Dangerous Business
Chapter XXXII
RAW is War
Liz stared at the reflection in the mirror. Her jade eyes were dull, rimmed with scarlet red, but the bags underneath them were almost gone. A brace for her left arm was wrapped tightly against her skin, and she only passed a brief glance at it, acknowledging the specific weak point, knowing that Steven and Victoria would attack it. The tube top ended in the middle of her ribs, and as she adjusted the fabric, her fingertips skimmed across the bandages around her ribs. Bruises covered her body, and she didn't pause to give them a second thought. Expression sullen, eyes downcast, she tugged on the lime green fabric of the pants, pulling them up slightly.
"Liz! Can we have a word?" Murmuring something quietly under her breath, she turned, pulling her hair up swiftly into a ponytail as Terri ran up to her. Her eyes settled on Terri, a jutting glare to them, as if challenging the blond. "How do you feel about your match tonight?"
Liz rewarded her with a sarcastic smile, "Great. Couldn't have been better." She almost rolled her eyes, but instead folded her arms across her chest, and cocked her head, waiting for Terri's next question.
"Well, tonight, you're teaming up against your ex-boyfriend… How do you feel about that?"
Liz blinked, and replied, "Honestly? I'd rather have a handicapped match. But I don't have one. I'm stuck with it, and that's that."
"You didn't answer my question…" Terri pointed out.
"Why does it matter?" countered Liz. "I'm going to go to this match, and he's my partner. That's that… It's a match, Terri. I may not have someone to back me up tonight, but I'm going to win," she promised, and turned, walking away. Terri's voice echoed down the hall as Liz rounded the corner. Her boots snapping against the ground with a sharp click, she walked into the Diva's locker room. Liz ignored the other Divas mingling around in the locker room. She felt their looks bore into her back as she stalked over to a locker, flinging the door open. All but Liz flinched at the crash of the door against another locker.
"What are you doing here?" someone spoke up, and Liz whirled around, temper flaring. A blonde stood there, glaring defiantly up at her. The face was familiar-like she'd seen the woman around before-but she didn't remember the name.
"What do you think I'm doing?" she snapped in reply, throwing her duffel bag into the open locker.
The blonde raised her chin in an effort to compensate for the height difference between them, "I thought you were rooming with Jeff and Matt?"
"You thought wrong," was the cold reply as she slammed the locker shut, the Divas once again jumping at the loud noise.
"What crawled up your ass and died?" the blonde said, rising on her toes so her face was almost eye level with Liz.
"I don't have time for this," Liz muttered underneath her breath. "Get out of my way, rookie," she spat venomously.
The blonde glared. "What are you going to do about it?"
"This," Liz snarled, shoving her hands quickly, palms crashing against the blonde's shoulders. The woman stumbled backward, and toppled over the bench, landing on the tile on her neck. "Oops," Liz announced sarcastically, going for the door.
"I'll get you back for this!" the blonde yelled, and Liz turned, eyeing her quietly.
The brunette raised her arms out wide, and said arrogantly, "You know where to find me."
"I'll beat your ass…" snarled the blonde, climbing to her hands and knees.
Liz watched, amusement twinkling in her eyes. "Go ahead and try. You won't get far." With that, she turned, walking out of the room, slamming the door shut loudly behind her.
Liz shook her head, tossing her hair as she walked through the halls, gritting her teeth as she walked along.
"Liz?" she didn't turn at her name, but simply kept walking and the stagehand ran up to her. "Your match is up after the current one," he told her. She shrugged and nodded, continuing on her way, changing her aimless walk toward the vague direction of the ramp entrance.
"Stay the fuck away from her!" Liz's head jerked up quickly at the voice…Rob's voice. Cautiously, she jogged to the corner where his voice was coming from. There was a muffled response as she reached the corner, and looked down the hall. She froze.
Paul Heyman and Rob were glaring at each other, faces inches apart from each other's. Paul sneered over his shoulder at Liz. "Look's like your partner is here," he said, with a meaningful glance at Rob. He smirked, and slowly backed off. His eyes traveled to Liz, and he called mockingly, "Good luck, Liz." Paul grinned widely at Rob, and turned, walking away briskly.
Liz stared at the corner Paul had rounded for a while, even after Rob turned. Her gaze wavered after a second, and, without a word, she turned, and continued to the curtains, fisting her hands and shaking her head.
"Liz, wait!" the brunette stopped abruptly, his footsteps behind her echoing in her ears.
"I don't care," she whispered to herself inaudibly, and closed her eyes lightly, enjoying the swift darkness. For a moment she stood there, eyes closed, hands slowly falling limply to her sides. Her eyelids snapped open as Rob stood in front of her. His face was stricken.
"Listen, I've got to tell you something," he said, his voice bordering on pleading as he looked up at her. Her jade eyes seemed to look right past him as she tilted her head.
"Rob," her voice was monotonous as she spoke, "Frankly, I'd be fine if you never were born," she spat, her voice turning to controlled anger. The words registered on his face, and she waited before finishing, "I don't trust you for a tag. As far as you're concerned, I don't have a partner," her eyes hardened, "and if you try anything, you better pray that I don't catch up with you." With that, she turned, speed-walking away. As soon as she was sure he wasn't following her, she let out a long breath, sitting down on a storage case. Her hands shook, and she looked down at them, not making any effort to stop. "I did it," she said aloud, feeling numbness spread through her body.
Liz looked up at the ceiling, leaning against the wall. She'd told him it… A shaky breath escaped her lips, and she wrapped her arms around herself. 'I told him that I hated him,' she thought, the words bouncing around her head, 'Maybe now… Maybe now I-we-can move on…' She winced at the pain in her heart at the thoughts that followed, a bitter laugh spurting out of her lips. 'And even if I can't-he sure as hell is going to hate me now. But…that's what I wanted, right? To have him hate me… So it'd be so much easier to hate him back, to let this go…' She reached a hand up to her eyes to rub at them, and drew it back when she felt the wetness on her face. Blinking, she furiously wiped the tears off of her face. 'He hates me now.'
She caught her reflection in a mirror across the hall, and stared at it. She'd gotten what she wanted. Shouldn't she be happy?
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Author's Note: Cha-Ching! It's the weekend!! YES! Anyway, hope you like!! Sorry for like the lapse of writing halfway through this, I did half of it on Monday and the rest today. Please review, and if you get the time, check out my other stories!! Thank you!!
~LK2008~