Aw man, two reviews? Were have you guys gone?
xXx
Karlee was exhausted. She had ended her night by being carried off the stage by Dean, not even remembering what had really happened r at least the details. She woke up the next morning in her hotel room with what felt like a hangover. She got up from her bed, her had pounding noticing her clothes had been changed too. It must have been Alice because she was wearing a large Reign's shirt. Dean would not have done that. Karlee held her head, reaching for something to drink. She gulped the water that was sitting beside her bed down. Even that tasted different. Her phoned buzzed quietly beside her and she glanced at it, noticing several missed calls from both her bosses and some from Alice, obviously both checking up on her after her boot to the head. That was another weird thing. Why was Stephanie calling her again? It had better be good as it was going to delay much needed sleep. She slumped back onto the bed and picked her phone up, dialling Stephanie's number with much hesitation. She answered almost immediately.
"Hey, Steph? You were calling?" She asked, asking a question but knowing the answer, that was such a weird thing people did. She heard Steph sigh and pause. Oh shit, this sounded serious.
"I need to meet with you immediately. Where are you?" She sounded deadpan serious and now Karlee was struggling to form a sentence as she panicked. She sat bolt upright in bed. She hadn't done anything wrong? Had she?
"Mrs McMahon, what's wrong. You're scaring me." Karlee started to shake as butterflies formed in her tummy. She held it to control it.
"Are you in your room? I'll find out and come and meet with you. Make sure you are decent and please, just piece together last night and the past few weeks. It may help you in all of this." She hung up, leaving Karlee to pace around the room and panic slightly. She had fought her match, been carried out, set down and walked to catering to get something to eat. She had then gone and given her sample to the doc for the random screening and then gone to see Sofia to thank her for her opportunity. Which for Karlee was surprising. She hadn't said anything to upset her, or at least she didn't think she had. Karlee was hurting so much the night before that she had probably been warbling for the most part. The doc gave her real strong painkillers, so they could have messed with her head.
Shit. Shit. What had she said to Sofia. Was she about to be suspended. Or even worse, fired? A knock at her door send her into a whirlwind panic. She danced around from foot to foot. She hadn't even gotten dressed and was still in her shirt. She threw on a pair of shorts and tried to flatten her hair a little before throwing the blanket back onto the bed and going to answer the door. She threw it open and almost fell to the floor. There was Steph, along with Vince and a bodyguard, who had informed them he was staying outside. Vince was here And that meant something bad, he never did hotel room visits. Karlee offered them both a weak smile and they walked in, Steph with her briefcase, her head down and Vince with a stone-faced expression that made Karlee shake with fear. She closed the door slowly, keeping her hands on the handle just a few extra seconds, trying to delay what was about to happen. She had surely insulted Sofia and they were hear to finally fire her.
"Karlee, please, sit down." She opted to sit on the bed and let her two bosses sit on the push chairs that came with her room. Stephanie pulled papers out from her briefcase and seemed to have a silent conversation with her father. Karlee looked between the both of them as she returned to normal. Now she was just getting impatient and pissed.
"Can you please tell me what's going on, because I'm starting to panic." Karlee snapped, a shaky laugh emitting from her lips, folding her arms. Stephanie took a deep breath and sighed. She leant forward and cocked her head slightly.
"Congratulations on your victory last night. I'm so proud of you. But that is not why we are here." Karlee swallowed, well, that didn't exactly make her fee better. Oh, here it goes.
"You are aware that when you signed your contract, we informed you we preformed random drugs testing to keep our talent clean and healthy. We received your results this morning and they are far from clear." Karlee's eyes widened and she moved forward, almost to a standing position.
"I don't understand...I..I..." Stephanie and Vince both saw very clearly that she was confused and it just worried them further.
"The test showed high levels of HGH in your blood stream. Karlee, you know we have a zero tolerance policy within this company." Karlee had no words. This couldn't be true. She had never taken a drug like that in her life. Surely there was a mistake. Someone must have messed up the name tags or something. Something.
"That isn't right. Steph you know me, I would never take anything like that." Stephanie sighed and held her head in her hands. She knew herself when she read the results that something wasn't right but she didn't want to admit it to herself. Now, seeing Karlee looking so vulnerable was making her rethink.
"Karlee, the samples were not mixed and nobody could tamper with them. Are you saying you have never taken these?" Karlee shook her head, holding herself with her arms as the tears started. She was trying her hardest not to cry in front of her bosses but it was proving to be extremely difficult. Steph looked up and the tears were clear in her eyes too.
"Steph, you know I would never do this to myself, to my name, to you or the company. You have to believe me." She had started to sob. Karlee sunk to her feet and started pacing the room. This wasn't happening. Everything bad always happened to her...
"Wait... This drug. Is it possible someone could have planted it on me or..." Steph shook her head, as did Vince.
"There were high levels of it. I can't see someone slipping something into your drink that causes that high of a level."
"Well somebody's fucking me over because I would never do that! I want the police called. I can't deal with it." Her heartbeat started racing and her breathing began to get more shallow. This was it. This was the end of her career. WWE didn't stand by violations like this, no matter if he had taken it or not.
"If we involve the Police, we have to release a statement saying that they are investigating you for this drugs violation. Are you prepared for that. We also have to tell them why you have been released. And I think you've gone through enough." Karlee choked on her sobs.
"I can't. What can I do? Is there anything I can do to save my job?" Vince shook his head.
"Zero tolerance Karlee. That is how we work things."
"But you have to believe me when I say somebody is trying to screw me over!" She yelled, flailing her arms in the air. Steph launched forwards and wrapped her arms around the sobbing redhead. Her legs gave way and she let her boss guide her to the bed. Vince looked on in amazement. His daughter was always so businesslike. Never crossed over her personal feelings into the workplace.
"I believe in you Karlee, I really do. If you think someone is trying to get to you, I want you to prove it. I don't care what you have to do, as long as you don't hurt anyone. I want you to find out the truth." Vince placed a hand on his daughters shoulder. They had to stay within guidelines here. She knew herself Karlee shouldn't have been given the chance but she had had gut feeling, a mothers instinct, that Karlee had never taken anything that would compromise her career. Vince talked in hush whispers, with Stephanie nodding. She turned back and sat beside Karlee.
"You have to understand where I'm coming from here. But from this point onwards, for the next 24 hours until we reach our conclusion, you are suspended without pay. I don't want you to mention anything about the WWE, for our and your own sake and don't come to any of the house shows or tapings. We will give you a chance to prove yourself innocent but if you fail too, I will have to terminate your contract and release a statement to the fans." Stephanie explained, a little more structure to her words this time. They were giving her a chance here. Something they wouldn't have done to anyone else.
"We have high hopes for you Karlee and I sincerely hope you are telling the truth. You have no idea how much I want you to prove me right." Vince grabbed his daughters briefcase and placed a hand on her shoulder, telling her it was time to go. Steph gave Karlee a squeeze on the arm.
"I'm only phone call away if you need me..." Karlee could tell she wanted to say something else but Stephanie couldn't find the words. She sighed and left with her father. She was alone and left to deal with it. All on her own.
Not even a second after the door closed had Karlee slumped onto the floor, tears spilling from her eyes as she sobbed her heart out on the floor She was done. Her life was over.
Drugs.
She would never have ever touched such a thing, especially after everything she had been through and watched other in the same profession go through under the same influence. Her chest started to shake as her body tried to keep up with the feeling that was gushing through her. She wanted to scream out of frustration. Why did it always happen to her? Nothing went right. Nothing. Something seemed to snap inside at that moment when she realised whoever had done this to her had evidently won.
They had broken her.
She let out a primal scream and stood up, flipping the mattress with ease and making everything on the night stand crash to the floor, a glass shattering and a bottle of perfume exploding. Karlee placed her hands on the end of the desk and swiped everything off, a loud yell ripping through her body and escaping out through her throat, slamming her hands down on the table as her body continued to sake. It was hurting her to cry. She had been fucked over one too many times. She caught sight of herself in the mirror just feet in front of her. She looked like a state.
"What happened to me?" She cried, kneeling forward and slamming her fist into the mirror. It splintered, shattering into thousands of tiny pieces. She withdrew her hands and let them fall by her side, knowing well fine they were bleeding. She slumped to the floor, her eyes glazed with tears and her chest falling into a rhythm again. Karlee totally zoned out, ignoring the mess she had created and focusing on an inanimate object.
Her career and life was over. She was about to lose everything she loved in life. It was about to slip out of her hands and there was nothing she could do about it.
xXx
Dean awoke to the sound of someone bashing on his door rather loudly. He groaned with frustration as he fell out of bed and answered it, boxers being the only thing he wore. He opened the door and was unpleasantly surprised to see his Boss, Stephanie McMahon.
"I don't have a lot of time, but I think Karlee may need you right now." Vince was down the hall rushing her on and had already pleaded with her to not knock on Ambrose' door. She had anyway. She knew Karlee and thought, no knew, she needed Dean. He gave her a funny look.
"Is she okay?" He mumbled, grabbing a pair of jeans and throwing on a white vest. He opted for a pair of his wrestling boots as they were the first thing he came across. After grabbing his jacket, he shooed Stephanie away and took off down the corridor towards where he knew Karlee was staying. He stopped in front of the door and raised his hand. Countless visions of Karlee being hurt ran through his head. There was nothing but silence coming from the room in front of him.. He knocked slowly but heavily. No answer. He placed his hand on the handle and surprisingly the door opened. He swung the door open a crack, popping his head around. His stomach dropped when he saw her, her hands drooped over her knees, blood dripping from her right hand. She didn't look up when he kicked the door shut. Her face was a mess of hair and dried in tears. She didn't care for who had come in.
"Karlee, what the fuck happened.?" He asked softly, not knowing what to do or how to react. He tried to place his arm on hers but she wrenched it away. He tried again but she reacted the same way, hugging her legs even tighter, the tears starting again. Dean grabbed her, firm but gentle and pulled her into him, holding her tightly as the fresh hot tears started again. She was sobbing loudly and Dean's chest started to hurt for her. He stroked her face, hushing her to try and get her too calm down so he could find out what had happened to put her in the state she was in.
"I'm finished, Dean..." Was all she kept repeating. What was the on about? Finished with what? Dean went into panic mode and pulled her away, holding her at the shoulders.
"Right, stop. Tell em what the hell is going on?" He was holding her firmly and the sight of her made him want to keep her close but he had to get to the bottom of what was wrong. She sniffed and blew her hair out of her face.
"I'm done. My drugs test came back positive for some drug, Dean I'm finished." He allowed her to fall into his chest as he picked his heart up off the floor. Karlee? Drugs? He didn't even need to ask her if she had, he knew she would never do that to herself.
Dean couldn't believe it. This could not be happening to her, to them.
xXx
Dean had sent Karlee into the bathroom, ordering her to clean herself up. He cleaned up best he could in the bedroom, scraping the glass into the bin and hoovering up the rest – it wasn't his problem. All the while he could only think and try and scramble up way to try and get Karlee out of the mess she was in. She had calmed down and explained things to him, also what Stephanie and Vince had said. He sorted her bed and Karlee emerged from the bathroom moments later. Her eyes were red raw and puffy. Her wet hair was scraped into a bun and all she was wearing was a long shirt and a pair of leggings. She slumped onto the bed, the crying had tired her out. Dean got on beside her, keeping his distance afraid he would stir her again.
"Listen, I know you don't want to talk about this now, but what are you going to do?" Dean asked, keeping his sitting position on the bed.
"There isn't nothing I can do Dean. What am I meant to do, walk up to Sofia and accuse her, demanding a confession." She had oddly accepted what was going to happen to her which was strange because wrestling was her life. Was this some sort of sign?
"You thin it was her?" He asked. Even Dean was a little unsure.
"It may have not been her personally but she's behind it. You don't feud with someone for ten years and suddenly change overnight." Karlee was right. The night she met Dean was also the night she met Sofia. Wrong move on both their behalf's.
"I want to be able to tell everyone on my own. I'm not going quietly, at least I'll try." She sighed and pulled the duvet back over her body.
"Do you genuinely think Sofia is behind this?" Karlee turned to look at him, placing her hand on top of this.
"Yeah, I do. I tell you what, you go and do whatever you were doing and just leave me some time to myself. I need to get my head around this and figure out what I'm going to do." Dean shook his head.
"I'm not leaving you Karls. You know I won't" She sat up and grabbed his hands, as if he was the one who was more upset.
"Look Dean. I've been hit with a pretty fucking big bombshell and you are making it worse by sitting her because every time you and I are in a room there's this big fucking black cloud over us. One problem at a time please!" She snapped, her voice getting more stern with every word She knew it was harsh but she needed him to leave so she could clear her mind and think. Dean's face was a mishmash of emotion, from sympathy to just being hurt. He looked broken. He nodded and without any word, he got up and closed the door as he left.
Karlee sighed, switching her phone off. She pulled the duvet over her head and crawled into the foetal position, letting the tears flow and the emotions out.
xXx
Did you guys really think this couple would have a happy ending? This is what 9 hours of sleep in a week does to you.
I hope you like the way this is headed. This is the hurdle that sets up the ending. This story is finally coming to a close, just a few more chapters! Let me know what you think. And you never know, enough reviews and I might update Sunday/Monday!
Love you all lots! Xo