Murder/Suicide

Johnny had only heard the shouting from the weight room and barely that. Whenever he was in town, he was always in the weight room unless he was specifically needed for something. And when he was in the weight room, there was always some kind of shitty old punk rock blaring.

However, the whistle he could not ignore and he decided to finish up what he was doing and see what was going on. He caught Taylor leaving and after a quick look from his mother, strolled into the kitchen after her.

He slipped behind Taylor wrapped his muscly arms around her. "Babe... everything cool?" He asked, kissing the base of her neck.

Taylor knew it was Johnny by his footsteps alone, and she drew her first relaxing breath that wasn't forced. She closed her eyes and put her hands on Johnny's.

"Everything's great, why do you ask?" She said, her voice loaded with petulant, pouty sarcasm.

"nnnn..."

Johnny squeezed a little harder and planted a few more kisses against Taylor's neck. "C'mon, babe." He said, smiling. "You're not very good at fooling anyone when you're worked up. Especially not me."

Johnny slipped around and faced Taylor. He let his hands slip around her waist and pressed her lower body against his. "Why don't we just take tonight off?" He said, grinning at her. "When's the last time we just got to chill and junk?" He said. "We've both been busy and... it could be pretty good for both of us. We've kinda been away from home a lot too."

Taylor shook her head. "I can't. I know.... I said that I wanted to be able to relax more and everything, but that was before this... stuff came up."

She leaned back against Johnny's strong body and tried to relax, but she remained hopelessly rigid. She let her head roll back onto Johnny's shoulder. "Babe..." She said, with a pained expression. "I did something without telling anybody."

Johnny sighed at Taylor's initial words. Whenever she said she couldn't, she meant she wouldn't. Sometimes it wasn't worth trying to change her mind. She was very stubborn and determined and most of the time Johnny liked that about her. However, he was no fool. He also knew that if she was just left alone, her stubbornness could be self destructive and that's usually when Johnny tried to put his foot down. She wouldn't let most people who cared for her take care OF her when she put her mind to something, but Johnny often could at least persuade her to take her foot off the pedal a little bit. This was a time when he needed to try and slow her down for her own sake and, from what it sounded like, for the sake of her friends too.

But she stopped him with her next words. Johnny raised a worried brow. "What did you do, dude?'

Taylor let out a long hiss of a sigh, and turned her head. She didn't want to ruin the moment yet, and hesitated before she answered.

"It's about Kelly..." She said slowly. "I... I'm nothing until I beat her, in the ring, and clean. I'll never feel like the champ. Everything I've put myself through just to get here, and I'm still not... fuckin'..." He knew all this. She'd said the words a thousand times before.

"You know I've got to beat her. I just need her to fight me, but she's waiting for the worst possible moment. So... I figured out a way to make sure she fights me."

Johnny listened with a frown. He HAD heard it and he had already said and did everything he could to try and make her not believe it. She wasn't going to listen and it seemed like there was nothing that could be done in this world otherwise. It made him said. It broke his heart to see her actually believe the stupid things she said. it made him feel like he was failing as a husband for not being able to tug those thoughts out of her mind.

"Babe..." He muttered and hugged her close. He just wanted her to feel safe in his arms. "What... did you do?"

Johnny blinked. He was expecting something a little more devious and his face was blank for a moment. He then smiled big. "Great! I'm sure you'll kick her ass!" He encouraged and squeezed her once more.

Taylor closed her eyes again. "Yeah, I, uh... challenged some people."