The Cruiserweight (25 page)

“Hell, yeah,” Brett said. “Going to be like old
times. I owe Gil a huge thanks for thinking of this
idea.”

“He sort of had help, dude.”

“You
were in on this whole thing with
Justin and Mark?”

“I kind of suggested a one-on-one match with
you, but Gil thought the tag team thing would be a better
idea.”

Brett patted his shoulder and laughed.
“Probably because he knew I’d mop up the ring with you.”

Patrick opened his locker to change into his
ring gear. “More like the other way around, Chef Boy Are You
Short.”

“We’ll see. Thanks for chiming in the idea,
man. It’s great working with your happy ass again.”

“Feeling’s mutual. Now let’s go kick some
hippie ass and show the world that being former world tag champions
for almost a year wasn’t a fluke.”

*****

When their match came up on the card later that
evening, Patrick came out dressed in a bizarre space costume, Brett
accompanying him. The Hipsters arrived to a bubblegum-themed song,
which made the crowd laugh out loud. The bell had just rung when
Patrick and Brett attacked their opponents and it became a
full-blown brawl.

“You fight like a girl!” Brett taunted
Jason.

“Who’s a girl?“ Mark asked as he began working
Brett over.

Patrick yelled “Get off of him!“ He grabbed
Mark by the hair and speared him in the center, but Jason grabbed
Patrick in a front face lock. The Hipsters worked the pair over
before stood triumphant. “What a pair of losers!” Mark called out
with a laugh.

“We rule! Orlando rules!” Jason cried in
response to the loud crowd boos, which generated even more
heat.

Brett rose from the floor and attacked both
Hipsters, running them off from the crowd. Patrick caught Mark and
went for a test of strength, causing Mark to back down. Brett
charged both in the corner. Mark and Patrick locked up, and Mark
worked him over his shoulder blocks in the corner. “Try getting out
of this, old man,” he grunted.

“You asked for it, fucker,” Patrick replied
before he hit a body press out of the corner, the a running
dropkick for a two count. Jason tagged in and nailed Patrick with
several strikes. After a failed double team on Patrick, he made a
comeback and soon it was he and Brett working over Mark.

“Hey, Mark, does this tickle?” Brett asked when
he nailed a double stomp on him. Brett’s offense was soon
overwhelmed when Jason held him in the corner. Mark did a perfect
cartwheel, stopped and raked Brett’s back. He was close to making a
tag to Patrick, but Jason ambushed Patrick from behind. They tried
to get an armpit spot on Brett, but he tricked Mark into taking it
instead.

Patrick charged Jason, but was kicked. Jason
went for a springboard DDT, but Patrick escaped. He tagged in
Brett, who nailed super kicks on him, followed with a wheelbarrow
and face buster combination for a two count. Mark power bombed
Brett into Jason’s knees for good measure before being covered for
a two count.

The fans were chanting throughout the entire
match. "This is
awesome!"
rang through the
building.

The Hipsters went for their double back flip
into dropkicks, but Patrick moved and drop kicked both men at once.
He went to the top and nailed a diving knee drop for a two count,
setting up Brett for the Slice of Kerrigan before Patrick executed
a perfect shooting star press and the winning pin.

Brett went over to help Patrick up and raised
his arm. “Nice to have you back in my corner again, bro, even if
it’s for one night.”

Patrick grabbed him, pulling him into a tight
hug. “It’s been fun,
amigo.”

“Jesus, let up on the bear hug a bit. Breathing
is an issue.”

“I love you, man.”

“Love you too, but you’re not my type. Get your
hand off of my ass.”

“Mmm, nice and plump. I could sit a drink on
that round fucker.”

“Lay off the goods.” Brett took the microphone
that was handed to them and addressed the crowd. “Sorry you all had
to witness my partner’s wandering hands.”

“Can’t blame him!” someone shouted.

“Yeah, sweetheart, I’m sure. Too bad he’s the
wrong gender.” He raised Patrick’s arm. “In all seriousness, show
my man some love for his part in tonight‘s match!”

The crowd cheered their approval with
enthusiasm as the two men hugged once more before making their way
backstage.

“We going out?” Patrick called over the spray
of their respective showers a short time later.

“Got to do the meet and greet thing
first.”

“Oh yeah, forgot about that. Outside of
wresting, those are the best part of our shows.”

“Because you like to hit on all the pretty
girls,” Brett teased.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,
dude.”

“I’ve known you a long time, so I have a very
good idea of how you operate.”

“You’re just jealous. Speaking of women, hear
from yours?”

“I was thinking of calling Karen sometime
tomorrow. It’s late there, so she’s probably in bed.”

“Leave a message anyway. There’s supposed to be
a bad snow storm headed towards the East Coast.”

Brett stepped out of his shower stall, wrapping
a towel around his waist. “Are you serious?”

“Dude, don’t you watch the Weather
Channel?”

“On second thought, it may not be a bad idea to
get in touch with her. Thanks for the heads up.”

Patrick began drying his hair. “What are
friends for?”

“On second thought, it may not be a bad idea to
get in touch with her. Thanks for the heads up.”

Patrick began drying his hair. “What are
friends for?”

“I also promised to give Kyra a call, maybe she
can buzz Karen if I can‘t get through. We were going to hang out
after the show, but she called earlier to let me know her in-laws
were in town and she had to change her plans.”

“Christ, Brett, you’ve had a steady woman
almost a year and you’re still banging Kyra at every chance? Some
idea of commitment.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we
haven’t been fucking. I’d also like to add that Karen knows about
my and Kyra’s past history, and she’s cool with it. They’ve even
become friends.”

“Wait a minute
…
how did you manage to tell your woman about your booty
call on the side and still have your balls intact?”

“I wasn’t the one who told her. Kyra did.”
Little do you know she also suggested a threesome with Karen and
me.
“Quit calling Kyra my booty call.”

“Well, she was when she wasn’t doing everyone
else.”

“You’re as bad as those other assholes. First,
Kyra isn’t as big of a slut as people make her. Why is it when a
guy likes to screw around, he’s a stud, yet a chick has a good sex
drive, all of the sudden, she’s a whore? Ever stop to think she’d
slept with some guys against her own principles?”

“Okay, okay, don’t get your tighty whities in a
wad. I just heard shit from when we all worked together, that’s
all.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear. You’re
better than that.” Brett picked up his backpack, grinning, and
patted Patrick on the shoulder. “Come on, partner, we have a meet
and greet to do.”

*****

Post-show meet and greets were popular with
wrestling fans; it gave them the opportunity to get up close and
personal with their favorites, and that night was no exception. The
line for Brett and Patrick was the longest, with ambience of fans’
anticipation filling the room. Both men were gracious and
overstayed their scheduled time to make sure everyone went away
with sought-after autographs and photos.

When Patrick had gone on a break, Brett looked
up and found two eyes staring at him over the table’s edge. “Hi!”
the child said.

Brett looked down at the little girl and
smiled. “Hi to you too. Like the show?”

“Uh huh. I know you.”

He was amused. “A lot of people know
me.”

“But I saw you before!”

“Audrey, leave the poor man alone,” a woman’s
voice said with a scolding tone before she addressed Brett. “She’s
right about one thing. We
have
seen you before, but not when
you were wrestling.”

Brett gave her a blank stare.
Huh? Is this
some chick I’d laid when I was stoned or something? “
Sorry if
I’m having a major brain fart, but I’m trying to remember where we
met before.”

“I’m sure you meet lots of people in your
business. I’m Samantha, and this is my daughter, Audrey. We met you
when a flight to Los Angeles, which all of us were to fly home, was
delayed because of the fires last summer.”

A huge smile of recognition crossed his face.
“Of course! It was a café near that airport, right?”

“Yes! Audrey noticed you were laughing at
something on your computer and decided to play Twenty Questions. We
had no idea who you were, at least until we came
tonight.”

“Just as well, I enjoyed spending time with
you.” Brett smiled down at Audrey. “Now what can I do for such a
beautiful little lady?”

“Picture with you?”

“Sure, come around.”

“Can I sit on your lap?”

Samantha was flabbergasted.
“Audrey!”

“It’s fine,” Brett reassured her. “I have kids
on my lap all of the time at these things.”

“Mama, take our picture. Please?”

“Okay, but sit still and none of your
silliness. I want this to be a nice picture to show Daddy when he
comes from work.”

The little girl nodded while Brett held her on
his lap. He whispered in her ear, and at the moment Samantha’s
camera flashed, she caught the two of them making funny faces
together. Instead of scolding her young daughter, however, Samantha
shook her head and chuckled.

Audrey hugged Brett’s neck and kissed his
cheek. “I like you,” she said.

“I like you too, sweetheart, but I don’t think
your parents would approve of our age differences.” He helped her
down. “It was nice to see you and Mom again. Come back for another
show sometime.”

Patrick returned to the table, grinning. “Still
have a way with the ladies, I see,” he said in a joking
manner.

Brett punched him in the arm. “Shut up, or
you’re going to be paying for my beer later.”

*****

“You ever think about it?” Patrick asked as he
and Brett headed to a nearby pizzeria when the meet and greet was
over.

“Think about what?”

“Having kids. I couldn’t help but notice how
good you were with that little girl. You really made her
night.”

“Kind of funny you asked, man. For a long time,
I thought I’d put off the whole starting a family thing until I was
done with wrestling. But I’m going to be thirty-one in a few
months, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I’m
happy in my
career.
At the same time, I don’t want to start
raising kids with some trophy wife when I’m sixty like some guys
have.”

A goofy grin crossed Patrick‘s face. “Nothing
wrong with the trophy wife part.”

“Smart ass. On the serious side, doing both
independent dates and Orlando Wrestling, my schedule isn’t as
insane as it once was, and other guys have started families.
They’ve managed it and wrestling, so why can’t I?”

“How do you plan to accomplish the having a kid
part? You and Karen don’t see each other often enough as it is, and
I doubt she’s thinking about popping out a little Brett at her age.
Then again, there’s sperm banks for chicks who want to go the
turkey baster route. Do you even
know
if your swimmers work,
since you smoked all that pot?”

“Funny. I haven’t discussed the subject with
Karen, but on the off chance she can’t or doesn’t want to get
pregnant, maybe adoption or even a surrogate would be good options
too.”

“A strange chick having eggs mixed with your
tadpoles planted in her? I thought you were the romantic type.
Hell, if you want a surrogate, go knock up Kyra Dimes and save a
few thousand bucks. You’ve fucked her a million times.”

“Will you stop being an asshole? It’s just
stuff I’m considering.”

“You
have
been thinking about being a
dad, haven’t you?”

They arrived at the designated pizza place and
found a table. “More than you know, man,” Brett said. “I still have
to make a couple of calls. Think you can order our food and beer
while I get this out of the way?”

“No problem. You must be the only guy I know
who schedules getting laid.”

Brett laughed, pulled out his phone, and went
to a quieter spot to take care of business. He was gone for several
minutes, and their food arrived as he returned to the table with a
worried expression.