Perfect Match (26 page)

“Yeah. The new guy that can do no wrong.”

“Does not describe me.”

“Sure it does. You do fit the appearance
well. Good looking kid with workable talent.”

“What are you getting at?” That was the
moment Jackson decided he did not like him.

“Every few years or so, there is one. It
doesn’t hurt that you are sleeping with Larry’s daughter.”

Jackson stilled as an iciness crept up his
spine. He wanted to punch Derek in his face. He did not like the
way he mentioned Noelle, but he was also afraid this conversation
was going to get worse. “She has nothing to do with anything.”

Tony had some things to take care of and
wanted Derek to go with him. Derek started to go but not before he
turned to him and said, “I want to know one thing. How did you get
her to tell Larry about the two of you? Don’t flatter yourself with
any delusions on why I chose you Bullet-boy, thinking I saw
something in you. You got the one thing that I didn’t. And I hate
that,” Derek gave him an almost “demon-like” smile, “See you in the
ring.”

Reality hit Jackson like a wave. Derek was
the one before him. That is what Noelle was trying to tell him. Why
the hell did she not tell him about Derek sooner? What did that
madman hope to achieve by getting in the ring with him. Jackson
wasn’t trying to use Noelle to further his career. When Noelle told
him the story of the one wrestler she dated before him, she made it
sound like he was some nobody that was gone the moment she dumped
him, not the Demon.

Jackson punched the wall. He remembered in
all too vivid detail about the unknown man that punched and pushed
Noelle into a wall, spraining her wrist as she put out her arms to
protect herself. Now this man wasn’t unknown to him. He had a face.
A face that he hated more than he thought possible.

Not knowing how the meeting was going between
Jackson and Derek was killing her. She was in a small room that led
to the arena area. She waited there in the hopes of catching
Jackson. She wanted to scream. Her worst nightmare was coming true.
Derek was back and upsetting her life, and knew that Jackson and
Pop, the men she loved the most, were going to get hurt. Jackson
was sure to be pissed at her right now and it would only be a
matter of time before Pop found out. She couldn’t think about that.
What was done was done. Right now the past was going to do more
damage to Jackson. God, where was he? She knew how Derek used to be
and she was willing to bet he hasn’t changed a bit. No doubt that
he got great pleasure in blindsiding Jackson with details from
their past.

She kept looking towards the door hoping that
Jackson was going to make his way back. Each time someone would
open the door she was ready to jump out of her skin. The next time
the door opened though, she wished she could sneak away. There was
Demon, all 6feet 5 inches of muscle. More muscle than any human man
should have. His ice blue eyes looked directly into hers and they
creased in the corner when he gave her his most menacing smile. He
walked up to her slowly, almost gliding. He looked her up and down
while nodding his head. “Looking good, Noelle. Looking real
good.”

“Excuse me,” she said as she tried to walk
past him to leave.

“Hey, what’s the hurry? I was looking for
you. I was hoping we could talk…reminisce.”

The innuendo in his words made her sick. “I
have nothing to say to you.”

“I think we do. First I have to say this.
Damn, you sure do look good. I can’t concentrate. You are filling
out in all the right places. Always were a stunner, now you are
sexy as hell. A woman now.”

“Just stop! I’m not a naïve little girl any
longer. Your lines no longer have any effect on me.”

Her tone and words didn’t stop Derek on bit.
He continued to wear that same smug smile and got so close to her
that she thought he was going to touch her. “Do Bullet-boy’s?”

She stopped cold. “Leave him alone.”

“Do you love him?” Derek reached up to touch
her cheek but she moved. “If you loved him so much, why didn’t you
tell him about me?”

“How do you know I didn’t?”

“Trust me, when I mentioned it to him, he had
no clue about us. Why was that? Because you were hoping that one
day we’d be together again?”

“Because I am ashamed that I was ever
involved with you.”

Again, he was not fazed by her words. “What I
want to know is what lines did he use on you to get you to tell old
Larry about the two of you? He must have a fucking good one to get
you to confess to your daddy, and his gimmick? Bullet? How
juvenile. I can’t wait to teach him some lessons both in and out of
the ring.”

“Derek, I am warning you…”

“What are you going to do? Tell Daddy on me?
Then he’ll know all about your past with me and he won’t think that
you are such a good girl then.”

The slamming of the door made her jump. Derek
simply turned towards the door. Jackson walked right into the room
and stood directly in front Derek. He was just as tall as him.
Jackson’s hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides. He was
ready to strike if he felt it was needed. “Do yourself a favor, old
man. Stay away from Noelle. Do you hear me? She is off-limits to
you. Any problems with her, go through me. Don’t even look at her.
If you walk into a room and she is in it, walk out. If you have to
have any therapy sessions, go to your own therapist. Stay the hell
away from her.” He stood just staring directly into Derek’s eyes.
Noelle was scared because she never saw this kind of rage from
Jackson. She didn’t think he was capable of it. “Consider this your
one and only warning. You hurt her again and I will fucking break
your face in and scrape you up off your ass and do it all over
again.”

Derek shook his head and laughed. “Be
careful, Bullet-boy. You’re in with the big dogs now.” He walked
towards the door but not taking his eyes off of Jackson. He kept
his attention and purposely looked Noelle over and whistled, just
to piss him off. Jackson was ready to throw a punch, but Derek was
out the door. Jackson waited a moment looking at the door making
sure he didn’t come back

Finally Noelle felt as if she could breathe
and let out a soft cry. He came up to her and put her face in his
hands. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Tears fell down her cheeks and Jackson wiped
them away with his thumbs. “Jackson…”

“Shh…not here.” He kissed her lips lightly
and hugged her. “I promise he is never going to hurt you
again.”

She hugged him harder than needed, but she
felt safe in his arms. She had so much she needed to say to him.
“Jackson, we have to talk.”

“I know but not here.”

“My office. Now.”

He sat in a chair in Noelle’s office trying
to regain a sense of himself. He could never remember feeling such
anger. He had a few moments to himself while she walked with her
sister over to the Ruckus Room so she could keep Larry from coming
back this way. She also rearranged her afternoon appointments so
they could talk without interruption. He would have gone home so
they had more privacy but with the show a few hours away he had to
stay put. He was grateful for this time alone. He was so angry and
felt more hatred towards Derek, than he felt was humanly possible.
The cocky, arrogant, son of a bitch, talking to Jackson as if he
were a child that knew nothing about the business was one thing,
but knowing what he did to Noelle made him want to bash his face
in. Knowing that he punched her, bruised her, pushing her against a
wall so hard that she sprained her wrist. That is what set him over
the edge. He had to figure out a way to protect Noelle and her
secret, but all of this didn’t mean he was any less angry with her.
In a way he understood why she didn’t tell him but they were
supposed to tell each other everything.

She came into the room a bit timidly and shut
and locked the door. “We should be okay for a while. Jackson, I’m
so sorry.”

“I know.” It was all he was able to say.

“You are allowed to be mad at me. This is all
my fault.”

“I am mad but more than that, I am so damn
confused as to why I had to find out this way. Noelle, why didn’t
you just tell me it was Derek?”

“Derek was a big shot, in and out of the
ring. I was nineteen and during the summer before my sophomore year
of college I hung around Pop a lot. Went to a lot of shows. He
introduced to me Derek after one of those shows and he happened to
show up at a party I mentioned in passing. He had a reputation even
back then. His drug abuse was just a rumor at that point and I knew
how Pop felt about wrestlers and I knew he’d never be cool with me
even hanging out with Derek. I can honestly say that I never saw
him do drugs, but I’m pretty sure he was high a few times he was
with me. Mostly when he would hurt me. He was fired for failing his
drug tests and I finally ended it with him. His personal life was
out of control and the talk on the wrestling circuit. He had made
such a mess of his life and I wanted no parts of it. It was easy to
just walk away because I was of no use to him anymore. I think he
feared that I would turn him in for beating me up. I vowed to never
speak to him again. I thought because of the way his career with
BRAWL ended, he’d never step inside a ring here again.”

“I get all of that, but Noelle, why didn’t
you tell me who he was.”

She shrugged, “I didn’t want you to think
less of me or think I was anything like him. I was so
impressionable back then. I know now that I should have told you.
That way you wouldn’t have been blindsided by him today. Please try
to understand.”

“Scout, it’s okay. I’m disappointed that you
didn’t trust my feelings for you enough to tell me that son of a
bitch’s name, but I get it. You cannot ever doubt my feelings for
you. I could have handled this and I would have known you were just
a game to him. Regardless of the reasons he chose me to be his
comeback match, he is giving my career a huge boost. That is
good.”

“He would have picked you even if you had
known. You know that.”

“I do. At least if I knew, I could have
prepared myself better for his attacks, but that is over with. I
have to figure out a way to stay professional with him and not let
my emotions take control of the situation. He thinks he is using me
as some sort of revenge plot. Well, I will use him to fast track my
career. I’ll make a huge name for myself. He doesn’t realize the
opportunity he gave me.”

“You are amazing. Truly.”

“Noelle, you must stay away from him.” He
reached up and pulled her to him so she was sitting on his lap.
“Promise me. He is going to try to get to you, but don’t let him.
Tell me if he comes anywhere near you.”

“I don’t want anything to do with him, so
don’t worry about me going anywhere near him.” Noelle rested her
head on Jackson’s shoulders and for the first time in weeks felt
unsure about her life.

Jackson needed time to him after his
conversation with Noelle. He had to mentally prepare himself for
what was sure to be the biggest promo of his career. He also was
aware that this was going to be the biggest show he ever put on. He
had to make sure that he stayed professional. He had so much at
stake here, but he could do it. He would do it. Derek wasn’t worth
messing up his life for. Thankfully, the ass was only going to be
around for the short term.

Tonight was only going to consist of Jackson
doing a promo about how he was set to take on whatever the next
challenge was and he was going to come out to the ring and really
get the fans going. In the middle of it all, Derek was set to walk
in and just give him a stare down and walk out. Easy enough. When
his music hit, Jackson laughed humorlessly when he realized his
heart was pounding, and that pissed him off. He put on his game
face and ran down to the ring. He jumped up on the ropes on each
side to acknowledge the fans, and they went crazy. He really
followed the crowd’s lead. They would scream louder when he would
raise the belt up over his head. He’d wink at the female fans and
point at the littlest of fans. He loved his place in the company
and wasn’t going to let ANYONE mess it up. His music finally
stopped and Jackson grabbed his microphone. There was no time to
talk though, because Derek ran out to the ring before he could
think and punched him in the jaw, taking Jackson by total
surprise.

“What the fuck are you throwing a real punch
for?” Jackson demanded and punched him back.

“You are a piece of shit and need to be
taught a few lessons. Here’s one for you.

I was the first one to get Noelle in bed. She
lost it to ME. I am the one she will compare everyone else to.”
Derek seethed and punched him again. This time Derek’s punch
connected with Jackson’s nose, and it didn’t take long for Jackson
to get the message. Derek wasn’t going to play by the rules. This
was not a wrestling feud. There is real heat between them, and as
Jackson wiped his face and saw the blood all over his hand he knew
it was only going to get worse. He looked at his hand and landed a
real punch of his own and hoped he knocked a few teeth out.

“What the hell is going on in that ring!”
Noelle heard Tony and some of the other guys yell. “Get out there
and break it up. Those are real punches. Look at all that
blood!”

Noelle was going to be sick. Jackson’s face
was a bloody mess and Derek wasn’t easing up on him at all. The
chaos going on around her had her completely on edge. It took
almost everyone in the locker room to break them up. As soon as
they were separated,

Derek would go after Jackson again. Or Derek
would yell something at Jackson and he’d charge at him. The fans
were going crazy thinking this was all story line but having no
idea why it was so intense. She wished she knew what was said
between them but she knew it was about her. This was awful and she
had no clue how to make this right.