The next morning Illyria woke up, hardly able to move because her arms and legs were tangled with Jim's so she lifted her head a little to check the clock and growled softly when she saw it was only seven in the morning. The only day we don't have to go anywhere and I wake up early. She looked over at Jim and watched him sleep for a little while trying to figure out if she was going to be able to get untangled without waking him up. Illyria finally managed to get her body untangled from Jim's without him even stirring and she stood up, wincing when bones began to crack and muscles began to ache. "Fuck me." She groaned.
"If you get back in bed I will." Jim spoke up and Illyria jumped a little in surprise.
"When did you wake up?"
"When you started moving around. Feeling okay?" He asked, smirking.
"I feel like I was in a match last night. Have you always been that...flexible?" She questioned, blushing a little as she thought about the things they did after they had got back from the arena and he chuckled.
"Surprised?"
"That's the understatement of the fucking century. I'm surprised they didn't call the damn cops on you, thinking you were trying to kill me with all the screaming I was doing."
"You were screaming shit that made it pretty clear I wasn't trying to kill you baby." Jim assured her, reaching up to pull her back in bed. "You do realize we don't have to get up this fucking early, right?"
"Yeah. I woke up though and was going to go check on the Terry Twins (Brunk & Funk) but I just don't feel like it right now."
"Then don't, we'll go check on them later. Let's get some more sleep first."
"Sounds good to me." Illyria stated, snuggling closer to him and falling right back to sleep. They were woke up a few hours later by someone knocking on their hotel room door. "You want me to get it?" She mumbled only to receive a groan from him in response. "I'll take that as a yes." Illyria giggled and got out of bed, her body only slightly protesting this time as she slid on a pair of shorts and one of his new Sandman t-shirts. She walked over to the door and opened it, smiling when she saw Sara and Beulah standing there. "Hey girls, come on in."
"Lyria!" Jim barked and she spun around to see him standing there naked.
"Oops, hang on a minute. Sorry baby." He just shook his head and grabbed his jeans off the floor, quickly pulling them on. "Okay, now you can come in." She said, stepping aside. The two women laughed and walked into the room.
"We have come to kidnap you for a day of shopping." Sara told her and she smiled.
"Sounds good, I need to get some new stuff anyway."
"Lyria have you seen my damn shoes?" Jim asked, looking around the room and she giggled.
"There's one under the bed and the other one is right inside the bathroom."
"How the hell..." Beulah trailed off, looking back and forth between Jim and Illyria.
"Don't ask." Illyria replied, smiling slyly. "I want to go check on the Terry Twins before we go anywhere. I woke up around seven and was going to do it then but I just didn't feel up to it. Also I need to call Rob...he owes me a shopping spree for my birthday so I'll have him bring his credit card down, I'm not risking going to his room and getting into it with Sonya again." She stated, grabbing her cell phone out of her purse and dialing Rob's cell number.
"Hello?"
"Rob? It's your sister, what are you doing?"
"Nothing, why?" He questioned.
"Sara and Beulah want to go shopping today so..."
"You want my credit card." Rob finished for her, laughing.
"Pretty much."
"All right, I'll be down in a few minutes."
"Okay. Thanks Rob!" Illyria said, smiling at Beulah and Sara.
"No problem...I owe you for your birthday anyway."
"Yeah I know." She replied. They said their goodbyes then she hung up the phone. "He'll be down in a few minutes then we'll go check on the Terry Twins."
"After that...shopping!" Sara laughed.
"Hey baby?" Jim spoke up and she turned to see him smiling evilly and twirling something around on his finger. It took her a minute to realize that it was the remains of her thong that he had tore off of her the night before.
"Give me that!" Illyria exclaimed, lunging for it but he pulled it out of her reach. "Jim give it here." She said, holding her hand out. He eventually relented, roaring with laughter when she took it from him and tossed it in the trash. "See, I told you guys I need to buy new stuff...a new man might be in the cards too."
"I don't think so." Jim stated, walking up behind her and pulling her roughly against him. "You're mine." He growled in her ear, laughing softly when he felt her body melt against his.
"Still want a new man?" Sara asked her, laughing.
"Hell no." There was a knock on the door and Illyria walked over on wobbly knees to open it, revealing her brother. "Hey Rob, come in."
"I can't, Paul wants to meet with me about tomorrow night so I just wanted to drop the card off."
"Oh, okay. Tell Paulie I said hi."
"I will." Rob replied, handing her his credit card. "Try not to max it out."
"Didn't plan on it." He nodded and gave her a hug before turning and walking away. "All right ladies, I got the plastic so let's go shopping. Baby did you want to go with us to check on the Terry Twins?"
"Might as well." Jim said, putting a t-shirt on but not before Beulah noticed something.
"What the hell is that?" She asked, pointing to his stomach.
Jim looked down and started laughing. "Care to explain that one Lyria?"
"Sure. One of my favorite body parts on Jim is his stomach so in the middle of...things last night I kind of bit him."
"Just what in the hell did you two do last night?" Sara questioned, laughing.
"You seriously do not want to know!" Illyria replied, giggling and blushing at the same time. "Let's just say that I found out that Jim's more flexible than he appears to be."
"Well then, on that note...let's go check on the Terry Twins." Beulah stated, truly happy that Illyria found someone she could be herself with.
The four of them left Jim and Illyria's hotel room and made their way first to Terry Funk's room and Illyria knocked on the door. A few minutes later the door slowly came open and Terry stood there, his eye still bandaged from the night before. "Hey Terry. Sara, Beulah and I are going out shopping but we thought we'd come see how you were first."
"I'm doing better than I was last night, not much but better none the less." He said, stepping aside so the four of them could walk in the room.
"Is there anything that you need?"
"Nothing that I can think of right now. Jim, how are you?" Terry asked, a smile on his face that Illyria couldn't quite place.
"Fine, why?"
"I happened past your room last night." Terry informed him and Illyria groaned in embarrassment while Jim laughed.
"Okay...I think it's time Sara, Beulah and I go check on the other Terry Twin. Jim, baby, I will see you later." Illyria kissed him quickly, grabbing her friends by the hand and dragging them out of the hotel room much to the amusement of Terry and Jim. "God, who the fuck else heard us last night?" She mumbled.
"Pretty much the whole floor." A male voice spoke up from behind her and Illyria turned to see John Rechner standing there with a smile on his face. "I'm staying on this floor along with Charlie, Michael and Pete (Justin Credible)."
"Oh dear god." Illyria groaned. "That's it, I'm moving to another country and changing my name."
"Sweetie you haven't heard the best part yet."John laughed.
"There's something good in all of this? Besides the fact that I had the best sex of my life?"
"Well, maybe not best for you..."
"What is it?" Illyria asked.
"Michael recorded you guys on his cell phone."
"I'll kill him!" She exclaimed and Jim opened the door to Terry's room.
"Baby? Who you killing?"
"Manna! The jackass recorded us on his fucking cell phone last night!"
"Where is he?" Jim asked John who shook his head.
"I'm not at liberty to say."
"John tell them, you'd hate it if he did something like that to you." Beulah spoke up and he sighed.
"Downstairs in the restaurant."
"Lyria you go on and check on Brunk, I'll take care of Manna." Jim told her and she was about to argue with him until she saw the look on his face.
"Okay." Illyria, Beulah and Sara all got in the elevator and as the doors closed she saw Jim talking with Terry about what was going on. "He was acting strange, there's something going on that he's not telling me." Illyria said to her two friends and they gave each other a look that she couldn't help but notice. "You guys know what it is!"
"Yeah Lyria, we do." Sara stated as they stepped off the elevator and headed towards Terry Brunk's room.
"Well?"
"Do you think we should tell her?" Beulah questioned Sara.
"I think so, she has a right to know."
"Hello? I'm standing right fucking here! Someone tell me what the hell is going on, please?"
"Lyria the first time Michael saw you he didn't know you were Rob's sister and he walked in the locker room and told Tommy that he found his next fuck toy. He described you to Tommy and Tommy immediately recognized your description, he didn't say anything to Michael instead he went straight to Rob and told him what Michael had said. Rob was so pissed that he got pretty much everyone in the locker room to gang up on Michael...he knew that he couldn't lay a hand on Michael without getting in trouble so they all threatened him, told him to stay the hell away from you or they'd hurt him no matter what the consequences. As far as Jim goes, it took Tommy, the Terry Twins, John and Pete to hold him back...he was going to attack Michael and didn't give a damn about what happened to him if he did." Beulah explained to her and Illyria stood there looking at her wide eyed.
"But why would Jim do that?"
"Tommy asked him that a few days later and it took about an hour of Tommy prying and plowing Jim with beer to get the answer."
"Which was?" Illyria asked.
"Jim had a thing for you back then but he was still married at the time and even though his marriage was falling apart he wasn't going to do anything. He also wasn't sure someone as young as you would be interested in as he said 'an old, fat drunk man' like him."
"My god!" She gasped just as they reached Terry Brunk's room. "I never had any idea."
"You couldn't have Lyria. Jim did the best he could to keep it hid but there were times, like what happened with Michael when he let his feelings for you get the best of him." Beulah said.
"I guess so." Illyria replied, knocking on Terry's door. It was opened a minute later with Terry standing there, his ribs taped up. "How are you feeling Terry?"
"Like I was run over by a mack truck." Terry laughed. "Come on in." The three women walked in his room and Illyria saw him wince as he tried to sit down on the chair in his room.
"Here Terry, let me help you and don't even think about arguing with me...I am so not in the mood for it right now." Illyria stated, rushing to his side and taking a hold of his arm. She heard him growl in frustration and knew he hated needing help but she also knew he wouldn't say anything to her. Illyria helped him into the chair and he looked up at her.
"What is it?"
"What is what?"
"You know what. What's bothering you Illyria Ann?" Terry asked and she sighed.
"Lyria?" Sara spoke up and Illyria turned to her. "Let's go shopping another day, you need to talk to Terry about all this." She stated, knowing that Terry was like a Father figure to her.
"Are you guys sure?"
"Yeah, we'll be around all the time you know that but this is a lot more important right now." Beulah said and Illyria nodded, walking over and giving them both a hug.
"Thank you for telling me what you did." Illyria whispered to Beulah.
"It was time you found out anyway."
She watched her two best friends walk out of the room then turned her attention back to Terry. "You got anything stiff to drink?"
"There's a bottle of Jack in the little refrigerator."
"Oh thank god." She mumbled, walking over to the refrigerator and pulling the bottle out. Illyria twisted the top off of it and took a long drink, wincing slightly as the amber liquid burnt her from the inside out when she swallowed it.
"All right, going to tell me what drove you to drinking Jack Daniels?" Terry questioned as she sat down on the floor in front of him.
"Last night when Jim and I got back here we got a bit...carried away when we had sex. Apparently practically the whole floor could hear my screaming, well John informed me today that Manna stood outside our door last night and recorded us on his cell phone." Illyria saw Terry's face quickly change from a look of amusement to one of anger. "Before you get any ideas Jim heard me from inside the other Terry Twin's room telling John that I was going to kill Manna. He came out and wanted to know who I was going to kill and why so I told him. He told me to go ahead and go shopping with Beulah and Sara, that he would take care of Michael...I was going to argue with him about it but there was this look on his face that I have never seen before. I knew something was wrong by the way he was talking to Terry and asked Beulah and Sara about it. At first they weren't sure whether they should've told me or not but eventually Beulah told me what happened the first time Michael saw me and what Jim almost did."
"That's what you're so angry about?"
"Wouldn't you be?" Illyria asked and he nodded. "I can't believe Michael would do something like that then to hear the reason Jim almost attacked him..." She trailed off, taking another long drink from the bottle. "This is almost too much for me to take Terry."
"But it's not Illyria Ann, you're stronger than that. I know that you are and so do you. Let me ask you something...is Jim worth it?"
"Yes." Illyria replied without hesitation. "I have never doubted for one minute that I want to be with him but...I loved Michael as if he were my own brother then I find out he pulled this shit."
"Manna isn't important Illyria Ann. The only people that matters is you, Jim and those who truly care about you." Terry told her and she smiled a little. The phone in his room rang and with a little bit of a struggle he got up to answer it. "Hello?...Yeah, she's here. Beulah and Sara told her they'd go shopping another day, she needed someone to talk to...Illyria Ann is fine...Okay, see you in a few minutes then." He said and hung up the phone.
"Jim?"
"Yeah, he'll be here in a few minutes."
"Did he sound pissed?" She asked.
"Worried is more like it. He saw Mark and Sara leaving the hotel as he was coming out of the restaurant and was worried something happened to you." There was a rapid knock on the door and Terry walked over to open it. "Come on in." He said to Jim.
"Lyria, baby?"
"I know Jim." Illyria whispered.
"You know what baby?"
"About what happened with Michael the first time he saw me...about everything." She could hear his sharp intake of breath and turned to look up at him. "How could you do something like that?"
"What? Protect you from an asshole like..."
"No Jim, not that. How could you think so low of me?"
"What the hell do you mean baby?" Jim asked, throughly confused.
"I'd have no interest in an 'old, fat drunk man' like you?" Illyria questioned and she saw realization dawn on his face.
Jim sighed and sat down on the floor beside her. "Baby I'm sorry if you think that I thought low of you but it wasn't like that. You were young and sexy and here I was, an older man with a fucking beer gut who drank and smoked. How was I supposed to know you wanted me?" He asked her, smirking when she growled softly. "Trying to say you didn't want me?" Terry broke out into a fit of laughter and Illyria shot him a dirty look.
"Shut up Terry and no I'm not trying to say that, it just pisses me off that we've wasted all these years after you got divorced being apart when we could've been together."
"But we're together now and that's what matters, right?"
"Yeah." She replied and he pulled her in his arms.
"Let's go back to our room."
"Okay. Terry you want to meet us for dinner later?"
"Sounds good." Terry agreed. Jim and Illyria went to their room where they spent the next few hours in bed then they got up, got dressed and went downstairs to meet Terry for dinner where the three of them had a good time swapping stories.