~ What Lies Beneath ~
Author's Note - An extra long update because I love you so much ;) Thank you for the lovely reviews, bogged down with exams so sorry for the unusual lack of personal replies. They always make me smile. Hope this chapter makes you smile too :) Merry Christmas and a very happy new year.
Warnings - Strong language throughout and possible scenes of a sexual nature ;)
Disclaimer - I own no-one but Abbie in this story. This is merely a work of fiction; it all came from my brain. At no point do I suggest this story reflects reality, it's entirely made-up. Any other songs, cars or brands mentioned also belong to their respective owners.
~ What Lies Beneath ~
~ Chapter Eleven: ~
Beth Phoenix was centre of the ring, talking about how she planned to keep her title for a very long time, dominating the diva division. Mid-way through her speech, music struck and the arena was in black-out. Hero by Skillet rocked the arena, the volume shaking the stage. The crowd watched the entrance ramp eagerly, waiting for the mystery interruption to show itself.
Gasps spread through the arena as a girl appeared in the middle of the ring, her arm around Beth's throat. She had long black hair that hung around her face. She wore black tights, boots and a ripped black t-shirt. As the music cut, she snatched the mic from Beth and held it to her lips.
"Don't get used to wearing that title, I'll be taking that shortly" she breathed. Beth struggled against her grip, shaking her off and aiming a punch for her jaw. Abbie ducked it and flew at her, locking their arms together. Both tried to overpower the other, using all of their strength. In reality, Beth was stronger but she held back a little, making it convincing. Four WWE refs ran to the ring, pulling them apart. Abbie threw them off with a few well-placed kicks and threw herself on Beth once more.
"Hey, hey!" John Laurinitis announced, making his way out onto the top of the stage. "Break it up! If you ladies want to fight, then save it for your matches!" he growled in his gravelly voice.
"I don't know what gives you such a sense of entitlement Miss Rose, you haven't even wrestled one match as of yet. If you want a title shot you can earn it in the eight diva tournament that will commence tonight. Your first match is against Maryse, you better go get ready now, it's up soon" he addressed Abbie.
"As for you Miss Phoenix, you have a mixed tag match with Kofi Kingston to get ready for. I don't expect to have to intervene in any more attacks, I expect you to behave professionally!" he lectured. Abbie shook off the refs who were gripping her arms and shot Beth a glare. She retreated up the ramp to a chorus of boos.
As she stepped through the curtain she was stopped.
"Stick to the script kid" Laurinitis commented as he passed. Abbie stood still, trying to process what he meant. She only had one line, what she said was nearly identical to what she was told by the creative team. Sure she'd maybe changed a word in the heat of the moment, but were they crazy? Were they that strict? Surely a newbie should be praised for not fucking up such a big spot? Fuck it, she thought, heading into catering to grab some water.
"Evening" a man to her left greeted as she reached for some water.
She turned to face him, taking in his appearance. He was fairly tall, toned and tanned. He had dark hair and a handsome face. She eyed him warily, having never met him before. When she failed to respond, he tried again.
"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself, Cody…I haven't seen you around backstage before" he said, holding out a hand for her to shake. She stared at his hand a while before taking it and shaking it.
"Abbie" she told him, returning her focus to the table where she found a banana.
"How long have you been working here?" he asked, trying to maintain conversation.
"Only a few weeks" she told him, making to leave.
"See you around then" he called after her.
"Will do" she sighed, heading back to the locker room.
Phil winced as the physio man straightened out his right elbow.
"It's stiff today, what've you been doing to it?" the man laughed.
"Beats me…all I know is it hurts like shit" he said through gritted teeth, grimacing again as it was twisted.
"You really should go get it x-rayed again" he told him.
"I've already had to go through surgery on it, the pain of that nearly drove me to chop it off and say to hell with it. It's never gonna be the same again, lets face it" he said, clenching and unclenching his hand, trying to work the pain out of it.
"Well it wouldn't have hurt so bad if you had pain meds like the rest of us" the physio teased.
"Drug free isn't a joke, and I certainly won't be putting any of that morphine shit in my body. If you guys wanna be pussies and take pills so it goes away then fine but I'll just grin and bear it thank you very much" he said, groaning as the bandage was pulled tight around the bone.
"Suit yourself Phil" the man smiled. "Have a great match and watch that elbow!" he shouted after him as Phil hopped off the table and headed off.
After stopping to chat with a few guys along the hallway, he ran into Eve and Mike who were chatting animatedly outside the locker room. He smiled and made to squeeze around them before Eve grabbed his arm.
"Hey Phil! We're all going out for drinks tonight, you should come along, it'd be great to see you" she smiled.
"Err…" he said, taken aback by the invitation.
"I already said you'd go, so don't sweat it man" Mike winked, clapping him on the back and retreating into the locker room, leaving them alone.
"Guess I'm coming along then" he laughed.
"Yay, I'm really glad" she smiled. "I never get to see you outside of work" she told him sweetly. Now Phil had never really paid much attention to Eve, but she was cute. Her bouncy brown hair, her pretty eyes and her bubbly personality were attractive. Hell, she reminded him of Maria and God knows, he was really into Maria at one time. But he didn't look at Eve in any way other than friendly, and he assumed she felt the same. He wasn't egotistical; he wasn't a chick-magnet like 'CM' suggested. But now Mike had said it…maybe Eve did have a thing for him. Admittedly, his male ego swelled a little at that thought, but still, he just didn't see her like that.
"See you later then" he told her.
"Yeah, you will" she smiled softly, looking back at him over her shoulder.
Mike wolf-whistled as he returned to the room and slumped down on the bench. Phil ignored it, grabbing his cereal bar and munching on it.
"Someone's pulled" Mike winked, looking smug.
"And how exactly do you know she wasn't inviting me out because she's got a thing for you and wants you to go along?" Phil asked, throwing the wrapper in the bag and pulling his hoody over his head to keep him warm until his match.
"Because Eve just stopped me in the hallway to ask if you ever talked about her. She totally wants to get in your pants" he laughed. "So I told her you said how beautiful she looked today. You're welcome…" he smirked.
"You told her what?" Phil asked in surprise.
"I just got you laid. So you owe me one" Mike chuckled.
"Mike what the fuck?" Phil sighed.
"Oh come on Phil, she's totally hot…and it's been ages since you got any" Mike continued.
"Mike, you know I don't do that shit. And you can't mess with people like that. She's a nice girl and now she thinks I like her" Phil let out a breath.
"And you don't then?" Mike enquired.
"Not in that way…" he said, running a weary hand through his hair.
"Well I would" Mike shrugged.
"You're such a dick, you know that?" Phil shook his head.
"Nice spot out there" Zack grinned as Abbie passed him on the way to Phil's locker room.
"Thanks" she smiled, deciding that Zack seemed like a nice guy. She continued along the hallway, stopping just short of the locker room as her phone rang.
"Hello?" she answered, seeing it was a WWE number.
"Abbie honey" a voice greeted on the other end. It was McMahon's secretary; she was generally the bearer of bad news…
"How are you?" she asked. Abbie could hear the fake smile she was pulling even down the line.
"I'm sorry, I have a match very soon, what was it that you wanted to discuss?" Abbie quipped, having no problem getting straight to the point. No part of her contract said she had to maintain niceties with these people.
"Oh I'm sorry, I'll hurry then. We need you on a shoot ASAP for your pictures for the website and promotional material. I'll email through a date and time, it might even be after the show if we can squeeze it in" she told her.
"Sounds like fun, I'll be waiting eagerly" she sighed, hanging up before she could be held up any longer. She rolled her eyes and finally made it back to the locker room, peeling the banana and taking a bite as she leaned against the lockers.
"Who was on the phone?" Mike asked, always after the gossip.
"McMahon's sec" she shrugged.
"Oooh, what did you do?" he mocked.
"Nothing, just gotta do some shoot for promo pictures" she stretched, putting her feet up on her bag.
"You better take your sexy underwear then, that's the only stuff they'll want you in for 'promo pictures'" he snorted.
"Excuse me?" she asked, sitting up.
"Mike shut the fuck up. Ignore him" Phil intervened, brushing it off.
"If they think I'm gonna do a playboy shoot for the website so guys can go on there and pleasure themselves to pictures of the girls then they've got another thing coming" she shook her head disgusted.
"As long as it's not in your contract you'll be fine" Phil winked reassuringly as he headed out to meet up with his sparring partner for his match. "Have a great match guys" he called as he left.
Just under an hour later and Abbie stood over a prone Maryse having knocked her to the mat in less than a minute with a spinning kick to the head. She got down to Maryse's level, locking in her submission - the bridging cobra clutch. Maryse screamed in pain and tapped out immediately. Abbie's music struck as she strolled out of the ring nonchalantly. The crowd were stunned at how quickly she destroyed Maryse.
As she passed through the curtain she ran into Cody again.
"Nice match" he said, raising his eyebrows.
"Thanks" she told him, not stopping to chat. She heard her name being called and turned around to find the source of the noise. A man with a clipboard waved her over.
"Hey, you have a shoot in an hour according to the message I just got. But you need to be in hair and make-up in half an hour if that's okay" he smiled, rushing off with his schedule before he'd even finished his sentence. Backstage was bustling with activity, superstars heading to and from the ring, to wardrobe and catering. Abbie headed back to the locker room to shower before her big 'shoot'. She wasn't looking forward to it.
She picked up a more detailed schedule for next week on her way back to shower, seeing that her next opponent was Kelly. As she opened the door to the locker room, she found Kelly inside chatting with Phil.
"Hey! We're sparring next week so I thought I'd come say hi" she smiled. "I'm Kelly, sure we'll get on like a house on fire if you're a friend of Phil's" she beamed.
"Abbie" she smiled, wary but assuming she wasn't part of Melina's 'following'.
Phil watched as Abbie hesitantly began to interact with Kelly. Truthfully, it had been he who asked Kelly to come meet Abbie. He hoped it would help Abbie feel less alienated. Kelly got on with everyone, so she was a good bet.
"How's your back by the way?" Kelly asked him, tilting her head to the side slightly. Thankfully, she was out of her ring gear and in a pair of skinny jeans and a blouse now. It was hard to talk to her when she was wearing next to nothing.
"Oh that's fine now thanks" he smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulder playfully. "Picture for twitter methinks" he winked, getting his phone out. "Get in Abs" he told her, holding his arm out.
"I'll take it" she said, taking his phone as Mike shuffled into the picture.
Phil shrugged, unsure of why she declined but posing for the camera anyway. As Abbie pressed the button, Kelly leaned in and licked Phil's face, Mike doing the same from the other side. Phil grimaced as the flash went off. Abbie laughed and posted the picture to twitter before Phil could delete it.
"Go shower, you stink" Kelly giggled and gave him a hug before heading back to the hotel.
"Nice twitter picture" Mike winked. "Think you should make it your profile pic" he laughed.
"I don't think I'll be doing that somehow" he chuckled. "Already got over 100 retweets. Fuck" he laughed.
"You never know, you might make it onto TMZ" Mike joked.
"Mind if I shower first?" Abbie asked, grabbing a towel from her bag.
"No course" he said, putting his towel around his neck and sitting down on the bench.
"By the way, I have to go do that shoot now so you guys don't have to wait up" she added.
"Its fine, I don't mind hanging here for a bit" Phil told her. "I wanna catch up with D Bryan" he smiled.
"I need to get back so I'm gonna catch a ride with Kofi if that's okay" Mike told them, heading out for his main event match.
"Catch you later" Phil shouted to him as he left.
Abbie sat in hair and make up while McMahon's secretary who she now knew was known as Debbie fussed over the shoot.
"I was thinking sexy but dark…" she said enthusiastically, instructing the make-up girls to add more eyeliner.
"I don't do sexy. Dark works though" Abbie quipped, swatting away a man with flat irons scorching her hair.
"Well we don't want you feeling uncomfortable darling. How about we get you in heels but the shots can be you performing some of your wrestling manoeuvres?" she suggested.
"I'd rather do it barefoot, but I like that idea" Abbie told her.
"Okay, well if that's what you want" she smiled that fake smile of hers.
Abbie internally growled as she observed her finished appearance in the mirror. They insisted she wore a black dress, and though it was short she had managed to avoid anything too clingy. Other than that she was barefoot with dark eye make-up and poker straight hair. Not very her but she had to accept it. They took a few headshots first for her official page on the website. Next she had to fight off three men in morph suits for action shots. It was harder than she anticipated to kick someone in the head in a dress without indecent exposure. However she managed it eventually and was fairly pleased with the result. The girl in the pictures didn't look like her, she had too much make up on and dresses weren't really her style, but she was kicking ass and that was what was most important.
She leaned closer to the mirror, wiping forcefully at the black around her eyes. She gave up after a while, most of it refusing to budge. She changed back into her jeans and shirt and headed off to find Phil so she could get some rest at the hotel.
"You look nice" he smiled when she finally found him reading comics out back. "How was it?" he asked.
"Painful" she rolled her eyes.
"I'll take it you resisted taking your clothes off then" he laughed.
"It was hard, but I managed to stay fully clothed" she said sarcastically. "Oh wait, there was some foot on show" she added.
"Oh, so anyone with a foot fetish better get on then" he chuckled.
They climbed into the rental and set off. "I forgot to mention, you don't mind if we stop by the suit-makers? I gotta get my suit fitted for Steve's thing" he asked.
"No that's fine" she smiled.
"Any idea what you're wearing yet? You gotta dress up you know" he winked.
"I find that offensive. I know how to dress up thank you very much. You'll have to wait and see, cheeky asshole" she quipped.
"Hey, that wasn't meant offensively, you just don't seem like a ball gown kinda gal" he chuckled.
"I'm not. But I can't envisage you in a suit either" she shrugged.
"I only get it out for the hall of fame ceremony or funerals in general" he snorted.
Phil rotated his shoulders uncomfortably as the tailor pinned the sleeves of his suit jacket. Abbie sat in the corner staring out of the window absent-mindedly.
The man pulled the jacket in at the waist.
"No no no, I don't like them fitted" Phil fussed, pulling it out again. Abbie watched as Phil adjusted the jacket to his liking.
"I just think it hangs too loosely on you sir" the man reasoned.
"I don't like it tight" Phil pulled it down and studied his reflection. He always thought he looked ridiculous in a suit and this was no exception.
"Come here" Abbie stood, gesturing for him to go to her. He looked at her warily before approaching her. She took the pins and shortened the jacket, nipping it in around the waist and chest.
"Hey, I said I don't…" Phil started to protest.
"Shut up and let me finish. Then you can complain if you still don't like it" she scolded him. She really didn't take shit from anyone. Once she finished sticking pins everywhere, even one dangerously high on his in-seam, she stood back and admired her work. "That's so much better. You look less like a fat homeless man now" she commented.
"Oi! That was rude" he said, jaw dropping.
"Just have a look" she shrugged, pulling him to the mirror. He studied her handy work curiously. He was still uncomfortable, and he still didn't like how fitted the suit was, but he couldn't deny he was looking sharp. The jacket went in at his waist, emphasising his broad shoulders and muscular frame. The pants were less baggy and the right length and it didn't look like he'd bought a suit two sizes too big anymore. It was jet black with a black shirt and silver tie.
"That looks so much better. I can't believe you would turn up to a movie premier looking like you found your suit in a dumpster" she shook her head.
"I've had enough of these insults" Phil said grumpily.
"But you admit I'm right?" she smiled, looking over his shoulder into the mirror.
Phil just snorted, feigning a mood. Abbie rested her head on his shoulder and pulled a goofy face. Phil tried to keep a straight face but failed, laughing as he shoved her playfully.
"God, you're such a bitch" he chuckled.
"Is this how you want your suit altered sir?" the tailor asked.
"I guess so" he smiled.
"Now we've just got to sort out that god awful facial hair of yours" Abbie joked, squealing and dodging Phil's swipe at her remark.
They returned to the car having finished that task. "Hey, I've been roped into going for drinks at some club tonight, fancy coming along so I'm not the only one sat in the corner bored?" he asked.
"Hmm, I guess I could join" she smiled as they drove off into night time Indianapolis.
Please review! When I update will depend on your reviews :) Happy holidays, huge thanks for the heart-warming reviews :) Happy holidays from the U.K.!