Chapter 24 Sex, Lies and videotape

The things we wish to perceive aren't always what we want to believe
And now I must confess these are the thoughts that I possess
You always change right behind my back
When we're face to face, I'm always the one who cracks
If misery loves company, oh get the hell outta my house
Won't you please just look at me
Oh why'd I let you under my blouse

Violence.

All you gotta do, is tell people what they want to hear.

And that is real simple.

Because, most people just want to be lied to. They don’t want to believe in a anything that’s real. They just want to hear what makes them feel better. See, most people are not living up to their own personal standards so they project it onto everyone else.

That’s why people love a good lie.

See, the only thing that’s real in this life, is violence.

That’s my currency, that’s what I believe in.

What do you believe in?

Stories? Peace? Love? Happiness? Those aren’t possible for people like me. Those are scenes from movies. From stories that are meant to project that perfect life we all want and desperately crave. Anything else is a lie. A lie that for some of you is worth living. But not for me. Not that I didn’t try. Not that for a small time I didn’t want it just like the rest of you. And I let that weakness in.

That need for love and acceptance. I stood by and let the poison infect me. But in the end the truth is revealed and the poison is flushed.

In the end…

We all lie to ourselves…..

Chapter 24: Sex, lies and videotape.

“Have I ever told you I loved you?”

A simple question. Delivered with little to no emotion in her voice. Her hands clasped together, her back straight as she adjusted her posture and raised an eyebrow to study the man across from her. In contract he was the opposite. Frantic in his movements. His hands fidgeting, his boldly language changing. His back slumping down and his shoulders dropping. He was defeated, upset and confused. He was thinking, going over every single memory of them together over the last three years. Straining as he tried to come up with a moment in time when she had uttered the words. He shook his head, breaking eye contact as his gaze drifted to the table between them. “No….”

And there it was. The acceptance. She took a slow breath in and pushed it out with a frustrated sigh. Her face staying the same emotionless voice it had been for the last hour since this conversation started. “And you didn’t think that was odd? That you would profess your love for me and I never, ever reciprocated?” He closed his eyes, he was fighting it. Because of course he was. Like most of us he didn’t want to lose someone he, in his mind, loved.

His voice wavered and cracked as he looked up. “I-I guess I thought it was just how you were. But deep down you did.”

She wanted to laugh, she wanted to crush him. But something held her back. Call it, a sliver of humanity. He had helped pick her up when she was down. Gave her confidence as she watched her world previously crumble. So she did owe him a small amount of mercy. She was holding his heart in her hands. And if she wanted to, all she had to do was squeeze. And there it was, a small change. A minute flicker in her lip, her eyes betraying her as they softened for just a moment. But it was a moment longer than she wanted, a moment longer than Billy needed to see.

His facial expression changed, a small smile, a chuckle. “You do care. I know you do Kay.” Her teeth ground together. He was right. Part of her did care. Part of her didn’t want to hurt him. A part that she hated and had tried to suppress for years. The path to failure is caring. And as much as she tried she did let Billy see parts of her that she never let anyone else see. Not even her family. Parts she had walled off at a young age. “So, what is this about? Is it…him?”

Her body betrayed her again. Her eyes darting up as soon as she heard the question. She knew instantly who Billy was talking about. And unfortunately, despite the fact everyone thought Billy was nothing but a stupid muscle head, he was smarter than he looked. Alot smarter. “No.”

“Bullshit.”

His voice now had more bass in it, and seemed confident. He was somewhat on to her. Kayla swallowed hard and shook her head. “Would it make you feel better if I said yes William?” She pauses for a moment to let her words sink in. She needed to make a stand, to assert her dominance and control over the situation. “If it was another man, would it make all this easier for you? What about if I used the cliche? It’s not you, it’s me? What about that hmm?” She swallowed and placed her hands on the table as she moved the chair back standing up.

“Maybe…”

His voice went back to being unsure, confused. Kayla smiled and moved around the table. “Or, what about the other one? That I’m just scared of commitment? Of love? That I’m running. Running so fast I’ve been with you for three years…” She couldn’t help but laugh, each step echoing through the room, spaced apart by one second, sounding like a clock ticking. “The truth, Billy, is that we just don’t belong together. And, you can say or do whatever you want, you can say this split was amicable, you can make up whatever lie you want. But, I’m walking out that door….goodbye….”

He wanted to say something, he wanted to stop her, to grab her, to say whatever he could to get her to stay. But, he didn’t. Kayla had broken him. Broken his will, his spirit, forcing his acceptance. Now, it was time for the rest of her plan. She moved out the door, a bag over her shoulder, she took a few breaths deliberately making herself sound labored and breathless, dialing a number on her phone and waiting for them to answer.

“Hey, I have…I have a favor to ask…can I crash at yours?...Billy and I broke up…..thank you…I’ll see you soon Finn….”

Ignorance is bliss

“What a difference a few weeks can make huh?”

Kayla Richards emerald eyes open, a light from in front of her shined back through her pupils as her arms slowly fold over her chest and a smirk comes across her red painted lips.

“We have a new champion. Vhodka Black was able to beat big bad Damian Ayla. And a new number one contender as John Candy won the cats rumble. Of course, this is all circumstantial since I am banned from competing for any PWE championship for the foreseeable future. I could have beaten Damian, I can beat Vhodka, and Allen Chaney? How many shots has he had at becoming something more than he is? I’m not going to sit here and say he’s just an unfunny fat man, because the truth is..one..he’s not actually fat he’s just…chubby. And two, he is HILARIOUS..”

“Have you heard the one about how he thinks he has talent?

“That joke is great.”

“Almost as great as the joke that was played on me at Magnificence. My own sister. Conspiring with the enemy. The fact is I had Betsy Granger beat in the first five seconds of that match. Go ahead, tell me that what I did was wrong. Go through the rules and find the one that says anything I did was “illegal”. You won’t. Do you know why? Because everything I did in that match was within the realms of what we agreed.”

“A cage match, a match that by it’s own definition has very little rules. So, loading a glove, hitting Betsy as hard as I could and taking her out so I could just, stroll out of the cage? Completely allowed, completely legal…but you all had such a problem with it.”

She growls and flutters her hand in a dismissive way.

“I was robbed. I was robbed of getting a second win over that fake bitch. And now she can say she won the war. She can say she has the upper hand and I can’t even challenge her right away. So, what am I to do now? Truth is I was not even supposed to be booked for this show. I was going to take some time off, I was going to decompress. Then, Damian pulled out. Just like Betsy’s father should have. And I got subbed in…subbed in…”

“Against TJ Alexander…”

“How fucking precious.”

“I don’t have anything against TJ. At all.”

“Mainly because, to have something against someone you actually have to care. And the sad truth is that TK Alexander has done nothing in this company to make me care about him in any way, shape or form. But I have to. I have to think about him since I am being forced into a match with him. And to be clear here, the thought makes my stomach churn since I have gone from being undefeated and destroyed everyone and facing actual names on this roster to facing…that…”

She pauses and sneers in an arrogant way.

“This is someone who was thought so little of he was in the olla rumble and no one batted an eye. No one thought he would or could win it. But, he’s someone who is so incredibly cliche and stupid he actually used the line that 2022 was going to be his year. Yeah, a whole month into 2022 hes making statements like that…really TJ? How did that work out for you? Did you win? Did you do anything impressive that had people talking afterwards? Or did you fail miserably?”

“This is not a million dollar question on who wants to be a millionaire by the way. It’s the easiest one…you failed, you looked stupid doing it and now you have to get in the ring with me. And I have to ask you…how does THAT feel TJ? You are getting in the ring with someone who has mowed down opponent after opponent who is constantly being screwed over by management.”

“Do you have any idea what I will do to you?”

“Look at what I did to Betsy, to William Blake Mason, to El Landerson, to Amber Payne. Look at them TJ. And look at you. You are cut from the same cloth but they all faced me when I was in a good mood. You get me at a really bad time. At a time when you really don’t want nto be anywhere near me. See TJ, normally, I’d just want to get in the ring, make quick work of you, beat you, collect my money and go home. I don’t get paid by the hour. But this match? I have to prove a point, I have to show the world what I can do and send a goddamn warning to everyone. So with you, it’s not just about winning, i9t’s not just about beating you…it’s about hurting you TJ…so get ready…you’re about to get destroyed…”