CHAPTER EIGHT: SNEAK ATTACK



Eve had been with the WWF for nearly two months now. It felt longer, though, with all that had happened and the friends she had made. In those two months she'd had matches against nearly all the women and won them all except for the match against Jacqueline. The only two women she hadn't fought yet were Chyna - who was out right now because of a broken ankle - and Lita.

When Eve realized this, she told Lita.

Lita sat still for a moment with a slight frown, searching her memory. "Yeah! We'll have to do something about it."

"And soon," Eve replied. "There's barely any competition here among the women's division. Most of its in the WWF."

"Maybe you should think about getting into singles matches with the men."

"I want to. That's been the plan from the start. But Linda said that I would have to work my way up first. Who knows how long that'll take?"

The two women sat sunning themselves by the hotel pool, other WWF Superstars either swimming or lounging all around them. The hotel manager had closed the pool to all the other customers for the day so that they wouldn't be bothered by fans wanting autographs and pictures. Eve was wearing a bright yellow bikini with thin black stripes while Lita's was a glittering silver.

The women were silent for a while as they leaned back on their lounge chairs and watched as Matt and Jeff practiced Swantons off the high dive. Matt wore navy blue trunks while Jeff wore a rainbow tie-dyed pair. Eve wondered how he'd been able to dye his hair to match.

*My God, he's sexy!* Eve thought, then blushed. Jeff was supposed to be her friend, just her friend. She shouldn't be thinking about him like that. But it was sooo hard not to. Every so often she was tempted to chuck her self-made promises out the window and jump the man's bones. Thankfully - or unfortunately? - Jeff had kept to his word and only offered her his friendship.

"What about Smackdown?" Lita asked, breaking into Eve's thoughts.

"For what?" Eve asked distractedly.

"For our match." Lita knew that Eve and Jeff were wildly attracted to each other and wasn't sure why they weren't doing anything about it. Now, she couldn't either. After Eve had gotten over her bad cold, she and Jeff - and Houdini, of course - had caught up with them in Miami, Florida, the Rock's home town. There, Jeff had taken Lita and Matt aside and made them both swear that they wouldn't interfere with him and Eve. She wasn't ready for a relationship and he had promised her that they would just be friends. If either Matt or Lita tried to interfere, they could scare Eve away, maybe forever.

"Can't then. I have to face Keibler elf again. But we should try to arrange one soon. I've got a few moves I've been holding back, waiting for the right time to use them."

"Considering your Snakesplitter, should I be worried?" Lita wondered how many other moves Eve had created. Though it would involve pain on her part, she was interested in finding out.

"You'll see," was Eve's cryptic reply.



Later that week on Samckdown...

Eve had just gotten the Snakesplitter put on Stacy Keibler when she felt something hard slam against her back. She released Stacy's legs and fell forward. Stacy scrambled out of the way and Eve rolled over onto her back to see Rob Van Dam standing over her holding the Hardcore belt.

The match was disqualified then, but that wasn't the end of the fight. Terri and Tori ran out from the back and started helping Stacy pound on Eve as RVD left the ring, his work for the moment done. Eve could do nothing to fend off her three attackers, all she could do was try to protect her head with her arms and wait it out.



"Shit!" Jeff yelled backstage in the dressing room. He threw down the can of pop he'd been drinking from, jumped up and ran from the room.

Matt and Lita looked at each other. "Should we?" Lita asked.

"Jeff can handle three women, but we should go out, too, just in case RVD or someone else comes out."

"Well, let's go then."


Jeff dove into the ring under the bottom rope. When he reached the three blondes, he wrapped his hands in the nearest one's - Tori's? - hair and pulled her away. She flipped over backwards and landed on her face. He grabbed the waist of the next girl and threw her across the ring. That left Stacy, who by now had realized that someone had taken out her comrades. She stared wide-eyed as Jeff began to slowly advance, glaring at her. She shook her head no as she slowly backed away.

When Stacy was close enough to the ropes, she dashed out under the bottom one. Jeff ran after her, trying to grab her hair from over the top rope, but by then she was already out of his reach.

Jeff went straight for Eve now, wanting to make sure that she was alright. He got down on his knees next to her and turned her over onto her back.

Tori and Terri got up and double-teamed Jeff, kicking him in the back at the same time. Jeff went sprawling over Eve, knocking the wind out of her.

Matt and Lita, luckily, had timed their entrance perfectly. They got into the ring just as Terri and Tori were preparing to double-team Jeff again. Matt and Lita body slammed the two women.

Jeff got up off of Eve and looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?" She nodded. "Sorry about landing on you like that."

"Couldn't be helped."

Jeff got out of the ring first, then helped Eve to slide out under the bottom rope and steady her as she stood. Matt and Lita met them down there and Eve's theme music began to play as she and team Xtreme walked from ringside.



"I just wish you hadn't come down to ringside, is all."

Eve was backstage in her dressing room, Lita, Matt and Jeff keeping her company. She'd seen the doctor already and been pronounced fine. She night be a little bit stiff and bruised tomorrow, though.

"So you would prefer that we'd left you out there to get pounded on?" Matt asked, rolling the phrase around in his head and trying to figure out why it should make sense.

"Yes!" Eve made it sound as if Matt had had some sort of mental breakthrough.

"But why?" Lita asked.

Jeff just stood there, saying nothing.

"Look, I don't want you guys to think I'm not grateful for what you did for me out there tonight, because I really am grateful. It's just..." Eve paused, trying to think fo the right words to say to her friends that wouldn't offend them. "I'm an only child and this career is not what my father had planned for me, said I would never make it. I told him I would make it and without any help besides. It's very important to me that I show him that I can do this without help."

Jeff decided to finally add his two cents in. He stood up and walked over to Eve, reaching for her hands. "I can't speak for these two, but I understand what you're saying. But you have to understand something, too. We're you're friends and if you ever need us, we'll be there helping you - probably whether you want our help or not."

"Yep," from Lita.

"Definitely," from Matt.

"Fair 'nuff?" Jeff asked.

"Fair 'nuff," Eve repeated. Her life had truly become blessed the day she'd met these three.