August 2011

The phone in Eric Bischoff's office was ringing off the hook, and had been ringing all morning. If it wasn't the network calling with suggestions, it was someone asking for time off, someone else complaining about not being booked, or someone trying to get booked. Every time he hung up, it would ring again, and he spent a lot of time wishing his secretary wasn't out sick today. He picked up the call and said, "Make it fast."

It was Tommy. "Eric," he said, "I'm got something for you. When can you see me?"

"Umm, let me look. It's 10 am now; I might have some time in the afternoon. What's it about?"

"Bobby Roode and AJ Styles."

"Oh. Well in that case, I can see you in half an hour if you keep it short."

"I'll be there."

Eric went on to the next call. It was long, and while he listened, he doodled on a notepad, his mind already wondering if this was what he could use to run AJ out for good.

Exactly 25 minutes later, Tommy walked up and knocked on his door. Eric put his hand over the phone and said, "Come in," and went back to his call. As Tommy entered, he waved a hand towards his chair and then held up a finger. Tommy seated himself and waited patiently, a small, mean smile in place.

Eric hung up. The phone rang again and he turned down the ringer. "So, what?"

"I have proof of them together again. It was last Friday when we were in Georgia. I saw AJ sneaking into Bobby's room, and he didn't come out for at least an hour."

"You hung outside his room for an hour? I'm impressed by your devotion. That's the kind of go-getter I like here in TNA. Did you get anything else? Pictures, maybe?"

"No pictures. Me seeing that ought to be good enough, right?"

"I suppose. Anything else?"

"They have been seeing each other steadily for months now. I even asked Bobby one night, and he came right out and said it was true. They aren't trying to hide it anymore."

"Thanks, Tommy, I appreciate it."

Without another word, Tommy got up and walked straight out the door. Eric looked after him, shook his head, and picked up the phone again, this time to call both Bobby and AJ.

Later, in the afternoon, Bobby and AJ reported to the office. They were careful not to come together, but arrived within a few minutes of each other. Bischoff noticed. "Perfect timing, gentlemen. Please sit. Lock the door behind you."

Lock it? Bobby wondered. This was going to be serious. His palms broke out in a light sweat and his hand slipped on the doorknob a tiny bit. Bischoff leaned back in his chair, steepled his hands, and looked sternly at the two of them.

"Good afternoon. It's come to my attention that despite my warnings and best efforts, you two have been...how shall I put it...flaunting my wishes. Again. This is the last straw for both of you. I'm tired of hearing things. I'm tired of seeing things. I punished one of you; maybe it's time now to take it up a notch and fire one of you. Which one should it be? I'm willing to listen to your arguments."

Bobby and AJ looked at each other in shock. Bobby managed to say, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. We've been toeing the line. Unless you have some proof, I think you're talking out of your ass."

"Oh, I have proof," said Bischoff. He was clearly savoring this moment. "I have a direct report that AJ was seen entering Bobby's room on the 18th. A good, reputable report. May I remind you two that you weren't supposed to have contact like that with each other?"

"I didn't sneak into anyone's room that night," said AJ. It was true. What happened between them that weekend had been on the 20th, in a completely different location far from the other wrestlers, but neither one of them was going to volunteer that. "I was with Kaz and Magnus in a bar all night, because I was their designated driver. Both of them will back me up, if they remember it, and they should."

"And you, Bobby?" Bischoff said in a silky voice.

"I had an early night and Skyped with my kids. You can get them on the phone, if you need to, but I'd rather you didn't."

"I see. So you don't have any proof of your whereabouts?" Bischoff asked. He eyes probed directly into AJ's as he asked the next question. "So you could have been anywhere that night, with anybody. You could have been scratching your itch with someone else risk free. It's not like I'm keeping you away from anyone else on the roster, right? You're a free man."

AJ's lips twitched the tiniest bit, but he said nothing.

Bobby said, "I didn't sleep with anyone, didn't hang out with anyone. I talked with my kids, went to bed early, got up early and worked out. That's it."

Bischoff's eyes hadn't yet moved from AJ. "Am I supposed to believe you didn't have anyone in your bed that night? You could have called someone, someone to take the itch away, right?"

"And if I had, that would have been none of your business," Bobby fired back. "But I didn't. I was alone."

"Well, I'm sure AJ is glad to hear that," Bischoff smirked. "Aren't you, AJ?"

"What he does when he's off is none of my business," AJ replied.

Bischoff rolled his eyes and leaned back. "Nice job, Bobby. You taught him well. Maybe now you can finally play poker, AJ."

AJ simply shrugged.

Bischoff switched his focus to Bobby, and steepled his fingers again. "So, Bobby, how do you explain someone coming to me and telling me they saw you two going into a hotel room, alone, together? I'm all ears."

"If it was Tommy Mercer, I'd tell you to ignore it."

"And why is that?"

"Because Tommy's had it in for me since last year. We got into a fight earlier this summer over it. He's had some kind of grudge against me for months. After the fight, he told me he was gonna get me despite the fact that I did him a favor."

"What favor would that be? How many men are you seducing around here?"

Bobby ignored the bait. "I came up with a lie about why we fought, so that there wouldn't be any problems with our mutual friends. We really fought because he insisted I'm having an affair with AJ and called me a lying scumbag when I denied it. He'll tell you anything to get back at me. I don't know what got up his ass, but he's been acting funny towards me for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if he ran in here to make something up about me. No proof, of course. Just saying."

"I know about the fight, but I'd heard a different reason."

"Motorhead?"

"Yes. I thought it was too stupid to be real, which meant it probably was."

"It was the most reasonable thing I could come up with on short notice. Also, we were both drunk."

"Hmm. Well, that's interesting. It doesn't have any impact on the report I got, but it's interesting. Very well. This doesn't mean I'm taking my eye off you. In fact, I might be testing you by the end of the year, see if you are really as high and mighty as you come off. See how you do when you're tempted every week."

"Bring it on," said AJ.

Bischoff grinned an oily grin, and said, "You might come to regret that challenge down the road. Good bye, gentlemen. I'll talk to you another time."

They all rose to their feet; Bobby and AJ left the room as Bischoff retrieved his phone from his coat pocket and looked through his old messages. He found the one he was looking for and said a name aloud.

"Storm."

The phone dialed.

Later, after the show, Bobby called James to see if he wanted to hang out. To his surprise, James was in his room. He sounded a bit down.

"James," Bobby said, "What's up with you tonight?"

"Not much. I'm kind of in a shitty mood so I'm just sitting here watching TV. What's on your mind?"

"Mind if I come over? I feel like chilling tonight."

"Sure man, but I'm not real talkative right now."

"It's cool. I'll see you in a bit."

Bobby arrived at James' shortly afterward, a six pack in hand. Even if James was down in the dumps, it never hurt to have beer on hand just in case. Turns out he didn't need to worry; James had his own supply, which he had barely touched. Right after he let Bobby in, he flopped back down on the bed and stared blankly at the screen. Bobby pulled up the chair to sit beside him.

"Damn, James, I haven't seen you this down for a while," Bobby said.

James just stared into space. After a few seconds, he sighed. "Sometimes I don't even know about myself."

Bobby didn't quite know what to make of this statement, so he sipped his beer and waited. James stared back into space.

"Bobby, let me ask you a question. Say you had two brothers. One of them is like your new little brother. You get along great, you like all the same things, you even dress alike. But he has a problem with your older brother, who is cool, but he's not as close to you, even though he's family. Your younger brother has done a bunch of shit to the older one. Would you get between them? Would you pick sides?"

"Are you really asking me a question about life, Redneck Yoda?"

The jab only brought a ghost of a smile. "Yeah, I am."

"Bad news for you, then. I don't know the answer."

"Me neither. It sucks."

"I do have some information for you that might make your decision easier."

"I doubt it," James sighed as he picked up a beer, "but go on anyway."

Bobby then told him about the meeting with AJ and Bischoff. To his surprise, James' expression didn't change one bit. Bobby's eyes narrowed. "You're not surprised at all? You're not surprised that your best friend in the company basically tried to get me fired?"

"Nope. Bischoff called me today. He asked me if I thought that Tommy should be sent home for a little while. And, to be honest, I told him no. I told him I could help him because I was close to him. I mean it, too. I see a lot of myself in him I guess. You know, if a girl shot me down back in the day, I would cuss her out up and down the street to everybody. That's little boy shit. He's doing the same shit now to you. And I feel like, if I just talk to him, now that everything's out in the open, I might be able to make a dent in that mentality, and he needs that. So yeah. Especially after what happened back in November."

"What happened?"

"You're not gonna like this part."

"Figures. Go on. Tell me."

"Well, you remember when we did the big reveal on 10/10/10, right? And how after that they separated him from us and made him do his own thing?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"That was because I went to Bischoff and made him do it. He fucked up. He fucked up pretty bad. All right, so one night I needed this phone number from him. He was asleep, so I figured, I'd just go in his phone and get it, right? So I picked up his phone and I was looking through it and I found...I found a picture of you. In the shower."

Bobby's mouth dropped open. "Are you fucking serious?"

"I'm serious. So I tried to talk to him and he blew me off a bunch of times, and he was getting hostile with you. So I told Eric that y'all had to be separated. You didn't even notice what was going on because you were on your AJ trip. But it helped. It really did. And then the AJ thing happened and he got so fucking jealous, and he still wouldn't talk to me. The night after the fight, after you punched him out, I broke him down. I told him if he was gonna act like a little kid, he was going to get fired, and I couldn't protect him anymore, and then he finally talked to me. He's not beyond help. He needs a couple more swift kicks in the ass, but he's not beyond help. He's not. I know it." James drank more beer, and then looked at Bobby, his eyes apologetic.

Bobby's head was spinning. "So you're going to help him learn how not to be an asshole because he's your friend, even though he's been spying on me since at least fucking November? No wonder Bischoff used him."

"He's got two strikes. There won't be a third."

"You're damn right there won't be a third!"

James hung his head. He dared not say anything else while Bobby was raging.

"I don't fucking believe this shit," Bobby spat. "I really don't. I can't believe you're taking his fucking side!"

"I'm not taking his side. He's wrong. I'm trying to help him to be right."

"He's a grown ass man! He's not some 12 year old kid!"

"You're right. I know it in my head that I should be siding with you. I know that's the right thing to do. And I am siding with you, I just think I can fix it. Trust me, okay? I have a plan."

"I know I called you Redneck Yoda, but I didn't think you were really going to take this Star Wars shit seriously. Is he your fucking Padawan or something?"

James smiled a one-sided smile. "Now that you put it that way, it really is some Star Wars shit. He better not cut my limbs off. I would make a shitty Vader."

"You would."

"Bobby, I AM your father."

"Shut up, James. I'm not in the mood for jokes."

They both watched TV in silence for a while. Bobby was seething. Part of him wanted to punch James in the face until he felt better. If it wasn't for James being so kind and helpful these last few months, he would have. He cut his eyes over at James, who seemingly plucked his thought out of the air.

"You want to fuck me up, don't you?"

"Kind of, yeah."

"Don't blame you."

James finished his beer in one gulp and pulled out another. "I tell you what - give me a couple of months with him. See if I can turn his head around. If I can't, I'll come to you, and we'll go to Bischoff and see if we can't get rid of him. In the meantime I'll keep him away from you-"

"I'll be keeping the fuck away from you both."

"Bobby...ah, fuck it. You do what you need to do. My door will always be open to you, though. Just because we ain't good friends doesn't mean we can't throw down a beer or two together if you want to. I understand."

"I just can't get over the fact that you knew the entire time."

"I never thought it would get this bad."

Bobby slouched in his chair and wondered how things got so damn bad. All he'd wanted was to be with AJ, and here he'd ended up poking a hornet nest. He wished bitterly for a time machine. He rolled his head over at James, who couldn't meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Bobby," James finally said. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't even know which way is up anymore. It's like for each bit of happiness I get, I get shit on in equal amounts."

"I hear you."

"Keep your word, James."

"You know I will. I won't let you down again. I promise."

Bobby stood up. "I need to get back to my room now. I need to lie down or something. I'll see you around, I guess. Oh, and when you kick Tommy in the ass, give him several extras for me."

James nodded.

Bobby turned to leave, and then turned back. He looked at James, feeling like he was watching him from a shore that grew farther and farther away by the second. James simply looked back without saying anything. Bobby turned again, and as he put his hand on the doorknob, James said, "Hey, Bobby?"

Bobby turned around. James stood up, and while cracking a smile and making humming noises, he pretended to swing a lightsaber. Bobby smiled in spite of himself.

"Same old James."

"I'll never change. You trust me, Bobby. It'll be all right."

And Bobby thought it might actually be.