______________________________________________________
Edge stood in the shadows of the somewhat dense shrubbery. He kept close eye on the house, searching for any sign of the man. When he did, he would make his move.
He knew he should have at least told Lita what he'd had planned. She would be furious when she found him out, and he knew she would find out... It was only inevitable.
Swallowing back the guilt, the blond man perked up as he noticed a movement from the living room window. His eyebrows arched as he realized it was not his step-brother. No... This was a woman. He realized that he knew her - and it was not Dawn Marie, either.
It was Torrie... That waitress from The Stop who had gotten fired awhile back. What in hell was she doing there?
As Edge wondered about this, Christian himself suddenly appeared in his view. He joined Torrie by standing up from the couch. Quickly, he pulled the blonde's shirt up and over her head before dipping his head to kiss her.
The tall blond man was disgusted. How long had this been going on? He felt badly for Dawn Marie, as her husband was clearly cheating on her, but found that strange, considering what had happened. And no doubt, the brunette was going to file for divorce from the bastard once she was discharged from the hospital.
Setting his jaw angrily, Edge crept closer to the house. Enough was enough... He wasn't going to let what was happening inside go any further, as he had important motives here.
He pressed his finger on the doorbell, ringing incessantly, rudely, all the while knocking on the door with his other hand. His reason for that was to cause enough of a disturbance that Christian wouldn't dare ignore him.
And sure enough, it worked. He could hear his step-brother telling the woman to stay put while he answered the door. He then heard some shuffling, and then the lock being turned. He was shocked that Christian was so quick to open the door when Dawn Marie had called the police on him. Well, whatever to that. Poised and ready, Edge braced himself, waiting for the door to open.
The second the door was ajar enough, the tall blond man launched himself onto his surprised step-brother. Christian let out an audible whoosh of breath as they tumbled together to the floor. Edge punched him once, then grabbed handsful of his shirt collar.
"You son of a bitch!" he shouted. He heard the patter of footsteps coming, and then a gasp emerge from Torrie Wilson. What he didn't expect was for the woman to try to lend Christian a hand - which she did.
"Get off of him, you monster!" Torrie yelled as she swatted him in the back of the head, neck and shoulders.
The tall blond man tried to ignore her mostly ineffectual blows, but it was difficult. She was persistent. When she wouldn't stop, he elbowed her away with enough force to send her sailing to the floor.
Christian had recovered just enough thanks to Torrie. He took advantage of his step-brother's momentary distraction to land a punch into his gut.
"I'm calling the police!" the platinum blonde screamed.
Both men felt a measure of fear over that exclamation. Christian held up a hand toward her.
"D-Don't do that!" he said in an almost pleading tone.
"But he just attacked us!"
"Don't, okay? Just don't!" Christian snapped.
Torrie cringed as she caught a certain look in his eyes. She stood and backed away, not comprehending exactly what was going on and not wanting to know, either.
"You bastard!" Edge groaned. "You tried to kill me!" He again had a handhold of the other man's shirt.
Christian had no verbal response aside from an 'oof' as he tried to shove the irate man off of him. They began to wrestle on the floor, expletives coming out of both.
"You stole my inheritance, you slimy son of a bitch!"
Torrie, who had gotten her shirt back on during the fracas, watched the two like a hawk. Her cell phone in hand, she crept, unnoticed, toward the back door. She was getting out of there pronto, and she was calling the police.
*
Lita could barely keep the tears from coming as she faced her boss. She knew this was too much in so short a time frame, but it was probably a matter of life or death - no fooling this time around.
"I'm so sorry, Stephanie... I do hate leaving you high and dry, but I really do need to go."
"You've been here a little over an hour," the brunette observed. "Lita, I'm trying to be fair, but this is becoming a regular occurrence. At least tell me what's going on."
Trish had overheard the entire exchange from the kitchen and came decisively out to approach them.
"Stephanie, it's okay... I'll do a double shift to cover her," she offered.
Lita gave her friend a most grateful look, silently thanking her.
"Are you sure, Trish?" Stephanie asked. "We're short-staffed here as it is, and Stacy's already doing double duty to cover Dawn Marie."
The little blonde nodded.
"I'm sure."
The brunette eyed each waitress in turn, then nodded.
"All right... So be it."