Chapter 35
Stephanie chewed her bottom lip nervously as she watched the monitor, not believing how intense this match was. Of course, it was the Undertaker versus Triple H, the two most intense men in the entire industry. When Paul got a hold of the steel chair however, the intensity raised several notches and Stephanie actually winced with every shot Paul took to Taker. They were so lethal there was a HUGE purple and blue bruise forming on Taker's left side and god only knew how much damage his tights were covering up. However, those shots were child's play compared to Taker's shots and Stephanie felt every single one of them right down to her bone marrow. Her husband was being brutalized and tortured in the Hell in a Cell, refusing to give up, fighting with everything inside of him to survive.
"Just quit, please just quit, Paul." She whispered, clasping her hands tightly together and wished Rajani was there at the moment because she desperately needed someone, besides Alex, to console her.
Alex was no help to anyone right now because he was standing there beside her, alternating from one foot to the other, and chewing on his fingernails. Chewing on them when he wasn't covering his eyes with his hand anyway, letting out soft groans whenever the brutality increased. Which it did, a lot. Shawn was near tears, calling the match down the center and letting them rip into each other. He pleaded with each man to end it and both had given him the same response. In Taker's mind, he was getting out a lot of frustration on Paul right now. Cena, Kane, it being WrestleMania, not about to be carted out like he had last year...Jani...all of that, in one big ball, being taken out on his opponent.
Somehow, Rajani had woken up just in time for Taker's match and ordered WrestleMania through the hotel's pay-per-view. She couldn't help crying every time Paul hit him with the steel chair, her heart shredding even more. There was going to be nothing left of it at this rate. Though, Taker dominated eighty five percent of the match and decimated Paul. Rajani enjoyed watching that, especially after the catastrophe that happened at last year's WrestleMania. Taker had been beaten down like an animal with a steel chair and had to be carted out of the ring by officials. It was unbelievable, had never happened and one of the reasons why he buzzed his hair off.
Apparently, while Taker was away for that year, he had made the video montages that showed at almost every Raw before WrestleMania arrived. They were classic Undertaker, the eerie music and sexy dark voice...Rajani had to change her panties every time one of those video montages were viewed, even the one where he chopped off his beautiful hair. When the bell finally rang and Shawn Michaels had pronounced Taker victorious, Rajani cried along with everyone in that crowd. The tears poured harder when Taker actually lifted Paul up from the canvas and all three men walked out of the arena together as a unit.
It truly was the end of an era that would never be replicated. Right after the match, Rajani didn't even bother watching the rest of WrestleMania and turned the television off, passing out almost instantly. Stephanie was beside herself when her husband was hauled backstage, unable to do anything except watch as Shawn and Taker helped him onto a stretcher, out of sight of the fans. She had appreciated the way the match had ended, in terms of the trio showing respect. It had been mind-blowing, but at the same time, the wife in her was freaking out.
"You need to go to the hospital too, Deadman." Alex said after tearing his eyes off of Paul.
"I'll get right on that." Taker had other plans that did not involve a trip to the ER.
"I'm okay, Steph." Paul whispered, seeing the tears in his wife's eyes and frowned, reaching up to caress her face tenderly. "Nothin' some painkillers won't cure."
Alex groaned when he saw Taker walk away and knew he wasn't going to the hospital, sighing. "I'll go draw the papers up." He walked in the opposite direction.
Stephanie just waved Alex off, too focused on her husband as Paul was wheeled down the hall toward the awaiting ambulance. The papers were that Taker was refusing medical treatment, the company couldn't have this big of a liability on their hands after all. Dwayne clapped Taker on the back on his way to the ring, ready to rip John Cena limb from limb. Taker didn't even have to say 'kill him' because he knew Dwayne was going to do his best to dismantle Cena.
The only downside to that match was the fact that Cena had been wrestling consistently for quite some time. Dwayne, on the other hand, snorted. He'd just handle Cena on his own if Stephanie didn't have the idiot put behind bars after the match. Taker signed the paperwork when Alex brought it to him, not giving a damn about any injuries he may have had at the moment. Taking a quick shower, Taker popped some Tylenol, changed into clothes that weren't tight -he admitted it, he was aching from that match with Paul- and headed to the hotel.
Sometime the next late morning, Rajani slowly opened her eyes and groaned at the sound of her cell phone going off. Then she realized it wasn't her cell phone because Kane had destroyed hers, frowning at the hotel phone. Slowly pushing herself up, Rajani crawled over to the phone and was tempted to ignore it, but something told her it was important.
"Hello?" She murmured quietly, holding the phone to her ear and closed her eyes at the sound of her husband's voice. A second later, Rajani hung up on him and headed straight for the bathroom.
God he was slick. True, last night, John did have a momentary 'mouth mistake' and shot off without thinking. Honestly, he hadn't been expecting that nimrod Kane to abduct his wife from the Hall of Fame ceremony either! They had a deal and Kane's part in the deal was long over. What the hell? It was hard finding good, reliable, morally questionable help these days that was for damn sure. John had made his 'escape' rather easily. Stephanie had apparently been so distraught over her husband that she had left everything up to Alex. While he was great as a mole, Alex was not so great with the handling of lunatics apparently.
Rajani was his, John was going to get her back and she was going to forget all about the Undertaker.
After a shower to wake up fully, Rajani stepped out and slipped into a pair of blue hip-hugger jeans with a spaghetti strapped dark teal camisole, her bra matching so it didn't clash. Not that it bothered her clashing. Rajani wasn't in the mood to care, which is why she refused to do her makeup and just swept her hair up in a big clip. It was a good thing they didn't have to leave Miami until the morning because Rajani had to get a new phone immediately. She had to contact her lawyer to start the divorce process from John. Just as she was slipping into her comfortable cushioned black sandals, a knock sounded at Rajani's door and she froze, simply staring over at it, fear suddenly overtaking her
"Open the door, Raj, I know you're in there!" It was Dwayne, who was not alone. "Think she's in there?"
"Yes, idiot, she is." That was Taker, who was rather regretting not going to the ER because they would have given him better drugs than the Tylenol he had taken. He was really feeling the after effects of that Hell in a Cell match now. "Darlin', at least let me in."
Screw Dwayne, the idiot couldn't even break Cena in half properly. Rajani opened it 3 seconds later and immediately wrapped her arms around Taker's waist, completely ignoring her brother. She knew he was fine. Beth had texted her to let her know the outcome between her brother and John's match. She was very careful about hugging Taker because she could tell just how much pain he was in, closing her eyes.
"I'm sorry I left. I just needed sometime alone." She murmured softly, slowly pulling back to look up into his green eyes, hoping he wasn't angry with her
"And what about me?"
"You didn't take over 20 chair shots, bro. He did. Buck up."
"Are you crazy woman? I work in Hollywood, I couldn't take 20 chair shots!" Dwayne rubbed his jaw, surveying Taker thoughtfully. "No, couldn't do it."
"You're a chump, Rocky." Taker growled, looking down at Rajani and sighed, running a hand over his short hair. That made him wince, stretching his ribs didn't feel so good. "I understand darlin', but...I don't think being alone is a good idea. Cena...escaped."
"And nobody has seen Kane."
"I know he did, he called me about an hour ago." When both men gaped at her, Rajani shrugged as she pulled away from Taker slowly, having her purse over her shoulder since she was on her way out. "I hung up on him. I have nothing to say and I don't want to hear his lame ass excuses. As for Kane, I know he's pissed, but I also refuse to live my life in fear of both those jackasses. I needed time alone after finding out my husband betrayed me and manipulated me into marrying him. I wish you would've killed him last night, Dwayne. It would've made all of our lives a lot better."
"Yeah, it would've." Dwayne agreed, shrugging apologetically. "Minus the part where I go to prison for 2nd degree murder and wind up doing musicals in the all-male choir."
"Your favorite actor and singer is Elvis, you could remake Jailhouse Rock." Taker said dryly, ignoring the dirty look he was shot and gently guided Rajani back into the room, closing the door behind him. "What're your plans, darlin'?"
"I was on my way out to get another cell phone. Kane destroyed mine when he kidnapped me." Rajani stated bluntly, frowning when Taker winced and immediately guided him over to the bed, setting him down. "I already quit my job."
"WHAT?"
"Dwayne, if you start screaming at me, I'm going to toss your ass right out that damn door and don't think I won't!" Rajani snapped, whirling around to face her brother with narrowed dark eyes. "I don't want to work for this company anymore, not after I was attacked, kidnapped and manipulated by 2 men." Kane was just as much to blame for her marriage to John as John was; they were a team as far as Rajani was concerned. "I'm going home." They were in Miami and Rajani knew she could've gone home, but was honestly too tired to leave the hotel last night.
"You...you quit?"
She LOVED her job! Dwayne couldn't wrap his mind around it, frowning. He had to focus, had to push that one aside for the time being, staring at his sister in shock.
"And you can't go home! John knows where you live. Hell, KANE probably knows too."
For once, he and Rocky were in agreement. "He's right darlin', they'd find you there. You're comin' home with me."
"Yeah, you heard- oh no-no-no, she is not going with you."
Rajani's gaze slowly moved to meet Taker's, wondering if he was serious and could feel her heart do a few flips inside her chest, a smile spreading on her face. "Really?" When he nodded, Rajani wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and felt him set her on his lap, once again ignoring her brother. "It was you." If he didn't know what that referenced, then Rajani wasn't elaborating on it before softly kissing his lips, rubbing her nose against his. "I'll call as soon as I get my new cell phone."
"I've already got us tickets to Houston."
Taker's gaze fastened on the phone, frowning. Then, just so she didn't think he had completely missed her reference, because he hadn't, Taker bent down and firmly kissed her. Not caring that Dwayne was probably having a stroke or something, he didn't hold back with the lip lock, having missed her for the past month that she was with Cena.
"I know." Taker murmured against her lips, a cocky smirk crossing his face.
Dwayne could already see it now - the Undertaker as his brother-in-law.
"Careful, don't want you overdoing it after last night." She murmured, breaking the kiss and caressed his face tenderly with her fingers. They had a lot to talk about, especially their communication issues. That would have to wait until later though. "I..." When Taker merely raised an eyebrow at her, Rajani flushed and cleared her throat. "WE need to go get me a phone then so I can contact my lawyer. I want to be divorced from that loser as soon as possible."
"I already told you..."
"I appreciate your offer and if my lawyer can't handle John, then I will definitely give you a call, Dwayne. But I want to try handling this on my own." Her eyes turned to Taker, concern suddenly filling her dark eyes. "What is going to happen with our plan to track Kane down?"
"WHAT?"
"Darlin', I don't know if you're aware," Taker began slowly, knowing she was itching to find Kane, fool woman that she was. "But I was in a match last night...that has left me in less than perfect condition."
Dwayne snorted at that. "You haven't been in perfect condition in years, old man."
Taker ignored that. "I can't exactly go chasin' off after anyone right now. You're going to have to give me a few days to heal up a bit."
Frowning, Rajani nodded in complete understanding because that match would forever be etched in her memory as long as she lived. It was truly unforgettable while her brother and John's was definitely forgettable. "I know..." She sighed, standing up from Taker's lap and walked over to stare out the window. "He's the only other one who knows everything John had planned. I know he hates me right now, but...we have no other choice. I need him to tell me everything or else it's going to be my word against John's and he has a lot of money..."