Disclaimer: The story you are reading is a fictitious work of this author and is not intended to portray real-life events. Any resemblance to any real-life events is purely coincidental. The names of all World Wrestling Entertainment televised and live programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and wrestling moves and all World Wrestling Entertainment logos are trademarks, which are the exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2013 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The names of all TNA televised and live programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and wrestling moves and all TNA logos are trademarks, which are the exclusive property of TNA Entertainment, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2013 TNA Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Author's Note: I know. I disappeared forever and then come back as if nothing happened. I'm sorry. Here's hoping this chapter and the rest of this story makes up for it.
As promised, here is your cast for The Squared Circle. Please note that I have their ring name followed by their real name, just like a standard cast listing. I figured you'd need it because sometimes the characters will refer to each other by their real names.
The Squared Circle cast
WWE Divas
Layla….. Layla El
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque….. Herself
Mickie James….. Herself
Brie Bella….. Brianna Garcia-Colace
Nikki Bella….. Nicole Garcia-Colace
Kaitlyn….. Celeste Bonin
AJ Lee….. April Mendez
Naomi….. Trinity McRae
Cameron….. Ariane Andrew
Trish Stratus….. Patricia Stratigius
Lita….. Amy Dumas
Michelle McCool….. Michelle McCool-Calaway
TNA Knockouts
Mickie James….. Herself
Velvet Sky….. Jamie Szantyr
Gail Kim….. Herself
Miss Tessmacher….. Brooke Adams
Christy Hemme….. Herself
Tara….. Lisa Marie Varon
Taryn Terrell….. Herself
Madison Rayne….. Ashley Cabot
The Squared Circle
Chapter 2
Making an Impact
Monday April 8, 2013 – Taryn Terrell's apartment – Tampa, Florida
Taryn Terrell sat in her Tampa, Florida apartment watching the flagship program of her former employer, World Wrestling Entertainment. She had everything she wanted while she was there. Tiffany, as she was known in her WWE run from 2008 to 2010, was a beautiful, glamorous, kick-ass Diva in the largest wrestling organization in the world. She was a rising star, a woman that was quickly becoming a beloved babyface. She had a handsome husband, Drew Galloway, known to the world as Drew McIntyre, the WWE's "Chosen One". The future was hers for the taking. But all of that came crashing down in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 8, 2010.
That Saturday evening, she and Drew attended a party in Las Vegas. At some point after they returned to their hotel room, a vicious argument ensued. The police were called and Taryn was arrested. A week later, the WWE suspended her indefinitely. By November, she was released from her WWE contract.
It took her two years to get back to the big stage. In January, TNA signed her to become the official referee for their Knockouts Division. Soon afterward, she was booked into an intense referee-wrestler angle where she feuded with Knockout legend Gail Kim over a series of "blown calls". Over the next three months, despite not officially competing in the ring, her feud with the beautiful Asian intensified. As she sat in her apartment studying Monday Night Raw, she contemplated her own future in the Knockouts division as well as her own personal life. In three days, she will finally get her hands on Gail in the ring in her first singles competition since arriving in TNA. Soon, she hoped, she will get her hands on someone else she's been dying to touch. However, this encounter promises to be more pleasurable.
Since her divorce to Drew was finalized two years earlier, Taryn unleashed a robust sexual appetite that left many victims, male and female, in its wake. She experimented with many forms of sexual expression and loved every minute of it. It was an appetite that she suppressed while she was in the WWE, despite her knowledge of the existence of The Circle. It wasn't that she was afraid of joining the libidinous club. She was afraid that she might do something to lose her job and that was something that she wasn't prepared to do. That made the circumstances surrounding her WWE demise all the more ironic.
Upon her arrival, Taryn knew that there were no less than four former Circle members on the roster. But not one of them approached her about a TNA version of the club so she simply chalked it up to being a WWE thing and never gave it a second thought. What she did give many thoughts to was her hedonistic lust for one member of the hottest female duos in pro wrestling history. As she listened for a knock on her apartment door, she thought back to their first encounter.
FLASHBACK – January 13, 2013 – 1 pm – Impact! Zone – Orlando, Florida
Taryn walked into the empty Knockouts locker room in Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios Florida, known to the world as the Impact! Zone. That evening, Taryn was set to begin her big feud with Gail Kim after making a questionable call in the five woman gauntlet match to determine the number one contender for the Knockouts title. She came in early to meet with TNA Senior Referee and former WWE referee Earl Hebner and his son, TNA referee Brian Hebner. As she sat in front of her locker taking clothes out of her bag, she heard three familiar voices enter the locker room.
"My boobs are bigger! Will you tell her, please?!" Mickie James was heard to say before Taryn could see her.
"No effin' way! My breasts are clearly bigger than hers! Tell her Gail!" Ashley Cabot, known to the world as Madison Rayne, said.
"Now, hold on. Wait." Gail Kim replied. "Mick has you in volume."
"See! I told you!" Mickie exclaimed.
"But…" Gail added. "Ash has you on tit-to-body ratio. Anybody takes one look at her and they'll be like, 'Damn, she's got some big tits!'"
Mickie looked at Gail then Madison and let out a sigh. "You do have a point. I said the same thing the first time I saw her." She said.
It was at that point that Taryn decided to make her presence known, verbally and visually.
"Unnh, unnh, uhhh!" Taryn cleared her throat as she peeled off her t-shirt to expose her peach-colored bra and ample cleavage. Taryn was very free with her body, even in front of Madison, whom she had just met two days earlier.
"Oh. How could we forget about Ol' Tits McGee over here?" Mickie said with a smirk. "I think she's got us beat."
"She damn sure has me beat." Gail admitted.
"Nobody told you to take out your implants." Mickie said.
"You looked hot with your implants." Madison added.
"So you're saying I don't look good now?!" Gail huffed.
"All three of you look good enough to eat and you know it." Taryn offered. "So just drop it."
"She's right. The big tit contest is between her and Jess anyway." Gail said, referring to TNA Knockout ODB by her name, Jessica. Mickie and Madison nodded in agreement.
"Now the ass contest… Brooke and Velvet. Hands down." Madison said.
"Which Brooke?" Mickie asked.
"Adams! Tessmacher!" Gail shot back using both of Brooke's last names, real and stage. "You didn't think I meant Hogan, did you? Her ass is almost as flat as mine!" The other three women howled with laughter.
"Speaking of Velvet, I thought she'd be here by now." Madison said.
"If Chris let her out of the bed." Gail spat playfully about Velvet's boyfriend, TNA superstar Chris Sabin.
"Oh, she has a boyfriend?" Taryn asked with a hint of disappointment.
"You disappointed?" Madison inquired playfully. Taryn's response was deadly serious.
"Yes. I am." Taryn said as she pulled another t-shirt out of her bag and put it on. She then had a thought. "You know I'm surprised that…"
Sensing where she was going with her train of thought, Mickie cut her off. "What happened… in the E, stays… in the E." Mickie said, fully aware that Madison and the other Knockouts that have never been in the WWE had no knowledge of The Inner Circle.
Taryn, picking up on Mickie's audible, continued. "I'm surprised… that I didn't tell you sooner."
"So you like the ladies, huh?" Madison asked.
"I like both. Whoever floats my boat." Taryn explained. "Why? Should I push up on you?"
Madison chuckled. Before she could respond, Gail piped in. "You know, Kat almost fucked her."
"Who?" Mickie asked.
"Velvet." Gail responded.
"You're lying!" Mickie shot back as Madison's mouth dropped open. Taryn shot a quick glance at Madison and made a comment that brought the house down.
"Honey, close your mouth or somebody will stick a dick in it." Mickie and Gail exploded in gut-busting laughter. Madison let out a single chuckle as she pushed her tongue to the side of her mouth and shook her head.
"She got you!" Mickie said, offering a high five to Taryn who accepted it before chuckling herself.
"Come here, baby. I'm sorry." Taryn said as she took Madison's head into her hands and cradled it. She then looked at Gail as she released Madison. "You were saying? Kat almost fucked Velvet?"
Gail finished laughing before continuing her story. "Yeah. Mick, remember that trial partnership thing they tried a few years ago?" Gail said of the trial WWE-TNA partnership in 2008 and 2009.
"Right! Kat was messing with Velvet while she worked in the E. Then when she came down here and joined us, she messed with Vel Vel every day, flirting with her and teasing her." Mickie recalled.
"I remember that!" Madison said. "I teased Velvet about hopping the fence 'cause it looked like she was ready to go." Madison's statement made Taryn raise an eyebrow as she contemplated her first move.
"Look." Gail observed. "Her wheels are turning."
"You're really gonna try to turn her, aren't you?" Madison asked.
"Well since you won't succumb to my feminine wiles." Taryn replied.
"I tell you what…" Madison started before she was immediately cutoff.
"No! Ash, do not go there. You betting never goes well." Gail reminded her.
"This one is in the bag. Don't worry about me." Madison shot back before returning her attention to the blonde newcomer. "If you manage to flip Velvet into your column…" Madison looked at Gail and Mickie who had begun taking things out of her gym bag. "I'll let you fuck me." Gail's eyes stretched wide open along with her mouth. In that same moment, Mickie froze dead in her tracks and looked at Gail in disbelief.
"Are you sure you want to do that, Madison?" Taryn warned. "Because I will get her. Sexually, I get what I want." Taryn then paused for a moment to study Madison. "Or…" Taryn took a couple of steps toward Madison. "Is that what you are counting on? Besides, what do you get if, by some amazing happenstance, I don't achieve my objective?"
"You tell me the real reason behind that fight you and your ex-husband had in Vegas." Madison challenged.
Taryn fluttered her eyes closed and exhaled before steeling herself and re-opening them. "Madison Rayne, you've got yourself a bet." Taryn said extending her hand to shake. Madison placed her hand in Taryn's and firmly shook it. "But… when I win, I'm not fucking Madison Rayne. I'm fucking Ashley Cabot."
It was time for the wheels in Mickie's head to start turning as she watched this exchange. She always had the feeling that something was missing during this run in TNA. Although she began a relationship with Nick Aldis, known to the wrestling universe as Magnus and has been the Knockouts Champion, along with it having great matches with women that she considers to be great competitors in the ring, great colleagues in the locker room and great friends outside, she was missing a certain spark that she felt while she was in WWE. It was then that it clicked. She missed The Inner Circle. She missed the initiations. She missed the forbidden trysts, the secret meetings, the plotting and scheming to get the girl. She hadn't thought about it before. But Taryn's words rekindled that spark inside her.
"Deal. I am so going to win this bet." Madison proclaimed.
"Oh lord! Madison Rayne is making locker room bets again." All heads swiveled to look in the direction of the new voice. "What sucker bet are you gonna lose this time?"
Taryn's eyes darkened with lust as the object of her desire stood before her for the first time. Back in the partnership days of 2008-2009, Taryn was not included in the Divas-Knockouts series. Not being on Monday Night Raw, she never met the five-foot-six, one hundred twenty five pound goddess known as Velvet Sky. The reigning Knockouts Champion was in the second month of her second reign as champion. She was far and away the fans favorite Knockout, from her infectiously upbeat personality to her signature "Let the pigeons loose!" ring entrance, the woman born Jamie Lynn Szantyr had it all. Add to that her relationship with another TNA all-time fan favorite, Chris Sabin, and Velvet was on top of the world.
"How in the hell do you do that?! You must tiptoe into the locker room!" Mickie said of Velvet's stealthy entrance.
"I'm light on my feet. What can I say?" Velvet responded as she scanned the room. When she locked eyes with Taryn, she immediately felt the same vulnerable feeling wash over her that she had the first time she met Kat Waters aka Katie Lea Burchill five years earlier. "So… you… must be… Taryn Terrell."
Taryn flashed a wry smile. "In the flesh." She said. "And you are Jamie Lynn Szantyr."
Gail picked up on Velvet's immediate change in demeanor and leaned over to Mickie. "Taryn's not gonna give the girl a chance."
"No chance in hell." Mickie replied.
"You do your homework, I see." Velvet responded in reaction to hearing her birth name.
"Well when I see somebody I want… to meet, I do all the background I can." Taryn replied.
"Okay. Well…" Velvet extended her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to working with you."
Taryn clasped Velvet's hand and slowly shook it. "The pleasure is all mine. Trust me."
"VEL! YOU GOT A SECOND?!" All the women could hear Christy Hemme shouting from the door.
"BE RIGHT THERE!" Velvet answered. "I'll be back." Velvet said as she slowly released her hand from Taryn's. The blonde simply nodded and watched as Velvet turned, sat her bag down on the bench and walked around the corner out of sight. When Gail thought Velvet was out of earshot, she turned to Taryn.
"You're… just… gonna…eyefuck her in front of all of us, huh?" Gail asked sarcastically.
"I thought I was very subtle." Taryn retorted.
"Subtle as a boot to the face." Mickie added. "You're not worried Madison, are you?"
"No need to worry. I can be very gentle." Taryn teased. "Unless you don't want me to be."
Madison chuckled. "Really cute. And you two aren't stopping her. What do you want some too? You want a piece of this Madison Rayne ass?"
"Ash, don't go there. Really." Gail warned, knowing of the past that she and Mickie shared.
"Yeah, Madison. No way you'd survive a foursome with us." Mickie offered.
"Is that a challenge?" Madison challenged.
"No sweetie. I'm not even gonna bait you like that." Mickie said. "Gail, I need to talk to you for a minute." Mickie took Gail by the arm and led her toward the locker room door.
"PUSSY!" Madison yelled after Mickie before flopping down on the bench next to Taryn.
"If you keep challenging girls in this locker room, that's exactly what you're gonna get." Taryn advised.
Madison scoffed. "Nah, buddy. This is not about me. This is about you and Velvet."
Taryn nodded. "Right. Me and Velvet."
END OF FLASHBACK
The ringing of her cellphone snapped Taryn out of her remembrance. She looked down at the caller ID. "Vel Vel". Over the last two months, Velvet had become fast friends with Taryn. It was not her intention at all to push Velvet into anything she didn't want to do. She was content to lie in the tall grass and wait until the time was right to strike. Taryn smiled to herself before picking up.
"Hey."
"Hey. What are you up to?"
"Uh… waiting for you to come over. Where are you?"
"Shit! I'm sorry. Chris had a thing tonight. I had to go with him. Raincheck?"
"He always has something going on. Doesn't he know he is messing with my Jamie Time?"
"Don't tell me you're jealous of Chris." Velvet said playfully.
"He gets to sleep with you every night. What's not to be jealous of?'
"I knew you wanted this ass."
"You have no idea." Taryn said with not a hint of playfulness. Velvet took it as a joke and kept going.
"Sleepover at my place after Impact. No rainchecks this time. Bring your PJ's."
"I don't sleep in PJ's. I sleep in flagrante delicto."
"How do you sleep 'caught in the act'?"
"I know what it means. I just like saying it."
"Well I sleep in PJ's so bring some. If you get naked in the middle of the night just put 'em back on before I wake up."
"For you, I'll wear clothes."
"Atta girl. Vel Vel out. I holla!"
"Bye Jamie."
"You, Chris and Angel are the only ones I let call me that." Velvet said of her boyfriend and best friend, Lauren Williams aka Angelina Love.
"But I sound the sexiest when I say it."
"Night, TT."
Taryn chuckled. "Bye." Taryn hung up the call and sank further into her couch. "I've come this far. I can't stop now."
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 – Mickie James' apartment – Orlando, Florida
A lot had changed over the last 5 years for Mickie James. She had gone from the face of the WWE Divas division to the unemployment line to the independent circuit to TNA Knockout. In that time she had also lost a woman that she believed was her soul mate. Every so often, when she is alone with her thoughts, she still flashes back to that dark day in February of 2012 when her soul mate, who was in the Philippines for an indy card, left for good.
FLASHBACK – February 1, 2012 – Mickie's apartment
"Mel, please don't do this!" Mickie pleaded with her girlfriend, Melina Perez, as she choked back tears.
"Mick, this being apart all the time is killing me. I love you but…" Melina started sobbing. "I need more than what we have…"
"I told you to come here! I am sure they will make room for you on the roster! The two of us can tear shit up here!" Mickie begged.
"I love being free out here." Melina said as she wept. "I can't let another big company shackle me down." It was now Melina's turn to beg. "Come with me. We can travel all over the world together, wrestle each other…I don't want to…" Melina broke down again.
"I've… got a good thing here." Mickie explained. "I can't mess this up."
"You just don't want to fuck up cause you want to go back to Stamford and collect a bigger check! You don't love me!"
"Melina, I do love you! How dare you call me a money grubbing whore! I love this business as much as you do! I have to do what's best for my career!"
Melina let out two huge sobs. "And I have to do… what's best for my career."
Mickie felt an uneasy calm wash over her. "So… that's it? Just like that?"
"I guess so." Melina strangled her words as they came out.
Tears silently poured from Mickie's eyes. The ultimate relationship sorrow squeezed her heart as her mind went into self-preservation mode. Mickie choked out a sentence that was as far from how she felt as possible. "I fucking hate you… you… bitch." Mickie then began silently sobbing.
Knowing exactly what was in Mickie's heart, Melina gave her the appropriate reply. "I… love you too." Melina felt a cold shudder rumble through her followed by uncontrollable weeping. "I… have… I have to g-go. Bye Mick."
"Mel, wait! Mel!" Mickie bellowed as she heard the line go silent. About eight seconds of silent sobbing ensued followed by the same cold shudder Melina felt on her end of the line and a blood curdling cry as she sank to the floor and bitterly wept.
END OF FLASHBACK
Even though the end of the relationship was more than a year earlier, residual pain still lingered. Mickie had recently begun to question whether or not that was why she started dating Magnus. She wanted to forget her feelings for Melina but it was proving difficult to do. When rumors began to swirl that Melina and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, John Hennigan aka John Morrison, were coming to TNA, she choked up in front of Gail and Lisa Marie Varon aka Tara and had to reveal to them a relationship she took great pains to conceal, even from her former WWE Divas.
Mickie decided to concentrate on her career and joining Gail Kim as the only women that could claim to be the top female wrestler in WWE and TNA. She also threw herself headlong into her other passion, music. Time not spent on the road with TNA or with Magnus was spent in the studio and on the road cultivating her singing career. From one perspective, Melina breaking up with her gave her the professional focus she needed to kick herself into another gear. A sense of contentment was seeping into her life. She still didn't have the unbridled joy she had with Melina, but for now the contentment was good enough.
On this Tuesday morning, Mickie found herself cleaning around her apartment and doing three weeks' worth of laundry. The ringing of her cellphone snapped her out of her cleaning mode. She turned the vacuum off and looked at her caller ID.
"No fucking way!" Mickie exclaimed as she excitedly answered her phone. "Beth! Baby Girl! It took you long enough to call me!"
"It's not like you don't have my cell phone number."
"Shut up and tell me how Adam is." Mickie said of Beth's boyfriend, Adam Copeland, WWE's Hall of Famer Edge.
"Adam is fine. The neck is healing. The question is how is my Mick Mick?"
"Mick Mick is good. Mick Mick is cleaning her house and gonna head to the gym a little later."
"You know what I'm talking about."
Mickie paused for a couple of seconds. "It's been a year. I'm dating again. I'm in a good place."
"You sound like you're in a safe place. Not necessarily good."
"Could never put one over on you could I?"
"Nope. But then again, you peeped my hold card when I had that thing for Kat."
"Why did we fall in love with women?"
"Because it felt right."
"I miss The Circle. I didn't miss it until Taryn came around."
"But I thought she wasn't in."
"She wasn't. She just has this 'I don't give a fuck' attitude that The Circle was all about. Plus I do miss eating pussy."
Beth laughed. "So what's stopping you?"
"I don't know! I just can't seem to pull the trigger on things these days. It's like I need some kind of… I don't know… some kind of…" Mickie's thought was interrupted by her doorbell. "… sign. Beth?"
"I heard the door. Go. I need to go run an errand for Adam anyway. Let's Skype soon."
"Count on it." The doorbell rang again. "I'M COMING! Love you girl."
"Love you too. Bye Mick."
"Bye!" The doorbell rang a third time. "I SAID I'M COMING! HOLD ON!" Mickie ended her call and went to open her apartment door. When she saw who was standing in front of her, her mouth dropped open in shock.
"You should know by now that The Billion Dollar Princess doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"Stephanie?" Mickie uttered. She then realized that another familiar face was standing right behind the McMahon heiress. "Lay?"
"The Egyptian-British Princess doesn't like to be kept waiting either." Layla added, mimicking Stephanie.
"Wha-What are you doing here?" Mickie asked.
"Miss El here is in need of a little inspiration. Her stint as the ringleader isn't going so well. I thought you could give her a… pep talk." Stephanie made sure her last two words were thickly laced with her signature purr.
Mickie studied Stephanie. She had seen that look before, not in Stephanie's eyes, but she had seen it. Stephanie had more than a pep talk in mind. She looked at Layla and saw her eyes darting back and forth in search of a purpose. It had been three years since she left WWE and The Inner Circle behind. But it was clear by Stephanie and one of her employees risking being seen with an employee of a rival promotion that The Inner Circle needed her. How could she possibly turn them away.
"Lay?" Mickie asked softly, understanding Layla's sensitive nature.
"I need your help. The Circle needs your help." Layla said softly.
Mickie shook her head and smiled at Layla as she waved them inside. "I never could resist your voice." Mickie then looked at Stephanie as she closed the door. Stephanie was out of The Circle before Mickie arrived, but as she had in Layla, Mickie was also an admirer. "Or yours, Boss Lady."
"Don't start, Mickie." Stephanie started. "On second thought… I take that back. Besides, I'm not your boss anymore… just a friend in need."
Mickie again studied the two beautiful women standing in her apartment. "I asked for a sign." Mickie said out loud to herself. "Guess it's time to pull the trigger."
The sooner I stop writing this post-chapter note, the sooner I can start working on Chapter 3. And I know that's what y'all want to see anyway.
Yeah. I'm back. Time to rock and roll. Let's go.
As always… PLEASE REVIEW.