THE QUEEN'S GAME

Chapter 6

"Okay, one more. Come on, baby, lift."
Hunter was helping Charlotte lift at the gym, and he didn't want to push, but he wanted her to go further than she had during the last workout. Actually she'd already done that. The last workout she spent the whole time on her back. The only lifting she did was her pelvis—he lifted her for that.
A smile crept to his lips and she looked up, swatting at his face. "Don't you get that dirty look with me."
"I thought you loved my dirty looks. You said they made you hot."
"They do, babe. But I have work to do. You distract me and I mess up."
"You never mess up. You're perfect. Actually, I wanted to take you in the ring."
"Hmmh, kinky." She raised her eyebrow.
"Not that way—I mean yes that way—anyway, but we need to do some things. There are some new moves I want to practice, and I wanted to help you with something I've been thinking about as a possible finishing move."
"You know the figure four is our move. They wanted me to do dad's finisher."
"I think that's cool, but don't you want to make it your own? You deserve your own move that's a variation of his with your own spin."
"I want that, but I don't want to rock the boat too much. Between the Mickey thing and the things I won't do, I don't think I should keep making demands."
"Things like degrading yourself and showing half your ass to gain the interest of horny men? They can shove it on that. If you're going to make it in this business you need to be your own person, your own legacy."
"I want that babe..."
"Well then listen to me. Bedsides, they're not going to bench the woman of Hunter Hurst Helmsley, the WWE champ."
She sighed and pushed off of the weight bench. "So much for my own legacy. I don't want to get things because we're sleeping together."
"We're more than just sleeping together, you're my woman." My love, he thought.
He was head over hills. They'd been together for over two months, and each day he'd look at her and wait. Wait for this perfection to end, wait for the other shoe to drop, and then he just decided to enjoy it. Enjoy her presence in his life, enjoy her love. She loved him. He knew it.
What he hadn't told her was what she actually said to him in the shower. She'd shouted she loved him against his lips in the sexiest voice he'd ever heard. It was music to his ears, but he'd also known she had no idea she spoke those words. She'd be mortified. He'd figured out her closely guarded heart wasn't ready. She'd been through so much, and he wanted to take it as slow as she needed.
"I know that. The world knows that, Hunter. I'm a big whore and you're crazy. That's the issue. Maybe we moved too fast, maybe we..."
"Maybe we what? Maybe you don't want to be with me?"
"No." She freaked. "I love... I love us. I just don't like our personal relationship being used for stories or blasted all over the media sites. We don't have any privacy, and we look like idiots."
"Privacy is overrated, besides, the media knows what the WWE wants them to know, that you're dating Edge and I'm obsessed with you. So what if it's half true. You don't look like the idiot, I do. Every time we're spotted out it looks like I'm stalking you." He attempted to soothe her, but he was also tired of their names in the media. Some of the people they worked with and her family knew the true nature of their relationship, but to the outside world things were one big messy triangle with him on the losing side. He'd swallowed his pride on that. He'd created that mess when he bashed Mickey's head in onscreen. Nonetheless their relationship was new—meaning it was fragile. He wanted to protect it, to protect her.
"I'm glad you can make jokes about it. I want to be able to go out with my boyfriend and not read about it in a magazine. I just want some normalcy."
"I know you do." He kissed the side of her head. "This will blow over soon. They will have a new obsession at some point."
Truthfully he was eager for this mess he created to end. The onscreen triangle was really driving a wedge between him and Adam as coworkers. Adam was able to grab his woman's ass on national tv, that was never going to sit well with him.
As much as it aggravated him, Charlotte was the face Women's Champ, and Adam was also a face, which meant she was his onscreen love interest and he—her real boyfriend had to play the asshole trying to steal her away. She'd had to slap him onscreen and practically fight him off, but that actually made their nights more interesting. She'd come to the hotel super charged after their onscreen fight and rode him all night. He'd just have to ride out the waves until they ultimately made her a heel. At that moment he'd get to have his woman all to himself on and off screen.
"We have to laugh or it will make us all crazy."
"I'm sorry I'm complaining so much. I know this is tougher on you than it is on me. If I hadn't played the games I did and tried to make you jealous."
"So you admit it?"
"What?"
"That thing with Adam was for my benefit?"
"Well, no." She slid into his lap on the weight bench. "Yes and no. I wasn't seriously considering him until the night you walked by me with that girl and didn't speak."
He laughed. "I have a confession about that?"
"What?"
"You looked so good that night I didn't want to stop and talk to you because I was thinking how easy it would have been to slide that dress you were wearing up your thighs and move your panties to the side. It was so dark in there I could have pulled you on top of me and unzipped my pants. No one would have known, but I could have really..."
"Mmhhh." Her lips cut him off. This was the benefit of training with his girlfriend. She could at any moment decide to throw caution to the wind and he'd end up between her thighs.
"You have to stop that."
"What?" She pulled back. "You, mister Cerebral Assassin, wants me to stop? What fresh hell is this?"
"The one where Chyna is coming to meet us. You know it's our day for a joint workout before the show."
"That just means you need to work fast."
"I don't work fast." He flipped her on her back.
"Practice makes perfect."
"I don't ever want to be good at that."
He ripped her pants down and slid his fingers inside her. Damn she was soaking wet. Unrestricted access to her was the best feeling in the world, and now he had it all. She'd made him get tested first, of course, and she'd made sure her birth control was up to date and they made the decision to throw condoms away. He hated them, she always felt great—amazing, but the condoms lessened the experience. Now they were anywhere—everywhere. He just hated he didn't have time for the full effect right now.
"Babe." She panted. "Babe, I want..."
"I know what you want. But later. Later." He pulled his fingers out and her pants up, running his saturated fingers over his tongue. "I love tasting you."
"And I love being tasted."
She had a devious smirk and ran her tongue over his lips. Damn, she was sexy. Hopefully tonight wouldn't be as bad as last week. Or maybe it would. He had the best sex of his life that night.
***
Standing backstage holding Charlotte's hips, Hunter waited for her music to start. He'd have a match later tonight, but he also had a segment with her. She was supposed to get hit with a chair during her match and he—not Edge—was supposed to come and pick her up. It was driving the story of him as the obsessed party and her the innocent fresh face. He loved being the bad guy. What he loved more was getting to be bad with her.
Her music started and he kissed the side of her head, pushing her along. "Alright, baby, I'll see you soon. Good luck."
"Thank you. So just dip my head to the left when she swings, right?"
"Dip to the left and lean back with her swing."
She was nervous, rightfully so. The trick to chair shots were to sell them without taking a direct hit. This would be her first one, but her opponent, Victoria, was a pro. She'd been doing these kind of stunts for years. Charlotte and Victoria and been building toward a rivalry that would lead to Charlotte's very first Royal Rumble match. This would be her first pay per view.
"Get out there."
He gave her one last light shove, and she threw her head back. She was becoming so confident once she actually stepped past the curtains and in front of the crowd. They loved her. She owned her character, and he couldn't have been prouder.
Watching her match, he crossed his arms. His girl was good. She'd added so many new moves to her matches, high flying, daredevil moves that none of the other girls, besides Lita and Victoria attempted. She was well on her way to greatness.
He was alone at the monitors watching most of her match. From a round of knife edge chops, into a tilt-a-whirl, Charlotte was dominating the match. This meant it was almost time for the chair-shot. The plan was for her to go into a spear and get caught with the chair instead. She would be running at full speed, which made this kind of risky, but she'd practiced with him, Chyna, and Victoria herself. All trials went successfully.
In less than two minutes he'd emerge from the back, scooping her off the ground and carrying her to the back. She'd be off screen the rest of the night, but Edge was set to interrupt his match and further their rivalry. Edge would be losing his Intercontinental championship soon, so this was definitely going to be the main event at Royal Rumble. He also suspected Charlotte's heel turn would occur there too. He couldn't wait to see bad ass Charlotte. Seeing his angel in a whole new role would be refreshing.
Feeling a hand hit his shoulder, Hunter turned away, finally breaking eye contact from Charlotte's match. One of his oldest friends stood beside him. He and Billy Gunn had been in the business together for quite some time.
"She looks good."
"She's in great shape." Hunter turned back, looking on proudly.
"No I mean she looks good. Nice hair, nice body, an ass for the gods. I figured you'd be on that as soon as she walked into the building. What took you so long?"
"I didn't take long. It was only two months."
"Two minutes was too long considering how you came running back with your tail between your legs when she dumped you flat after the funeral."
He hadn't been completely honest with his friends about that. Billy had to know something happened. He just wasn't vocal about what that something was. He was clearly unfocused, the world saw that when he pulled his hamstrings, but he wasn't going to embarrass her by saying he'd disappeared and dodged her calls. It was better to let everyone think she'd just come to her senses and realized she could never be with a guy like him.
"We had some things to work out."
"Yeah." Billy scratched his head. "Like those lies you let build. I know this place is a lot to deal with, the people here are nosy as shit, but you can't go into, what I feel could be the real thing for you, without being completely honest. She deserves that."
"You really think this is the time or place?"
"I think anytime or anyplace is right. Especially with the people around here hating on your woman the way they do. All it would take is one slip of the tongue."
"No one knows..."
"No, you just hope they don't. When you're in love you're not exactly subtle."
Hunter wanted to protest, but when a loud sound thudded through the arena. "Dammit!" His attention went the monitor, and his feet carried him through the curtain and down the ramp. He'd missed the initial hit, but chair shots were raining down on her, this wasn't in the script, and it damn sure wasn't funny.
He was in the ring in what seemed like an instant, and in his mind the story was blown to hell. What were they thinking? They had to know she wasn't ready for this.
He pushed the women—not woman, but women— involved out of his way and picked her head off of the ground. Victoria and Ivory rolled out of the ring while he scooped her motionless body from the mat.
He saw nothing but her, and heard nothing but the pandemonium of the "officials" sent to help. They were still following their stupid script, and he just ripped her body from any of their grasp. The show was over. He wasn't coming back out.
"Get out of my face!"
He barreled to the edge of the ring when her eyes popped open.
"Kiss me."
"Are you crazy?"
"Just do it, Hunter. Trust me."
Doing as she said, he dropped her into the ring, gripped her blonde locks and slid his tongue over her lips before covering them. He wasn't kissing her like the heel trying to stick it to his opponent, he was kissing her like the man who'd seen her naked, like the man who'd be inside her later that night.
He'd lost control, but came crashing back to reality when a kendo stick hit his back. What the hell?
"We had to switch it up, Stone Cold isn't here for your match tonight." She quickly debriefed him. "You and Adam are fighting tonight."
They damn sure were. That hit wasn't the way anyone would script it, and if he hadn't been so wrapped up in Charlotte and making sure she was fine Adam would be on his ass with a fist firmly planted in his face.
"Get out of here, baby." Hunter pushed her, not giving a damn about scripts or kayfabe at that point. All he wanted was her safely out of the way. He was about to beat the living shit out of Edge.
They were live, and when the commercial break hit, they reset. He went backstage for a second, looking for Charlotte, and when he saw her laughing with Chyna and Trish he relaxed. She looked fine, not at all hurt.
"What happened? What the hell was that?" He grabbed her arm.
"It was a last minute change, they told me as I was going out."
"That's no time to prepare. You could have been..."
"You have to relax and take the training wheels off. I'm going to have to do what all of you do. I know you've had to make a last minute change before."
"Well, yeah, but..."
"But nothing. I'm a professional, and I have to be able to adapt. I'm fine, sweetheart. I'm great actually."
He ran his hand over her face and sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry."
She threw her arms around his neck. "You need to apologize to the girls. They were only doing what they were told to do. They didn't hurt me.
"Even Ivory?"
"Yes, even Ivory."
He knew she was absolutely right. It was amazing how she could be so nice to someone who gave her so much hell from the moment she arrived. He did need to find the girls and apologize, after he whooped Edge's ass. That hit, on the other hand, was real. He'd make him pay for that.
Getting the all clear that commercial break was almost over, Hunter grabbed Charlotte's hips, pulling her to him. He kissed her quickly and she smiled against his lips.
"Good luck, play nice."
"It's game over."
"You're so corny." She smacked his lips. "I'll be here when you get back."
The Game theme came on, and Hunter took his place at the curtain. The stagehands put a water bottle in his hand and he began his walk down the ramp. So many things were going through his mind. He'd totally freaked over thinking she was hurt. He had to get a grip on live events. He knew anything could happen, he was used to it, but having her here made everything different. A good different, but it had him on edge. He needed to chill out.
Hunter sized Edge up as he finished his entrance and threw the bottle of water he was holding. It was like stalking his prey. He was going to enjoy this.
The ref issued a warning to both guys, also alerting them that the impromptu ending would be signaled. There was scheduled to be a twist.
Locking up arms with Edge, he picked him up and instantly threw him across the ring. Edge impacted with a loud thud. Hunter could see the anguish on his face. He'd thrown him a little too hard. Nonetheless, the crowd roared, unaware of the very real tension surrounding these two guys.
Looking out into the crowd, Hunter realized he was being a fool. They had no reason to hate each other. Adam hadn't tried anything with Charlotte since they made things official, and the ill will he felt stemmed from the insecurity that he'd lose her, but there she was in the crowd. Like a shining star, her golden hair bounced under the high lights. Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. She didn't like this side of him. She'd told him as much before.
Letting up, he went through the rest of the match as professionally as he could. He couldn't be like the man she feared. As strange as it sounded, given what they did for work, he couldn't use his fists to handle his business.
They wrapped the match, with Hunter taking a quick blow to the head from his own sledgehammer. That was the twist they'd warned him about. He'd win the match, technically, but Edge snapped on him, gaining the crowd's favor. This only meant one thing, he'd more than likely be losing his title at the Pay per view. He wasn't sure how to take that.
Walking into the back, he took a deep breath when he felt all of her weight smash against him and her arms wrap securely around his neck.
"I'm so proud of you, babe." She was damn near choking him, but he felt amazing. Just then he realized the title didn't matter. He'd get it back one day. He had something far more important.
"Thank you. How'd you know I needed you there?"
"Because I knew when I needed you that you'd come running."
"I did that, huh?"
"You did." She kissed him. "And might I say, the sight was sexy."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, me lying there waiting on you to come and seeing that sexy ass run into the ring with all that aggression, whew. It got me all hot. I had to have you touch me."
"The kiss, they didn't plan it?"
"No way. I needed my man, and dammit I had him. The world can wait, but I can't."
"You're bad." He smiled against her lips as he pecked them. "Oh so bad."
"Being good is overrated."
They were in their own little world when their names were called from down the hall. Responding to he summons, they filed into an office along with Adam. They'd finally be given their orders for Royal Rumble.
In what consisted of a twenty minute meeting, they were given a rundown and told they'd be expected to make everything look good by the time it came. Emerging from the office, Charlotte was on a rampage.
"They want me to do what?"
"Baby, it's not... it's going to be fine. Just think about how much it's going to help you."
"No fucking way." She shoved him back and walked away. This was going to be a long night.