Chapter 24

Stephanie looked at Rajani and then at John. "Could you give us a minute, Raja?"

John didn't think Rajani needed to hear what he wanted to talk to Stephanie about because Rajani would probably not approve, at all.

"Of course, just text me when you're ready for me to come back, Stephanie."

John was going to pay for that later on, she was simply trying to stop him from getting his head snapped off his shoulders. She knew how her brother's temper could be. He was still 'The Great One The Rock' at heart with a million dollar smile. Walking out of the office with clipboard and purse in hand, Rajani decided to go get some fresh air since John had ticked her off. When it came to her brother, he was ruthless and Dwayne was her family. John was just her boyfriend, a man she was falling in love with...or had already.

"Goddamn it." Rajani whispered, knowing she was in a bad situation with Dwayne on the road now. "What am I going to do?"

Once Rajani left, Stephanie listened to John's request and all she could do was stare at him. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Not lately, I think I've been pretty sane as of late." John replied calmly, not about to inform her that the reason for his sanity was probably plotting ways to punish him and not in ways that he would enjoy.

"Why would I even consider that?"

"Because I don't think I'm done punishing him yet."

"No. You need to focus on Rocky and WrestleMania." Thank god Rajani wasn't here right now, but...this was business, not personal and this feud was GREAT for business. Too bad they couldn't just keep it in the ring and out of their personal lives. "Kane won't be back for awhile and when he DOES, you two will stay away from each other."

John sincerely doubted that one.

If Rajani knew the real reasoning for John's meeting, she probably would've kicked him square in his mangina, as her brother so eloquently called it. She already told him things with Kane had been taken care of, not telling him about Taker's injuries because that was none of his business. Taker had handled Kane, there had been no flowers, no notes, nothing. It had been smooth sailing...until now. Rajani knew she would have to come clean to John about being Dwayne's sister tonight on their date, there was no way out of it now. She just hoped he cared about her enough not to use it against her or, more importantly, Dwayne.

"This is fucked up." She murmured, writing a few notes down on the clipboard, trying to get her mind focused on work for the time being.

"What's fucked up, darlin'?" Taker asked, staring down at her curiously and had overheard her mumble, green eyes flickering to the clipboard. "I highly doubt anything on that is fucked up, looks like borin' paperwork to me." He drawled, already dressed for his promo, though he had yet to pull up the hood. He liked this outfit, but when the damn hood was up, it got hot. When she looked up at him, he flashed a wicked grin. "I know I look pretty damn good right now darlin', but I can't ravish you until later. You might make me mess up my eyeliner."

Rajani rolled her eyes at his arrogance, having gotten used to it along with the cheesy pick-up lines over the past three weeks. "Keep thinking that, Taker." He did look good in that robe though, Rajani couldn't deny it, but she wasn't about to let Taker know what she was thinking. "You enjoy messing with me, don't you?" She got her answer when Taker shrugged and joined her on the bench she currently sat on, setting her clipboard aside. "Dwayne is here...and I didn't know he was coming." She still hadn't told Taker who she was going out with on a nightly basis either, Rajani had a bad habit of keeping things to herself. "And I'm officially in trouble."

Taker had heard that Dwayne was in the building, wondering how that would affect her. He knew she didn't want anyone outside of the few people who already did, to know about her being the Rock's little sister and he knew why. She'd automatically be accused of using her famous brother to get her foot in the door and for keeping her job, never mind the fact that she was damn good at her job. There was always going to be petty, jealous haters though.

"So, other than the obvious, why are you officially in trouble?" Taker asked, stretching his long legs out in front of him, knowing anyone who walked by would probably jump pretty high to avoid tripping and pissing him off.

"Alright fine, I'll tell you because...I need to tell someone and you're the only one I can trust." Rajani took her hair down and fluffed it out a little, just trying to get up the courage to say what needed to be said. When Taker took her hand, Rajani looked up into his eyes and instantly calmed down, knowing he wouldn't judge her. "The person I've been going out with after the shows for the past three weeks...is-"

"Taker, they need you inside for a promo." A stagehand said from behind.

Her luck was gone, Rajani was sure of it and slowly pulled her hand out of Taker's, smiling tentatively. "Never mind, go on and do your thing, Deadman." She winked, her courage effectively squashed and decided she would tell him tonight after her date with John...if it still happened.

"You can tell me later tonight, darlin'." Taker promised, seeing the worry in her eyes and sighed, knowing he had to go. Turning, his face went blank as he began getting into character, knowing the past few years he had made a slip or two on the microphone, hoping to avoid that tonight. "Rocky." He nodded when he passed Dwayne, who was chatting with a few of the Superstars that didn't think he was an egomaniacal, self-promoting asshole. Or at least, they were the ones who weren't vocal about it.

"Deadman."

Rajani froze when she heard her brother's voice from behind and slowly turned her head to stare at him, knowing he saw her exchange with Taker. This wasn't good. She couldn't read the look on her brother's face and merely bit her bottom lip. Turning back to stare down at her clipboard, Rajani acted as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. When she felt Dwayne sit beside her, Rajani knew he wanted an explanation and there was no way she could give him one...not the truth anyway. Finding out she'd been attacked by Kane and Taker had to beat Kane's ass for her...yeah that wasn't going to bode well at ALL with big brother.

"Did you go back to talk to Stephanie?" She asked softly, slowly looking up into his dark eyes that nearly matched her own.

"Not yet, she was dealing with a few of the Divas that were apparently having wardrobe issues." Dwayne said, pretty sure he had seen what he seen.

The Undertaker sitting next to his baby sister, and they had been talking like friends, didn't set well with Dwayne, at all. While he respected Taker, he also knew the man had at one time been known for...being a bit of a slut. That was cool, or had been, in a guy thing sort of way, but not anymore. No, he was no longer amused by that reputation, not when it came to his baby sister.

"So...could've sworn I just seen you sitting with Taker a moment ago…"

"Yeah..." Rajani trailed off, her eyes adverting back to her clipboard and sighed when Dwayne took it away from her, knowing he wanted answers. "We're friends." She said casually, having heard of Taker's past of being known as a man whore and it didn't really bother her. Taker's past wasn't her business, she wasn't judgmental and never had been. "Is that a problem for you, brother dear?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.

Knowing there was no way in hell she was telling him about John, now was definitely not the time, not until she talked to John about what happened earlier in Stephanie's office. Now how in the hell did Dwayne explain why that might potentially be a problem, without sounding like an overprotective older brother? That is exactly what he was.

"Just curious, he had a bit of a reputation back in the day." Dwayne said heedlessly, testing the waters. "Pretty popular with the women...for some reason I will never ever understand nor do I want to."

He had never gotten the whole evil persona, complete with the look. Just another reason why Dwayne tried not to fathom women's minds TOO deeply. There was always something messed up in them. During Taker's darker man whoring days, Dwayne had heard some pretty horrific stories about what Taker had done to women from the boys in the back. That thought process definitely left him even more unsettled because of what he'd witnessed between his sister and Taker.

"The manwhore reputation you mean." Rajani smirked when her brother's eyes widened slightly, shaking her head. "Believe me, he doesn't think of me THAT way." Even though the man had thrown more pickup lines at her than Rajani cared to count or remember, he was just messing around with her. "Don't worry Dwayne, I'm not going to be another notch if that's what you're worried about."

Though Rajani had given serious consideration to being a notch with John. They hadn't slept together yet and she knew he was getting...antsy about it. She still had reservations about it and knew it was because of his match at WrestleMania with her brother.

"Thank you sweet baby Jesus..." He exhaled, relief coursing through him at that. If Rajani said Taker didn't think of her like that, then he believed it because his sister was not a liar nor a fool. "Sorry...I worry about you." He said softly, so they weren't overheard. "Being on the road, with all these half-naked guys who think they're..." Dwayne had to stop because now he giving himself an anxiety attack and flashed his mega-watt smile at her, standing up. "I'll go see Stephanie now and stop bugging you."

Rajani giggled at the worried look in her brother's eyes, standing up to hug him around the neck, kissing his cheek. "I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself. I love you, bro."

Rajani pulled away and accepted his kiss to her forehead before he ventured back inside, deciding she would stay out here a little longer. There was no reason for her to be in Stephanie's office all the time, not with countless meetings going on. So she stayed outside as the sun set on the horizon, doing her paperwork and was thankful they were in the south where it was seventy degrees at night. As the night wore on, Stephanie relaxed more and more, especially when neither Dwayne or John provoked each other, hoping they would continue saving it for the ring. When it came time for Dwayne to go out, she had gone to get Rajani, not about to watch it by herself. She could only hope that John didn't go too far with the promo tonight and the same feelings went toward Rocky.

"Come on." Stephanie pulled the younger woman over to a large screen TV. "All the...personal issues aside, this is practically history in the making, this angle."

The Rock, John Cena, WrestleMania...oh yes, it was indeed once in a lifetime, just like all the countless promos said that they'd been viewing over the past few months. All Rajani really wanted to do was crawl into a deep hole and never come back out again. She'd rather eat pure dirt than watch this promo of her brother ripping her boyfriend apart verbally. Granted, John had done the same thing only weeks ago and Rajani couldn't yell at him for it because then he would know her secret.

Instead of protesting her boss, Rajani just went along with it and sat there, listening to everything her brother said about John and WrestleMania. She cringed inwardly with every insult, laughing with Stephanie on the outside. This was literally tearing her apart. John was going to be pissed when Rajani told him her secret and she had to do it before it came out in the open against her will. Stephanie stopped laughing when John 's music aired, knowing this was the part where they either stuck to the loose script or totally jumped ship, it could go either way. Both men were known for being nothing but professional. Well, Dwayne was, mostly. John had been and then he had gotten into an online media broil with Dwayne, that very real issue with Kane and now just sheer hatred between him and the man he was about to confront.

"Breathe..." Stephanie whispered, coaching herself.

Dwayne whipped his head to the side when he heard 'boots to asses' being chanted. John smirked when 'sell out' followed it, the crowd definitely torn in two. Rajani knew Stephanie was incredibly nervous about this because of the media war John and Dwayne had been having. John had acquired a lot more fans due to his shoot promo and now Dwayne was trying to get them back. It wasn't going to be easy, the crowd was completely split in half, torn. She knew exactly what that feeling was. When the promo ended, Rajani stopped herself from jumping out of her chair when Dwayne attacked John from behind and delivered a Rock Bottom to him.

'That wasn't scripted!' Her mind screamed at her brother's cheap shot and looked over at Stephanie, who didn't look happy.

Not scripted, but considering the parting remark John had shot off before presenting his back... it was totally justified. Without the microphone in his hand, that made it even more of a low blow, the chicken shit. Dwayne pushed himself off the mat, cursing down at John. Dwayne was going to get boots to asses alright...John blinked his eyes open, knowing that had been executed perfectly in that it looked like it hurt, which it did.

Stephanie was now drumming her fingernails along her upper arm, arms crossed over her chest, blue eyes narrowed. "This is not going to end well."

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Rajani muttered, watching as John slowly sat up, even though the show had already ended after the Rock Bottom.

Rajani decided maybe tonight wasn't the right time to tell John about being Dwayne's sister. He was attacked from behind, John wasn't going to take that line down. If Dwayne was smart, he would leave the arena before John could find him backstage because a fight would no doubt break out. Whipping her phone out, Rajani sent John a quick message, asking if he still wanted to go out tonight or if he needed to rest. Obviously, John wasn't aware he had gotten a text message because he was just now rolling his very pissed off backside out of the ring. Wondering if Dwayne would stick around or take off because he'd LOVE to congratulate the guy on being a total coward and attacking from behind.

"Go ahead, say it." Dwayne said the minute he was behind the black curtain and had seen Stephanie.

"If you actually worked for me, I would so fine your ass, Dwayne." Stephanie growled, knowing that this was a temporary thing with him. "Why don't you just go so John doesn't come back here and start something?"

Dwayne cocked his eyebrow down at her.

"That's not funny."