Taking Hold of the Flame 2021
May 28
Cincinnati
----------------
When I woke up the morning of Breakdown in Indianapolis, I sure the fuck didn't think I would be ending the night driving off in a stolen car. But here we are, life is just full of surprises, isn't it? After Tommy drove off with me and Minerva in the Escalade, leaving Konrad behind, he drove around a little, making sure we weren't being followed. We had no idea what to do from there. Minerva did though, she saw a motel and asked us to drop her off there. She would call Raab and have him meet her there. She asked what we would do with the car. I had no clue but Tommy answered – Breakdown next week was in Raleigh, his hometown, so he just decided we would take a road trip. Minerva laughed, she thought it was a great idea. Told us to have fun and she'd see us next week.
Almost two hours later, we stopped at a motel in Cincinnati. Tommy had been about to roll up at a Marriott, but that didn't seem right. I'd been thinking as he drove, if we were gonna do this road trip thing, then I wanted to have fun with it.
“Tommy, wait... we can't go to the fucking Marriott! Don't you think they'll look for us at places like that?”
“Hmm... good point.” He drove past. “Got any ideas?”
I looked down the street and saw a motel, half the lights on the sign out. I pointed. “There.”
“A motel? Really?”
“Hell yeah. Don't knock them. The beds are usually comfortable as fuck cause they get used so much.” I smirked. Tommy shook his head.
“It's probably better to stay under the radar anyway. Alright.”
He pulled into the parking lot, and I was able to read the sign despite the the broken lights – The Shades. Sounded seedy enough. It reminded me of my younger and wilder days, when I would go to clubs and leave with the first guy who caught my eye. This could be quite entertaining, I thought. Tommy though was looking at the run down building with skepticism.
“Come on babe, I think you've been living the high dollar life for too long. Time to see how the other ninety percent live.”
“Fuck sake, I'm not that rich!”
“Okay... the other seventy five percent?”
“That sounds better.” He smirks.
“Seriously though, I used to stay in places like this all the time. Think of it as a way to get to know the dirtier side of me.”
“You mean there's a dirtier side?”
I laughed. “Oh, you haven't seen anything yet.”
We exited the car after Tommy parked in the lot behind the building, so the Escalade wouldn't be seen from the street. We went into the door, and the young male desk clerk sat up on seeing us. It was pretty obvious he knew exactly who we were, and probably had seen what happened on Breakdown hours ago.
“Evening, guys. Need a room for two?”
“Sure do, brosef. You have one?”
“For you... of course.”
Yep. He knew us. I had to fix this, and quick. I leaned over on the counter, making sure my tits rested on it, pushing my cleavage up. “Hey there doll.... we're gonna need you to do us a few favors, okay?”
“Uh... like what?” He looked me in the tits as he spoke. Good.
“Well, first of all... you're gonna put me down as.... Tina Destrehan.” I heard Tommy snicker a bit. Destrehan, he knew. Tina? That was one of my bitch foster mothers. The guy shakes his head and looks up at me, then starts typing on the computer.
“Um, sure thing Ka-... uh, Tina. And how will you be paying for your room?”
It was just then that I realized we left our fucking luggage at the arena. I was a second away from saying 'with my cunt' when Tommy stepped up to the counter, with a wad of cash in hand.
“With this.” I looked at him in shock. Where the fuck had that come from?
“Right... and your name, sir?”
“He's my plus one.”
“Got it....”
I let him type a bit more, and when he looked up, I leaned over a little bit more. “Now doll... there's one more thing we need you to do.” He nodded. “If anyone shows up here looking for us... you haven't seen us. Got it?”
“I uh... I think so.”
“Let me be clear... if you take care of these favors for us... I'll make sure that you... are very well taken care of.” I reached over and dragged my fingernail down his cheek to his throat. He wasn't ugly, if I had to fuck him to keep him quiet, I probably wouldn't hate it.
“Oh. Yes. Yes, I got it. No problem.” He cleared his throat, typed something else, then I heard an old printer printing. “Your total is fifty-seven seventy-five.”
Tommy peeled off a hundred and handed it to the young guy. “Keep the change. Part of our thanks for the favors.”
“Yes, sir. Thanks! Sign this.” He slid over a paper that had the holes on the sides, the tear off kind. That printer I heard had to be at least thirty years old, I didn't think they still made paper for those fucking things. I signed, nearly using my real name instead of the fake one I'd given. “And here's your key. Room 14, through the back door there, and all the way on the end to the left. Ice is outside, and a Coke machine. Enjoy your stay.”
Tommy took the key and made a show of pulling me away from the counter. As soon as I knew the guy couldn't see me anymore, I started laughing.
“Oh man... this is gonna be fun.”
We got to the room, and I locked and deadbolted the door. I then remembered that the Escalade had a fucking Uber sticker on it. As Tommy got on the phone, I went back outside and peeled that motherfucker off. Back inside the room, I tore it up and flushed it down the toilet. Throwing it away would have left evidence.
“You heard me correctly. Yeah, I'll text you the address. I'm trusting you with this, don't make me regret it.”
Tommy ended the call and looked up at me. “What was that about?”
“You know Perry from the ring crew?”
“Know him? I fucked him.”
Tommy shrugged. “So he said. Anyway, old friend of mine. I'm paying him to get our luggage from the arena and drive it here to us.”
“You're sure he won't rat us out?”
“That's what I'm paying him for. He's good for it.” Tommy sent a text, then sat on the bed. “Shit, you're right. This thing is great.”
I smirked, pulling my top off. “Care to test it out?”
“Thought you'd never ask.”
An hour later, we were done, and I showered. I was sitting around in a towel, since Perry hadn't arrived with our stuff yet. Tommy showered too, but since he hadn't wrestled he didn't mind putting his same clothes back on. Tommy had walked down the block while I was showering to get food, the only place that was open was a 24 hour diner, he brought back burgers and beer. As we ate, I had a burning question on my mind.
“Okay, I have to ask. Why the fuck do you have a bankroll of cash on you?”
Tommy laughed. “Old habit. When I first started wrestling, one of the promoters Dave and I worked for gave me some advice. He said, always keep some cash on you, hidden somewhere other than your wallet. Other wrestlers can be assholes or thieves and you never know if or when your bags or wallet might go missing. Back then a lot of the promotions paid in cash anyway, so it wasn't hard to stick most of it inside my sock or something. Just kept the habit. I carry around a lot more now than I used to back then.”
“So that's how you had cash to pay for this place... how the hell did I never, ever notice this before? I live with you for fucks sake!”
“You aren't usually paying attention to my socks when you're undressing me.” He smirked.
“That... is a valid point. So, how much do you carry?”
“Eh, one or two grand.”
“What?!”
He shrugged. “Never know what could happen.”
“Like impromptu Grand Theft Auto?”
“Yeah... exactly. It's come in handy quite a few times, and now? It'll keep us off the radar while we meander our way from here to North Carolina.”
A knock on the door interrupted us. I stood behind it, since I was in just a towel. I didn't care who saw me but I knew Tommy did. It was Perry, he slid in our bags, and Tommy slid him cash. It looked like a drug deal, except we were getting our clothes. After he left, I pulled some shorts and a t-shirt out and got dressed. It was after 4 AM at that point and we crashed not long after Perry left.
May 31
Nashville
-------------
A few days and a few cities after Cincinnati, Tommy and I found ourselves in Nashville. It was Memorial Day, and what better place to stop than a city known for barbecue? We rented another motel room not far from Beale Street, then walked several blocks to the famous strip. About two blocks in, we saw a restaurant that was having a Memorial Day special on ribs. Without even saying anything, we looked at each other, nodded, and walked in.
We were dressed down, both in jeans, our hair pulled back. I had no make up on, Tommy had a plain black t-shirt, and I had a light blue halter top. After being seated, our server walks up. A young black man with short dreads, each one with a different colored bead on the end, giving a rainbow effect. It made me sad I took my colored extensions out to avoid drawing attenttion.
“Heyyyy guys! Welcome, I'm Phil and I'll be your server. We have a special all day and all night today for Memorial Day. A half rack of our famous barbecue ribs, for half price! Best deal in town.”
“Yep, we saw the sign, that's why we came in. We'll both have that.”
“Great! And your side?”
“Um... what do you have?”
“Fries, baked potato, potato salad... basically pick your potato.” Phil the server laughed.
“Fries for me.”
“Same.”
“Perfect. And your drinks?”
“Beer, Sam Adams?”
“Got it. And the lady?”
“Same. I'm easy.”
Phil winked. “I bet you are. Shouldn't be too long, I'll be right back with your drinks.”
Phil walked off, and I leaned over the table towards Tommy. “That guy knows who we are.”
“You think?”
“Didn't you see him wink at my 'easy' comment? I said that on purpose just to see. He knows.”
“Well, we couldn't really expect to go the whole week without being recognized, could we?”
“”Maybe not. But do you think he also knows what we did?”
“Let's just see how this plays out.”
I sighed. I couldn't say more, because Phil came back with our beer.
“Thanks doll.”
“Of course. Your meal should be out real soon.” We nodded, but Phil didn't walk off. He just looked back and forth between me and Tommy a few times. Then he leaned a little bit closer. “Okay, I don't usually do this, because it's generally frowned upon, but I have to say it's my pleasure to be serving you and your lady friend, Mr. Valentine.”
Tommy gave me a look, I felt my eyes widen. Tommy then looked back up at Phil.
“I'm sorry, who?”
Phil's hand went to his chest and he gasped a little bit. “Oh. You mean you're not Tommy Valentine?”
“Never heard of him. Who is he?”
“Oh. Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed... you look just like- I'm sorry. He's a wrestler. I thought... oh, nevermind.” Phil covered his face in embarrassment.
“Hey, don't feel bad doll. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“I am so sorry.” He spoke from behind his hand.
“Stop that. I can't be insulted if I don't know who the guy is.”
Phil dropped his hand. “Oh no. It's not an insult. Not at all. Tommy Valentine is a legend. Hall of Fame, more titles than you can shake a stick at. And since you're not actually him I don't mind saying, hot as hayyeelll.” That would be 'hell' with a southern drawl. It took all of my self-control not to burst into laughter.
“So.... what you're saying is, you think I'm hot, too?” Phil's face turned as red as his dark skin would allow, and then Tommy laughed. “Come on man, I'm just messing with you.”
“Once again, my apologies. I'll just go check on your order.”
Phil hurried away, and as soon as I was sure he was too far away to hear me, I laughed. Hard.
“Oh my fuck, that was amazing!”
“Should I tell him the truth before we leave?”
“No! You'll give the poor guy a stroke.”
Ten minutes later, Phil came back with our ribs. They were fucking amazing and I almost wished I had got a full rack instead. When we were done, Phil cleared the table and brought the check. Tommy pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket. I decided to help his deception.
“Make sure you leave our friend a good tip, Joe.”
I saw Tommy's mouth twitch up on one corner, he wanted to laugh. “I wouldn't dream of undertipping, Tina.”
I gave him a big smile. Phil smiled at us before walking off. Tommy left money and the check under his plate and we left, walking back to the motel a few blocks away.
“So... exactly how much did you leave him?”
“Hundred percent. Maybe he'll get the message he was right after all.”
All I could do was laugh.
June 3
Raleigh
------------
After a few more cities and small towns, and hole in the wall restaurants, and cheap motels... Tommy and I finally made it to Raleigh, the morning of Breakdown. We found another motel, about a five minute drive from the venue. We checked in using the same name I had been using and paid cash, then parked the Escalade where it couldn't be seen very well from the street. After getting our bags into the room, we went back into the car and filmed my promo about facing Pat Evans in the backseat. The old man had a real problem with me showing myself off, so we thought it would be funny to give him exactly what he hated... the mental image of Tommy and me about to get busy in the backseat. After Tommy stopped filming, we didn't actually fuck. We'd already done that once the second night on the road, and it was... interesting, but not really something we needed to repeat, you know?
Instead, we went back into the room and started talking about what to get for lunch. Tommy obviously knew the area well, so he was Googling if one of his favorite restaurants from years ago was still open. He didn't find an answer just then though because there was a knock on our door. We looked at each other wide-eyed. Who the fuck could that be? We asked the desk clerk to give us privacy, and literally no one knew where we were. Tommy had told everyone at Ante Up that we were on a sort of mini-vacation and left Tish in charge. I'd told Nate and Sydney the same thing. All anyone knew was we were in Raleigh for Breakdown. Tommy gestured for me to stand out of sight while he opened the door, just in case. Not that I can't defend myself and he knows that... but sometimes a man likes to feel like a man, so I stood aside. Tommy opened the door... then sighed, his shoulders slumped.
“Goddammit.”
“Hello to you, too.” It was the voice of Dean Black. “I assume Kandis is here somewhere?”
Tommy stepped back and let Dean in. “Hi Dean.” I waved. He gave me a nod.
“How the hell did you find us?”
'Well, that car has a license plate. And we knew you'd have to be in town today, so Dillusion and I just drove around looking at the parking lots of every hotel and motel in a five mile radius of the arena. If that didn't work, we would have gone ten. But... I got lucky. The desk clerk here was very eager to take a handsome reward for giving me your room number.”
“Greedy little fuck...” We'd never considered the fact that someone else looking for us could just pay more to get the info we bought their silence for.
“Okay, so you found us. What do you want? Did the Indian dude call the cops or something?”
“No, we tried. But since it's his car, he has to file the report. He refuses, he'd rather try to get it back by honor, or some such tripe.” Dean shook his head. “I'm not here about the car. I'm here to give you both a warning.”
“Is that right?”
“Quite. Olek isn't very happy with either of you right now over this stunt. You've been treading a fine line and this-”
“Hey, Olek has been treading a line himself, the way he's sending these punks after me and Kandis! Pat Evans injured me and now he's already made Kandis face Hudson, and now Evans tomorrow night?”
“Maybe if you were cleared to work, you could take some of that heat yourself.”
Tommy scowled at that, it's almost as if Dean was accusing him of faking. “You know, I would love to, but this ended up worse than they first thought. It's not just a pulled muscle, it's partially torn!”
“Oh. What a shame.” I could tell by Dean's tone that he wasn't convinced. Fucker. “Listen, I'm just here to tell you, you'd better show up tonight, and maybe leave the car behind for the kid, okay? Or Olek and I might press him harder to actually file charges.”
“I thought you weren't here about the car.” I smirked. Dean frowned.
“Its all related. You took it across state lines, that's a felony you know.”
“Hey, we had every intention of giving it back.”
“Yeah, we just... borrowed it. Look, we'll even fill the tank and pay to have it detailed.”
“Damn right, you will. I can't imagine the filth that's inside.”
“Hey! We're clean!”
“Be that as it may. Don't be late, okay? Show up, don't start any more trouble, and Olek might get off your case, just a little bit.”
“Fine. We won't start any trouble. But if anyone starts with us? I guarantee we'll finish it.”
“Fair enough. Oh and by the way... keep this little conversation to yourselves. That's part of the deal.”
Tommy and both nodded, and Dean Black left without another word. Tommy deadbolted the door behind him.
Tommy then turned around to me and crossed his arms, glaring.
“Now why did you immediately agree to his no-trouble decree?”
“Think about it babe. We stole the fucking car. Do you really think no one is gonna fuck with us as soon as we roll up in the parking lot?”
Tommy laughed. “Okay, good point. It's pretty much an open invitation and we can't be expected to not fight back, right?”
“Exactly.”
Just then my phone buzzed in my tits. I pulled it out, it was Minerva.
“Min and Raab are here. She wants to meet for lunch.”
“Alright, let's go. Hopefully there won't be too many more meetings or meals with Raab involved."
Fuck, I hoped so, too.
ON CAMERA
Better late than never, that's what they say, right?
Just a shame that neither me or Tommy could have pulled this off last year when it would have meant more. We could have saved SCW from a whole year of the high and mighty, morality high-horse bullshit. Oh wait, not even a whole year, because there was a little injury a few months ago, wasn't there? Either way... we could have spared SCW a whole lot of unnecessary drama.
But, like I said.. better late than never. I saw an opportunity, and I made sure that Big Match Dave... is dead.
You know, it's actually hilarious. Y'all thought I wasn't shit cause Minerva did the deed taking out Peyton Rice and I sat and waited for it to be done. What do you think now? How is good ole Dave's leg anyway? Nevermind, I don't care. All I know is I hear he won't be coming back, not for a while. If I were him, I'd just hang it up – again – since he seems to be pretty injury prone these days. It took several cracks with a steel pipe to ruin Peyton's knee... all I had to do was slam a car door one good time to fuck up Dave's leg... with an assist from Raab throwing Vee....whatthefuckever his name is, into it first and giving me the idea.
Minerva took out the so-called future, and I put the past out to pasture. Don't we make a great team?
It's actually kinda poetic, David got himself involved in this because he thinks he's the SCW Morality Police and any time someone does something that sets his alarms off, he has to come running to the rescue, whether his help is needed or not. David By God Helms can't let someone else take any credit for exacting justice in SCW, can he? Even his little pet Jordan Majors seemed to be getting tired of his shit for a hot minute, til she stepped back and thought, "hey fuck it, this will get me some attention" and went all in.
But y'all don't have to worry about David anymore. Last year at this time he was about to get one of the biggest wins of his career and go on to win the main event of Rise to Greatness. And now? He'll be watching it all from the comfort of his couch, with his bitch wife, eating popcorn as they rehab injuries together. You love to see it.
With that mess out of the way, I have to tell y'all I'm excited about the Flame this year. Nah, not because I think I'm gonna win the shit, y'all should know by now this isn't my bag. I'm in this for the same reason I always am.
To cause trouble and kick as many asses as I can. Minerva is gonna be out there with me, and y'all saw Twitter, the advertisements. My good friend, Minerva's friend... Drake Hemingway is in on this. I can't tell you how long I've waited to see him step foot back into SCW, and what kind of chaos he'll leave in his wake.
I do wish Tommy could be in it with me, but thanks to Pat Evans, Tommy still isn't cleared. But just keep this in mind... the longer it takes him to come back, the more ways he can think up to take each and every minute of ringtime he's missed out on you, motherfucker. If you think me kicking your ass last week was the end of it, you clearly don't know us.
But that comes later.
For now, while just about everyone else entering the battle royal is gonna claim to be going out there to kick 39 asses and be the last person standing and get a World Championship match.... me? I'm going out there to have some fucking fun. A match with most of the roster involved where anything goes cause the only way to be eliminated is to be tossed out on your ass over the top rope?
That just sounds like a playground to me. And if anyone pisses me off while I'm trying to have fun? Well... just ask Big Match Dave what happens when you get involved in shit that isn't your business. He fucked around and found out.
Who's next?