The Rock's music hit and he and Triple H walked down the ramp together. The Rock grabbed a microphone and started talking.
"Kurt Angle, The Rock has had his share of run ins with you. Now, you go around and try and screw up Destiny's match? The Rock-"
"Rock, I've got this one." Triple H said. "Kurt, I've had it about up to here with you. On RAW, your ass is mine, no questions asked."
"If your just joining us, Kurt Angle coast Destiny the Light-Heavyweight Championship." Michael Cole said
"And, no one messes with Destiny, or they'll get their ass handed to them by Triple H here, or anyone else in that alliance." Tazz replied.
"Or the APA." Cole said. "But, you have to wonder what's the physical condition of Kurt Angle? He was in that very intense match against Jeff Hardy and I can tell you that Jeff Hardy is still feeling that. It leaves you to wonder how Kurt Angle is feeling?"
"Frankly, Cole, I could careless how Kurt's feeling. You mess with Destiny, you're going to have to pay the price. And, Kurt's going to be paying on RAW."
After Smackdown was over, Matt told Jeff he was taking me out. Jeff said it was OK and that he would catch a ride with Adam and Jay. I sat in the locker room waiting for Matt. He was taking a shower. I put my tanktop on as I waited. He came out in a towel.
"Just give me two minutes." He said. "Oh, and could you turn around?"
"Yeah, but you don't have anything I haven't seen all ready." I said. I turned around. I tied my shoe.
"All right, lets go." He said.
We walked to the van. I put my gym bag in the backseat. Jeff had taken Matthew back to the hotel with him. Matt put the CD player on and went to "Betterman". I sighed.
"I'm sorry about your match." He said. "You should have that belt around your waist."
"I know." I replied. "How did Kurt get there?"
"Who knows. All I know is come RAW, he's got to face Paul, and Paul's pissed."
"Also, Kurt's not in the best condition to fight."
"Do you think Paul really cares?" Matt said. "Paul's going to whip Kurt in ways we never thought possible." I was looking down, fighting tears. "Is something wrong? Des, tell me, honestly, what's wrong?"
"It's this whole Kurt thing." I answered. It was a total lie. "I just can't handle this."
"Paul's going to take care of it." Matt told me.
"That's what you said about Jeff." I said. "Everyone said that Jeff was going to take care of it."
"I'm very sorry." Matt said. "I can't imagine what's going on inside that head of yours."
"No, you can't." I replied. "No one can."
"Have you talked to Jeff about it?"
"No."
"Why not? Are you and Jeff having problems?" He asked concerned.
"No, we're fine. I just can't tell him." I answered.
"You're telling me just fine." Matt said.
"I know, I don't want to talk about it. A lot's going on in my head and in my heart and I can't figure out what to believe." I sighed. "And, I'm always dumping my problem's on you, I'm sorry."
"No, it's all right. I want to help." Matt said. He pulled into a little diner. "It's nothing special, but it'll do."
"It's fine." I said. "I'm not all that hungry."
"You don't have to worry about telling me anything. I want you to know I'm going to be here for you." Matt said once we were seated. "And, I hope you'll be there for me."
"I will be." I said. "You can count on it."
"Good, I'm glad." He smiled and I got that sinking feeling in my stomach again. "Well, come Unforgiven, you'll be the Women's Champion."
"Oh, that I know I will get." I said. "I am going to rip her apart."
"Calm down tiger, there's no need to kill her."
"Someone should." I said.
"Destiny." Matt looked at me.
"What? She has done nothing but disrespect me since I've been here. I don't owe her anything but a good ass kicking."
"Which you always do every time you face her."
"Exactly, there is no one in the Women's division that is better than me."
"And, that is true." Matt said. "You're not being arrogant when you say that because it's true."
"Just like if you said you and Jeff were the best tag team, that's true."
He smiled and put his hand on mine. "Together, the three of us are the best damn stable in the WWF."
I held onto his hand and smiled. The waitress came with our food. Matt was shooting out ideas for the match at Unforgiven. He said he wanted the his and Jeff's part of the tag match to be pretty much short and sweet. He wanted my part of the match to be intense and Xtreme.
"I think you should involve tables in yours." I said.
"No, save all of that for your match."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because, you're rivalry with Amy is bigger than ours with the Dudleyz, trust me, you go all out."
Matt seemed very into my part of the match. He wanted it to go on for a while. And, after a bloody battle, I'd win. I had no problem blooding Amy at all. I just couldn't believe we were sitting there, and holding hands.
Matt paid for everything and we left. I sat in the passenger seat thinking about what I was doing. The lyrics to "Betterman" came into my head:
Waitin', watchin' the clock, it's four o'clock, it's got to stop
Tell him, take no more, she practices her speech
As he opens the door, she rolls over...
Pretends to sleep as he looks her over
She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man...
She dreams in color, she dreams in red, can't find a better man...
Can't find a better man
Talkin' to herself, there's no one else who needs to know...
She tells herself...
Memories back when she was bold and strong
And waiting for the world to come along...
Swears she knew it, now she swears he's gone
She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man...
She dreams in color, she dreams in red, can't find a better man...
She lies and says she still loves him, can't find a better man...
She dreams in color, she dreams in red, can't find a better man...
Can't find a better man
She loved him, yeah...she don't want to leave this way
She feeds him, yeah...that's why she'll be back again
Can't find a better man
Over and over in my head the song played. I was driving myself crazy over that song. Matt walked me to my hotel room. I could hear the sounds of Matthew in there, it made me smile.
"See you tomorrow." He said. He kissed my cheek.
"Did you have fun with Matt?" Jeff asked me. He was laying on the bed with Matthew on his stomach.
"Yeah, I did." I answered.
"Good, I'm glad." He said. He went back to playing with Matthew.
I changed into my PJs and sat next to Jeff. Jeff took to Matt like his own son. Jeff never thought twice if he had to wake up in the middle of the night because Matthew was crying. He never complained when it was our turn to keep him in the room.
I started dazing off. Thinking about the song "Betterman" and how pissed I was at Kurt. He got me so mad. He shouldn't have been there. He could barely walk, he was worse than Jeff. I started getting really angry.
"Something bothering you?" Jeff asked.
"Kurt." I answered without hesitating.
"I bet." Jeff said. "I don't know how the hell he got there. I wanted to go out there and kill him. Dwayne told me to stay backstage."
"It's better you did." I told him. "I don't need you getting hurt even worse."
"I wanted to kick the crap out of him."
"Paul's got it." I replied.
"Yeah, Paul'll probably to a better job than me anyway." He sat up. "He's asleep." Jeff put Matthew in his bed. He redid his hair and sat back down on the bed.
"How are you feeling?" I asked him.
"Better with every day that passes." He answered. He laid on his back. I laid on his chest.
"Good to hear."
"How's your head? You took some spill."
"I'm good." I answered. "Hurts a little, but I'll live."
"That stunt you and Stephanie pulled was funny. She made a good freak. But, you looked really sexy in that dress." He told me. "A side of you I've never seen."
"Don't get used to it, Hardy, I'm not going to look like that again." I said. He made a face. "I like the way I look. I need to re-dye my hair."
"I'll do it for you." He said. "But, you did look sexy tonight." I smiled.
"Naturally." I kissed him and got under the covers.
It took me a little while to fall asleep. I fell asleep thinking about my dinner with Matt. I had a lot of fun with him. I always have fun with him. I rolled over and saw Jeff sleeping their beside me. He looked so peaceful. I smiled and just looked at him. Then, I got that sinking feeling. I've thought about Matt so much more than Jeff. Going back to that whole better man situation. There was no way Matt could be a better man than Jeff, just no way.
I finally did fall asleep. But, had to wake up three hours later. We had house shows the whole week. Vince really did lay the punishment on us. He was now going to put us in all of these house shows and never giving us a day off in a while. Chris was upset about that.
"I promised my wife I'd be home this weekend, at least two days." He said. "But, obviously I can't."
"It's Vince's fault." Dwayne told him. We were walking to our cars. "Who are we following?"
"Me." Matt said. "Well, us."
"All right." Paul said. "Don't lose us."
"We won't." I told him. "We're only going like two hours away or whatever."
"My father's an ass." Stephanie said. She was leaning on her and Paul's car. "Can I kill him?"
"Stephanie, hun, that wouldn't be such a good idea. Who'd run this?" Paul asked.
"Shane, me, you." She answered. "All of us. I don't know. We'd be better than he will ever be."
"True, I'm all for it. But, it would kill all of our story lines." I said. "Damnit."
"Oh, right. It would." She replied. "Damn those story lines." We laughed.
"All right troops, lets go." Paul told us.
We all go into our cars and drove off. It was Matt, Jeff, and myself in the mini van leading the way, Paul and Stephanie were behind us, Adam and Jay behind them, and Chris and Dwayne behind them. All nine of us going to the house show.
"We'll get Kurt." Matt told me. "Don't you worry."
"I know." I said. "Paul's got him on Monday. If that doesn't stop him, I don't know what will."
"I thought I had him." Jeff replied.
"You did a good job, babe." I told him. "I really thought you kicked his ass hard enough to knock some sense into him."
"Guess not." He said. He looked back at me. "We'll get him."
"I know." I replied. "Do all you want to him, but I want the final battle."
"You want to go up against him?" Matt asked.
"Didn't I do it once before?"
"That was different. You had no where to go, Kurt had you cornered." Matt answered.
"He's right. You don't want to have to go through that again."
"I want Kurt in the ring. I want to be the last to kick his ass." I told them firmly. "I'm going to fight him."
"Well, I know that Paul isn't the only one who's going to have the shot. Dwayne's going to want a shot, Chris is." Matt said. "I do."
"No need for all of you guys to get involved." I said.
"Des, we are involved." Matt told me. "Since the first time he laid his hands on you, we were involved."
"Whatever you want to do." I said. "But, I'm getting the final blow."
We pulled into the new hotel. We had some time to kill. We all met up in Paul and Stephanie's room and started talking about match ideas for Unforgiven
"Well, there's that six man tag match." She said.
"I want Kurt." Paul said. "Give me Kurt."
"No, I've got a tag match for you. You and Dwayne vs the APA."
"Why?" Paul asked.
"Because I said so." She answered. "Um, I have an Intercontinental belt shot, who wants it?" Adam, Jay, and Chris raised their hands. "Rock, paper, scissors." She said. Jay won. "OK, Jay you have your shot."
"Who owns it now?" He asked.
"Um, I think Billy Gunn might actually own it." She answered. "I'll double check for you."
"I'll be at ringside." Adam said. "Don't need to put me in a match."
"All right then." Stephanie replied. "Chris." She looked at him. "Nothing's open right now."
"Don't worry." Chris replied. "I'm cool with it." I started falling asleep on Matt's shoulder.
"Des, wake up." He told me.
I opened my eyes and looked around the room. I was feeling incredibly sick all of a sudden. And, on top of that, my head still hurt from the day before and I had a match against Molly Holly.
"I don't feel so good." I announced. "I feel sick."
"Just lay there, you're head'll feel a little better before your match." Jay told me.
"No, I mean I feel sick." I replied.
I sat up and ran to the bathroom to throw up. I felt horrible. When I came back, Jeff helped me down on the bench and I rested my head in Adam's lap while Jay went to get a cold washcloth to put on my head.
"I'm going to talk to Vince to get you out of this match." Jeff said. He walked down the hall to Vince's room.
"What brings you here?" Vince asked him.
"It's Destiny. She's sick, real sick. And, a lot's been going on, with Kurt and all, and she's not doing so well. Could you please give her a few nights off. She's sick and she needs to recover from this whole Kurt thing."
"You're lucky about your match at Unforgiven." Vince told him. "Real lucky."
"What does that have to do with Destiny?" Jeff asked. "I'm talking about giving her some days off and you're going on about Unforgiven? I'm sorry sir, but I don't give a damn about Unforgiven right now."
"I know what Kurt's been up to." Vince said.
"Then why won't you do anything about it?" Jeff asked. "Know what, forget this whole Kurt thing. Paul's going to kick his ass on Monday night. I'm worried about Destiny, give her some days off. She'll be fine by RAW."
"If I do decide to give her days off, it's going to coast you, Jeff." Vince said.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that since she's going to have four days off, you have to make up for it by doing all those house shows, interviews, and hosting Heat. You'll be a busy man, Jeff Hardy." Vince answered.
"Whatever it takes to get her some days off."
"It's a deal then?"
"It's a deal."
Jeff came back and told me that I didn't have to fight. I was so thankful for it. Then, he mentioned the price he alone was going to have to pay.
"Jeff, forget it then. I don't want to have to make you do all that just so I could have some days off." I said.
"No, take your days. I don't care what I have to do, as long as you get better." I smiled at him.
He and Matt had to leave for their tag match against Crash and Hardcore Holly. I was laying on Adam.
"You know, I'm being real nice about letting you lay on me." Adam said. "You could get me sick too, and that would suck."
"I don't feel like sick, sick, I just feel horrible." I said. Adam didn't say anything for a while. "Adam, you still with me?"
"Destiny, the last time you said that was right around the time you were pregnant." Adam said.
"What? I'm not pregnant."
"Who's pregnant?" Jay asked coming over.
"No one." I answered.
"Des here says she don't feel right. Last time she said she feels the way she does now was when she got pregnant." Adam told Jay.
"You're pregnant again, Des?" Jay asked me.
"I'm not pregnant!" I yelled. That got everyone's attention.
"Destiny." Paul said looking at me.
"I'm not pregnant, Paul." I told him.
"It wasn't me." Dwayne joked. "She didn't have the People's Strudel."
"Dwayne, shut up." I told him. My head was starting to hurt. "No one is pregnant, OK?"
"You sure?" Paul asked me.
"Yes!" I yelled.
The topic died down. At the end of the house show, Vince came in and announced that everyone, except Jeff, had off until Monday. That made me feel so guilty about all this. Jeff said he didn't care, which I knew was a lie.
"Hey, Matt, take Destiny to Cameron after tonight." Jeff told Matt. "She's sick and I don't want her hanging around here."
"Sure thing." Matt said.
Matt, Jeff, and myself, along with Matthew, drove to the hotel to get our things and then to the airport. Jeff was going to trade the mini-van in for something better.
"Now, you be a good girl." Jeff told me. "You know that we stick out like sore thumbs down there in Cameron."
"I'll be fine." I said.
"Matt, take care of her for me." Jeff told him.
"You got it, bro."
Jeff kissed me, and then Matt and I left. Matthew was between us on the plane. We didn't say anything at first. I sort of looked out the window, playing "Betterman" over in my head. "She lies when she says she's in love with him, can't find a better man" I was possibly going to be spending four days with my better man...or was he?
"I feel really bad for Jeff." Matt finally said.
"Please, I don't want to talk about that. I feel guilty."
"Don't, you're sick, there's nothing you can do about it."
"Yeah, well Jeff's paying the price." I said.
"Look, it'll all be better when we get to Cameron." Matt told me. "You get to spend four days with me. And I get to mess up Jeff's house!" Matt laughed. "I was only kidding on the last part. We'll have a good time, sick and all."
"I really appreciate that." I told him.
We grew silent again. Matt put his diskman on and started singing along, very softly, to "Betterman". He reached over and sang me the chorus and touched my nose. I felt sick and felt like I was ready to burst out in tears. I excused myself from Matt and went to the bathroom. I threw up and then started hysterically crying. I came back a few minutes later. My eyes were all red and puffy.
"Destiny, you OK?" He asked me.
"Fine, my allergies are acting up and I didn't take my meds in a while, so I had to." I answered. I faked a few sneezes. "I'll be fine."
I was lucky I'd been acting for a really long time. Being able to fake sneezes was easy, and I could fool anyone. I could fake an illness so well. I could act like I was dying one minute, and the next, I'd be fine. It worked a lot in school when I wanted to leave. My acting coach would pick me up and when we got to the car the first thing he'd say to me was, "you're not really sick, are you?" I'd just smile and shake my head no.
Anyway, Matt continued listening to his CD. About ten minutes later, he stopped it and looked at me. I didn't notice it at first. But, then I got that feeling, you know, when you can feel when someone's looking at you; anyway, I got that feeling and turned to face him.
"Do you want something?" I asked him.
"Your eyes, they look a lot better." He told me. He took Matthew out of his seat.
"He was content in there, you know." I said.
"I know." Matt replied. He laid Matthew out in his arms. I smiled. "We should call Jeff to tell him we got in OK."
"We should." I replied.
"I don't mean to be mean or anything, but you look like hell."
"I know I do. I'm tired, sick, and my head is killing me."
"When we get to Cameron I'll give you a family secret that'll calm you down. Go up to Jeff's room and lay down. I'll take care of everything, don't you worry."
"You're too good to me, Matt." I told him.
"The best for the best." He replied.
He was killing me. I couldn't handle him being so damn nice to me. He was laying it on real thick too. If I wasn't feeling so bad, I would have figured out how to jump out of the plane. But, I was feeling so sick, I didn't even feel like getting up.
Matt meant it when he said he'd take care of everything. He carried his bags and Matthew's bags and made sure I was feeling all right. Gilbert came down to pick us up. He was sweet about everything, again, and dropped us off at Jeff's house. Jeff's prized black Corvette was in the driveway and some other car was there too. I couldn't tell you what it was. Gilbert said good-bye to us and we went inside. Matt put everything in Jeff's den and brought me to the kitchen.
"Now, where does Jeff keep it?" He asked. He looked through cabinets. "Ah, here it is." He took out a bottle of something and mixed it in with a hot cup of tea.
"What's that?" I asked.
"A family secret." He answered. "It's my mother's." He handed me the tea. "Now, you get your ass upstairs and get into bed, I'll take care of everything."
I nodded, thanked him, and went to Jeff's room. I took my shoes off and got into bed. My head was throbbing, it hurt so much. I felt so sick and I just wanted to die.
He came upstairs when I was basically asleep. He sat down on the bed and kissed my hand.
"Feeling any better?"
I nodded. "You're never going to let anything happen to me. You're always going to protect me."
"I'll try." He replied.
He kissed my cheek and left. I almost told him I loved him. I honest to God, almost told him I loved him.