Chapter 19

Mina parked her old car in the hotel parking lot and shut down the radio for Finn's greatest relief. He never had loved heavy metal, or any king of violent music and was always the first one to veto on it in Damian's car. But this time he made a huge effort, knowing that Mina needed the distraction to manage her anger and sadness. He mentally questioned her tastes and karma when Type O' Negative's I Know You're Fucking Someone Else thundered in the car but remained silent. Both of them got out of the rusty Chevette, took their suitcases and headed to the hotel lobby. They passed Damian's car and Mina felt her heart tighten. She didn't want to see him or Liv, it was unbearable for her and she was scared to feel her heart breaking more each time she would look at his eyes. She had found love again with this man and now it was taken away from her.

They checked in and walked to the elevator to go to their rooms. As usual they were on the same floor. They always managed for the six of them to be on the same floor, it has started when they rescued her, and it became a habit. Finn pressed the seventh-floor button and the gates closed. She suddenly felt her anxiety reaching a peak, realising that Damian would also be on the same floor, and that it was going to be a torture for her to know how close he was but being unable to go to him. The elevator stopped on the fifth floor, letting guess that people would come in. The gates opened and Damian appeared in front of them. She immediately felt tears forming in her eyes but couldn't keep her eyes away from him. His eyes were puffed and his hair messy. His black shirt was half opened and folded in ways it shouldn't be, considering how attentive he was to his physical appearance. This could have meant only one thing, he had dressed up in a hurry, not bothering to tie his hair correctly or properly unwrinkled his shirt, her heart tightened at this idea and she was about to feel sick when she saw the purple bite marks on his neck, surrounded by orange-red lipstick stains.

- "I- I will use the staircase" she hastily said before dashing out of the elevator before the gates closed.

- "No, Mina, please, it's not…" Damian tried to explain but was cut short by Finn storming behind Mina.

The tall man just had the time to catch a murderous gaze on his Irish friend's face. He knew about Finn's feelings, he also knew that if it wasn't for him, Finn would have declared his love to Mina a long time ago. But the blue-eyed man was the best friend he could ever dream of; and tonight, he might have lost both the woman that made him happy again and the best friend he ever had. He wouldn't blame Finn or Mina for hating him, he was already hating himself. Liv had tried to force him into having sex with her, and despite being beautifully made, she was unable to get any reaction out of him. Out of anger and jealousy she ripped his shirt and bit his neck, leaving lipstick marks everywhere, as to show he was hers. Touching Liv disgusted him, but Finn and Mina couldn't know that. He sighed deeply before leaving the elevator to his floor, the seventh, and got ready to receive a yelling from his friends, especially Rhea, who warned him several times to not to hurt Mina. He turned at the corner of the corridor and found his friends waiting for him, Dominik and JD trying to prevent Rhea from hitting him.

- "Seriously, Priest?! That's all you found to hurt her?" she yelled. "You better have an explanation before I rip your balls right now!"

- "What did you do, lad?" JD asked. "You scolded me for kissing her but you're the worst here" he said with a low voice.

- "You better explain right now" Dom said.

- "Guys I swear I don't like Liv, I didn't want to… she forced me" he tried to explain, knowing perfectly that nobody would believe him.

- "Oh yes? And she forced you to fuck her?" Rhea said while breaking free from Dom and JD and grabbing him by the collar.

She dragged him in her hotel room, quickly followed by their teammates. Once the door closed, she slapped him across the face. He didn't react, knowing he deserved it. He remained still, barely hearing his teammates scolding him; images of Mina running in his mind. Her smile, the feeling of her lips against his, their first night, her voice, all these thoughts made his eyes filled with tears. He was still deaf to whatever his teammates were saying, until one last memory came back to his mind, Mina, his sweet Mina bleeding, tied to that bed and half conscious; this time he was able to save her.

- "What else was I supposed to do?" He spoke without realizing. Stopping his friends in their anger. "You saw what Liv did at the gym. She told me she would hurt her way worse if I didn't have an affair with her. What was I supposed to do?"

Mina was running in the staircase, followed by Finn, her heart about to explode. When Finn finally caught up on her and held her tight, she burst out in tears in his arms. Unable to speak or even to think, she just cried for several minutes, wetting Finn's T-shirt with tears. He stroked her back gently and rocked her until she calmed down. He fought the urge to kiss her head and to be overprotective. Yes he loved her and seeing her like this was a torture, but he didn't want to be the man to take advantage of the situation. Right now, she needed a friend.

- "He-he slept with her right? Why would he do that to me? What did I do wrong?" she cried.

- "You did nothing wrong, he screwed up."

- "I saw that, thank you. Fuck, why did he have to be like this? I was sure he was the good one…" She said, her voice getting deeper and her eyes darkening. "I don't know who I am the angriest at. I want to hurt them so bad"

- "So do I, dear" Finn answered. "Listen, let's get a good night sleep and go to the arena early tomorrow. What about teaching them a lesson in the ring tomorrow?" He tried.

Mina nodded and he took her hand to guide her over the stairs. They walked in the corridor, hearing Rhea's voice yelling from her room. It was easy to guess she was scolding Damian. They could hear the distinctive sound of slaps and Dom and JD's voice trying to calm her down. Finn chuckled at this thought. The Puerto Rican was his friend, but he was not going to save his butt when he was the one that messed up. He stayed with Mina in her room to be sure she had calmed down. Usually he would hold her tight but not this time, not after telling her about his feelings, it would be too awkward. Mina was beyond anger, a feeling she was always trying to avoid. But Damian's betrayal, after everything that happened was too much for her to handle. She had believed in him, he ruined everything. She wanted to hurt him as much as he hurt her, her fists were clenched and her joints turned white, she could definitely use a gym at the moment. A knock echoed at her door, Finn went up to open, and remained in front of the door, talking lowly and blocking the way. She recognized Damian's voice and stormed to the door, pushing Finn out of the way, grabbed Damian by his collar and smashing him violently against the wall.

- "How dare you come here?" she yelled. "You kissed her in front of me, you made me know you fucked her and now you are coming to see me?!"

She was about to slap him, but Finn took her hand, giving Damian the opportunity to speak.

- "Sweetheart, I swear I love you, I didn't have the choice, please believe me" he pleaded, tears running down his cheeks. "She would have hurt you, I just wanted to protect you!"

- "Protecting me by having an affair with the bitch that had been threatening me since I started climbing on the ring?" Mina hissed. "Don't you dare calling me Sweetheart again, we're done."

Her voice broke at these last words. It hurt her to leave him, but she had no other choice, he had cheated on her. Her vision blurred as tears invaded her eyes, tears of anger or sadness, she couldn't tell. All she could do was releasing his collar and take a step back.

- "I think you better let her for tonight, Lad, we'll discuss later" Finn said, pushing him out of the room.

- "But she needs to know that I d-" He was interrupted by Finn closing the door hastily. "Please Mina, I love you, I have no feelings for her, I didn't sleep with her, she tried to force me. I swear on my own life" he said behind the door before going back to his own room, knowing he would miss her presence and be unable to sleep.

Finn took Mina in his arms and held her tight until she fell asleep, training, work, emotions and crying so much had exhausted her. Once he was sure she was sleeping he lifted her in her bed and kissed her head before heading to his own room. He didn't know if he should go to talk to Damian and try to help him figure out a solution or just let him regret his choice and maybe try his chance with Mina when her broken heart would be healed. A knock sounded on his door and JD came in.

- "How is she doing?" he asked

- "She is sleeping for now, but for sure she is shaken, lad" Finn answered.

- "We talked to him."

- "Yeah, we heard Rhea's hands talking pretty loud" Finn chuckled. "What do you think about that?"

- "Lad, we need to figure out a way to get rid of Liv. She's ruining everything. I'm sure Priest tells the truth; I've never seen him cry." JD explained

Finn sat down on the bed, trying to figure out what was the best for all of them. He then explained the whole situation to JD, avoiding mentioning his feeling toward the beautiful seamstress. He told JD about the accident at the gym, the threats, Liv wanting him to seduce Mina, their affair and even the conversation he had with Mina in front of the disused building. He desperately needed advice about what to do the next day. They could lose both Mina and the Judgment Day.

The night had been short for Damian, JD, Finn and Mina, they all had trouble to fall asleep or to have rest. Mina had woken up several times during the night because of the anxiety regarding the match and her now ex-boyfriend. Finn and JD had spent most of the night thinking about a plan for the match that would allow all of them to stay together and get rid of Liv. They ended up both falling asleep in Finn's bed, which led to an awkward situation when Dom saw them leaving the room together in the morning. Damian had barely slept, spending all night crying and cursing himself for his weakness. When he would eventually fall asleep out of exhaustion, he was disturbed by nightmares, where Frederica was haunting him, or Mina was leaving him astray in a place that looked like Hell to him. In that dream Mina was his only landmark and ray of light in this dark place full of human-faced red flames. He recognized Frederica among them, but also Liv and a couple other people he had disappointed during his life, they were screaming to him, wanting to take him with them to tear him up but were stopped by Mina's light. She was holding his hand and guiding him, smiling softly. Then she let go of his hand and disappeared, as terror overwhelmed him, he saw his love turn into a red flame, ready to devour him. When he woke up, covered in sweat, he instinctively reached for Mina next to him, but she was not there, she had left him, and he had nobody to blame for it but himself.

The cars left the hotel parking lot to go to the arena, the first one was a brand-new automatic Ford, driven by Damian, next to him was JD, who had insisted to share the car with him, saying they had to talk. Dom was on the backseat, hoping not to lose his friends today. The second car was an old big Chevette, driven by Mina, Finn on the passenger seat and Rhea at the back. They were quiet, listening to the blasting music, not knowing what to say. When they parked behind the arena, Rhea tried:

- "Guys, we will find a solution for tonight"

- "Don't worry, we've got an idea" Finn replied.

They were now all gathered in font of Hunter, explaining how the show will go. First Liv would do her promo, then she would be joined by Damian to challenge Mina, who will come with Finn. That's how the match would be announced to the fans. Then they will have some time to get ready before the match. Some wrestlers came to Mina to wish her good luck or providing her advice for her very first match. Liv was smiling awkwardly at her and Finn. Even during their warmup, Mina felt something was wrong, she was looking too confident. She told Finn about her concerns while they were sparring together to get ready, arguing that Liv must have been up to something.

- "Don't worry lass, I've got an idea. I need to talk to him" he said before heading to Damian.

- "Lad, we have an idea for tonight, please, take the right decision if you don't want to lose her" Finn said to Damian before going back to Mina before Liv could come to cause any trouble.

- "It's up to him now" he said.

The crowd erupted when Liv's music echoed in the arena. She entered the ring and took a microphone to speak to the crowd and do her promo.

- "Tonight, I'm fed up with that witch always disturbing the matches. You all guys saw she even put a spell on Damian Priest" she said while the giant screen played the images of Damian rescuing Mina and hugging her. "But Luckily I could get him out of this trap".

Damian's music thundered in the arena, and he walked toward the ring with a straight face, trying not to show how sad he was. For the first time of his life, he didn't want to be in that ring.

- "I got him out of the witch's claws, but she still needs to be stopped. Tonight, I will end the witch!" Liv continued before being interrupted by the Judgment Day's music.

Mina and Finn walked calmly to the ring. Mina was wrapped in a long cloak, her face hidden by a large hood. Finn took the microphone to answer Liv.

- "All you're doing is trying to destroy the Judgment Day" he said.

- "No Finn, I'm just protecting my man from bad influences" she smirked before grabbing Damian's face to kiss him. The crowd yelled in surprise and Mina had to focus hard to not to show any emotions. "Who knows what an ugly witch like you could do."

- "That's all you have found to get rid of me?" Mina said in the microphone. "Kiss my man in front of the fans and challenge me for a match?" She started to panic, that was not supposed to happen.

- "Priest, Lad, come on" Finn said. "You won't let a love story make us fight against each other, right?"

- "You don't get it, man. We will just be here to provide back up, we will just keep the best" Damian said. "I want what's the best for the Judgment Day."

- "So is that it Damian? I went through Hell and back to see you leave me for a jealous girl who put paddings in her leggings?" Mina asked, getting closer to him, almost making him break character and cry.

- "Enough!" Liv screamed. "Tonight, the woman who loses leaves WWE! And be sure Witch, that I will send you back to Hell!"

- "Hell is where I come from, Honey" Mina angrily answered before leaving the ring.

The show went on while Hunter scolded Liv for the stipulation she chose, it was not in the script. Finn was looking at Damian, hoping he knew what the best for him was. Hunter came back, saying he was accepting the stipulation. Liv left the room and headed to the arena with Damian. Before Finn could leave too, Hunter grabbed his arm.

- "I don't know what she is up to, so please, win that match."

When their turn came, the crowd was ecstatic, both teams making thein entrance and taking place into the ring. Finn placed himself behind Mina to take off her cloak, revealing the gear she had kept a secret from everyone. Her gear was made of black wetlook fabric, the top being tightened at the collar by purple lace, that was rolling all around her naked belly. The bottom was a low waist black short worn over a pair of black fishnet tights. When she turned around in the ring to look at the public, Damian could see the back of her gear and his heart ached. She had made a clover-shaped hole on her back, filled with see-through fabric to be sure it would not be a week point. He grabbed the leather clover that was always hanging to his belt during his matches. The bell rang and the girls stood in the middle of the ring, ready to end all this mess for real. Liv attacked first, throwing punches at Mina who skilfully dodged and counterattacked with kicks He was thankful to Finn for training her to fight, these skills would avoid her to be injured. The seamstress was thrown in the corner a couple times before being able to escape Liv and run in the ropes to slam her. Liv tripped her and she fell face first on the ropes, the wrestler grabbed her long hair and knotted it around a rope, forbidding her to move her head. His mind went blank, already foreseeing the legdrop Liv would deliver to Mina's neck. He saw Finn screaming everything he could to stop Liv from jumping on Mina's face and felt weird, paralysed, almost sick. He should be the one fighting with her. The short woman managed to roll on her shoulders to avoid the stomp and ran towards Finn to tag him in but was stopped by Liv who began to punch her in the face restlessly, reddening her fists with Mina's blood. The referee separated the two women, allowing mina to tag Finn in. Hurrying to get in the ring, Damian pushed Liv outside.

- "What are you doing?" He yelled at her. "You promised to not to hurt her!"

- "I never promised anything baby" she grinned.

He cursed himself for believing her and focused on Finn who was ready to fight. They exchanged a couple punches and moves. Damian took all the punches he could take without making it too obvious he did it on purpose. He really wanted to punish himself for his choice.

- "Come on Lad, don't you see she will hurt her anyway?" Finn said during a time they were on the ground. "You can still change your mind and get rid of Liv, or let me make Mina happy.".

When they got up Finn changed drastically, hitting hard and throwing Damian on the ground and in the ropes restlessly. He had told what he had to, now was the time to get serious.