The Bully

Chapter Twenty Two

Prowling round the edge of the ring, the Undertaker paused in front of me as I snapped a shot of him just before he lunged down and grabbed William by the hair. William evaded him and slid back under the ropes and then stomped on his opponent's head and shoulders as he followed him. The shots looked lethal and I got some great photographs of them. It was good to see a little bit of selling from the Undertaker as he appeared dazed and I got a shot of Paul holding up the urn to him and muttering. William was a big man to get into a Tombstone but Undertaker managed it and then that was the end of the match. Even though he'd lost I knew William had come out of it looking strong; he'd got some good offence in and it had had an impact. The match had been a good length for the Undertaker too, lasting longer than his entrance for once.

My heart thudded uncomfortably though as the next match was announced and Edge and Christian hit the ring. Jay had taken on the new moniker with good humour apparently and was happy to be teaming with Adam who was now Edge. They were taking on Money Inc which I knew would be a good match. Jay barely looked at me which I was grateful for and I managed to get some good shots of the match and each of the competitors. Jay and Adam both had an intensity which played off well against Ted and Mike R who were able to match that intensity in the same way I'd seen them match the silliness when they entered the ring with the Bushwhackers. It was a good match and Edge and Christian won. Adam gave me a small smile as they passed on their way  to the backstage area and Jay paused briefly, looking at me but then followed his partner away.

I stayed for the rest of the house show and captured some more images but then Ed and I made our way back to the hotel so that I could start the devloping process. We'd moved across to Boston and had a suite in a hotel there so that I could work without disturbing Bret, though he was such a deep sleeper I didn't think it would matter too much if the dark room was in the bedroom. Ed had taken it in his stride that Bret and I were sharing ; he wasn't intimidated by him any more as we'd spent a fair amount of time in airports with Bret and Curt now and I knew Ed had been out with the boys a few times as well, being welcomed into their circle, mainly because Curt liked him so much.

"I've got our new schedules Miss Summers if you'd like me to go over it with you," Ed said on the way back in the car.

"Sure, that'd be great," I replied. "We'll be needing to plan some more shoots away from the arena soon I think anyway, particularly with the new talent so if we have the schedule I can ring ahead to anywhere we might need permission to shoot." Ed nodded and as soon as we were in the hotel room he took out his notebook.

"So we are going to be here for the next week and then we're heading across to New York. From there we're flying to Canada where we have dates scheduled in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary and then it's back to New York for Survivior Series."

I stilled and swallowed hard.

"And can I ask what my leave entitlement is looking like?" I asked, after a moment. Ed gave me a puzzled look.

"Well you can take anything up to a week before Survivor Series Miss Summers as you haven't had any leave at all in the last six months. You'd need to speak to Mike to book it in officially. Are you wanting to take some time when we get to Calgary?"

"No, I'm thinking of not going to Calgary," I replied. "I'll speak to Mike in the morning."

"You want me to see if I can get him now to schedule a time?" Ed asked and I nodded, thanking him. My hands were shaking when I went into the dark room. I'd known that Calgary would come up at some point but had hoped maybe they'd miss it when they hit Canada. The thought of being there again, seeing the place I'd grown up in filled me with horror, as did the possibility of seeing my mom or even Tony. I didn't have good memories of the years I had lived there and had sworn I'd never go back. It was easier to forget the past if I wasn't confronted with it. Steadying my hands I set to work developing the shots from tonight, working through them and hanging them to dry. When I emerged Ed had made me a cup of tea and was sat at the table with his notebook. "Mike is free at ten tomorrow morning. He said it was fine for you to just phone him. His room extension is 327 and you can call that."