CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Glenn was grinning like a Cheshire cat as they walked behind the curtain. "So, now that we have some leisure time, want to try that kiss again?" He teased, pulling her toward him while she laughed.
"No, not interested Red!" Raine giggled, shaking her head as he let her go. She turned around only to walk right into Shane, the fury on his face unmistakable.
"What's the matter, son?" Glenn asked with a straight face, wrapping an arm around Raine's shoulders, nodding behind Shane as Mark approached.
"Let's go now." Shane ordered, extending his hand to her.
"No can do, son. You see, Rai has some training to get done." Mark said, smirking when Shane jumped. He held out his own hand, trying not to grin when she accepted it. "She'll see you later tonight." He called over his shoulder as he guided her away.
Shane was PISSED.
***
Raine didn't reach the hotel until later, her entire body aching from just using her arms. Well, that wasn't true. She had learned quickly to pivot her upper body or else take a hard blow. Being a glutton for punishment, she had arranged for another session before the house show the next night.
"Oh hell, that hurts." She muttered, heading straight for the bathroom.
"Have fun with the Dead Man?" Shane asked from behind, leaning in the doorway in just a pair of blue pajama pants. His eyes narrowed as he watched her wince, knowing she had to be hurting. "Why do you insist on putting your body through this torture?" He demanded, angry she hadn't obeyed him. Angry that Glenn had had the audacity to kiss her and she had kissed him back! He didn't care if they were scripted as a couple!
"I'm stiff." Raine muttered, pulling off her halter top and leaning in to examine a bruise on her chest, poking it. "And I love wrestling, the 'torture' just comes with the job."
"I'm having Stephanie write you out for the next few weeks." He informed her, watching as her head snapped up. "You will wrestle just one more time and that will be your FINAL match against David. So you can train with Mark but no more Glenn and no more wrestling until then."
"Uh no, you're not. I'm quittin', ain't that enough? Or are you're going to take away what little time I have left? Shane, I love you but you need to let me see this through. It's only for a few more weeks. And why no more Glenn? Because he kissed me?" The corner of her mouth twitched, trying not to smile.
"That's EXACTLY why!" Shane stormed over to her and grabbed her by the arms, shaking her. "Look how much fucking pain you're in! you're not wrestling again until your last match and that's final, Raine!" He pinned her back against the bathroom wall. "You belong to me now and nobody is taking you away!"
Raine's eyes widened when he kissed her, the kiss bruising her lips and shoved him off of her. She watched as he rolled his eyes and walked out into the bedroom. Now she had always had a temper and it was beginning to surface, not too keen on being talked too or treated the way she had been. "Wrong, wrong and wrong again, Shane!" She snapped, peeling off her shorts and tossing them angrily aside. "Pain is part of the job. I'll wrestle until the end because I'm gonna finish this damn storyline even if it KILLS me! You said you loved me, why can't you love me the way I am?"
"Why can't you act like a WOMAN once in awhile? If YOU loved ME, you would be giving this up sooner and only wrestling in your retirement match!" Shane shouted right back, hands in tight fists at his sides. "Why is this so important to you, Raine?"
The conflict was in her eyes, all too visible for him to see. "Because I love wrestling." She whispered.
"Well you make your choice and you make it now or we're through, Rai. I can't watch you get hurt anymore, I just can't! I WON'T watch you destroy yourself!"
***
And that is how Raine wound up in Stephanie's office the next night in a baby blue jersey dress with stilettos and a painted on smile. She didn't even say anything as Stephanie ranted and raved, just listened before walking out. She could rationalize his reasons, at least to herself. It would be hard for her to see him hurt if he were in her shoes.
Sighing, Raine froze when Glenn stepped in front of her. "If you're plannin' on telling me to get my head outta my ass, don't bother. Steph just did it for you."
Glenn took her in with raised eyebrows, shaking his head. "Um, not my business. What are we talking about?"
She quietly filled him in.
"Oh… see you, Rai, I guess I need to go find out what I'm doing then."
***
Shane was all smiles as he sat behind his desk, whistling happily. Raine had finally seen the light. He didn't want to see her getting injured and now that wasn't something he had to worry about. Tonight she looked especially beautiful, that dress was gorgeous on her. His smiled brightened when she walked in, watching as she dropped onto the couch.
Raine was breathing through her nose so she didn't cry, folding her legs beneath her and propped her chin in her hand, watching Shane work. God, she loved him but it seemed he was trying to old her into something HE could love. Why wasn't she enough the way she was? Slowly, Raine looked up when Shane crouched down in front of her, unable to stop a tear from sliding down her cheek.
"I love you." He whispered, brushing it away.
***
"Your brother is going to die." Paul stated threatening, pacing back and forth in Stephanie's office. He wanted nothing more then to pound his brother-in-law into dirt. "He's forcing Raine to become something she's not and nobody is doing a damn thing about it! Shawn's freaking out… Glenn and Mark are just… Glenn and Mark. You-"
Stephanie sighed, watching as he cut himself off. "Paul, I agree with you, but there's nothing we can do. She won't leave him. Raine is making her own mistakes, let it be."
***
One week till Pay Per View night and Shawn was in one hell of an uproar. "Now she's not even talkin' to me!" He bellowed, bursting into Stephanie's office. "I just asked her to join me for lunch tomorrow and she wouldn't even return my damn call!" For the life of him, he could not understand why she loved Shane enough to completely change who she was.
"And you want us to do what?" Pal demanded, already more than pissed with the situation himself. Raine was like his little sister or something. He'd known her ever since Shawn had adopted her. This wasn't easy to stomach. "Rai ain't listening to anyone but Shane these days."
Shawn just buried his face in his hands.
***
Crying. Mark could hear someone crying. He had been on his way to go slap Glenn upside the head for one thing or another when he heard it. Sighing, he followed the crying to an empty dressing room that wasn't so empty. Sitting in the corner on the floor was Raine. He frowned, something was wrong with this picture. Then he realized it.
Pink.
She was in a PINK dress.
It took him a minute to get past that. When he did, he shut the door behind him and walked over to crouch in front of her, reaching out to gently touch her shoulder. Then he was shocked when she threw herself into his arms, falling back onto his ass. There was nothing he could say, everything had already been said. So instead, he just ran his fingers through her short hair, knowing Shane was slowly breaking her down into nothing.
Raine couldn't stop herself, she cried into his shoulder. Their past was so damn complicated that all common sense told her this was stupid to an extreme. But when mark wasn't trying to get her into a relationship she didn't want, she liked him. He was probably the wrong person to be doing this with but she couldn't stop herself either. "I love him." She whispered heart-brokenly. "But he doesn't love me the way I am."
Hadn't he told himself and everyone else he was through with her? Nothing but professionalism between them? So much for that. His short reunion with Michelle hadn't even lasted two nights. She had left HIM this time. He still could not for the life of him figure out what the hell it was about Raine that made him love her. Maybe he needed counseling… Especially after she whispered that and felt his heart shattering for her. "I know." He murmured, gently tipping her head back to look down at her. He wanted to murder Shane, taking advantage of her apparent unconditional love the way he had. "You going to be okay?" Dumb question but the only thing that was coming to mind besides 'let me kill him'.
"Yeah, I will be." She muttered, accepting the bandanna he held out and wiped away her tears. "When I was sixteen, Shawn threw this huge ass party. Ya know, the sweet sixteen shit." Her drawl -which had been slowly disappearing over the past few weeks- was more pronounced at the moment, a soft, rolling accent he had missed. "Shane was there and when I first met him… I was in complete puppy love, it was so damn bad. He was so charmin' an' sweet…"
Mark was listening, and staring at her lips. When he heard 'he was my first,' his eyes snapped to hers. That explained a lot.
"Even though after that night didn't want to see me, cause of my age and everythin'… I tried hatin' him, really I did." Raine pressed the bandanna to her face, hating it that she couldn't stop crying. "An' now, I know what he's doin' to me and I can't stop myself from going along with it."
Mark didn't know what to say as he stared down at her. She was right. She was going along with Shane because of her love for him and Mark did not understand it. "Love makes a person do crazy things." He said after a few seconds. Why was she even confiding in him? Of all people? Why him? "You can only do what's best for YOU, Rai." Sighing, he brushed away the fresh tears that leaked from her eyes. "I wish there was somethin' I could do to stop them tears, darlin'."
"There ain't nothing ya can do, honey. My heart knows what it wants but it's gonna break at the same time." Raine said softly, finally pushing herself away and up, staring down at him. "I have to go." For the first time that night, she met his eyes.
All he wanted to do was reach out and pull her into his arms, tell her she didn't need to change for anyone and that she was perfect the way she was. But… What he wanted to do and what he would do didn't go hand in hand. "If you need me, you'll always know where to find me." There was nothing else he could say, not without driving her away, again.
Raine just smiled at him, finally slipping form the room. Her mind was spinning, not believing she had just told him all that, was she insane? She slowly made her way to Shane, halting in the doorway and stared at him. He was beautiful to her, but at the same time, she was afraid of what he was turning her into.
Someone she wasn't. Someone she hated.
"Hey doll!" Shane greeted, smiling when he seen her. Pushing away from the table, he walked around to kiss her. "I've arranged for us to have dinner tonight." He informed her, not even acknowledging the tears on her face. "Within a few months, if all goes well, I'll be a free man. Well, an unmarried man. So I thought we could celebrate. Make sure you dress for it."
"You figurin' I ain't dressed up enough as it is?" She asked in disbelief, looking down at the pink dress. How much more dressed up could a girl get?
"Hey there darlin'." Shawn said, walking in. He'd been popping by every twenty minutes or so, not about to let Shane run him off again. "I was thinkin', this weekend you ought to come home with me. Considerin' it's big game night this Sunday and all. You know, maybe have a barbecue. We'll invite some people over. What do ya think, Rai?"
"Sadly, that's not going to work, Shawn." Shane stood up with a smile, interrupting Raine. "You see, my family wants to have a sit down dinner with Rai and I to discuss her future in Connecticut. She's agreed to move in with me." He ignored Raine's shocked expression, his eyes only for her father at the moment. "Maybe some other time."
When had she agreed to any of that?
"Or how bout not." Shawn said coldly, folding his arms over his chest. "Paul and Steph are joinin' us this weekend so you must mean your momma and Vince- who we all know hates Raine. How bout you come too, Shane-O?" He would try compromising.
Before Shane could decline, Raine spoke up, still staring at Shane. "Yeah dad, I'll be there. Could you excuse us please, pops?"
Smirking, Shawn left.
"Don't you think you best be talkin' to me about things that concern MY future instead of deciding for me?"
Shane was scowling, not believing she had just undermined him before Shawn. "Your father has nothing to do with this, Rai, just us. You need to explain that to him. You live under his roof, under his fucking thumb!" He snarled, watching as she stepped back. "When is enough going to be ENOUGH? When are you going to stop being his little girl, grow up and start making decisions for yourself?"
What a hypocrite! For a minute, all she could was gawk at him, wondering if he really didn't realize how horrible he sounded? She snapped her mouth shut when he just glared at her. Shane really was an arrogant, condescending bastard. What was wrong with her?
"All he did was ask me to come home for the weekend, Shane. I ain't talked to him weeks before you don't like him! As for bein' under his thumb, ha!" Raine pulled off her shoes, tossing them at him. "It's YOUR damn thumb I'm under. LOOK at me! I'm dressin' like a 'lady' because you want me too, I'm givin' up my dreams for you and you CAN'T EVEN GIVE ME ONE FUCKEN WEEKEND!"
"No, because it isn't just about you anymore, Raine." He said evenly, acting like she hadn't just hurled stilettos at him. "Do you know WHY Shawn wants to keep you at his house, hmm? He wants to talk you out of being with me, Raine. He wants to convince you that you're better off without me!" Throwing his hands into the air, Shane shook his head. "Do whatever you want, I'm done." He muttered.
"Well fine then!" Raine snapped, throwing her hands into the air before storming out, slamming the door shut behind her. She was so pissed she could hardly see straight,
No shit it wasn't about her. It was all HIM. Move to Connecticut, give up your job, be a female; no Shawn or Glenn and Mark was totally off limits. Goddamn she wasn't a perfect fucking Barbie doll!
***
Shawn listened to his daughter with a calm face, inside a tiny man doing happy cartwheels in his stomach. Yes, praise Jesus! Raine might finally be seeing the light! He nodded his head in all the right spots, held her tightly and did his part as the good dad, comforting her when she cried.
"Ya'all breaking up then?" He finally dared asking, hoping he was keeping the glee out of his tone.
"I don't know…" Raine sniffled, her anger long having faded away only to be replaced with sadness. "I reckon if that's what he wants."
Aw damn, always a catch.
"I just don't understand how he thinks he can love me if I'm not even bein' me."
Shawn really wanted to go rip Shane's heart of his chest and crush it, just like that fool had been crushing Raine. Instead, he just held her tighter.