Thursday, February 14, 2002 (Continued)
Stephanie felt her entire body go numb as she stared at Hunter. At this point, speaking was not her ally. It was always her mouth that managed to put her marriage on the rocks. Her marriage. After tonight she may not have one at all. It would be a lie to say she was prepared for it to end. What's the smartest way to go about this? Should she start begging, crying and pleading? Or would it be best to remain calm and collected, like she didn't give a damn? She felt the burning in the back of her eyes as she wished that she were anywhere else in the world. Anywhere but here. Deciding to get herself in check, she forced her lips into a tight line, her sapphire eyes now vacant of emotion, as she looked up at her husband.
"Hunter…" she started, slowly.
He
put his hand up, indicating for her to be quiet. Once he saw that her
mouth was closed yet again, he curled his hand into a fist as he
brought it away from her face, to rest at his side.
"You're a
plague." His voice was low.
Hunter had spoken so softly that she
couldn't make out what he said. "Excuse me?" She asked and then
bit her lip. Part of her didn't want to hear what the hell he said.
Somehow she knew she needed to, though.
"You are a plague!"
Hunter bellowed.
She blinked, unsure of how to respond. Just what
exactly was he talking about? A plague? "I'm sorry, I
don't…" She started before being cut off.
"Shut up,
Stephanie! I wouldn't expect someone like you to know what I
mean."
Her mouth parted slightly and her eyes widened, as she
felt a blow to her pride. Someone like her? "What the hell do you
mean by that?"
Hunter laughed. Not the hearty, sincere,
beautiful laugh that she loved. No. This laugh was sinister, mocking,
demeaning. "You are a selfish, arrogant brat. You care for nothing
and no one but yourself. Everything you touch rots away to shit. You
are a plague."
Stephanie shut her eyes tightly for a moment.
"How can you say that to me?" She queried, softly. She refused to
cry. Not just yet. She silently promised herself that she'd hold on
to her emotions of hysteria until he was gone, at least.
He
smirked slightly. "Easy. You're like a fucking slow acting
poison. You creep your way in silently, then start clawing, biting,
and draining the life out of everything until there's nothing left
but crap. Everyone who has ever had some type of personal
relationship with you has regretted it. I'm all you've got." He
explained, and then corrected himself, "All you had."
Past
tense. She swallowed thickly. Hunter was gone either way. As
much as she didn't want to hurt him, she figured it no longer
mattered. She had hurt him already. Beyond repair. Her
self-preservation tactics were in full force all of a sudden, as she
realized he was about to declare them permanently over with. Hunter
could be rational and forgiving only after his temper had subsided.
She knew that would never be the case. Not this time. She wasn't
foolish enough to believe he could ever look at her the same way.
They were done. The last spark of the fire that was Stephanie
McMahon-Helmsley, multiplied. She felt the heat course through her
veins, knowing what she had to do. "Had? We were fucking doomed
from the start in this circus of a marriage. Hunter, you never had me
and I never had you. It's time to stop this shit that we put each
other through. There's no good fucking reason for it." She said
unsympathetically, looking anywhere but at him.
"I-you…what?"
Hunter stammered dimwittedly. This was so not the way he pictured
this conversation going. She was the one who fucked up and she was
now sitting here talking shit to him? Something was seriously wrong
with this damn picture. "Stephanie what are you ranting about?"
He managed to ask, more intelligently.
She looked up at him
briefly, then away again. "Us, Hunter. We could never have worked.
I'm just glad you know about me and Chris now." There it was. The
final dagger in his heart. She had to be strong and end this herself.
She refused to add Hunter abandoning her, to her long list of
problems. It would have happened anyway, but "I, with you" made a
difference when it comes to breaking up, in her mind. Her stubborn
pride wouldn't let her be further humiliated by giving him the
satisfaction of actually telling her it was over.
Hunter glared
at Stephanie as he saw the smirk appear on her face. Damn this!
"Fuck you, Stephanie! I hope you and that prick will be happy
together because you're fucking dead to me!" He all but yelled
and walked back into the dressing room, slamming the door. The walls
shook slightly from the vibration.
"Goodbye, Hunter…"
Stephanie mouthed, before kissing her fingertips and placing them on
the doorknob.
Jericho could not have suppressed his grin if he
tried. This was amazing! Stephanie thought she cheated and was
pregnant by him and 'she' broke up with Hunter. Not even gently.
She let the man down brutally. If Chris didn't hate him so damn
much, he would actually feel sorry for the guy. As he saw Stephanie's
posture shift, he wiped the smile off of his face and replaced it
with a look of concern. "Stephanie, are you okay?" He asked
lowly, placing his hand on her shoulder.
Stephanie turned around
slowly, her hair masking her face. She sniffed loudly and wiped away
her tears furiously. "I just want to get out of here." She
whispered, falling directly into Chris' arms.
"Where do you
want to go?" He asked her, inhaling the faint scent of her perfume.
She smelled damn good. He wanted to do nothing more but take her to
his hotel room and show her what should have happened that night.
However, patience was a virtue and so far it had been good to him.
Hell, he hardly had to do anything - all he did was plot to do
things. He rarely got the chance to make good on his plot and instead
would end up just standing around, watching as things came
together…or fell apart - on its own.
"I don't care.
Anywhere." Stephanie mumbled out through her whimpering as Chris
walked her in the general direction of the
exit.
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The
man grumbled as he watched Chris and Stephanie walk down the hallway
all hugged up. What the hell did he have to do to get her unguarded?
He tried to get rid of Hunter at the renewals by exposing Stephanie's
lies and that didn't work. Matter of fact, that went in the
opposite direction – they seemed to have gotten closer after
talking things out. It made him fucking sick. He hated Triple H with
a passion. He hated Stephanie just as much. He wanted to destroy both
their worlds. The task hadn't seemed too difficult seeing as they
were each other's world, mostly. However, the more he schemed, the
more frustrated he grew, as it seemed that nothing could break up the
couple.
Finally, he managed to get Triple H to hear the whole
truth. Then what the hell happened? Stephanie runs off with Chris
Jericho! Now he would need to devise a way to get him away from
Stephanie, too. If anybody else popped up after he got rid of
Jericho, he would probably take the easy route and just kill the guy.
"Save me some trouble." He chuckled, coming out of his hiding
spot and walking down the hallway
casually.
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Hunter
growled lowly as he chucked another vase against the wall. "Fuck!"
He yelled as he heard a phone ringing. He walked all around the room
searching for the annoying source of noise. As he spotted Stephanie's
bag he stopped dead in his tracks. No fucking way. The bitch left
her shit here. Taking the phone from the bag, he chewed on his
bottom lip as he contemplated what to do. Deciding that he wasn't
completely juvenile, he flipped the phone open.
"What?" He
answered rudely.
"Is that you, Hunter?" Came a familiar
voice.
"Yeah, so?"
"What – did you not check the caller
ID or something?"
"For your fucking information, Shane, no I
did not."
"What's up your ass? And why are you answering
Stephanie's phone – in such a shitty mood, no less?" Shane
queried.
"The bitch left her purse here." Hunter said
nonchalantly, sitting on the couch.
"Hey, whoa! Wait just a damn
minute. You better have a good reason for calling her that or you're
going to have to deal with me." Shane threatened.
Hunter
laughed. "Oh, I'm so scared, Shane. But for your information,
your bitch of a sister has been lying to me."
Shane gulped,
hoping that Hunter wasn't talking about the pregnancy issue. Was
Hunter just assuming things or did he actually know for sure? "What
makes you say that?"
"She was standing right in front of the
fucking dressing room! I guess she thought I was gone."
Shane
decided to play dumb, in case he was talking about something else.
"Well what did she lie about that has you so upset?"
"She's
been screwing that fucking asshole, Chris Jericho, behind my back. He
fucking loves her, and she's pregnant with his kid. I'm assuming
that when she told me she was pregnant, she was trying to pass his
kid off as mine. Fucking slut." He muttered.
"Are you sure
that's how it happened, Hunter?" Shane asked.
Hunter couldn't
believe what Shane was saying – he didn't know shit! I heard
them with my own ears! "I heard all of this myself! I'm done
with your damn sister!"
Shane nodded, though Hunter couldn't
see it. "I understand, man. All I have to say is give her a chance
to explain. I'll let you go now. Bye." With that, Shane hung up.
He had no right to ask for forgiveness on Stephanie's behalf.
Hunter didn't know the whole story. He doesn't know that my
sister was drunk off her ass, because of his mistreatment of her.
He guessed Stephanie wasn't given much of a chance to explain.
That, or Hunter refused to listen. Most likely, it was the latter. If
he knew his sister, he knew that she wouldn't let Hunter walk
around thinking she was some kind of jezebel forever. Eventually the
truth would come out. When it did, the ball would be in Hunter's
court.
Hunter stared at the phone in his hands. Shane was lucky he hung up before he had a chance to respond. He would have given him an earful. "Give her a chance to explain." He muttered angrily. He gave her chances to speak, and she used them to make him feel even worse. Hunter didn't know if he could get any lower right now. His wife had cheated on him with his sworn enemy, was having a baby by him, and seemed to never have given two shits about their marriage.
Still, even with all Stephanie had said to him, something felt off. He couldn't come up with a good reason as to why Stephanie would have bothered even trying to resolve all problems their marriage had. Maybe this was all planned out. Maybe Stephanie had grown sick of him and decided to use one of the people he hated most, against him. She knew how badly it would get to him. Standing in front of the dressing room – how convenient. Hunter slapped himself in the head for his stupidity. He should have seen this coming. He was The Game, the Cerebral Assassin. The self-proclaimed king of fucking with people's minds. Moreover, he knew Stephanie and how she worked. But, even this was way too low for her to stoop. She was cold, but not that damn cold. It's impossible to be living with someone that long and not realize that they despise you. Hunter shook his head and got off the couch– this shit was all too confusing right now.
He slung his bag and Stephanie's over his shoulder as he walked out of the room. As he walked down the hallway, he noticed the familiar silhouette all the way at the end. His eyebrow arched as he stared from afar, wondering what the hell he was up to. He had come down to the ring and interfered with his match against Maven. Hunter thought for sure that he was there to attempt to kick his ass, and had been shocked when instead he performed his finisher on Maven. The poor kid was so knocked out by the move, that even though he had waited some seconds to go for the pin, Maven still wasn't able to kick out. To say Hunter was confused was an understatement. This man claimed to hate him; they had screwed each other over countless times. Why he would come to the ring and beat the hell out of Maven three minutes into their match was beyond his comprehension.
Hunter jumped in his limo, happy to get the
hell out of the arena. Far too many frustrating things had happened
for one night. He debated on whether to take a nice, hot, long shower
and get some rest, or going to the bar to get wasted. Liquor wasn't
really his thing; he only drank on special occasions, usually. Only
Stephanie – that damn, exasperating woman – could push him this
far.
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Chris
held Stephanie close to him as they rode to the hotel. She had cried
herself to sleep on his shoulder. After he got over the initial bliss
of her fallout with Hunter, it hit him. I'm not the only one
fucking with the Helmsley's. The thought didn't sit well
with him. He could kick himself for not realizing it sooner. He
wasn't responsible for the audio that came on during Hunter and
Stephanie's renewals but he was so overjoyed that somebody -
anybody - had prevented it, that he never stopped to actually think
about it rationally. He loved Stephanie and would protect her at all
costs. He needed to figure out who was messing with her so he could
find out their true intentions.
A loud sigh emanated from
Chris as the limo came to a halt. He really didn't want to wake her
but he had no choice. "Stephanie." He said softly, touching her
cheek.
She flinched immediately, removing her head from his
shoulder. "What?"
"We're at the hotel."
She nodded
and went to gather her things. Panic flashed across her features as
she realized – she didn't have any things. "Damn it." She
mumbled, realizing she never got to go back inside the dressing room,
where all her stuff was.
"What's wrong?" Chris asked,
stepping out of the limo, helping her out, as well.
"My stuff
was in the dressing room."
Chris nodded. He didn't know what
to tell her. After what happened, it wasn't in either of their best
interests to actually go ask Hunter for her things. "Well what do
you want to do?" He asked, holding the door to the hotel open for
her.
"I can't do much of anything and neither can you. I just
need you to get something for me to sleep in for tonight. I'll
figure out the rest tomorrow." She reasoned.
"That'll work."
He gave her a small smile as they walked through the lobby and to the
elevators.
Stephanie chewed her lip. She wasn't sure if she was entirely comfortable staying in Chris' room. Well at least she assumed that's where they were headed, since he hadn't asked her what room she was in. She decided to suck it up and deal with it. She no longer had a husband and Chris was in fact the father of her baby. At some point, she needed to learn to be comfortable with him. She gave the faintest of smiles as he glanced at her before pressing the button to his floor. Right now, she was in a daze. None of this seemed real. Her life had abruptly fallen apart and she wasn't sure what was right or wrong anymore. It didn't seem like it was ever going to get any clearer, either. She was dimly aware as the elevator stopped, and she followed Chris out of it. To her, it felt like she was taking some ceremonious walk out of one life and into another. A deep, agonized sigh escaped her as they stopped at his door. She released a tense breath that she wasn't aware she was holding, as he ushered her inside the room.
Chris smiled at her as he took
his shirt off, leaving his chest bare. Stephanie turned her head, not
wanting to stare. She swallowed thickly as she heard a zipper and
then a tiny thump. She guessed his pants were now gone, too. After a
minute or so she finally forced her head to turn in his direction.
Irritation overcame her senses as she saw him just lying in bed,
staring at her. "What are you doing?" She asked, as calmly as she
could muster.
"Going to bed. Aren't you going to join
me?"
"I'll take the couch."
He rolled his eyes at her.
"Suit yourself."
Her mouth was agape. Was he giving her
attitude because she didn't want to sleep in the same bed as him?
It seemed like déjà vu. This is the same way her life
began to slide downhill. How fitting it was that at the very end of
the hill she found herself back here with him again. "I need
something to sleep in. Remember?"
"You can always sleep
naked." He suggested, grinning.
Stephanie blinked. Huh?
"I don't think so. I'll be cold."
"Sleep with me then.
I'll keep you warm."
Any calmness she possessed went on the
window. "I'm sleeping on the couch, damn you! Now give me
something to wear!" She ordered, placing her hands on her
hips.
Chris sighed as he got out of the bed and walked over to
her, ignoring the curious look she gave him. "Why are you afraid to
sleep with me?" He asked her seriously, running his hand up and
down her arm. "We've done that and more already." He pointed
out, smiling. Stephanie's eyes widened at his bluntness and he took
that opportunity to crash his mouth onto hers, roughly.
Stephanie
pushed against his chest until she was able to get him off of her.
She wiped her mouth angrily, glaring at him. "I'm leaving." She
stated simply, turning on her heel, ignoring him as he called after
her.
Stephanie walked briskly to the lobby once she got off of the elevator. She sweetly asked the young man at the desk if she could have a room. Any room. Right now, quality and size didn't matter. She was desperate and had lost her purse, she begged him. The guy immediately recognized her as being Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and eagerly gave her a key to one of their suites.
Once Stephanie reached her room and closed her door, she let out a strangled cry as she slumped down the wall. All the emotions that she had actually managed to hold in tonight came out as the tears poured down her face freely. Everything was so wrong. The way Hunter went off on her – he called her a plague and told her everything she touched turned to shit. The way she broke him down further, acting like he never meant anything to her and like she had actually meant to cheat on him. The way Chris had been so nice, and then turned into a hormone-driven jackass. The only people who wouldn't hurt her were herself and her baby; she realized and then rubbed her stomach lovingly as she continued to cry.
