Jeff walked into the arena and lowered his hoodie. He was tired as fuck; he should have gone straight home. But shit was hurtling forward; he needed to get it together fast.
He knew Hunter wasn't going to let him get away with silence this time. The lawyers had told him Hunter had been blowing up their phones the entire time he had been a guest of the Chicago PD – those fuckers. What should have been a couple of hours at the most had turned into forty-eight hours. The second he had sat down with the District Attorney it had become very clear why he had been asked to fly to Chicago instead of Ottawa, where he'd beat that bastard up in the first place. This wasn't about helping him or the McMahons, or even Kitty Kat. The guy was running for another term, and he was going to use the story that had won it for him the last time.
He needed to find out if he was on the card tonight before finding Hunter. Then he had to find a replacement charger for his phone so he could try calling Kitty Kat again. Maybe today was the day she'd talk to him. He hoped it was. He wasn't going to have many more chances.
"Jeff!"
He turned around at the sound of Maria's voice.
"Hey."
Maria looked a little flustered as she came towards him.
"Hey? That's it? I've been looking for you everywhere. You haven't been answering your phone. You can't say all that stuff then disappear."
He's never seen Maria like this before and it struck him that, like Katrina, she was desperate to distance herself from this situation, too.
Like Katrina...
Shit. This wasn't going to be fair on Maria either.
"Come," he said, taking her hand and leading her down the long hallway. "Let's find somewhere private."
He was surprised she let him touch her. And that she stayed quiet until he's found a hallway that wasn't too busy.
"I didn't have my phone on me till a little while ago, and then my charger died. I didn't get a chance to buy another till I got off the plane," he started. He leaned against the wall and put his hands in his pockets. Maria stood in front of him and crossed her arms too.
"You need to tell me what you meant. You need to tell me why you think I can help you," Maria said. "I don't know what my uncle did - I don't see why I have to be involved in this."
But her shoulders were tense and she wasn't meeting his eyes. It was almost similar to one of Kitty's tells, when he got into subjects she was uncomfortable with.
He'd never felt more like a dick in his life. As much as he disliked this woman, it was unfair to throw her under the bus to spare his friend when she too was a victim.
"It's okay. I've sorted it now."
Her relief was evident.
"Really?"
"Yes. I won't involve you."
Maria let out a breath and her shoulders relaxed.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Of course."
But she didn't walk away like he had expected. And the longer she stood in front of him the more he noticed how agitated she still was.
"George... My uncle... Has he been arrested?"
He wondered if she realised she was giving herself away. If she didn't know what her uncle had done, why would he be arrested?
"No."
Her eye flew up to his for the first time, her confusion clear.
"But he... You said you sorted this."
"I have. I can't tell you much, you'll hear about it soon."
She frowned at this, and then suspicion filled her eyes.
"Where were you, Jeff? Why didn't you have your phone? And how is it one minute you were desperate for my help and the next you don't need me?"
He could see where she was going with this.
"What did you do, Jeff?"
"Relax. I didn't do anything stupid," he chuckled. "The bastard is still breathing."
"So where were you?"
"In Chicago. I was a guest at their police department."
"What? Because of the fight?"
"Yes. But keep that to yourself," he said as he pushed himself off the wall. "I don't want anyone to ask questions."
"Wait."
He stopped and turned back to her.
"So... That's over, too? They let you go."
Not quite.
"Yes," he lied. "I'll see you around, Maria."
He'd taken a few steps away from her when he stopped and faced her again.
"You should talk to someone," he said gently.
Maria looked away again.
"There's no need. Have a good night, Jeff."
He watched her walk away, then turned the opposite way towards the production office.
Hunter walked to stand next to Randy, his gaze on Eve the whole time. When the woman looked up at him, he gave her a slow smirk. He'd been told he looked very evil when he did that, he really hoped that was true. Finally they could stop playing and destroy the women who'd hurt his baby.
Eve took a step back, her gaze moving from Steph and Katrina to him then back again. Then she turned and fled.
"Run, little girl, run," he said quietly, his smirk turning into a big smile.
"You look really scary when you smile. Anyone ever told you that?"
He turned to Cena and grinned.
"I'm starting to feel sorry for those girls," Cena said, shaking his head.
Randy grunted. "Don't waste your energy, John. They deserve everything they're going to get."
Very true. He looked at the man who'd brought his girl back to him and chuckled.
"I'm glad you see it my way. This is why you're going to be Mr. Katrina Lang one day," he teased.
Randy's cheeks flushed and he had to laugh at that. After all the weeks of worry, it felt good to do that again.
"Oh, stop," Katrina said, a frown on her face as she finally let go of Stephanie. "Don't tease Randy and leave those women alone. I mean that."
He snorted as he pulled his ward under his arm. She, of all people, knew that wasn't going to happen. One didn't just mess with his family and expect no consequences.
"Let's go to my office," he said. "We can call the kids, too."
He didn't move his arm away as he normally would have. He was sure everyone would know by the end of the hour that Katrina was his family anyway. But even if they hadn't had this moment in front of everyone, he had already decided while Katrina had been away that he would out their relationship anyway. She was his family; and damned if he was going to hide that again. Kat had begged him to in the beginning so she could remain in the background, but after all this shit that had happened, it would look like he was ashamed of her. And shame wasn't something he'd ever felt towards or about Katrina.
"First I have to go see if they'll let me work tonight," Katrina said. "I'll come to your office after."
"Of course they'll let you work," Steph said.
"Yeah, you practically have tenure here," Helms added.
He laughed as he looked at the younger man. Helms, Matt and John knew more about Katrina now than she would be comfortable with, but he hoped she would one day learn that that was ok. And he hoped she wouldn't be too hard on him when she learned he had set the ball rolling when he gave Jeff her book. That was going to be a hard conversation but he had to do it.
"Ha ha," Kat said. "I'm still going to speak to my supervisor and apologise for not coming to work because that's what responsible adults do."
She took only one step towards the door and froze in her tracks.
Jeff had been standing in the doorway for a little while before Katrina noticed him. He hadn't expected to see her tonight. He had so much to say but in that moment he couldn't think of it.
He'd missed her. He'd missed his friend a lot.
Katrina slowly walked towards him and his heart quickened. Her eyes were unreadable but he had to believe that she would give him another chance now.
But she didn't.
She walked past him like he didn't even exist.
"Kitty Kat..."
She didn't even turn back.
He let out a tired breath and looked at the people Kat had left behind, who, unsurprisingly, all rushed forward like a pack of wolves.
"What the hell happened?" Matt asked as soon as he got to him.
"I've been trying your phone for days!" Randy growled. "What the hell is going on? Where were you? These guys said you were detained?"
"You were supposed to get a phone call," Helms added. "You couldn't call us?"
He looked at Hunter and Steph, who were silently waiting behind Matt, Helms, Cena and Orton. He knew he had to talk to them first.
"Not here," he said, rubbing his face tiredly.
Fuck, he really didn't want to deal with these men right now.
"My office. Alone," Hunter ordered. "Now."
Then he and his wife walked past him and down the hallway without even looking back. Obviously they knew he wouldn't dare defy them, not now.
He sighed and looked back at the other men.
"I'll find you later," he promised, before turning and following Hunter and Steph at a more leisurely pace. He had to get his thoughts together so he could get it all out. For one thing, he would have to lose his championship at the Rumble on Sunday.
The door was open when he got there, and both of them stood facing it. When he walked in he closed the door slowly before turning to face them.
"Were you charged?" Hunter asked immediately.
"No." Not yet.
"So what happened? Why were you there for two days?" Steph asked, coming forward to lead him to a sofa.
He waited until Steph sat to sit next to her.
"You told me the DA is a friend of yours. Didn't seem that way when he detained me without charge for the full forty-eight hours allowed by law," he drawled.
"Why would he do that? He said all you had to do was make a statement and he would spin the story," Steph said.
"It's because he wants something," Hunter guessed. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned against his table. "What was it? A donation to his campaign?"
"He wanted me to make a formal statement, including Katrina's name, so he could subpoena her to testify and he could get another sensational win just in time to announce he is running for another term."
"What?!" Steph gasped.
"Kat's not going to want to do that! She barely made it through the first time…"
Hunter's voice trailed off as the frown grew on his face.
"We're going to have to tell her everything so she has time to prepare," Steph said with a determined nod. "We'll help her through, just like last time. She'll be fine."
But it sounded to him like Steph was trying to reassure herself, not her husband.
"I didn't make the statement."
"What?!" This time it was Hunter who let out that exclamation, and he lunged forward to stand threateningly right in front of him. "You've let that bastard paedophile go free?"
"No!"
"Then how are you out with no charge? What deal did you make with that devil?" Hunter growled.
"The investigator I hired found some really bad stuff. The DA was satisfied with that, and said if he was convicted it would put him away for the same amount of time anyway."
"So that's it?" Hunter frowned. "He hurt Katrina and none of the jurors are even going to hear about it? That's not justice, not for Katrina!"
"You can talk to Katrina. Find out how she feels about me making that statement anyway," he suggested.
"He gave you that option?"
He fiddled with the rips in his pair of jeans.
"Yes. He said maybe if Katrina testified that bastard would serve a longer sentence. But that would be entirely up to her."
Hunter nodded and walked back to lean on his desk, the frown still on his face as he thought things through.
"I'll talk to her," Hunter said finally.
"The sooner the better."
Hunter nodded again.
"I might leave it till after the Rumble, and see how she settles back in," he said.
Jeff bit his lip to stop himself from saying anything else. This would be entirely Katrina's decision. But in his heart he already knew that she wasn't ready to stand up in front of people again to tell the world what this man had done. He would just have to live with that.
"About the Rumble," he started. "Maybe it's time I lost this belt? I haven't really been WWE Champion material lately."
"All that has blown over with the fans now. And if they didn't charge you there's nothing anyone can do about it, whether the fans like it or not," Hunter said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"I don't want to be Champion anymore," he insisted. "I want to do that feud with Matt that we've been asking for, for years. Maybe I'll try my luck at the belt again someday."
"Everything's already planned, Jeff. We'll have to talk about it after this storyline runs its course," Steph said as she stood up.
"I'm going to get Kat. Go talk to the producers to find out what you're doing tonight," Hunter said as he walked to the door.
"And I have some Divas to talk to," Steph said with a little smile.
Then he was all alone.
He let out a breath and pulled out his phone before he remembered it was dead. Katrina had to speak to him this weekend. She just had to.
Randy pounced on Jeff the second he walked out of Hunter's office. Shit had obviously exploded while he'd been away, and he intended to find out how.
He blocked Jeff path.
"We need to talk," he growled.
Jeff sighed and nodded. He looked dead on his feet but he didn't feel sorry for the charismatic bastard. Tonight he would tell him the name of Kat's abuser one way or another.
He backed Jeff back into the office and shut the door.
"Talk. What the fuck is going on?"
"Someone took the footage of my fight to the police so they had to investigate. Then the DA in Chicago said if I handed myself in to him he could make it go away."
"Did he?"
Randy saw the slight hesitation.
"Yes," Jeff said.
"Don't fucking lie to me!"
"I handled it! That bastard's going to get arrested and Katrina doesn't even have to see him or speak to the police," Jeff said. "Now please… All I want right now is to find out if I'm working or I can go check in to my room. I need a long shower and sleep."
Jeff made to walk past him but he grabbed the other man's arm and pulled him back.
"What's his name?" he growled.
"We talked about this, Orton."
"And I agreed to it because I wasn't close enough to wring your little neck if you don't tell me what I need to know. Who the fuck is he?"
"Let the police handle him now_"
"I'm not going to let him off that easily."
After the horrors Kat had told him… after reading the book… No, he couldn't let it end like this.
"I can't let you do anything stupid_"
He shoved Jeff against the door and held him there, though the man wasn't resisting.
"Tell me his fucking name or I swear to whatever god you believe in that I won't be held responsible for what I do to you," he growled. "Tell. Me. His. Fucking. Name."
He couldn't stop himself shaking as his anger threatened to consume him again. He'd had to hold everything in while he'd been with Katrina but he couldn't control himself now. Somebody was going to pay very dearly for what happened to Katrina.
"No," Jeff said firmly.
He didn't even take a second to think about it. Like the very real danger he was in didn't even faze him.
"Jeff… I need to get him. Don't do this."
How would he ever forgive himself if he let this chance slip away? How would he ever look Kat in the eye if he felt like he'd failed her?
"I know she told you everything," Jeff said. "And I know you're angry and want to hurt him_"
"You should want that, too!"
"I do," Jeff hissed. Then he calmed himself, but not before showing the burning anger in his eyes.
Randy frowned and cocked his head as he looked at Jeff's face. Then he released him.
"Do you know when the police are going to make their move?"
"About a week," Jeff answered.
The calmness suddenly made sense. He held Jeff's gaze, saw the determination, the controlled anger again.
"When are you going to make yours?"
Kat looked at the program in her hands and pretended not to hear the crew whispering about her. Her supervisor had chewed her out for disappearing like that but he hadn't threatened to fire her, which meant he'd heard the news as well. She was sitting on a crate near the gorilla position but they were all giving her a wide berth.
Whatever. She didn't think she'd be around for much longer, anyway.
Not with Jeff here.
She'd known she would see him and she's known she'd still be angry but she hadn't expected to miss him so much. He'd looked rough - she'd never seen him look so downtrodden before - and all she'd wanted to do was make things ok for him again like she'd used to do.
But she couldn't get past the betrayal.
Losing that trust they'd shared hurt her more than anything, and she didn't want to ever have to go through the again.
Doctor Olivia had briefly touched on that subject. She'd mentioned Jeff probably as much as she'd talked about Randy, without realising it so the doctor then wanted to know what their relationship was like, and if it had been intimate. But she wasn't ready to talk about Jeff so she had declined to comment.
One thing the Dr. Carter had asked though had stuck with her. Was what Jeff had done that unforgivable? Maybe she would never tell her that story but that question had been running through her mind constantly.
She loved Jeff like she'd never loved anyone else. It had been pure. Untainted. Until she realised it wasn't, not really. She didn't think she could ever forgive that.
Seeing Dr. Carter wasn't going to magically change that.
"You alright, Sweetheart?"
She hadn't noticed Hunter had come to stand right in front of her.
"Yeah. I was just going over tonight's show," she lied.
"You really want to work tonight?" Hunter asked, pulling a face.
It was necessary to get back into her old routine, so maybe she could gain some control back. Plus she had to pull her weight somehow.
"I have to. But I can hang out for a bit, and we can grab something to eat after the show," she offered as she jumped off the crate and started walking back towards his office.
"You coming home on Tuesday?" Hunter was walking beside her now, hands in his pockets as they avoided the busy crew and their equipment all over the place.
"Yes. I don't have to see Dr. Carter again until the week after."
"So how's that going to work? You'll be going with Randy every other week?"
"I guess. For now. We'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll just rent a place."
"I could get you your own place if you want. You don't have to go with Randy if you're not comfortable with that."
"You don't have to do that, H. I'll be fine," she assured him. "And if I need to rent or buy my own place, that money from that stupid book will come in handy."
"Stop calling it that. I'm glad you wrote it. You started to deal with it after you let it all out like that," Hunter said.
She supposed he was right. But it didn't change the fact that Randy and Jeff had the books and now knew almost everything.
And speaking of the devils...
She stopped when she saw them coming out of Hunter's office. Whispering, looking all serious as they walked in the opposite direction.
"What the fuck is going on, Hunter?"
Hunter looked at the two men then back at her, looking guilty as fuck.
"Let's not jump back into all the drama tonight," Hunter said after a little while.
"If you don't tell me, I'm just going to get paranoid."
Hunter was quiet for a while.
"Promise you won't get mad at me?"
"I could never get mad at you."
Hunter seemed to accept that. He took her hand and he led her the remaining distance to the office.
"I promise I didn't do it on purpose," Hunter started once she had sat down. "I was just worried about you and I didn't trust Jeff with you."
He came to sit next to her, leaning on his knees, fiddling with his hands and not meeting her eyes. She knew she wasn't going to like this conversation.
"What did you do, Hunter?"
"I gave Jeff the book."
She inhaled sharply as she processed that. Surely she'd heard wrong.
"I knew there was a chance he would figure it out. I wanted him to figure it out."
"Why?" she gasped.
"Because you made him part of the family. I knew you'd be mad, I knew you'd probably walk away for a little while, but because you love him I thought you'd find your way back to each other. I mean, I know everything and you still love me. Right?"
"Of course I love you! You can't compare yourself to Jeff," she snapped.
"Why not? He and I aren't any different. When it comes right down to it, I'm just your friend, too."
"You know you're more than that!"
"And Jeff is, too. You know that. So why are you walking away from him? Did you not trust him enough to tell him?"
"I did I trust him! More than you'll ever know! That's the problem. He fucking lied to me. If he hadn't found out about my past, he would have gladly walked out of my life that night you saw me crying. He told me our friendship was over," she said, her voice rising.
"Oh, come on. Friends fight all the time. You would have made up the next day."
"I'm the reason the love of his life walked out on him. He had every right to hate me, I ruined his life. Now Angie is with someone else and there's no hope for them getting back together. He should hate my guts for eternity, but he found out about Grace and all of a sudden we're friends again and I can do no wrong."
She stood up to pace the office, feeling her heart breaking again when she remembered the moment she had put it together in that stairwell.
"I can't ever trust him again, Hunter."
"He didn't tell you because I asked him not to. So it's not on him, sweetheart. This was my doing."
She shook her head, still unable to process that. Why had Hunter given him the damn book in the first place? And if he believed that was the reason she had run away, was it possible they hadn't figured out what Jeff had done? Who he had beaten up? Could she really sweep the last few weeks under the rug like they'd never happened?
"I don't want to talk about him anymore."
"Do you still love him?"
It would have been a lot easier if she didn't.
"I said I don't want to talk about him."
"OK," Hunter said gently. Then he opened his arms and she walked back to him, gladly taking the comfort he offered.
He made them both comfortable on the couch and didn't say anything else.
After she'd calmed down she let out a tired breath and said, "I'm not mad at you."
A bit disappointed, but not mad. She owed this man her life; she'd never been able to hold any anger towards him for long. So she was disappointed that he had used that fact.
"I promise, I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought if he knew he'd be more careful with you."
"But that's the thing, Hunter. I didn't want him to treat me any differently, I didn't want him to be careful with me," she said sadly. "He was my best friend because he saw... me. He saw me. I didn't have to hide; I didn't have to pretend..."
Hunter kissed the top of her head and tightened his hold.
"I'm sorry I took that away from you," Hunter said quietly.
She blinked back some tears. How was she going to let all of that go?
"He's been trying to call you. Maybe you can talk to him, let all of this out and decide what to do after that. Maybe you'll forgive him. Maybe eventually you'll trust him again. Or maybe you'll just get closure."
She shook her head and released herself from Hunter's embrace.
"I should call everyone and let them know I'm OK."
The change of subject was blatant. Hunter sighed and nodded his head.
"Start with the kids. They'll be going to bed soon. I told them you were staying at a friend's house but you would be home soon."
She was grateful the little ones weren't old enough to understand what was happening.
"I miss them so much."
"They missed you, too. We all did."
She gave him a kiss on the cheek and found her phone. Out of all of them, Shane would be harder to talk to. But she would show him that she was OK.
She would do better. For the kids. For Shane. For the whole family. For herself. She would do as Dr. Olivia said, and take one day at a time.
