“You just HAD to go swimming, didn’t you?  You just HAD to make us walk up four fucking flights of stairs so you could take a little dip?!”  I’m yelling and I really don’t care.  Apparently, Dennis doesn’t either, because he’s fighting unsuccessfully to keep back a grin.  “Oh so you think this is funny?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”  Dennis is actually giggling now.  “Say, uhm….Mark…you getting any shrinkage there.”

I consider throwing my ice pack at him, but right now I need it numbing me.  “Shut the hell up.  It’s your fault.”

He placed his hands on his hips.  “Excuse me?  I think YOU were the one who kept wrestling with an injured groin last year, so don’t blame your little cramp on me.”  His smile turned seductive.  “Besides, if you aren’t nice to me, I won’t kiss it and make it feel better.”

I moaned softly, flopping back onto the bed, but the small bedside clock caught my eye.  “Shit…Dennis, we’re gonna be late.”

Dennis glanced at the clock and frowned.  “Mark, can you even move?”  I tried, but I couldn’t seem to get my body working the right way.  “That’s what I thought.  Look...you don’t have to be there till halfway through Raw.  I’ll catch a ride with Kwick or someone so we can get to Metal.  You stay here till you got that nice and iced up.”  The smile was back.  “Think of it this way, if you get low blowed tonight, you probably won’t even feel it.”  He kissed me gently.  “Love ya.”

I watched him go out the door, pressing the ice pack harder.  Fucking cramp…I’m getting too old for this.  And now Dennis is using that damn l-word and looking at me every day, like he wants me to magically change so I can return it.  A twinge shoots through my groin, and I moved the pack.  I’ll be lucky if I can even walk tonight, let alone fight.

An hour later, it was getting to the make-or-break time in deciding whether I’d be visiting my yard tonight.  I swung my legs off the bed and amazingly stood up.  Well whaddaya know.  I managed to get my jeans and t-shirt off and get on…uhm….my OTHER jeans and t-shirt and then, looking at the clock again, decided now might be a good time to get going.

I started walking down the hallway, pulling on my elbow pads as I was walking.  I passed by the staircase and glared.  No way was I going near those any time soon.  I wandered over to the elevators and pushed the button waiting for it to show up.  I leaned against the wall and…

Oh, just what I needed.  Waiting for an elevator and all I could hear was Stephanie’s nails on a chalkboard voice from the room behind me.  “Yeah….oh I KNOW!  It’s not fair…he doesn’t deserve that shot!”  Whoa….someone’s getting a title shot?  I listened closer.  “Him and his...his motorcycle, and his stupid shirts….oh, I know Hunter, I know you hate him…”

Hold up a sec.  I’M getting a title shot?  This is news to me.  Stephanie’s voice comes through the wall again.  “No….I think I have a better idea.  He’s used to getting hurt by now, that’ll be like a vacation for him, so he can learn target spitting or something.  No…why don’t we…distract him?”  Huh?  The girl’s not making sense.  “What do you mean, what am I talking about?  It’ll work if you stop being so negative!  Think about it Hunter…what would he do if that…that doof he hangs around with…oh I don’t know…oh, you see where I’m going now do you?  I told you….”

Oh fuck.  They’re going after Dennis.  They can’t do that.  That’s against the rules.  You aren’t supposed to go after someone not involved in the game.  But since when have Stephanie and Hemlsy played by the rules?

I gotta go warn him.  If they want to go up against me, they can try all they want, but they aren’t gonna get to Dennis.

I turned to go down the steps, not caring whether I ended up killing my groin again. I the background, I could hear the elevator beeping insistently, waiting for someone to tell it where to go, but I didn’t have the time to wait for it now.