Chapter 17
Jeff bounced on the trampoline in his yard. It was something that he and Matt did since they were kids. When Jeff moved out he wanted to take it with him. Matt protested because it had been at their family home since they were children, but Jeff needed it. He didn't want to buy another one; besides Matt didn't use it anymore, it would just sit there and go to waste at their dad's house.
With every bounce, he peered into the bathroom on the second floor, catching quick glances of Chase getting out of the shower. He had promised to leave her alone, he just wanted her there with him. He had hoped that their first night at his house, would have resulted in some serious love making, but it didn't. It resulted with him falling asleep in his bed and Chase staying on his computer until 3am. When he woke up, she was in his guest room, still asleep. He had to expel some energy or he was going to explode; thus the trampoline.
The springing noise is what woke Chase up. She looked around and Jeff wasn't there. When she had gone to the window, she saw him outside, bouncing around like a child. It made her smile that he wasn't the type of person to take himself too seriously.
She thought that she had noticed his head flash by the window a few times while she toweled off, but he couldn't possibly jump that high, could he?
When she made it downstairs, she poked her head out of the door. "What do you want for breakfast?" She was wearing his shirt and nothing else. She hadn't thought much of it. She didn't know what he had planned for the day, so she didn't know what kind of clothes to wear. She watched him jump down and smile at her.
"Want pancakes?" He asked walking into the house. He stood mere inches from her. He wanted to pull that shirt off of her, but he was still trying to restrain himself. He didn't know if she was ready for him; the way that he was. He had the attention span of a small child; he could be doing a cross word puzzle one minute and have a massive erection the next. That poor girl had no idea the sexual appetite Jeff Hardy possessed; he may have acted like a six year old, but he was definitely all man.
"Only if you promise to make a design in mine." She smiled at him turning away. She had thought that he would have made love to her this morning. She wasn't sure how to initiate it, so she decided to let him make the first move.
"You start 'em and I'll jump in the shower." He kissed her on the back of her head. "I'll be down in a minute."
She smiled looking around the kitchen for the supplies for pancakes. She found the mix in the pantry, but couldn't find the bowls. She looked in the cabinets, under the sink, under the island. She found everything else but a bowl to mix it in. She wondered unto the sun room and to her surprise she saw 10 metal bowls in different sizes lined up on the table. Why the hell would you put bowls in here? She grabbed one and gasped when she turned around.
Jeff was standing in the door way smiling. "You found them." He said toweling off his wet hair. He hadn't gotten dressed; he was standing in front of her wearing a towel and had the other one on his head.
"Yeah. Why are they out here?" She looked around and noticed drum sticks sitting inside of one of the bowls.
He shrugged. "I was playing with the sound of different sized metal bowls. This room has great acoustics." He stepped toward her and leaned across her to press play on his CD player. The loud music made Chase jump and he laughed. He walked around and grabbed the drum sticks and started to tap the bowls along with the heavy guitar riffs coming from the stereo.
She jumped up on the buffet table, swinging her legs and her head to the music.
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Randy Orton got his card announcing who his match on Raw would be against tomorrow night. Instantly he felt uneasy about it. He was going to have to wrestle Jeff Hardy. It wasn't that he was afraid to wrestle him or anything, but knowing that Dave was rejoining Evolution and the last time the two of them had been in the same room...well, he just didn't have a good feeling.
He reached over to his cell and scrolled through the numbers to find John's.
"Talk to me." Randy was surprised that he was even up this early. He knew that John had gone home and he and his brothers would be out getting smashed. "You gonna say something, or breathe in my ear like a fuckin' stalker?"
"Fuck you." That's not exactly how he wanted to start this conversation, but he and John had been best friends for years, he knew that John knew that was a term of endearment. "Tell me everything you know about this beef with Hunt and Jeff."
John was a little thrown back by the question. Randy especially was never one to be into gossip, he usually had his own thing going on. "I don't really know. All I know is Hunter keeps stirring shit up with him." John stretched and yawned into the phone. "First I thought it was about Chase. But he don't give a fuck about her. Then a couple of weeks ago, he was starting shit with Jeff at the staff meeting. Why, what's up?"
Randy didn't know if he was overreacting or not; truthfully he wasn't in the mood to listen to John's mouth about it. "Nothing. I'm wrestling him tomorrow. I kinda got this feeling that Hunt's going do something to him." He rubbed his face with his hand. "You think I should call him and tell him to watch his back?"
John laughed. "Hunt's crazy, but I don't think he's that crazy. He knows Vince is looking for a reason to get rid of him." Although it sounded good, John knew full well just how crazy Hunter really was. Did people really think that Christian left because TNA had a better deal for him? Hell no, he left because Hunter was making his life a living hell. "Besides, Jeff's a big boy; he can take care of himself. He's knows Hunt's out for him, he won't do nothin' to draw attention to himself."
"You think he's still seeing Chase?" Randy was curious about that relationship. Chase was such a sweet girl, like homecoming queen sweet, not at all like Jeff. He was weird and artsy, he and his brother did all this stupid immature stuff. Randy would have denied it had anyone asked, but he subscribed to The Hardy Show and even had the first two seasons on DVD. He saw exactly how Jeff was. What the hell did they see in each other?
John hadn't given it a second thought. "Dunno. I ain't got nothin' to do wit all that." He liked them both and didn't see a problem with it if they were together. But he could sympathize with Dave. "If he wanna knock shorty down, that's his thing. All I know is he better do that shit on DL cause if Dave finds out..."
Both men fell silent and let their imaginations get the better of them.
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Dave rolled over to find that he was in bed alone. He patted around for Britain, before opening his eyes. He lifted his head off the pillow and spotted her sitting on the glider playing with hair. He knew something wasn't right, she only worried the ends of her hair when she was concentrating.
"Good morning." His smile, caused her to smile too. He got of the bed and walked over to where she was sitting. "You ok?" His voice was light and full of concern. He couldn't help but to think that she was still "uncomfortable" from the night before. She nodded. He motioned for her to move over and pulled the blanket she was using around him too.
She closed her eyes against the warmth of his chest. She loved when he would just hold her. He seemed to know when she needed it. "You're not scared?" She asked him listening to his heartbeat.
He pulled her away to look at her face and frowned. He could tell that she had been crying. "Why would I be afraid?" Not quite sure what she was referring to, but he was sure it had something to do with his proposal.
"Well, you've been married twice already and they didn't work out. How do you know we will?" She wasn't sure if that's how it was supposed to come out. But she knew she couldn't ask him what he had done in his other relationships to end in divorce.
He sighed and touched her face. "I know we will because I've never married for love before." There was so much truth in that statement it shocked even him. He really wasn't the heart professing, bare your soul type. He was relatively laid back and went with the flow. God, it had taken him six months to tell her that he was in love with her and even then he just blurted it out. "I married Emily so Chase could have a father, and I married Angie because she had cancer and I didn't want her to go through that alone."
He briefly thought about his past marriages, they had been doomed from the start. He spent more time with Chase then he did with Emily and once his other daughters came, they became more like roommates then anything else. His relationship with Angie was strange to begin with. She really wasn't his type. She was kind of plain, very professional, and hardly ever laughed. He knew his girls didn't like her and she wasn't that found of them either. They had only been dating for a few months when she was diagnosed. She was so scared, and he wanted to be there for her, but the only way he could get time off was if she were his spouse. So he married her, went to all of her treatments and surgeries and she got better. She's the one that wanted the divorce. She wanted him to be there because he loved her, not because he felt obligated to take care of her. But he didn't love her and they both knew it.
Britain was different. He actually had feelings for her; she loved his girls, even Alli, who really didn't know how she felt about the whole thing. He also like hanging out with her, she was fun, witty, playful, a smartass; everything he was. She kept him on his toes and wouldn't let him get away with shit. Granted she had her insecurities, but you really had to get to know her to find out what they were. She was sensible and rational and really had a Carpe Diem attitude toward life.
"I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life making sure you know that." He looked into her eyes and saw the hurt. She had told him before how men had used her, how most of the time she felt like just another pretty face. She was a trophy and she had plenty of boyfriends that treated her like that; they showed her off in public and forgot about her behind closed doors. That's why she was like how she was, defensive, but in a non-threatening way. That's why she never wore make up or dressed provocatively, she didn't want to draw attention to herself. She was happy being simple, even though the simpler she was the more beautiful it made her. "What are you afraid of?"
She thought about it and shrugged her shoulders. "I think you'll get tired of putting up with me...or that I'll be the first one in my family to get a divorce, my grandparents would kill me." She laughed trying to choke back her tears. She looked into his eyes and the truth came out of mouth before she could stop it. "I'm afraid that you will never love me as much as I love you."
He smiled and kissed her gently before wrapping her back up in his strong arms. "That'll never happen...I already do."
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Chase watched Jeff as he mixed up Henna paste in a bowl. "Ok, where do you want it?" He asked turning toward her smiling.
She looked around her body and smiled. She removed her shirt and pulled her hair up into a bun; the mere site made his manhood jump to life. "On my back." She nodded and flopped on the couch in his art studio.
He walked over to her and sat down. He touched the smooth skin on her back first before dipping his paint brush in the paste. "Anythin' in particular?" He wasn't sure what kind of tattoo she wanted, but he was a good enough artist that he could probably do whatever she wanted.
"Whatever you like. I trust you." She looked at him when he laughed.
"I might make you regret sayin' that. Just ask Shannon, what happened when he gave me artistic license." He thought for a second and started to paint. She laughed at first because the cold paint and the tickle of the brush made it hard to keep still. But Jeff concentrated until it was finally complete. It took all of an hour, but when he was done she had picture of an angel, wearing fishnets and a halo that was slightly leaning to the side.
She looked at it in the mirror and laughed. "Is that what you think of me now? I'm a fallen angel?"
He walked up to her and kissed her. He backed her up to the drawing table, careful not to ruin his art before the paste had time to bond with her skin, and sat her on it. "I like my angels slightly tarnished." His smile sent a blush across her face.
"You just wait until I do yours." She barely got it out before his lips assaulted her neck.
All of the fun she had with him; banging on bowls, jumping on the trampoline, learning how to ride a unicycle, all of it paled in comparison to making love to him. Just the feel of him, hearing him say her name made all of this sneaking around worth it. She knew tomorrow things would be different, she would be at school and he and her dad would be at work; together. But for right now, all she could do was succumb to the feeling of his body on hers.
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Hunter dialed Stephanie's number about ten times and hung up after the first ring. What was he going to say to her? Baby I'm sorry, please take me back... or Steph this is what your father wants, let's not give him the satisfaction or how about This is bullshit, we're in love and I'm not going anywhere until we work this out. Actually the last one was the closest to the truth, but what if she didn't feel the same? All he knew was he needed to talk to her.
He dialed the number again and let it ring. "Why the hell do you keep hanging up on me?" She said on the other end annoyed.
He was for the first time in his life speechless. All the rehearsed speeches failed him; he didn't know what to say.
"Hello." she said softer, trying to make sure he was still there.
"Who gets the dogs?" That was really not what he had wanted to say, but it was an excuse to keep her on the phone. He could tell he had caught her off guard because she said 'what'. "Who gets the dogs? If...when, I move out. Do they come with me or do they stay at home?" He cursed himself silently for not saying what was really on his mind.
She sighed. Every time she had seen his number on the caller ID, she wished he was calling to tell her that he wanted to make it work. But who was she kidding? She had bruised his ego and that is something that no one got away with, especially her. "I guess they should stay with me. I don't see any reason for uprooting them." She really could care less about those damn dogs. They were his, she only put up with them because he loved them. She even went as far to start taking allergy shots just so she wouldn't be sick every time she came home.
Why won't she just admit she's wrong? He shook his head. They were his dogs, and he wanted them, but if they were with her he would have an excuse to see her still. "Can I have visitation rights?" He tried to chuckle to lighten the mood. His heart skipped a beat when she chuckled back.
"Paul?" He held his breath, she never called him that. "I don't want this to be ugly." She really wanted to say that she didn't want this to be over. "We've been through too much to not be friends anymore."
He agreed. It didn't have to be ugly because all she had to do was say that it was a mistake and everything would be back to normal. He would do everything in his power to see her more often and work his fingers to the bone to rebuild their relationship. "Steph..." He could almost hear the expectation in her breath. "...I'll see you next week."
He hung up and threw his phone against the wall. All he had to do was tell her how he felt, but he was too much of a chicken shit to do it. He walked over to the match card hanging on the inside of the RAW trailer wall. He let a smile cross his face when he read: Match 5 - Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy - DQ (interference - Evolution). He let out a small laugh as he pointed his fingers in the shape of a gun right over Jeff's name.