The Cruiserweight (43 page)

"I’d like to make a toast," he said. "You know,
Brett, we’ve known each other for a long time, and I’ve both played
a lot of practical jokes and teased the shit out of you
sometimes."

“Sometimes. Hey, holmes, try every other day,”
Brett replied.

"Okay, you win. Every other day. But you know,
you couldn’t find a better woman than Karen, even though she has
more life experience and more common sense.”

Laughter filled the room.

“Seriously, congratulations, guys. I wish you
many years of happiness together." Everyone applauded and went back
to their meals When dinner was over, the guests made their way to
the dance floor to burn off some calories after the bridal
dance..

Soon, it was time to cut the cake. Karen and
Brett held the knife and cut the first piece of cake together. He
was gentle feeding her the first bite. When it was Karen’s turn to
feed Brett, Patrick yelled, “Shove it in his face!”

She did.

“Hey, no fair! I was nice!” He put icing on her
nose. Soon, cake icing was all over each other’s faces as the
guests laughed at their antics. Both went to the restroom to clean
up their faces as everyone went back to what they were doing before
the cake cutting.

Loud laughter filled the room again when an
inebriated Patrick fell off his chair. “Looks like someone had one
Corona too many,” Nick said with a grin.

“I have an idea,” Brett said. He pulled a large
sombrero from a nearby cabinet and placed it on a passed-out
Patrick’s head and drew a mustache with cake icing. “Give me your
camera phone.”

Nick handed it over. “Be my guest. Make sure
you save me a copy too.”

*****

The crowd became thin around midnight; many of
the guests had either gone home or to their hotel rooms. Brett and
Karen were also ready to leave.

“Fun has to end sometime,” she said.

Brett wiggled his eyebrows. “I thought it was
just beginning.”

“Keep your mind out of the gutter until we get
home, husband.”

Nick, Sharon and Pilar came over to the couple.
Pilar was carrying Autumn, who was asleep. “We’re going to head
upstairs,” Pilar said. “Looks like Autumn’s dead to the
world.”

“Poor baby. I don’t think she’s see this much
excitement,” Karen replied.

“We can take Autumn for the night. Not only
will it give you newlyweds some time alone, but also there’s no
point waking her.”

Brett nodded. “Sure. You’d need to come with us
to pick up some diapers and her nightclothes.”

“No need,” Karen said. “There’s an emergency
bag in the car’s trunk, just in case something like this
happened.”

“Always prepared, huh?”

“With babies, a person has to be. Think you can
go get the bag for your mom? It’s a light blue one, and I put it on
the right side of the trunk.”

“Yeah. Be back in a few.”

She turned to Pilar. “Are you sure Autumn won’t
be a problem tonight?”

“How can something so precious be a problem? We
love spending time with her.”

“Meanwhile, I need to figure out a way to get
Pat’s drunk ass upstairs,” Nick said. “I’ll meet you guys in the
room. Congrats, Karen.”

“Thank you, Nick. Send me a copy of the
sombrero picture too.”

“No problemo,
senora.
Consider it a
wedding gift from me.”

Pilar looked confused. “Sombrero
picture?”

Sharon rolled her eyes. “Patrick had too much
to drink and passed out. Brett and Nick thought it was funny to
paint a cake icing mustache on him and they found a big sombrero,
put it on Pat’s head, and took a picture with Nick’s phone. I
swear, I have the world’s weirdest brothers.”

Brett returned with the bag. “Here you are,
guys, all set to go.” He smiled at Karen. “So, my new bride, are
you ready to begin our marriage?”

She laughed and nodded. “Lead the
way.”

*****

"Next time we’re going to have to be a little
more quiet," Karen said with a chuckle as she lay in Brett’s arms
after making love, a thin sheen of sweat coating their bodies. "The
last thing we need is the neighbors calling the cops.”

"That’s your fault," Brett answered, kidding.
"You’re the screamer."

Karen smacked his arm, giggling. “You weren’t
exactly quiet either”

“Feels kind of odd without Little Bit here,
huh?”

“Yes, I keep wanting to go to her room to make
sure she’s okay before I remember your mom has her tonight. At
least she’s in good hands.”

“With Grandma? More than good hands; Ma,
Sharon, and Nick will have that kid spoiled by sunrise.”

“No kidding.” Karen yawned. “Not to be a party
pooper on our wedding night, but we should get some
sleep.”

They had just started to doze when the phone
rang. With a groan, Brett grabbed the cordless on the nightstand.
“Better be good for quarter to two in the morning.”

“I’m going to kill you and your fuckhead
brother,” Patrick’s voice growled.

“Couldn’t that wait until morning?”

“Dude, is it not bad enough you all made fun of
me for being drunk off my ass, but you had to paint icing all over
me and put a stupid sombrero on my head? Worse, Nick posted that
shit on YouTube!”

Brett sat up. “He did
what?
I swear to
Christ, Pat, I had no idea he made video with his phone. Nick was
just supposed to take pictures for a few people, specifically me
and Karen.”

“It’s up there. Look under ‘Patrick
Sanchez-Garcia Goes Wild’ when you get a chance.”

“Hold on. Let me get my BlackBerry.” Brett
grabbed it out of a side drawer, turned it on, and searched for the
video. “Freaking hell. You’re not the only one who wants to kick
baby brother’s ass.”

“If I lose bookings from this shit, he dies,”
Patrick said.

“Just report it and have them take it down,
dude. I didn’t want wedding videos made for the reason they’d end
up on YouTube anyway, let alone something like that. Jesus, what
was Nick thinking?”

“He’s a dumb ass. Seriously, man, get that shit
off of there.”

“Trust me, I’ll take care of it.” Brett hung
up.

“What was that about?” Karen asked.

Brett told her, filling in the
details.

“I don’t believe it. We didn’t even want video
done at our wedding.”

“Exactly what I told Pat. Note to self: Give
baby brother a royal ass chewing tomorrow when we pick up Little
Bit.”

CHAPTER 85

There was no honeymoon
following Brett and Karen’s wedding, as he was scheduled for both
house shows and a television taping the following week. It didn’t
bother Karen
–
by then, she was more than familiar with him
having such a demanding schedule
–
but it annoyed Brett, who envisioned whisking his new
bride away from any and all distractions for a week or two.

On Monday following his wedding, Brett defended
his TV Title during the television taping against Zipper, his
latest opponent.

“Ready?” Brett asked in a low voice after he
was introduced.

“Let’s do it,” Zipper answered.

They locked and Brett took Zipper down with
some arm drags. They locked again and Brett put a side headlock.
Zipper whipped him off, but Brett knocked him down with a shoulder
block.. Brett went into the ropes and took Zipper out with a hip
toss. Zipper left the ring to recover before he returned and kicked
Brett.

He sent Brett into the ropes and Brett kicked
him in the face. Brett did a front press and dropkicked Zipper in
the face.

He a clothesline and took down Zipper before
hitting a flapjack. Brett set up Zipper for the Slice of Kerrigan,
but Zipper tackled Brett and put him in a roll up for a near
fall.

Brett countered another clothesline into a
T-Bone Suplex for a near fall. He hit a drive-by kick on Zipper in
the corner but Zipper had a foot on the rope before the three
count.

Zipper went to the apron and snapped Brett off
the rope. He went for the Big Zip, but Brett held the ropes. He
attempted Slice of Kerrigan one more time, but Zipper managed to
escape out of the ring.

By the time Zipper attempted to return inside
the ring, the referee completed the ten-count, and Brett retained
his championship. Zipper threw a fit outside as Brett preened with
his title. The match would mark his record as the longest-reigning
TV Champion.

*****

“I’ll say this much, you are one tough,
unbeatable dude,” Zipper said while he and Brett changed in the
locker room. He shook Brett’s hand. “Strange as it sounds, it was a
pleasure being your opponent.”

Brett grinned at the roster’s newest member.
“Pleasure’s mine. What better way to break into your new
job?”

“Good point, man. How long have you been TV
Champ?”

“Almost seven months.”

“Lucky bastard. By the way, heard you got
married last week. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“Guess you’re heading home to the bride,
eh?”

“Sure, but I thought I’d go unwind a little
first.”

“Won’t she pissed if you get home
late?”

“Karen? Hell no. She understands the business,
and is the least jealous woman I know outside of my own mother.”
Brett picked up his bag. “Care to join me? I’ll get a tab going at
a little pub down the street.”

Zipper laughed. “That will give fans something
to discuss. Didn’t we all but beat the hell out of each other about
twenty minutes ago?”

“Yeah, but where’s the rule that says a champ
can’t be nice to a newbie outside the ring? I was new once,
too.”

*****

Patrick’s concern about his image appearing on
YouTube
–
and his reputation being
tarnished
–
as a result of Nick’s
prank were unwarranted. The video received over 100,000 views from
around the world, and those numbers were still climbing. The
subsequent comments under the video were mostly positive ones,
prompting Patrick to make it part of his new DVD
compilation
–
and gave credit to
Nick, of course.

“I decided to let your baby brother live this
time,” he told Brett during one of their phone calls.

Brett was amused. “Now don’t you feel guilty
about interrupting my wedding night?”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I was pissed, had the
beginning of a hangover, and not thinking straight. Karen wasn’t
mad?”

“If she was, nothing was mentioned.”

“Anyway, enough about me, how’s married
life?”

“Can’t complain. Much as I love wrestling, I
didn’t realize what I’ve missed over the years until I started
coming home to a family of my own. You know, you’re going to be
thirty-one next April. Time to consider settling down yourself,
home fries.”

“Jesus Christ, now you’re starting to sound
like
Mami.
‘Jacob got married. He and Vicki Lynn are talking
about kids. When are you going to find a nice girl, Patrick?’
Fucking hell, kill me now.”

“She’s not getting any younger, and neither are
you.”

“Very funny, consider you have a year on
me.”

“I have a wife and kid too. Seriously, Pat,
it’s time for you to quit skirt chasing and find somebody decent.
Who wants to grow old alone? Maybe Karen and I can put together a
dinner the next time you’re in Orlando
—
”

“Hell no! I don’t do blind dates, and I sure
not meeting anyone from your crowd of dorks.”

“Okay, but no skin off of my teeth if you end
up alone when you’re eighty.”

“Who knows, I may be the one who ends up dying
happy. Now quit acting like my mother. Having one of those is more
than enough.”

CHAPTER 86

“Patrick needs a steady woman,” Brett told
Karen over dinner that night.

She stared at him. “What brought up that
subject?”

“Just something I’ve been thing for a long
time, even more so since you and I were married.”

“Honey, shouldn’t such a step be
Patrick’s
decision? He’s a big boy.”

“In chronological age. Mental age, sometimes I
think he’s still a teenager.” Brett snapped his fingers. “I have an
idea!”

“Oh, lord, do I want to hear this?”

“Work with me for a moment. You know about the
woman who works on his official website, right?”

“Laura? Of course. She adores Patrick and has
been loyal to him for as long as we can remember. Why?”

“I think we need to either send her to L.A. for
a date with Pat, or work up some kind of ruse to bring both of them
to Orlando.”