JULY 4, 2003
Jay reclined back on his couch, waiting for Stephanie to come in the door. The brunette had been swamped with work, as she'd missed a lot over the weekend, so she stayed on the road overnight to try and get some of it done. He sighed, flipping through the channels on the television. What a week. He knew Adam and Britney were at home, only about fifteen minutes away. He'd thought about going to visit them to see how they were doing, but then he decided against it. Like Vince had told all the Superstars in a meeting they'd had on Thursday, they probably wanted to be alone. He did try calling once, just because he was paranoid and wanted to be positive they were alright, but then he remembered that Adam said they were unplugging the phone. He groaned as he came across a news station, scowling when he saw Brock Lesnar's face plastered on the screen. The Canadian couldn't believe that bastard was still on the loose. He almost wondered what he was up to… there wasn't much you could do when you were on the run from everyone in the country.
"Hi Jay." The blonde man jumped slightly at the sound of his girlfriend's voice, turning to see her standing in the doorway. He smiled, patting the seat next to him on the couch.
"Hey," he said, as she walked over and sat down next to him, dropping her bags onto the floor. "What's up?" he asked, wrapping her into a hug.
"Nothing… listen, I'm kind of tired, okay? I'm just going to go lay down," she said, pushing away from him suddenly. Jay sent her a confused and concerned look. He figured she would be tired, but something about the way she was acting since she stepped in the door didn't seem right. She went to stand, but he grabbed her arm, pulling her back down to him.
"What's wrong?" he asked, concern filling his brown eyes. Shaking her head, Stephanie pushed him away again.
"Don't worry Jay, it… it's nothing. I'm just a little stressed out, that's all. I… I had a long week," she said, sighing as she stood up. Jay shook his head, not buying into her answer at all. He knew her too well… she had to be lying. He turned and watched as she began to make her way up the stairs. He hesitated for a beat, then was off after her.
"Steph… I know something's up. Come on babe, just tell me," he pleaded, pouting at her when she turned to look at him.
"No Jay," she replied, shifting back around and continuing up the stairs.
"Stephanie…"
"Jay…"
"Stephanie Marie…"
"Okay! God damn Jay! If you want to know what's wrong with me, I got a phone call last night… one that I'm not too happy about," she answered, stopping and looking at him.
"What? Who was it?" the Canadian asked fearfully. He felt himself growing scared when he saw a tear building up in her eye. He made his way up the rest of the steps, stopping when he reached her. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he asked her again. "Who was it?"
Shaking her head, Stephanie turned away from him. "I don't want to talk about it Jay," she said, forcing herself to keep her voice from shaking. She moved to continue stomping her way up the stairs, but Jay grabbed a hold of her arm.
"No way… you can't do that Steph. You have to tell me what happened," he said, taking her other arm in his hand as well. Looking away from him, Stephanie fought the tears threatening her brown eyes.
"It was Brock," she admitted, her eyes now becoming fixed on the floor. Jay's eyes widened slightly… Brock?
"Brock? As in Brock Lesnar?" he asked in disbelief. When she nodded, he continued, "Why the hell would he call you? What did he say to you? How dare he call you! Let me find out where he is… I swear to God I'll kill that bastard." Jay pulled Stephanie to him, suddenly feeling a very fierce need to keep her close to him.
"I, uh… I didn't actually talk to him directly. He left me a message… I deleted it when I heard it," she explained. "It… it really freaked me out."
Moving around so that his arm was around her shoulder, Jay sat the two of them down on the top step. "What exactly did he say?" he questioned, half in curiosity, half in disbelief.
"He, uh… he said he was wrong," she replied, folding her hands together. Jay raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
"He said he knew that he was wrong… he was realizing that everything he did was wrong. He didn't apologize, he just said that he came to the realizing that he was going to rot in hell for everything he did. He said he would have called Britney, but he knew she wouldn't listen to the message, and that I would. All that was fine, but then he started to sound scary," she explained.
"What do you mean scary?" Sighing, Stephanie ran a manicured hand through her brown hair.
"He… he said for me to tell Britney that he was going to prove to her how he knew he was wrong. That he would make everything right again. Then he said something about the number 451. He just said, 'I have one more thing to say… 451.' I… I don't know what the hell he was talking about, but I didn't like the sound of his voice at all," she said, leaning into Jay's embrace. The Canadian shook his head. He's a fucking whack job.
"He just doesn't know when to quit does he? Why can't he just leave her alone?" he asked, to himself really. Stephanie shook her head.
"I don't know Jay. Look, just don't mention any of this to Britney okay? She and Adam have gone through enough shit in the last week or so… they don't need to hear this too," she said, moving to stand. Looking up at her, Jay nodded. It was going to be hard not to tell Adam when he had a burning urge to do so, as well as strangle Brock for even thinking of calling his girlfriend.
Jay listened as his girlfriend headed into the bedroom. He could hear her sighing as she hit the bed, her shoes hitting the floor with a thump. He sat on the step for a minute, thinking about what he'd just heard. Suddenly, something occurred to him. He jumped up and headed into the bedroom, calling Steph's name as he pushed open the door.
"Steph, you don't think he…"
He trailed off as he noticed that she had already fallen asleep, curled up into a ball. He slowly walked over to her, sitting down next to her on the bed. She had to be exhausted. Gently running his finger over the side of her cheek, he sighed. The thought he'd had in his mind on the steps popped back into his head. Adam had been booked for promotion in the UK for almost four months now. He would be gone all of next week. Britney was going to be staying with Chris until he got back. Jay shuddered as a thought popped into his mind. He closed his eyes, hoping that Brock Lesnar didn't try to 'prove' anything to Britney while Adam was in Europe.
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2003Britney and Chris walked into the hotel they were staying at for the night, both of their bags slung over Chris's shoulder. Britney shook her head as she remembered him insisting in the parking lot that he would carry her bag. Sometimes he treated her like a damn invalid. Still, she hadn't fully recovered from Brock attacking her, so she supposed he was just trying to be a good guy. She sighed as they made their way up to the front desk. She didn't see a point in her even being on the road. It wasn't like she was going to be on the show or anything. She hadn't been on any of the shows all week. Truth was, she was really tired and wanted to stay home and rest, but Adam would have no part of that. He made her swear she would go on the road with Chris and made both him and Jay swear that they wouldn't let her out of their collective sight the entire time he was gone. She supposed he was never going to let her be alone again for the rest of her life.
"Hi," Chris said, stepping up to the counter. "I have a room registered under Irvine." The young woman working at the desk looked up, smiling as she realized it was Jericho standing in front of her.
"Sure thing Chris," she said cheerily. She typed something into the computer, then frowned when she looked past Chris to see Britney. She had seen a story on the news about the young diva… it was really heartbreaking. She couldn't believe that Brock Lesnar, one of her favorite Superstars, was in reality a monster.
"Oh Britney… I'm so sorry about what happened," she said soothingly, causing Britney's head to shoot up. This was one of the reasons she didn't want to come on the road… the sympathy. Forcing a tiny smile, she thanked the young woman.
"Thanks…"
Noticing her expression and the tone of her voice, Chris hurried her along and got his room key. He led Britney to the elevator, pressing the button and allowing her to step inside.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concern flooding his handsome face.
"I'm fine Chris," she said flatly. Chris frowned upon seeing her. Britney met his eyes, scowling when she saw how upset he looked.
"Stop babying me Chris… I'll be fine," she said, sending him a look.
"I'm sorry Brit, you know I can't help it. You're like my little sister… if you're hurting, I'm hurting too," he said, watching as they reached their floor and the elevator door opened.
They stepped off the elevator, heading down the hallway towards their room. As they made their way down the hall, Chris got a funny feeling in his stomach. Shrugging, he shook it off, deciding it was probably because he hadn't eaten in awhile. They kept walking, finally stopping when they reached the room. Chris looked up at the number on the door as he slid the key in… Room 451. As he pulled the key out and the little green light flashed, the feeling came back again. He didn't know what it was, but he just got the most awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. As Britney looked at him, waiting for him to open the door, something went off in his head. The voices told him to get Britney and get the hell away from the room. He didn't know why, but he had the strongest urge to get her out of there. He got the feeling that there was something in there, something he didn't want Britney to see.
"Uh… let's go get something to eat Brit… I'm kind of hungry," he suggested suddenly, feeling a little shaky.
"Okay, we can go… let's just put our bags in there first," she said, making a grab for the door handle. Jumping in front of the door, he blocked her, shaking his head fiercely.
"No! I mean, uh… no. Let's just leave them out here… no one's going to take them. Better yet, lets just bring them with us," he said shakily. Britney looked at him like he was crazy.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Get out of the way!" she cried, pushing him away from the door. At first, he held fast, and she couldn't get him to budge. Then, she got angry, shoving him with all her might. He hadn't expected her to be that strong, so he tumbled sideways, falling out of the way.
"Britney, don't!" he yelled, grabbing her arm again… but it was too late. She flung the door open, gasping loudly and turning white.
"Oh my God…"
Cliffhanger! LOL, I'm sorry if this chapter's not as good as usual… I'm kind of falling asleep as I type this. I just didn't want to wait to post another chapter so I wrote it out. Let me know what you think!
