Page 46 of Heartbreaker
“That shoulder’s gonna be a problem now,” Savvy says. “I’d know.”
Brooks drags his opponent out of the corner by his left arm, the same one that just collided with the metal pole. He glances over at Savvy, a smirk tugging on his lips, before he stomps down on the joint.
“Don’t look now, but I think you have an admirer,” Scott chuckles.
“Shut up, Scott.”
Brooks continues to work the shoulder joint of his opponent. He drops to the mat, wrapping his legs around Spencer’s arm, bridging upwards and over-extending the arm in a cross armbreaker. Spencer yells out in pain but refuses to tap.
“Brooks continues to isolate the shoulder with a cross armbreaker, here,” Jude comments. “Spencer is trying to reach the ropes and break the hold, but he’s barely out of reach.”
“If he finally breaks the hold, it might give him the break he needs to gain some momentum in this match,” Scott says. “Brooks Taylor has been dominating the entire thing.”
From the side of the ring, Harper yells at Spencer, pleading with him to reach the ropes. When the referee turns his back, she pushes the bottom rope inward, giving Spencer the opportunity he needs.
“Harper Valentine helping Spencer here, but the ref didn’t see it,” Jude explains.
“Stay out of it, Harper!” Savvy yells, earning a glare from the other woman.
“Break the hold, Taylor!” the referee yells, but Brooks maintains the hold for two more seconds, just before it becomes illegal.
Once free, Spencer rolls under the ropes and out of the ring, where Harper checks on him.
“Get back in the ring, Austin,” the referee scolds as Brooks stares down at him. “Let’s go!”
Tired of waiting, Brooks uses the ropes to propel himself and dive outside the ring.
“Taylor just went headfirst into the barricade! He went for the suicide dive, but he didn’t anticipate Spencer moving out of the way,” Jude yells as Savvy stands from her chair. “Spencer not wasting time, throwing Brooks into the steel steps. He’s trying to wear down his opponent, but he needs to get him back in the ring before the ten count.”
“I don’t think he cares, Jude,” Scott says.
Spencer forces the other man up to his feet and forces him into a standing headlock. He glances over at the woman sitting behind the announcer’s desk before he falls backward, driving Brooks face-first into the floor.
“You’re just going to stand there?” Savvy yells at the referee, who watches idly from the ropes. “Do your job, ref!”
Spencer chuckles from his seated position, glancing over his shoulder at the lifeless body of Brooks Taylor. Using the barricade, he pushes up from the floor and rolls beneath the bottom rope back into the ring.
“Spencer Austin has certainly turned this match around,” Scott says. “There for a minute, I thought this was going to be a shutout, but he has reminded everyone that he’s not to be counted out early.”
“Get up, Brooks,” Savvy whispers.
“You want to say that a little louder for the people in the back?” Scott teases her.
“If the ref would do his job, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“And Brooks Taylor is back on his feet as the referee gets to the eight count. He needs to get back in the ring before ten,” Jude says. “And he makes it just in time!”
Brooks rolls under the bottom rope and barely makes it to his feet before Spencer launches from the top rope. He narrowly misses the missile dropkick, moving out of the way just in time, and it gives him the advantage he needs. Grabbing Spencer by the wrist, yanking him to his feet, Brooks whips him into the ropes. On the rebound, Brooks performs a spinebuster, lifting the other man off his feet and slamming his back onto the mat in a hard impact that shakes the ring.
Brooks turns to the crowd, soaking in their reaction, before he glances at Savvy one more time and winks. From the sidelines, Harper slams her hand down on the apron, trying to help Spencer garner any energy he has left to finish the match.
“Spencer still looks a little lost,” Scott says when the wrestler begins to stir, crawling on all fours toward the ropes. “I think that last spinebuster is going to give Brooks the opening he needs to finish this match.”
Brooks reaches down to force his opponent to his feet, but Spencer counters, sweeping his feet out from under him. Harper throws her hands up in victory and claps as Spencer uses the ropes to stand. He watches Brooks do the same, but on the outside of the ropes, where he now stands on the apron.
“That’s not good,” Savvy says, already seeing what Spencer is planning.
Spencer drop-kicks Brooks in the back, sending him flying from the edge of the ring onto the ground. He takes a lap, soaking in the mixed reactions from the crowd before the referee berates him, telling Spencer to keep it in the ring.
