"So what now?" Mark asked, leaning against the wall by the restaurant door. I looked around quickly to see if Dave was there.
"He's not here. Glen's over there though. We could go sit with him and see if Dave's been in. He shouldn't be late this morning as he's on the signing later.
"Morning," Glen said cheerfully when he saw us approach. He looked a bit confused when Mark sat next to him and I sat opposite. "What's going on?"
I frowned. "Has Dave been in yet?" He shook his head. "The girl from last night is a waitress in here. Keep an eye out in case he comes in, OK?" Glen just shrugged and nodded. "I am going to be so glad to get away from this place." I ran my hands through my hair.
"Jade, you might want to wear your hair loose for a while," Glen said suddenly. I looked at him, puzzled. "If you're still trying to pull off this whole married to Batista thing, it's not too convincing when you have a beard rash down your neck." I ripped the elastic band out of my hair and started laughing.
"See, that's why I have to be an honest person. Too damn ditzy to remember to cover my tracks."
"That the only reason?" Mark growled from beside Glen who gave him an uneasy look.
I felt my jaw clench tight and forced it to relax. "No, that's just how I am. It was just a joke. I thought I made myself perfectly clear last night."
Glen was really starting to look uncomfortable. "Look, Batista's just walked in." He sounded relieved, obviously thinking that might relieve the atmosphere. Mark turned back to his breakfast without another word while I stood and quickly made my way over to Dave. He looked surprised when I went up on tiptoes and kissed him firmly on the lips. I wrapped my arms round his shoulders and pulled him down to whisper in his ear.
"Play along. The girl from last night works here." He made a small sound of assent and followed me. I stopped shortly before we reached the table where Glen and Mark were sitting. "Just watch Taker. He's still not happy."
"Looks like an understatement," he muttered as we started moving again.
"Nope, that's pretty normal when he's eating. I can tell though." We reached the table. I slid in first and Dave sat on the outside. He and Glen managed to make conversation while Mark glowered at nothing in particular and I watched him, trying not to be too obvious about it.
"Hi, I'm Sandy. What can I … Oh, it's you." I looked up at the girl from the night before standing by Dave's side, order pad in her hand. I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted.
"Is there a Jade Baron in here?"
"That's me." I stood and looked to the door where a man was brandishing a piece of paper.
"Message for you." He came over and handed it over.
"I thought you were Mrs Batista." Sandy put a hand on her hip, looking at me challengingly.
"Sweetheart, I work. I kept my own name." I opened the message. "Karen's ill. Looks like I have you lot all to myself this morning." I grinned at Dave and Glen.
"So what do you do?" Damn, this girl was persistent.
"I also work for the WWE, as a travelling liaison. What better way to get to see my man all the time?" I put a hand on Dave's shoulder as I sat back down. "Now, could you please bring me a coffee?"
Dave gave her his order and turned to me when she left. "You know, I think it could end up being a bad idea to get on the wrong side of you."
"What on earth do you mean? I was perfectly polite."
"There's just something about you that says don't mess with me."
"Ah, you're just still whipped from that time I shouted at you. No one else thinks I'm vaguely scary."
"I never said you were scary." He slid an arm along the back of my seat as the waitress approached with our order. I heard Mark make a noise in his throat, but could do nothing about it as Sandy was at the table placing out our stuff.
"I'll see you later anyway," she said as she picked up the empty tray. "My shift is over soon and I'm coming to get autographs."
"We'll look forward to it, won't we baby?" I offered her a saccharine sweet smile as I picked up my coffee. She wrinkled her nose at me and left.
"See, that's what I'm talking about. You're not scary, just… nasty." Dave removed his arm from the back of my chair and started to eat.
"As I'm clearly not needed I'll make a move." Mark pushed his chair back and got to his feet. Glen looked at the three of us, clearly unsettled.
"Mark, wait." I pushed my way past the back of Dave's chair. "Will you be here or at the arena when I get back?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I'll probably have the car though, so you'll have to get a lift. Doubt you're short of volunteers." He turned and walked away. I just stood and stared after him until a hand came down on my shoulder.
"Come on. Leave him for the moment." Glen guided me to the seat that Mark had just left. Dave picked up his coffee and regarded me over the top of it.
"Didn't work well last night then."
"I've been meaning to thank you for that. Things were OK last night and seemed fine this morning." I played with my loose hair, making Glen snort.
"Too much information for my liking!"
I shook my head. "Shut it, you great brute." He put on a hurt expression, making me smile. I turned back to Dave. "He was fine until we got in here and saw her." I jerked my head towards where Sandy was finishing clearing a table, obviously her last ask before finishing her shift. "He can't seem to see what I'm actually doing at the moment. He's got a pretty big hang up over it. We both know why." Dave nodded, Glen just looked confused. "Long story Glen, and I'm afraid I really don't feel like going through it again. Long and short of it is Mark is convinced I'm about to jump on Dave at any moment." He gave a surprised snort but didn't make a comment.
"Did you tell him where you were last night?" Dave asked.
"It kind of slipped out, but I explained exactly what happened. He went a bit funny about it but calmed down again. God knows I love the guy, but right now… What?" Both of them had stopped what they were doing and were staring at me.
"You told him that?"
I turned to Glen. Realising what I had said I wiped my hand over my face. "Did it again, huh? Yeah, it kind of came out this morning."
"Way too much information again."
"Pack it in, Glen. That's not what I meant. He's just driving me to distraction. I know he's got his own problems at the moment that I can't really help with, and that's got me pretty much all on edge." I laced my fingers together on the table and stared at them. Glen made an enquiring noise.
"Sara's back in contact." Dave clarified the situation for him.
"Ouch," Glen said, leaning back in his chair. "What does she want?"
"That's just it," I sighed. "We don't know. All she's told him is that she wants to meet up with him when we're in Florida. So everything's left kind of hanging. In the mean time, I'd better go make sure every one else for this morning is up and at 'em. At least we've got transport laid on for this one as it's nearly an hour away."
The transport was probably the fanciest little bus I had ever seen. I ticked each titleholder off the list as they climbed on. There was Dave as the heavyweight champion, Glen and big Paul as the tag team, Chris Benoit as the US champ, Trish as the women's, Gregory Helms as cruiserweight and Chris Jericho as the Intercontinental. I stifled a groan when I saw his companion come out. I'd completely forgotten that Annie was his valet.
"OK guys," I said as I climbed on last of all, "Karen is ill, so it's just me this time. We should be there in just under an hour and we're scheduled to be there for three hours. It's likely to be packed out, so you need to keep them moving as much as possible."
"We're all pros, you know," a sarcastic comment came from the back.
"Yes Chris, professional pains in the butt, mostly. Just play nicely, and we'll all get along fine." I crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at his head. "Got it?" I ducked as the paper came flying back, laughing at the pout on Jericho's face when he realised he had missed. Still with a broad grin on my face, I sank into a seat and the bus moved off. It didn't last long.
"So Jade!" Annie's voice came from back near Chris. "I hear you got dumped last night."
I peered round the side of the seat. "Where the hell did you hear that?"
"Apparently you were trying to get in that make up girl's room late last night. And you were seen in the bar looking miserable. Sounds fairly conclusive to me."
I thought for a moment. "Well that's just inconsiderate isn't it?" She looked a little bemused. "You'd think if he dumped me last night, he would have had the decency to tell me about it before I got back in his bed." I caught myself before I lost it. The frustration was really starting to get to me, and there was obviously gossip beginning to do the rounds. There was no point in flying off the handle though, especially to someone like Annie who probably wouldn't think twice about trying to get me in trouble. I just stared out of the window for the rest of the trip, occupied with my own thoughts.
I had been right about one thing. The queue for the signing was massive and the cheering started as soon as the doors were open on the bus. This was Annie's first session in the WWE, and it took her a little while to pick up the flow that the real professionals had of making each fan feel like they had spent some time with them while keeping the line moving. Signings were something I had definitely come to enjoy since I had started doing them and this one was really no different.
The UK was going through a heat wave and by the time an hour had gone past it was getting almost unbearably hot. The wrestlers were in the shade, but some of the fans waiting were beginning to suffer a bit in the heat. After that first hour had gone by I went down the table, passing out bottles of water.
The girl, Sandy, showed up just as she had said she would. I saw her when she was about half a dozen places back from the start of the table, and wandered my way down to the far end where Dave was. Putting a hand on his shoulder when he was between fans, I leant over and murmured to him that she was on her way. When I straightened again I just took a couple of steps back, remaining standing behind him rather than returning to level with the middle of the table. It wasn't as if she could do much in the middle of a crowd of people, but I made my presence known anyway.
Finally the session was over and I packed up everything to go back on the bus. The trip back was filled with a good-natured USA versus Canada argument. The bus was split fifty fifty because British Annie claimed to prefer Canada, so I was appealed to to cast a deciding vote.
"Don't ask me, I've never been to Canada. Anyway, I'm English and we colonised the pair of you, so there." I grinned as threats rained in on me from all sides. They were so easy to wind up.
Once we got back to the hotel I figured I had better go and see if Mark was still there. He wasn't. I grabbed a bag with some gym gear in it. There was a gym near the arena that had opened its doors to the WWE employees while the company was in town. I figured that if nothing else was going to go right, at least I could count on exercise to make me feel better.
I managed to catch a lift to the arena with Glen. At least that couldn't cause me any more problems. The drive over was very quiet. I seemed to have used up my store of conversation during the morning and was very grateful to him for letting me ride in silence. He didn't speak until we were in the arena car park.
"You're quiet."
I gave a sarcastic little laugh. "Are you saying I'm not normally?"
"No, you're not. Come get some lunch from catering."
"I don't know, Glen. From what Annie was saying the gossip mill is starting up." I pulled on the end of the braid I had put my hair into ready for the gym.
"You shut her up pretty quick though. Come on, I know for a fact you didn't eat any breakfast. Besides, you know how Mark's stomach is. He's probably already in there." He set off towards catering, leaving me to trail in his wake. Some die-hard fans were already along the barriers, trying to get a glimpse of their favourites before they entered the arena. Somehow I wasn't surprised to see Sandy amongst them, looking at me with a calculating expression on her face.
I picked up my bag from the asphalt and hurried after Glen. As with Mark, I had no chance of keeping up with him, especially when he had a head start, so didn't actually catch up with him until I got into catering. I wasn't particularly hungry and, mindful of wanting to get into the gym fairly soon afterwards, just grabbed a sandwich and some juice before sitting across a table from him. He snorted dismissively at what I'd picked up and started to eat his own towering plateful of food. As it was, I only eat half of it before pushing it away, pulling a face.
"You shouldn't let it get to you." I glanced up as he broke the silence. "And you should eat properly."
"I'm not one of the kids you used to teach, Mr Jacobs." He grinned at my comment. "I can't help it. I'm a thinker. No matter how hard I think at the moment I can't seem to work out what he wants me to do though."
"I doubt there's an easy answer. There never is with him."
"Pretty much what I thought. Glen… tell me about Sara." His head shot up suddenly. "I mean it. That's a major part of what's up with him and I need to know what I'm up against. You've known Mark for years, maybe even before they met. Do you think he'd go back to her?"
Glen put down his fork and blew out a huge breath. "All right, if you really want to know. They seemed made for each other. She was young, younger than you I think, and a real stunner. More than that, they just seemed to connect. It was a real surprise when he told me about the divorce. I guess Sara was just sick of him never being home. She just went around trying to persuade him the wrong way. Annoyed him so much he solved the problem his own way." He looked at me and shrugged. "If she says she wants him back and lets him do his job… I don't know. I really don't know what he'd do."
"He told me he doesn't look back."
Glen offered me a rueful smile. "I think if anyone could make him…"
"It would be Sara," I finished the statement for him. "Well, thanks for being honest with me, Glen. If anyone wants me, I'll be in the gym."
As I walked the short distance to the gym and got changed I really didn't know if I felt better or worse for Glen's honesty. And it hadn't helped much, either. At times I thought I should walk away from Mark for the sake of my own sanity and because I was convinced that Sara would want him back, and get him. If I'd been in her position, I doubt I would have let him go in the first place. The other side of that was the fact that I was travelling with him. It was probably much tougher on the wives that stayed at home. The flip side of my current mental argument came from the day before. I knew that his behaviour had been far from the norm, but he had seemed to need me and it had felt like making love rather than having sex.
I walked out into the gym and jumped on a treadmill, hoping that a good hard run would get my mind off the subject. When that didn't work I went to lifting weights. The great thing about weights is that the only person you can compete against is yourself. My concentration wasn't right though, and I gave up before I did myself an injury by not lifting properly.
Looking around the gym for something that didn't take too much concentration, I saw a punch bag hanging in the corner. I'd had a go at kickboxing at one point. I wasn't very good at it – in fact the guy that had taught me claimed that if it came down to a fight between the punch bag and me the bag would win. Right at that second I wouldn't have wanted to take that bet.
I lost it completely once I started hitting that bag. All of the frustration, tension and the rigidly controlled temper were channelled through my fists. This was far worse than when I got drunk in my apartment in Houston. After a time angry tears began to roll down my cheeks. I just left them to fall, concentrating on punishing the bag in front of me – or was it myself I was angry at?
I had always known that I wasn't necessarily an easy person to live with. My family were never backward in coming forward to tell me that. I could be sarcastic and opinionated with people I knew well and at times had a tendency to state what was on my mind without pausing to think of anyone else's feelings. Having been told so many times that I was difficult had left me with a tendency to think that anything going wrong with the people around me was my fault. Therefore the possibility that my current problems with Mark were my fault crossed my mind from time to time.
That train of thought made me even angrier with myself. I hadn't really done anything wrong that I could see. In fact I had been, for me, incredibly passive and submissive through the whole thing. In the back of my mind I wondered if that was what Dave had been trying to tell me the night before.
I don't know how long I was there for, or how much longer I would have been there if someone hadn't grabbed my arm. As it was I was in such a state of tunnel vision that I span round and landed a couple of punches on the person before realising what I was doing. I dropped my hands, breathing heavily, and stared at the floor.
"What the hell are you doing? You're bleeding."
I glanced at my fists, still tightly clenched. Most of the knuckles on my right hand were split, and a couple on the left. I had been so caught up in what I was doing that I'd not thought about protecting my hands.
"Go get your gear. I'll take you to the trainers at the arena."
I raised my eyes enough to see the two bloody marks on Glen's shirt where I had hit him. "Sorry," I muttered.
"You do realise that the show starts in less than an hour? You've been here for hours. I've just been warming up in here and watching you." That surprised me. I knew I had been there for a while but nowhere near that amount of time. Thinking hard I realised I had spent a long time sat on the weight bench, just staring into the distance while my mind freewheeled. I needed to get my life sorted out, and quickly, before I drove myself insane.
After a trip to the trainers and a shower, I made myself settle into my usual routine of watching the show from a monitor near the gorilla area. Strangely enough it was a fairly good place to be left in peace. Everyone going past you on the way out was busy thinking about what they had to do out there and generally on the way back in were thinking of what they had done. Little old me sat on the floor in a corner with my arms wrapped round my shins and chin resting on my knees got virtually no attention at all. At least to begin with.
"You and I need to talk." I looked up to see Tara standing over me. "Come with me." I shrugged and got up stiffly, stretching out my sore back and arms. She led me through the hallways and through a door into a locker room. "Sit." She pointed at a chair. Sighing, I did as I was told.
"So, talk."
She folded her arms over her chest. "Actually, I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have said what I did at the club last night."
"Forget about it. Anyway, I shouldn't have taken your head off like I did."
"Truce?" she asked, a slight smile on her face.
"Yeah, truce. More importantly, who was the guy in your room?"
"Please! I'm not telling you that!" she laughed.
"OK then, I'll have to guess. Obviously it wasn't Taker, or Batista 'cos I saw both of them pretty much straight after I knocked on your door. I'm getting ahead of myself though. One of the company?" She blushed and nodded. "OK, I assuming male?"
"Yeuchh, of course!" she exclaimed.
"Just checking. Back stage or front of house?"
"A wrestler." She was really red now.
"Title holder?" They were the first to my mind as I had been with them all that morning.
"Yes."
"Must be an singles champion then. Hmm, heavyweight or cruiserweight division?"
"Cruiserweight." She examined her nails intently before realising how easily I had got the answer out of her.
"Helms? As in used to dress up as a green super hero? Wow, I'll admit that's a surprise. Wouldn't have thought he'd be your type."
"It was just a bit of fun. You know how it is." She stood up suddenly, hand going to her pocket as her phone beeped. "I'm going to get a drink. Do you want me to bring you back one?"
"I'll come with you." I stood up as well, before looking around the locker room we were in, seeing a bag I recognised. "Tara, why did you bring me to Mark's locker room?" I turned round and she had gone. Shaking my head, I went to follow her and opened the door, coming face to face with Mark just back from his match. It looked like someone thought Mark and I should talk somewhere quiet.
"Looking for me?" He stepped inside and shut the door behind him.
"Not exactly. More steered in your direction I think."
He grunted. "Show me your hands." Rolling my eyes I held my hands out. They had been cleaned up but scabs were starting to form making it look a bit worse than it was. He brushed his thumb over the knuckles gently. I hissed a bit as the tender flesh was touched. "They're going to be sore for a few days."
"I'll live." I took a pace back from him.
"Wait here while I have a shower? There are some things we need to get straight." I nodded reluctantly and sank back down on the chair I had occupied before. As always my mind tried to betray me with images of what he was doing and it was all I could do to stop myself walking in there and joining him. The night before had shown me that doing that would most likely resolve absolutely nothing.
I didn't have to wait long before he came back out, towel wrapped round his waist. I looked up from where I had been prodding the broken skin on my knuckles. It's something I could never understand – the fascination with prodding something that hurts. Everyone has a slight masochistic streak I suppose. Mark got dressed in silence and then sat in a chair opposite me, arms folded and legs stretched out in front of him. I waited for him to speak while he just sat there watching me. After a few minutes I couldn't tolerate the silence any more.
"I guess you've been talking to Glen," I said. Mark cocked his head to one side, eyebrow raised. I held up my right hand, knuckles out towards him.
"He told me you asked him about Sara." I nodded, looking away to the side of him. "He also told me what he said to you." I grimaced at that. In hindsight I hadn't really wanted to hear what Glen had told me. "Is that why you did that?"
I cleared my throat. "Partly."
He sighed. "And the rest?"
"I think you probably know the answer to that." He gave me the ghost of a nod. "Mark, you're driving me mad. You know I love you, I've told you that much."
"Without meaning to."
"OK, I didn't mean to say it out loud, but that doesn't change the way I feel. But I just can't understand why you won't trust me. What is it you think I'm going to do? And why?" I leant forward, elbows on my knees. When he didn't reply, I carried on. "OK, I know what you think I'd do, and I don't see any point in going over that ground again. What I really don't get is why you'd think I would do that. I'm pretty sure I should be the insecure one here, not both of us."
He looked vaguely annoyed. "I'm not insecure."
"Bad choice of words maybe. You've been pretty unbalanced about this thing with Batista though. Still, we leave for Glasgow tomorrow morning and that should be the end of it."
"I guess so. I don't know what makes you so bothered either. We both knew that this was a laid back kind of thing." He looked at me when I snorted. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Mark, have you ever been laid back about anything? You've been saying one thing and doing something completely different. You've made it clear since day one that I'm your territory and you won't tolerate any messing about. I'm fine with that. I have no desire to mess around with anyone else anyway." I ran my hands through my loose hair, cursing hotly when the hair pulled at a cut on a knuckle.
"What about 'what happens, happens'?" He sat up slightly, watching me closely.
"Jesus, Mark, don't play with me. I tried, but I'm past that now. I'm hooked and, frankly, a little scared."
"Scared? What of?" He seemed puzzled by the concept.
"I shouldn't have talked to Glen. I'd have been better off not knowing." I stood up quickly and began to pace up and down the room. Mark stayed where he was and just followed me with his eyes.
"Sara." His voice was flat. You're worried about Sara."
I span round. "Of course I am. What will you do if she comes walking in and says she wants to try again? The fact you're so worried about it tells me something."
"I told you I don't look back. You know me better than that by now."
"No, Mark, I don't. I barely really know you at all. Yesterday proved that. I've never seen you like that, so quiet and gentle. Yesterday you made me fall in love with you. I've never felt like this before." He pulled a face. "I'm not trying to put any pressure on you. I'm not asking you to feel the same way. I'm just in over my head here. I've got something, someone I never would have thought possible and I can see it all disappearing."
He stood finally and put a hand on my shoulder as I walked past him, pulling me into his chest and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I screwed my eyes up against the tears that wanted to come and put both hands flat on his chest, feeling the vibration as he spoke.
"Right now I'm not going anywhere. And don't you worry about Sara. I'll sort her out when I see her. Why are you so convinced she wants me back anyway?"
I shook my head against his chest. "Because if I was her I wouldn't have let you go."
He didn't speak but I felt his arm tighten sharply before letting me go. He picked up his stuff and turned back towards me. I couldn't look any higher than his chest.
"Get your stuff. We'll go back to the hotel."