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Christian studied Edge silently, the look of confusion and concern on the taller man's face not lost on him.
"What was that all about?" he questioned. Tori had never exactly been someone they'd ever befriended. On the contrary, it had only been about a month earlier that he and Edge had been feuding with her team, X-Pac and Road Dogg. And he himself had even delivered a reverse DDT on the diva for good measure.
Edge raked a hand through his long blond hair and sat down heavily, deep in thought.
"I'm not sure..." he admitted. "Something to do with Lita."
"Lita? You mean that redheaded chick who's always with Essa Rios?"
"None other."
Christian arched a brow in confusion. Okay, so whatever his brother and Tori had been discussing had to do with Lita. But he couldn't imagine why that would be the case. Since when was Tori buddies with the fiery redhead? And he didn't understand why the blonde would have a reason to discuss the other woman with Edge. This entire situation was shrouded with mystery.
"And you don't know what happened?" Christian questioned. Now, he was beyond curious.
"No," Edge stated firmly. "All I know is that Rios did something to hurt Lita. Nothing more, nothing less."
The shorter blond man's expression grew angry.
"You don't think he hit-"
"Christian, what did I just say?" the taller man snapped. "I know nothing but what I just told you. Don't ask me anymore, because I don't know. Okay? Thanks..."
"Well, jeez... Excuse me!"
Edge sighed and ran a hand through his long golden hair.
"Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you just now. But I really don't know any more than you do," he reiterated. He stood up and crossed over to the locker room door and stood there. Then, hesitating as though suspicious that someone - the wrong person - was standing just outside in the arena hallway, he spoke again.
"I sort of ran into the women on my way here," he explained. "They were talking, and I heard Tori say something about a doctor."
"Tori saw a doctor?" Christian asked, then clamped his mouth shut, sorry he'd asked another question. He didn't want his brother to snap at him again.
"No... Lita did." The tall Canadian's green eyes took on a somewhat faraway look as he thought about the redhead. All he basically knew about Lita was that she was beautiful, fiesty, and, from the looks of the moonsaults and hurricanranas she dished out to her man's opponents, a firecracker in the ring. He could only imagine what had caused her to have to go to a doctor, but he knew it couldn't be anything good.
His thoughts shifted to Essa Rios, the man with whom the diva kept company. Edge knew the man to be a fiery competitor in the squared circle. He knew from watching matches that Rios and Lita had had a couple of misunderstandings. Each had been angry after the mishaps - but was Rios an abuser?
"Edge?"
The tall blond man regained his senses, realizing that Christian had been speaking to him, but he had no idea what had been said. He was too full of questions and concern to have listened.
"Sorry, Christian... I'll be back."
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Catering," came the reply, and the tall blond man sliped from the room.
As he strode down the hall, Edge couldn't shake the terrible feeling that Lita was in much more serious trouble than he suspected. She'd had to see a doctor... Why?
Halfway on his way to the catering room, the Canadian suddenly heard yelling... It wasn't ordinary yelling, however, but Spanish.
As the blond man rounded the corridor, his eyes grew hard as he witnessed the scene.
It was Essa Rios, just as he'd suspected - and the man was shouting at Lita and Tori. The blonde diva was doing her best to shield the other woman, who was cowering beside her, evident fear in her eyes.
"Hey! Leave them alone!" he shouted, though he knew Essa didn't speak a word of English. He took a few steps forward, but Rios was quicker. Before Edge's eyes, the smaller man shoved Tori away and made a grab for Lita.
As the redhead began to scream, the Canadian rushed forward, snatching Rios by the shoulder. The small Mexican man glared at him, but before he could strike, Edge did so instead.
Quickly, he took the other man down by spearing him into the wall.
Tori, her eyes wide, now stood by his side. But the blond man's gaze stayed on Lita, the frightened diva's red hair making a curtain around her face. She was shaking, and, timidly, she raised her head to meet Edge's kind green eyes.
The Canadian offered a hand, and the diva bit her lip as she eyed it. Then, glancing quickly at Tori before
looking back up at Edge, she made her choice... She took the blond man's hand - and allowed him to lead her out of there.