CHAPTER 12
Mark turned in time to see Jeff mounting the far turnbuckle, dropping his microphone just as the younger man took to the air. Growling softly, he caught Jeff by his throat; more than a little tempted to just squeeze the life right out of him. Instead, he chokeslammed him, not caring if Jeff landed properly or if it was executed exactly perfect.
No wonder the two had wanted to know if he had had any specific ideas for this!
When he turned around for a second time, Briar was in the ring. He sincerely hoped she remembered how to take a fall because he was going to knock her head off.
Briar ducked the clothesline however, her 'equalizer' firmly on her knuckles. When Mark spun around, she punched him as hard as she could in his face.
Mark was startled by how much it actually hurt, a second blow coming; making him jump. She punched him a third time before shoving him back into the ropes. Coming out of his daze, Mark reversed and threw her into the ropes across the ring, ready to not miss the clothesline this time.
She ducked under his arm again much to his chagrin. Remembering the paces he had put her through, Briar launched herself off the ropes at him; catching him with a flying clothesline, struggling to catch her breath. She made a mental note to start working out because she was really out of shape.
Adrenaline was her friend now and that's what she was running off of. Over the weekend, she and Jeff had tried to figure out all possible scenarios, including her botch by looking at him from the stage. Which she had known was coming, she hadn't been able to help herself, Jeff had hopefully been expecting that chokeslam.
Jeff had also showed her how to do the Twist of Fate, and even been kind enough to let her practice it on him, over a mattress of course. The perk for him was he got a neck massage when she was finished. How she would do this on Mark was beyond her but she went for it.
And wound up being forced back into a corner, her back connecting with the steel post and driving the air from her. Briar looked up in time to see Mark coming at her with his third attempt at a clothesline and forced herself to move forward, ducking it once more. She immediately spun around and started punching him again. She would have to thank Adam later for the knucks.
If she lived.
Another reversed Irish whip and she found herself being hoisted up onto Mark's shoulder belly first, grey eyes widening.
So she thought she could hang with the big boys now did she? If Briar wanted to get in the ring and act like a tough bitch, she was going to learn how to take it as well.
Mark's temper was up. This was something he had never expected, not from Jeff and certainly not from his step-daughter. The level of defiance was enough to set his pulse pounding, blood to boiling in a furious rage. Without an ounce of remorse, he dropped her head first into the turnbuckle, not watching her bounce as he turned around.
Reeling, Briar stumbled around; turning only to find a boot coming at her. This time, she dropped just as it touched her, refusing to let that hit her full force. It was enough her back was aching in places she didn't realize it could and her head was now pounding, she wasn't adding a concussion to the list, hell no.
She managed to get on all fours, feeling dizzy and reached out; grabbing Mark's pants and pulled herself halfway up.
At which point, Mark grabbed two fistfuls of her hair and jerked her head between his legs. After slapping her ass –which got a shriek out of her-, he lifted her up, smirking into her terrified face; feeling her gripping his head tightly.
Briar watched as his gaze narrowed in right on her crotch which was level with his mouth, feeling like she was going to faint for an entirely different reason besides the migraine threatening to explode behind her right temple. All she could was stare down at him, watching as he lewdly licked his lips before nipping at her.
Jeff from his view point had caught the sudden, odd movement of 'Taker's head; and the mere thought of Mark taking advantage of her like this in front of all these people; on live television where she couldn't do a damn thing about it enflamed him. Before 'Taker could deliver the Last Ride, Jeff dived forward; knocking out 'Taker's bad knee from behind.
Briar landed sitting on Mark's chest, her crotch still right in his face but began punching his head, anger taking over the momentary fear she had felt. She rolled off of him and got up, immediately dropping an elbow on his chest. While she repeatedly did this, Jeff was retrieving the ladder she had brought out; sliding it under the bottom rope and into the ring.
Leaving Mark to wonder what it was she was still hitting him with, Briar joined her husband, sharing a look with him as they each took an end of the ladder. They watched as Mark stumbled to his feet, waiting patiently.
Mark tried shaking the cobwebs out of his head, turned and blinked. Coming at him were the couple, with a ladder. He hit the canvas, lights exploding before him. Cursing mentally, he got back up; turned and got it again.
"Keep him down." Jeff instructed his wife, carrying the ladder to the ring corner while Briar returned to punching Mark. He watched her for a moment, thinking this was probably the best therapy for her even though it would have serious repercussions and scaled the ladder.
Briar looked up at him and smiled, moving out of the way. When Jeff vaulted the ladder and landed right on Mark, she cheered loudly. Then Jeff attracted her attention, he looked like he was in pain. Sliding out of the ring, she waited on him and then wrapped an arm around his waist.
"My ass…. My ass…" Jeff repeated, trying his best not to rub his bruised backside. "Oh my god, my ass…"
Fighting back giggles, she turned to walk backwards, watching Mark. Beside her, Jeff turned too, limping visibly and took her hand, raising it into the air before kissing her.
In the ring, Mark was rousing himself, cursing Jeff and Briar. Whoever had given her the knucks was going to die. She was going to die. Jeff was going to die. He was going to murder them both with his bare hands.
He stared towards the stage where they were retreating. "Someone's going to die." He said gravely.
***
"That was GREAT!" Vince said the minute the couple was backstage, ignoring Jeff's obvious pain as he wrapped an arm around the each of them. "You two were perfect out there! You work great together, really well done. Jeff, this is going to be the best thing to ever happen for your career, wait and see, wait and see!"
Jeff and Briar exchanged amused looks, wondering if Vince was truly out of his mind. Then they both got real serious, real quick when Mark stormed through the curtains. Even though he was hurt, Jeff valiantly stood in front of his wife, ready to defend her if need be.
Mark was fuming. He was pissed beyond belief, more angry right now then he could ever recall being. But, with remarkable restraint, he kept it leashed, barely. Now wasn't the time to murder either of these kids. He'd get his chance. He would be patient and strike at the perfect time.
"Nice work out there." He said, his voice coming out natural, almost even somewhat warm. "Good idea to wing it, it probably wouldn't have panned out so well if we had choreographed that."
Briar and Jeff's jaws both dropped, staring at him like he was the out of his mind while Vince looked pleased.
"That wasn't scripted at all?" He asked, nodding thoughtfully when Mark shook his head no. "Hmm… So not one piece of that was preplanned?"
Again another no, this was a verbal response.
Vince rubbed his chin, looking between the three, the wheels in his mind obviously turning which made the Hardy's cringe while Mark looked mildly bored. At this stage in his career, Vince's insane ideas were pretty much everyday normalcy.
How sad was that?
Vince had been aware that they hadn't done too much thinking ahead on this, only earlier in the night Briar and Jeff had informed him that Mark said it was okay to go ahead and freestyle it. He had assumed Mark had however given them a basic rundown of how the night's events would go.
He was never so happy to be so wrong.
"Let's keep it that way." He announced, beaming at the trio. "Let's not mess with a successful formula. From now on, all you'll know is the match and if a promo or something is needed, other than that: everything is to be done off the cuff."
"Everything?" Jeff stared at Vince with the usual expression almost the entire roster regarded Vince with: like the man was insane. Granted, Vince was also a genius, obviously. But he was insane as well.
"Everything." Vince nodded, looking pleased with himself and clasped his hands together, bouncing on the heels of his feet. "It'll be great, just you wait and see."
Briar and Jeff just couldn't summon the same enthusiasm Vince was showing, both managing weak smiles for him.
***
"Jeff?" Briar yawned, raising her head off her pillow sleepily. She groaned softly when she didn't get an answer, reaching over to feel his side of the bed, somehow not surprised to find the bed was cold. "Great." She muttered, rolling onto her back and folded her arms under her head, staring up through the darkness at the ceiling. "Just great."
While they had been doing great at work, getting along; basically acting like their home life wasn't in shambles, once they were behind closed doors, it was a different story. Jeff was STILL disappearing at all hours to go out and get high.
The only positive thing Briar had noticed was that he was no longer late for work or high at work. Apparently the worry of working with Mark was enough to keep him sober for brief periods at a time. If not for the fact that she both hated and had no trust at all in Mark, she would have hired him to constantly shadow Jeff.
Knowing she wasn't getting any more sleep this night, Briar pulled herself from the bed; wincing as her muscles screamed their protest. Jay and Adam had kept her busy with training when they had the time, showing her things she could do that would compensate for her size, lack of strength as well as lack of knowledge in the ring.
Basically, she was learning how to cheat and do it well.
Which was alright with her, she wanted to live through this.
Not that she couldn't fight, she had scrapped a lot in her teens but that was usually with a weapon or without regard for her own body.
Factor in she was usually high and couldn't feel pain to begin with…
Yeah, she needed to learn how to defend herself properly.
Frowning, she wrapped the sheet around her nude body and fumbled around for her cigarettes. A second later she was standing at the window, staring out as she inhaled her nicotine fix; blowing smoke against the glass pane and watched it recoil back at her.
Where was Jeff?
Rubbing her free hand against her forehead, her face scrunched as if in pain. Something had to give.
***
So THAT'S why Briar was on the road. Mark listened curiously as Jeff and his friend chatted in low tones about some kind of 'powder', wondering if he was really hearing this. Didn't these morons realize they were in a public place? Not exactly the best moment to be having a conversation about what kind of drugs you were planning on ingesting.
He shook his head when the waitress asked if he'd like another beer, leaning back in his seat and closed his eyes. In the booth right behind him, he could hear Jeff's friend and apparently supplier running his mouth.
"You sure you don't want to try this?"
"No man," Jeff sounded hesitant. "I don't think so. Bri used to do that stuff…"
"So?"
"So… it's just not…" He shrugged. "I'm not interested, okay?"
"I'm telling you man, this stuff is off the hook. You won't have to worry about the energy running low ever again."
"Why'd you call it freebasing?"
"Well…"
Mark had heard enough. Smirking, he got up and quietly walked out of the hotel bar, making sure Jeff's dumb ass didn't spot him. So was Briar back on the drugs? Or was she on the road trying to save her husband much in the same way he had appeared to save her at one time?
Either way. He now had some interesting dirt on Jeff Hardy.
***
Briar had just stepped out of the shower when she heard a knock on the door. Sighing, she wrapped a towel around herself and padded out to the main room. Most likely it was Jeff, it wouldn't be the first time he had forgotten his key card somewhere and couldn't get back in.
If he was stoned out of his mind, she was going to murder him.
"Jeff, this is getting…" The words died on her lips as she stared up, wishing she had checked the spyhole.
"Briar, precious, I think we have a heart to heart."
She swallowed hard as she was pushed back into the room.
