Chapter 14 – The Pain

  "Stop that. Its fine," protested Evie as Hunter tried to check her mouth. "It's not like I've never been hit by a man before." The slap Jericho had given her had split the corner of her mouth. She pushed his hand away and put the wet cloth back on it. They were back at the hotel, having left immediately after Hunter's match. He was still in his gear.

"Just making sure you're okay."

"I'm fine. Except I think I'm gonna have a massive bruise on my back from that toss he gave me."

Hunter chuckled. "Welcome to professional wrestling."

"Very funny smart ass." She winced as she stood up. "How about you? You doin' okay?"

"Yeah. But I'm used to it." He watched her as she slowly moved around. "You should take a hot shower. That'll help ease some of the back pain."

Evie smiled. "That sounds good to me. I think I will." She headed towards the adjoining door to her room. After a couple minutes, he heard the water running and then her bathroom door closed.

He toyed with the idea of joining her, but knew he'd probably catch hell for it. Besides, he'd already been thrown around tonight. He didn't want a repeat performance with Evie.

He stripped off his trunks and t-shirt and took a shower as well. After more than enough time, he shut it off, dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He came out of the bathroom and flopped belly down on the bed.

He heard a rustling noise and looked over to find Evie standing next to the bed in her nightshirt.

"You lost?" he asked. She shook her head. "Well in that case, make yourself useful," he replied.

She looked at him. "And do what?"

"Keep me company while I watch TV," he replied as he moved over to make room for her.

She lifted an eyebrow when she realized what he was wearing. "Nice towel Hunter."

He grinned. "You like it? If not I can take it off."

Evie climbed onto the bed and sat next to him. "Is that so?" She watched him with an amused expression.

"Yeah. I mean what's the point of wearing it if you don't like it?" He rolled onto his side and the towel slid open to reveal a tanned thigh. He propped his head up on his hand so he could see her better.

She shook with suppressed laughter as she propped the pillow up behind her and leaned back. "I don't know about you."

He chuckled as he reached across her for the remote. She beat him to it and clicked the TV on. As she surfed through the channels, he got up and took a pair of shorts out of his bag. He disappeared into the bathroom and came out a few seconds later, wearing them. "That better?" he asked as he sat back down on the bed.

"I never said I didn't like the towel." She finally found what she was looking for on TV and dropped the remote on the bedside table.

"Women," he muttered under his breath. "Whatcha watchin'?"

"Evil Dead 2."

"Oh jeez," he replied. He knew about her fondness for crappy horror films and Bruce Campbell. "Can't you watch something good?"

"No," she replied simply.

Hunter sighed and resigned himself to watching 90 minutes of bad film. He was startled when she grabbed his hand during a specific scene.

"Here comes my favorite part," she whispered and still gripped his hand as the main character said the word "Chainsaw."

Hunter rolled his eyes as she collapsed in a fit of giggles. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what she found so amusing about this movie in particular. Halfway through the movie, her head was resting on his chest, and his arm was around her shoulder. This close, he could smell the scent of her soap but he was more distracted by her warmth nestled against him. She felt good; comforting without demanding anything from him. If it had been Stephanie, she would be whining in his ear about something.

Evie became quiet during the rest of the movie and when the credits started rolling up the screen, he was surprised she wasn't saying anything at all. He leaned over to look at her and discovered that she had fallen asleep.

He carefully shifted her so that she was lying on the bed and pulled the blanket over her. Once she was settled, he turned the TV off and shut the lights off in her room and his. Quietly he slid under the blanket next to her and noticed her back was to him. Hunter nestled up alongside her and draped an arm over her, drawing her up against him. She stirred slightly then lay still.

He lay there in the dark thinking about what had transpired earlier in his match. He wasn't surprised that Jericho had attacked Evie. They both knew he would. What had surprised him was that Jericho had refrained from doing any real damage to her. The man was twice as strong with Evie and could have been merciless with her but wasn't, which was strange. Hunter wondered what Jericho had up his sleeve. He chased several possibilities around, but soon grew tired. It had been a long day for both of them. His arm tightened around Evie as his eyes closed.

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Hunter demanded a title shot against Hogan from Vince. Vince nixed the request, stating that Undertaker was up for a shot at it. Instead he booked Hunter for a Hell in the Cell match against Jericho at the Judgment Day pay-per-view as a reward for winning the Hardcore Handicap match. Hunter wasn't happy about it, but at least it would give him the chance to even the score against Jericho.

Jericho had developed a knack for appearing wherever Evie was when she was taking care of things for Hunter during shows. If she was in the hallway, he was right behind her. Occasionally he would make suggestions as to what he would do with her if she were his personal assistant. If Hunter or anyone else was with her, Jericho would melt back into the scenery. For her part, Evie ignored him. She had better things to do than waste time trading insults with him.

She left the catering area after picking up a couple bottles of water for Hunter. As she headed back to his locker room, Jericho came up behind her. She didn't even acknowledge his presence; she just kept walking. After a couple minutes, he started in on her, whispering obscenities and suggestions. Evie continued to ignore him.

He kept on at her and finally had enough when he realized she wasn't going to respond. He brought his arm up and delivered a blow to the back of her head with a Singapore cane. Evie staggered forward, dropping the water bottles. He hit her again before she had time to react and she fell to the floor stunned. Quickly he dragged her into an unused room where he dropped her on the floor. He closed the door with a kick and turned back to her as he tossed the cane across the room.

She was slowly trying to get to her hands and knees. Jericho came alongside her and swiftly kicked her in the ribs. She collapsed back to the floor with a gasp of pain. He knelt down next to her.

"Bet you thought I'd forget about what you did to me at that match didn't you? Well you thought wrong." He stood up and kicked her again. "Doesn't feel so good does it!" She clutched her ribs in pain as he kicked her a couple more times. He stood back and watched her writhe in pain.

"I could do some serious damage to you, but I'm not going to. You see I'm just going to do enough to you to piss off Triple H. He's the one I wanna beat to a pulp." He leaned down to leer at her. "I have other things planned for you," he said suggestively.

"Go to hell," she choked out.

He laughed as he left the room. Evie rolled onto her side, still holding her ribs. Fucking bastard. I'm gonna kill him if Hunter doesn't. She managed to sit up, wincing at the pain as she did. Slowly she made it to her feet, fighting off a wave of dizziness and stumbled to the door. She leaned against the doorjamb to regain her balance.

"What the hell? Evie?" said a male voice. She saw Bradshaw standing in front of her. "What happened to you darlin'?"

"Jericho," she replied. "He's pissed at me for taking him down a notch at that last match."

"Shit. Jericho did this?" When she nodded, he gently took her by the arm and led her down to see someone about her injuries. He stayed with her while she was examined. Her ribs had been bruised, but not broken and there was no concussion. They taped and bandaged her up while Bradshaw waited. Suddenly there was a commotion at the door and Hunter burst in. He noticed Evie on the table.

"What happened?" he demanded.

She filled him in on what Jericho had done and mentioned that Bradshaw had brought her in here.

"That is one dead man when I get my hands on him," Hunter bit out. "That bastard. I should go beat the crap out of him right now."

"Let it go Hunter," said Evie.

"The hell I will. He can't get away with this."

Evie gripped the edge of the table as she stood up. "He won't. You still have that match with him at Judgment Day."

Hunter calmed down a little. "Yeah I do. And he's definitely gonna pay then." He looked at Bradshaw. "Thanks for taking care of her."

"Not a problem. If you need an escort for her when you're not around, just let me know."

Hunter nodded his head and thanked Bradshaw again. He turned to Evie as soon as Bradshaw had left. "Can you make it out to the car?"

"I can, but what about your match?" She winced as she let go of the table. "I don't want to give Vince another reason to make me go out ringside with you, especially for Hell in a Cell."

Hunter smiled. "All right, but I'll make sure someone is in that locker room with you during my match."

"Fine," she replied as she allowed him to help her back to his locker room.

True to his word, he had two security guards in the room with her while he worked his match. As soon as it was over, he immediately came back to the room, gathered up his things and had the guards escort them to the car.

The first thing she did when they got to their rooms was lay down on the bed. Hunter brought her a glass of water and set it on the table next to her. She mumbled her thanks as her eyes closed. He sat in the chair to keep an eye on her for a bit.

I'm gonna kill that ass if it's the last thing I do. I dunno what type of game he thinks he's playing, but he picked the wrong person to fuck with again.

He sat there, dreaming up way he was going to take out his aggression on Jericho. He finally decided to go to bed when he caught himself nodding off. He took one last look at Evie before going to his own room. She was curled up in a fetal position, clutching her pillow. She looked so fragile, laying there with her hair spread out over the pillow. He sighed as he unlatched the adjoining door and went to his room. He couldn't stand the frustration he felt and not being able to take out his anger on Jericho. But he could wait. Because Evie had asked him to, he'd wait.