Chapter Ten

Ultimatums

Raw was taking place in Nashville, Tennessee, the birthplace of Elvis. Backstage, Mike sat on a trunk with John, Alex, Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase, Jr. Ted was currently being managed by Maryse on WWE TV. Mike barely knew him, but he seemed like a nice guy, a good Christian boy with a strong value system. He was the son of a legend, the Million Dollar Man. Ted hung around backstage a lot with Randy and Cody Rhodes, another guy with a lineage in pro wrestling. They were watching the monitor; Eve was locking up with Natalya for a number one contender spot at the Divas title.

"How's that head of yours, Mizanin?" John asked. Mike shrugged.

"Still there." The championship was on a steel folding chair. His words were vague and absent. Earlier in the night he had suffered through another nasty fight with Maryse. She had gotten the idea in her head that he was buying jewels and gifts for Cristina, and she wanted him not only to stop being friends with her, but to stop hanging around any woman. Mike outright balked at her request. Not only was it unfair to Cristina, but it wasn't fair to Eve, either. He told her if she wanted to play that game, he didn't want her around any other man, either. She had struck him, calling him a brute and a monster and telling him he was unfair. They arrived at the arena separately. She had caught him just right; his face was still a little swollen on the left side.

Cristina sat alone in her little apartment, her giant headphones over her ears. She had received a brand-new album to review. So far, she enjoyed it, swaying her head back and forth to the music. Her Word document was open on her computer so she could write track by track notes, mapping out her full review.

She spent most of her night messaging with Alex and Eve. He was worried about Mike; things seemed to be getting worse between Mike and Maryse. He had arrived to the arena with a swollen face. Cristina had read his messages, her face falling in disappointment. She had no idea why Mike stayed, or why Maryse was so convinced that Mike was up to no good. Mike was such a beautiful soul, a nice man who deserved to be treated with respect. Cristina wondered why Maryse couldn't see that.

With great trepidation, Cristina sent out a mass message to Mike, Alex and Eve, inviting them to dinner at her apartment when they came home. She wasn't at all surprised when all three of them agreed. This week, she planned on making a lasagna, another one of her mother's recipes. Cristina was hoping to turn the dinner into a weekly occurrence; it was a lot of fun. She thought about telling Mike that he could bring Maryse, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to meet the woman anymore.

It was another quiet night in store for Cristina Lucia. She was armed with nothing but good music and a glass of red wine. Her boss was giving her more assignments, since a few more of her coworkers had moved onto Rolling Stone, Metal Hammer and Revolver. It was exciting for Cristina; she was moving up the ladder quickly. She was nervous that she couldn't keep up with the demand, but her managing editor constantly reassured her that she was doing a great job.

Cristina was touched by the care that Alex, Mike and Eve showed her. Girl's night with Eve had been the most fun she had since coming to America. She ended up with a lot of great clothing and Eve gave her some tips about hair styling and makeup, advice she would have loved to have when she was a teenager. Eve talked about her upbringing with her brothers, and Cristina told Eve about her family back in Milan and Palermo. Cristina was thankful that she had a network of friends that had sprung up seemingly overnight.

Maryse sat in front of the vanity mirror in the Divas locker room, applying her makeup. She was surrounded by Brie and Nikki Bella, Melina and Barbie Blank, the Diva known as Kelly Kelly. Maryse was dressed in a tight white bandage dress that pushed everything up and out. Once again, she wasn't on the match card for the night. Behind her, in the shower area, she could hear the water running. It was Eve and Nattie cleaning up after their match.

"Did you give Mike the ultimatum tonight?" Melina asked excitedly. The ongoing drama between Mike and Maryse was beginning to become her favorite saga at work. Her thick black and blue hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. Like Maryse, she wasn't scheduled for a match, so instead she was getting ready to paint the town red with her friends at the end of the night. Maryse nodded while she applied blush to her cheeks. "Well...what did he say? How did it go?" Melina pressed.

"He told me that if I am not allowing him to have female friends, I cannot have male friends anymore."

"Oh, hell no," Melina said, rolling her eyes and tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. "He did not."

"He did." Maryse sighed. "I get the feeling he is cheating on me with that woman. The number that I found in his phone. Ever since he met her, he's changed. I don't like it."

"The journalist?" Brie asked. Maryse nodded. She watched Eve in the mirror emerge from the shower, holding the blue towel around her frame. Maryse turned in her chair, looking the Diva Search winner up and down, her brown eyes narrowing in anger.

"You."

Eve turned to Maryse, her face contorting into a look of bemusement. "Me?"

"Do me a favor and stay away from my boyfriend," Maryse told her, standing. She put her hands on her hips.

"Here's an idea, Maryse. Why don't you, oh, I don't know, make me?" Maryse moved to lunge at her, but Brie and Kelly were quick to hold her back. Nattie came out, tying the sash on her robe. Eve gathered her clothing. As she disappeared back into the shower area to change, Eve left her with a parting shot. "Maybe if you treated your man a little better, Maryse, he wouldn't need other women in his life." With that, she was gone. Maryse screeched.

"Je deteste cette salope!" she yelled. Nattie gathered her clothing and rushed after Eve, hoping to get some background about what had just transpired.

"Simmer down," Melina advised her, glaring at the shower where Eve was changing. "She's just trying to push your buttons, Maryse. You react – she wins. Calm down." The girls let go of Maryse after a few moments and she stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

"I want an answer. Now." Maryse's words were frosty, loud and bouncing off the walls of the hotel room. They were the first words she spoke walking into the hotel room. Mike was sitting on the bed, his hands behind his head, watching The Daily Show. He shut the TV off, turning his attention to Maryse. "You would not believe the way that Eve spoke to me tonight...comment ose-t-elle me faire la lecon sur la facon d'etre une bonne petite amie!"

Mike sighed. "Maryse...I really don't care tonight," he told her honestly.

"Excuse me? Are you not going to say anything? Are you not going to defend me?" she demanded. "How dare you be friends with the people who hate me!"

"That's right – how dare I have friends at all!" Mike fired back. She reached out and slapped him. It rocked his head to the side. He stood quick, face to face with her. He would never lay a hand on a woman, but Maryse had become an expert in pushing his buttons in the worst kind of way.

"Comment osez-vous me parler comme ca!" she yelled. She hit him again. Every slap was a reminder that he didn't want to be a part of this relationship anymore. It had gone too far, gotten too far out of hand.

"Maryse, I'm done with all of this." He stepped back. Mike saw the shock in her eyes.

"Yeah, right," she scoffed, recovering quickly. "You are not going to leave me, you are not going to leave...this. What you are going to do is you are going to get into bed and sleep. In the morning you are going to deal with Eve and get rid of her. Same with the woman in your phone." The kiss she put on his forehead felt cold on his skin. "Ne pas attendre jusqu'a." Mike knew that she was telling him off and then going out with the girls. She told him not to wait up. He watched her leave. She turned back to look at him. There was not a hint of emotion on his face.

"You're not going to leave me, Mike. That's all there is to it."

Cristina rested her head against the back of the bathtub and shut her eyes. The bubble bath was soothing, as hot as she could stand it. In the portable CD player on the counter, she listened to the new Kidneythieves album, nodding her head to "Velveteen". It was a mellow song, but she was enjoying it.

She thought about the next dinner. Eve said she was covering dessert. Alex was going to bring some dinner rolls, and Mike said he had a bottle of wine in his cellar that would be perfect for the occasion. It was going to be another beautiful night. She had finished her other articles, and dinner day was actually going to be the first day she had off in a while. She was going to take the opportunity to relax and enjoy the company of good friends.

After getting out of the bathtub, Cristina changed into her pajamas and went to bed. She wanted to clean up her apartment before everyone came over.

Dolph stared at the blonde sleeping in bed beside him and sighed. She had turned her back on him again, as usual. He wondered how Mike put up with it, sharing a bed with a woman who seemed to be made of ice.

She caught up with him at the club again, the kind of place where liquored up girls danced on the table and men picked them up when they were too drunk to exercise good judgment. Maryse was there with girls who encouraged her bad behavior, dancing on tables like a stripper, running her manicured hands through her hair before doing her hair flip. She spotted him, blowing him kisses. It wasn't his intention to hook up with her again, but she had done things on that table that had left him spellbound. Now, here they were, in the same spot they had been in a few times before.

He wondered if he was the only one she was seeing. Mike had to know that she wasn't being faithful. He wondered if she had a harem of Superstars at her beck and call. Her biggest rule was being discreet and keeping secrets, so he knew she would never tell him if he asked. The biggest reason Dolph hooked up with her was because of her confidentiality rules; he had a girlfriend back home in Hollywood, Florida, a blonde comedian. The last thing he wanted was to become a part of her routine.

Sometimes Dolph felt bad about what he was doing with Maryse. He liked Mike, and she was making him look like an idiot. There were huge problems between the two of them, and Dolph knew that Mike wasn't blind to them. At this point, he wasn't sure if anything could be fixed between the two.

Nattie typically liked to travel with her boyfriend, but ever since he got injured in the ring she started rooming with Eve. After the spat in the Divas locker room, Nattie made it back to the hotel first, already in her pajamas and nursing a pint of chunky monkey ice cream when Eve returned. She disappeared into the bathroom to put up her hair and get changed in her pajamas. Nattie couldn't wait to talk to Eve; she hadn't given the Canadian Diva any kind of information, promising to talk to her when she got back to the hotel and the gossipy girls weren't around.

Eve emerged from the bathroom, sitting down on the bed across from Nattie. "Do you think I was out of line tonight? I mean, did I do something wrong?" Eve asked. Nattie shook her head, shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

"No. Not at all. Maryse is getting out of control. I honestly haven't figured out just what Mike sees in her," Nattie said with a sigh. "It sucks how the nicest guys get tethered to some of the nastiest people. Who knows? Maybe one day Mike will wake up, and he'll find somebody and he'll find that happily ever after that he thought he was going to get with Maryse."

"He has somebody back home that would be perfect for him," Eve confided. "If he doesn't leave Maryse, though, she's going to slip through his fingers."

"Is this the mysterious woman that's been making the rounds in the gossip circles?" Nattie asked. Eve nodded. "Have you met this woman? Do you know anything about her?"

"I've met her. I had a slumber party with her last week. Cristina is terrific. She's a music journalist who came here a few months ago from Italy. She is beautiful. Like, drop dead beautiful. You should see the way she treats Mike. She's in love with him, but she won't say a word. But she dotes on him...like, I know the signs. She is so smitten with him. It's so cute."

"How did they meet, do you know?"

"He approached her on the street. She was lost, and he helped her find her way. She sees him as a guardian angel. It's the cutest thing." A thought hit Eve. "Maybe you should talk to TJ and come home with me this week – we're having dinner at her house tomorrow. I think you'd love her."

"I think I'm going to have to do that. It would be amazing to have this to hold over Maryse's head." Nattie and Eve shared a laugh at the idea of holding something over the woman's head. Eve looked at the clock. Nattie was already on her phone, letting TJ know she would be home a day later, that there was something she had to do.

She returned to the hotel room at four-thirty in the morning, feeling a surge of relief when she saw the empty bed and realized that Mike was already gone. Maryse looked around the room, noting that all of his bags were gone, but he had left her things behind. A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth as she picked up her Louis Vuitton suitcase, opening it wide so she could pack her things.

As far as she was concerned, Mike had been talking stupid the night before. He wasn't going to leave her. She couldn't believe the nerve, telling her it was over. Just who did he think he was? She was Maryse Ouellet, a former Playboy model and WWE Diva. Who was he going to find that was more beautiful and successful than her? The music journalist? Not likely.

Taking off her dress, she had a quick shower. Never for a second did she think that Mike's words held any water, that he was right in any way. When she got out, she slid into her pink and white satin nightgown and slid under the covers, looking to get a few hours of sleep before she had to get up and go to the next town. After the fight the night before, Maryse arranged a ride with Melina to the next town.

She was angry Mike wasn't going to do anything about Eve and the words she said to her. Maryse couldn't believe Eve had the audacity to speak to her the way that she did. "He had better show up with a huge diamond tomorrow," Maryse mumbled to herself angrily, curling the blankets tighter around her body. For his disloyalty, she planned to emasculate him more and more until he was no longer anywhere close to the man he appeared to be on TV.