Chapter 13 – Ouch
Things became unpleasant at work however. Not only did Hunter have to deal with Undertaker, but also with Vince and Jericho. Vince set Hunter up for a handicap match against Undertaker and Jericho. The two men managed to wear Hunter down enough for Jericho to get the pin. After the bell had rung, both men proceeded to continue beating Hunter. Vince came out to the top of the ramp to watch, a smile on his face.
When Taker, Jericho and Vince had gone backstage, the referee helped Hunter to the back. As soon as they got past the curtain and down the stairs, D-Von appeared out of nowhere and attacked Hunter, leaving him lying on the floor.
Evie had been watching on the monitor and as soon as she saw Hunter disappear behind the curtain, she headed for triage, but when she arrived, he wasn't there; in fact, no one was there. Wondering what the hell was going on, she headed back towards the curtain. She saw two of the trainers crouching over someone as she approached. She realized it was Hunter and hurried over to find out what had happened, but was restrained by a hand on her arm. She looked to see who it was and came face to face with Jericho.
"I don't think he's in any condition for special services tonight sweetheart."
"Get the hell away from me Jericho."
Jericho continued as if he hadn't heard her. "You know, I could use a massage, so why don't you run along to my dressing room and I'll be there in a minute. I have something to take care of first."
Evie jerked her arm away as he released it. He walked over to where Hunter was, pushed the trainers away and proceeded to viciously kick Hunter while talking trash. Evie didn't stop to think; she launched herself into Jericho's right side, knocking him over. She was instantly on top of him, punching him repeatedly. Somehow she grabbed a handful of his hair and smacked his head against the concrete floor. He managed to grab her wrists to keep her from banging his head again and tried to roll her off him. As he rolled to one side, she went with the momentum so that he was almost on top of her and wedged her foot against his chest. Evie pushed hard and he fell back against the wall.
Not wasting any time, she crouched, preparing to launch herself at him again but was stopped by several pairs of arms grabbing her, trying to restrain her. "Calm down! That's enough!"
Evie tried to break away from the security guards, but they had a firm hold on her. Realizing that it wouldn't do any good to fight them, she stopped struggling. Jericho had somehow gotten to his feet and was glaring at her.
"What the hell is going on here?" a voice bellowed. Evie winced when she saw Vince McMahon approaching.
Jericho pointed at Evie. "She attacked me. That's what's going on."
Vince looked at Evie. "You attacked him?"
"Yeah, but only because he was kicking Hunter while he was already down." She nodded towards Hunter. The trainers had managed to sit him up.
"Be that as it may, you have no right to go around attacking one of my wrestlers." Vince's gaze traveled to Hunter and then back to Evie. "Just for that, you've earned Triple H a hardcore handicap match against Chris Jericho and D-Von." A malicious gleam appeared in Vince's eye. "And you will be ringside to watch or you'll both be fired."
An evil smile appeared on Jericho's face. Evie knew that she was just as much at risk in this as Hunter. It was no DQ and she knew that Jericho would make sure she paid for what she just did to him. Vince signaled the security guards to let Evie go.
"Make sure you let Triple H know about the match you just signed him up for," Vince said with a grin.
"And I'll be looking forward to seeing you ringside," Jericho spat out.
He and Vince walked away as she joined the trainers to check on Hunter.
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"You what?" Hunter exclaimed. They were back at the hotel, in his room.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. It just pissed me off to see him doing that to you."
He sat on the edge of his bed. "I can't believe you. First you give him a bloody nose and now this." Hunter choked out a laugh.
"That's not all," she said.
Hunter became a little apprehensive. "Whaddya mean 'that's not all'?"
She actually looked embarrassed. "Vince found out what had happened and decided that there was going to be a Hardcore Handicap Match."
"Shit. Don't tell me he put you in it."
"Not exactly. It's you against Jericho and D-Von. But he told me I was gonna be ringside for this." Evie risked a glance at him. "Are you mad?"
Hunter sighed noisily. "No. I can handle those two. I just don't want you anywhere near that ring."
"That can't be helped. Vince said that if I'm not ringside, we're both fired," she said with trepidation.
Hunter lay back on the bed with a groan. "That son of a bitch!"
Evie became apologetic. She was starting to regret her rash behaviour, but it was too late now. "I'm sorry Hunter. If I hadn't lost my temper, this wouldn't have happened."
He waved a hand at her. "No. It's okay." He sat up and pushed himself up so he was resting against the headboard. "We'll figure something out. And it's not like you can't take care of yourself."
Evie smiled. "True. But I'm sure Jericho is looking forward to humiliating me in public."
"Forget him for now. We'll think of something tomorrow." Hunter stifled a yawn.
"Tired?" Evie asked.
He shook his head. "Nah, just feelin' a little lonely in this big bed all by myself. Why don't you come over here and keep me company?" He patted the space next to him.
She eyed him warily. "I dunno. I think you have some ulterior motives here."
An innocent expression crossed his face. "Me? Ulterior motives?"
Evie chuckled. "Right. And I have a bridge to sell you."
"Well if you're not going to keep me company, then how 'bout a goodnight kiss?"
"Okay. But I'm warning you, any funny business and you're in trouble." She came alongside the bed and leaned over to give him a quick kiss. As she bent over, he reached up and pulled her down onto his lap. "Hey!" she protested.
"Hay is for horses," he murmured as his lips came down on hers.
She felt a jolt course through her at the contact. He pushed her lips apart and teased them with his lips and tongue before kissing her deeply. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she kissed him harder. An involuntary moan escaped her as his hands pulled her shirt from the waistband of her jeans and slid underneath, gently caressing the skin from her hip to her rib cage. She shivered at the sensations he was causing in her. Her mouth moved to his earlobe, where she gently nipped at the flesh then teased it with her tongue. He groaned harshly as her lips descended down his neck and then back up to his ear.
His hands pulled her closer to him as her mouth came back to his, kissing him with slow deliberation. Slowly, she withdrew her mouth from his and pulled back slightly so she could look at him. Evie gently ran her thumb across his lips, then tenderly kissed them. "Goodnight Hunter," she whispered, half-smiling.
He didn't say a word as he withdrew his hands from underneath her shirt. She slid off his lap and tugged her shirt down. He leaned his head back against the headboard and watched her from under half-closed eyes as she left the room. True to her word, she was making him work for this. She wasn't going to be easy. After Stephanie, it was nice to be able to take things a little slower. Stephanie had been a frantic whirlwind and hadn't wasted any time at all in getting him into bed. He found that he was in no particular rush with Evie, but it didn't make things any easier.
Hunter quickly stripped down and got into bed. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to control myself. Not with the way she's going about this. He smiled as he shook his head. But after what I did to her, I guess it's only fair.
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Over the next few days, Hunter and Evie went over a few strategies. They both knew that as soon as Jericho had Hunter distracted, he'd be after her. The temptation to take her down a few notches in front of a live crowd would be too great for his ego to ignore.
When they arrived at the arena, they went directly to his room. They hadn't even put their bags down and someone was knocking at the door. Hunter opened the door to find an interviewer outside with a microphone and a cameraman. "Triple H, we just learned that you'll be in a Hardcore Handicap match against Chris Jericho and Brother D-Von, and that it was your personal assistant's attack on Chris Jericho that earned you this match."
"You know what, as far as I'm concerned, Jericho got what he deserved. He has harassed my assistant since day one. As for tonight, I believe I owe both Jericho and D-Von some payback from last week."
The interviewer spoke up before Hunter could continue. "I'm sure there are people who want to know what your assistant's going to do since she has to be ringside tonight."
"Yeah, you and everybody else. And I can see that information getting back to Jericho. Forget it. Interview is over," Hunter replied brusquely and then slammed the door shut.
Hunter turned around and saw Evie sitting on the sofa. She looked at him. "Damn Hunter. I really screwed up didn't I?"
He shook his head. "No. Look, remember what we talked about and you'll be fine."
Evie took a deep breath and blew it out. "All right."
"Hey, someone has to let Jericho know he can't keep messin' with you. And apparently he hasn't been paying attention to what you've been beating into him."
She laughed at the choice of words. "Maybe I need to beat him a little harder then."
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Hunter's music started and he motioned Evie to follow him. She looked at him with determination and trailed him down the ramp. She was a bit surprised at the reaction of the crowd. It was one thing to hear it on the monitor and quite another to hear it live. As Hunter climbed in the ring, she went to sit at the announce table with Tazz and Michael Cole. Tazz offered her a pair of headphones.
"Glad you could join us Evie," commented Tazz.
"Thanks Tazz."
Michael Cole piped up. "Evie, Chris Jericho has been saying that you deliberately attacked him last week for no reason whatsoever."
Evie rolled her eyes. "The reason I attacked him, Michael, is because he viciously kicked Hunter while he was down."
"Well, Hunter is at least twice your size. Don't you think he's capable of taking care of himself?" asked Michael.
Evie looked directly at Michael with an "are-you-really-that-stupid" look on her face. "You tell me how a man can defend himself while he's lying on the floor semi-conscious. Jericho took advantage of Hunter's situation, so I took advantage of Jericho's inattention."
Michael tried a different angle. "What exactly is the nature of your relationship with Triple H? You've been with him since he came back from his injury. I know it's been said that you've had more than a working interest in him. In fact, I believe it was his ex-wife Stephanie that made that comment."
Evie glanced at Tazz, who shrugged his shoulders. She turned her gaze back to Michael. "Let me ask you this Michael, what is the nature of your relationship with Tazz here?"
Michael looked at her funny. "Well, as you can see, we work together…"
Evie waved a hand in annoyance as she cut him off. "And I work for Hunter. My relationship with him is work related. Maybe if Stephanie had paid more attention to her husband during his rehab than her little vendetta against her father, and then blaming me for her marital problems, she wouldn't have felt the need to lie to him about being pregnant."
"It was also said that if you didn't accompany Triple H to ringside, then both of you would be fired," said Michael.
Evie coolly looked at him. "Michael, do you think I would deliberately come down here to listen to you talk out your ass if I didn't have to?"
Tazz chuckled at that comment and Michael changed the subject to talk about the history of bad blood between Triple H and Jericho.
Jericho's music started and he and D-Von made their way to the ring. Hunter kept both eyes on them as they approached and jumped up on the apron. D-Von stared Hunter down as Jericho walked to the back of the ring, leaned over the ropes and smiled evilly at Evie.
The bell rang and the match was underway. The two men jumped on Hunter at the same time, beating him down to the canvas. While Jericho kicked him over and over, D-Von climbed out of the ring and began pulling various objects out from under it. Jericho had lifted Hunter's head off the mat and was talking trash to him. D-Von had climbed back in and picked up the lid to a trash can. He shoved Jericho out of the way and struck Hunter with it.
Hunter rolled over to avoid another hit and pulled himself up using the ropes. As both men ran towards them, he charged them and delivered a double clothesline, knocking them both down. Hunter quickly grabbed a Singapore cane that D-Von had thrown in earlier and brought it down across both men's stomachs. He struck them a few times more, then grabbed D-von and tossed him out of the ring, towards the ramp. Jericho was on his side, clutching his stomach. Hunter pulled him up by the hair and delivered a couple chops to Jericho's chest. He whipped Jericho into the corner and ran towards him to deliver another clothesline, when Jericho moved out of the way. Hunter slammed into the turnbuckle and as he stumbled back, Jericho gave him a neck breaker.
D-Von rolled back in the ring and picked up a steel chair. He and Jericho took turns hitting Hunter with the chair. While D-Von continued beating Hunter with the chair, Jericho rolled out of the ring and walked towards the announce table.
"Uh oh. Looks like trouble is heading this way," said Tazz. "You better watch out Evie."
Evie removed her headphones and watched Jericho, waiting to see what he would do. He came right up to her, looming over her. She stood up and glared right back at him, eye to eye.
"I'm gonna give you what you've been waiting for," he said with a twisted smile. "And you're not going to enjoy it, but I sure as hell will."
"You sure have a messed up idea of foreplay Jericho," she shot back.
"Tell you what, just to be fair I'm gonna give you to the count of three to run. After that, you're fair game."
Evie said nothing as he started counting. When he reached three, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the table. As he yanked her to him, his hand swung up and delivered an open-handed slap across her face. She felt a trickle of warmth in the corner of her mouth but ignored it. Without a second thought, her foot came up and nailed him in the groin. He leaned down and her arm swung up to hit him, but he caught it and rolled around so his back was to her and yanked her over his shoulder. She landed on her back with a thud. Jericho was on top of her, his face inches from hers. He yelled obscenities at her and then spat in her face. Suddenly he was jerked off of her.
Jericho turned to see Hunter behind him and immediately pushed him back. D-Von had come up behind Hunter and tossed him back into the ring. Before Jericho had the chance to pull Evie back up, she swept her legs through his, toppling him to the floor. As he rolled over to his hands and knees to get up, she clambered to her feet. Her foot flicked out and caught him squarely in the stomach. A strangled groan exploded from him as he fell to the floor again. Evie kicked him twice more for good measure, then backed away and looked to the ring to see Hunter getting up off the mat. As D-Von came in to attack again, Hunter kicked him in the stomach and gave D-Von a Pedigree. He covered D-Von for the pin. Evie walked away from Jericho to Hunter's side of the ring. As soon as the bell rang, he was out of the ring and walking up the ramp with Evie.
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A/N: Thanks for your patience. Another chapter will be following soon. Yes I know they still haven't gotten together, but I had some aggression to work out from this past week and her beating the crap out of Y2J helped, aside from beating the stuffing out of my body bag. Canon pretty much goes to hell from here (cept for PPV's and a couple other things) as I can never remember if Jericho was originally on SmackDown or not. All though since this is a fic, I guess it really doesn't matter too much! Heh heh.