I felt fairly uneasy on the ride back to the hotel, and as we went up to our room. I'd said a lot of things that, looking back, I wouldn't necessarily have chosen to say. All the stuff about how I felt was pretty full on, especially after being reminded so baldly that this was supposed to be a fairly casual affair. What else could it have been when it started as just living up to the gossip that was spreading at the time?
"What now?" I asked, perching on the edge of the couch.
"We're going to order dinner from room service. While we're waiting I guess you should go talk to Batista, sort out what you're going to do about breakfast in case that damn waitress is there." I glanced up at him sharply, trying to read his expression. His face was blank so I just nodded. "After dinner we'll just crash in front of the TV for a while."
"Sounds good to me." I picked up the remote and started flicking through the channels. It felt quite nostalgic, finding programmes that I hadn't seen in months. There hadn't been much about my home country that I had missed apart from the obvious family and such, but some of the TV had been sorely missed.
"What do you want to eat?" Mark asked, staring at the room service menu.
"You want the sensible answer or the not sensible answer?" I glanced up from the TV screen.
"I'm not sure I'm even going to ask about the not sensible answer. You want a steak?"
"Yep. Pity though, I think you may have rather like the not sensible option." He didn't reply, just shot me an amused look as he picked up the phone to place our order.
"You'd better run along and do your business," he said as he put down the receiver. "Food won't be long." I hauled myself to my feet and trailed two doors down.
Dave looked concerned when he opened the door. "More trouble?"
"Nah, I'm actually here on bosses orders. Just wanted to know if you're going to have breakfast in the restaurant in the morning and, if so, what time you were going down? Just in case that Sandy is about. Get the final act of this farce over and done with." I leant against the doorframe as he thought about it.
"How about I meet you by the elevator at seven thirty? Every one is supposed to be getting away early as the show is tomorrow night."
"OK. See you then." I stepped away from the door and made to head back to my room when he called me back.
"Are you OK?" He pointed at my hands.
"So, you're not the only one who can't keep his mouth shut! Yeah, I'm OK. Guess it all just had to come out somewhere." I gave him a faint smile.
"Listen," he said, stepping slightly out of his room. "You know you can come to me if you need someone to talk to, right? I still owe you one."
I gave him a much wider smile. "The Animal going soft on me now?" He pulled a face and mimed swiping a paw at me. "Thanks, although you may end up regretting that. See you in the morning."
I got back into our room just before the food showed up. Mark had got to know my eating habits pretty well as my steak was perfectly cooked, very rare, and with a green salad on the side. There was beer to go with it as well. I smiled to myself before tucking in. It was exactly the same meal I'd eaten on our first date.
After dinner, Mark settled down to find a movie to watch while I ran through the hotel list for Glasgow. I was supposed to have done it earlier that day but with everything else that had happened it had slipped my mind until now. At least it didn't take long. There were just the hotel rooms to check through, no flights or car rentals.
"What do you feel like watching?" Mark dropped the remote on the couch between us, obviously not having found inspiration. "Action, comedy, horror?"
"Horror. Nothing too gory though. Not in the mood for that tonight." I put the papers aside and stretched right from top to toe. I glanced up at the list of films he was looking at and shook my head as he paused over one. "I swear that if you put Blade 3 on I will beat you to death with Hunter's sledgehammer."
"Not one of your favourites then," he grinned.
"Never did like most sequels anyway. Hey, Tommyknockers! I haven't seen that in ages." He shrugged and selected it. We both liked Stephen King's stuff, so it was an easy option.
Not much bothers me. I can sit through just about any horror film made without too many ill effects. Apart from one thing. I have one phobia, just the one but it's a pretty bad one. Having not seen the film for so long, I'd forgotten about one scene in it.
There's a woman in the film who starts to get very suspicious about what is going on out in the woods. She's a collector and has a huge collection of dolls. They come to life and kill her. Just the sight of an ordinary doll was enough to send me hiding in a corner. I once went to visit a stately home in the UK with my mother and ex-husband. It had dolls all over the place dressed in period costumes. Ben had spent the whole day dragging me out of dark corners and walking me through rooms with his hands over my eyes. And these little buggers in the film came to life and moved.
As soon as they came on screen I went rigid and grabbed the arm of the couch. When they started moving I squeaked and shot behind the couch. I was shaking so hard I could hear my teeth chattering and felt really sick. My heart felt as if it was about to come bursting through my ribs it was beating so hard and fast.
"What the hell are you doing back there?"
"Have they gone?" I managed to get the words out through a tightly clenched jaw.
"Have what gone?" He sounded bemused.
"The things. The dolls." I could feel cold sweat on my forehead.
"You're scared of dolls? Why would anybody be scared of dolls?" He got up and came round to where I was crouching and stood looking down on me, hands on hips.
"They have eyes. They watch me." I was still visibly shaking and, going on what had happened to me before, I knew I was probably extremely pale. Mark glanced quickly back at the screen.
"Yes, they've gone. Come on." He held a hand out to me. I shook my head and remained firmly where I was. With an exasperated sigh he crouched down beside me and picked me up, walking back to the front of the couch and sitting with me in his lap. As the shaking began to calm I wound my arms up round his shoulders and buried my face in his neck, breathing in his distinctive masculine smell.
"Better?" he asked. I nodded and relaxed my grip around his shoulders slightly. "Good. Now go and answer your phone."
I got up reluctantly and padded over to the table and picked up my phone. It showed an unfamiliar UK phone number.
"Hello?"
"Hi Jade. We didn't get to talk the other night."
"Uh, hi Ben. You OK?" I turned to see Mark watching me. I just shrugged.
"Yeah, fine. Just wanted to catch up on things. Where are you?"
"Manchester. There was a show tonight, so we've just had dinner and we're watching the Tommyknockers."
He snorted. "You have remembered the scene with the…"
"Yeah, the dolls." I shivered at the memory. "I'd forgotten about it. Mark just had to dig me out from behind the couch."
He laughed down the line. "You remember that day, oh where was it?"
"Longleat. Yes, I seem to recall you spent the entire day digging me out of corners. I haven't been to one of those places since." I walked to the bed and sat on the end of it.
"So you're with Mark then are you?" There was a hint of something in his words.
"No need to say it quite like that, but yes I am. Anyway, tell me about this new little girlfriend that my mother seems to adore." I was genuinely curious. I think I've mentioned before that Ben and I got on well after the divorce, becoming the friends we probably should always have been.
He went quiet for a few seconds. "Well, her name is Jenny and she's a veterinary nurse. She's twenty-three."
"Twenty-three? Cradle snatcher! That's eleven years!" I stretched out on my front across the bed, phone held to my ear and chin propped in the other hand.
"And just what is the age gap between you and Mark?"
"Ten years," I muttered. "But that's different."
He snorted. "Should have known it would be. Explain."
"Hey, tough guy, divorce papers mean I don't have to explain myself to you any more. As I'm in a good mood though, I will. Professional athlete versus prematurely middle-aged ex-farmer. Not rocket science dearest."
"Ouch, I'm hurt." He laughed again. "Have you spoken to your Mum since I saw you?"
"We went down there yesterday." Had it really only been the day before? It felt like it had been days ago.
"We? You took him into the lion's den?" Ben sounded surprised. "How was it?"
"Not as bad as I thought it might be. Hadn't really expected everyone to be there and you know exactly what Julia and Louise are like." I heard the noise of assent he made in his throat. "And of course I got roped into carting for a couple of hours. Mum tried hard to be nice to him but she just finds him a bit overwhelming I think."
"And the two witches?" That made me really laugh. He'd always been suspicious of Julia and Louise.
"Oh, they sat and cackled amongst themselves in a corner. They'll never change."
I could almost hear him smile down the phone. "Jenny and I are getting married in the autumn. On a beach in the Caribbean." He sounded very proud of what he was doing.
"Very romantic. And a bit different to a boring registry office on a cold wet winter's day." I rolled my eyes at the memory.
"Would you come?" That got me sitting up straight.
"You want me to come to your wedding? I don't think the bride would like that."
"I talked to her about it before I called. She's fine with it. Jade, fourteen years is a long time. We may have divorced, but you are still my friend." He sounded earnest, one of the traits my mother had been so keen on.
"Let me think about it. Send me an invite with the where and when and I'll let you know." I really wasn't sure, but would think about it.
"OK. When do you head back off to the States?"
"Uh, Glasgow tomorrow, Dublin the day after then three days in Germany. Then we head back to the east coast to finish the build up to Summerslam in Florida." As always at the moment the mention of Florida got a slight reaction from Mark. He glanced over his shoulder at me and then quickly away.
"Pretty busy then," Ben observed.
"Yeah, this next three weeks is pretty mad. Depending on how things go in Florida I might get home to Houston for a couple of days or I might take a trip up to Chicago to see Andy. Right now though, I have to be up and ready to go to breakfast at half seven in the morning." I gave him my address in Houston to send the invitation to and promised to let him know whether or not I would be going. Dropping the phone back on the table I returned to the couch and sat next to Mark.
"Ben, huh?" He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.
"Mmm. Just wanted to talk, you know. We didn't get a chance either during or after the show in London." I settled back into the couch, legs tucked up underneath me.
"You're still friendly then."
"We've known each other for fourteen years. Should have just stuck to being friends after we split the first time. That was a little weird though."
"Why?" I could see him eyeing me suspiciously.
"He's inviting me to his wedding. In the autumn, sorry, fall, in the Caribbean. To a little blonde twenty-three year old vet nurse." I shook my head.
"I heard the cradle-snatching comment. That what you think I'm doing?"
I glared at him before realising that the corner of his mouth was curling up. "Pack it in," I grinned, giving him a shove, which, as usual, failed to move him an inch. "I just think an age gap of that size is much less noticeable at thirty than it is at twenty-three. And half the time Ben acts older than you anyway, even though he's only four years older than me."
"Uh-huh. So, how old do you think I act?" Mark asked, stretching out an arm and pulling me until I was nestled into his shoulder.
"When you get an idea fixed in your head, about twelve." I prodded him in the ribs, making him growl at me.
"Shut up and watch the damn film."
He seemed to slip back into the quiet contemplative mood of the day before as we watched the rest of the film, the hand of the arm around me moving restlessly back and forth on my hip. I caught hold of his other hand and laced my fingers through his, enjoying the quiet closeness. It was very late when the film finished, around one thirty in the morning so we just went to bed. After the rollercoaster of a day I was incredibly tired and soon went to sleep with Mark's arms wrapped around me.
I woke reluctantly when the alarm went off the next morning. I tried to move to turn it off but couldn't. Glancing down I saw Mark's arm still wrapped round my waist, his forearm laying up the front of my body, holding me close as he spooned behind me. His other arm lay under my neck. I reached a hand behind me and put it on his hip, shaking him gently.
"Hey, I've got to get up." He made an indistinct noise in his throat and just pulled me in tighter. "I've got to go to breakfast, remember? I need to shower and get dressed. You need to get up too. We should leave early if we want to get to Glasgow at a reasonable time." He grunted and rolled onto his back, releasing me to shut off the infernal alarm.
After a quick shower, I pulled out some clothes for the day ahead and packed everything else up in my bag. Not having time to dry my hair properly I just towel dried it as best as I could and left it loose. For some reason I felt like wearing a skirt that day and pulled on one that went down to just below mid thigh. Putting a white silk shirt over the top, I ran a brush through my hair.
"Right, I'd better go meet Dave. Are you coming down to breakfast?" I looked over to where Mark still lay on the bed.
"Do you have to be so damn happy in the mornings?" he grumbled. "Yeah, I'll be down before long." I smiled and bent down to give him a kiss before stepping back to avoid the hand trying to sneak under my skirt without me noticing. Shaking my head and tutting at him, I left the room to wait by the elevator for Dave.
"Ah, honey, you dressed up for me!" I turned to see Dave walking down the corridor after I had waited for a couple of minutes. "How are the hands?" I held my right hand out for him to see. He took hold of it and looked at the scabs on the knuckles. "Not doing too bad then. Here, this might help." He lifted my hand up and kissed one of the knuckles gently before grinning at me.
"Are you always this much of a flirt?" I asked, retrieving my hand from him.
He shrugged and the grin widened. "Pretty much."
"Well then, next time you get yourself a little fan girl who won't take no for an answer, you're on your own." I turned my back to him and stepped into the elevator.
"You look tired. Did I keep you up all night?" he asked as the elevator started to move.
"If that's what you want to say. We got watching a film that didn't end until late."
"Things OK then?" He moved up to stand beside me and got hold of my hand as we reached the ground floor.
"Seem to be at the moment. Let's get this thing over with."
Breakfast was a surprisingly peaceful affair for the most part. We got a different waitress this time, although Sandy could be seen serving other tables and throwing dark glances our way from time to time. Mark came down about ten minutes after we got in there and sat at the next table over, talking to Glen and JBL.
I could tell Dave was up to something. He kept shooting me little sidelong looks and smirking to himself. We'd finished eating when he leaned over as if he was going to say something quietly in my ear. I leaned closer to hear him. That's when he did it. Rattled that damn stud along the inside of his teeth. I sat straight back up and glared at him. He just shot me a grin and did it again. I closed my eyes and prayed for the strength not to clout him in the middle of the restaurant.
"I need to go finish packing. I'll see you outside." I stood up quickly and hurried to the restaurant door. I looked back over my shoulder to see he had also risen from the table and gone to speak to Mark.
I got up to our room and stepped quickly inside, shutting the door and leaning back against the wall. These superstars were going to be the death of me, one way or another. I jumped when the lock clicked and the door opened.
"Apparently you want to speak to me urgently?" Mark appeared round the door.
I pushed the door out of his hand, shutting it quickly. I wanted him right enough, but talking was the last thing on my mind. He wasn't expecting it when I pushed him and stepped back so his back was against the wall. He soon caught on when I started tearing at his belt buckle and dipped a hand under my skirt.
"Hell, darlin', you want it bad." He picked me up as soon as his jeans were off enough to free him and swung me round so my back was to the wall. Abandoning all the pleasantries he pushed himself straight into me and began to thrust powerfully. For once I was the aggressor, digging my nails into his shoulder and back, biting down his neck to where it joined his shoulder. I was so worked up it didn't take long for me to come, biting down hard on the top of his shoulder. It was hard enough to make him swear under his breath as he drove on to his own completion, face buried in my neck as he found his release.
He slid me gently down until I was on my feet. My legs very wobbly but supported me, just. I looked up at him. He was looking at me with a strange expression.
"You want to tell me what brought that on? I'm not complaining, but you kind of took me by surprise there." I smiled and heaved a contented sigh. I knew he'd never seen me like that. A little more of the way I could be had just shown itself to him.
"Just blew up all of a sudden," I replied. There was no way I was going to tell him what had actually started me off. Anyway, it wouldn't really have mattered who was attached to the tongue stud – it was the thing itself that did it for me. "I'm just going to clean up and then we should go." I let him drive to Glasgow. When we got to the car my legs still weren't up to it.
I could tell there was something he wanted to ask me as we got onto the motorway. He kept glancing over at me and then back at the road, clenching and unclenching his hands on the steering wheel. I ignored it for a while, thinking he would get round to it in his own time. After half an hour had gone by without a word being spoken I decided to open it up.
"What is it, Mark?"
"What do you mean?"
"I can tell there's something you want to talk about. Spit it out." I turned slightly in my seat to look at him.
"Just something I'm curious about." He changed lane and overtook a couple of cars before glancing back at me again. "What did you mean last night? About going to Houston or Chicago after we've been to Florida?"
I pulled a hair elastic off my wrist and tied my hair back; buying myself time to word what had been going through my mind.
"Well, it all depends what happens in Florida. With Sara. If we come out of this OK I'm going to go home for a couple of days. Raw is still in Florida so I'm not needed until we move across to Georgia. If it doesn't… well, in that case I'll take a few days off and go visit my brother in Chicago. Get my head straight. I told Peter that being involved with you would not affect my ability to do my job. If you go back to Sara, damn straight that's going to affect me for a few days. Weeks probably, but once the first few days are out of the way I should be fine."
"I keep telling you, I don't look back."
"OK, I'm not going to argue about it. It's just that, until you can tell me that after you've seen her, I'm going to prepare myself for the worst. I'm a pessimist by nature. That way I'm never disappointed and sometimes pleasantly surprised. I'm not going to put any pressure on you one way or the other. If there's one thing I've learned in the past few years it's that you have to live your own life. None of it affects how I feel or how much I want you. And I think that was shown pretty well before we left the hotel." He had to smile and nod in agreement with that.
In an effort to take the tension out of what I had said I reached out and put a hand on his thigh. He dropped his hand to cover mine and concentrated on the motorway in front of the car.
The rest of the time spent in Europe was really quite enjoyable. The shows went well, the fans loved it and Mark was pretty relaxed, seemingly not having taken our conversation too much to heart. I was quite surprised when that relaxation continued on in New York and as we began to work our way down the east coast. Once we hit South Carolina the week before Summerslam he started to get tense and moody. I just tried to stay as relaxed as possible around him, being there when it seemed like he needed me. I did, however, make sure that I was on my best behaviour, trying not to do anything to annoy him. The few days we had spent in England had shredded my nerves quite enough for such a short space of time.
In one way it seemed to take forever to get to Florida, as we were so busy in those few weeks. Somehow it also seemed to come up so fast as I was still dreading it internally. Finally, however, we were there, in Fort Lauderdale. As for the pay per view back in Houston we were going to be there for a few days. There was a Smackdown to tape and a house show before the Summerslam itself. Mark had to wait for Sara to call him to arrange when they were going to meet. As she hadn't on the first day we were there a fairly large group of us decided to go out to a bar for the night. Mark definitely needed the distraction and so did I.
We weren't planning on going anywhere too exciting so I just pulled on a pair of favourite tight fitting jeans and strappy T-shirt. The top was small enough that the horn of my little unicorn just poked out form under the neckline. It was hard work to keep Mark from trying to follow it down to discover the rest of the creature, at least it was until we met up with everyone else when he started to behave himself a little better.
It was a fairly ordinary looking bar we went into. I couldn't help noticing that there were a few little Irish touches about the place. I have a little Irish blood myself and a great fascination for anything Celtic, hence the armband tattooed around my right bicep.
"Hey, look! They have a live band performing later," Tara said as we went in the door. Sure enough, there was a sign on the door advertising the fact that 'Glory Hawk' would be performing that evening, scheduled to start in about half an hour. Being at the back of our little group meant that I got lumbered with getting the first round of drinks back and a pile of money was passed back along with a list of drinks. Glen volunteered to stay back and help me, along with Tara.
The place was quite busy and we found a space at the bar to wait our turn. I heard a voice behind me. I thought it sounded vaguely familiar but then laughed at myself. I'd never been to Florida and didn't know anyone there. Glen replied to whatever the voice had said.
"I think you made a mistake. We haven't ordered yet"
"If there's one thing I can tell you with all certainty, it's that Jade will never turn down free Guinness. Especially not from me. Isn't that right, sweetness?" I span round, eyes wide.
"Tony? What the hell are you doing here?"
"It's my bar, sweetness. Now get that little butt round here and give me a hug. I haven't seen you for a couple of years!"
I shot round to the gap in the bar and threw myself at Tony. Glen looked at me very strangely. It wasn't surprising. I had walked into a strange bar in a state I had only earlier told everyone that I had never visited and thrown myself at a man, who claimed to own the bar. Tony was quite impressive too, standing at six feet four inches and broad with it. He wouldn't have looked out of place with the others.
Releasing my hold on Tony, I stepped back. "Are you still with…" I clicked my fingers, struggling to find the name.
"Yes, still with Mike. He's just bringing up some bottles."
"I'm glad. You always did make a sweet couple. I knew you'd moved over here, but never heard where. I suppose I'd assumed you'd go back to California. And if you're here, Andy can't be too far away."
"The twin bond can get a bit excessive. Nah, he's here helping to set the band up. You want to give me your drink order? Although you know your money is no good here sweetness." He ruffled my hair like a little kid.
"Get off! Besides, I think we could bankrupt you. I've got a group of thirsty wrestlers waiting for their drinks." I laughed when his eyes lit up.
"Are any of them cute?"
"Yeah, several, and mostly married too. And one of them's mine, so strictly hands off, got it?"
Glen interjected. "Why do you call her sweetness?"
Tony laughed. "Because she isn't. Not even slightly."
He sorted out our drinks and gave us some trays to carry them on. He called out when he saw us heading towards the other room.
"You going to watch the band?"" I glanced back and nodded. "Jade, there's something I need to tell you…"
"Later, Tony. If we don't get these drinks through there, they'll come looking for 'em. I'll come talk later." I turned back to follow Glen and Tara, totally missing the worried look on Tony's face.
I couldn't believe that he was here. I'd known him and his family back in the UK. Irish father, Canadian mother, moved to the UK from California. Huge family with one daughter and six sons. I'd heard that the parents had split up and some of the family had left the country but hadn't heard specific details.
We found the others and distributed the drinks, stacking the trays to one side to use again and settled down to watch the band setting up. I got bored after a little while and started playing with my phone.
"Jade," Mark elbowed me in the ribs to get my attention. "That guy over there has the exact same tattoo as you."
"Which one?" I asked, not looking up from the screen. "My dragon is pretty common."
"No, the unicorn. Right over his back. It looks great."
My head shot up suddenly. "You must be mistaken."
"Look for yourself." He pointed over to the band. A man was standing with his back to us, bending over one of the amps. As he stood up straight I saw his long black hair fall down and partially cover the tattoo that covered most of his back. The same as the one I had on my chest.
It wasn't just Mark's past coming back to haunt me in Florida.
