before he cheats | a.cole

forty

We walk toward the front door. I look outside and see a lot of people. The guys and Marina surround me as we walk outside.

The press notices us and they start to rush the door as we walk out.

Adam says, "Roddy, can you go grab the car?"

"Yeah," he says, pushing through the crowd. Adam stands in front of me, Marina stands on the side with my injured knee, protecting it. I injured the left knee. Bobby and Kyle try to keep the press off me.

The reporters begin to yell questions. "What happened to your leg? Is it okay? What's the recovery time? Will you have to relinquish your title because of injury?"

I see Roderick pull up with the car and I say, "I will give a full injury update on NXT this Wednesday. I can say one thing though. This injury will not stop me from getting back at Britt Baker. She tried to take my title, maybe even my career from me with this injury. Britt Baker can expect to see me again once I have recovered."

The reporters yell more questions at me about what I just said but Adam opens the car door for me. I struggle to get in but eventually I'm in. Marina gets in the back with me. Adam gets in the passenger's seat. I make room for Bobby and Kyle to get in too. Roderick drives off.

The car ride to my apartment is quiet. No one talks. The tension is thick, probably because I just said that I was going to retaliate against Britt because of her purposely injuring me.

I go on my phone and I scroll through my notifications. Most of what I'm seeing is me injuring my knee. The fans loved the pay-per-view, they're just mad at what happened during my match.

Kyle says, "So are we just going to ignore the elephant in the room or talk about what Angelina just said."

"There's nothing to talk about," Adam snaps at Kyle. I look up at Adam and I raise my eyebrows.

Kyle throws his hands up in surrender. He says, "Bro, chill."

I say, "Adam."

"Don't 'Adam' me, Angelina," Adam says. "You shouldn't be going after her again. She injured you once, what's stopping her from doing it again."

I tuck my phone away and I say, "She purposely injured me, Adam. She put every ounce of energy into that move, knowing that she was going to hurt my knee. Am I supposed to just sit back and let that slip? That's not happening."

Adam turns in his seat and he says, "You're going to risk your career and for what? A little revenge? It's not worth it."

"To you," I say. "She didn't injure you on purpose, Adam. I'm not just going to sit back and take that."

Adam squints his eyes at me and says, "You should."

I roll my eyes and say, "My career is not yours to worry about. If I want one more match with Britt then I will get one more match with Britt. I will not stand by and let her get away with purposely injuring me."

He turns back in his seat and he mutters under his breath, "Maybe your title should have actually been taken from you because it will be if you go after her again."

My eyes widen and Marina says, "Adam Cole, that is not your place to say."

Adam says, "She doesn't even care about the title at this point. She's just going after Britt for revenge. She doesn't even care that she has a title defense the week she comes back."

I feel tears prick my eyes. Maybe your title should have actually been taken from you. I cannot believe that he just said that to me.

Marina says, "You know she cares about the title. You know that's always her top priority so stop acting like this thing with Britt is."