I watched Chris check in at the desk. I was determined I was not going to cry like a big baby. Mark was waiting for me out front. He had already told Chris by. Chris came over and put his arm around me.
"Come on I have to go check my baggage." Chris said.
We walked over and I waited while he checked his luggage. The whole time I wanted to grab him and beg him not to go. But I knew he needed this time away. This whole thing with Jess had took its toll on him.
"So you going to walk me to the gate kid?" he asked walking back over to me.
"Yea of course." I said grabbing his hand.
He smiled at me and we walked over to his gate. We stopped and Chris pulled me in his arms in a hug. I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my head on his chest. Chris stroked my hair as I lay against him.
"This is harder than I thought kid." Chris said.
He cradled my head and raised it up so I was looking at him.
"Hey I thought we agreed no tears." Chris said using his thumbs to wipe my tears away.
"Yea well I lied." I said.
"Hailey time will fly and I will be back before you know it. You'll be back from school. We will overwhelm WWE with our awesomeness." Chris said grinning.
"I know. I'm losing my best friend though." I said looking at him.
"No your not. I'll call all the time. I promise. I'm still your best friend no matter where I'm at. No stop crying before you make me cry. It wouldn't do for people to see The Great Jericho crying like a girl, now would it?" He said smiling.
"Okay" I said wiping my eyes and smiling at him.
"That's better. Now I got one more present for you." He said reaching in his pocket.
"My birthday was two days ago. You already got me that awesome laptop for school." I said.
"Yea well I got you something else. So sue me." He said smiling and handing me a small box.
I took it and opened it and gasped. It was a beautiful ring. It was gold with a Celtic design and had two small diamonds set on the band. I turned it over looking at it. It had an inscription on the back. 'Best Friends for eternity…Chris.'
"Chris it's beautiful. I love it." I said throwing my arms around his neck.
Chris picked me up and kissed me on the cheek. He set me back down and slipped the ring on my finger. I grabbed his hand and held on to it not wanting to let go.
"Hailey if you ever need me all you have to do is call me. I'll come running. You understand?" He asked.
"Yea. I understand. Same goes for you too." I said.
Chris nodded. "Bye kid. I love you." He said.
"I love you too." I said and hugged him and then stepped back.
"I'll see you." He said and turned and walked away.
I watched him until I couldn't see him no more then I turned and made my way out to where Mark was waiting. Mark put his arm around me and we headed to his truck. We got in and he started it up.
"You okay Baby?" He asked.
"Yea. I'm okay." I said. And I was. I was going to miss Chris but I knew he would be back. And I wasn't going to be a kid no more and I was going to go after him full force. I smiled at the thought.
"What you grinning about Hailey?" Mark asked.
"Oh nothing." I said.
"Keeping secrets from your old dad, huh?" he asked smiling.
"No daddy. I was just thinking about when me and Chris both get back. That's all." I said.
"Hhmm. Well I'll do the same to him that I would do to anyone that messes with my baby. I'll take his ass on the last ride." Mark said.
I started laughing. "Daddy I'm not going to be a little girl forever." I said.
"You're going to be my little girl forever." He said looking at me.
I scooted over next to him and leaned against him. He put his arm around me.
"Of course I will." I said smiling.
I was set to leave tomorrow which was really going to be hard. I was going to be going to Brown university in Rhode Island to finish up my degree. There was a knock at the hotel room door and Mark went and answered it. It was Vince.
"What can I do for you Vince?" Mark asked.
"I was wondering if I can talk to Hailey?" Vince asked.
I just stared at him. What the hell did he want? True Vince had been almost nice to me for the last couple of years but it was too little too late. I didn't need him no more. Mark looked at me. He was leaving it up to me. I nodded.
"I'll be back in a few." Mark said leaving us a lone.
"Hailey I know your leaving tomorrow. I just wanted to say bye and give you something. I'm really proud of how good you've done here. I know your going to be an asset to this company when you come back." Vince said.
I went over and sat on the couch and he sat beside me. He handed me an envelope. I opened it. It was 10 more shares of WWE stock. I wanted to get up and do a happy dance but I played it cool. I was even closer to having the controlling interest in WWE. Wait until I told Scott.
"Thank you Vince." Was all I said.
"Hailey I know I didn't treat you right. I feel like I owe you something more than the other kids." He said.
"You're wrong Vince you don't owe me nothing. The best thing you ever did was sign me over to Mark. He's the best thing that ever happened to me. If you never did anything good for me you did that. He's the best daddy in the world." I said.
Vince looked down at the floor. If he felt bad well too bad. He made me feel bad plenty of times. Vince got up and headed to the door.
"Hailey I know you'll do well in school. I wish you all the best." He said as he opened the door.
"Thanks." I said and he left.
Yes things were working out great. My goal was in sight. I was pretty full of myself at that moment. I just knew as Chris would say I was going to be king of the world.
I knocked on Scott's door. I couldn't wait to tell him about the stock. Scott opened the door and smiled.
"Hey beautiful." He said stepping back so I could come in.
I grabbed him and hugged him. He hugged me back. And then pulled me over to set down next too him.
"Okay what you so happy about." Scott asked.
"This." I said and handed him the stock Vince had gave me.
He looked it over a smile coming over his face.
"This is like taking candy from a baby. I see the old man is letting his guilt rule his good sense." Scott said.
"Yea his dumb mistake is going to cost him. I'm so close Scott I can taste it." I said.
"Well you're going to have to be 18 before you taste it. You have to be 18 before you do anything legally." Scott said.
"I know. But it's going to happen." I said.
I was feeling unstoppable. I felt like my plans were falling perfectly into place.
"Don't get to cocky Hailey. You have to be careful. We got 4 years before you can make a move. Just get your education and work on your wrestling." Scott said.
"Scott I owe all this to you. Without you I couldn't pull this off." I said.
I loved Scott to death. He was the one that keep me in line all these years working toward my goal never accepting second best from me. Damn I was going to miss him.
"Hey what happened to that happy face you was wearing just a second ago?" Scott asked clipping me gently on the chin.
"I'm just going to miss you so bad." I said looking down.
Scott pulled me next to him and wrapped his arms around me.
"I'm going to miss you too kid. Hey you'll probably be happy to be out from under me. You know what a taskmaster I am." He said grinning.
"No I won't be happy Scott. I wish I could stay here with you and Mark." I said laying my head on his shoulder.
"I know kid but it's for the best. I wish you could stay here to. But this is what you need. You know I don't say it much kid it's just my way, but I love you like you're my own kid. I couldn't be any prouder if you were mine." Scott said.
I reached up and kissed him. I knew Scott cared about me. He just wasn't the kind of person who got all mushy about stuff.
"I guess you'll be back in 6 months for Mark's wedding?" he asked.
"Yea. I'll be here." I said.
"You okay with all that?" he asked looking at me.
I shrugged. "Yes she makes Mark happy. She's a nice person and he really loves her. I really have nothing to object too." I said.
"You know your really growing up Hailey. A couple of years ago you would have been throwing a temper tantrum over this." He said.
"I love daddy. I want him to be happy." I said.
"I'm real proud of you kid. You're a good person, but then I always knew that. You just tried real hard to hide it for a while." He said grinning.
I started laughing. "Yea well you was real determined to bring out that good person. I've had a sore ass enough times to prove it. That's one thing I won't miss. Now that I'm grown up you can do that shit no more." I said.
Scott raised his brow at me and gave me a look.
"Think again little girl. You aren't grown yet. I'll put you over my knee in a heartbeat if I think you need it. And by the way watch your mouth." Scott said.
I sighed. It was worth a try I thought.
I looked up at him and grinned.
"You're a mess Hailey." He said smiling. "But you're my mess and I love you." He said.
I sat there wrapped in his arms. Tomorrow was the start of a whole new life for me at least for a while. I just hoped I was up to it.
.