The GO Gym
The overhead track lighting inside of the Gym's main office shared by the Stevens, the proprietors of this is establishment which has turned out some of wrestling's finest over the past six years. The first to set foot inside of the office was none other than Gabriel Stevens, followed closely by one of his and Odette's more recent successful graduates, Carter McKinney aka Helluva Bottom Carter.
"Come in, Carter." Gabriel said, stepping aside and holding the door open for his young protege to enter. Carter, still in his street clothes and not having had the opportunity to change into workout attire. Judging by the sounds about the crashes, grunts and calling out spots, it was very clear that the gym was in full swing training activities when Gabriel had grabbed Carter before he could reach the dressing room for this much needed talk. “Have a seat.” The proprietor offered, motioning toward one of the two vacant chairs opposite his own as he shut the door behind his student.
“Why do I have that uneasy feeling of being escorted into the principal’s office?” Carter quipped as he took a seat, while Gabriel, smirking at Carter’s wit, walked around the desk and had a seat himself, opposite him. Carter asked, “Am I in trouble?”
“Should you be?” Gabriel returned the proverbial fire, to which Carter shrugged his shoulders with indifference. “I don’t know.” He said. “It just seems to be the going trend as of late.”
Gabriel chuckled, rubbing a hand along his jawline before clasping his fingers together on the surface of the desk between them. Gabriel finally brought his eyes up to meet Carter’s own as he said, “No, no. You’re not in trouble. I just wanted to talk.”
“Okay, that just worries me even more.” Carter admitted. “What do you want to talk about?”
Gabriel answered, “Well, it’s been awhile since we’ve had a chance to catch up. Your tour of India kept you pretty busy and this is the first real chance we’ve had. But mainly…” He raised a hand. Trying to find the right words. His students were more than just a paycheck toward his family. They were more than just ‘students’ to both Odette and himself. They were family, and in many cases, Gabriel had been known to call the men and women who walked through those doors his ‘kids’.
He finally said, “It’s about what happened at High Stakes between Ben and yourself.” Carter sighed, and almost seemed to deflate, as Gabriel went on, “It was a little concerning, Carter.”
“Why?” Carter asked, shrugging his shoulders. “I only said the truth. Ben shouldn’t be interfering in peoples’ personal lives when his own is far from perfect.”
Gabriel sighed, “Carter, I don’t presume to know what’s going on between Ben and Evie, even though Evie is our first student and in many ways, the foundation for this Gym’s success. But Ben Jordan is seen by many as a locker room leader in SCW…”
“Not by me.” Carter stated matter-of-fact, but Gabriel went on with what he was saying as if Carter had not spoken. “And what you did was very disrespectful. From what I saw on the screen, Ben wasn’t trying to ‘interfere’ in your relationship with Lazarus. He was just being himself. The man shows concern when he thinks anyone is in trouble and he was concerned about…”
Gabriel motioned toward Carter, making Carter frown and ask, “Concerned about what?”
“Carter…” Gabriel sighed, and looked pointedly at him. “Can we not insult my intelligence? I think you know well what I’m talking about. Everyone watching High Stakes saw the marks on your face and neck….”
“I don’t believe this.” Carter mumbled, shaking his head. “I beat Todd Williams with his own hold at High Stakes, but the only thing anyone wants to talk about is this made up idea they have of whether or not my boyfriend is beating me up!”
“Granted, the evidence is circumstantial even if it is just as suspicious.” Gabriel sat back in his chair. “Which is what I told Ariana and Krystal both when they came to me about this, asking for your mother’s contact information.”
“Excuse me???” Carter seemed clearly affronted at the very idea that his closest friends would actually want to bring his mom and by rote, his beloved grandmother into the middle of this lunacy! Gabriel quickly held up a hand to mollify anything else that Carter was ready to let loose verbally. He further said, “I didn’t give them what they asked for, Carter, so calm down. I wanted to - badly I admit, but without sufficient evidence I didn’t think it would do either you or your family any good.”
Carter nodded, silently giving Gabriel his thanks, but Gabriel wasn't’ finished. He leaned forward and propped his forearms up along the surface of his desk as he said, “But I will not lie and say that I’m not suspicious myself - and worried. It wasn’t very long ago when I was witness to something very similar in these very walls. Did you know that?”
Carter shook his head in the negative, allowing Gabriel to continue. “A young woman here in the gym was seen with her back severely bruised. She had been getting beaten - repeatedly - by her boyfriend at the time. So you’ll forgive me for showing concern, Carter. And I would hope you’d forgive your friends for the same.”
“Ben Jordan isn’t my friend.” Carter stated. “He welcomed me to SCW, granted. He was the first after Ari to do so. But we don’t hang out or do anything together.”
Gabriel stated simply, “You don’t have to be a close friend to show concern for a fellow human being.” Those words washed over Carter and for the first time, left him feeling guilty for how he had reacted toward Ben’s concern. Gabriel went on, “And you repaid that concern by taking a shot at the man’s marriage. Carter…” He shook his head. “You’re better than that.”
And if Carter wasn’t feeling ashamed before, he certainly was now.Carter’s head was hung low for what seemed like forever before he looked up and shook his head, almost helplessly. He said, “I’m just tired of everyone acting like Lazarus is some kind of monster!”
“I understand you being frustrated Carter, and understand the feeling that you have to defend someone you care about.” Gabriel offered. “But you also have to understand that after what Cassie overheard…”
“Cassie?” Carter frowned. “Krystal’s cousin?” Gabriel nodded, to which Carter further questioned. “What does Cassie have to do with anything?”
Gabriel answered, “You know what she has to do with this. She overheard you and Lazarus fighting and…” He held up his hand and froze. It hit Gabriel like a ton of bricks and he immediately wished he could rewind time so that he could undo what he had just done. He stared for a brief moment longer before saying, “You didn’t know, did you?”
And to answer Gabriel’s question, an infuriated Carter pushed himself up from the chair and snatched his bag before storming out into the gym! Gabriel closing his eyes and muttering, “Damn it…”
And out in the Gym, Carter looked about briefly before he saw Krystal Wolfe and Ariana Angelos taking a brief water break before they would be resuming their use of the treadmills together. Carter threw his bag down and stormed over, butting in between the two ladies and saying, “It’s Cassie’s fault, isn’t it!?”
Krystal, clearly caught unaware by the open hostility, asked, “What - is Cassie’s fault?”
“She’s the reason I have everyone treating me like a statistic, isn’t she!?” Carter practically shouted as Gabriel came from out of his office to try and soothe troubled waters before things got completely out of hand.
Ariana spoke up, “Carter… she overheard you and Lazarus fighting when I let her into your room the night of our dinner to get her phone…” And Carter spun on his best friend and he exclaimed, “You just let her into MY room without so much as the benefit of knocking!? What if we were… she had no right! YOU had no right Ari! No more than EITHER of you had any right trying to bring my family into this!”
“Carter…” Ari pleaded, tears welling in her eyes for fear of her bestie’s well being. “We just…”
But whatever she wanted to say was cut off as Carter turned to Krystal and he said, “Did your cousin see Laz hit me!? Did she!?”
“No, Carter.” Krystal answered. “She just heard…”
“I don’t CARE!” Carter shouted, causing a sparring match inside of the nearby ring to be brought to a halt as the acoustics in the Gym were excellent. “She has NO BUSINESS spreading lies about my boyfriend! Maybe if she put down the reefers she would stop hallucinating shit about…!”
“HEY!” A powerful, commanding tone from inside of the ring turned all heads to see Tempest standing inside along with her workout partner at the time, London Underground’s Mackenzie Paige. Tempest’s eyes were on Carter but she was pointing toward the door of the Gym that led to the lobby. She said more of a demand than a question, “Do you want to take this outside!?”
“Do you want to MAKE me!?” Carter countered, shocking everyone present into silence. All eyes were wide and looking between Carter and the powerful amazon standing in the ring as Tempest slowly turned her head to Mackenzie and she said, “Oh hell no! I KNOW he’s not talking to me!”
She turned around and went immediately for the ropes, stepping over the top to exit the ring! Gabriel made a move forward to stop what he knew was coming but no sooner did her feet hit the floor than everyone present heard the sound of the lobby door closing and Carter had (wisely) taken a hasty retreat.
“Wow. Ben Jordan. ACW Triple Crown Champion. SCW Roulette Champion. Three-time World Tag Team Champion. SCW World Heavyweight Champion. Wrestler of the Year. Man of the Year. Two-time Most Popular of the Year. Need I go on? Yeah. THAT Ben Jordan. That’s the person I get to set foot inside of the ring against. Probably my biggest match since being signed to Sin City Wrestling after the closure of SCU. Now all I am left to wonder is - why? Why was this match signed? Is this match seen as something of a warm up for Ben, for bigger and better things considering he recently got a victory over the current World Champion, Ken Davison?”
“Oh, no. That can’t be it. Ben clearly stated the championship wasn’t a priority of his and if he’s not targeting a championship or being groomed for a potential title run, then this match between us couldn’t possibly be seen as a warm up. And if it was, well I don’t mind telling everyone that I see that as a hidden dig toward myself and my own capability inside of the ring. So, what then? Is it a reward for me, something akin to the running joke of my preference of getting to be inside of the ring with the hot guys of this business? Ben is a handsome man, I’d be lying if I told you any different, but no. That's not the case either. See, handsome as he is, Ben isn’t my type and I’m pretty sure I heard him sigh a sigh of relief all the way from Maine ir wherever he’s calling home these days.”
“Which leaves me to my third and final theory. It’s a ‘punishment’ for me for what happened backstage at Violent Conduct in India. You know what I’m talking about. Ben is the type of man that everyone loves backstage and his work ethic and championship record makes him a natural locker room leader. And if that doesn’t, then his in-ring experience certainly does. I wouldn’t know because with the complete chaos of the SCU versus GRIME war, I don’t have much experience with a cohesive locker room, let alone ones with leadership roles. And few people in this business commands the level of respect and adoration that Ben Jordan does. So I am hazarding a guess that when I had words with him backstage, which I…”
**air quotes**
“... Disrespected him, the top brass aka Mark and Christian, thought Ben should be given the opportunity to make an example out of me. That or they just saw a potential money making match at the ready with little other reason to book it than the door I had already opened. Except everyone out there thinking Ben is just going to walk all over me is forgetting the one thing I have going in my corner; overestimation.”
“I won’t lie and say I have ANY real edge in the ring where Ben is concerned. Size. Strength. Experience. He has it all in his corner. I’m not even altogether certain I have the speed edge because I’ve seen that man take some pretty slick dives out of the ring on some unfortunate souls, but that brings me to the fact that I came from solid stock. I was trained by the absolute best in Gabriel and Odette Stevens. The GO Gym has put out more success stories than any other training facility that I know of. Who exactly trained Ben Jordan? Has anyone ever known? Has he ever said? Still! Ben has a lot going for him in this match, enough that I already have people writing me off. Funny thing. I had that happen to me a lot in life. I had it happen to me down in SCU when they saw this pretty package and were certain that I couldn’t fight, let alone wrestle. Being the Pride Tag Champion, TV Champion, Combat Champion and the youngest-ever Underground Champion kind of shoots that theory in the ass though, doesn’t it? People have always taken one look at me and assumed that just because I look soft, I also wrestle that way. I always left those very same people laying in the dust.”
“So if this match is being seen as something of a punishment for my ‘disrespecting’ Saint Ben, well sorry to disappoint but he’s not going to trounce me as easily as everyone seems to think. Win or lose, I fight. And I endure.”
“For me? This match isn’t a punishment. It’s the validation I’ve always sought. This match against Ben Jordan is the reward they never intended.”
