Chapter One

Dad's car was in the driveway. He was picking me up to bring me home to his house. I hadn't been to the Hardy Compound in a month or so. I hadn't been that sociable either, which was why he was at my place in Wilmington, more than 2 hours from Cameron.

It wasn't that I didn't love my family. I did, with all my heart. I was overwhelmed. Michael, aka DJ Z, and I had broken up, which Mom and Dad didn't know, and moved out. I was home from school for a few weeks and in that time, I moved out of the Hardy Compound and found out Mom was pregnant again. It was a lot to take in. Especially since I had been in school for the last two years following an injury in the ring that knocked me out medically for nearly a year.

Dad rang my doorbell and I let him in, hugging him as I did, trying to forget about all the stress I was under. He looked around the house as if he was looking for something. Finally, I asked him.

"What are you looking for, Dad?"

"Michael. Isn't he coming with you today?"

"No."

"Are you okay, Taylor?"

What a loaded question, I thought to myself.

"I'm fine. He's just not around. We should go before we get stuck in traffic all day," I said changing the subject and grabbing my shoulder bag.

Dad shrugged and walked out the front door. I locked up behind us and got in his car. When we started driving my mind started wandering.

Lethal Lockdown, 3 years ago:

I was ready to go. I had a match against Awesome Kong, the second year she'd faced one of the Knockouts in the Lockdown cage. It was a new type of match for me, but I was excited. The last year and a half had been amazing.

The match started and we were having a great time. Kia was great to work off of. It was a brutal match. I put Kia over, because fierce or not, I knew neither myself nor my character were any match for Kong at that time. When I got back up right after the pin, Kong came over and looked me over with a look of shock and respect that even after all of that, I was still standing. She nodded at me and left the cage.

My body was stiff and sore from the amazing match I'd just had, but I knew my spot wasn't over. Dad came running down into the cage.

"Are you okay, Taylor?"

"I'm good, Dad. Sore."

"She didn't hurt you?"

"Nothing I can't deal with."

As part of the storyline, he started helping me backstage. Unfortunately, James Storm and his Revolution came out. Dad started fighting with them. They tried grabbing me. Uncle Matt came out with the Wolves to fight them off. The problem was in all the flying fists and kicks, the guys lost track of where I was.

One of the members of the Revolution hit me when we were up on the stage and I fell. When I fell, I hit the back of my neck on the stage on my way down and I landed badly when I finally hit the floor. I felt the air get knocked out of my lungs and then everything went dark.

I woke up in the hospital two days later. I had minimal movement in my body because of the fall. The doctors told me I needed surgery to fix the damage and the recovery time would be upwards of a year. I cried but signed off on the surgery.

They kept me in the hospital for two weeks after the surgery. I was depressed as hell. I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to wrestle again. So, when they sent me home, I got in touch with the admissions office at Stanford. I had been accepted with a scholarship when I graduated high school at sixteen. It had been just under three years since I had and I figured I could be strong enough to go to school by the fall. I reapplied and got admissions and the scholarships again.

Present:

"Taylor, did you hear me?"

"No. Sorry. I was just thinking."

"About?"

"The accident. How falling off that stage had left me wondering if I'd ever walk again, never mind being able to wrestle."

"You made the best of it. You went to college."

"Because what else could I do, Dad?"

"I'm sorry you got hurt, Taylor, but it's a risk you take when you wrestle."

"I know that, Dad. But it wasn't even my match. It was you guys being careless."

"Wait do you blame me for this?"

"No. That's not what I said. I know it was one of the guys in the Revolution stable. But all of you were doing that and you were supposed to keep track so I could get out, but nobody did that. And I got hurt. That's all there is to it."

Dad stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. I felt bad, but what could I do? I knew that becoming a wrestler had risks, I just didn't expect stupidity to be the cause.

When we got to the house, we both acted like nothing was wrong. We were both tired and it had been a long ride. Grandpa Gil, Uncle Matt, Aunt Reby, my little cousin Jason, Mom, Ruby, and our baby brother Jeffrey Junior were all there. I gave them all hugs and then realized that Shannon Moore, my dad and uncle's friend for years was there. I ran to him and hugged him.

"I didn't know you'd be here!"

"Miss a chance to see you while you're in Cameron? You're kidding, right, Kid?"

"I missed you too, Shannon."

"How's Wilmington?"

"Why don't you come visit and find out before I go back to California?"

"Remind me why you moved out of here when you're in California so much?"

"I needed my space."

"You or you and your boyfriend."

"I needed my space, Shannon."

We joined the party and before long, I had J.J. with Ruby sitting right next to me. I had missed them.

"Why don't you come home that much, Taylor?"

Ruby was nine now. It amazed me how fast she was growing up. She was only three the first time I saw her, four when she came to live with us.

"Well, I live far away and I'm not always home anyway. I go to school in California when I'm not home."

"I miss you."

"I miss you too, Ruby. I love you."

"I love you too."

J.J. started crying and Ruby got exasperated.

"Again?!"

"What?" I asked her.

"All he ever does is cry, eat, need his diaper changed, and sleep."

I laughed.

"It's because he's a baby. We were all like that when we were a year old."

I put J.J. down on the floor and he calmed down as he started crawling around.

"See, he just didn't want to be held. He's okay now."

"He cries a lot."

"Are things okay here?"

"Amy and Dad argue sometimes. Mama wants to spend more time with me. Dad thinks it's a good idea. Amy says she still doesn't trust her because of you. What happened with you and my mama, Taylor?"

I was not about to tell Ruby her mom hit me thinking Dad was my boyfriend.

"The first time I ever saw you your mom thought I was someone else and we got into a problem. I was scared of her because she was yelling at me and saying mean things because she thought I made Dad leave you and her. Mom doesn't like that she scared me so much."

"I'm sorry Mama scared you. But she won't hurt me."

"I know that, Baby. Mom is just protective of both of us. You're like her daughter, too."

"Mama says Amy isn't really your mama. Is that true?"

"Kinda. She adopted me when she married Dad. My mama died when I was fifteen. That's how I wound up living with Dad. I didn't know him until she died."

"Why?"

"You know what, Ruby? Let me talk to Mom. Maybe I can talk to her about your mama."

I got up and walked away, not willing to talk about my past with my little sister. I walked over to Mom, where she was sitting talking to Aunt Reby and sat down with them. They both smiled at me.

"How are you, Taylor?" Mom asked.

"How's school?" Aunt Reby asked.

"School's great and I'm okay," I started. "Mom, I think you should stop fighting Dad about Ruby seeing Beth. She wants to spend more time with her mama and I don't think Beth would hurt her. What happened with me and her was different. She had no idea who I was. She thought I was the one keeping Dad out of Ruby's life. She hasn't hurt Ruby in all these years. Give her a chance. You know if there are any signs of anything going wrong Dad will put an end to all of it immediately. I just think its bad for her to hear you and Dad arguing about it. It also can't be good for J.J. or the baby your carrying."

Mom just looked at me, shocked. Aunt Reby looked proud that I spoke my mind the way I did. She was a New Yorker and wasn't fond of holding back.

"I'll think about it, Taylor. I have reason for being worried. I remember what she did to your face."

"That was years ago, Mom, and she had no idea I was Dad's daughter."

"I'll talk to your dad."

"Thanks."

I hugged Mom and Aunt Reby before getting up and walking around again. I didn't want to be in any one place for long. I didn't want to have to answer certain questions just yet.