The Cruiserweight

by L. Anne Carrington

  “Funny you should ask. They were able to fit me in next Friday morning. Dr. Sheppard is supposed to be very good with pregnant women over forty.”

  “You’re not sick, having weird food cravings or anything like that?”

  “Outside of belching like Lou does after he has a huge meal and having mad cravings for lattes, which is why I went for milk in the first place, no. Would you like one?”

  “Sure, why not? Have you talked to Brett?”

  “Not for about three weeks, but he’s been busy with his wrestling bookings.” She went to the kitchen to make lattes, offering one to Phoebe.

  She sipped the beverage. “Not sure if you know, but word has it he’s relocated to Orlando.”

  Karen went white. “Why would he do that? I know Brett often felt like he didn’t fit in L.A., but that’s a big move.”

  “Let me finish. Eddie said there’s a buzz going around that Brett’s either signed or going to sign with Orlando Wrestling.”

  “Do you two still believe things they write on those wrestling sites? As journalists, you should know better.”

  Phoebe shrugged and took another sip of the latte. “Maybe you’re right and it’s just someone’s wishful thinking. I think it would be a great move.”

  “Sure, if one wants to sign with a promotion that snatches up talent released from their last companies.”

  “God, Karen, you act like it would be an unpardonable sin. Look at it this way, Brett’s back on television, and earning a steady paycheck.”

  “I don’t know, the last time he’d signed with a big company, he ended up being a glorified jobber for most of the major names if not in a bunch of stupid story lines.”

  “This is Orlando Wrestling. They don’t screw their wrestlers over like some other multi-billion dollar company whose name I won’t mention does. Stephanie Cross has a great reputation for treating her roster members with respect and giving them chances.”

  Karen mulled the idea over for a moment. “Do you think they’d do the same for Brett?”

  “Have you seen the Florida Flyers division?”

  “I’ve heard it’s quite good.”

  “Brett would liven up Florida Flyers with his present gimmick.”

  “I could watch Orlando Wrestling this week. I need to be familiar with the show, since Mr. Sullivan is sending me to cover a pay-per-view this weekend.”

  “I thought you were supposed to…”

  “It’ll be my last assignment before being relegated to the office. Mr. Sullivan an I made a compromise. Since Brett is alleged to be in Orlando, maybe I’ll see him and we can catch up.”

  “Did you ever talk to him about…”

  “No. I’ve made up my mind it’s best that I don’t, at least right now. He has his career and own life issues to deal with.”

  “What if he notices that you’re pregnant?”

  “That’s also the nice thing about being more ‘voluptuous‘. I won’t show very much, if at all. So if we do see each other, I‘ll just look like I gained a few pounds, and Brett won‘t care.”

  “Unless you’re having twins.”

  “Don’t even joke about that, Phoebe! I’m still trying to deal with the thought of having one.”

  “Oh! I just remembered. I brought something for you. I found these in one of the bookstores during lunch.” She reached in her bag and handed Karen two books.

  “Cool Names for Babies? I’m only about twelve weeks along. I don’t even know what I’m having yet.”

  “It’s never too early to start thinking about names. Check out the second book.”

  “What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Okay, this is more like my style, since I‘m clueless about the whole pregnancy idea.”

  “I figured you’d have a lot of questions on your mind the doctor might not have time to answer. From what I’ve heard, it’s sort of a Bible for pregnant women.”

  “Thanks. Lord knows I could use all the help I can get and I’ll at least have a general idea of what’s going on when I see Dr. Sheppard on Friday.”

  “Too bad it won’t prepare you from the ribbing you’ll get from some of the guys at work, except from Eddie.”

  “I’ll find a way to deal with the guys one way or another. I’ve been in that office long enough to know who’s capable of what. Come to think of it, it will be nice not to rush around on assignments for awhile.” She took Phoebe’s cup. “Another latte?”

  “Sure,” Phoebe replied. “Fill it up, then we can figure out when to go baby shopping while I help you pack for your trip to sunny Orlando.”

  CHAPTER 33

  “Are you sure you’re up for the plane ride?” Eddie asked the following morning. “Sullivan said it was okay to change your mind.”

  “Nice try, Eddie, but I’ll be fine. Covering the Orlando Wrestling pay-per-view is my last field assignment for awhile, so at least let me enjoy it.”

  “Some of us should be so lucky. I’m stuck here freezing my balls off covering one of Dad’s shows this weekend in between doing more cartoons while you’re going to be basking in the Florida sun.”

  “I won’t be ‘basking’ very much. Most of the time will be spent watching the run-throughs, interviewing Stephanie Cross, attending the pre-show press conference, covering Sunday’s show, and getting the story together. That‘s a lot to get done in four days.”

  A knowing grin crossed Eddie‘s face. “Maybe some hot, sweaty sex with Brett in between.”

  “Get your mind out of your pants. I know he signed with OW, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be at Sunday’s show. Besides, I don’t know if sex would even be a safe option in my condition.”

  “Yep. Terry said when his wife was knocked up, she wanted to fuck all the time, and the kid came out fine.”

  “As often as you have sex on the brain, you should consider getting a girlfriend, Eddie.”

  “Um…I wanted to talk to you about that.”

  “You’re a nice guy, but one, I don’t date anyone I work with, and two, I’m already taken.”

  “Funny. No, I was going to ask some advice about Pheebs.”

  “You want to go out with Phoebe? How sweet!”

  “Even if she can be a pain in the ass and nosy sometimes, she’s kind of cute, with beautiful eyes, a nice ass, and a great rack Having a killer personality doesn’t hurt, either.”

  “It’s hard not to like Phoebe. But I wouldn’t think about trying to get her into bed on the first few dates if I were you.”

  “K, come on, do I look like a guy who’d try to get into girl’s pants right away?”

  “You don’t want to know my answer, given my experience with the rare guy or two I dated before Brett. Some think just because they buy a woman dinner, it’s automatic sex in return. Not my policy.”

  “Not mine either. Okay, I’ll admit I’ve fucked a few lady wrestlers and valets from Dad’s company, but most of those didn’t mean anything beyond the chicks and I being horny and we needed to ‘scratch our itches’, to put it in polite terms. I have too much respect for Pheebs to see her like that.”

  “Then why not ask her out? You don’t seem the type who has trouble attracting women.”

  “Kind of hard since we’ve been friends for awhile.”

  “Brett and I started off as friends too. You won’t know until you take a chance, Eddie.”

  “You think she’d go out with me?”

  “I know she would.”

  “Okay, but if I make an ass of myself and Pheebs turns me down, I’m pinning it on you.”

  “I have a feeling that won’t happen.” An announcement came over the intercom. “There’s my flight number. I need to get ready to board.”

  “Good luck, K. Have fun.”

  “I will. Ask Phoebe out!”

  *****

  “Hey, my man, I was going to go down to the new chicken place and get some dinner,“ Patrick said. “Want to come along?“

  “You buying?” Brett teased.

  “Yeah, why no
t? You were nice enough to let me stay here instead of me blowing money on a hotel, not to mention not making any smart comments about me checking out hot chicks when we drove up to Cocoa Beach this afternoon.”

  “Which I paid for the gas. And if you’re a good boy, I’ll take you to Walt Disney World tomorrow.”

  “Smart ass.”

  “You know it. Come on, let’s go. I’m starving from the trip today.”

  They walked a few blocks to the restaurant, making plans to get food to go and hanging out on the patio of Brett’s apartment .When they arrived, each placed his respective order and glance around while waiting for them.

  “Kind of empty for being a new place, huh?” Patrick asked as they noticed it was nearly empty except two booths toward the back with customers talking in hushed tones. When their orders arrived, Brett and Patrick grabbed their bags and were just about out the door when they heard a loud, “You’ve got one spin, and I’ll shoot!”

  Brett turned around, seeing the manager working a safe while the counter girl who just waited on them froze. “Shit, Pat, this place is being robbed!”

  “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

  Customers who had been sitting in the back booths started to creep toward an exit where Patrick and Brett stood, when a second man caught them. “Nobody moves, or you all die!”

  “Look, man, if you’re going to hold anyone, take me and let everyone else go,” Brett said. “You can even have my damn wallet. There isn’t much in it, but—”

  “Kerrigan, what the fuck—” Patrick began.

  “Shut up, moron, or you and your boyfriend get your heads blown off!” the robber bellowed.

  The second robber was distracted for a moment by the shouts that emanated from the back and a struggle ensued with the manager. The two female customers were able to escape to the parking lot with the help of their male companions, who remained behind to help Brett and Patrick.

  Brett’s adrenaline went into overdrive. In his mind, he was back in the ring taking on an opponent. He turned to Patrick. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Yeah. Tag team time!”

  “Let’s do it! You get one of those assholes while I take down the other.”

  Brett leaped over the counter and helped the manager combat the first intruder while Patrick attempted to disarm the second man. His leg swept out in a wide, graceful art, connecting with the robber’s ankles, throwing him off balance. Without even realizing what was happening, the man found himself flat on his back, sucking in deep breaths of air that seemed devoid of oxygen, wincing as he hit the hard floor. His vision blurred for a moment, but cleared in just enough time to roll away from a kick to the ribs by Patrick, who punted the man’s weapon out of reach. Unarmed and still down on the floor, the intruder was restrained.

  “Did I mention I’m trained in martial arts?” Patrick hissed in his ear. “One move, and I’ll fucking kill you.”

  In the back, the second attacker had twisted out of the Brett‘s grip, spun around, and attempted to fire his weapon, but the gun jammed. Cursing, he lunged toward Brett and the manager.

  “Going somewhere, asshole?“ Brett asked, knocking the assailant back, dislodging the weapon, raining blows across his shoulder and head. The crack across his jaw sounded like a gunshot and made his vision blur for a moment, but it was enough for Brett to gain full control. As the first intruder stumbled, Brett got him down with a kick to one thigh and a second palm into his chest.

  The robber grunted in pain and fell. Brett dropped with him, and with his entire weight over the attacker, laid one forearm across his throat. He knelt across his hips, sinking his weight to prevent the robber from bucking him off or kicking up between his legs, and raised his free hand. Blue energy crackled and burned between his fingers like electricity, snaking across his open palm.

  “Somebody call 911!” Brett yelled. “We have them down!”

  “Already been done, man,” the manager called back, holding up a phone. “Cops are on their way.”

  “Good job. Everybody okay?”

  The counter girl peeked up. “Is it all right to come out?”

  “Should be fine, sweetheart. We have the scums where they aren’t going anywhere except jail.” Brett pulled the intruder up from the floor with a tight grip on his collar, dragging him toward where Patrick still held down the second man. “So were you and your friend getting your asses kicked worth trying to rob the place?”

  The man groaned an inaudible response.

  “I’ll accept that as a ‘no’.”

  “Got that same answer from my bad guy,” Patrick said with a laugh. “You’re the man!”

  “Nice to see you haven’t lost your touch as a tag partner.”

  The police arrived a few minutes later, taking the robbers into custody and gathering statements from witnesses. Though the customers, counter girl, and manager appreciated their assistance in deterring the robbery, both officers gave all of them stern lectures. “All of you could have gotten killed.”

  Brett looked both officers in the eye, “I’ve beaten the shit out of guys bigger than those two thugs. My buddy is skilled in kung fu and all that shit. Are we free to go?”

  The first officer gave a curt nod. “Yeah, get out of here.”

  “You’re welcome back here any time,” the manager called after the pair. “We owe you meals on the house.”

  Brett looked back and grinned. “Very kind of you, but don’t be surprised when we do, Pat and I will be using the drive through window.”

  One of the male customers stared as Brett and Patrick made their exit. “You know, Jake,” he said to his friend, “those guys look familiar…”

  CHAPTER 34

  Wrestling legend Count Roger Albany’s death was the following morning’s lead story. Eddie had created a poignant sketch of the late Hall of Famer, which accompanied the article. Also on the front page was breaking news on former tag team champion and Orlando Wrestling’s newest signing Brett Kerrigan and his former tag team partner’s participation in the thwarting of a robbery the previous evening. Though Patrick had given a brief interview, Brett refused to comment beyond, “I’m just glad everyone’s okay.”

  The robbery story featured interviews with the responding police officers, who said the assailants were in custody. They stressed to the public that despite “appreciating the efforts of Mr. Kerrigan and Mr. Sanchez-Garcia, we don’t encourage our citizens to get involved in those kind of situations. We’re lucky there were no fatalities or serious injuries.”

  Sullivan read the article with interest, wondering if Karen saw it. He’d agreed up to a point with the cops for Patrick and Brett to get involved in such a dangerous situation, but on the other hand, the story was great publicity for them. Sullivan planned to call her later to request an additional interview for her report from Orlando.

  *****

  “I’m going to wring his neck!” Karen said, reading a newspaper article while having breakfast with a group of reporters.

  “Whose?” another writer asked.

  “Brett Kerrigan’s!”

  “Wait…you know him?”

  “You could say that.” I’m carrying his child.

  “How exciting! There’s rumors going around he’s going to do the PPV on Sunday.”

  “If you’re trying to ask if I have inside information, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I don’t.”

  “So why are you going to wring his neck?”

  “There was a fast food place almost robbed last night. Brett and Patrick interfered with the muggers. What were they thinking?”

  “I heard something about that on the news earlier. There were two guys who stopped the robbery mentioned, but no names were specified. Of course, I was preparing for this breakfast meeting, so I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “Getting in the way of a robbery attempt was still a stupid move on their parts, especially Brett. He just signed with Orlando Wrestling, at least that’s the latest buzz.” />
  “Why not give him a call?”

  Karen pulled out her phone. “Not a bad idea.” She dialed Brett’s number and was silent for a few moments before hanging up. “Great. His voice mail.”

  “Maybe he’s still asleep.”

  “Yeah, I guess being stupid and acting like a hero takes a lot of energy. I‘ll have plenty of time to scold him later. At least no one got hurt, so maybe I’ll take it easy on him.”

  *****

  Brett let out a loud, long groan when the phone woke him. Cursing, he opened one eye and glanced at the clock. Jesus, eleven-thirty! I must’ve been exhausted last night. He sprinted out of bed and dug out the phone from his jeans, still crumpled on the floor. “Go ahead, your fifty cents.”

  “What were you trying to do last night, get killed?”

  “Karen?” What was she doing in Orlando?

  “Were you expecting someone else?”

  “I didn’t recognize the number. What brought you to Orlando?”

  “Something for work, then I read about yours and Patrick’s parts in botching a robbery attempt. Where have you been the last two weeks?”

  “Busy as hell. I called your office the other day. Sullivan said you were out. Everything okay?”

  “Sure. A few…things came up.”

  “Oh. I thought maybe you came down with swine flu or something.”

  “No. I’ve been lucky in that aspect. I got a flu shot at the beginning of the season and it’s supposed to protect me from both, plus I’ve taken the necessary precautions. I heard about your signing with Orlando Wrestling. How is the new job working out?”

  “Fantastic. I’m grateful for Stephanie giving me a shot. I hadn’t planned on considering it and just doing independent shit, but with all the new stuff happening there and the economy, and the money she offered, I couldn‘t say no. Are you free this afternoon? We could catch up.”

  Karen was a little wary. “Sure.”