would cause all kinds of trouble, which was what I wanted to avoid on my wedding day. And as for Jeff, I wanted to find out what was wrong with him. I had always assumed that he would be right by my side for my wedding, but he had been acting like he didn't even want to show up that day. Evan has been convinced that Jeff hates him for awhile now, and it was only when I stopped to think about it that I realized Jeff really hadn't been acting right towards my future husband for awhile now. I needed to talk to him about that and get the air cleared before things got too out of control.

I finally did find Evan, but I found them in the clutches of two people who he did not need to be near: Hunter and Shawn. "What do you two think you're doing with my Evan?" I asked as I put my hands on my hips.

They just grinned at me. "Nothing," Hunter said way too innocently.

Evan quickly got away from them and ran over to me. "They want to take me shopping after the show tonight."

I frowned. "What kind of stores are open at night?"

"The best ones," Shawn informed me. "We want to help Evan pick out some special things for your honeymoon."

Oh God, not this crap again. The two of them were convinced that they needed to help Evan pick out some special stuff for the night he was finally going to be "deflowered". We had both tried to explain to them that Evan was not actually a virgin and we have had sex numerous times. But the two founding fathers of DX had listening problems.

Evan sighed. "If I go with you tonight, will you leave me alone about it?"

Hunter nodded. "Of course we will. We'll do whatever you want. Just trust us for one night."

"Fine, I'll do it."

"Yay!" Shawn cheered. He grabbed Hunter by the arm and started dragging him away. "Come on, we need to make a list of where we're taking him."

I shook my head as they disappeared. "Do you have any idea of what you've just agreed to?"

Evan sighed. "What else was I supposed to do? They've been at this for months now. I can't ignore them anymore." He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head against my body. "So where have you been?"

"Looking for you and Jeff?"

"Who'd you find first?"

"You."

"So you still haven't talked to him?"

"I've tried baby. I think he's avoiding me." And that was the honest to God's truth. Jeff had made himself as scarce as possible the past few days, and even if I was around him without Evan, he still tried to escape me. That probably meant he was upset with me too for some reason. Just thinking that made me upset too. What the hell had I done to him? I hadn't been quite as overprotective lately, I hadn't nagged at him for stuff he should have done weeks ago--but still he avoided me. "Maybe I should go talk to Mark," I said. "He'll know what to do."

Evan winced. "I don't know if I would go near him right now if I were you."

"Why?"

"Well some guy showed up looking for him and well…Mark looked like he was ready to kill him."

XXXXXXXX

Jeff's POV

I went into Mark's locker room without knocking. I was one of the few people who had permission to do that. In fact, Glenn was the only other person who did it (although I don't think he actually had permission--he just did it). Now usually I find Mark sitting in his chair, thinking about something or reading a magazine or something along those lines. But today, I found him punching a man right in the draw and screaming obscenities I never even knew existed. "Holy shit," I muttered.

Mark turned around to face me. "Jeff, now is not a good--"

The man that he had punched in the first place kicked him in the gut and then head butted him right in the face. This was shocking to me because I had never seen anyone take down Mark quite like that before. I tried to go check on Mark, but the stranger's eyes caught mine and I froze in my tracks. There was something wrong with his eyes. They were too dark and psychotic. I felt like he was sizing me up, and my fate rested on whether he perceived me as a threat or not.

Finally he smiled and took my hand. "James Lawson, at your service."

"Don't fucking touch him James," Mark growled. He got back up to his feet and wiped away some of the blood that was on his face.

"I'm just shaking his hand Marky," James said in a voice that was far from innocent. "You're always telling me I should be more polite."

I pulled my hand away from his and took a couple of steps back. This guy really gave me the creeps. "Mark, if this is a bad time--"

"Oh this is the perfect time," James insisted. He dragged me over to Mark and basically shoved the two of us together. "You two talk and I'll steal some money from Mark's bag."

Mark glared at him. "And I'm going to let you do that because…?"

"Because you still owe me two hundred dollars from two years ago."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Nosy bastard. You just want stick yourself in our conversation."

I stood up on my tip toes so I could whisper into Mark's ear. "Who the hell is this guy?"

He shook his head. "Friend…enemy…lover…ex-lover…it's complicated."

"Very complicated," James agreed.

"Okay," I said slowly. That didn't really answer my question, but I sensed I really didn't want to know much more than that. "Um, can we go somewhere and talk alone Mark?"

"Can we wait till Glenn gets back from the vending machine?" Mark asked. He was glaring daggers at James. "I can't trust this bastard to behave himself without supervision."

James's jaw dropped in shock. "Now that's offensive to me. What's the worst that I could possibly do on my own?"

"Well seeing as how I found you terrorizing the production crew earlier--"

"That was not terrorizing! I was just playing!"

"And then you wanted to pick up Evan Bourne and see how far you could toss him--"

"I was going to ask him nicely until you interrupted me! You let him get away."

In the midst of this very strange argument, I had almost forgotten why I had come to Mark in the first place. But at the mention of Evan's name, I remembered that I needed the Deadman's help. "I need your help getting out of Matt's wedding," I blurted out to Mark, effectively interrupting his reply. "I can't be a part of it."

"Why not?" Mark asked. "Matt and Evan really want you to be."

"Which one are you in love with?" James asked.

That took me by surprise. First of all, that was none of his business because I didn't even know him. And second of all, this guy seemed to be way too insightful for his own good. "What?"

"Which one are you in love with?" he repeated. "You're either in love with Evan or Matt."

"How would you even know that?"

"Intuition."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Matt's his brother and he doesn't even like Evan."

"Wait, you've noticed that?"

"Everyone's fucking noticed that. You've been hurting the poor kid's feelings and we all want to know why."

"Because he's in love with Matt," James stated.

Mark glared at him. "Did you not just hear what I told you? Matt is his brother."

"It is Matt," I confessed in a very small and very squeaky voice. I didn't even sound like myself. I turned a deep shade of red and ducked my head down. God, why did I even come here? This was not going the way I had planned for it to go.

"Yes!" James said triumphantly. "I knew it!"

Mark pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Jesus Jeff, no wonder you've been walking around here looking like your puppy has been diagnosed with cancer. Have you talked to Matt yet?"

I gave him a horrified look. "I can't talk to him about this! He's going to freak out on me!"

"Well he's going to demand to know why you want out of the wedding!"

"You want out of the wedding?"

My jaw dropped as Matt let himself into the room. He was looking at me with a hurt look on his face. "Oh God no," I groaned.

"Wow, talk about awkward," James said. He had a big grin on his face. "You wrestlers have a very interesting sense of timing."

Mark punched him on the shoulder. "You know, just because I'm putting up with you while you visit doesn't mean that you need to start bugging everyone else."

Matt ignored their little conversation. His beautiful brown eyes were staring holes through me. "What is going on with you Jeff?" he asked. He was trying to keep his emotions under control but he wasn't doing a good job of it. "Why do you want out of the wedding?"

"I just don't want to be there, okay?" I said quietly. I tried to vacate the room as fast as my shaking legs could carry me, but Matt wasn't letting me go that easily.

"No, you are not walking away from me! I want to know what's going on with you Jeff. Did Evan make you mad in some way? Did he do something to make you hate him?"

Yes! I wanted to scream. He's with you! He has the one thing I can't have! "No," I lied, although I basically choked the word out. It was so hard for me to say because of the lump that was rising in my throat.

"Is it me then?" Matt asked. "Did I do something to piss you off?"

"Just let it go Matt," I pleaded desperately. "You're better off not knowing." I tried to leave again but he grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. "Damn it Matt! Let me go!"

"No," he snapped. "I'm not letting you leave until I get a good answer out of you."

I knew he wasn't kidding about that, which scared me. I couldn't let him find out the truth. If he found out how I felt, I knew he would hate me. I just knew he would. "Get off of me!" I yelled. I tried to get free from him but he wasn't letting go. Desperate to get the hell out of there and avoid this whole situation, I kicked him right in the knee and slipped out of his grip while he was distracted by his pain. I ran out of the room as fast I possibly could. I needed to get as far away from Matt as I possibly could before I did something I knew I would regret later on.

XXXXXX

Mark's POV

"Jeff get back here!" Matt shouted as he hobbled out of the room. "You get back here this instant and talk to me!"

I sighed and shook my head. Why was this shit always happening in my locker room? Couldn't people take their drama somewhere else? "Matt will freak the fuck out if he finds out Jeff's secret." I looked at James, and I could tell that the crazy bastard scheming and plotting something. "Oh no, don't fucking tell me you're going to stick your nose into this. This isn't our business."

"Oh come on Marky," James said as he took a toothpick out of his pocket and put it in his mouth. "I just want to help."

"Your version of helping is never that helpful," I growled. I sat down in my chair and watched him carefully. As much as I wanted to help Jeff, I had a feeling I was going to spend more time trying to keep James from helping. Bad things would only come from him helping, even if his intentions were good (they weren't most of the time though). "We're staying out of this one, okay?"

I didn't get an answer, which told me that we were both going to end up getting involved in this mess. I sighed and buried my face in my hands. Fucking hell, I was too fucking old to get involved in this bullshit.

XXXXXXX

Damn that took longer to write than I thought it was going to. Before I get asked, James is an OC of mine that I decided to add in to stir the pot a little between Matt and Jeff (and to drive Mark up the wall, which is always fun) His muse was bugging me the entire time I was writing this. If you've read Bound by Blood/And the Blood Rains Down/Blood in the USA or Blood and Memories, then you've seen him before (and no, he's not related to Jeff this time but he's still completely insane).