Jeff had been knocking on the door for nearly ten minutes when he finally started checking windows. They were locked too.
"Come on guys. I thought you knew I was coming." He grumbled, irritated that his brother and Lita seemed to be deaf and dumb that morning. He walked around to their front door and pounded again. He sighed and kicked at the rubber mat near his feet. There was a metallic ping and he looked down to see something silver shoot toward the grass.
"Ah Ha! Extra key." Jeff grinned and snatched it off the ground. He knocked again as he pushed the door open.
"Hello?" Jeff called. "I know you're in here!" He stepped through the door and tripped. Finally looking around, Jeff caught his breath. The place was trashed. Jeff stepped over pieces of coffee table and surveyed the damage. It looked like a bomb went off. All the bookshelves had been toppled, books where everywhere.
"Lita?" Jeff called. No answer. Not good. Lita's jeep was parked outside.
Taking a deep breath, Jeff weaved his way through the mess toward the bedroom. It appeared most of the damage was centered on the living room. The bedroom was still a mess though. The bed had been shoved half a foot out of the way, and the drawers looked to have been gone through but, other than that, it was in order.
"Matt? Lita?" Jeff called again a little louder. He was trying not to panic. This was unlike them, very out of character.
Suddenly the front door squeaked. Jeff turned and flew back to the living room.
"Lita!" He panted as she pushed past the debris.
"Jesus Jeff!" She yelled jumping back.
"Are you okay?" He walked over to her. "What happened here? Where's Matt?" Lita walked past him kicking shards of lamp out of the way without saying a word.
"Lita, what happened here?" Jeff asked again compassionately. The tall red head turned at looked past him, focusing squarely on a pile of shredded paper.
"Are you okay? Is Matt okay?" Her demeanor was starting to unsettle him.
"We uh…" Lita started still looking down at the destruction. "We got into an argument. It was no big deal."
"No big deal?" Jeff said incredulously. "What happened?" Lita shook her head and absently tried to straighten a print hanging on the wall. It shattered when it fell. Jeff walked over to her, she backed up.
"It...it was no big deal." Lita began flatly. "He was angry about the match he had with Kane…" She trailed off.
"He's been angry about matches before." Jeff waved his hands at the mess. "He's never done this." Lita shrugged forlornly.
"He…got mad at me."
"He got mad at you for what?" Jeff growled suddenly disliking his brother greatly.
"Matt was angry about losing the match. I guess he thought he had it won. You know, the chair and all, but when Robin went out there…" Jeff looked at her questioningly. "Oh yeah, she's new, I'll introduce you." She walked down the hall to the bedroom, apparently finished talking. Jeff followed.
"…and then what?" Jeff said after a long silence.
"Robin and I became friends the other night. He got angry when I tried to tell him the storyline wasn't her fault." Lita's voice started shaking slightly. "He said I was sticking up for her. He got angrier. He said I wasn't supportive enough. He said I didn't love him enough." Lita closed her eyes holding back bitter tears. Jeff walked over and put his arms around her.
"You have been more supportive of him than he deserves." He said comfortingly. Lita shook her head.
"No you see? I haven't been supportive of him lately. I don't agree with what he does anymore." Lita pulled back to look at him with her watery eyes. "Jeff, it's like he doesn't have a conscience anymore."
"Aw God Lita…" he said squeezing her tightly. Lita flinched. Jeff loosened his hung and looked at her. "What was that?" Lita's cheeks reddened slightly.
"It's… It's nothing. Just something I got in the ring the other day. Jazz is a big girl." She wouldn't look at him.
"Did Matt do something?" Jeff asked measuring his words. Lita pulled out of his grasp and started throwing things in a duffel bag.
"Jeff, we're really late. I'm sorry; I didn't know I was going to jog for so long. We'd better get going if we're going to make our plane." She babbled changing the subject.
Jeff didn't like it but she was right. They were going to miss their flight if they didn't hurry so he let it go. There was plenty of time to talk on the plane.
"Yeah, I guess so." He said helping her pack. "I'll talk to Matt when we get to Miami." Lita smiled indulgently and continued to jam things into her bag.
"I'll drive to the airport." Jeff said as she locked the door to her ransacked apartment. Lita hopped into the passenger seat of his Mustang silently.
"Best to let her be…" Jeff said silently to himself as he pulled onto the road and pointed the care toward the airport. "Matt will have to explain himself when we get there." He thought getting angrier by the minute. Jeff had seen their relationship declining but never said a word. It wasn't his place and they were both his friends. Now Matt had gone too far. How could he hurt Lita? No, No…Way too far.
He took a deep breath and switched on the radio, too angry now to try to speak.