TITLE: Tangled
Webs
AUTHOR: Me, Raquel!! But you can call me Raqi if you must!
EMAIL: EmotionlyUnblncd@aol.com
DISCLAIMER: This story is a complete work of fiction. I do not own
Paul Levesque (Triple H), Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), or Trish Stratus. I
do own Gabrielle, for she is a figment of my imagination :) I don't make
any money off this story, so dun sue me, please!!! ::cries::
DISTRIBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive! but ask first, please :)
RATING: R
CONTENT: Adult language
SPOILERS: none
SUMMARY: The immediate aftermath of Paul's discovery.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Paul practically tore the door off its
hinges as he threw it open and stalked into the locker room. The few guys
who were there stared at him, their jaws dropping in surprise. Great, he
thought, just what I need now, an audience. Paul glared at them and
snarled, "What are YOU idiots looking at??"
Adam was the first one to his feet, pulling
Jason up with him. They looked like deer caught in the headlights of a
semi-truck that was heading straight for them. "Nothing, man,
nothing," Adam sputtered out as he dragged Jay after him and headed to the
door, "We were just gonna go get something to eat, right bro?"
"Uh, yeah, see ya later Hunter,"
Jay said as he slammed the door behind them.
Paul looked around at the rest of the guys.
When no one moved for a while, he asked, "Anyone ELSE got somewhere to
go?" The Hardy brothers abandoned their poker game with Ron and
Bradshaw, and practically ran to the door while mumbling something about
catching up with Adam and Jay. The rest of them left, too, and he soon had
the whole room to myself. "Finally, some privacy," he muttered
to himself.
He started to get undressed to put on his
work-out gear but his hands were already shaking too badly for him to even pull
his shirt over his head. Sitting down in a chair at the table the guys had
been playing poker on, Paul rested his head in his hands. Playing in a
never-ending loop in his mind, over and over, was Gabrielle lying there with
that piece of shit Dwayne fucking her. Paul closed his eyes tight and
tried his best to think of something else, anything else; but it was all he
could see. Dwayne was fucking Gabrielle. A growl rose in Paul's
throat, coming out as a full-fledged roar. "GODDAMMIT!!"
In a fury, he swept the table clear of the playing cards and poker chips.
He watched them flutter to the ground. And Dwayne was fucking Gabrielle.
Paul got to his feet and walked back to his locker with his head bowed. He
grabbed his bag and tried to open it, but he was still shaking horribly.
And Dwayne was fucking Gabrielle. Taking a deep breath, Paul ran a hand
through his long blonde hair, trying to get control of himself. He had to
get ready for the show tonight; he couldn't waste time like this. And
Dwayne was STILL fucking Gabrielle!
"MOTHERFUCKER!!!!" Paul
slammed his fist into the wall as hard as he could and watched the plaster cave
and dust fly out. "Fucking BITCH!!" he screamed as he punched
the wall again in the same place. Blood appeared on his knuckles but he
didn't feel anything, just the furious rage and a gnawing pain he was trying to
push away.
All of a sudden he heard a woman's voice at
the doorway. "That's a good size hole you made there. Maybe you
should calm down a bit. I don't think Vince would be too happy if you
turned the place into Swiss cheese."
Paul whirled around to see Trish Stratus
standing there with her hands on her hips. "Trish," he
started, but he didn't know what to say. He couldn't think straight.
For all he knew, he was having a nervous breakdown.
She just nodded and slowly walked up to
him. "I take it you just came back from the hotel," she said, a
bit of a sigh in her voice. All he could do was nod stiffly.
"Paul, I'm really sorry," she continued, "I know how much you
love Gabrielle..." She trailed off when she saw him flinch at the mention
of her name.
Paul interrupted to stop her from
continuing. "How - How did you know, Trish? I mean you and...
her... aren't very close."
Trish nodded, "That's true.
Honestly, I never thought she was good enough for you." Her eyes
seemed to gleam for a second, but Paul was too distraught to notice.
"But to answer your question, do you remember about a month ago, the night
when she was sick and stayed in the dressing room all night?"
Paul looked down, lost in his thoughts.
"Yeah I remember." That was the last time we made love,
he thought. The last time our life was anywhere near normal.
Trish spoke quietly. "She wasn't sick,
Paul."
His head snapped up and his eyes bored into
hers. Oh, god, don't tell me... "What do you
mean..."
She breathed deeply and continued.
"They forgot to tell me she was sick. I didn't know that I wasn't
supposed to go into the room, so I went to change after my match. When I
got to the door, I heard... odd noises from inside. I didn't know what was
going on, so I opened the door quietly and eased it open an inch."
She paused and looked up at him, but Paul silently urged her to keep going.
He was scared to death, but he had to hear it for himself.
"I saw them, Paul. Dwayne and
Gab, on the couch - together."
Paul sucked in his breath, feeling like the
wind had just been knocked out of him. He yelled at her, "You knew
for a damn MONTH?? Why the hell did you wait 'til NOW to tell me?!!?"
Trish looked a little frightened and
hurriedly explained herself. "I guess I thought it might be a one
time thing, you know? I didn't want to interfere; I knew how happy you
were with her. But I kept my eye on them the next couple weeks. I
saw them smile at each other in the halls and sneak kisses when they thought no
one was looking. That made it clear to me that it wasn't a one-time
fling... and I couldn't see you get hurt like that." She lightly
touched his arm and looked up into his eyes as she said, "The last thing I
wanted was to hurt you."
With a heavy sigh, Paul practically fell
into the nearby chair. He bent forward with his elbows on his knees and
let his head fall into his hands. "I can't believe she'd do this to
me, Trish. I just can't believe it," he said. His voice was raw
with anguish; he sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
"Especially with that... that... ASSHOLE Dwayne," he continued,
"She hates him!"
Trish squatted down to be at eye-level with
him. "You know what?" she asked. "I think she was
faking hating him. I mean, who'd ever think she would screw around with
someone she supposedly hated? It was a perfect cover." Paul
just nodded sadly; he still could barely process any of this. He loved
Gabrielle so much. She was his entire world, the reason he woke up each
and every morning, the person he thought about constantly, and yes, damn it, he
would say it: the person he wanted to be with forever. She used to feel
the same way about him; at least, he thought she had. Evidently he was
sorely mistaken.
He was roused from his thoughts when he
noticed Trish's hand resting innocently on his thigh. He put his hands
down and looked at her. She was staring intently at him, as if she was
peering into his soul. "You OK?" she asked softly. He
tried to clear his thoughts as he replied, "I don't know, Trish. I
really don't know." She sighed and nodded as she gracefully stood,
took one of his hands, and lightly urged him to stand.
"It's almost time for you and the
other guys to start getting ready for the show tonight," Trish said gently.
"Now, judging by the way they all scurried past me, I'd say you scared 'em
pretty badly. But no matter how afraid of you they are, they're more
afraid of Vince. So I suggest you get yourself together for now and let
the poor scaredy-cats back in. I'll meet you after the show to talk some
more; I really don't think you should be alone right now, Paul."
Paul glanced at the clock on the wall and
realized she was right about the time. As far as not being alone, that was
a theory he didn't feel like testing. "OK. I'll meet you here
after the show. Give me some time to clean up first though, maybe a good
shower will help get my head straight."
Trish nodded and surprised him by leaning
in and giving him a hug. At first he didn't know how to react, he didn't
even know her that well; but his emotions won out and he hugged her back,
quickly letting go. She pulled away and went to the door. Before she
walked out, she looked back at him and said, "I just want you to know I'll
be here for you."
"That really means a lot to me, Trish.
Thank you."
She smiled at him, and shut the door.
Paul walked to his locker and closed his
eyes for a second. It was still hard to make much sense of the last hour,
but he had a job to do, and he was going to do it. As he heard the sounds
of the other guys walking towards the locker room, he pushed out a sigh and
grabbed his bag.
