CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CAYLA

The ringing of her phone woke Cayla out of a deep sleep. She glanced at the clock. It was after three in the morning. This couldn't be a good thing. Saraya looked at her with concern.

"Want me to answer it, Luv?" Saraya asked.

"No," Cayla said. "I've got it." She had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Hello?" She answered.

"Miss Casey?" A woman asked.

"Yes…"

"My name is Dr. Parker. I work at Jamaica Hospital. I'm calling because your name was listed as a contact for Geoffrey Casey."

Cayla wanted to tell her she wasn't interested in anything having to do with him, but she realized if a doctor was calling, something had happened to her father. She couldn't just let that go without finding out what was going on.

"I'm his daughter," she said, which made Saraya look at her questioningly. "What happened? Is he okay?"

"I'm afraid he's not, Miss Casey."

A thousand thoughts raced through Cayla's mind. Was he hurt? Sick? Should she care? Of course she cared. Even if she knew she shouldn't, there was a small part of her that still cared about the father who'd abandoned her family on Christmas Eve so many years before.

"What happened?" Cayla forced herself to ask. "Please, just tell me."

"He was brought to the hospital after the woman he's been staying with found him unconscious in bed."

"Unconscious…" She said the word aloud to try and make sense of it. "Okay, but what's wrong with him?"

The doctor hesitated. "We tried everything we could to revive him, but I'm afraid our efforts failed… He's gone, Miss Casey. I'm very sorry for your loss."

Cayla forced herself to get the details about what she needed to do now before she hung up and dropped the phone. She started sobbing hysterically.

"Luv? What's wrong, Cay? What happened to him?" Saraya asked.

"He's dead," Cayla whispered, unable to connect with the words even as she said them. "My father is dead."

SARAYA

Saraya wasn't sure what to do. Cayla's father had been a first class jerk, but she was clearly hurting. Saraya held her, hoping she could somehow figure out some way to help.

"Cay, I'm so sorry… What happened to him?" She asked.

"I don't know. Some woman found him unconscious in bed," Cayla said numbly. "I didn't ask what happened… I… I should have asked, right?"

"Luv, you're in shock."

"He's dead, Saraya… We'll never be able to work anything out… The last thing I did was flip out on him and tell him to stay out of my life… And now he's gone… He's… He's just gone. Again. For good this time." She buried her face in Saraya's shoulder. "That magical reunion, that perfect life I pretended we could have for years… I accepted it's not going to happen after he asked me for money and flirted with you… God, he flirted with you! I knew it was over. I knew we couldn't ever have that… But now it's really impossible. It's not that he won't change, it's that he literally can't, because he's dead… He's dead, he's gone, just like that… Just gone…"

Saraya was seriously concerned by how much her fiancée was rambling. "Cay, I know… How can I help? Please, there's got to be something…"

"I need to call my sister… She should know, right? And… And I have to go claim the body… The body? God, that's… That's all there is now…" She laughs.

"I'm calling your therapist."

"No. I'm okay."

"Cayla, Luv, you're far from okay."

"I have to do this. I have to take care of his affairs… He doesn't have anyone else, and Corri… She's in Japan. She can't do it. So I have to. I… I need to go…"

"Stop. Please, Cay, just stop for a second." She looked deep into Cayla's eyes. "That man never did a bloody thing for you or your sister. It is not your job to handle his bloody affairs. You do not have to do this."

"I don't?"

"No, Luv. You don't owe him a bloody thing."

Cayla took a deep breath with some difficulty. "I should still tell Corri."

"She might want to dance on his grave."

"Yeah…" Cayla shook her head and kissed Saraya once. "Thank you. For putting up with my latest nervous breakdown and all of that."

"I love you, Cay. I'm here no matter what." She kissed her fiancée and hoped she could find the strength to help Cayla through this loss.

CORRI

Corri had spent five minutes calming her sister down after Cayla tearfully blurted out the news. She wished she could be home to comfort her sister properly, but that wasn't in the cards for her right now. She promised Cayla if she needed anything, she'd do whatever she could to help. Then she hung up and allowed herself to process the news.

"Something wrong?" Cody Hall asked her.

"My dad died," Corri said with no real emotion. It wasn't that she was numb. It was just that her father had never been there before, so why should his death make any difference to her?

"Oh shit, Corri, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I hated the guy. My sister's broken, though. I wish I could be with her, but I have to do the matches I'm booked for."

"I think the death of a parent is a good reason not to."

"Not when the parent is insignificant to you. The only reason I even care about this is because I'm worried about Cay. I hate being so far away from her."

"Do you need something to take the edge off?"

Corri hesitated. She was tempted to say yes. What was the harm? Letting loose this one time couldn't be that bad, right?

"I don't know, Hall," she said. "I probably shouldn't."

"Come on, Corr. No one has to know." He pulled out a tablet of some sort.

"What is it?" Corri heard herself asking. Why was she even talking about this? She was supposed to be staying away from this stuff. Other than the night she'd had entirely too much to drink and ended up in bed with AJ, she was doing pretty well.

"This new shit, fresh off the first publically distributed batch. I know a guy. He gave me a couple of samples."

"What's it do?"

"They say it takes every problem you have and turns them to dust. You just forget everything for a while."

She knew she should say no, but God, that sounded good. She missed not having to feel like crap all the time. She was lonely. She felt incomplete without Cayla, without Randy, without the constant shuffle of the WWE.

"Okay. Just this once," she said.

Cody grinned and handed her a pill. She downed it with a beer. At first, she didn't feel any different. Then, slowly, her mind turned fuzzy. Things didn't seem so bad anymore. In fact, everything was totally fine… Until it wasn't.

Her head hurt. A million flashes of light hit her at once. She clutched her head in her hands and started screaming. She was shaking violently. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"Corri?" Cody asked. She couldn't reply. "Shit… What happened? Are you okay? Hey? You in there?"

Corri couldn't form words. The shaking was getting worse. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Her heart wouldn't stop racing. "Get AJ," she managed to say, because it wasn't like she could ask for the Bucks. They were too straightedge to know how to help her now.

Cody looked panicked. He ran out of the hotel room. What felt like an eternity later, he came back with AJ. "Corri?" AJ asked her. "What's wrong? Cody said you needed me."

Corri wanted to answer him, but once again, there was no way to speak. The pain in her head was so bad. She tried to find a way to communicate, but she couldn't. AJ studied her for a minute before saying, "What the fuck did you give her, Hall?"

"I… It was just one pill, man. I didn't know it would hit her so badly," Cody said.

"You idiot! She's a recovering addict, retard! You can't offer her pills. And what was in it?"

"I-I don't know. It's the first time I've ever gotten my hands on this stuff. It's new."

"You bought a designer drug and offered it to her without even having tried it yourself?!" AJ punched Cody so hard, Cody stumbled back. "Get out of here. Just fucking go."

Cody left the room, still looking terrified. AJ knelt beside Corri. "I've got you, Corri," he said. "I'm here. You're going to be okay."

She wanted to believe that, but she knew somehow that it wasn't true. This was it. She had overdosed on some new drug and she couldn't even respond to the guy who was trying to help her. As AJ picked her up in his arms like she was an infant, Corri thought she was going to black out. A familiar voice brought her back to reality.

"What happened?" Nick demanded.

"Is she okay?" Matt added.

"She took something," AJ said. "I think she overdosed, guys. We need to get her to the hospital."

The Bucks both reacted with panic. Corri started to shake worse. She suspected she was starting to have a seizure.

"Give her to me," Nick said. He took her out of AJ's arms and into his own. "Don't," he whispered to her. "Don't you dare do this, Corrinne Casey, because I will not forgive you if you die in my arms right now."

"Nick, bring her here," Matt said. Nick got into the backseat of a car with his brother, laying Corri between them. He refused to let go of her hand.

"Don't... Please," Nick whispered again. Corri felt moisture falling onto her face and realized that Nick was crying. It made her fight. She had to hold on for him. She couldn't be the reason her little Nicky cried. She fought hard, but she finally gave in to the darkness that was calling to her and blacked out.

RANDY

Randy sat straight up in bed. "Corri," he whispered. Something was wrong. He'd never felt anything as strongly as he felt that now. He wasn't having a nightmare. There was something going on in the real world, in the present time, and he had no idea what it was.

Maybe he should call her. He hadn't contacted her since she'd left him, but he needed to know if she was okay. He pulled out his cell phone. He had absolutely no idea what time it was in Japan, but he needed to reach out to her. He started to dial her number, but stopped himself.

"She probably wouldn't even pick up," he said aloud. Less than a minute later, he decided he didn't care. The feeling wasn't going away. He had to know that she was alright. It didn't matter if she hated him, if she thought he was an idiot, if it seemed desperate… Something was wrong, and until he knew what was going on, he wouldn't be able to breathe.

He dialed. It went to voice mail. He called back, convinced she was ignoring him. This time, someone picked up, but it wasn't Corri.

"This isn't a good time," the man said. Who was it? A new boyfriend? A random stranger? Randy had no idea. It didn't matter.

"Look, I don't know who you are, but I need to talk to Corri. It's urgent," Randy said.

"Who is this?"

"Tell her it's Randy."

"Orton?" Now the person softened his tone. "Um… Why are you calling her right now?"

"I need to talk to her."

"You kind of can't."

"Look, I know she's avoiding me, but humor me. Something just feels… wrong." It sounded lame, and he still had no idea who he was talking to, but he didn't care. He had to try to get her on the phone.

"Randy, listen, this is Matt Massie. I have Corri's phone because she's… She's in the hospital."

The earth shifted. Randy felt dizzy. "What happened?" He forced himself to ask.

"She took something, man… I'm sorry. I don't know what it was. Nick and I came into this late. AJ was already trying to get her out of the hotel and to the hospital when we met up with them. One of the guys here who's not so straightedge apparently decided to give her something, and she took it… I don't know anything else."

"Did she overdose?" He was shaking. Corri was in some hospital in fucking Japan and he couldn't help her.

"Yeah… But she's alive, Randy. She's still alive."

Randy tried to cling to that. "Is she going to be alright?"

"They think so." Matt paused. "I know why she left you. She told my brother and I how bad things got between the two of you. She even admitted she snapped and hit you. It was drugs, wasn't it? She wouldn't admit it, but we kind of suspected… Corri's outrageous, but she's never been some abusive psychopath."

"It was drugs," Randy confirmed. "I tried to get her help… Even Paul tried to get her to go to rehab, but she refused. She swore she was fine, and she quit instead."

"That's why they gave her that shitty release deal?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, man. I know you love her, and I know she came here thinking we could help her… And we did. I swear we did. She was okay for a while. She just slipped up. I don't know what happened."

Suddenly, Randy realized there was another issue. "Matt, have you guys called Cayla yet?"

"No… I guess I should have thought of that, but I've been so focused on Corri, it didn't occur to me."

"I'll tell her."

"Be gentle. Cay's kind of fragile."

"She's tougher than people think."

"Believe me, I know that, but Corri's the most important person in the world to her."

"Will you do me a favor? Call me when you know what's going on. Corri doesn't have to know, but… I just… I need to know she's alright."

"Definitely."

"Thank you." Randy hung up and tried to figure out how he was going to tell Cayla that their shared worst nightmare had come true. Corri had overdosed.

He pulled on a t-shirt and jeans, then slipped on his socks and sneakers before heading out of his room. It was still very early, but knowing how connected the sisters were, he suspected Cayla already felt the same sense of danger he had.

He knocked on Cayla and Saraya's door gently. Saraya opened it a minute later. "Randy? What are you doing here at this hour?" She asked.

"I need to talk to Cayla," he said. "Something's happened."

Cayla was curled up in a ball blacked out cold. "She's resting," Saraya said. "She just got some news… Her dick of a father is dead."

"Oh God… Did she tell Corri?"

"Hey, you said her name! Good for you, Randy. And yes, she did, a little while before she blacked out."

"Saraya, Corri took something. She's alive, and she should be okay, but… She overdosed."

"Bloody Christ, are you kidding me? How are you so calm?"

"Years of acting practice. I'm faking it. Cayla needs to know."

"How do you know?"

"I had a bad feeling… So bad that I actually called Corri. Matt answered and told me she was in the hospital."

Saraya sighed. She walked over to Cayla and gently shook her awake. Cayla looked at Randy in confusion. "What's wrong?" She asked. "It's Corri, isn't it? I felt it… It actually knocked me out."

"She's going to be fine," Randy said quickly. "She's alive, but… She overdosed, Cayla. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you. The Bucks hadn't gotten around to calling you before I found out."

Cayla started to cry. "This is my fault! I shouldn't have told her…"

"Don't cry, Cay," Saraya said gently. "Corri's a big girl. She makes her own choices."

"She was fine. She was sober, Saraya!"

"Are you sure?"

"She drank a few times, but there were no drugs…"

"Maybe this is what she needs, Cay. Maybe now she'll realize she's out of control."

"Corri's strong, Cayla," Randy said gently. "She'll get through this, and she'll come out better than ever." He tried to force himself to believe his own words. Corri had to be alright. There was no other choice.

CORRI

When she awoke, a hand was squeezing hers and a Young Buck was asleep in the chair beside her bed. "Baby Buck needed a nap?" She teased softly. It woke Nick up.

"Corri? Oh, thank God! Thank God you're awake!" Nick cried out. Matt and AJ appeared at his words.

"I missed you, too?"

"You almost died, Corri."

"You're exaggerating. It was just a bad trip. You wouldn't know this, Baby Buck, but that happens with designer drugs sometimes."

"He's not exaggerating," AJ said. "You flat-lined at a couple of points. You had a few seizures. You almost didn't wake up, Corri."

"Guys, I'm fine," Corri said. "It was just that this new stuff was clearly a bad batch."

"Knock it off," Matt said bluntly.

His tone surprised her. "What?" She asked.

"Stop acting like you didn't just scare the hell out of us all by nearly dying."

"I-"

"Corri… You went limp in my arms. You had seizures while I held you and begged you not to die. You…" Nick stopped speaking and tried to hide the tears in his eyes.

"Oh God…" Corri whispered in horror. "I broke the Baby Buck because of my stupidity… Nicky, I'm sorry. Really. I didn't mean to scare you."

"You almost died."

"I'm so sorry…" Something odd happened then. Corri started to cry, too. She hugged Nick to her and whispered, "I never meant for it to go this far. I never meant for this to be my life, Nicky… I came to you guys so I'd stop with this crap, but Cody had the drugs and I just… I said yes."

"Cody? It was Cody?!" Matt demanded. He looked homicidal.

"Down, Matt," Corri said. "I'm a big girl. I make my own choices. He didn't slip it into my drink or anything. I fucked up. I always do. I can't seem to stop."

"You need help, Corri," Nick said.

Anytime anyone else had ever said those words to her, Corri had responded with snark, easy dismissal, or even anger, but coming from Nick, who she'd known since his very first real independent match, she couldn't deny it anymore. She'd broken her baby Buck. She did need help.

"God, Nick… Matt… I'm so sorry," she said. "You saved my life. All three of you. AJ, I was aware when you came to me. I know if you hadn't, I'd be dead. And my Bucks… If I hadn't heard your voices, I don't think I would have made it. I heard you, Nicky. I heard you begging me not to die."

"I love you, Corr… I can't lose you, especially not like that," Nick said.

She knew she had no choice now. She couldn't keep doing this to the people she loved. "Does someone have my phone?"

"Yeah," Matt said.

"You guys are supposed to head back to the States in a few days, right?"

"Yep."

"Take me with you."

"We always do."

"It's more important this time." She took her phone from Matt and ignored the fact that she was in a hospital and shouldn't be making any calls. She dialed a number she swore she'd never call again.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey Paul, it's me," Corri said, knowing he'd recognize her voice and no introduction was necessary. She took a deep breath and said the last words she had ever expected to say aloud. "Is your offer still on the table? I… I think I need help."