Under The Flame

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"Adam! Adam, chill!"

The shout came from Jeff, the young man instantly making a grab for the angry blond man. The Canadian showed no resistance as he pulled him off of his older brother.

"You God damned son of a bitch..." Adam hissed between clenched teeth. His face was bright red in all his rage. "I don't know *what* you said to Amy that had her crying her eyes out - but trust me when I say if it happens again... Well, what I do to you will be ten times worse than this!"

Matt glared up at the tall blond man, a hand clutching at the back of his head. His former friend had taken off at top speed, spearing him right into the cement floor. It hurt badly enough that he was feeling dazed. He thought he had quite the goose egg as well. He'd have to pay the blond man back on another occasion.

"Oh, my God!" a female voice cried. The three men looked up to the source and saw Trish Stratus standing nearby. Jay Reso, Adam's best friend, was right beside her, his blue eyes slightly wide as he took in the scene.

The little blonde rushed over, her gaze searching Adam's green eyes. Trish was a really good friend, but for the moment, he ignored her.

"What happened?!"

"Not now," Jay said softly as he nudged her. Whatever had occurred here - and it was plainly obvious that Adam had just gotten into a scuffle with Matt - it had everything to do with Amy. He knew how much his best friend loved the redhead, and the elder Hardy had certainly not been making things easy for them lately.

Jeff eyed Adam almost warily, but he didn't ask any questions. He couldn't help wondering, however, what it was that had set the tall Canadian off - that is, what Matt had said to Amy to make her cry. He would do that later... But for the time being, he helped his brother to his feet and began to usher him out of the area.

Trish and Jay joined Adam, the three of them staring after the Hardys when Matt turned back.

"This... This isn't over!" he shouted, wincing at the dull, throbbing ache in the back of his head. Shit... He hoped he didn't have a concussion after that damned spear. But one thing was for sure - when he was feeling better, he would pay dividends to Adam Copeland.

The tall blond man stared after the Hardy with rage still glittering in his emerald eyes but didn't bother responding. After all, at this point, words weren't necessary - he'd made his point and won this particular battle. Besides, he didn't give a damn about Matt Hardy anymore. The guy had gone - in the span of under a month - from being one of his closest friends to being his worst enemy. He'd made things even more difficult between Amy and himself when they'd been apart and broken up for those three weeks - the three most miserable weeks of his life - and now that they were back together, he'd evidently grown into more of an asshole. It was almost impossible to believe that he and Jeff were brothers.

"What happened, Adam?" Trish repeated now that the three of them were alone. They began walking down the hallway in the opposite direction than the Hardys had gone.

"He made her cry," he repeated, a hollow inflection in his tone. He shook his head, his hands clenching into fists. "The bastard made her cry. I returned to my locker room to find her sobbing her heart out."

"Aww..." the little blonde said, a sad expression crossing her face. Quickly, she looked up to her other side to exchange glances with Jay. "What did he say to her?"

"That's the thing - I don't *know*," the tall blond man said angrily. "She wouldn't tell me, which leads me to guess that it was something damn bad."

"Gotcha," the shorter blond man said. He knew how crazy his best friend was about the redhead - and he knew Adam would do anything for her.

*

Torrie knocked on the door to the Hardys' locker room, her gaze sweeping over the area. She just hoped Jeff wasn't there. Though if he *was*, she could always make up some excuse.

To her relief, it was the older brother who answered. But the platinum blonde was taken aback by the icepack he held to the back of his head.

"Oh, my God... What happened?"

"Two words," Matt replied angrily, "Adam Copeland." He shook his aching head, then cast a quick glance over his shoulder. "Look," he whispered, "I'll explain later - call me on my cell phone after the show."

Wordlessly, Torrie nodded.
 
 
 

Part 11

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