Part 22

"He...Hunter came to your room that night?" Shawn looked downright stunned. "I kind of figured he'd have crawled in a corner to sleep off the booze...and the knee I gave him. Oh shit. He was probably pretty pissed, right?"

"That would be an understatement. I think it was more like...raging bull in a china shop, or rather hotel room in this case. He was pounding on the door so loud I thought he'd wake the entire floor. I opened it, he shoved me into the wall and barreled into the room shouting for you. When I told him you weren't there, he didn't believe me. I don't know if he thought I was hiding you under the bed...or what. Once he actually figured out that you weren't there, he started in on me. He said that if I didn't tell him where you were he'd kick my ass. I figured you two had had some kind of fight, but he didn't mention the fact that you'd dumped him, so I...I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. I told him to calm down...that you would be back after you cooled off and that I hadn't heard from you. If possible, he got even more pissed off and told me that he wasn't going to calm down and you weren't coming back. He started throwing things and I still didn't have a clue what was going on." Sean shifted nervously in his seat and Chris gave him a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

"I told him to calm down again and he grabbed hold of my shirt and started shaking me. He kept asking me where you were and I kept shouting that I didn't know. Finally, I got pissed off and told him I didn't know where you were and I wouldn't tell him if I did. That's when things got...ugly. I didn't see the first punch coming at all. By the time he landed the fourth the only thing keeping me on my feet was his hold on my shirt. After that things get a little blurry in my mind." Sean ignored the stunned looks he was receiving from the others and continued on hoping that no one would interrupt before he was done speaking.

"Judging by the way that I felt when I came to...he'd been tap-dancing on my chest as well. After listening to make sure he wasn't still there I dragged myself to my feet. It was about seven in the morning and my head was still a bit fuzzy. My chest hurt enough I was wondering if I had broken ribs so I thought the smart thing to do would be to get someone to check them out. I knew Glen was on the floor below and I headed out with the intention of going to his room, but as I stumbled out the door, I ran headfirst into Chris." Sean gently ran his fingers of one hand along the arms wrapped tightly around him and craned his back to smile at Chris for a moment before returning his gaze to the other side of the room.

"He drug me back into the room, canceled his flight, and called Glen. Glen had a signing that morning and couldn't stick around but the two of them snuck me out of the hotel and Chris took me to some small-town hospital for x-rays. He had been with the company for less than a month and didn't even really know me, but he stayed with me for three hours until the x-rays were done. Then he stayed with me another nine or so once we got back to the hotel. Ended up my ribs weren't broken but I did have two with hairline fractures. I tried to convince him I'd gotten beaten up in a bar fight, but he didn't buy it, so I told him the truth. I wouldn't let him go confront Hunter though. He didn't need those sorts of problems considering the ones he already had with Hunter, even though he wasn't aware of them then. He's been there on more than one occasion when I needed him. True, I may have been pissed when I heard about what he was doing to Shawn, but I couldn't figure it out. I guess now we know why though, so it's all good at least by me."

Chris couldn't help but blush. Sean had gotten just bit off-topic there, but if that's what he needed to do to get through this... so be it. "Don't worry about it Sean. I don't blame you for feeling that way. You didn't know what was going on and I would have been pissed at me too if I were as close to Shawn as you are. As far as that night," Chris said shrugging slightly, "it's nothing anyone else wouldn't have done. You looked like a truck hit you. I couldn't just leave you there like that."

Scott shook his head, finally able to say something. He would have sounded like his calm rational self to anyone outside their circle, but everyone there could sense the anger lying underneath. "Sean, why would you not tell us about that? Hunter beat the shit out of you and you just let him get away with it? Why?"

"Pretty much for the same reasons Shawn kept things to himself. Hunter was drunk and I knew something was wrong between him and Shawn. Not that that excuses it, but I didn't want to make things worse. I didn't know they had split up, though I still probably would have protected him from your wrath. Like we always say...that's what we do, protect each other. Looking back on it, it was the wrong thing to do, but you can't change what you've done in the past. There are other things you all need to know about. That wasn't the only time something like that happened." Sean paused with a faraway look in his eye for just a moment. "He did actually apologize for it later that day...said he was drunk, lost control, it wouldn't happen again, etc. So I let it slide. The problem was I kept on letting things slide when I shouldn't have."

"For the next seven months after that night, Hunter was either really happy or extremely pissed off. There was no middle ground. The happy times were when he managed to get the title back after losing it, reforming DX on TV, the formation of the McMahon-Helmsley Era." Sean rolled his eyes slightly. "Of course there were the pissed off times as well...losing the title, me feuding with Glen. He went psycho with little provocation. He'd backhand me sometimes and then blame it on his temper or his frustration. He usually apologized right away so I let that go too. He was also on a huge power trip. I caught him a couple of times in the locker room with...different people. I don't think they were always there completely voluntarily. Hunter would make weird comments about them like if they knew what was good for their careers they'd shut up and do what he wanted them to do."

"We had kept separate rooms, which was fine with me. He'd show up every so often looking for a quick fuck, which was fine with me as well. I'm a guy...hello. Then about the sixth month into the seven, I...I started seeing someone and I didn't tell him about it. The night I did the spot with Glen and the flame-thrower, I went to check on him afterwards. He ended up with a few superficial burns and I was a little upset about it. We got to talking and we both admitted that even though we were close friends there was a bit more going on there. So we decided to see where things went. Knowing how Hunter already felt about Glen I wasn't about to tell him we were seeing each other in any way, but a professional one. I explained to Glen about our relationship, the five of us, and he was cool with it. Although he really didn't want me around Hunter for obvious reasons, he had no problem with my relationship with the rest of you. I thought I'd finally found that one person that was meant for me...like you and Kev." Sean looked at Scott and smiled.

"You were with Glen and you never told any of us? Sean...we would have supported you on it. Glen is a nice guy." Kevin seemed puzzled as to why Sean had felt he had to keep it from them.

"I couldn't tell you guys, Kev. Hunter had already made it clear how he felt about Glen. Regardless of how you all felt about him, if it had gotten back to Hunter he would have made Glen suffer for it. I love you guys, but sometimes you just can't keep things quiet Kevin." Sean smiled as Kevin growled at him. "Don't even go there, you know it's the truth. Besides, we wanted to keep things just between the two of us for awhile. A new relationship is hard to start at any time, but it's worse when you have four self-appointed big brothers that have to scope the guy out. Then there is that whole 'all of us fucking each other silly' thing. I tried to avoid Hunter at night at least for awhile so I could concentrate on Glen. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Not too long after that I started tagging with Jesse. He figured out what was going on pretty quickly with Glen always hanging around and he helped cover for us. I felt kind of bad for putting him in that position, but it made things so much easier for us."

"It was around this time that Hunter found out Vince was close to getting Shawn to come back. He seemed happy about it, yet at the same time his temper grew shorter. I heard him talking with that twit Brisco one night and he said that he was going to take measures to make sure that when Shawn came back he wouldn't want to go looking for that 'pretty little bitch'. He was determined to get Shawn back no matter what he had to do to make it happen. I wasn't sure what he had planned. It didn't dawn on me until I saw him talking to Chris one night when they were scheduled for a match. I stood as close to them as I could without being obvious and Hunter shocked the hell out of me because he asked Chris to head out with him after the show for drinks. The thing that didn't shock me was Chris blowing him off. Hunter acted like it was no big deal, but as soon as Chris walked away from him, Hunter headed towards Vince's office. From what I heard, Chris got the addendum to his match for the show about fifteen minutes before show time. That was the night Chris won the title and it was reversed, then stricken from the records. It was all to try to humiliate him...at least from what I could figure out." Sean had felt Chris stiffen behind him and he knew there was a question there, so he waited for it.

"He set that all up because I wouldn't go out partying with him? Christ he's fucked up. Bastard." It was obvious Chris was seething, but Sean knew it was going to get even worse once he revealed what else he knew.

"Yeah he was...is fucked up. That was the second night he laid into me, though not as bad as the first. I went to see Glen afterwards and had to hold him back from going after Hunter. The reason he was so pissed off Chris...it wasn't that you wouldn't go out partying with him, he was asking you out, you know, like on a date."

"What the fuck? I'm sorry that he took it out on you Sean. He never asked me out on a date...at least not in any way that I would have recognized it as being one. If I had known that was what he was asking, I still would have said no." Chris' tone ran a gamut of emotions going from furious to puzzled to amused. Sean couldn't help but laugh over the rapid change.

"Oh he was thinking of a date all right, though I found out later it wasn't because of any real interest in you...at least relationship-wise. Do you remember what happened the next week, Chris? Hunter and I ran into you in the hall. He once again asked you to go out after the show for a few drinks. Hell, I was stunned he'd asked right in front of me. You made some excuse. I don't even remember what it was...but I could tell just standing there that Hunter was pissed off, despite the smile he left with on his face. That night turned out to be Raw is Jericho. You remember? Three matches in one night...you lost the IC Title due to the special guest referee, our very own Hunter."

"Yeah. I remember. I thought I'd managed to piss Vince off somehow and he was making me work my ass off for it. Let me guess...Hunter at work again?"

"Nice guess. I always did think you were a smart guy. Are you sure that blond is natural?" Sean yelped from the tight squeeze that Chris gave him in retaliation. "Easy. I was just kidding. Anyway...getting to the point, I heard Hunter talking to Bull Buchanan later that night. He said something about you not falling in with his plans. He told Bull that since he couldn't get you to go anywhere with him there was no way he was going to be able to get you drunk and into his bed."

"Whoa! Hold up! Why in the hell would he want me in his bed in the first..." Chris trailed off taking less than a second or two to come up with the right answer. "He was going to make sure that everyone found out about it, but most importantly that Shawn found out about it...right?"

"Pretty much. He was still convinced that you were the reason Shawn left him. He figured if he could make you out to be some sort of Robowhore then Shawn wouldn't want anything to do with you and would come running right back to him. Since you wouldn't fall in with his plans he more or less decided to try burying your career instead. I tried to counteract it as best I could with Vince, especially after what you did for me the night you took me to the hospital. I couldn't just come out and tell you what he had planned though Chris. There was still the whole silence issue since it concerned Hunter. I'm sorry I didn't tell you now."

"That was the night that you called me, wasn't it?" Chris' voice though quiet was clearly audible to everyone in the room. "Did he...was it because I told him I wouldn't go with him?"

Shawn wasn't sure what Chris was talking about, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like whatever it was. He looked at Scott and saw a simmering anger in the other man's eyes. Kevin looked frozen in place while they all waited to hear what Sean was going to say.

"Yeah that was the night, but I don't think it had anything to do with you. Hunter just likes it a little rough sometimes. Usually he reserves that kind of thing for Kev or Scott because they like that sort of thing more than I do. Not that I don't ever, but I have to be in a certain frame of mind to really enjoy it. I think that night was just a mix of things. Him being drunk and me trying to hurry him through it didn't help. Don't even think of letting yourself take any of the blame for it." Sean missed the look of sadness on Chris' face, but he knew when the blond man buried his face in his neck that he would blame himself at least a little bit. The others were looking at him, obviously wanting to know what they were talking about. Best to get it over with and let the shit hit the fan, then maybe he could get their help to convince Chris that he was blameless for what had happened.

His voice a bit uneven Sean started to tell them about the events of that night. "Hunter showed up at my room that night. I'd had a few things to do before I planned to meet Glen and ended up in the room later than I'd planned. When Hunter showed up he was...beyond drunk. I let him in and he jumped on the bed and asked if I was 'up for it'. I...wasn't really, but I figured the quickest way to get rid of him would be to go ahead and give in. He had been in the habit of leaving right after and the way he was acting it wouldn't take long. So I went along with it." Sean paused for a moment and took a deep breath so he could finish the rest in a rush.

"He wasn't much for foreplay that night and kind of skimmed through the prep so I knew he was in one of those moods. It was hard and fast enough that it made me squirm a few times. I got off, but it certainly wasn't the best I'd ever had. There were bruises on my wrists because he was holding them so tight and I was pretty damn sore after he left. Knowing there was no way I was going to be able to go see Glen in the condition I was in I called him and told him I was sick. I called Chris because I needed to soak in the tub for awhile and I knew he wouldn't judge me when he found out what had happened. I wasn't sure I could make it to the bathroom without crawling and that would have just aggravated the situation. Chris came and helped me that night. I was walking funny for about 3 days and I had to avoid Glen the entire time. He'd have flat out killed Hunter if he knew he'd been that rough with me and I wouldn't have been able to out-argue him about that."

"He shouldn't have been that rough with you Sean." Kevin was back to growling again though Shawn and Scott looked a little relieved.

"Oh give over Kev. It's not like you have never left me sore after we've been together."

"Not for three damn days Sean! Don't you think he went a little overboard?"

"Yes, I do, but it's not like I tried to stop him. I was in a hurry to get him out of there so I just went with it. I wasn't even really pissed off at Hunter for it except for the fact that I had to lie to Glen about it and then avoid seeing him. Besides, that was nothing compared to what happened the following week."

Read Chapter Twenty Three of Undelivered