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"Oh, my God..." Stacy breathed as she looked her friend over.
Amy was a mess. She'd obviously been crying, her eyes puffy and red-rimmed, but that was nothing compared to the bruises the tall blonde woman was easily able to detect. Amy was wearing a short, midriff-type halter top, and there were a few red blotches showing on her tender flesh.
One welt in particular, on the diva's right side, in the back rib area, stood out the most. The bruise was darkening to an ugly, mottled purplish color.
"Oh, God!" Stacy cried again. "He did this to you, didn't he? That bastard!" Her brown eyes narrowed with contempt as she thought about the man. She didn't know him too well, as she'd only joined the WWF a mere four months ago, when Shane McMahon had bought WCW, but she now knew enough that she wanted Amy - and all the other divas - to stay the hell away from him.
The frightened redhead cringed, lowering her head, unable to meet her friend's eyes. However, she didn't dare to deny the allegations Stacy had just put forth.
"Listen to me, Amy," the tall blonde said. "He has no right to put his hands on you! You have to report him!"
"I-I...can't," the distraught, battered woman finally spoke in a soft, weak voice. A single tear escaped her right eye, sliding slowly down her cheek.
Stacy winced, shaking her head as she eyed her friend and fellow diva with sympathy. After a beat, she grasped the other woman's hand, leading her to the bathroom. "Come on, let's clean you up a little..." The leggy blonde had noticed that the bad bruise, the one on Amy's side, looked as though it were about to seep. Her guess was that the redhead had not put any antiseptic on it.
Amy followed Stacy into the small bathroom and stood beside her at the sink. Not a single word did she utter as she taller woman quietly tended to her.
*
Adam Copeland returned to his hotel room worried and puzzling over what he'd seen only moments earlier.
The tall blond man sat down on the edge of his bed as he replayed in his mind the scene he'd just witnessed. He and some friends had been downstairs in the hotel bar, unwinding after RAW earlier that night. Adam had become tired after awhile and decided to go up to the room he and best friend Jay Reso were sharing - although their characters, Edge and Christian, had just split as a team earlier that night, the two Canadians were still rooming together.
Adam had to pass by Stacy Keibler's room to get to his own, and it just so happened that, this time, she'd had a visitor at the door.
Amy Dumas, better know as Lita in the ring, the female member of Team Xtreme - had been standing just outside Stacy's door, and she'd appeared positively terrified. Adam could even swear she'd been shaking. And while he hadn't quite been close enough to get a good look at her, the redhead had looked like she'd been hurt.
The tall blond man wondered - he really wondered what had happened. He'd wanted to stand there in the shadows in the corridor and make out the conversation between Amy and Stacy - not to be nosy, but because he was extremely concerned - but the two women had instantly gone into the hotel room, shutting the door behind them.
Adam supposed that the redhead had gotten into a pretty bad argument with her boyfriend. He knew they sometimes fought, as he'd overheard them arguing a few times in the not so recent past when he and Jay had roomed on the same floor as them. Their room had been several doors down the hall from Amy and the man's, and they'd heard them.
He wondered if he would be able to hear their voices if he were to stand close to the door, as Stacy's room was almost directly across from his. Yet, at the same time, he didn't want to eavesdrop, as though he had no life. He had right to intrude upon either woman's privacy - which was exactly what he would be doing if he deliberately tried to hear what they were saying to each other.
Adam decided he would just get ready for bed, as he'd intended to do when he'd returned to this room. And he would keep his eyes and ears open the next time he saw Amy Dumas. She was a good friend, so maybe he would be able to find out what was going on.
A few minutes later, after he'd washed up and brushed his teeth for bed, he slipped into his hotel room bed. Then, reaching over the nightstand, he shut off the bedside lamp and stretched out on the bed.
The last thought he had before falling asleep was of the redhead. His subconscious was nagging him about something where she was concerned, but he couldn't quite grasp it.