Chapter One
The atmosphere of the air he was breathing into his lungs as he walked down the hallway, the glint of the cheap, brass numbers on his and Melissa's room sitting high upon the door catching his eye. Everything seemed to be normal, nothing appearing to be out of place nor disturbed. Neither his nor the door to where Kameron and Emma were staying were kicked off the hinges, but he could not shake the feeling that something had gone horribly wrong.
He stopped at Kameron's and Emma's room, tempted to check with them and see if anything was up that he should know about before walking into the unknown circumstances he was expecting to walk into the second he walked through the door of his room. Nonsense. He chided himself for even thinking of being such a paranoid bastard. If anything had happened with Melissa, she would have called to tell him, knowing full well he would drop everything to get back as soon as he could. He trusted her more above anyone else, being honest enough to tell him if there was something he should know about that was bothering her, if she was in danger. Yet, with even that in mind, he could not shake the feeling that she had in fact been in danger and decided not to seek his help.
He would not bother asking Kameron and Emma with it when they in all likelihood would have no idea what he was talking about. Getting closer to the his own room's door, it seemed to bubble out out towards him, as if some large beast were leaning against it and trying to burst through its now rubbery form. It was like some great evil resided beyond the door, easing back as he slipped the hotel key into the knob. The door pushed open with ease, relieved he had not been assaulted by an Abominable Ring-Ding Monster, also known as Rosie O'Donnell. Something else he did not expect to see awaited him inside.
Melissa stood in front of a window, her body silhouetted by the street lights shining through the the glass pane and blinds, pulling a white sweat shirt down her form over the red t-shirt she had been wearing and the waist of her tight blue jeans. She turned around, beaming a smile at him. "Hey, I was about ready to call you," she said, "Ask you when you were going to be back."
She reached her arms up and wrapped them around behind his neck, pulling him down to plant her lips against his with a kiss. His hands slipped under the heavy material of the shirt, holding them on her sides, half of the palms of his hands on the leather belt, other on the t-shirt underneath. "Caught a chill in here?," he asked her, "I can call the management here and bitch about the heat if it's too cold for you." Looking over his shoulder at her arms around his neck, she noticed the long sleeves had risen up somewhat, the marks made from the telephone wire Kameron had used to tie her up still clearly visible on her wrists. Not appearing too anxious for him to notice, she pulled her sleeves back over her wrists and merely shrugged her shoulders in response to his question, "No, it's ok. Don't bother yourself with it."
"Boy, Melissa," said Emma sitting on the couch with one of Melissa's college textbooks held open on her lap, looking confused and scrunching her eyebrows together with a turn of every page, not really reading it but only looking at the type of things it said and how complicated it all seemed to her, "I don't know how you can make any sense of this stuff. And I thought high school was hard before I dropped out."
Melissa pulled away from Xavier, kissing him another quick kiss with a pat on the chest and next to Emma, opening up her laptop on the coffee table in front of her. "I was working on this paper before your asshole boyfriend started his shit," she told Emma, slipping a pair of wire-rimmed glasses over her eyes, "If you want, I can try to help you with the school thing." "No, that's OK," said Emma with a shake of her head, "It bored the hell out of me and I'm really not that good at being smart. Better to stick to what I know." "That may work for you for now," countered Melissa, "But what are you going to doing years from now. You can't expect Kameron to take care of you the rest of your life, you'd be better off being able to take care of yourself if he ever gets like this on you again. I like to write so after I'm done with this journalism degree, I'll probably end up working for some newspaper or magazine or whatever. Nothing against Xavier, but I like to be my own woman."
The cordiality and friendliness between the to of them was not what had struck him as strange. Yes, he could remember when Melissa could not even stand the sight of the blonde girl who got along by sleeping with another man she detested, but here they were, talking together like best friends, Melissa even given her advice and offering to help her. It seems he had been correct that something seriously wrong in this room, and the moment he walked through the door, he had stepped into his very own episode of The Twilight Zone, all that was missing now was the annoying screeching beeping of that theme song. No, the bizarreness of them being friends was not what disturbed him so much, but the bruising and swelling on Emma's face.
He walked around to the other side of the couch, sitting down on the other side next to Emma, sandwiching her between him and Melissa. His right hand under her chin, holding it and turning her face to him, letting him see the full scope of what had been done to her. Her left eye was almost to the point of being swollen shut, her bottom lip split and looks to have been bleeding before. Other marks of being hitting pockmarked her face, but Melissa had obviously done a pretty good job of getting her cleaned up.
"The fuck happened to her?," he asked, the concern in his voice clear enough to be understand that he was actually worried about her. "Kameron knows about what we did with her," said Melissa as she turned to them both, her brown eyes looking to be magnified through the lenses, "He beat the shit out of her right after he found out. Just a complete dickhead and cried about how sorry he was after but I'm not buying it." "Fucking idiot," he mumbled, "He didn't try anything on you did he?"
Melissa and Emma shared an awkward look with each other for a few seconds, a quick silence lasting before Melissa finally broke it, "If he did, do you think he'd have his balls still attached? If he ever laid a hand on me, nothing would stop me from beating his ass." "Good," said Xavier, more to himself then either of them.
His lips met Emma's, this time different then the last time with the absence of anything of a sexual nature meant or felt. "I'm sorry, Emma," he said, petting the top of her head, stroking her blonde hair, "I'll talk with him and make sure he knows shit like this can't happen. It draws to much attention to us." "He wanted to talk to you before anyway," she told him shrugging her shoulders, "Going on about worrying about having to fight you when he beats Belmont to get a shot at your belt. It's a pretty much a given you'll be beating Thorn and Con so he's been weighing the goods and bads about facing you."
"He won't have to worry about facing me," said Xavier now rising to his feet and walking around the coffee table, moving to the refrigerator in the hotel's version of a kitchen for their rooms, "After I beat Thorn and Con like the Red Cell bitches that they are, I have a plan to get rid of this thing and mock that self-righteous cunt Blade Storm. I have no intention of walking out of Winnipeg with the New Breed title, but I know Kameron will end up taking it back for us after letting the world know how sad Belmont really is. If I can beat him with a dropkick, Kameron won't have a problem getting the spot for the running."
"Umm, Xavier, honey," said Melissa taking her attention from typing away with her fingers at the laptop, Xavier pulling a beer from the refrigerator before giving her his full attention, "There's one other thing. Emma's going to be staying with us until she feels safe being around Kameron by herself again." "She's what?," said Xavier, almost choking on his beer after hearing what Melissa said, "Mel, come on, we don't have anywhere for her. We only got one bed in this room and one at home. Where's she going to sleep? And I'm not taking my chances being asleep around you two after the last time."
Both Emma and Melissa giggled together, looking at each other and sharing the remembrance of what they had done to Xavier together with their night together. "I promise we won't do anything to you tonight," she reasoned with him, "And next room we get will have two beds. I know we have plans for that other bedroom at home, but it's not going to kill us to get a bed in there and let her use it for the time being. Just until Kameron proves he's working on not being a complete fuck up, that's all I ask."
"Alright, fine," grumbled Xavier, finding it impossible to argue with her as usual and caving like an old coal mine in West Virginia, "But I'm bunking on the couch if I even think you're trying something."
Chapter Two
Xavier's fist pounded against the wood of the door, the booming impacts sounding through it to the hotel room beyond. Irritable and not in a good mood already. Not trusting Melissa and Emma enough to sleep in the same bed with them, he held his slumbering vigil on the couch, finally passing out the second Jimmy Kimmel opened his mouth. Only after being woken up by the scheming bitches holding a feather under his nose, did he realize his error of losing track of the television remote control and allowing it to slip from his grip to find its place within a slot in between the couch cushions.
Kameron swung open the door, receiving a few raps upon his head as Xavier had not stopped banging on the door since he started. "Ow, man, the fuck?," Kameron moaned holding his head and allowing Xavier to push his way into the hotel room, "It's too early and I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." "Oh really?," said Xavier turning around feigning shock, "Try getting back to your room and finding out you have a new roomie because her boyfriend beat the shit out of her and let everyone on the god damn floor know about it. How many times do I have to tell you, with all the shit and cops watching you to see if you are actually selling shit out of your club, you have to be on your best fucking behavior and you go and pull this?"
Kameron looked agitated as being talked down to in such a way, but also somewhat relieved for some reason, "I don't know man, I snapped OK? I'm sorry." "You're sorry?," snapped Xavier, "I slept out on the couch. I woke up this morning with a TV remote stuck in my ass and you're the one that's sorry?"
"Alright already," said Kameron, running his hands along the scalp of his head, trying to think, "I want to make this right. Christ, Melissa was so pissed last night when she took Emma out of here and brought her to your room." "Oh she was, and still is," Xavier nodded, inching closer to Kameron, backing his way up against the wall and Xavier still pressing in on him, inches from his face, "But believe me, how much she hates you would be nothing compared to what I'd do if you so much as even thought about touching her. If, when I got back, Mel would've told me that you touched her in anyway, I wouldn't have even of knocked just now. I would've just broke on in here and killed you in your sleep. We understand each other?"
Kameron did not say a word, taking a gulp in his throat nodding that yes, he did understand. "Good, now listen to me very carefully," continued Xavier, "You're going to do your damnedest to make sure Emma knows you love her. Yeah, me and Mel had some fun with her but that's it, it was a one time deal. You show you're actually committed to her and not fucking anything with or without a pulse, let her feel comfortable around you again so she's out of my hotel room and my house. The sooner that happens, the happier I'll be. And a happy Xavier means a non-violent Xavier."
"But I don't love her," tried Kameron but Xavier cut him off, "As a demented black woman with crazy fucking hair known as Tina Turner once said, 'What's love got to do with it?' Me and Mel are different. I love her, she loves me, we'll eventually end up getting married overseas and think happy, happy thoughts forever, but not every committed couple needs to love each other. It's kind of a, 'Yeah, we're stuck together so let's just make the most of it,' thing. You have any idea how many people live happily like that? I'm not asking for much, just do this for me so I can try to reclaim some of my manhood that Mel just seems to push out of her way when she wants something OK?"
Beads of sweat dripped down Kameron's forehead, nodding his head again and taking another gulp before answering, "I'll try, man. I just snapped when I found out. Just don't take it out on me if we end up meeting for your title alright." Kameron laughed, trying to bring some humor to the tense situation between them. Xavier smiled, taking a few steps back and pulling Kameron away from the wall. He almost leapt ten feet into the air as Xavier wrapped an arm around his shoulder, expecting some kind of attack but relaxed again and relieving his tensing muscles. "Kameron," said Xavier in a comforting tone, "You don't have to worry about that, but I'm going to need you to take back the New Breed title for us after my match. No, I have no intention of actually losing it. To those morons? Are you fucking kidding me? No, call it The Breed sending a message to Storm and those Red Cell lackeys of his along with everyone else on the roster. By the end of the night, there's going to be a huge headline over a picture of them beaten and unconscious in the middle of that ring. 'Behold, Thorn and Con, the fools who thought they could bring down The Breed.'"