Chapter Nine

SummerSlam

With Dave's time being consumed with his ongoing feud with loud-mouthed Texan JBL, Cassie found herself becoming frustrated. Life was uneventful for her on the SmackDown brand, and between all the double-team attacks and beatings, Dave was just too tired to spend any sort of time with her. It made her a little jealous, which is something she didn't want to admit; after all, they weren't in a committed relationship. They were still in the strange feeling-out stage. At least that was how it felt to Cassie. She wasn't all that sure about what Dave thought of their relationship and she was afraid to ask because she feared the answer. She also didn't want to push it because she knew Dave was under enough stress; two nights ago at a house show he had been double-teamed by Orlando Jordan and JBL. They had taken the fight to Batista, who didn't walk away from the fight unscathed.

Despite all that, Dave was still in high spirits. SummerSlam was taking place at the MCI Center in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He was psyched to be back in his hometown after being away for so long. He was hailed the hometown hero, and it was a feeling that warmed his heart.

He spotted her walking down the hallway towards him. Her caramel hair was curled and wavy around her face. She wore a black bikini top and a wrap around skirt that hung over her hips, revealing a slight peek at black bikini straps. He smiled. "Cassie! Hey," he greeted. His name on her lips lightened her heart and put a small bounce in her step. She smiled back at him. "What's with the...uh, number?" he asked, hugging her.

"I'm doing the car wash thing with the girls tonight, remember?"

"Right," he said, suddenly recalling. "I'm sorry, Cassie. I totally forgot. All this stuff with JBL..." He shook his head. "You look beautiful."

Cassie felt her heart flutter like butterfly wings. "Thanks." She studied him, dressed in the three-piece suit with the World Heavyweight Championship slung over his shoulder. "So do you. You plan on staying that way tonight?"

"I don't think I'm going to be the one sporting stitches tonight," Dave answered truthfully. She nodded, but he could tell she wasn't all that confident. "I'm going to be fine, Cassie. You worry too much. You're far too beautiful to be worrying about me."

"I'm only going to tell you in my defense to watch last year's Judgment Day, or even better, this year's Judgment Day," she told him. He exhaled. Last year, JBL had hit Eddie Guerrero in the head with a chair. Eddie had gone into shock and needed sixteen stitches to close up the long gash in his forehead. This year, JBL had hit John Cena with a chair and opened him up just as good. He'd needed stitches as well.

"I promise if he swings a chair, I'll duck, okay?" he said with a chuckle. She didn't find him funny.

"I'm serious, okay? The last thing I want to see is JBL become champion and you get stuck in the hospital, or even worse...put on the shelf."

"He's not going to. Would you stop worrying so much?" He couldn't stop the smile from engulfing his face. "You're so adorable, but you don't need to worry about me. So what are you doing after the show tonight?"

"Nothing. Car wash here. Then the hotel. Probably order some room service."

"You should come out with Cena and I at the end of the night. Celebrate the two champions retaining their gold at SummerSlam. Come on. What do you say?"

"I say...yes. If you manage to stay stitch-free. How is that?"

"Works for me. I'll see you after the show." She smiled and they parted ways. Cassie wanted to reach out to him and give him a kiss for good luck, but she knew they would both be distracted if she did that. She wanted Dave focused. With a deep breath, she walked to the parking lot area to meet Stacy and the other Divas. The entire time she soaped up the limousine with the other Divas, she couldn't stop thinking about Dave. She wouldn't stop worrying until the match was over.

After retaining his WWE Championship against Chris Jericho, John sought Cassie out and had her join him in his locker room for the rest of the show. They watched as Batista and JBL circled each other in the ring.

"What is going on between the two of you anyway?" John asked, studying the lovesick expression on Cassie's face.

"We're just really good friends," Cassie answered. "I do need one around here, considering I lost Torrie, Carlito, you and Kurt."

"What happened with the two of you in London? You never told me."

"Nothing happened. That's why. We rode a Double-Decker and then we walked around the town," she answered. "It was really nice."

"That's cool. I'm glad to hear that." He leaned back against the leather couch in his locker room. "It's nice to see I'm not the only one who hates JBL."

"Everyone hates Bradshaw," Cassie giggled. "He has been lighting up everyone's Jerk-o-Meter for over a year now. I wish he'd cut it out."

"Nah. Let him keep doing it. If he didn't, our life would lack meaning," John snorted. They both broke into a fit of giggles.

"You have a point there, John..." Her gaze fell on the TV, where Dave had JBL set up for the Batista Bomb. Turning towards the steel steps, as Cassie cheered him on, he bombed JBL onto the steel steps and covered him for the three count. Like John, Dave Batista had retained his championship. Cassie leaned back against the couch, relieved that it was over and that he wasn't cut open.

"I guess that means you're chilling with us tonight," he said. She nodded.

"You know it," she answered. She was excited to go out and spend the night with two of her best friends, who were currently sitting at the top of the WWE.

Joined by Rob Van Dam and Trish Stratus, Cassie, Dave and John ended up at an old club Dave used to work at. They rolled out the celebrity treatment for them, most of the staff remembering Dave's tenure as a bouncer. After chilling out and introducing Cassie to his former colleagues with warm words, they sat at a table. There was an electric atmosphere; most of the people in the club had been at the arena.

"The champs are here!" John shouted into the club. The patrons cheered.

"Can I get you a drink?" Dave asked, his lips dangerously close to Cassie's ear. Cassie felt a small shiver ripple through her.

"Sure. I would absolutely love an apple martini, Dave. Thank you," she told him. He nodded and disappeared to the bar to get drinks for her and himself. Cena was in charge of the others, if anyone could get him to hold still long enough.

"Still Women's Champion?" Cassie asked Trish, trying to make casual conversation. Trish nodded. Cassie thought she was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen, with long blonde hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in a little red dress.

"That I am," she confirmed.

"What number reign is this?" Cassie asked.

"Sixth."

"That's awesome. Congratulations," Cassie told her. Trish smiled.

"You're pretty impressive, Cassie. I've seen your stuff on SmackDown. Hopefully next draft you come over to the red brand. I'd love to take you on for my belt," Trish said. The words touched Cassie. Dave put her drink down in front of her.

"Thanks, Dave. Thank you, Trish. It means a lot to hear that, coming from you." Trish was a surefire Hall of Fame inductee one day. Cassie considered her one of the greatest women wrestlers of all time.

"I'm serious. Hopefully one day we will see you on Raw."

"Oh, no," Dave said with a laugh. "Come on, Trish - you've seen the women's division over there. We could use all the Divas we got. Maybe you should consider coming over to us with that gold you've been wearing." Trish laughed.

"I can't. I've got that brand loyalty thing going on," she replied, winking at Cassie. The two of them laughed.

"What in the hell are all y'all still doing sitting here?" John roared, sneaking up behind Trish and scaring her. "Come on, guys, let's get our asses on the dance floor." Taking Trish by the hand, John led her onto the floor. Rob Van Dam followed, making a beeline to a beautiful brunette he had been eyeing since they had arrived.

Dave turned to Cassie as the song "My Humps" began to play. She hated the song. So did Dave, but he wasn't going to waste an opportunity to get his hands on Cassie. "I guess we should get on the floor then. You know, before John comes back," Dave replied, pretending to be disappointed. Cassie nodded.

"Right. Before John gets back," she agreed. They both smiled at each other and stood. Dave took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

"Great job out there tonight, Dave," she told him as they found a spot in the crowd.

"Thanks, Cassie. Great job on the car wash thing," he said. She laughed.

"Oh, God, are you kidding? I pretty much just stood there and let the other girls act like tramps," she answered. He placed a hand on her hip and moved closer. She could feel her heart rate increase. Her cheeks were burning. She was sure he could sense it. If he could, though, he didn't say a word about it.

"I wasn't paying attention to them. I thought you were the hottest Diva out there," Dave confessed.

"Now you're just trying to flatter me," she accused. He shook his head.

"Me? Never," he replied. She laughed, swinging her hips. "My Humps" faded into "Milkshake" and she groaned.

"Sweet Jesus, this music is hideous," she commented. He nodded, spinning her around.

"I agree with you."

"Not like your music is any better," she informed him.

"Or yours," he told her. They laughed. It was no secret she was probably one of John Cena's biggest musical fans.

"I like other stuff – rock stuff," she answered. "Cena just does good work." He hated this small talk; but he wasn't too sure if he would scare her off with making a move. Especially in public. If he was going to make his move, he supposed it should be away from the eyes of John Cena, away from the eyes of Trish Stratus, Rob Van Dam and all those other nosy Divas and "overprotective" Superstars. It would just be the two of them...something that he wanted so very badly at that given moment, where she was close to him, her hips undulating to the beat, a wide smile on her face as he moved with her.

An old-school song began to play, one with a techno beat and Cena started catcalling Batista to start break-dancing. Batista could feel the blush start forming, but he was lucky that he was so tan he was sure nobody would notice. He wanted to pulverize Cena at that moment. He shot a quick look to Cassie, who was backing away, clapping her hands, chanting "Ba-tis-ta" with the rest of them. He vowed that when he was finished with this night, he was going to drink so much that tomorrow morning it would be nothing but a memory, something to forget...until he saw his colleagues, anyway. He knew that Cena would never let him live it down.

Then Cassie pushed Cena into the floor with Batista and started chanting, "Cena! Cena! Cena!" Eventually she had managed to put both of them in a dance-off, which looked not only awkward, but funny as hell as Cena tried to keep up with Batista's break-dancing, and couldn't. Batista, on the other hand was so enormous that it just looked awkward. When the song was over, he gave Cena a hard slap on the back and thanked him sarcastically for making him do that. Cassie approached him.

"Who knew you could move like that?" she teased, "the Champ's got some skills."

He laughed. "I used to do this back in the day...I wasn't big then, I swear."

"Damn. It probably would have been just as funny to see." He laughed.

"Thanks for throwing the knucklehead in there with me," he replied.

"One difference between you two," she replied. "Cena's probably not even half as embarrassed about this as you appear to be."

"Who says I'm embarrassed?" he asked.

"You should have seen the way your eyes bulged out when they started chanting your name," she replied. "I wish I had a camera." The DJ started mixing "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with the beat of "Try Again" and she grabbed Batista. "One more round," she pleaded. With a smile creeping across his face, he followed her onto the dance floor.