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"Matt, hurry up!" Shane whined as he threw himself on one of the hotel beds. "I wanna party."

"Yeah, man, hurry up." Jeff was lying on the opposite bed. He threw a shoe at the bathroom door.

"Hold on!" Matt yelled from inside the bathroom. "I'm trying to look good for my woman."

Shane laughed. "Note how he said, 'trying to look good'."

"Fuck you." Matt mumbled, opening the bathroom door. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Um… I dunno." Shane said. "But wherever it is, we're gonna have a good time. I honestly thought that you weren't gonna come back, dude."

Matt smiled. "Well, I did. It feels good to be home."

"I bet it does." Jeff murmured.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I mean you disappeared for a month and didn't tell anybody where the hell you were. For all I knew, you coulda been dead. Uber selfish, dude."

"Jeff, you knew what the deal was. You were with me when we found her –"

"Oh, so you remember?" Jeff asked, standing up.

Matt looked at him questionably. "Jeff… what's with you?"

"What's with me? I went all the way to California with you. I just… up and left… to go halfway across the country with you… to find your girl… to find out that she was married… and then to have you disappear on my ass for a fucking month."

"Whoa! Lita's married?" Shane mused, looking up at the two brothers. They evidently ignored him.

"Jeff I didn't mean to –"

"You didn't mean to leave me there? In California – by myself with no money? Do you know how stupid I felt?"

Matt shrugged. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't think about it."

"Yeah… you're sorry. You know what – screw it. Forget I even brought that up. I'm glad you guys are back." Jeff said unconvincingly. "Look, I don't even wanna go out tonight. I'll see y'all in the morning." Jeff walked out, bumping purposely into Matt.

Matt stood there in silence for a couple of minutes letting it sink in. "Damn. I feel like crap."

"Lita's married!"

"Shut up, Shane."

0()0()0()0()0()0()0

I had no idea where he was taking me. He'd been driving for about an hour and a half and he hadn't spoken the whole time.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked.

Jason looked in the mirror. He didn't say anything.

"Where are you taking me?" I repeated.

"Don't worry about it."

I wondered if Matt was looking for me. I wondered if he even noticed that I was gone at all.

0()0()0()0()0()0()0

"Man, I don't feel like going out either." Matt said, plopping down where Jeff had been sitting.

"What! What – why? Come on! You haven't been around in like… forever. We gotta celebrate you not being dead and all…"

"Nah, you have to be in a good mood to party. I'm not in one and I know Jeff definitely isn't in one. I'ma go look for Li."

Shane sighed. "Okay. I'll go with you."

The two of them headed back to the arena where they found Torrie and Trish.

"Hey guys." Trish said, putting on an earring. "You ready?"

"We're not going." Shane said with a pout on his face.

"Why not?" Torrie asked.

Shane pointed at Matt. "Because he and Crayons got into a little bitch fight and now they don't wanna go out."

"What happened between you guys? Jeff was so happy that you were back." Trish said.

"Was happy." Shane laughed. "Now he's all pissed. It's because Matt is a dick and left Jeff alone in California when he ran away with Ames. She's married, by the way. Did you guys know that?"

Torrie rolled her eyes. "Yes, we knew that. It was a mistake. She told us about it already."

"Well why doesn't anybody tell me these things?" Shane threw his hands up.

Matt sighed, not wanting to reminisce. "You guys seen her?"

"No, we thought she was with you." Trish said.

Matt shook his head. "She went with you guys to go get ready after the match."

"No she didn't."

"Trish, remember? Jeff suggested that the girls get ready here and the guys go back to the hotel rooms."

"Yeah, I remember, but then we left and you two were still talking in the hallway."

Matt bit his lip, trying to remember. "Oh yeah… well then where could she be?"

"She might've gone to sign autographs." Torrie said.

Matt nodded. "Yeah, I'll go check if she's in the parking lot."

Matt stepped out into the parking lot. There was no one outside. He turned to leave when something caught his eye. He walked over to it, picked it up, and ran back into the arena.

Shane was leaning against the wall, with his arms wrapped around Torrie. "She's not out there?" He asked.

Matt held up his find. "No, but I found her cell phone."

Shane shrugged. "She's clumsy. She's probably back at the hotel with Jeff. We must've missed her."

"Yeah, I guess so." Matt opened the phone. He looked through the numbers. "It's her personal phone. I'll call her business cell."

0()0()0()0()0()0()0

I was restless. I wanted more than anything to get out of that damned car. My pocket started vibrating.

I looked at my phone. The number was familiar. It was my number. Who the hell had my other phone?

"Hello?"

"…R…ed… you?"

"Hello?"

The call dropped.

"If it rings again, don't answer it." Jason said. "I just realized you were on the phone."

"Oh, did you think I was greeting you? Or myself for that matter?"

"Don't be a smart ass."

0()0()0()0()0()0()0

"Red, where are you?" Matt called into the phone. "Red? Hello?" Matt hung it up. "I don't think she can hear me."

"But she did pick up?"

"Yeah." Matt turned the phone over in his hands. "That's strange." He mumbled.

Shane shrugged. "I guess we'll catch her later then."

"Yeah, I guess so."

0()0()0()0()0()0()0

"FUCK!"

Jason woke me up from an almost-sound sleep. Now I was in the car for three hours.

"What happened?" I asked as the car slowed to a stop.

"Nothing… just… shut up." Jason got out of the car and opened the trunk. "FUCK!" I heard him yell from outside.

"Just my luck." He got back into the car and banged his head on the steering wheel.

"What, your kidnapping plan failed?"

"Amy. Por amor de dios…"

"What?"

"For the love of God."

"No, I know what it means. Why'd you say it?"

Jason sighed. "Because you're being a pain in the ass, that's why."

I laughed sarcastically. "Well excuse me, Mr. Kidnapper!"

"I'm not kidnapping you!"

"Then what are you doing, Jason? Because I didn't get into this fucking car voluntarily!"

"You're my wife, Amy!"

"Ugh. Don't remind me."

Jason sat still. My words obviously stung him. "Can you sit up-front?"

I laughed sarcastically. "Over my dead body."

"That can be arranged." Jason mumbled.

"What!"

"Nothing… it was a joke."

"It's hard to tell if you're joking or not."

Jason sighed. "Can you sit up-front?" He asked again.

"For what?"

"I wanna talk to you, Amy."

"There's nothing to talk about, Jason."

"There's so much to talk about."

"I'm not rekindling any old feelings."

"That's not what I'm asking for." Jason said calmly.

"What happened to the car?"

"I guess the battery died, I don't know."

I laughed. "Jason, Jason, Jason."

"What?"

"You were never quite the handyman."

"Yeah I know." Jason smiled – something I hadn't seen him do in a long time. "Remember when you had to assemble –"

"Don't remind me. I never want to go to Ikea again."

"Sorry about that."

It was hard to believe – this had been the first time in months that Jason and I actually spoke civilly to one another. Sure, I was being sarcastic, but it wasn't like he was beating on me or anything. He wasn't even yelling. A part of me felt grateful for that. If I was going to be stuck in a car in the middle of nowhere, I'd want it to be with civil-Jason. Not psychopath-Jason.

"You could've hired someone to do it for us, Jase."

"Yeah, I know. But it was cute. Watching you try to put a bed together. Wearing that red scarf around your head… I always loved that about you, Ames."

I looked at him in the mirror. His eyes were full of sincerity. "What?"

He shrugged. "The fact that you're so independent… I guess that's why I was so self-conscious."

"Self-conscious?"

"Yeah. You have this mindset that when you want something – you go for it. And ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time you get it."

"That doesn't explain your self-consciousness."

"Well, I figured that one day you'd eventually get tired of me… and let me go. I was so into you, Ames. Really, I was. I knew I'd go crazy if you ever left me."

"I wasn't going to… but you decided to go crazy before I ever did."

"I thought that… that if I… I scared you… you'd be too afraid to leave me."

I nodded. I could tell that this was hard for him to let out. "You made my life a living hell." I whispered.

"I know. I know, and I'm so sorry, Amy." Jason turned around, reaching his hand out to my face in the backseat. It'd been a while since he'd been so compassionate. I wondered if it was genuine… or if it was just an act.

"Even the girls," he continued, "the ones I used to see. Remember when I told you that that hickey on my neck was from you?"

"Yeah."

"It wasn't. It was actually from a girl named Magdalèna… anyway… I messed around with other women trying to persuade myself that I wasn't in love with you. No woman has ever had so much power over me… or mi corazón."

"Jason, if I had any type of power over you or your heart, you would've never abused me the way you did."

After saying those last few words, Jason and I sat there in silence. I guess we were both thinking about all the times he'd hit me. I mean, it wasn't anything worth reminiscing on, but it was the past… and history sometimes repeats itself. I just prayed that it wouldn't happen again – right here, right now – in a car in the middle of nowhere.

Jason cleared his throat. "Amy?"

"Yes?"

"Can you sit up-front?"

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