Chapter 5

A bright ray of sunlight stirred me from my non-full-filling sleep. For a moment my feeble mind allowed me to forget the previous nights actions but not for long. My memory flooded my head with images of the kiss, giving up my title shot to Paul, the visit from Stacy, Dave's proclamation of love, and me beating the hell out of an unsuspecting punching bag. The remnants of my punching session were evident on my knuckles, seeing as how I forgot my gloves and didn't take the time to wrap my hands; they were a mess of bruises and dried blood.

RING...RING...RING...RING... The phone beside of me quickly reminded me of its presents. I glanced over at the clock that's eerie green light was now flashing 8 am. "Hello," I said with a fairly groggy voice.

"Where the hell are you Orton?" Paul's voice came through the receiver sounding quite unpleasant this early in the morning.

"Good morning to you too, Paul. Considering you just called my hotel room, I'll give you three guesses but I sincerely hope that you only need one," I said sarcastically forcing my self to sit up. Every muscle in my body ached from my fight with the punching bag.

"Okay smartass, why aren't you here yet?" He said his voice sounding more annoyed with each passing second. He was no more annoyed that I was though.

"Tell me where you are and I will tell you why I am not there." I said, trying to recall the schedule in my foggy head to see where I should have been at this moment.

"I'm at the airport, you know the place where the planes land and take off..."

"Damn, I forgot, I will be there as soon as I can." I said in a panic.

"You better hurry, Orton. The plane leaves in an hour. And don't forget to drop off the hotel's car keys at the front desk in the lobby this time." He said as he hung up the phone. I only forgot to drop off the keys once and he will never let me live it down.

Doing the math in my head I was slowly beginning to realize that I had exactly 15 minutes to leave to make the plane. I took the fastest shower of my life and threw on sweats before dropping off the keys and fighting the crowd to catch a cab. I burst out of the lobby door and there, like a light from heaven, sat one bright yellow taxi. I had one foot in the door or the cab when a woman ran around to the other side and slid in.

"Hey lady, this taxi is taken," I said a bit annoyed. Just 40 minutes left until I needed to be in the sky.
"Think again junior, I called this cab. It's mine." She said. I glared at her. She was in her mid thirties with long brown hair and no make up. She kind of look like she had rolled out of bed the same time I did.

"Finders keepers. Listen lady, if I don't make it to the air port in 30 minutes they won't let me on the plan and then the plane will leave without me, so if you don't mind get the hell out of my cab," I said sliding into the cab next to her.

The cab driver, which had already started the meter, sat there amused at the scene unfolding before him. "You know even though you are rude and classless I will share my cab with you because I also am headed to the air port." The woman said.

"How charitable of you to share my cab with me." I said shutting the door behind me.

"Who peed in your corn flakes?" She said as the cab pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

"And you called me classless," I snorted back. 'Geeze this chick was full of herself.'

"Are you always this rude?" She gave me a puzzled look. She was attractive I discovered as I took a closer look. Not as attractive as Stacy, but never the less a nice looking woman.

"Why yes, especially to attractive women who try to steal my cab, thank you for noticing." I smirked. I knew that I was flirting with her, but hell it would make the cab ride more bearable.

"Well do you have a name rude boy?" She grinned.

"Why yes Miss Thief I certainly do, my name is Randy Orton." I said extending my hand to her; a thin gold wedding band graced her fingerer. She looked down horrified. I am supposing it was all the bruising from my run in with the punching bag.

"Who'd you beat up?" She said inspecting the damage.

"A punching bag," I laughed, as did she. "Well it's a bit unfair you know my name but I don't know yours." This was the most I had felt like myself since Stacy entered my world.

"Carrie," She said.

"Do you have a last name Carrie?" I found it strange that she did not offer one.

"Do you get into fights with punching bags often Randy or was this a special occasion?" She was almost as good as I was at changing the subject, but given the previous 24 hours I decided to let this one slide.

I laughed, "I guess you could say this was a special occasion."
"Who's face did you see on the bag as you disfigured it?" She was witty, not really my type, what's funny is she was Dave's. It hadn't crossed my mind until that moment but Stacy wasn't even Dave's type. She was mine.

"Would you believe me if I said mine?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"With your attitude, yes. Did you steal your own cab?" She teased me.

"No Captain Sassy Pants, I had one of the hotel cars for the majority of my stay, so no stealing of any cabs were involved."

"You must be pretty important for the hotel to loan you one of their expensive hot rods," she raised her eyebrow.

"I guess you could say that," I said.

"I know who you are Randy." She laughed. The cab driver pulled up to the front of the airport. I helped her with her bags and paid the driver. "Well, Randy it was a pleasure to meet you and to share my cab with you." She extended her hand and this time I kissed it.

"The pleasure was all mine. And it was my cab." I said.

"We will call that one a draw. See you around." She picked up her bags and turned to walk away.

"Carrie, tell your husband that he is a lucky man. Have a great life." I said. I shocked myself with how nice I sounded.

"Randy I think that you may tell him yourself one day." She smiled leaving me standing in the middle of a crowded airport with a perplexed look on my face. As I watched her disappear into the crowd I asked myself, if this week could get any stranger? But some how I already knew the answer that.

Thank you, for checking out this chapter...a special thanks to those of you who have kept reading and reviewing (MissPhilippinesSuperStar, mb53944, lildiva007, Little-Miss-Rachel, Randy and Stacy lover 4ever, JohnCenasGirl4Eva, SoUtHeRnGiRl-CaItLiN717, and 101mizzpoet101) Thanks guys...Please continue to let me know what you think