End of an Era (Book 7)

On The Shelf

|Vaughn's POV|

Survivor Series weekend, one of my favorite events of the year. Plus it usually falls around Thanksgiving and one thing for sure, my family always shows up to support.

Tonight, I'm taking back my women's championship and will be crowned an 8 time champion. I'll be main eventing alongside my best friend, Quinn, inside of Hell In a Cell. I know I'll be sore tomorrow.

Asher, better known to the WWE universe as Ace, is defending the WWE championship tonight. He's dropping the title and taking a break, expected to return in January.

We've done this over the course of the years, to full throttle for 6 to 8 months then reset and have downtime with the kids. I just came back a couple of months ago from a break and now it's Asher's turn. We want one solid run at the top of the company when he comes back. Hopefully that'll happen.

I went to meet Asher in gorilla before his match. He was calm, holding the title.

"Hey, champ," I quietly said.

He turned, smiling at me.

"Hey, beautiful."

"Just came to wish you luck."

He pulled me to him and kissed me.

"Alright, love birds. Break it up."

I didn't need to turn around to know it was my dad. Asher laughed against my lips, pecking me a final time.

"I'll see you after your match."

I nodded and went to take a seat. I'd move back to gorilla when the match was over. We typically met each other there, win or loss.

Asher's opponent, Bronson, went out first. Their rivalry had become personal. Bronson was a heel, the bad guy. Asher had once been a mentor to him.

During the build up to this match, Bronson threw jabs at me, at my family, and the fact that Asher is the son-in-law of the man who now runs the company. People say it's just a storyline when they make those comments, but we know there's jealousy behind the scenes.

It doesn't matter that we've worked our asses off and paid our dues, there were always naysayers. Asher was fine with digs being thrown at him, but storyline or not, he wasn't a fan of me being disrespected. I could hold my own, but still he's my husband. I get it.

Once Asher's music hit, the crowd went nuts. I sang along to his theme song, watching him stride to the ring. Soon the bell rang and Bronson charged at Asher, plowing him into the turnbuckle shoulder first. Asher quickly recovered and the match went on.

A near pin fall is what changed everything. Bronson botched a move sending Asher over the ropes. He had a nasty fall. I knew Asher was hurt and this wasn't just for show. At the moment, I didn't know how bad, but when the doctors throw up an X, that's a signal that one of the Superstars are hurt.

"He's hurt," I stated.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"He's gonna finish the match."

I saw Asher was still laying right where the kids were sitting. Bronson got out and was taunting them, lifting up Asher's head and screaming at them. Murphy shielded them. I was pissed. If I could go out there and smack the shit out of him, I would.

"Calm down, mama bear."

"He needs to get the hell away from my kids."

I watched him toss Asher face first into the ground and approached my boys and my nieces.

"This is your daddy, right? Your superhero? Look at him!"

Asher staggered to get up. Bronson was still talking shit. I watched Asher become coherent of his surroundings and snapped, tackling Bronson.