Post by Nick Knight on May 5, 2021 8:00:02 GMT
Nick Knight limped through the hallways of Ravenhill Stadium, his arms draped over the shoulders of Jayson Matthews and Jack Ferrimen. He is covered in blood from head to toe and leaving boot prints wherever he steps. The smell of burnt hair comes off of him like some really bad knock off cologne. ‘The Unholy Son’ is in an obvious bad way as The Disciples all but carry him to his dressing room.
“Oh my God, Nicky” he hears Penny scream, but he doesn’t have the strength to look up at her. “Nicky can you hear me?”
He grunts that he can hear her, but he still doesn’t have the strength to look up at her. He has been pushed beyond his limits and he just wants to curl up and die. Steve Awesome has broken him and left him a hollow shell of a man. He does not care that he let his brother down anymore, this is no longer about Lou. This is about the fact that he was forced to release the monster and it did not do the job.
“Put him in the shower,” hears Penny say and he is being carried once again. “Nicky sweety I’m going to turn on the water and rinse you off while someone goes and finds a doctor.”
The water hit is body first freezing cold and then slowly warmer. Normally win of lose he love the post match shower and an ice cold beer, but not tonight. Tonight he doesn’t want to feel anything good. He doesn’t want to feel at all and wishes that it can all just go away. The world just needs to fuck off and go the fuck away.
“You have to stay with me Nicky,” Penny’s voice was so pretty. He didn’t deserve someone so pretty in his life. “Don’t you dare go to sleep Nick Knight!”
He begins to fade into the blackness when something slaps him hard across the face waking him up. He opens his eyes to see an angel with red air staring back at him, or is she a demon come to take his soul. It didn’t matter as long as she just lets him go back into the darkness. Another slap forces his eyes open again. She’s still standing over him and screaming something, but he can’t quite make it out.
“Wake up goddamn it!”
“I’m awake,” he tries to say, but it just comes out as gibberish.
"Holy shit! Are you alright Dad?"
"Language," tries to say, but he just can't form the word. He can't really do anything except stare at the ceiling and wish people would just leave him the fuck ALONE.
"Alright Nick, let me look you over." The voice was one he should know, but could not place. "What's your full name?"
"Nicholas James Knight," he slurs.
"What day is it?"
"My fucking birthday you prick,” he answers, softly.
"Is it really his birthday," the voice asks someone else.
"Yes" Penny answers.
"That cut on your head is pretty nasty, can I get a closer look?"
"Go fuck yourself!” The fire pumping through his veins returns for the blink of an eye. “Let me lay here and bleed out."
"Nicky you need to let the doctor take care of you sweety," Penny pleaded.
"Just let me die,” he begs.
"Stop acting like a little bitch." He opened his eyes to see a beautiful blonde, this one was a demon for sure. "You got your ass beat, so what? You still have people that love you."
"I don't know why?"
"Sometimes I don't either." She stomps off, at least one person can take the hint.
"Here's the deal Nick, you're going to the hospital," says the doctor. "You can either do it the easy way and get your ass up and climb on the gurney, or you can do it the hard way and I got six big guys in here and strap you to a backboard. Which is it going to be?"
"Fuck you!"
"The hard way it is!"
"There will be no need for all of that doctor." Lucipher Crosse walked into the room. "Brother Nicky is just prone to bouts of histrionics from time to time. Let me speak with him for a moment and I'm sure he'll cooperate. If not I have just the fellows to help strap him down."
"Fuck off, Lou."
"Is that really the way to greet your favorite little brother," ask Lou, snidely. "Especially given your strong showing tonight"
"I said fuck off, Lou."
"You had your chance." Nick begins to fight as six large masked men grab ahold of him and begin to drat him from the shower. He lands a left jab to one of their noses and a pop could be heard and The Church member begins to scream. A right cross connects with the temple of another knocking them loopy. "Stop fighting Nicky!"
"Just leave me alone!"
“Dad, please stop fighting. They’re just trying to help you.”
“I don’t know why anyone would want to help me.”
“I guess I don’t either.” The youngest Knight stomps out of the room, making two people that understands Nicky.
Nick continues to fight anyone that put their hands on him until something stabs him in the ass. Suddenly the world goes very dark and he feels like he’s floating. It was a very pleasant feeling, the only sound he could hear was the sound of his own beating heart.
His eyes open and he’s staring at the ceiling of yet another hospital room. He could now add Northern Ireland to the list of countries that he has found himself waking up in a hospital. Somehow they all looked the same; artificially white like the teeth of some Hollywood star. They all sounded the same too, nothing but beeps and mechanical whirrs. The feeling in this room was different though, because he was sorry that he woke up. He was sorry that they didn’t leave him in that shower to die.
“Hey you.” He looked over to see Cin sitting in an uncomfortable chair reading a book. “We were beginning to wonder if you were ever going to bother to wake up.”
“I was really hoping not to,” he croaked.
“Are you really still on that bullshit,” she asks.
“I’ve let a lot of people down in my life Cin, maybe I just can’t take it anymore.”
“Who have you let down?” She sits on the edge of the bed and runs her hand through her hair. “I know you haven’t let me down, or Penny, or even JC. We’re worried about you of course, but we’re not let down. You obviously didn’t let your brother down since he had a back up plan all along.”
“Maybe that’s what is bothering me so much. I damn near killed myself for him and he had a back up plan the entire fucking time. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? I went to a very fucking dark place for him for now reason.”
“Are we back to this monster bullshit?”
Nick reaches out and takes her by the hand. “Cin, can you honestly tell me that the man that I hope you love is capable of doing the things that I did to Steve Awesome?”
“Yes, for the right reasons.” She squeezes his hand and gives him a weak smile.“I also think that you believe you did it for the right reason. I might not agree with you, but we can talk about that later.”
“I’m not sure what my reasons are any more,” he says. “I know I’m over all of this Church of Crosse bullshit.”
“Do you remember how the match ended?” Nick shakes his head so Cin grabs her phone and plays for him the aftermath of the match. “Things aren’t over between you Steve and The Church so you better figure out where you stand on things really quick.”
“I know where I stand, but I don’t know why anymore. I want to hurt Steve Awesome really fucking bad, I’m just pretty sure it’s not because I want to protect my brother. I’m beginning to think that it’s simply because I’m just one sadistic son of a bitch.”
Cin gives him a smug grin. “Nicky I’ve been watching your matches my entire life. My brothers would watch all of your old death matches on YouTube constantly, so I know for a fact you’ve always been one sadistic son of a bitch. You will do just about anything to inflict pain upon an opponent and you sure as hell don’t mind having pain inflicted upon you. So why the change all of a sudden?”
“It all changed when I was on Gator Island and had to hurt people just to survive,” he answers. “I’m not talking about making a living survive, I mean have to hurt people to stay alive. It ate away at a piece of my soul and I swore and I would never be that man again.”
“So don’t be that guy.”
“It’s not that easy.” Nicky begins to cry in frustration. “No matter how hard I try that part of me just keeps rearing its ugly head. I take my meds, I see my shrink, I do everything I can to kill it all away; but it’s always there.”
“Ah, sweety.” She wraps him up in a tight embrace. “We all have something inside that we want to keep locked up in a dark closet. I think that is just a part of being human.”
“I doubt if your monster got you locked up in fucking hell for fifteen months.”
“No, but I did have to pay a big ass fine for fucking on the Hollywood sign,” she joked.
“Huh, Penny and I just got a warning. Well she had to take a selfie with the cop, which did not male his female partner very happy.” Nick returned her smile, but it did not quite reach his eyes. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“I guess for being here for me. A year ago the only person I had in my life was Sam, and now he’s gone.”
Cin perched herself on the side of the bed. “You don’t have to worry about being alone anymore. I’m not going anywhere and neither is Penny or JC.”
“As long as I don’t fuck up and push you all away again.”
“Penny and I have talked a lot about what happened with your guys’ marriage.” Nick cringes in anticipation of what his girlfriend is about to say next. “She has told me that she is just as much to blame as you are, maybe more. She said that she was just as guilty of pushing you away as you were of pushing her away.”
“When things got tough I ran. I didn’t stay and work things out like an adult I tucked tail and ran like a little boy.
“She didn’t exactly come looking for you, but just know if you try that shit again we will go to the ends of the Earth to hunt you down.”
“I think you proved that in Cardiff,” he said laughing nervously.
There is a knock on the door and Nick looks up to see an attractive woman of middle years. Silver streaks her red hair and she has a kind smile. “Mr. Knight I’m glad to see that you’re awake. My name is Dr. McCalla and I’ve been overseeing your care.”
“Nice to meet you, Doc. Please call me Nick.”
“Alright, Nick. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was thrown off of the top of a fifteen foot ladder and through a burning table,” Nick joked.
The doctor smiled. “Well I wouldn’t have a clue why you felt that way. Honestly I’m amazed that your injuries are as minor as they are after watching that carnival freakshow you called a wrestling match.”
“Let’s just say that was not my first rodeo. So what did I fuck up this time,” Nick asked.
“You have second degree burns over approximately ten percent of your body, you have a hairline fracture of one rib and several more are bruised, and you also have a left kidney contusion. Not to mention thirty five stitches in your forehead. Given the fall you are very lucky that you are not in much worse shape,” the doctor answers.
“Like he said doctor, this is not his first rodeo. He’s been through flaming tables and thrown off the top of cages before,” Cin says.
“Never at the same time,” Nick points out.
“I would recommend not making a habit of it,” say the doctor sternly. “I want to keep you one more night for observation. You’ll be released tomorrow as long as you do not get any worse.”
“One more night? How long have I been out,” Nick asks Cin.
“They’ve kept you out for a day and a half after you made an ass of yourself. You hurt a lot of people the other night you know that? You broke one person’s nose, knocked another one out cold, and gave a lot more some nasty bumps and bruises.”
“I’m sorry, I just wasn’t in a good head space. I’m still pretty sure I’m not in a good head space, but I’ll try to work through it.”
“No,” Cin says sternly. “You will work through it and you have people that love you to help. You don’t have to do this shit by yourself Nicky. I don’t really know what to call what we are, but I know that we all love each other, which mean helping each other work through shit.”
“I’m not good at asking for help Cin, and I’m shit at opening up. The first five appointments I had with Dr. Goode we basically just stared at each other.”
“Well we aren’t some stranger that you’re court ordered to see. We’re your girlfriends and you should be able to open up to us.”
“You know I hate that word, girlfriend.” Nick sits up in bed. “It’s the same word you use to describe Mary Jane Rottencrotch when you’re sixteen, not an adult relationship. Yes it’s what we use until you decide that you want to get married.”
“Mary Jane Rottencrotch?”
“Haven’t you ever seen Full Metal Jacket?”
“No.”
“We are going to have to fix that when we get home. It’s a…”
Nicky is cut off when Cin’s phone starts to play Bitch by The Rolling Stones. She hits answer and says, “Hey babe. Yeah he woke up a few minutes ago. Let me put you on speaker phone.”
“Are you done being as asshole Nick Knight,” Penny’s voice came from the other end.
“No, probably not.”
“Cin, smack him for me.” The cute blonde smacks him on the arm lightly. “Seriously though Nicky, the other night was bullshit. You scared the hell out of a lot of people, especially our son.”
“I’m sorry about that, but I had just been thrown off of the top of a cage through a flaming table. That kind of fucks you up a little bit you know?”
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” she scolds. “You are a professional athlete used to taking punishment like that. You’ve been doing that shit for years now.”
“Professional athletes don’t do that kind of shit. Hell stuntmen don’t do that kind of shit without harnesses and crashpads. I’m sorry if you can’t see how I’m a little bit fucked up after everything, but I am.”
“Penny, sweety, please go easier on him. He and I have been talking and there’s more than meets the eye. We can all talk about it later though.”
“Well I’m heading back to L.A. with the boys in the morning,” Penny says.
“I’m supposed to be released sometime tomorrow. I’ll book flights home for us then and we can all meet back at your house in a couple of days,” replies Nick. “Penny, please tell JC I’m sorry and that I love him.”
“He knows. He was just really worried about the way you were acting.”
“I hope I can explain all of that soon. I love you.
“I love you too Nicky. I love you Cin.”
“I love you too Penny.”
The call is disconnected and the two sit with the only sound being the constant beeping of Nicky’s heart monitor. Finally he speaks, “Cin I want you to know that you make me happy. I am glad to have you in my life no matter how I act sometimes. Honestly even though we’ve only known each other a few months I couldn’t imagine not having in my life.”
“I feel the same way Nicky. I’ve never really been in a relationship before, at least not a serious one, and to be in one with two people at the same time scares the hell out of me; but I’m happy. I just have a lot of questions that I need to get answered really soon.”
“Like what,” he asks.
“The biggest one is, what in the hell am I going to tell my parents?” She stands up and begins to pace across the small room. “They are by no means prudes, in fact I’m pretty sure they did a little swinging when they were younger, but I just don’t know how to have that conversation. I mean, ‘Mom and Dad I’m in a serious relationship, but I need to warn you that it’s with two people at the same time.’ I mean how would your parents have reacted?”
“Well my Mom would have probably bummed money to get high and Jimmy would have given me a high five. There’s a reason why he has three sons by three different women, that we know of anyway.”
Cin laughs. “Yeah it would be a whole lot easier for you to tell your parents than me.”
“Yeah it would have been.” Nick gives her a smile. “Jimmy would loved you. He adored smart, fiery woman that can hold their own. I guess I inherited that gene, because I apparently do too.”
“Why do you always call your dad Jimmy?”
“I didn’t meet him until I was in my twenties and it was really hard to start calling someone dad. Hell I wasn’t sure I even wanted to ever meet him, but it happened completely by accident I guess you could call it.”
“How so?”
“Well I had just opened what would become the xXx Dojo in L.A. and one of my very first students was this young punk named James Knight. I had no clue that he was my little brother until Jimmy flew out to L.A. to watch his James’ very first match.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Yeah, well the story gets crazier. About a year after I first met Jimmy we decided we wanted to start our own promotion and somehow we got in contact with Sleaze. He agreed to bankroll everything, but we had to move to Vegas. That’s when my school officially became the xXx Dojo and two of the very first students I have are two brothers named Lou and Gabriel Crosse.”
“No fucking way?”
“Yeah, by some weird twist of fate I met both of my brothers by training them as wrestlers. What can I say the business is in our blood.”
“So Lou is a trained wrestler, why the fuck does he need you to protect him,” she asks.
“He walked away from the ring and became a lawyer years ago. The only exercise he’s probably had in that time is whatever goes on in that sex dungeon of his, which I really don’t want to think about.”
“You know, maybe it’s time he learns to stick up for himself.”
“Maybe. What I do know is that the next time I’m in the ring with Steve Awesome it’s going to be because I want to be, not because of some agenda of The Church. I’m done with all of that bullshit.”
“I just hope you aren’t in too deep.”
“Me too. I think I’m going to try to take a nap.”
Cin leans down and kisses him on the forehead. “Sleep well Price Charming, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Oh my God, Nicky” he hears Penny scream, but he doesn’t have the strength to look up at her. “Nicky can you hear me?”
He grunts that he can hear her, but he still doesn’t have the strength to look up at her. He has been pushed beyond his limits and he just wants to curl up and die. Steve Awesome has broken him and left him a hollow shell of a man. He does not care that he let his brother down anymore, this is no longer about Lou. This is about the fact that he was forced to release the monster and it did not do the job.
“Put him in the shower,” hears Penny say and he is being carried once again. “Nicky sweety I’m going to turn on the water and rinse you off while someone goes and finds a doctor.”
The water hit is body first freezing cold and then slowly warmer. Normally win of lose he love the post match shower and an ice cold beer, but not tonight. Tonight he doesn’t want to feel anything good. He doesn’t want to feel at all and wishes that it can all just go away. The world just needs to fuck off and go the fuck away.
“You have to stay with me Nicky,” Penny’s voice was so pretty. He didn’t deserve someone so pretty in his life. “Don’t you dare go to sleep Nick Knight!”
He begins to fade into the blackness when something slaps him hard across the face waking him up. He opens his eyes to see an angel with red air staring back at him, or is she a demon come to take his soul. It didn’t matter as long as she just lets him go back into the darkness. Another slap forces his eyes open again. She’s still standing over him and screaming something, but he can’t quite make it out.
“Wake up goddamn it!”
“I’m awake,” he tries to say, but it just comes out as gibberish.
"Holy shit! Are you alright Dad?"
"Language," tries to say, but he just can't form the word. He can't really do anything except stare at the ceiling and wish people would just leave him the fuck ALONE.
"Alright Nick, let me look you over." The voice was one he should know, but could not place. "What's your full name?"
"Nicholas James Knight," he slurs.
"What day is it?"
"My fucking birthday you prick,” he answers, softly.
"Is it really his birthday," the voice asks someone else.
"Yes" Penny answers.
"That cut on your head is pretty nasty, can I get a closer look?"
"Go fuck yourself!” The fire pumping through his veins returns for the blink of an eye. “Let me lay here and bleed out."
"Nicky you need to let the doctor take care of you sweety," Penny pleaded.
"Just let me die,” he begs.
"Stop acting like a little bitch." He opened his eyes to see a beautiful blonde, this one was a demon for sure. "You got your ass beat, so what? You still have people that love you."
"I don't know why?"
"Sometimes I don't either." She stomps off, at least one person can take the hint.
"Here's the deal Nick, you're going to the hospital," says the doctor. "You can either do it the easy way and get your ass up and climb on the gurney, or you can do it the hard way and I got six big guys in here and strap you to a backboard. Which is it going to be?"
"Fuck you!"
"The hard way it is!"
"There will be no need for all of that doctor." Lucipher Crosse walked into the room. "Brother Nicky is just prone to bouts of histrionics from time to time. Let me speak with him for a moment and I'm sure he'll cooperate. If not I have just the fellows to help strap him down."
"Fuck off, Lou."
"Is that really the way to greet your favorite little brother," ask Lou, snidely. "Especially given your strong showing tonight"
"I said fuck off, Lou."
"You had your chance." Nick begins to fight as six large masked men grab ahold of him and begin to drat him from the shower. He lands a left jab to one of their noses and a pop could be heard and The Church member begins to scream. A right cross connects with the temple of another knocking them loopy. "Stop fighting Nicky!"
"Just leave me alone!"
“Dad, please stop fighting. They’re just trying to help you.”
“I don’t know why anyone would want to help me.”
“I guess I don’t either.” The youngest Knight stomps out of the room, making two people that understands Nicky.
Nick continues to fight anyone that put their hands on him until something stabs him in the ass. Suddenly the world goes very dark and he feels like he’s floating. It was a very pleasant feeling, the only sound he could hear was the sound of his own beating heart.
His eyes open and he’s staring at the ceiling of yet another hospital room. He could now add Northern Ireland to the list of countries that he has found himself waking up in a hospital. Somehow they all looked the same; artificially white like the teeth of some Hollywood star. They all sounded the same too, nothing but beeps and mechanical whirrs. The feeling in this room was different though, because he was sorry that he woke up. He was sorry that they didn’t leave him in that shower to die.
“Hey you.” He looked over to see Cin sitting in an uncomfortable chair reading a book. “We were beginning to wonder if you were ever going to bother to wake up.”
“I was really hoping not to,” he croaked.
“Are you really still on that bullshit,” she asks.
“I’ve let a lot of people down in my life Cin, maybe I just can’t take it anymore.”
“Who have you let down?” She sits on the edge of the bed and runs her hand through her hair. “I know you haven’t let me down, or Penny, or even JC. We’re worried about you of course, but we’re not let down. You obviously didn’t let your brother down since he had a back up plan all along.”
“Maybe that’s what is bothering me so much. I damn near killed myself for him and he had a back up plan the entire fucking time. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? I went to a very fucking dark place for him for now reason.”
“Are we back to this monster bullshit?”
Nick reaches out and takes her by the hand. “Cin, can you honestly tell me that the man that I hope you love is capable of doing the things that I did to Steve Awesome?”
“Yes, for the right reasons.” She squeezes his hand and gives him a weak smile.“I also think that you believe you did it for the right reason. I might not agree with you, but we can talk about that later.”
“I’m not sure what my reasons are any more,” he says. “I know I’m over all of this Church of Crosse bullshit.”
“Do you remember how the match ended?” Nick shakes his head so Cin grabs her phone and plays for him the aftermath of the match. “Things aren’t over between you Steve and The Church so you better figure out where you stand on things really quick.”
“I know where I stand, but I don’t know why anymore. I want to hurt Steve Awesome really fucking bad, I’m just pretty sure it’s not because I want to protect my brother. I’m beginning to think that it’s simply because I’m just one sadistic son of a bitch.”
Cin gives him a smug grin. “Nicky I’ve been watching your matches my entire life. My brothers would watch all of your old death matches on YouTube constantly, so I know for a fact you’ve always been one sadistic son of a bitch. You will do just about anything to inflict pain upon an opponent and you sure as hell don’t mind having pain inflicted upon you. So why the change all of a sudden?”
“It all changed when I was on Gator Island and had to hurt people just to survive,” he answers. “I’m not talking about making a living survive, I mean have to hurt people to stay alive. It ate away at a piece of my soul and I swore and I would never be that man again.”
“So don’t be that guy.”
“It’s not that easy.” Nicky begins to cry in frustration. “No matter how hard I try that part of me just keeps rearing its ugly head. I take my meds, I see my shrink, I do everything I can to kill it all away; but it’s always there.”
“Ah, sweety.” She wraps him up in a tight embrace. “We all have something inside that we want to keep locked up in a dark closet. I think that is just a part of being human.”
“I doubt if your monster got you locked up in fucking hell for fifteen months.”
“No, but I did have to pay a big ass fine for fucking on the Hollywood sign,” she joked.
“Huh, Penny and I just got a warning. Well she had to take a selfie with the cop, which did not male his female partner very happy.” Nick returned her smile, but it did not quite reach his eyes. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“I guess for being here for me. A year ago the only person I had in my life was Sam, and now he’s gone.”
Cin perched herself on the side of the bed. “You don’t have to worry about being alone anymore. I’m not going anywhere and neither is Penny or JC.”
“As long as I don’t fuck up and push you all away again.”
“Penny and I have talked a lot about what happened with your guys’ marriage.” Nick cringes in anticipation of what his girlfriend is about to say next. “She has told me that she is just as much to blame as you are, maybe more. She said that she was just as guilty of pushing you away as you were of pushing her away.”
“When things got tough I ran. I didn’t stay and work things out like an adult I tucked tail and ran like a little boy.
“She didn’t exactly come looking for you, but just know if you try that shit again we will go to the ends of the Earth to hunt you down.”
“I think you proved that in Cardiff,” he said laughing nervously.
There is a knock on the door and Nick looks up to see an attractive woman of middle years. Silver streaks her red hair and she has a kind smile. “Mr. Knight I’m glad to see that you’re awake. My name is Dr. McCalla and I’ve been overseeing your care.”
“Nice to meet you, Doc. Please call me Nick.”
“Alright, Nick. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was thrown off of the top of a fifteen foot ladder and through a burning table,” Nick joked.
The doctor smiled. “Well I wouldn’t have a clue why you felt that way. Honestly I’m amazed that your injuries are as minor as they are after watching that carnival freakshow you called a wrestling match.”
“Let’s just say that was not my first rodeo. So what did I fuck up this time,” Nick asked.
“You have second degree burns over approximately ten percent of your body, you have a hairline fracture of one rib and several more are bruised, and you also have a left kidney contusion. Not to mention thirty five stitches in your forehead. Given the fall you are very lucky that you are not in much worse shape,” the doctor answers.
“Like he said doctor, this is not his first rodeo. He’s been through flaming tables and thrown off the top of cages before,” Cin says.
“Never at the same time,” Nick points out.
“I would recommend not making a habit of it,” say the doctor sternly. “I want to keep you one more night for observation. You’ll be released tomorrow as long as you do not get any worse.”
“One more night? How long have I been out,” Nick asks Cin.
“They’ve kept you out for a day and a half after you made an ass of yourself. You hurt a lot of people the other night you know that? You broke one person’s nose, knocked another one out cold, and gave a lot more some nasty bumps and bruises.”
“I’m sorry, I just wasn’t in a good head space. I’m still pretty sure I’m not in a good head space, but I’ll try to work through it.”
“No,” Cin says sternly. “You will work through it and you have people that love you to help. You don’t have to do this shit by yourself Nicky. I don’t really know what to call what we are, but I know that we all love each other, which mean helping each other work through shit.”
“I’m not good at asking for help Cin, and I’m shit at opening up. The first five appointments I had with Dr. Goode we basically just stared at each other.”
“Well we aren’t some stranger that you’re court ordered to see. We’re your girlfriends and you should be able to open up to us.”
“You know I hate that word, girlfriend.” Nick sits up in bed. “It’s the same word you use to describe Mary Jane Rottencrotch when you’re sixteen, not an adult relationship. Yes it’s what we use until you decide that you want to get married.”
“Mary Jane Rottencrotch?”
“Haven’t you ever seen Full Metal Jacket?”
“No.”
“We are going to have to fix that when we get home. It’s a…”
Nicky is cut off when Cin’s phone starts to play Bitch by The Rolling Stones. She hits answer and says, “Hey babe. Yeah he woke up a few minutes ago. Let me put you on speaker phone.”
“Are you done being as asshole Nick Knight,” Penny’s voice came from the other end.
“No, probably not.”
“Cin, smack him for me.” The cute blonde smacks him on the arm lightly. “Seriously though Nicky, the other night was bullshit. You scared the hell out of a lot of people, especially our son.”
“I’m sorry about that, but I had just been thrown off of the top of a cage through a flaming table. That kind of fucks you up a little bit you know?”
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” she scolds. “You are a professional athlete used to taking punishment like that. You’ve been doing that shit for years now.”
“Professional athletes don’t do that kind of shit. Hell stuntmen don’t do that kind of shit without harnesses and crashpads. I’m sorry if you can’t see how I’m a little bit fucked up after everything, but I am.”
“Penny, sweety, please go easier on him. He and I have been talking and there’s more than meets the eye. We can all talk about it later though.”
“Well I’m heading back to L.A. with the boys in the morning,” Penny says.
“I’m supposed to be released sometime tomorrow. I’ll book flights home for us then and we can all meet back at your house in a couple of days,” replies Nick. “Penny, please tell JC I’m sorry and that I love him.”
“He knows. He was just really worried about the way you were acting.”
“I hope I can explain all of that soon. I love you.
“I love you too Nicky. I love you Cin.”
“I love you too Penny.”
The call is disconnected and the two sit with the only sound being the constant beeping of Nicky’s heart monitor. Finally he speaks, “Cin I want you to know that you make me happy. I am glad to have you in my life no matter how I act sometimes. Honestly even though we’ve only known each other a few months I couldn’t imagine not having in my life.”
“I feel the same way Nicky. I’ve never really been in a relationship before, at least not a serious one, and to be in one with two people at the same time scares the hell out of me; but I’m happy. I just have a lot of questions that I need to get answered really soon.”
“Like what,” he asks.
“The biggest one is, what in the hell am I going to tell my parents?” She stands up and begins to pace across the small room. “They are by no means prudes, in fact I’m pretty sure they did a little swinging when they were younger, but I just don’t know how to have that conversation. I mean, ‘Mom and Dad I’m in a serious relationship, but I need to warn you that it’s with two people at the same time.’ I mean how would your parents have reacted?”
“Well my Mom would have probably bummed money to get high and Jimmy would have given me a high five. There’s a reason why he has three sons by three different women, that we know of anyway.”
Cin laughs. “Yeah it would be a whole lot easier for you to tell your parents than me.”
“Yeah it would have been.” Nick gives her a smile. “Jimmy would loved you. He adored smart, fiery woman that can hold their own. I guess I inherited that gene, because I apparently do too.”
“Why do you always call your dad Jimmy?”
“I didn’t meet him until I was in my twenties and it was really hard to start calling someone dad. Hell I wasn’t sure I even wanted to ever meet him, but it happened completely by accident I guess you could call it.”
“How so?”
“Well I had just opened what would become the xXx Dojo in L.A. and one of my very first students was this young punk named James Knight. I had no clue that he was my little brother until Jimmy flew out to L.A. to watch his James’ very first match.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Yeah, well the story gets crazier. About a year after I first met Jimmy we decided we wanted to start our own promotion and somehow we got in contact with Sleaze. He agreed to bankroll everything, but we had to move to Vegas. That’s when my school officially became the xXx Dojo and two of the very first students I have are two brothers named Lou and Gabriel Crosse.”
“No fucking way?”
“Yeah, by some weird twist of fate I met both of my brothers by training them as wrestlers. What can I say the business is in our blood.”
“So Lou is a trained wrestler, why the fuck does he need you to protect him,” she asks.
“He walked away from the ring and became a lawyer years ago. The only exercise he’s probably had in that time is whatever goes on in that sex dungeon of his, which I really don’t want to think about.”
“You know, maybe it’s time he learns to stick up for himself.”
“Maybe. What I do know is that the next time I’m in the ring with Steve Awesome it’s going to be because I want to be, not because of some agenda of The Church. I’m done with all of that bullshit.”
“I just hope you aren’t in too deep.”
“Me too. I think I’m going to try to take a nap.”
Cin leans down and kisses him on the forehead. “Sleep well Price Charming, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Well howdy there pardner.