Home Is Where The Heart Is.....

....After the intense Battlegrounds I main evented last week I flew home to Knoxville for a bit to show Maria around my hometown and to check up on the Rusty Nail, which despite the local gang's best efforts was up and running. I figured it would give Maria a lil insight into who I was outside the ring. She had been backstage during the debut of Southern Steel and looked a little shaken that I could be that brutal in the ring......

.....I decided to bring up the subject on the short flight back to Tennessee.....

VVR: You know all that rough stuff is just in the ring right?? I mean I am a big guy and all but outside the ring the real Vinnie is the one you have spent the week with.....The Southern Gentleman, the Last Cowboy and all that.....

....She looked at me with her big eyes and smiled. I swear I even saw a lil wink. God I am falling hard for this woman.

Maria: I know baby but the past couple weeks you have been for the sake of like a raging bull, I mean you beat the guys to damn near nothing. There is something to be said fro enjoying your work, but .....

VVR: I leave all that out there in the ring, when I step through the ropes after the match all I think about is you and coming back here to Tennessee. That badass is an act, the brass says it draws ratings....

....She nuzzled up to me and sighed. I know that sigh, every woman I ever spent more than a night with let loose with one of those at least once. It's the "I am gonna let you think you won this one big guy" sigh. I hate that sigh, but that will be saved for another days "discussion". Right now getting through this mess was most important. I had a devil inside me alot like Corey and I had to keep it in check for the sake of everything I was building. Be it this relationship, the team up with Steel Angel, or the Title itself. I didn't want Maria to bail on what we were starting because of what I was capable of in that ring.

Maria: But contrary to what you might think cowboy, I have seen what that does not only to you as a person but relationships. Look at that Casey fella he was a demon in that ring and it spilled over the ropes into his real life. I know we are just starting out with what ever this is, but I don't know if I am strong enough to be that woman that holds it together when the world is falling apart around her. I really care a lot for you cowboy and I don't want to lose you like hat Matthews girl lost her man. Just tell me you ain't like him.....

....I turned in my seat to face her and took her hands in my big paws. Looking into her eyes I was flooded with visions of my transformation into what I had chosen to become in the basement of that church at the hands of the Lord. I saw flashes of Jess tears welling in her eyes at the hurt she felt at being left in the dust by the Lord and Corey. I could see Maria sitting in that same spot pouring her heart out at how I had destroyed her just the same way. Instead of telling her what I saw I managed my trademark smirk and said.....

VVR: I am not Corey Casey and I would never let anything, much less my own hand hurt you. In the short time I have known you I have come to care a great deal about you and us together. I would do anything in my power to make sure you stay safe. Corey is a disturbed guy and he lost the human part of himself a good long time ago.

Maria: I guess that will have to do cowboy, but I don't like looking over my shoulder. I have done that for way too long. It's one of the reasons I ended up in Austrailia managing a side show on steroids otherwise known as Roo Boxing. I really don't like to think about that time in my life.....

VVR: So that answers my next question.....I was wondering what happened in between you and Hawk.....

....She acted like she was hurt and slapped my shoulder as we walked down the ramp to exit the plane.....

Maria: Honestly, Hawk was a huge mistake I made when I was a lil young thing. I had lost my first husband and I was in a bad place having ended up in Aussie land. He took advantage of a bad situation....

VVR: Sounds like the Hawk I have come to know and love. The lil guy can really manipulate the system.....

Maria: Funny you call him lil guy because.....

VVR: Don't tell me hung like a field mouse right??

Maria held up two fingers about an inch apart and started to giggle like a school girl.....

VVR: I knew he was covering up for his short comings .... I mean no woman I have ever seeb with him looks um how do I wanna put this.....fuffilled.....

....I opened the door to my rental car and watched her perfectly formed rear slide into the bucket seat smiling bigger than I have in quite awhile. Now we just have to make it through a weekend without some gigantic blow up. Good luck with that.....

TO BE CONTINUED........