ANOTHER NIGHT AFTER FULL GEAR
'Can you talk?'
Chris Jericho frowned slightly at his phone, then stood with a sigh. He caught the eyes of Jake Hager who suddenly grinned.
"Wife or kids?" Hager asked.
Jericho sighed again. "Which do you think?" he muttered. "I'll be back."
Hager chuckled and reached for his bottle of water. He saw the curious look on the faces of MJF and Wardlow and mentally shrugged. He was pretty sure the text wasn't from either Chris' wife or kids. But the question was enough to throw doubt into their minds. Whoever the call was from, it wasn't any of their business.
Jericho walked down the hall until he was away from everyone. He leaned against one wall where he could see anyone who might approach him, then dialed a number. "I can talk now. What's up, Roman?" He heard Roman sigh.
"Thanks, Chris. Have you seen Am…Mox?"
Chris momentarily grinned. "Not since the doctors checked him out. He asked if Kingston was still around, but Cody told him Kingston had already left. Mox said he wanted to have some time alone and took off." He hesitated, then added. "That's been a while. I tried calling his room, but there wasn't any answer."
"Yeah, we're at his room. Nobody's here. Seth's knocked loud enough that if he was in the room, he would've been out here yelling at us to leave him alone," Roman grumbled.
"Want me to try and call him?" Jericho offered.
"No, we'll try that," Roman answered.
"Did you guys see the match? It was a rough one. And had to be hard on both Kingston and Mox," Jericho explained.
"Yeah, we watched it in our room," Roman answered. "Look, thanks, Jericho."
"No problem, man. Listen, you need something, call me. It wouldn't look unusual if I went looking for him. Understand?"
"Appreciate it. Thanks again."
Jericho grinned when the call was disconnected. He doubted they'd call for his help. They'd take the heat to take care of their brother. He slid the phone back into his pocket and started walking back towards catering. He had enough on his plate with MJF. 'Junior doesn't know who he's dealing with.'
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"Nothing, huh?" Seth asked, leaning against the wall of the hotel corridor. He absently tapped on the door of their brother's hotel room.
"Jericho said he wanted to be alone." Roman cautiously glanced up and down the empty corridor. They really didn't need to be spotted by any wrestling fans. "Thank God, he didn't ask any questions about why we're looking for him," he muttered under his breath.
"Okay, he's in and out of Jacksonville enough to know his way around," Seth mused.
"And if he wants to be alone, that pretty much lets out any of the bars," Roman agreed. "So, what does that leave?"
Seth's eyes met Roman's. "It's past one in the morning."
Roman slowly nodded. "Not like there would be a lot of people out there."
Seth pushed himself away from the wall. "Wonder how much territory the beach actually covers?"
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He couldn't exactly pinpoint when he knew he wasn't alone on the beach. The feeling crept up on him slowly and stealthily until he was suddenly aware of it. Yet there was no sense of threat or danger.
"Fuck," he muttered under his breath. "I don't need this now." He glanced over his shoulder to see two men walking towards him, clearly visible in the moonlight.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" he demanded.
"Is there a problem in checking on our brother after a brutal match like that?" Roman coolly replied.
"That wasn't brutal," Mox snorted. "Oh, wait…yeah, for sports entertainment it is. But I'm not in that business anymore. Remember?"
"But it was a hard match against an old friend." Roman felt Seth bristle next to him and gently nudged him to calm down. "Thought you might need someone to talk with."
"I don't need a Tribal Chieftain, and I sure as hell don't need a Friday Night Messiah…or whatever the hell night Messiah you are now," Mox snarled. "So, both of you just go to hell!" He spun on his heel to walk away.
One of the first things Roman had ever noticed about Seth was just how fucking quick he was when he needed to move fast. But he'd never seen Seth move this fast.
As Mox spun around to walk away, Seth kicked him in the back of his left knee. As Mox staggered forward, almost windmilling his arms to maintain his balance, Seth drop kicked him between the shoulder blades sending him falling face first into the sand.
As quick as a cat, Seth landed on Mox's back and grabbed one of his arms and secured it with handcuffs.
'Handcuffs? Where the hell did Seth get handcuffs? And why did he bring them?' Roman actually shook his head as though to dispel an illusion.
Mox felt both his wrists being secured in handcuffs and then Seth sitting on top of him.
"I made Dean a solemn promise, Moxley," Seth furiously hissed. "And I'm damn well going to keep it. Now bring my brother back! NOW!"
Roman slowly stepped forward and tapped Seth's shoulder. "Get off him, Seth," he quietly ordered.
Seth grunted but got to his feet and stepped to one side.
Roman watched as Mox managed to roll onto his back then twist around, trying to sit up. He raised his eyebrows at the profanity coming out of the secured man's mouth. "You can flop around like a fish out of water all night. Not gonna get you free."
"Damn it to fucking hell, you bastards! I'm not him!"
Seth snorted in disbelief while Roman silently waited.
Mox rolled to one side, facing away from them. "I'm me…fuck, I'm so tired…"
Seth put a hand out to stop Roman who ignored him as he walked to kneel in front of the restrained man.
"I'm me, Roman. I did what I had to do…but not what he wanted to me to do."
Roman sighed at the whispered words, then looked up at Seth. "Get him out of the cuffs."
Seth's dark eyes widened as he hurried forward. He dropped to his knees and quickly released the handcuffs. "I'msorrysorrymanbutIpromisedandIthought…"
"Shut up, Seth," Dean grunted as he stretched his shoulders and rubbed his wrists.
Seth sat back on his heels. "No, I mean it…I thought…"
Any words he might have said were muffled as Dean grabbed him and pulled him close into a tight embrace.
"You kept your promise," Dean roughly muttered. "You both did." He reached out and pulled Roman closer.
Roman wrapped his arms around both his brothers and held on.
"I was so…on the edge," Dean explained after a few moments. "I could feel Mox starting to stir during the match and had to keep pushing him back down. That's why I had to get away from everybody…just in case."
"That's why you gave Kingston a couple of breaks during the match." Seth rubbed his face. "I wondered about that."
"Couldn't let Mox get turned loose on him." Dean stared out into the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean. "I may have lost one of my oldest friends, but I could at least try to protect him from…him. Tried to protect the both of you, too." He shook his head and gave Roman a slight grin. "Should've known you two would show up."
"Yeah, you should," Roman chuckled as he sat next to Dean. "Of course, a certain lovely young woman gave us a bit of a heads up."
Dean's blue eyes widened, then he groaned. "Guess I should call Renee, huh?"
"You think?" Seth snarked.
Roman snorted and stood. He reached down and pulled Seth to his feet. "We'll be at the car. We're parked next to you."
As they walked away, Roman ignored Seth's grumbles about sand in his shoes in favor of trying to hear Dean's voice.
"Hi, babe. Yeah, I'm okay. Just…tired. Yeah, they found me. Thanks, honey. I love you."
Roman relaxed and slapped Seth on the shoulder. "You're telling me a little sand in your shoes is a problem, Oh Messiah?"
"Shut the fuck up, Roman."