A/N: Hope you like the chapter. :)
Chris was leaving no stone unturned, or better phrase, no locker room unsearched.
The coward Kurt Angle had bolted after Chris had come back from his match with Hunter. Maybe he thought by going up to Stephanie while he had been in a match would distract him from his match and then he'd lose and then Kurt wouldn't have to face him. It'd definitely be something that Kurt would do, the slimy, little sleazeball that he was. Chris knew he was a scumbag and he hated that he was using Stephanie in this little game.
"Chris..."
Stephanie was trailing after him. Occasionally he would hear her voice as she tried to keep up, but he was always faster than she was. She'd never seen the look on his face before and it didn't necessarily scare her, but it startled her. The depths of his anger were something he'd never shown her, something she'd never experienced. She felt like he could fly off the handle at any moment and she didn't want to see that happen. He and Kurt weren't supposed to fight before their big match and she didn't want Chris to do something stupid.
He'd already been arrested once because a man in her life despised him. What Andrew had done was despicable, but she feared that Kurt would do something even worse. It just seemed like Kurt had no scruples whatsoever and if that was the case, then he would not hesitate to do something to Chris and she didn't want anything to happen to him. Chris also had the habit of being antagonistic, which was not a great quality to have when a lot of people were gunning for him because he was the champion.
"Chris!" she repeated, louder this time. "Will you please slow down?"
"No," he called over his shoulder and she had to jog faster to try and catch up with him. He was an exceptionally fast walker when he wanted to be because he wasn't running, just walking quickly.
"Chris, please!" she pleaded with him.
Chris was throwing open doors to locker rooms, showing no regard for anyone that might be in them. Heaven help any diva who was changing because Chris was about to get an eyeful, not that he cared because he wasn't looking to be a peeping tom or anything. Chris should've probably checked each other locker room more thoroughly, but in his anger, he was unable to think properly and so he just threw a door open, nearly taking them off their hinges and if Chris didn't see Kurt in his line of vision, he moved on.
"I'm not stopping until I find that stupid bastard," Chris growled.
Stephanie sighed and started to run. She was wearing heels so her run wasn't very effective and she feared that she would fall and break her ankle or something and wouldn't that just be a wonderful thing to happen in front of everyone. Making a quick decision, she stopped, pulled off her shoes and then sprinted after Chris in her bare feet, the floor cold and hard beneath her feet. Stephanie finally caught up to him and grabbed his right arm, tugging on it hard. Chris nearly broke free, but softened a little and turned towards Stephanie.
"What?" he asked.
"Chris, please, stop this," she told him. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I know what I'm doing. I'm going to find Kurt Angle and I'm going to show him why the hell he should stay away from you. If he doesn't get it after this, then I'll just have to show him again and again."
"By beating him up?"
"I prefer to think of it as learning his lesson," Chris said darkly.
"This is insane!" she told him. "You guys have a match, you can wait for that. What are you going to do right now? Are you going to go up to him and just punch him in the face? Like that will solve anything? He didn't pull anything on me, no kisses and such."
"Don't try to defend him."
Stephanie glared at him. "Do you think that's honestly what I'm doing here? Defending him? I'm not defending him, trust me, I'd have no reason to defend him. All I'm doing is assuring that you won't get into trouble. You guys are supposed to keep away from each other before the match, that was agreed upon. This would be in violation of that."
"I don't give a damn," he told her. "You and I own this goddamn company and if I want to make sure a talent knows his place, I'm damn sure going to do that, who cares about something agreed upon. You'd think when you married me, it would be agreed upon by everyone that you are off the market, but that asshole seems to think you can be his own personal playground."
"Do you see me wagging my tail after him?" Stephanie asked. "Do you see me actually wanting his advances? I can certainly take care of him myself, you know."
She looked defiant in that moment and Chris admired her for it. He was just so angry that someone could have such a blatant disregard for something important in Chris's life. He and Stephanie were married. Sure, when she had been engaged to Andrew, he hadn't exactly been a great guy and had even sort of, kind of, maybe tried to seduce her away from him, but that was just engaged, it was not married. Married was bigger, it was permanent and he certainly wanted what he had with Stephanie to be permanent and having this guy come in and just show disrespect towards him was infuriating.
He had to admire her though, with her defiance. She knew she didn't want any of this and instead of letting him do what he wanted, she was fighting him and telling him she could take care of herself. The only problem was that her problems became their problems. "I know you can take care of yourself, but this thing we have here, it's a partnership and I love you and when I see another guy hitting on you, touching you like he does...it makes me want to rip a door off the hinges."
"I know it does," she said, running her hand down his cheek. He was still sweaty from his match and she pulled her hand away and made a face. Chris laughed and took her hand and kissed the palm. "You're calm," she mused.
"You have that ability," Chris said, but then his eyes blazed, "Stephanie, what he did to you, what he's been doing to you, I can't let it slide. I think about him and it's like fire. Like I have to get at him and tear him apart because I'm so angry at what he's doing."
"I know, that's why we have the match."
"I can't wait for the match. I just...one punch to the jaw should really do it. This is beyond the match anyways. The match is just that, a match. It'll feel like just a match between two people, but if I fight him now, I don't know, I take the control back, I guess. It's just so much more personal if I legit fight him."
"So just put that extra effort in the ring."
"How do you do this to me?"
"Do what to you?" she asked, not understanding his question.
"Make me all calm and not angry when I'm with you?" he asked. She just had that affect on him. He could be in his angriest state and she'd smile at him and talk to him in that calm voice she used, the one she didn't use for business, and suddenly, it was like his anger evaporated into the atmosphere and he was just standing there. No woman had had that affect on him, but he hadn't loved any woman like he loved Stephanie. Even without trying, she knew how to change his mood.
"I don't know," she shrugged. She reached out and rubbed his shoulders a little and he closed his eyes. "I guess I just know you." He kept his eyes closed as she continued to rub his shoulders, right there in the hallway and he could feel her getting closer and closer, her arms moving farther and farther back and then banding around his neck altogether. Then he felt a kiss on his jaw and then another and another until she was kissing the corner of his mouth. He moved his head a little and caught her lips against his.
"I love you," he mumbled against her lips.
"I love you too," she mumbled back before pulling away and laughing, "You're all sweaty."
"I did just have a grueling match," he pointed out as he opened his eyes to see her face mere inches away from him. "I tend to be sweaty after those."
"You were amazing out there. Hunter was thrown for a loop."
"Thanks," he said simply forgoing his usual braggart attitude.
"Are you going to still go looking for Kurt?"
"I guess not," he said, defeated. She grinned at him and he kissed her again. "You know, sometimes I'm not too fond of this hold you have over me. You have way too much power in this relationship, it's kind of scary."
"Womanly wiles," she joked.
"Yeah, and apparently I'm a sucker for them."
"Will you wait to get Kurt until your match?"
"I'll try, but I make no promises. The guy just knows how to push my buttons."
"He'll talk crap to you during his match, try not to lose focus and listen to him, whatever he says, it won't be true, just remember that."
"I know, I'm prepared for it."
"Oh yeah, sure, because this whole storming off thing is super prepared," she said sarcastically, then pulled away. "Yuck, I forgot you were all sweaty."
"I need a shower."
"Come on, I'll walk you to your locker room," she said, holding his hand. They turned around and headed towards his locker room.
"Maybe you can join me in the shower," he suggested lecherously and she shook her head and he pouted.
"Chris, hey," Trish said as she passed and then stopped to fall into step next to him. Stephanie looked over at her. She was wearing a top that was so tight her breasts threatened to just break the shirt open and she was wearing hot pants to boot. "You were great out there, that match was amazing."
"Thanks," Chris said.
"You know, I've been really thinking about this whole, learning to wrestle business and since you're the champion and the best in the business, I'm not just saying that, I really think you are, I was hoping that you would want to train me, not like show me a move here or there, but actually train me."
"Wow..." Chris didn't know what to say to that and with his wife now gripping his hand so tightly that she might break skin with her fingernails, he knew the next words out of his mouth were critical. Stephanie, for her part, was shooting bullets, not even daggers, at Trish. She was right here and Trish was not caring, what with her little shorts and her boob top.
"I just want to be the best and to be the best, you have to go to the best, right?" Trish asked and she stuck her chest out a little and Chris was trying not to look at them even though she was practically making it so he wouldn't be able to see anything else.
"Well, uh, thanks for thinking I'm the best, for one," he said.
"I can't help but notice."
And he couldn't help but notice that her top button had popped open and she was now showing even more cleavage. "Yeah, but I don't really train people, I mean, with my schedule I've barely got time to eat, you know."
"Oh," she said, obviously disappointed. "Can you think about it and get back to me? Thanks, see you later, Chris." She didn't even mention Stephanie or acknowledge her presence at all. She walked away, swishing her hips from side to side.
"Did you see that?" Stephanie asked. "Did you see how she ignored me like I didn't exist?"
"Yeah, I saw," Chris said.
"Can you believe her? I can't believe her. What with her stupid outfit and her complimenting and...I could rip her hair out."
"Okay, Chris," Chris said.
"What?"
"Now who's the irrational one?"
"I don't have a match with her, I can rip her hair out if I want," she said as they continued to walk. "Do you like breast implants?"
Well this was a landmine waiting to explode. "Excuse me?"
"Her boobs, did you like them that big? Do you like breast implants because if those are real than I'm the Queen of England."
"No," Chris said, shaking his head. Then he sighed, "Actually, I do kind of have a thing for them."
"Oh," Stephanie said, looking down at her own chest. It wasn't like she was exactly horrible endowed in that department, she wasn't, but they were hardly what you'd call a rack.
"I don't want you to have them though," Chris told her and she could tell he was sincere.
"You don't?"
"One, I don't want you to have unnecessary surgery. My heart couldn't take thinking of you going under the knife. Two, and most important of all, I think you're beautiful as you are," he told her, then leaned in, "Plus, I really do like your boobs."
"Chris!" she giggled, blushing furiously, the heat going all the way up to her ears. "We're in public!"
"I whispered," he told her. "Everything about you, Steph, is something I like and the stuff I don't like, I can live with. And everything I don't know yet, I'm sure that I'll come to love. I don't want you to change."
"Thanks," she said. "So can I still rip Trish's hair out?"
"Here, why don't we cook a little something up?"
"What do you have in mind?"
"I'm thinking mixed tag."
"Mixed tag?"
"Me and you against Kurt and Trish, what do you say?"
"But...we just talked about..."
"It'd be a tag match, not a real one, come on, isn't it a good idea, don't you want to do it? Think about it, you could take on Trish without repercussion. You're better than she is and I can show you some moves. So come on, you know you want to. Do you want to make the match?"
"Only if you show me how to do the Walls of Jericho."
"You're on."