Falling for the Perfect 10

Chapter 12: An Accident

On Monday everything seemed almost normal again, except for the slight awkwardness that still remained between me and Tye. We all worked out before our meeting with Hunter and, inside the small conference room we met with Hunter and everyone who'd be involved in the storyline. That meant all of SAnitY, Tye, Jose, Roderick and myself all sat around an oval table.

I set between Tye and Jose, Roderick on Tye's other side. Across from us was SAnitY and I was in the exact seat opposite Nikki. We nodded cordially to each other and turned to look at Matt Bloom, William Regal and Hunter.

"Okay, we all know that things are constantly changing. At Takeover: Orlando we're going to put a lot of things into effect. For all of you that means a huge shift in the storyline. You all know we like taking risks here at NXT. So, at Orlando that's what all of you are going to do."

My eyes caught Nikki's before I instinctively turned to look at Tye. He locked eyes with me and nodded at me, squeezing my forearm encouragingly, briefly. It was the first time he'd touched me in so long and I'd forgotten how warm he was.

I closed my eyes briefly before turning to look back at Hunter. He'd let us all take in his words. Now he would tell us his ideas on how to do it.

"You all have pushed the envelope and we all know everyone in this room is tough and able to take big hits. We were thinking of pushing the envelope just a bit farther."

"We want to push SAnitY so far into the heel category that there is no foreseeable redemption," Matt Bloom said, taking over the conversation. "To do that, we need to let the women play a bigger role."

I could feel Tye tensing next to me but I didn't look at him or Nikki. I stared at Matt.

"Shanna," Hunter began, leaning forward slightly. "You can turn down the idea, counter at any point and you have full rights to back out." I nodded for him to continue. "Regal tells me you've been put through a table before."

I stared at Hunter for a moment, his words swirling around my head.

"No way," Tye said, shaking his head stiffly. I turned to look at him.

"Tye, with all due respect, it's not your choice," Hunter said, holding up a hand, forestalling any further commentary for Tye. "It's Shanna's."

I felt everyone in the room look at me. I kept my eyes on Hunter, Regal and Bloom.

"Who is gonna put me through the table? How?"

Tye slammed his fists on the table and pushed away from it. I stared at him then looked at Hunter, asking for a minute without saying a word.

"Take five minutes, everyone cool off, get your heads around the idea."

Tye walked out of the room and I went after him. A single camera, out of the two that had been filming the meeting for Breaking Ground, followed us out. He walked away quickly, finding a nearby hallway empty. He put his head and arms against the wall, his body tense.

"Tye?" I asked, coming over and placing a hand on his shoulder. I waved the camera man off and he walked down the hall, the lens on us but well out of reach from the microphone.

He turned to look at me and his arms fell to his sides, defeated. "You're gonna let them do it?" He asked.

"Tye...it's the best thing for all of us right now. Can you imagine the feud after it? Can you predict how over we'll be with the fans?"

"I don't care about that," he said, his voice solid but still sounding distant.

"Tye, tables aren't a big deal. Hunter will make sure I'm safe."