"I'm sorry but it just isn't for us at this time, we're going to have to pass....."

"Are you sur---"

Before he got the words out, the line clicked.

"Goddamnit" he said to himself, tossing the phone onto the passenger seat. He punched the steering wheel with his palm. He could feel the sweat breaking out on his forehead. It was fogging up the window.

"God-fucking-damnit" he said, as he flipped the blinker switch. Getting into the right lane he scanned the Wa-Wa parking lot. When the traffic allowed so, he pulled in. Finding a spot away from the jumble of the cars in the lot, he slammed the high-mileage Chrysler 300 into park. Putting his head on the steering wheel, he exhaled loudly.



Pulling into the driveway, he shut off the headlamps. Unbuckling his seat belt he mushed the burnt end of his Cuban cigar into the portal ash tray that he almost always carried with him. Nothing could get the smile off of his face today! He had just landed the biggest account in company history, and even had Charles Henry himself call him up for praise. Mr. Henry never called ANYONE unless it was a call girl or his fucking accountant.

He reached behind him to the back seats, fumbling for something. The back seat was always a bit of a mess--car cleanliness was never his strong suit.

They should see his office then, he joked to himself.

Grabbing a pre-wrapped box from under the seat, he grins big and steps out of the car. Bounce in his step, to say the least.

Grabbing his keys out of his pocket, he put them in the door and twisted. His cell phone was buzzing wildly in his pocket, but he didn't have a hand free. He was sure they were congratulations messages, or messages from friends about getting a drink to celebrate. He was sure of it.

"Tanya, I'm home! Babe?!"

He set the present and the roses down on the table. The biggest day in his career, his largest bonus, and he spent it on her. That was his main focus.

"Upstairs, be right down!"

It sounded like she was brushing her teeth, her words a mumbled jumble.

He looked out the window at the sunny day that surrounded him. Not a cloud in the sky. He decided to pull out his phone. Scrolling through the messages, he was about to respond back when she came into the room.

They embraced and kissed. She was wearing yoga pants and a tank top, what she usually slept in. Hair back in a ponytail.

He handed her the box on the table.

"Babe?! What's this?!"

She began to open the box.

His entire world was inside this box.

Her quirky smile and bright eyes were all he could see as he knelt down behind her. She ripped the box open like an excited child on Christmas morning........

One layer......

Two....

Finally she got to the guts of the box and saw what the true prize was. A small, red-velvet ring case. She put a hand over her mouth to hide her gasp.

She turned around and Daniel was on one knee.

"Oh, Daniel......"

She popped open the box and had to gasp again, this time not able to get her hand up quick enough to hide it. Tears streamed down her face as she took it out of the box.

"It's beautiful".

"You're beautiful".

She handed it to him and he put it on her shaking finger.

"Tanya.......will you marry me?"

Before he got the last word out she shouted yes. He barely had time to get to his feet before she was on him in a bear hug.

"That isn't my only gift........"

"What the hell else could you possibly have gotten me that would surpass this?" she asked into his shoulder, getting make up all over his designer shirt.

"I donated the rest of my bonus......."

She pulled back.

"Daniel....you didn't....."

Her sister had died when they were younger from cancer, and her mother had to have both breasts removed and reconstructed. Tanya was always putting together events for cancer research charities and pediatric medicine programs.......she even had a multi-color ribbon bracelet that she never took over. One color for each kind of cancer in her family tree.....

"...........$300,000 to the NPCF in Tampa..........."

Her eyes went wide again........she felt faint, dizzy, and needed to sit down.

"But...what about the boat....the trip to Cancun....the beach house......."

He stared at the ring on her finger. Platinum with an entire crown of diamonds.......

"..........I'm not going anywhere........I'll make that back ten fold. I wanted to do a good thing because I knew how much it meant to you and how much it means to the ids and everyone involved........."

After a few minutes, and some sniffles......"I guess."


He brought a shaky, cupped hand up to his mouth. He could barely light his cigarette his hand was shaking so badly.

His shirt, the same shirt he had been wearing for four days now, was beginning to itch and the collar around his neck was digging in to the raw, dry skin.

Just one more chance. One more shot. He KNEW he could be what he was again. He knew that one day he would drink from that fountain of glory and feel what it feels like to be on top......

Even if just for a second.

He exhaled a puff of smoke.

He snatched the cell phone off the seat next to him and speed-dialed a number.

"Come on....come on......answer....."

Voicemail.

"Hi, this is Tanya, I can't come to the phone right now---"

"FUCK!"

He slapped the steering wheel again, almost wishing the airbag would deploy and knock him out.

He grabbed some papers of the messy dash board. He thumbed through them while puffing on his 100 sized Marlboro.

He found what he was looking for and dialed a number.

"Hello?"

"Hello there! This is Daniel Rose from Henry and Barnes Investments."

Before he got that last word out, the caller cut in.

"......Daniel! Hi. Haven't heard from you in a while......hey, look......not sure if anyone told you in the office but we already purchased a policy.........."

"You already pur---"

"Yes, just got off the phone a little while ago with a nice gentlemen. He actually was a good amount lower than your previous offer and........"

Daniel felt a lump in his throat.

"........What was the agents name, by any chance? Lotta new faces in the office, you know...." he laughed awkwardly.

"Iman Rodriguez."

He almost swallowed his cigarette.

"Oh...yes....Iman.....he's........uh......tenacious."

"He fought to get us to best deal possible. Even said he had to almost come to blows with the owner over it.....he was joking but I appreciated the dedication....."

Daniel hung up. He was going to be sick. The shoe was on the other foot now, and he was getting a taste of what getting too much too early really tasted like.

Like wet grass and dog shit, to be honest.

He lit another 100 with a shaky hand.

Furiously thumbing through contracts and previous leads, he wiped the sweat off his brow. He had no other choices left. Continue to fight, or end it all.

What other choices were there?

He remembered the Wayne Gretzy quote that used to sit etched into a plaque in what used to be his office.........

"You will miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take."

He was about to dial another number when a text popped up on his screen.

IMAN.

"Hey man. I know you're in a rut right now but if you could stop calling my clients, I'd appreciate it. That's bad business."

He stared at the phone for a second, his fingers aching to respond in all capital letters.

F U C K Y O U

He dropped the phone when his hand got to another piece of paper in the messy stack from the dashboard.

His mortgage forclosure.

$300,000.

He took a puff, long and deep...........

FUCK CANCER
FUCK KIDS
FUCK TAMPA
FUCK CHARLES HENRY
FUCK TANYA
FUCK..........

Oh my god. Tanya. She was due today.........that's probably why she didn't answer! She's probably in labor........

He threw the Chrysler into drive and sped out of the Wa-Wa lot, peeling onto the freeway with a screech and almost hitting an old couple who was doing nothing wrong but minding their own business on a drive.

He was minding his own too........problem was......lately......he had nothing but bad business.


"Call it a fall from grace. Call it a drop off. Call it a failure. I call me me. Mistakes I have learned from, and mistakes by others I have capitalized on. The fact that Tommy Wish has the gaul to even mention my name is what baffles me. DOCK, I get it. Tommy......you mention my name and I smash your lips into your esophagus. That is how this dynamic works between me and you, and it always has. It always will. A lot of people have said a lot of things about me, Doc pointed out many of them, but you? You don't get to. You don't take shots at legends, Tommy. It's just something you don't do.

Tommy, whichever parasite is slowly draining the life from you, high five him for me. You look like you masturbate in McDonald's bathrooms, and your skill set inside the ring isn't much better than your outward appearance. I am glad you're changing things up, though. Kudos."

*eye rolls initiated*

"Switching from heroin to meth doesn’t count"

"Good point. He's still a loser, just a tad less of a loser than before."

" I didn't know Steve Buscemi was into bestiality.

"He's into all sorts of whacky shit. Those Hollywood types, ya know?"

Theo nods and the two share a laugh at Tommy's expense.

"That being said, Tommy.....I am going to teach you a lesson in Chicago. I am going to teach you a lesson in humility. A lesson in respect. Do you know why it is that you don't often get people who want to fight you?

Because they don't want to waste their time.

Me, Tommy, I have all the time in the world. I have a guaranteed title shot, the administration of this company backing me, and have free reign to do what I want to who I want with little to no repercussion. I have all the time in the world to beat you pillar to post and eliminate you early in this match, before finishing off the burned senior citizen once and for all.

The man, the myth, the legend. A true soldier. I could never talk bad about a veteran, but i am curious, did he fight for the Union or the Confederacy? DOCK, my point here is this......I have the utmost respect for you and your accomplishments, but your time is up. The biological clock has ticked past its final minute, and your legacy has come spiraling to the ground in a ball of flames. It has all come full circle. Here you are again, the top of the ferris wheel, overlooking everything in your carnival kingdom. Here I am, coming out of the depths of the abyss, ready to burn the entire thing to the ground.

AGAIN

DOCK, you wanna talk about how I was spoiled from jump-street. How I let ONE night dictate the rest of my career? How ONE victory over you launched me to become a multi-time champion and a Top Ten All Time superstar here?

Perhaps you're right.

Maybe I have let it get ot my head. Maybe I have taken a list that you don't seem to appear on anywhere I look (I checked the hall of legends also, and got bored scrolling), and maybe that is too much for me. Maybe the fact that you have beaten Gator 3 straight and have never and "will never" lose to him again validates the fact that as good as you are, as great as you are......you'll never be it.

That is what I shoot for Doc. You wanna talk about goals? Setting goals and achieving them? Perhaps we have a different set of goals, different set of priorities, and maybe it takes me longer to get to my goal than it does you......but at the end of the day I GET WHAT I WANT. I keep pounding away, I keep coming back. Difference this time........confidence. I was down and out, I was feeling like I lost a step, every single loss I suffered added another brick to the depression pile and......

.....well quite frankly I was another big match loss away from a Xanax sandwich washed down with a gallon of whiskey.

But Doc....now.......I am not the same down-and-out schlub that you've come to know. I am not the same Chris Chaos that went into the match against Duke saying whatever I wanted because I knew I was going to lose anyway. Why not ruffle feathers? Why not cross boundaries? I didn't have what it took to beat him in my mind anyway. I was walking to the gallows and I damn well knew it.

NO.

THIS Chris Chaos has the same passion, the same fire, the same dangerous demeanor as the man who defeated you five years ago. Universal Title or not Wednesday Night, I finally realize that THIS Chris Chaos is the same one who has become a multi-time champion, has held every title we offer, has become an all-time houshold name and who became a LEGEND.

We aren't so different, you and I.

It was the pinnacle of my career to beat you before, and I have admired you since. I was honored to even be in the ring with you, but coming out on top was the cherry on the sunday.

Now....DOCK, now.......I would be honored to beat you again.

You may not look at me as a threat, and I understand that. You may take my above statement and blast it into the atmosphere, claiming there is nothing similar about us at all....

But you know it to be lies, and you know exactly what walking into the ring with THIS Chris Chaos really means.

The question is.....are you prepared to finally be equalized?"

He ashes his cigar as him and Theo get up, Pryce saying nothing as he stares into the camera.