Off Camera:
“This is a bad idea...”
Jack slides into the driver's seat of his Tesla S6 with reluctance. Getting into the passenger seat is Emmie Ward, his new partner in the SCW tag division. She’s dressed to the nines including a short black dress with a very long, revealing neckline. As beautiful as she was, Jack had zero interest in the girl romantically. Whether it was due to the fact that he was still firmly attached to Calia, his ex-girlfriend, who left him while he was at a match, or that he saw her as something nonsexual based on their partnership, he didn’t feel even a twinge of anything for her. Not even real friendship at this point because deep down he was still holding a grudge over her interfering with a match he had been guaranteed to win.
“No, it’s not. What’s the worst that could happen?”
He brings the car to life and starts to back out of the driveway.
“I could be completely humiliated.”
Emmie nods her head in agreement. “Yes.. you could... but what is life if not full of humiliation right? It’s just things we can learn from.”
She had picked out his outfit tonight. A black dress shirt with a pair of dark denim jeans. He never wore jeans. In fact, she had bought them on his behalf and when he had been presented with the clothing she had given him no choice but to wear them. He wanted to stay on a good wavelength with his future co-champion. She was the answer to ending the humiliation he had recently suffered in SCW.
“Sure. If that’s what you say. I learned from Calia leaving me that I should never trust females....”
He raises an eyebrow at her as they head toward the gate that exits his community in Kyle Canyon Nevada. Not that far outside the city core of Las Vegas.
“But yet here you are, trusting me...” she smiles smugly and he sighs deeply.
“No one said I trusted you.”
She only laughs. She laughed a lot at what he said and it unnerved him. No matter what he did or said to her, she had not given up on her quest to have him be her tag partner, despite everyone telling her she was nuts. Maybe it was because she was British. Maybe it was just a personality flaw. Either way, he found himself in a position where he really had no other options. He had been told that if he didn’t at least try this opportunity that he may not have a contract to resign when he was finished and that was not something he wanted to gamble with. So here he was, reluctant but yet it seemed to not be as bad as he imagined it would be, not that he was going to let Emmie know that he had accepted his fate, nor that it was exactly as horrible as he pretended it was.
When they arrive at the club that Emmie had suggested, he feels more uncomfortable and out of place than he ever had in his adult life. On top of that, he had worries. Emmie was still underage despite her growing up in a culture where age was basically irrelevant. Yet, her fake ID got her into everywhere she went without any issues. Tonight was no different. Her low neckline was her golden ticket and the way she clung to his arm had the bouncer believing that he was her boyfriend, allowing them both entry ahead of the long line of clubgoers who groaned at the acceptance. Once inside though, Emmie immediately lets go of his arm and beelines it for the bar to order.
Jack was not a fan of club life. Emmie had tried to say it was because he was too stuffy but to be honest, he had met Calia basically right out of high school. Even though there was an age difference and there were a few years before they were official, he still only ever had eyes for her. And his friends were all people that were in the same social circles as his parents. His friends would have called something like this “slumming it” and then laughed about how it was fun to pretend to be poor.
Emmie returns to where he is standing with an odd look on her face.
“Why are you just standing around looking like a wanker. Get a table.”
Feeling completely dumb he looks until he finds a two-seater and sits, and then wipes his hand on his pants when the grease from its surface makes his hands feel slippery.
“Disgusting...”
Emmie is back with his beer and she had something that was blue, with a paper umbrella.
“Are you sure you should be...”
She shushes him. “Don’t you dare say a word. It’s not like I’m in a club every night or anything but I do not want to be on any radars, you get me? Besides, we’re here for you, not me. I don’t have this need to not be single.”
“I like being single too thank you very much.”
“Really? Are we being serious because the last few weeks every other word has been Calia this and Calia that? Calia is a brat. Calia can’t handle real life and so she never would have actually committed to you. You know that right? She did more for that bloody dog than she did you. The Dog made her bio on Twitter, not you. Let it go, she’s not worth it. And she definitely doesn’t deserve you. You treated her like a queen and that wasn’t good enough to even break up with you in person. Find someone else. Even if it’s just some fling. Get her out of your system and move on. I really think that this is affecting how you are in a ring because ever since Calia skipped out, you have been shitty. You get me?”
It was blunt but she wasn’t wrong either. It was the same thing that Bobbie Dahl had been saying too. A woman that he thought of as more of a wart on his ass then a friend but he couldn’t get rid of it right away so he had to do slow treatments until it was gone.
“Yeah.”
He was not intending to take anyone home tonight. He wasn’t even going to act remotely interested. He was here just to appease his tag partner. Emmie thought that most women liked to try and steal a guy from a girl that was prettier than they were, so if they were seen together than women would be all over him because they would think he was taken.
Jack didn’t believe that theory, and none of the women in this club were looking his way at all.
“That one... the redhead... what do you think?”
Jack looks up and from the bar, a decent looking woman with red hair obviously from a box winks at him. She was also old enough to be his mother, a detail that Emmie didn’t see apparently.
“Not into Cougars.”
Emmie pouts as Jack looks away, much to the disappointment of the woman sipping a martini.
“What about that girl?” Emmie nods toward a bookish looking brunette who looked nervous to be there until her friend, done up in an outfit much like Emmie’s appeared and the bookworm’s eyes lit up.
“She’s clearly in love with her best friend who brought her here.” Jack retorts. Emmie seems surprised. For a man that seemed very uninterested in others, he took in details that she wouldn’t have seen. She supposed it was the lawyer in him. Her mother was the same way.
They are there at least another twenty minutes before a guy comes to the table to ask Emmie to dance. She asks if Jack minds but he shrugs. She leaves. When Jack had asked her about her comment to Griff weeks ago she had responded that she had no idea which way she swung only that she knew she was not into Jack and the easiest way to get people off that scent of them being together was to say she was into women exclusively. Jack chalked it up to being young and wanting to explore all her options, not that there was anything wrong with that.
The fact that he and Calia had never slept together in the two years they were officially together shocked people. They shared a bed. She slept over. He was going to ask her to marry him, yet they had never had sex. Not once. Not even anything extra. It had been nothing but kissing. And he realized now that anyone else would have thought him a fool. Two years with her outright refusal to sleep with him but yet she willingly accepted his gifts, his trips to Mexico and Bali. He had paid for her spa weekends and pedicures. Hair appointments...
A light bulb went off in his head and his anger caused him to slam his fist down on the table. He finally realized that this whole time, Calia had been using him for his money. She had never loved him, but he had been so blinded by his love for her that he hadn’t even thought twice.
He stands and walks to the bar where he drops a large tip in the bartender's jar and then scans the dancefloor for his friend. She’s dancing in a crowd of men all looking thirsty for her looks. Staring at her cleavage and her ass in the tight dress. He still didn’t feel anything remotely sexual towards his partner, she was like a Ken doll to him, but what he wouldn’t tolerate was a bunch of strange men putting their greasy hands on her like she was just some object to fondle.
He didn’t think that she wasn't able to defend herself. He had just grown up thinking that it was a man’s duty to take care of a woman, so when the man in front of her reaches over to grasp her ass he reacted. He pulls the man away with a determined look.
“Hey... That’s impolite...” Jack responds. The man laughs.
“What are you? Her keeper?”
Jack shrugs. “No, but no man should act like a woman is an object.”
The groper is clenching his fists.
“Jack, it’s alright. We’ll just go.” Emmie puts a hand on his wrist.
He wants to respect her but he’s in this mood now and to him, Emmie was worth more than just another cheap women in this club. She was better. She was going to be a champion with him and that deserved respect. By letting this slimeball get away with it, it demeaned her.
“I think that this guy owes you an apology.”
The man laughs. He is a typical greasy slimeball. His hair gelled back, wearing clothes not all that dissimilar to his own. And in all honesty, he had the same sort of arrogance that screamed that he came from a family where he was allowed to look down on women as if they were objects.
“She shouldn’t come in here looking like that if she wants to be treated with respect.”
It was enough for Jack. He saw red and next thing he knew, he was laying punch after punch into the man while the guy covered his head with his forearms. He was trying to get away but Jack was holding tight. It took Emmie pulling him away for him to come back to reality. The bouncers were coming over and Emmie rushed forward to explain and then was pulling a bewildered-looking Jack toward the parking lot.
In his state, not even drunk, he couldn’t drive so Emmie ordered an uber and they waited on the curb.
“I’ll get your car home tomorrow. I can get my poppy to drop me off,” she says but Jack isn’t even listening. All he can think about was that he was quick to defend Emmie’s honor, not realizing that he probably embarrassed her and himself.
“I'm sorry.”
They were words that Emmie had not ever expected to hear from Jack Asher’s mouth.
“I should have let you defend yourself. It’s not like you are incapable of doing so...”
She smiles and pats his shoulder. “It’s fine Jack. You know, sometimes it’s nice to have someone willing to step up. It’s been a while since I felt important to someone other than my family.”
He knew that Emmie was not holding onto a V card like he was but it had been a bit of time since she had been dating anyone.
“I still...”
She shushes him. “It’s fine. Really. I'm not mad. Actually, after seeing how listless you have become, it was kinda nice to see some fire in your eyes again. That’s the Jack that I wanted to be my tag partner and I saw him tonight. I don't know what lit it, but you gotta keep that up if you wanna beat the fire dragons next Sunday.”
He wasn’t one to talk about his feelings. In his house, they had grown up keeping everything close to the chest but he felt comfortable with Emmie in a way he couldn’t explain.
“I was thinking about Calia.”
She rolls her eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”
“No. I mean that I finally get it. She never loved me. I hate to quantify love based on sex but in the two years, we dated she always found excuses not to go through with it. But she had no issues having me pay for things. No issues with me spoiling her. I know that those things shouldn’t be paid for with sex but still... After two years...”
She doesn’t remove her hand from his shoulder, only now she squeezes it.
“I honestly am not all the concerned with sex considering that I have nothing to compare it too but... I dunno. It sounds so terribly contrite...”
Emmie shakes her head. “No. It doesn’t. I get what you mean. After two years, there should have been some want for her to be intimate with you. You bent over backward for her and she didn’t do anything in return. And the way she left... It’s just so... she’s a cunt, Jack.”
“Woah...”
Emmie sighs. “Cunt is not as harsh a word where I’m from as it is here but you get it right? She was a boob... a fool... a spoiled brat. Even you deserve better than that...”
“Gee thanks...”
“There is going to be someone out there that gets you and is okay with the way you are. Bloody hell, if there are people willing to love some of the biggest arseholes on the planet than I am sure there is someone out there for you too. We just gotta find her. But you can’t find her by sitting in that lounger all day fixing up fictional houses..”
House flipper had become his new obsession and she wasn’t wrong. He was introverted by nature but the last few weeks had been pretty bad.
“Maybe clubs just aren’t the right place to find her.”
Jack tipped the uber driver heavily after he dropped him off, but not before he had insisted that he drop Emmie off first at her grandparents. His house was quiet and lonely and it now sunk in how he actually hated being alone in it.
He kept trying to convince himself that he saw nothing sexual in Emmie but after tonight he started to wonder if maybe that was just his safety barrier. Not to get too close in case she left him just like Calia did, but Emmie had made it pretty damn clear that she was not going to mess up their partnership by pursuing a romantic relationship with him and he had to respect that.
Bobbie had sent him a screenshot of a dating app that she highly recommended so with a sigh, he sighed himself up. He didn’t like any of the suggestions and after an hour, he closed his phone and headed to bed. He tried to convince himself that he didn’t need anyone, but deep down, he knew that was a lie. He did need someone but maybe it wasn't someone like Calia.
***
Promo:
Promos posted by Jack Asher were never anything spectacular. They were always direct and to the point. Much like Jack. He didn't like to mince words. It was both an asset and a weakness. Regardless, Jack had taken his regular spot, facing the camera with an unrecognizable white background.
"I’m not going to be nice like my partner and talk about how much I respect you guys or that you deserve this based on your work in SCU. I don’t care about what you did in SCU and in fact, you two don’t even deserve this opportunity because you are only signed to the SCW roster for this opportunity. That is my opinion and nothing either of you says will change that. I will say that about anyone that comes in from SCU thinking they have what it takes to be here. Because honestly, if you were good enough to come to play with us, you would have been given contracts here to begin with, Not because SCW needs more tag teams."
He seems unimpressed.
"It was so nice of Mark and Christian to give them this little bone, little good it will do them though."
He leans into the camera more, his arrogant smile plastered across his face.
"I know what you're thinking though. That somehow because you have been a team longer (and not by much longer mind you) that it somehow gives you an advantage. Or that maybe because my last couple times in a ring has led to my defeat that it once again will make this easy for you. The difference is that in our last match with Amy and Vinnie, I wasn’t in the right place. I was giving up because I had no faith in my partner, that’s different now. I have had the chance to connect with Emmie. We have worked together so that we are a well-oiled machine."
"Culture shock. A clever little name if you think about it."
He places his chin on his hand, giving a mocking smile. Still very much full of the arrogance he was proud of.
"Considering that we both come from different worlds, different cultures. She grew up low to middle class in London, England. Her parents could barely rub two coins together but yet I grew up never wanting for anything. Never knowing what it was like to have to struggle. I have never denied my easy upbringing, but I will tell you, having money doesn't make everything easier."
He stops, as if a memory suddenly surfaced and then just as quickly as it had arrived, it was gone and he continued.
"Both lifestyles are so contrasted and a shock to each other. Hence the name. I think it’s ingenious. Far more clever than Fire Dragons. Neither of you look like dragons. And if the fire is meant to be about your determination and ‘fire’ to be champions I'm afraid it falls a little short."
He sighs heavily, obviously annoyed at Mark's comments on twitter.
"Oh, I know... My partner is only 5’2 but at least she doesn’t look like she’s twelve in mom's heels... height doesn't make you better, just gives you a false sense of security because you're not able to see the ground. By the way, she needs to eat more, she's way too thin."
He shrugs.
"Valentina is a former champion. Congrats..."
He adds an eye roll to show once again how unimpressed he is.
"...even if I am the only one that actually remembers that she did hold a championship at one point. A championship that she has yet to regain by the way, despite all the times she has attempted it. Your heart's in the right place but you just aren’t good enough right?"
He says the last bit in an obviously put on 'sweet voice'
"Kinda like Ty West who probably should be in SCU with you guys. He could probably sweep you all, since he’s unable to do it here. Just sad really... such potential and he throws it all away and threatens to leave every time he loses a big match, not to mention that he always seems to take a ‘vacation’ when times are rough. But you guys aren’t like that guy right?"
The arrogant smirk returns, showing that the last part is sarcastic.
"I mean Mark here quit after losing a superbowl. Guess we should all be thankful he hasn't left this to be a pilates coach... you know, for 'exercise'. Wrestling has never been just some side job for me. I didn't fail at some other career choice and take up wrestling as a hobby. I have always been one hundred percent about this. Hence, why I am dragging with finishing my law degree. Now that's just a hobby."
He offers a wink.
"Despite that... I'm afraid you guys just don’t have the right stuff to be tag champions in SCW. You’re not tag champions in SCU either so what makes you think you can cut it out here? I’m not confident about that. You guys are like a whetstone. A team we can sharpen our teeth on to prepare for teams that will actually give us some real competition. Oh.... and Team Eggplant too because I hear they’re going to come back after failing to make an impact in Singles. At least I own up the fact that Lachlan beat me. I shouldn’t have been distracted by anyone on the other side, he couldn’t win without me being distracted either and when push came to shove, he lost against Griffin. So not exactly shaking in my boots when it comes to that guy."
He offers a chuckle.
"There is nothing wrong with having confidence if you can admit when you have failed. I don’t see anyone else doing that. There is always excuses. Emmie was the reason I got distracted but it was still my fault I got distracted. I let my personal life get in the way of something I wanted and that is something I needed to work on but that doesn’t change the fact that I know how good in a ring I am. Losing doesn’t mean you’re not good enough because everyone loses sometimes."
He taps his chin.
"However... when you can’t at least provide some concrete evidence you can hang... how exactly am I supposed to take your words seriously? Stuff from before SCU? I care about as little about that as everyone else in this company cares about what I did to get here. I put my hand in the fire for a chance at a title I didn’t even want because that’s how seriously I take this job.No one seems to remember that. Can either of you say the same? Would you walk through fire to be the best? I mean you call yourselves the FIRE dragons. What fire do you have? What fire are you willing to live through. What is even the reason you chose that name? Because grown-up Dora the explorer has red hair created by loreal? Seems like a dumb reason to call yourselves that. Maybe you should have been the wind dragons. Or the Water dragons... I mean you do rain on the parade when people see that they are booked against you. I’m sure that Tad will give you both a big gold participation star when you come back to SCU after you lose. There there... You did your best. Don’t think for a minute that because we are newer that we will be easy.”
The arrogance hasn’t dissipated from his face or his smile.
“But I know how this will go. The girl will try to come at me on twitter and when she fails to say anything that matters she’d throw up her gif of some obnoxious hand gesture or a hair flip and Mark will just do some dumb comment about agreeing with her, just like a puppy on a leash. And guess what? I’ll just continue to sip my tea and then come in and beat you like I knew I would. Emmie will be nice. She’ll tell you that she wishes you luck or that she has nothing personal against either you and that’s sweet of her to say, even though you know she’s just blowing smoke up your ass. She’s just too polite to say what I am saying. I don't care what anyone thinks of me and I’ll tell you exactly how I see it too.”
He leans into the camera again.
“You wanted to get personal, so here we go. Mark Cross returned to wrestling, yes, great. Probably anticipated by his dozen or so fan clubs but he returned on the developmental show. Where he met Valentina, the jolly red giant in need of some cake. If he was as good as he claims, why not step right up to SCW? Lord knows they need viable talent but he didn't. He took a backseat. To me that shows that he's not in the same shape he was before. And I'm not talking about the year on his birth certificate. I have seen older guys beat the living piss out of a young guy. No, I am talking about confidence in a ring. He started out on a show with rookies and people that needed to step up. Why should I be intimidated? Plus he even admits in his bio on twitter that he's only 'part-time'. Much like his NFL career... part time... Will it expire when he fails to win this match? If he can't commit to a full time schedule he is not worthy to hold a title in SCW.”
“I may not be in the place I set out to be when I signed my contract, but I have not given up. I am still here and I am making the most of what I have. Emmie might not be some veteran that calls herself a Dragon, but she's a Ward and she was trained by the absolute best this industry has to offer. People want to use her new status or her stature as proof she's not good enough, be my guest. Will be your funeral.”
He rolls his eyes, shaking his head.
“As for me? Despite rumors, I am in the best physical shape I have ever been in. I have trained hard. I have experience, even if it is with a more traditional form of our beloved sport. And I... “
He stops and then smiles genuinely but also quite creepily.
“...WE are about to extinguish the fire these Dragons are about to try to light.”
