Sweet Misery

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By some miracle, O'Haire refrained from rolling his eyes as he watched the woman beside him daintily sip her drink through a slim straw. She had forced him to come here to this bar to talk, yet she hadn't said a thing so far - well, aside from her constant girlish chattering, which he found maddening.

"Mmm... This is so sweet and yummy!"

"Look, can we just cut to the chase already?" Sean asked with impatience.

Torrie glanced up at him, her eyes full of surprise. She'd actually thought he'd been enjoying himself up until now. Lord knew, he hadn't issued any complaints since they'd met up at the gas station a half-hour earlier.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what?' What did you drag me here to talk about?" Sean asked. "I *do* have a gig to play... I don't have all night, you know." He pushed aisde his beer bottle and crossed his arms over his burly chest.

The blonde let out a bubbly laugh. She found herself amused by his demeanor.

"You know, you're kinda cute, Sean," she teased him. When she saw that he didn't laugh or even smile at her words, her grin vanished. "Okay, fine... I want you to do something for me."

"Yeah, I gathered that." O'Haire rolled his eyes heavenward. This woman was incredibly annoying. It seemed to take her all of forever and a day to get to the damned point.

Torrie went on, her tiny drink straw clutched loosely between the forefinger and thumb of her left hand.

"I'd like you to slip a few things to Dave... It'll keep me from telling Edge about you and Lita." She smiled again, bright pearly whites and dimples flashing. "You see, I find it an incredible turn-on when Dave thinks other guys are giving me attention - and when he thinks I'm giving it back." A throatly laugh emerged from her.

O'Haire simply stared at her.

"So, what exactly is it you want me to do?" He shrugged. My God, the woman was infuriating!

Torrie shook her head, rolling her eyes that he apparently didn't get it.

"Drop him little hints... You know, that this guy or that one has been giving me the eye. Hey, you can even tell him Edge hit on me." She laughed again, this time throwing her head back and doing it more heartily. "And hey - you can even elude to you and I flirting or more. That would work."

"No, it would *not* work!" Sean snapped. He couldn't believe the nerve this woman possessed! She couldn't possibly believe he would do this for her. Hell, he would rather sleep with her than do it! But the way he figured, he would have to get pretty damned drunk to do that, even though she was physically quite beautiful.

She glared at him, practically scowled at him.

"Are you refusing to do this for me? Because remember, I'll go to Edge, and I'll tell *all*." She kept her blue eyes fixed on his as the man looked down, defeated.

"Fine." He made no disguise of the disgust he felt toward her. It was ridiculous... If he gossiped to Dave Batista that the blond guitarist of Sweet Misery was flirting - or more - with his girlfriend, it would still get back to Amy. Regardless of the fact that it was all bullshit, it wouldn't matter - the redhead would *still* get upset.

Torrie smiled again. This time, there didn't seem to be any warmth behind it. Yeah... The bitch knew she had him by the balls, right where she wanted him.

*

"Hey, you guys seen Torrie?" Batista posed the question to Randy, Stacy and Triple H, all of whom were currently present in the small backstage room.

"Nope... We haven't seen her," Orton replied. He turned his attentions back on his long-legged blonde girlfriend as Stacy sat on his lap on the black leather sofa.

"Last I saw her, she was heading out," Hunger said with disinterest in his voice. He shrugged. "Haven't seen Sean in awhile, either." He smiled as he met Dave's dark eyes. "Wonder if that means anything significant?"

Stacy and Randy looked up simultaneously at their new bandmate's words. And as Stacy shifted her gaze on Dave, she noted a deep frown instantly come to his face. This was bad news.

"Well," Batista said, "for *his* sake, it better not!" The big, muscular man punched the door of the locker beside him for emphasis.

Stacy flinched, Randy eyed his friend with disbelief and concern, and Hunter merely smirked, as though he found it all very amusing.

Finally, Orton did the honors.

"Dave, I'm sure it's nothing more than a coincidence. Chill, man."

Batista flexed his slightly aching hand and took a deep breath through his nose, then exhaled through his mouth.

"You're right, Rand... You're right." He nodded. Besides, Sean O'Haire was a good friend of his. It was just his jealousy and temper getting to him. Dave couldn't help it, but he just got so jealous. Of course, he'd had every *right* recently, when that blond jerk from the band Lita was now in had had his dick in Torrie's mouth. Recalling hearing about that made his blood boil. He clenched his hand into a fist again but refrained from punching anything. He needed both hands for playing guitar later, damn it!

"Excuse me." Stacy rose from her boyfriend's lap and trotted for the door. She turned back and met Randy's blue eyes, silently communicating with him before slipping out.

Her gaze went instantly to the stage. She wasn't there, but the keyboardist noticed Lita with Edge a few feet away, off to the side and just talking. Breaking into a brisk walk, she trotted over. The pair instantly looked up as she approached.

"Hey," Stacy said with a small smile she didn't quite feel. She was too worried to make it genuine. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but..." She gestured with her slim, dainty hands. "... Lita, I need to talk to you."

"Sure, Stace."

"All right, I know my cue," Edge said. He started to walk away.

The tall blonde felt kind of bad as she watched the guitar player leave. She'd noticed him with Lita, and to her estimation, he looked clearly smitten. She turned back to the redhead, her brown eyes concerned.

"Actually, this partially concerns him, too."

"What's going on?" Amy asked with a frown. She crossed her arms as Stacy explained.

"Dave just about blew his top in the backroom. Torrie's out, and so is Sean. Hunter suggested they were probably together, and..." She shook her head. "... This is not good."

"Sean wouldn't touch Torrie with a ten foot pole!" Lita protested.

"I know," Stacy said. "But you know how Dave is, and I know how he beat up Edge last week. I think you should keep an eye open for Sean's sake, too - just because I know you're such good friends."

The redhead swallowed hard at her last few words. Ugh... It was almost as though Stacy *knew*.

"And he's been giving Edge the evil eye ever since... you know," the blonde said, her eyes casting down. She hated bringing up such foul memories to her friend.

"Yeah... I know. Okay, thanks, Stace." Amy didn't really know what else to say. But she wondered - really *wondered* - why Sean and Torrie were both out at the same time.






Part 38

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