Chapter 25
When Rajani didn't receive a text from John, she decided to go see him...against her better judgment. She knocked once and entered his locker room, needing to come clean about everything with him if they were going to continue this relationship. John was nowhere to be found. Dwayne had done what Stephanie asked, surprisingly enough, not wanting the fight to start between John and Dwayne until WrestleMania.
"Where is he?" She wondered aloud, looking around and saw his bag was still there. "Hmm..." Rajani turned to walk out of his dressing room, but froze when she heard a voice behind her...and it wasn't John.
"Why...would you be in John Cena's dressing room, Rajani?"
Kane was back, and sooner than expected, though he was in street clothes since obviously he hadn't been scheduled for anything. No one had even known he was in the damn building, that was just how slick he could be. All night long, just watching, and listening. It never failed to amaze him, that a man as large as he was, could be so...unnoticed. People truly were blind.
"You look tense." Rajani looked ready to run and Kane slowly walked up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder and turned her around. "Still not afraid of me, are you? I thought we'd be past this by now."
"Don't touch me." She whispered, immediately recoiling from his touch and stumbled back against the door, swallowing incredibly hard.
What the hell was Kane doing in John's locker room? For another sneak attack no doubt. He was also wearing a cup again so hitting him below the belt wasn't going to work...and Rajani didn't have her mace with her. She'd gotten comfortable and that was her mistake, letting her guard down. Her reasoning for being here was no business of his and there was no way in hell Rajani was giving him any information either.
"Not talking to me? I thought we'd be past that by now too." Kane said, his voice dropping darkly, hazel eyes narrowing. "Do you know the reason I lost that match against Cena, Rajani? I bet you do." He backed her into the dressing room, kicking the door shut behind him. "In fact, I bet you're thinking about it right now. It involved me, my supposed best friend and a set of brass knuckles. He always did like to play dirty...and that night, all bets were off apparently. Because...someone...decided to run her mouth about our little...misunderstanding."
"There was no misunderstanding about what you did to me, Kane." She spat, feeling some kind of courage filling her, where it came from Rajani had no idea. "You had it coming." Rajani touched her throat as a reminder of what Kane did, breathing a little heavier and hit a chair, swallowing hard when he kicked it to the side, the chair flying against the wall. "What do you want from me? I know it was you that kept filling my hotel rooms with flowers and sending me those notes. I don't understand." He was going to hurt her again.
The look in his eyes told the story and there was no escape for her.
"What's not to understand, precious? I thought every woman loved surprises?" Kane sneered, continuing advancing on her, watching as she backed herself right into a wall. Then, he leaned into her, planting his palms on either side of her head and bent down so they were face to face. "But not you, you don't like surprises, do you? A bit...paranoid, are we? Worry a bit too much about certain things and not enough about others? So...which one are you fucking? Cena? Taker? Maybe even both? Just out of curiosity."
A surge of rage flowed through Rajani and before she could stop herself from reacting, a loud smack echoed throughout the room. She had just slapped the taste out of his mouth. Kane wasn't wearing his mask so it was full skin on skin contact, the fiery red handprint on his cheek proof that he'd just been slapped.
"That's none of your business, asshole." Rajani hissed angrily, knowing she would end up hurt because of her temper, but refused to let any man, no matter the circumstances, talk to her the way Kane was. She was a woman, not some common whore. "And why the hell do you care anyway? I'm certainly not going to fuck you, so who I am fucking shouldn't be any concern of yours..." That probably crossed the line, or several, but Rajani wasn't thinking rationally at the moment.
Even though she had just slapped the piss out of him, Kane still began laughing. "You're not my type, sweetheart, so don't flatter yourself. I have no interest in fucking you." He assured her, though that probably didn't do anything to alleviate her worries. "You have quite the temper, Rajani..."
His forearm was in the same position it had been weeks ago, suddenly pressing against her throat and this time he wasn't easing her into it. Rajani clawed at his arm, trying to break free anyway she could, but panicking was only making it worse. What the hell did he want from her? Why send her flowers? Why leave those messages? It didn't make sense! Rajani began coughing and gasping for air, her entire body trembling from both fear and adrenaline, the fear overpowering everything else. Kane was literally cutting off her air supply, her face growing red and Kane's arm was bleeding from how hard she was clawing at him to break free, her body slowly growing limp.
"P-Please..." She rasped out, blinking as huge tears slid down the side of her face and could already feel the darkness slowly begin swallowing her.
She clawed the living hell out of his arm and he knew he was actually going to have some scars from this little hell cat. "Before you pass out, Rajani..." He said, watching her eyes fluttering wildly as she tried to get air into her lungs, not allowing it. "Think about this: where are you going to wake up? In the hospital? Here in this room? Somewhere else? Or better yet..." Kane leaned forward so his lips brushed hers, knowing she was seconds from blacking out completely. "Will you wake up at all?"
Kane's words barely registered as oxygen couldn't get to her brain to hear what he said. "Taker..." She managed to gasp out before completely going limp against Kane's forearm, eyes closing.
John wasn't who she thought of as she welcomed the darkness, it was Taker. Her body slowly slid down the wall as Kane finally released her when she was completely out cold, lying limply at his feet with a weak pulse and heartbeat. Of all the names to say before succumbing to unconsciousness, that wasn't exactly the one Kane had been figuring on hearing. Actually, he was thinking if anything she'd try to scream for help.
"Taker huh?" Kane muttered, stepping away from her lifeless body, aware she was still breathing, which was how he wanted it. He wasn't a total monster after all. "That is probably the most interesting thing yet."
Smirking, he walked out of the room, examining the bloody gouges on his arm from her acrylic nails.
"John, we really need to- OH MY GOD!" Eve screamed in horror, having wanted to talk to John about something and didn't bother knocking on his dressing room door. It was a good thing she didn't because lying completely motionless and lifeless was Rajani! "SOMEONE HELP! HELP!" She shrieked out the door and rushed inside to where Rajani was, tears filling her wide eyes.
Rajani didn't move an inch.
"What the hell is...OH SHIT!" Randy Orton cursed, having heard Eve's shrieking all the way down the hallway in his dressing room and went to check on her, rushing over to the scene. "What the hell happened?!"
"I-I don't know! I came in here to talk to John and-" Her and Randy both looked up at each other at the same time, wondering if John had done this. "WHAT THE HELL?"
Taker was soon in the room, after all the screaming, more specifically Stephanie's screaming. His green eyes widened when he seen Rajani lying on the floor, taking in the way she was lying. Half-listening to Eve babble something about coming in and finding her like this, Taker was more concerned about Rajani.
"What the hell guys? I didn't know I was having a...party..." John shoved past Taker when he seen what everyone was gathered around, his blue eyes just as wide as Taker's were. "What the HELL happened?"
"It's your dressing room, you tell us!"
A second later, John dangled in the air with one large hand wrapped around his throat.
"Get the trainer in here NOW!" Stephanie bellowed, blue eyes wide. "Mark…"
"How could you do this to her, John?! I realize you and Raja don't get along, but...SERIOUSLY?"
"Eve, not now..."
Randy pulled her aside while Taker dealt with John, not releasing him. The trainer quickly rushed into the room, along with Larry and began slowly checking over Rajani. She had a deeply bruised throat, but other than that, they couldn't find anything else wrong with her.
"She was almost strangled to death." Larry confirmed, standing up while Rajani was carted out of John's dressing room toward the nearest medical facility. "Someone attacked her...and it wasn't John because he was down in my room checking over his knee."
Stephanie watched as Taker instantly dropped John, Larry being the man's alibi. "I have to go contact Dwayne, excuse me." She walked out, already dialing his number to inform him his little sister was on the way to the hospital.
Taker immediately took note of what Stephanie had said, already in the loop and simply sighed, knowing everything was going to hit the fan now. "Well ain't that a son of a bitch..."
"What the hell does she need to call Dwayne for?" John demanded, climbing back to his feet and rubbing his throat, glaring at Taker. "What the fuck business is it of his?" He watched as one black eyebrow quirked and an almost amused pitying smile flickered across the older man's lips.
Taker simply waited for it because even Cena wasn't that dumb.
"You have GOT to be shitting me!" Randy gaped, blue eyes wide.
"What?! I'm lost!" Eve cried out, looking back and forth between Randy, John and Taker.
Suddenly, it was as if a big bomb just went off in John's head, the realization dawning on him. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"
After hearing Dwayne bellow and spew out several cuss words that would make a sailor blush, he hung up on Stephanie and said he'd be at the hospital immediately. Stephanie sighed, nodding at Larry when he told her what facility Rajani was being taken to. She walked back inside John's locker room, blinking when John just stood there looking like the carpet had been swept from beneath him.
"I'm going to see Raja, who is going with me?" Stephanie demanded, ignoring John's mumbling ranting, really not wanting to know what his problem was at the moment.
Taker immediately joined her along with Eve, all three heading down the hallway toward the underground parking garage where Stephanie's car was. She wasn't surprised in the least that Taker opted for his motorcycle. That left her with Eve, both hoping Rajani was alright as Stephanie peeled out of there, not taking a limousine for once. Taker really hadn't been expecting that blowout from Cena, a blowout yes, but not that. The kid had practically bellowed it. He was more concerned about who had done this to Rajani and vowed to murder whoever put their hands on her.
John was going, just not with them, needing more than just a few minutes alone to sort all this. The majority of him was worried about her and wanted to know who the hell had done this. Then there was that other part, the bad part of him, that was ROYALLY PISSED. The ROCK'S sister. That's who Rajani was! No wonder she kept saying things like 'if you know who I was' and 'walk away now before one of us gets hurt.' She was that douchebag's sister!
"Where is she?"
"Dwayne..."
"Where the blue hell is my sister, Stephanie?!" Dwayne demanded, looking in the window and rushed past her inside the room where Rajani currently was. "What the hell happened? I JUST left the damn arena! Where was she found?"
"No...reason...for...you...to...yell...Dwayne..."
"She woke up about a half an hour after arriving."
"Christ..." Dwayne dropped to his knees, feeling them give out as he grabbed Rajani's hand, her other having an IV in it, tears in his eyes. "What happened, Raja?" His eyes went to the deep purple, blue and black bruises that covered her throat, feeling his temper rising. "Who did this?"
"Rajani doesn't need to talk right now, her vocal cords are bruised and the doctor said if she doesn't rest, her esophagus could become ruptured from swelling." Stephanie explained in a monotone voice, remaining quiet. "We don't know who-"
Rajani simply closed her eyes and let the tears spill down her cheeks silently.
"Well give her a pen and piece of paper." Dwayne ordered through gritted teeth, his worried brown eyes never leaving his sister. "She can write it, can't she?"
Hesitantly reaching out, almost as if he was going to touch the bruises that seemed to take everything about her up, Dwayne's chest tightened painfully. No laughing eyes, no beautiful smile or gorgeous face, just the damn bruises. Instead, he took her hand in his again, squeezing gently. Whoever did this was going to pay. When Dwayne tried putting the pen in her hand, Rajani shook her head and turned it to the side, trembling from head to toe. Kane had attacked her again because she'd opened her mouth. Every time she opened her mouth, she paid for it. Well not anymore, Rajani wasn't telling anyone who attacked her, or pressing charges, or anything. If she did, she would end up dead. Rajani simply squeezed her brother's hand to let him know she was still breathing, not noticing someone else stepping into her hospital room.
"Raja-"
"Dwayne, she's just tired." Stephanie said, spotting the tears in Rajani's eyes, knowing right now was not the time to press the issue.
"Did she say who did it?" John demanded, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, eyes on his girlfriend and not the man who was kneeling beside her, as hard as it was.
"Not yet."
Thankfully, Stephanie was there to stop Dwayne from grilling her, but Rajani's entire body tensed at the sound of John's voice. Her eyes slowly opened, not believing he was actually there and could only tell him she was sorry through those dark eyes. She slowly moved her gaze from him to her brother, squeezing his hand again when his eyes narrowed at John.
"Don't." Rajani whispered, taking a deep shaky breath.
"Raja, don't talk right now. You have to let the swelling go down first." Stephanie reminded gently, hoping John and Dwayne could put aside their differences so they didn't upset Rajani or stress her out. "Not now you two."
Please don't fight with him, bro. Rajani wrote on the pad of paper, handing the note over to him, her eyes pleading with her brother to leave John alone.
It chafed his nerves, just a bit, that she would write down not to fight with numb nuts, but not who had attacked her. Stephanie was there covering for it somehow because that was what women did. Ignoring Dwayne as much as he possibly could, which was really hard all things considered, John walked over to stand at Rajani's other side. It was like déjà vu all over again. Taker had arrived and was simply leaning in the doorway, arms folded across his chest and his green eyes narrowed. He didn't care about the three and their issues. His eyes were on her solely.