Bravado, Threats, & A Broken Finger // vs. Bae & Emma 02

[Raven MacDemare]

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◊ Equinox Gym in San Francisco, California

Raven MacDemare wasn’t one for emotional outbursts and calling Emma Douglas a ‘witch’ was about as bad as it got for our young heroine. Hailey Banks stood beside her friend, still clad in only a towel, and chewed her bottom lip.

“Why would she take your phone?”

Raven threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t know! First my ring and now my phone. Lord is going to kill me.”

“Lord isn’t going to kill you, Ravey. If he didn’t freak out over Archer taking your engagement ring, he isn’t going to freak out about Emma taking your phone.”

“I kinda didn’t tell him about the ring.”

“How did he not notice it was missing from your finger?” Hailey thought for a moment. “Nevermind.”

“I can’t keep living this, Hails. I’m sick of looking over my shoulder every time I leave my house. Violent Intent, MGM, and Shawn DeLise have got to be stopped. Hanalei Brightly and Bear Reynolds are having a rally at The Arena later on. I texted Hanalei before I left and told her I would be there. I won’t be a victim anymore.”

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◊ REPLAY FOOTAGE - San Francisco Hills

Raven coughed and touched her throat once again. The evil intent dripping from Archer was making her hair stand on end. Raven prided herself on being strong and fearless, but he had nearly taken the very life from her body in less than a minute. Her nerves were shot and the wonderful week she had experienced in Calgary - Lord and Raven had gotten engaged over Thanksgiving - was nothing more than a distant memory.

With shaking hands, Raven reached her left hand up and tucked her dark hair behind her ears.

“You of all people know what I’m capable of handling. You practically had to kill me in front of thousands of people in order to get me to quit during our match. I will be fine against Emma. I’m not scared of her, or anyone else on the roster for that matter. All of us are victims this week and we are just going to have to put everything aside and try to make this work. The one thing we both want is to win, even if that means I have to take something from Lord. We aren’t like you and Emma. Neither of us get off on hurting the other person. But I know Lord’s weaknesses. He can’t last in the ring if we draw the match out and you know just how long I will put up a fight first hand. Lord can use his environment to his advantage, which you also know because he’s defeated you at your own game. But he’s also distracted very easily and won’t be able to concentrate if I’m standing beside you and fighting this fight.”

Raven squared her shoulders and her eyes never left Archer’s.

“Lord also knows that I would walk through a fire in order to protect him and his championship. If push comes to shove, and things get crazy between Emma and I, he will take out Emma and get her fired. It sacrifices my contract, but I am by his side no matter what. It also takes a shot at you. That’s why I’m not worried, Archer. Emma is so strong and looked so convincing in her win over Hails and Hana last week, but her composure is her weakness. It will cost them the match.”

Archer took note of the heart-shaped diamond ring on Raven’s left hand. A sick smirk spread across his face and his hand shot out, gripping Raven’s bruised throat again. He grabbed her left hand and bent her ring finger back, ready to snap it.

“What’s this, little bird? Did Lovey get engaged over the holiday?”

Archer did snap that finger and Raven let out a shriek and slumped to the ground. Archer bent down, removed the ring, and placed it inside his pocket.

“Don’t make threats,” he warned. “Especially threats that you and I both know Lord won’t have the balls to back up.”

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Raven shuddered and slowly pulled her clothes out of her locker. Her beautiful chocolate colored eyes looked down at her broken finger. “All of them have to be stopped, Hailey."

They all needed to be stopped before it was too late.

/End.