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"Hunter, can I talk to you for a moment?"
The World Heavyweight Champion looked up, his glare training onto the woman standing before him. Great, what the hell did she want? Couldn't she see that he was pissed off as it was and didn't want to be bothered?
"What?" he barked, keeping his already harsh features hard.
"Well," Victoria said tentatively, "I just wanted to ask you about my impending title shot against Molly." She took a seat next to him at the bar set up in the room.
He stared at her, incredulous.
"Oh, that's what you're bothering me for? Your damn title shot? Do you think I give a crap about that right now?!"
The diva flinched and instinctively moved a bit away from the enraged Evolution leader. She certainly hadn't been expecting that sort of reaction. And what exactly had she said or done to deserve it, anyway?
"Hunter..."
"Shut up!" Triple H shouted, spraying her with a bit of spit. He barely noticed as she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Can't you see that I've got something on my mind, something bothering me? You have the nerve to pester me about the damn Women's Championship?"
Randy Orton, who was sitting halfway across the room and obviously witnessed and heard all of this, came over.
"Hunter, chill."
Victoria looked up at the young man. She hadn't been at all aware that he'd approached until he'd put an arm around her. She stared at him, wondering about his actions.
"Butt out of this, Randy."
"No! You need to calm down. All the lady did was ask you a question," he pointed out. "There's no reason to yell or jump down her throat."
The Game glared at the younger man, fully ready to snap his head off with another retort. He shifted his gaze from Orton to a dumbstruck Victoria, then back again.
"Yeah, whatever..." He focused on the diva again, nearly seeing red as he recalled his match and the incident out in the hallway with Lita and Edge. That damn redhead was already proving she was going to be nothing but trouble. And her little blond boy toy wasn't looking any less the thorn in his side. "... But you listen to me, and listen good... If you step out of line with me in any way, shape or form, it'll be your ass."
Victoria's brown eyes narrowed as she took in Triple H's threat. She swallowed, hating that a lump had actually formed in her throat. She hoped the fear she was suddenly feeling - which she absolutely loathed - was not at all visible to the man. She felt Randy Orton tense somewhat at her side, and she had a feeling he was seconds from speaking up on her behalf again before Hunter turned and quickly stalked out of the room.
Once he was gone, the raven-haired diva exhaled the breath she'd been holding. Her heart was pumping like crazy. Slowly, she turned her head to gaze up at Orton, meeting his deep blue eyes.
"I can't believe you did that," she said, eyeing him with wonder. She was suddenly very aware that the man's arm was still around her shoulders, and her gaze trailed to it.
In an instant, Randy removed his arm. For some reason, he felt a little bashful.
"Hey, he was acting like a jerk," he reasoned. "He had no right to yell at you like that. I don't know what crawled up his ass and died," The Legend Kller continued, "but verbally assaulting a woman is just wrong."
Victoria thought she knew precisely why Triple H had blown up at her... she would bet it had everything to do with Lita. She had witnessed the tag match earlier on the TV monitor in the room and seen it all. It was so obvious the redhead had deliberately taken a dive so that her friends Trish Stratus and Chris Jericho could win. She didn't say a word of this to Orton, however, as she continued to stare at him with wonder and something else she couldn't quite identify.
"Randy?"
"Hmm?" the young man asked.
Victoria smiled and reached out to just brush the tips of her fingers against his bare arm.
"Thank you."
The Legend Killer gave her a wink.
"Don't mention it, Vic... Is it okay if I call you that?" he corrected.
The dark-haired diva smiled more brightly and nodded.
"Yeah."