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"No, man, I honestly don't know... I-" Christian raised his head sharply at the sudden noise. He dropped his cell phone as Edge suddenly burst through the hotel room door, spearing him to the floor. What the hell...?
"You slimy little bastard! What the hell's wrong with you?!" the angry man yelled. He pummeled his brother, who tried to raise his hands to protect his face.
"Stop it, stop it!" Christian cried desperately. He had no earthly idea what was going on. He'd been on the phone, talking, and then this happened out of the blue. He gave Edge a hard shove and managed to make it to his feet. Before he faced his hothead brother again, he retrieved his cell phone and examined it. His call had hung up.
Blue eyes met green. Now that the initial shock of the attack was wearing off, it was replaced by anger.
"What the hell is your problem?!" the shorter man demanded, giving his brother a small shove in the chest.
"What the hell is my problem? My problem is you, little brother... You attacked Trish Stratus?!" Edge glared daggers at the other man, seemingly on the verge of beating him again.
"What?! You're insane! You really, truly are insane, Edge!"
"Oh, yeah?" the tall Canadian countered. "If I'm so 'insane,' then why did a crying Trish just tell Lita and I that she was attacked?!"
Christian's blue eyes grew wide.
"What?" He swallowed hard, horror coursing through him. "Well, she did act really strange this morning, like she was terrified of me, but-" His words were abruptly cut short as Edge yanked him by his shirt collar.
"So it's true..." the tall blond Canadian muttered in a dangerously low voice. He had his brother literally nose-to-nose with him, to the point that he was breathing on him.
Christian recoiled, squirmed and managed to set himself free.
"Negative!" he shouted. "I would never do anything to hurt that woman! I... I love her."
"Oh, you 'love' her." Edge crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at the smaller man. "How is that? You 'love' Chris Jericho's girlfriend?" He nearly laughed sarcastically about it, it was so ridiculous.
"Hey, she's my girlfriend, too!"
The tall blond shook his head, eyeing his brother with disgust.
"You sick little shit! What the hell did you do to her?" He made a move as though about to hit Christian again.
"Stop!" the short-haired Canadian yelped, his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm being dead serious, Edge... I love Trish. Okay, so she and I have been having an affair. But I swear, I didn't attack her." He shook his head, blue eyes locked on his brother's orbs. "I would and could never hurt her."
Edge studied him in silence for a moment. Everything about Christian, from his demeanor to his body language to the words he spoke, all seemed sincere. Above all that, his eye contact was direct and steady, even unblinking. And he knew his brother well enough to know when he was lying and when he wasn't.
Christian was telling the truth.
"Okay," Edge breathed, actually hating the fact that he'd been wrong. Making a mistake about his brother only meant that whatever sick piece of garbage had attacked Trish Stratus was still out there. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right, Edge," the short-haired man replied, though he was still a bit shocked. "Trish told you she was attacked?" he asked, his expression appearing a cross between indignant and sad.
"Yes, she did."
"Where is she? I want to see her."
The tall Canadian nodded, then made a tilt of his head in the direction of the door.
"Come on."
Edge led Christian out and across the hallway to the hotel room he and Lita were sharing. Gently, tentatively, he pushed the door open to see the distraught blonde sobbing in his girlfriend's arms.
"Trish?"
Lita's head whipped up and around in the direction of the voice. She wanted to bolt up to her feet but couldn't, not with her friend weeping on her shoulder.
"What the...? What's he doing here?!" she demanded.
Edge knelt by the redhead's side.
"Lita, it's okay. He didn't do it." He changed his focus to the blonde and ignored the redhead's protestations and questions for the moment. "Trish," he said gently. "Christian wanted to see you. He's worried about you."
The little blonde looked up into his eyes before shifting her teary gaze to his brother. She stayed silent but winced as their eyes met.
"What the hell is going on?" Lita demanded. She stared at each person in the room alternately, annoyed that no one was giving her an answer.
The Canadian diva again burst into tears as she leapt up and abandoned the safety of her friend's embrace. She ran right into the arms of Christian instead, burying her face in his chest as she cried.
"Shh..." He held onto her tightly, stroking her long blonde hair and just rocking her a little.
Edge took a deep sigh and shook his head. Sadly, he met his confused girlfriend's hazel eyes.
"I guess this means Jericho is the guilty party."
Lita simply stared at him with a frown, still slightly in the dark. She really didn't get what was going on.