Chapter Sixteen

The Cage Match

With the sun fading on the horizon, Cassie stood alone at the back of the arena.

She was dressed in black bell bottoms and a black "Chain Gang" T-shirt. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail that swung as she paced. For the past week she had been crying, her eyes swollen and puffy red. In her left hand she held a lead pipe. She was pacing a trench, awaiting the arrival of MNM. Her eyes searched for any sign of their black stretch limo. No matter. I've got all night.

She knew she was being melodramatic, even irrational. But she didn't care. Dave had left message after message on all her machines, saying he wanted to talk to her. He begged her to meet him at his locker room at six o'clock. It was five. She figured she had an hour to rearrange Melina's face, clean herself up and go talk to Dave. Maybe not even talk. She was still infuriated with him. Maybe she would bring the pipe along and rearrange his face, too. She laughed; like Dave would ever let her get a swing in.

She felt the pipe being tugged out of her hands. She wheeled around to see Jillian holding it. Jillian was dressed in a hideous pink and brown floral button down shirt that revealed a lot of cleavage and brown pants. She made a clicking sound with her tongue, shaking her head. "Cassie, you are not going to do what I think you're going to do with this," she told her. Cassie seethed.

"Jillian...I'm not going to ask you twice...give it back."

"Oh no. Cassie, you go march yourself to Batista's locker room and talk to him. I seriously can't believe you would let Melina get to you like this!"

"Well, it's not every day that a Diva accuses our World Champion of..."

"I see your point," Jillian conceded, but she still refused to give back the pipe. "But if you want to hurt Melina so bad, then talk to Theodore Long about making it an official match. You want the pipe so bad? Make it a hardcore match. But do not wait here in the parking lot with thoughts of destruction in your head. You're going to open yourself and this company up to lawsuits and criminal charges. You're better than this, Cassie. She's not worth this." Cassie snorted.

"Maybe I don't need the pipe. Maybe I just want to get my hands around Melina's neck and squeeze for dear life."

"You're acting like she's the only one at fault here."

"No, I'll get to Dave soon enough," she told Jillian. "I have to meet him at six."

"Oh, God." Jillian was fighting the urge to laugh. It was such a heavy, soap opera-caliber situation. "Take mercy on him."

"Why should I?" she fired back. "He sure didn't take any on me."

"To be fair, Cassie, you two aren't together."

"You don't understand," Cassie told her, shaking her head. "I have been in love with him for months. I've been by his side through everything. For months I've hoped he would just tell me he feels the same way, and he did. Hours after he fucked Melina. And he admits to that much. He conveniently failed to mention that while he was letting those three little words fall out of his lips. Am I supposed to feel better that he used her? That he banged her because she thought she had him convinced to back out of the match and afterwards he told her he wasn't going to? Jesus, Jillian, how the fuck am I supposed to be feeling right now?" Jillian was so taken aback by the new information and Cassie's hurt that she didn't say anything. "For the past week I have cried and I have slept and I have listened to him leave voice mail after voice mail telling me how sorry he is? How do you think I feel hearing this and knowing that Melina is making such an issue about what they've done?"

"I...I don't know." Jillian really had no idea what to say.

With two minutes until six o'clock, Dave was pacing back and forth in his locker room. His match was in fifteen minutes, and he was ready for it. Now he was just hoping that Cassie was going to show up. He couldn't blame her if she didn't. He supposed that if Cassie did show up, then there was still hope for the two of them.

There was a slight creak as the door opened. Cassie walked in. Even though she looked like a mess, Dave thought she was beautiful. "You came," he said, his eyes lighting up with renewed hope. He came towards her, but she held her hand up, motioning for him to stay where he was standing. She was in a bad enough mood as it was since Jillian had confiscated her weapon. Dave stopped in his tracks and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. Of course she wasn't going to just run into his arms. He'd been stupid to think that. "Well, um, thanks for coming to see me."

"I wasn't going to," she confessed, her tone hard and firm. "I was going to wait outside in the parking lot for Melina to arrive, and then I was going to take a lead pipe and I was going to bash her face in. Then, I decided if MNM wanted in on the action, I'd give them a little taste of what I planned on doling out to their manager. Then, I was going to come here and give you a re-enactment of sorts.

"You see, all week, through the countless messages and tears spilled, all I've been hearing is, 'What's the big deal, Cassie? It's not like the two of you were together or anything'. Well...let me tell you something, Dave..." She stopped. She stared at the floor, trying to form words in a coherent sentence. "I've been dreaming of hearing you say those three words for months. Months. I've been dying for you to make a move, and I've wanted to do nothing but spend my every waking hour with you. And you choose to tell me that you feel the same way only an hour or two after you...after you..." She couldn't say the words. She hated how exposed and vulnerable she felt, laying everything on the line. "In your locker room, no less? Have no decorum? Have you no shame? I'm sure that was something you willfully ignored telling me while I was overseas thinking about you.

"And now you're the one who wants to sit here and play wounded?" The tears were flowing freely now. She hated herself for crying in front of him. Dave's heart felt like it was constricting in his chest. This was not what he wanted. He just stood there, taking her verbal onslaught, knowing he deserved her vitriol and her venom. "You broke my heart, you son of a bitch, and now you want to try and make it right? God, this is pointless." She turned on her heels and stormed out of his locker room, slamming the door behind her.

Dave exhaled the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in. He wanted to go after her, to hug her and convince her that they could work through this, but he was stuck in place. If she ever talked to him again, he would be surprised. But he had no time to think about that. His match was up next.

Cassie could tell from the monitor that Dave was hurt bad. Mark Henry had struck again, acting as Melina's "personal bodyguard". She couldn't help but be concerned for Dave's well-being when he hit the cage door. He was having great difficulty standing. Dave was down on the canvas crying out in pain as Mark Henry assaulted him over and over again with the cage door. Things weren't looking good for the champion, and Cassie wasn't taking in pleasure in the entire situation.

When the match was over, Dave saw the trainer, but he needed to see a doctor at home. Things weren't looking very good. The World Heavyweight Champion was hurt, and if it was an injury lasting over five weeks, then he could be stripped of the title. He sucked in a breath. He wasn't an idiot; he knew it was his triceps again, the injury that had been plaguing him his entire career. He groaned; his night had gone from bad to worse. Melina was suing him because his plan failed, Cassie despised him and now there was a good chance that he was going to have to forfeit his championship.

Dave Batista was failing to see the rainbow at the end of the storm.

Back in the Divas locker room, Cassie was concerned, but she couldn't bring herself to go see him. She was still angry. She couldn't just shove that aside, could she?

She was still crushed over his explanation, and she wasn't sure if she had it in her to let it slide. Even worse for her, she had let the floodgates open. He knew she was in love with him. She still was. The humiliation burned in her veins. She wanted to hate him so much, but she couldn't.

But she couldn't bring herself to go out there and see him. She needed to make a point. She was just so confused.