Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks to everyone that has reviewed/followed/favorited this one. :)
Part Nineteen
Eve stared up at the man that had come to her rescue, not at all sure what to say to him... She supposed she should thank him for helping her, but the truth was, Eve was a little too stunned by his intervention to form any coherent words of gratitude.
Edge eyed her for a moment, a frown on the blond man's face, and then he sighed softly. "You okay?" he asked, and Eve gave a jerky shrug.
"I... I'm fine."
"You're bleeding," he replied, gesturing as he spoke, the Canadian then turning and heading into the small bathroom in the room, grabbing a few paper towels and dampening them, then bringing them over to her. "It's the best I can do for now," he told her, and Eve took the paper towels, cautiously pressing them to the corner of her mouth, then lifting it away to look at it, noting that there was indeed some blood there. Apparently Jeff had split her lip.
"He must have done it when he slapped me," the diva said on a sigh, and Edge stepped back, the wrestler crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at her.
"What happened?"
"He caught me flushing his drugs down the toilet," Eve admitted without giving it a second thought, figuring that if anyone was going to believe her, it was someone like Edge. Someone that didn't like the Hardy brothers anyway. After all, Jeff had been the one to beat Edge for the World Title at Extreme Rules... Just minutes before CM Punk had come out and cashed in his money in the bank contract, thus winning the title from Jeff.
Edge nodded slightly at that, not questioning her words. "Well, at least now I know Jeff won't be stoned or something in the ring tonight. Unless he took something earlier, that is," he muttered, shaking his head as he moved to sit on the bench across from her, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked at her. "This the first time he's hit you?" he wanted to know, and Eve shrugged, her mind going over the past incidents with Jeff. The thing was, despite everything he'd done - from shoving her out of a car to knocking her into a wall - this might have actually been the first time he'd actually hit her. Not that it changed the fact that he'd been abusive to her before; clearly he had been. He'd left bruises when he'd thrown her into the wall the week before, and shoving her out of the car had left scrapes on her leg.
"Well, technically speaking..."
Edge shook his head. "Well, I guess now I know that there's more than one Hardy that likes to knock women around," the blond man said, something savage underlying in the tone of his voice, and Eve frowned at the clear anger she could hear there, momentarily confused... But then she realized what he was talking about. Matt Hardy... and the things the man had done to Lita. Eve had never actually met the former diva - Lita had only appeared once so far since her retirement in 2006, and that had been shortly after Eve had won the diva search - but she'd heard things. She'd heard how some of the divas didn't blame Lita at all for choosing Edge over Matt... And she herself had been warned by Melina not to let Matt fool her.
Too bad no one had known to warn her about Jeff as well.
"I guess being self-important, self-righteous assholes runs in the family," Eve muttered, and Edge shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe. Sad thing is, I've met their dad. He always seemed really decent... Like he didn't deserve a couple of assholes for sons," the Canadian stated, then frowned. "The problem is, in that little town they're from, they're treated like royalty. Like they can do no wrong. Looks like they ended up buying into the idea."
"I guess they did," the diva muttered, getting to her feet as she spoke, arching a brow when Edge shifted to stand in front of the door. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not letting you just walk out of here, not just yet. He's probably looking for you. He may be keeping an eye on this door since he has to know that you're likely with me. He saw me before I punched him in the face."
"He'll probably try and convince people that you kidnapped me or something," the brunette said, then pointed to the small bathroom in the room. "I was headed there, actually. I wanted to look in the mirror. See the damage done."
"Aside from the lip, you look fine," Edge told her, his eyes on her as she made her way over to the room, leaving the door open as she looked at herself in the mirror. If not for the hint of blood still at the corner of her mouth, it was hard to tell there was anything wrong with her at all. She doubted it would bruise much, if at all. She could hide this incident if she wanted to... Not from Edge, obviously, since he was there, but from everyone else. She felt a twinge of guilt at that, the thought that she might not tell Punk about this, but she knew he'd lose it if he knew. But then again... She wasn't sure she'd be able to hide it from him even if she tried. Sometimes he watched her so intently that she thought he had to have her face memorized... And if he did, then he would undoubtedly notice the split lip and any possible bruising around it.
"It might bruise a little," she muttered, very aware of Edge's eyes on her, the man moving to stand in the doorway to the bathroom instead of near the door to the locker room. Oddly enough, despite all the crap she'd seen Edge pull in the past, she didn't feel the least bit threatened by the nearness of the man or by the fact that he basically had her blocked in. He'd helped her get away from Jeff just a few moments ago; she doubted he was going to attack her now.
"You shouldn't have to put up with his crap, you know," the blond man said, and Eve shook her head, turning away from the mirror to look up at him.
"I don't intend to."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Eventually? I'm going to turn against him. Not tonight, though. Not in a six-man tag with nothing on the line," the brunette said, figuring that Edge wouldn't tell anyone about her plans... He wouldn't want Jeff to know since he hated all things Hardy, and if he spread it around elsewhere, no one would believe him, except maybe Punk and Kelly, and that was just because they already knew she intended to turn against Jeff. Eventually.
"You want to make it hurt," Edge said quietly, his words not really a question. He was basically just making a statement. It was clear he knew that the reason Eve wouldn't do anything to Jeff tonight was because she wanted to do something when it actually mattered. Tonight was nothing.
"Wouldn't you?" the diva tossed back, and Edge shrugged.
"I guess I would. Of course, the fact that you've given this some thought means that tonight's incident isn't the first time something happened," the Canadian said, then shot Eve a look. "Am I correct in saying that the incident I heard about when he grabbed you by the hair and tossed you into a wall to break up a fight between you and Maria wasn't the first incident, either?"
"Maybe."
The man shook his head, jerking a hand through his hair. "Too bad you didn't choose to turn against him back at Extreme Rules. I might still be the world heavyweight champion if you'd done that," Edge stated, and Eve arched a brow at him.
"Maybe you would. But who's to say that CM Punk wouldn't have come out and cashed in his money in the bank contract on you if you'd retained that night?" the diva wanted to know, watching as an annoyed look came to the Canadian's face at that. Probably because he knew it could have happened. After all, when Punk had cashed in money in the bank the first time - back in 2008 - it *had* been against Edge. An Edge that had been as vulnerable then as Jeff had been at Extreme Rules. Of course, the fans hadn't minded at all when Edge had been the victim of the rules of the money in the bank. Eve tilted her head slightly, looking up at the blonde man. "You can't possibly be annoyed with CM Punk for cashing in like he did-"
"Of course I can-"
"Why? When you won the first money in the bank match, you cashed it in on a vulnerable John Cena after he'd won an elimination chamber match of all things. And then, after you managed to get Kennedy to put his case on the line in a match a couple of years later... You did the same thing again. Preyed on a vulnerable champion. It's what the winners do. Unless they're named Rob Van Dam, and part of me wonders if he was too stoned to understand the rules."
Edge actually smiled at that. "You know what? I actually think I like you. Didn't expect to. You seem too nice most of the time, but... You seem okay," he said, then sighed. "I'm guessing that, if you're not planning anything tonight, then you don't want to go out there for the match. I mean, who wants to cheer on a guy that knocked them around?"
"Not me."
"Yeah, I didn't figure you would. So... Here's the thing. I think I can get you banned from ringside. If I talk about your safety at ringside and imply that I'm a danger to it..." He trailed off, then shrugged. "Not the nicest thing, but people would expect it of me. They'd probably ban you for your own safety. Only Jeff would actually know that I'm less dangerous to you than he is."
Eve fought the urge to snort. "Jeff wouldn't have cared if you were dangerous to me anyway," she stated, and Edge watched her for a moment, then nodded his head.
"I supposed you're right. I mean, if he gave a damn about you, wouldn't he have had you stay in the back at Extreme Rules?" Edge questioned. "I mean, it was a ladder match. It was pretty damn dangerous for you to be out there."
"I suppose it was. But I came out of it unscathed," the diva said, very aware of the blond man's penetrating gaze, but whatever he was thinking, he didn't press her on it, the man instead heaving out a sigh.
"Okay, look... I'm going to head out and try and get you banned from ringside. I want you to lock the door behind me. I won't be coming back to the locker room. Even if I can't get you banned, I'll figure out a reason for you not to be out there. Hell, I'll kidnap you and hold you for ransom if I have to," the man said, actually sounding at least half-serious about that last bit. "Anyway... There's a big divas match tonight. Six-diva tag, I think. Odds are, the divas' locker room will be pretty much emptied out by then, so you can go and get your stuff and duck out around then. I'll make sure that Jeff isn't hanging around this locker room when the time rolls around."
"You don't have to do this-"
"Yes, I do. I've already watched one woman more or less have her life ruined by a Hardy brother. I'm not letting it happen to someone else," he said, heading for the door, then glancing back at her. "Just remember what I've said, okay? Get your stuff and duck out during the divas' match," Edge stated, then frowned. "Do you need a ride?"
"I drove myself."
"Good," Edge said, reaching for the doorknob, and Eve quickly stood up.
"Edge?"
He looked over at her. "Yeah?"
"Thank you. For everything," she said, and instead of saying it was nothing or some other inane thing to make what he was doing for her seem like less, he simply nodded at her.
"You're welcome," he told her, and then he stepped out into the hallway, closing the door firmly behind him, Eve rushing over to lock the door as he told her to do. Then she went back to the bench and sat down to wait.