Las Vegas, Nevada - 01/22/2017
One!
Two!
Three!
And that was it. It was all over. All the training, all the preparation instilled in him by Ben Jordan from the day that Jamie had won the Battle Royal and 'The Cockney King" had come to stay in LA to lend a hand in making certain his good friend Jamie would be adequately prepared -- it had all been for nothing. He thought the sound of the referee's hand striking the mat for the third and final time was bad enough, but the sound of the time keeper's bell ringing to signal the end of the match between himself and J2H, well Jamie thought that ringing was going to haunt his ears for an eternity to come.
Or perhaps it was that Solid Gold kick to the back of his skull that J2H had laid him out with in order to retain his championship. All joking aside, the champ really had rung his bell in that precise moment, and there was simply no way that anybody would have been able to kick out from the pin. J2H had used that maneuver and others to wrest success away from countless competitors and challengers since early 2016. He had beaten the very best, and now he had beaten the rest -- namely Jamie Dean.
Jamie simply laid on the mat after the inevitable pinfall loss. His head was throbbing from that kick and his senses dazed. He knew well enough that something else was happening inside of the ring as he slowly rolled over towards the ropes and the edge of the ring apron, so that he could drag himself to the back in the proverbial 'Walk of Shame.' Gripping the apron, he pulled himself close, never minding the sounds of the fans shouting and the slams and shouts from what was happening inside of the ring. His head felt like dynamite went off inside of it, but he rolled over and slowly allowed himself to drop to the ringside floor on his knees. He then slid over onto his backside, seated now on the cool mats stationed around the ringside area for the wrestler's protection, never minding the officials who were at his side, checking on him while others tended to whatever was happening inside of the ring. He couldn't be certain what the men and women were asking him, perhaps his welfare and condition, but for now they all sounded to him like the adults in a Charlie Brown animated special.
It was only the day after when Jamie had learned what was going on behind him at that given moment; when Drake Green, tired of all the verbal assaults on the part of the champion, came from out of nowhere and brutally attacked J2H. It might sound odd, but had Jamie been in better shape at the time, he would have climbed right back inside of the ring and lent the champion a hand. Say what you will about both J2H and Drake Green, attacking a man after a match like Drake did was not the act of a hero or a 'face.' Maybe the things J2H was starting to say about Drake and his ego getting the better of him were true.
Who knows? Jamie had other things on his mind at the moment. Like the 'Walk of Shame' he was about to embark on.
The officials had helped him to his feet and two of them tried to escort him to the back, but Jamie deftly shrugged their hands from his body, insisting on making the journey alone. He refused to give anyone the satisfaction of that much at least, yet the damned officials still hovered nearby as he walked the gauntlet, past the fans holding their hands out in sympathy. Jamie met only a few with his own, unsure even why he had save for habit, and he parted the curtains with his arms and stepped through where he knew those closest to him would most likely be waiting. They would offer their condolences and compliment him on how hard he tried, even though Jamie knew that was a load of bullshit. They might even pay lip service and say something to the effect of "Better luck next time." despite the fact Jamie knew damn well that there wouldn't be a next time. Not after the way he had been so thoroughly punked by the champion only minutes before.
And it was at that precise moment when Jamie Dean decided he simply didn't want to hear any of it.
Head down and eyes avoiding everyone, Jamie simply exited through the curtains and past the gorilla position, and made his way for the locker room where he could simply do what he thought needed to be done. He was pretty sure that Ben had been there in the hallway waiting for him, perhaps with Evie at his side, but couldn't be entirely certain. He knew damn well he had seen Amy, his closest friend of all, but she didn't approach him, no matter how much she might have wanted to. She had seen the look on his face and read it like a book. She kept her distance out of nothing but respect. And Sammy Marlowe? Everybody's favorite ginger spice and everything nice?
"Jamie..." She started to say, reaching out to him in an effort to console him, but he had walked right past her. He just wanted this night over with.
"Mate," Ben started to say as he had begun to follow him. "... You should let the medics check yer head out."
"I'm fine." Jamie mumbled and sped up a step to get away from the pitying eyes. He didn't need others feeling sorry for him. He was feeling plenty of that on his own. Ben must have understood, having had a tough loss a time or two in his own career. he opted not to follow Jamie, giving him time to settle himself. He even prevented Amy and Samantha from following him in their own vain attempts to be there for him and make him feel better about what had happened.
Hunh. Lots of luck.
Of course, it hadn't worked out quite the way Ben had perhaps envisioned. 'Give him a few moments to relax and reflect, and then we'll take him out for dinner and a drink perhaps.' He had a feeling that's what Ben was thinking. Good ol' Ben Jordan. Always up for making someone feel better about themselves. Unfortunately he had his work cut out for him where Jamie was concerned this night.
Jamie pushed the locker room door open and avoided the eyes of his peers who instinctively glanced up to who had entered, and failed to respond to those few who offered him a few words. Jamie drew a deep breath and started for his corner of the room where his clothes and gear were set up, readying to grab a towel and hit the showers and drown his problems away. He then was given pause, unsure at the time of what came over him. Jamie looked at his gym bag and simply reached for it...
"Jamie?" Ben Jordan stepped into the locker room and looked around for his tag partner and buddy. He had given him plenty of time to shower and get changed, perhaps settle the issues in his head. Now he, Evie, Amy and Sam were preparing to take him out for a few drinks after the climax of the Supercard, and help him forget what had happened.
See? Told you!
Ben looked around but didn't see Jamie, but instead saw Gabriel and Synn who were talking between themselves while Despayre, who had been successful in retaining his own championship earlier in the night, was finishing up being looked over by one of the medics after his hard fought victory over Chris Shipman and getting prepared to shower and change.
"You guys seen Jamie?" Ben asked aloud, drawing Gabriel's eyes away from 'his Despy' to address 'the Cockney King.'
Gabriel answered, "Dean? He left."
"Left?" Ben frowned. "The show's not over."
"I don't think he cared." Synn chipped in. "He grabbed his gym bag and just walked out without getting dressed."
Ben closed his eyes and blew a breath out from between his pursed lips, "Damn it!"
Pacific Palisades, California - 01/23/2017 - 2:43 am
Pacific Palisades, a coastal neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles and quite the familiar scene if you paid close enough attention to one Jamie Dean aka the 'Sausage King.' No, we are still not back to more modern times. What you are witnessing now took place only hours after the end of Inception II, and a good two hundred and ninety miles away.
The drive was quiet en route toward his hometown. Jamie had not even allowed himself the luxury of turning on the radio. He just wanted the quiet, all the better to brood with a good sulk. Ben had been planning to stay in Las Vegas for the night and fly back home to Cuba the following day. Jamie just wanted to be alone. Los Angeles was still fairly alive, even at this ungodly hour. There were bars and nightclubs all over 'the City of Angels' that were still open up to four am, but Jamie drove past every one that he had come across, in no mood to drown his sorrows and deal with the inevitable hangover. He had only one destination in mind;
Home.
He had never been so happy as he was at this time to see that three story brick building looking up in the streetlights as the burgundy Porsche Cayman S pulled into his building's secure parking garage. He didn't even unlock the trunk and fetch his luggage. He could always do that tomorrow... well, it was tomorrow technically but you know very well what we mean! He just wanted to get inside and spend a little time with the one he knew wouldn't try to console him for flubbing the biggest opportunity of his career.
The ride up in the cage elevator to reach the building's top floor and his home in particular seemed like it would last an eternity. That or Jamie was just being overly dramatic. How unlike him, hm? That would be just his luck, all things considered; if the elevator were to break down then and there. Wouldn't that just make this evening all the better? The ride finally came to a halt and Jamie slid the cage door and stepped out into the narrow hallway with brick walls and hard wood flooring. It was dimly lit, and that fact alone made Jamie all the more anxious to get to his door and get inside. He wasn't afraid of the dark, per se, but he had always had a subtle phobia about narrow spaces and the dark only made them feel like they were closing in even more so than usual. Nooks and crannies, not his thing. It was one reason why he bought such a large loft rather than an actual house. One, he loved lofts and two, there was far more open space.
He inserted the key into the lock on his door and turned the knob before stepping inside. He shut the door and turned the lights on, and immediately heard something across the loft's open floor.
"Shit...!"
"What the fuck...!?"
Who said what? That's for you to decide, dear reader. The turning on of the lights startled the one person inside of the loft, who had been sound asleep and was now sitting up in the bed, wide eyed and scrambling for his glasses on the bed stand.
"Chad!" Jamie breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, the formerly homeless gay nineteen year old college student that Jamie, along with close friends Kathy and Sandra, had practically adopted and were now putting through college, was there. His hair was a ruffled mess, probably had laid down to go to sleep without first washing the generous amounts of hair spray from his dark tresses first -- like usual.
"What are you doing here?" Jamie asked, as the teen slid his legs over the side of the bed, clad in his usual sleeping wear of an over-sized t shirt and loose fitting pajama pants.
"House sitting, remember?" Chad answered as he struggled to get the sleep from his system at this early hour. It was a simple fact that every time Jamie went on the road for SCW, his young friend here would house sit for him. It gave the teen a chance to have a place to stay on his own, rather than the apartment of Kathy and Sandra where he lived in the spare room. House sitting gave Chad a chance for some peace and quiet, a sense of freedom and a place where he could focus on his fashion college projects and studies.
Did they actually study anything in a fashion college?
"Shit, where the hell is my mind?" Jamie asked, more a statement to himself than an actual question. That little fact didn't stop the saucy kid from answering anyway with, "Damned if I know!"
Chad slowly stood up, wiping at his eyes before he fit his glasses on and only then did he see that Jamie was actually standing before him in a simple shirt and his wrestling trunks; neon pink and black tiger striped.
He said, "Well I hope you didn't get all dressed up for me. I am a little young for you." Chad then frowned and shook his head. "What are you even doing back? I thought you were going to be in Vegas for another day or two."
Jamie could only shrug and offer in a melancholy tone, "Plans changed. I just wanted to come home."
Chad just nodded, not understanding but going along with it anyway. He yawned mightily for such a little guy and moved towards the kitchen counter where the cordless phone was, saying, "I'll call Kathy to come get me."
"Don't be crazy!" Jamie reprimanded him. "She probably just got home from work and is in bed. Go back to bed and I'll use the couch."
"But it's your home." Chad argued, to which Jamie answered back, "Right, and since you weren't expecting me back, I say you take the bed. Now stop arguing."
"Fiiiine!" Chad huffed almost comically, scooting his socked feet back along the wood floor like a zombie, and Kathy and Sandra often did compare the kid to such when he got up in the morning. He took off his glasses and flopped down face and chest first onto the bed and curled his arms around the pillows while Jamie switched the lights off and sat down on the sofa. Almost immediately the familiar form of Jamie's Siamese cat, Anubis, leapt onto the couch and found his usual perch on "Daddy's" lap. Jamie smiled and reached down and started to stroke the back of the cat's head and neck, immediately being rewarded with a hearty purr.
This was the one he had been longing to see after his disastrous match. The one that wouldn't judge. All his little pussy wanted was to be stroked, pun intended. And Jamie happily obliged. He held onto the cat as he kicked his shoes off and slid back over onto the couch to lay down, and Anubis proceeded to "mix dough" on Jamie's bare mid drift, causing the flamboyant grappler to wince. Satisfied after a moment, the cat curled up into a fuzzy ball and went to sleep, and after a moment, Jamie too closed his eyes.
"How did your match go?" Came the mumbled voice of Chad whose face was buried in the pillow. The kid was tired, probably only asked for the sake of politeness. He certainly didn't repeat himself when Jamie pretended he hadn't heard him and drifted off to slumber.
Brew Ha Ha coffee house - Los Angeles
"So, you just walked out on everyone?" Jamie's friend Kathy, the owner and proprietor of the independent coffee house the pair now sat in asked from across the small table that they shared.
Jamie had been sulking for the past number of weeks and probably would have been even more so, had that scheming little skeezer Chad not went and told Kathy and Sandra about Jamie arriving home early that night. They had been working overtime in getting in touch with him, but just like with Samantha, Ben and Amy, Jamie had avoided all social contact if at all possible. And not being on the road, the temptations of having Samuel in his bed were few and far between for the time being.
Good thing too. Jamie wanted to keep this funk of a mood going and he had a feeling that a night in bed with Mister Devereux would end that bad mood in a hurry. Well that or he'd have to call maintenance to have his head removed from the headboard of his bed. Samuel loved it rough, it was true, but he was also the kind of lover that had you peeling yourself off the ceiling. He answered Samuel's first texts, and they spoke on the phone once and his married lover understood the situation and gave him his space, making Jamie promise to make it up to him next time they -- well you know!
"I wouldn't say I walked out on them." Jamie reasoned with his friend -- badly. "I just..."
"Left the building without telling anyone." Kathy finished for him. "Not telling anyone where you were going and worrying everybody who were wondering where you went off to, knowing how down you were."
"Thanks." Jamie frowned, his chin resting in the cup of his one hand while the other held the steaming cup of coffee Kathy had provided -- on the house of course. He said, "You have a real knack for making someone feel like an ass hole."
"Don't blame me, Sweetpea." Kathy shook her head, and despite the use of her and Sandra's affectionate nickname for him, her tone of voice told that she would brook no argument. "Look, I know you've been in a bad mood the past few weeks. But you have a shit load of friends and loved ones who have been worried about you. And just disappearing and not telling anyone for weeks how you were didn't help matters any."
"I know." Jamie started to say in response, but his friend wasn't done with him. Normally when Sandra and Kathy built heads of steam and targeted someone, Jamie found it to be quite the amusing spectacle when watching from the other side. But to actually sit back and be on the receiving end of one of their tongue lashings?
Not so much.
Kathy continued, pointing at Jamie, "I know you're mad at Chad for telling us what's been wrong with you, but he's scared for you. After all you did for him, trying to help you was the least that he could do so stop being mad at him for just wanting to help."
"I didn't need him..."
"Do I sound like I'm finished?" Kathy scolded him and the sharp tone of Ben's "#1 lesbian fan" made his mouth shut with a hard snap while she continued. Oh how Ben would probably have loved to be here to witness this. Certainly not what Jamie had expected when she had showed up at his loft to drag him out into the fresh air and then here for a drink and a chat.
Kathy continued, "Your friends love you. Chad being one of them so get OVER it! And as for the rest of us...?"
Kathy immediately extended her long reach across the table and cuffed Jamie upside the head -- hard! Hey if friends couldn't smack friends around when they needed it, who could? Before Jamie could object, she continued, "I'll have you know that Ben showed up on my and Sandra's doorstep, looking for you!"
"What?" Jamie frowned, caught off guard by the devotion showed to his care by his friend.
"Yeah." She nodded. "That's right. The man was so worried that you wouldn't answer your phone, he flew all the damn way from Cuba! Then when you didn't answer your door, he came to our place asking after you!"
"I'm surprised he didn't just walk in." Jamie reasoned. "I gave him a key."
"Maybe he shouldn't have had to." She responded. "Maybe he thought his friend would answer the door and not force him to." She leaned across the table and laid a hand across the back of his. "Maybe he didn't want to do you any more harm than you were doing yourself, but the concern was there Sweetpea."
"I know." Jamie whispered, then shook his head. "Shit. I can't believe he actually..."
"I think Sam and Amy's concern for you was what prompted him to do it." Kathy interrupted. "Considering you weren't speaking to them, either."
Jamie sighed, avoiding eye contact with the woman briefly. "I..." He started to say and shook his head. "I was just so damn ashamed of myself for what happened with James."
"All because you lost?" Kathy frowned. "Sweetpea, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but that wasn't the first match you lost and it certainly won't be the last."
"Gee, thanks." Jamie responded sourly.
"Well, tell me I'm wrong."
"It's not the fact that I lost, Kathy." Jamie started to explain, but Kathy shook her head.
"Then, what is it?" She asked.
"It's the fact that it's my fault I lost." Jamie finally spoke up his biggest frustration. "I never thought I'd be in a main event level match. To date I've just been out to have a good time in the ring. I didn't even really want the shot if I'm honest. I'd rather get the tag titles back with Ben. It is why I came back, after all."
"Have you told Ben this?"
"No." He sighed. "I don't think he wants them back. maybe he does, I don't know. But ... " Jamie's shoulders slumped. "Ben put so much time and effort into my training for James and when the time came, I crashed and burned. (I didn't take the match seriously, probably didn't take James seriously either and the guy came at me like a damn whirlwind and tore through me like a tornado through a trailer park."
"You assume too much." His friend stated. "If you want to go for the tag titles again, speak to Ben and see what he has to say. Worst thing he can do is say no or ask to wait. And as for your match with James, I watched it. You really are being too hard on yourself."
"I'm really not." Jamie smiled. "You can't deny that I didn't even really try. I just started fighting back when I realized I was up you-know-what creek without a paddle. But by then..." He shrugged. "James had my number."
"So next time..." Kathy leaned over and in, to better ensure Jamie felt the subtle nudge to look up and meet her eye-to-eye. ".. and there will be a next time. You know to take it seriously, and you'll do better. But..."
Jamie's eyes opened wide as his dear friend put her finger in his face.
Kathy said with steel in her voice, "If you ever disappear on us like that again, I'll personally hunt you down and feed your goody bag to my neighbor's dog. You understand me?"
Jamie couldn't help but find himself smiling at the older woman. He answered her with a sincere "Yes ma'am." obviously satisfying her. For now. he would have to talk to Sandra and Chad next, then Sam and Amy, and eventually Samuel. But right now there was someone else that he had to talk to. Someone that had showed he cared that deserved to be explained to...
"Well bloody hell!" Ben Jordan exclaimed from his side of the Skype session. "Look who decided to show his arse an' let the world know he's still alive!"
Jamie couldn't blame Ben for his words or the tone of voice behind them. He had taken the time to watch Ben's promo for his match last week against Joshua Acquin, and up until that point, not even Kathy's talking to hit him as hard as the words that Ben uttered did. He hadn't realized his self-imposed isolation would affect anyone the way that it seemingly affected Ben who was always used to having friends around him. The realization made his heart fall into his stomach, and most certainly not in a good way. It actually made him want to crawl under a rock. Hence, the desire to set things right with his friends, one at a time.
"Ben..." Jamie started to begin. His voice catching as he struggled to find the right words that wouldn't serve as an excuse or a justification for what he did. He swallowed hard and then exhaled, looking into Ben's eyes on the laptop screen from his home. "Can we talk?"
The fire in Ben's eyes slowly cooled ever so and he sat back in his chair and waited....
"Can't deny the facts; it's been hell these past few weeks, and I really have only myself to blame. I lost my big chance at J2H and the World Championship solely because I didn't take it seriously as I should have, and felt like I let down those closest to me. But, as a good friend once said to me, dwelling in the past will only serve to make the present more bitter. And even though I'm still annoyed with myself, the past is indeed the past. It's time for the present, and to move on to the future."
"I have my plans, my hopes and dreams both inside the six-sided ring of SCW, as well as outside of it. And the first step to getting back on track and making friends and family proud is you, Calvin Harris. Now I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what this match is supposed to accomplish. Maybe the higher ups think that since you have that Internet Championship match coming up, that you need a tune up and given my recent loss, I'm the proverbial sacrificial lamb. I'd like to think better of Mark and Christian (well, Mark), but even if that were their train of thought, well I'm sorry to disappoint them."
"Well, not really."
"You see Calvin, you may have a championship match coming up and you're going to want to go in there with the momentum of a win on your side, but I have reasons of a more personal nature that will be the drive behind me for this match. I had my problems recently, which led me to disappoint not just my friends, but made me think too little of my own sense of self worth. I promised myself years ago I was done ever allowing myself to feel that way. Yet there I was then, and yet here I am now. I intend to get back onto the fast track to success, and the first step along the way is your sweet little self."
"Now I'll be the first to admit to admit that maybe I might be at a slight disadvantage going into this match, because let's face facts; I haven't set foot in the ring since Inception II, but don't think for a moment that I've been anything but idle. Because from the moment I was notified about this match, I got my ass back in the gym, and the ring, and I will be ready. I'm not going to let you walk into this match, looking at me like I'm a sitting duck, Calvin. I may be the proverbial party boy and god knows I do love to have a good time, inside of the ring and out, but the minute you look at me and think I can't handle myself, will be the same moment you realize that you're flat on your back, staring up at the ring lights."
"I have been in there with the best. At the very top, J2H. But I have also faced some real tough bruisers like Eyesnsane and Jon Dough, not to mention those bad asses Lord Raab and Samuel McPherson. That hardcore match against the Monstimals took me to the absolute limit, the first time I can remember ever being put in that position (God it's been years since I've said that about a man), but the simple fact is time and again, I did walk out on top with my head held high more often than not. Dmitri and James Tuscini? True they may have gotten a win against Ben and myself, but damn did we make them earn it! True, the matches I'm talking about were tag team matches mostly, and I had Ben to rely on then to watch my back, but I do like to think I handled myself well against the baddest of the bad. But guess what Calvin? I have been in singles matches a time or two before. I've faced men like 'the Mental Rapist' Sean Jackson among others, which brings me to you."
"What have you done lately? Aside from that dick measuring contest you've been in lately with Ice T, otherwise known as Xander Bishop. What have you really done as of late to prove yourself worthy of being where you are right now? Aside from fighting Xander to a draw, not much. Some might say that your draw with Xander Bishop proves just how tough of a competitor that you are. And while that may very well be true, you know what it tells me? You couldn't beat him. You couldn't beat Xander, you couldn't win the 'King of the Hill,' and this weekend, you won't beat me -- especially when we're in my own personal backyard, Los Angeles, California!"
"The party boy Jamie Dean is still here, ladies and gents. Trust me, he isn't ever going away! And this weekend there'll be a party in MY ring, and poor Calvin Harris will be my guest of honor."
