Behind my back
New York, New York
Last Year
”You son of a bitch”
A vase flew across the room. Hurled by a very angry Amy Mercer. Her eyebrows were almost locked downwards, her lips curled around as she ground her teeth together. Her hands were shaking as they balled into fists after the vase exploded into a million pieces. Austin backed up and raised an eyebrow with his hands in a defensive position. Confused thoughts ran through his mind as he stared at his younger sister. She was clearly angry and hurt. But Austin had no idea why.
He stepped forward and cleared his throat. His deep voice dropping ictaves to remain calm, cool and collected. ”What happened? I don’t understand-“
”Hes alive! He’s alive and you knew!”
Amy threw an envelope towards him. Pictures spread from inside it outwards across th floor. His eyes moved down to them. Pictures of him in Colorado, meeting with Amanda Carr, meeting with his sisters ex, the father of his nephew Xavier Coates. Austin’s heart sank. He had tried to keep it from her, for the last two months Xavier had sent money every week, as agreed it was set up as a “life insurance” deposit. Austin had gone to great lengths to keep this quiet, to set up the account to transfer the funds, to have the paperwork and letterhead look legitimate. But it seems all that work was for nothing as now he stood in front of his sister who was furious. He took a long deep breath and raised his hands over his head running his hands through his long brown hair. ”Amy I… She raised her hand up, her eyes closed and she started to visibly shake.
Amy paced back and forth, Austin could hear her breathing change as she seemed to grow more and more furious as the seconds ticked by. Amy had been emotionally and mentally stable for the last few years, since Austin had brought her home from Briarcliff, since they solved the mystery of why she was in there. But now, now Amy seemed to unravel. Austin felt suck to his stomach. Scared and ashamed. ”Why Austin? Why the fuck wouldn’t you tell me he was alive?” Why wouldn’t you take me to him?” Tears welled up in her eyes, Austin shook his head and turned away from her.
”I-I guess I was trying to protect you.”
There was an awkward silence between them. Tears stream down Amy‘s face, she shook her head and opened her hands class being them together trying to keep myself calm while looking at her younger brother. Her voice cracked, her heart broke. ”Protect me from what? Knowing the father of my child was still alive and well?” Austin stays silent, lost on what to say abs where to go. Amy’s eyes pleaded for an answer. For a reason, for information. ”You have nothing to say? No explanation?. Why would you keep him from me? From my son? Threatening him to stay away? To keep us apart?”
Austin swallowed hard, confused as to what Amy was talking about. He shook his head and leaned down picking up the pictures and flicking through them before putting them back in the envelope. ” Amy, this was never about keeping him away from you, all my nephew. This was about protecting you from a bad person.”
”A bad person? No, he had to push us away to protect us, to protect us from the people who wanted money and threatened to hurt us!” Amy‘s voice cracked again, she pulled out her phone and turned it towards Austin, text messages explaining why Xavier had to let her go. Austin’s eyes quickly darted down the text, he had lied. Lied through his fucking teeth. Austin opened his mouth but before he could say anything Amy snapped. ”see, he told me everything Austin. He told me how you went to see him, how you told him that you would pay off his debts as long as he stayed away from me!.” she raised her voice to a yell, Austin could hear his nephew stir and wake up.
He shook his head and stepped forward. ”Amy that’s not-“ she shook her head again, her hands moving up as Austin stepped forward in defensive motion as if to push him away. Austin swallowed hard and reached up taking his sisters hands in his holding them together looking her right in the eye ”I’m sorry Amy, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you he was alive but you have to understand, he threw you away, he threw your son away. He lied to you, he paid money for people to fake his disappearance because he has another family. Or had another family.“ His mind raced, did his wife find out about the money he was sending Amy? Had that been a loose end here never thought of? What was his endgame in all of this?
Amy tried to pull away, tears moving down her cheeks even faster, her breathing becoming laboured as she shook her head, her voice turning into a wail. ”No! That’s not true! He would never do that! He would never…” She sobbed, she slowly breakdown drop into her knees, Austin following her down before wrapping his arms around his older sister, he held her tight.
He swallowed hard and gave Amy a kiss on the top of the head, his hand moving up and down her back trying to keep her calm and show that she was still loved by her family. A real family .”I should’ve told you, but I wanted to protect you, and in the end that is hurt you more than it would have if I just told you. I don’t know why he’s contacting you, I don’t know why he told you these things. But I’m gonna find out.” Austin’s voice became stern, his teeth ground together just like Aimees did earlier, he could feel the anger welling up inside him. But that was for later, right now he had family to take care of.
Worthy
It had been a hard week for Austin James Mercer. Since returning to the ring and having to stand opposite to one of his stable mates and friends, having to team with someone that he was not really familiar with nor did he really careful. Having to go against the current world champion and his opponent at high-stakes, and watching as Jack was able to get the upperhand in the chess match.
”Well, the final show before high-stakes could have gone better. Losing is not something that anyone wants to go through, we all hope to go into every match and win to gain momentum going into the next match, it’s like a perpetual motion machine. You gain momentum, it keep spiralling, and you go from when to win and it pushes you forward to where you need to be. But going into a big match off of a loss?. That halts the momentum. It just stops you in your tracks. And you have no idea what to do or where to go. But you need to dust yourself off, learn from your mistakes, and forge a head. A lot of people in this company and in this business don’t know how to do that. They would instead point fingers and blame, especially in something like a tag match. But the blame is with me.”
“I failed, I dropped the ball, and now it is on me to pick myself up, dust myself off, pick up the ball, and run it right down Jack Washington’s throat.”
“I know that it is easier said than done “
“If you listen to what Alex has had to say about Jack, he doesn’t deserve to hold that championship. Alex thinks that Jack is someone who doesn’t represent the company or the championship to the best of his ability. Because he isn’t all over social media, because he doesn’t have a huge following like Alex or even myself. But, I’ve always had a different view from Alex, while I respect him and while he has my back and I have his we do not always agree on everything. Alex went into his match against Jack thinking that he had it won. He believed that Jack’s lack of experience compared to him was going to be his downfall. He believed that he was going into that match as the champion and walking out is the champion. But I watched him make those mistakes, I voiced my concerns, and he didn’t listen. And now I stand ready to face Jack for that same championship and I’m going into the match with a little bit more understanding.”
He smiled and gave a nod. Not letting his stalled momentum impact his mood or confidence.
”And this will be a great new challenge for you Jack, see I came into this match not really knowing what was going on. I went and won a triple threat match and found out that it was for the number one contendership. I was ready to earn my way back to the championship but didn’t realise it was happening so soon and so fast. But then I looked around and realise that really there are very few people who make sense in this position. Alex, as much as I respect him and love him as a brother, he’s a whiny bitch. Let’s be honest here he is. And he was not ready to come back after you with any type of rematch.”
“But, what about Ben Jordan?”
“Well it seems that aside from teaming with his lovely wife Ben and Alex are going to have what many would consider to be a dream match. So where does that leave our world champion? Well in the absence of someone coming back like Fenris, or VinnIe, or J2H, or Kristopher Ryans earning his way, it seems as if someone like Me was destined to become the number one contender. It was never going to be Romano, it was never going to be Storms, or Barnhart, Or Callaway. It was never gonna be any of those guys who talk a big game but can’t back it up, so it was me. I owned this championship match, I own the right to go to the biggest show of the year and face you. And while you have got the first shot off and you won the first battle, this is a war of attrition Jack, and I’m in it for the long haul.”
He couldn’t help but laugh to himself, despite the loss Austin was still supremely confident in himself and his abilities. It was excellent on his face, the smirk hidden beneath his beard, the sparkle in his eyes. It was all right there for everyone to see.
”With that being said I know this isn’t going to be easy. I know there is a chance I could go through all of this, fight you over and over again, and not come out of the other side as the sin city wrestling world champion. See, I know this is your first world championship. But I’m also smart enough to know it will not be your last. Barring some kind of catastrophic injury or you just not wanting to do this any more, I can see Jack Washington‘s name in lights, on a marquee, as a world champion in any company that you choose to go and be a part of. I am not arrogant enough to ignore the talent that I see in front of me. I’m not blind, I can look in the ring when you are there moving around and I can see how good you are and how good you could become. I may not like your methods, I may not like some of the things you say and some of things you do, but I can respect the talent. I can respect the drive. The drive to be the best and prove everyone wrong, I get it Jack I understand it.”
“I understand it all too well. Because there was a time when that was me. There was a time when I was so angry at the world because I knew I had the potential and that everyone was just using that word time and time again that became an insult.”
“Potential...”
“It’s a word that can become an albatross hanging around the neck of anyone who actually has talent wants to become a world champion in this business. It is meant to be a word that conjures up all sorts of visions of the future, but then you have to ask yourself when is the future? When is your time? For years Jack I didn’t understand it, I wanted it to be my time and I wanted to be right there and then and I wanted to prove everyone wrong and that made me angry. But my time, it came sooner than I thought. People don’t use the word potential with me any more, instead they just see how good I am but…”
“Well, the truth is? I’m still learning.“
“This match, it’s kind of been billed as a look to the future between myself and you. Austin James Mercer against Jack Washington. The guy who was the fastest rising rookie who is one multiple world Championships against the guy who is the fastest rising rookie. The current world champion, a man who beat someone who many consider to be my mentor. But I don’t see this as a match for the future, no, this match is very much the present. The current reigning and defending world champion who has become what everyone feared he would be, against a man who came into this company and beat the best of the best. A man who beat the unbeatable, a man who defended the championship against anyone and everyone. Austin James Mercer one on one with Jack Washington for the sin city wrestling world heavyweight championship at high-stakes is the money match. And I look forward to the challenge.”
Legal ramifications
Denver Colorado
Last year
”Where is he?”
Austin growled. His voice was low and deep. It seemed to go along with his current attitude and demeanour. His arms folded over his chest as his eyes burned with anger. It had been a week since his heartbreaking conversation with Amy. She revealed her ex had contacted her. He spun a lie. A story to hurt her and break her. The anger he felt in that moment hadn’t faded. If anything fuel had been added to it everyday for the last week. As he traveled from New York back to Colorado thr though just rolled over in his mind.
He had found Xavier, he had told him not to contact Amy. To support them. He had found the truth and now he had tried to break Amy down with a painful lie. It was anger inducing, it was something that Austin would not tolerate. ”Amanda. Where is he?” Austin stepped forward, his voice still deep but trying to keep it together. Amanda Carr, The young private investigator that Austin had hired to find Xavier the first time shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. She wasn’t afraid, at least not of Austin. She knew enough about him to know that he would not physically harm her. It wasn’t his style. But there was something else waiting on her mind, something else that was stopping her from giving him the information that he craved.
she swallowed hard and shook her head her arms also folded over her midsection, her hands grasping the inside of each one of her arms. ”It took me a few weeks to find him the first time. And this time he’s in hiding. I can’t-“ Austin slammed his fist down on the desk, it rattled as the wood cracked. This was a heavy table, the top it was thick and reinforced. And Austens hand coming down on it sent a shock way through it’s so large that the wood splintered. Amanda swallowed and shook her head as Austin moved around in front of her.
He took a long deep breath in, he closed his eyes and has he let it out his voice seem to turn into a normal tone, no longer as dark and deep as it was when he first walked in. ” please, I talked to him the first time and got to the truth, but he contacted my sister. She broke down, she didn’t understand, and she had doubts about how much I love her. his nostrils flared as he found his teeth together, there was a hole in his heart and it was filled with guilt. Guilt because he didn’t tell Amy the truth, guilt because he valued protecting her over trusting that she was able to emotionally deal with the truth that he had found.
Amanda took a deep breath herself, as she let it out she gave a small not a nude around her desk. ”Look Aust- Mr Mercer. I sympathise, but you have to understand in my position… If anything happens to Mr Coates I will be held accountable.” and there it was, the fee was not for herself, she knew Austin would not hurt her, but she had doubts on whether or not he would restrain himself when he found XavierCoates. And to be honest, it wasn’t completely without merit. Her tone and change from somewhat informal to professional also didn’t escape Austin’s notice.
”I understand, Amanda, I’m not going to kill him. Part of me wants to, but I don’t have it in me.” he swallowed and gave a small smile, just a hint of one with his right upper lip curling before his face turned back to being the stoic man he normally was.
Amanda though shook her head. She placed her hands down flat on the desk looking down before taking a long drawn out breath and looking back up to meet Austin’s gaze with her own. ”Before becoming a private investigator and working for your father, my father was in the military. Special forces. He always had a look in his eye that I never understood.” she paused for a moment, her eyes dancing along the top of the table until they reached a silver frame sitting facing inward. A picture of her father, the senior Carr who had worked with Austin’s father decades ago. ”I never understood the look. But, when I was a teenager some of my father‘s friends had a reunion. As they talked about their stories I realise that my father had a higher body count than anyone else in that room. I always thought he could never harm anyone that way, he can never take a life. But that, that’s what that look was.”
There was a silence between them, Austin just stared ahead unsure of what to make of this story and the admission. Amanda took another long deep breath in and reached into the top drawer of the desk pulling out a fille, an updated file and Xavier Coates.
”You have it. You have that look Austin. And as much as you want tonight, the truth is that if you thought a member of your family or someone that you loved was being threatened, if you thought there was no way out, you would take a life in an instant.” There was more silence, Austin knew that Amanda was right. If his life, Amy’s life, Lisa’s life, or any of the children were threatened, Austin would end it right there in then. He gave a small not to Amanda, she took another deep breath and closed her eyes before placing her hand on the file and sliding it towards him. He picked it up opened it, took note of the address and smiled. ”If anyone asks, you weren’t here.”
As Austin turned to walk away he reached the large wooden doors, something stopped him as he reached up and placed his hand on the wall next to it. ”Thank you Amanda...for everything.” As he opened the door he heard the flick of a lighter, and a long drawn out breath of a cigarette.
Part 2
”Time is counting down. Days are getting closer”
Austin can’t help but chuckle. It was cliched, it was goofy, corny, but in a way so totally what you would come to expect from the former world champion. A man who despite his intimidating stature, was honestly just a big kid.
”You know Jack, i’m gonna give you a small piece of advice. Cherish these moments. See, no matter how many championship matches I go into, whether that is as challenger or the champion, I still feel butterflies. I still feel that anticipation, that rush of adrenaline as the minutes and hours tick forward in the days roll-on as we get closer and closer to our inevitable end. And, you being so young and talented I’m sure you will have plenty of days like this in the future. Not that I’m an old man by any means, but I’ve already had so many of those moments. So many of those weeks leading up to a championship match where you go through your days training, you watch tape on your opponent, and you let yourself think just how it will feel to hold that title belt high above your head. And when you have been a champion before, when isn’t your first time or when you are going into a moment where you are defending that title you have the advantage of already knowing how it feels. You know the anticipation, you know the feeling when it ends, and you know the rush of adrenaline.”
“But one day, there will be a final moment where you feel the pre-much anticipation winding up towards the championship win or defence. And you might think that is the lowest point, you might think that is going to be a time in your career way you look and worry about where you’re going and what you were going to do. That is a point that I’m not up to yet, thankfully..”
“There is however, another moment that is lower than that. And the worst part is Jack is that it is a moment that will repeat itself. If you are successful in this business at the moment you can’t avoid. See, I am a three time world champion. I won the WWH Hells gate championship, the honor wrestling world championship, and of course the Sin city title that you currently hold. No it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if I am a three time world champion that means I have also lost a world championship three times. And for the sake of this moment I’m going to just focus on those three titles, because losing them? Those were lower moments and losing other championships just based off of the gravity and nature of said titles. Those championships meant the company had to put stock in me, that I was the face of the company. Where you are right now Jack. You have the pressure and weight of the world in your shoulders. But the lowest point in your career, is the moments when you lose those titles.”
“And trust me..that will happen…”
Austin pauses for a moment, there is a hint of sadness in his voice as his mind flashes back to when he lost each one of those championships. He takes along deep breath and closes his eyes before exhaling and opening them, his long hair freed and flowing down his shoulders and back.
”I don’t share this knowledge to be condescending or to make it seem like you don’t know what you were getting yourself into. I’m just trying to give you the respect that you were due because of your championship win. In fact I said it before, I respect your abilities and I respect the fact you are a champion but as a person I think you have so much left to learn. And to be perfectly honest Jack, when you opened your mouth all you did was prove it. You actually stood there and accused me of trying to be exactly like Alex, because we have long hair, because we have beards, really? Is the fact that I’m 8 inches taller and 45 pounds heavier just lost on you? I could stand here and say because you have that short cropped haircut and muscular physique that you look like Ben Jordan when he goes to the barber. But that would be wrong considering Ben is twice the man you are and twice the champion that you’ll ever be with that attitude.”
“Alex and I do share a few similarities, but he goes about things in a way that I personally don’t appreciate. He wants to throw tantrums, he wants to be a primadonna, that’s just who are years. That’s who he’s always been something that you obviously were keenly aware of since when you faced him you decided to bring up his entire history, and history that you seem to think it’s a relevant yet you decided to dedicate hours on.”
“If only you had decided to do the same due diligence when it came to me. do you think I went silent when Vinnie beat me? No, I talked about him being good enough to beat me and hoping that he would continue on making those Championships means something. And when he failed I took it as an insult. But question Jack, do you enjoy being hypocrite? You turned around and blasted Alex for basically running his mouth after you beat him yet say I stayed silent when others beat me and that was a bad thing? So which is it Jack, Alex and I exactly the same? Or are we different? Should we run our males after being beaten? Or stay silent? If you don’t flip-flopping, maybe you should learn about me instead of making assumptions.”
“You see, I don’t make assumptions about you and your personal life, I only look at what you’ve done in the ring And when I look at that I’m impressed, despite the fact that you have just over a 5050 record you have wins over some of the best, you almost beat Ben Jordan who is an amazing athlete and was a great champion, you did beat Alex, you did get a pin on me in a tag match. It is clear that you are a great athlete Jack and a great professional wrestler.”
“I said it before that I think you’re gonna have a great career, but you did bring up one thing that makes me realise that you might just be the most dangerous person in this company.“
Austin smiles and shakes his head rubbing his hand over his beard.
”You don’t care about my size, you don’t care about my strength, you don’t care about my win loss record or the streak I was on. Truth is, That makes you dangerous. That makes you unpredictable. Somethings, the trivial things, you shouldn’t care about. The whole unpinned thing is inconsequential, in this business we all lose every so often. Look at Fenris he destroyed everyone until he faced me. But I get the feeling that if you faced him, you just look him in the face and tell him that you didn’t care about all the names he destroyed and his record. And that might work for you, but Me? I looked at what he did and I wanted that scalp, and while you can say with pride that you don’t care about anything that Alex has done or anything that I’ve done, if nothing matters then why the fuck are we doing this Jack? If you stand there and run down everyone else’s accomplishments except for your own then when you do get beaten by somebody, you’ll be beaten by nobody”
“That is the mistake Alex made, he didn’t take you seriously because he didn’t actually look at what you are capable of doing, so in his mind because he called you or nobody he got beaten by nobody. And now here you are saying you don’t care about what I’ve done, who I am all my compliments. When I walk out with that championship, you’ve just been beaten by someone who you couldn’t Sean out of respect for. Because you do not respect anyone, you don’t stand for anything, you don’t stand for yourself, you don’t stand for the company. You have to sit there and say I need to find out who I am..”
“I know who I am Jack, I don’t look or sound anything like with Alex, but you. It’s kind of funny, your tone, the fact you don’t care about anyone else, you don’t take me seriously. That’s Alex all over. And the thing is I hadn’t planned on even bringing him up, I hadn’t planned on caring about it, I wanted this to be about you and me. But you brought him up, you brought it all up. Because in the end all you really had to say about me in your overblown speech of bullshit equated to “Austin and Alex are the same”... Bobbie Dahl called, she’s suing you for gimmick infringement…”
“At high-stakes Jack, I’m gonna give you everything I’ve got. If I win I’ll hold that championship proudly and do everything I can to be a great champion, just like I did before. If you win, I’ll congratulate you, I’ll earn my way back to another title shot and if you are champion we’ll go again… but deep down I’ll be hoping that you actually learn something. see you Sunday… Kid”