Chapter Eight: Coming Clean

Jeff's POV:

Flashback: Twelve years ago:

I was called to the WWE Headquarters in Connecticut. It couldn't be good, but part of me didn't give a damn. Vince wanted to meet with me. It probably had to do with me showing up late if I showed up at all for my scheduled appearances. After waiting nearly an hour, I was led into his office.

"Sit down, Jeff," Vince said to me, pointing at the seat in front of his desk.

I sat down and waited for him to talk.

"You haven't been keeping up with appearances. What's worse, when you have been showing up, you've been late, drunk, and some had suspected you were getting high. That's why I needed to talk to you."

"What about?" I asked, not sure if I really cared.

"Your drug test. You failed it," Vince said severely. "Now you are a big draw to the fans, so I'm willing to give you a chance here, Jeff, but you have to work with me. If you check yourself into rehab and get help with your problems, we'll give you time off and bring you back when you successfully complete the program."

"Release me," I said.

"What?" Vince asked in shock.

"I don't care, just fire me, Vince."

"You do realize what you're saying, Jeff, don't you?"

"Yeah. I'm saying I don't care about going to rehab. Just fire me and get it over with. I'm tired of all this shit anyway," I said as I got up and walked out of his office and on my job.

Present:

It had been two days since Tammy's funeral. Dad had gone back to Cameron to start getting things ready at my house for Taylor. Matt had to go back to work, so he was back on the road, but he promised he'd go home to Cameron when Taylor and I finally went back. So it was just me and Amy with Taylor now.

I had just finished making burgers for the three of us for lunch when I decided to tell Taylor the truth about me. So far she hadn't heard any rumors about me from anyone. I wanted her to find out the truth about my past from me. When Amy helped her sit at the table I toyed with trying to figure out how to start the conversation.

"What's wrong, Jeff?" Taylor asked me.

"Taylor, there are still things you don't know about me. Things that are pretty well known about me, that I'm not proud of, and I want you to hear about them from me," I replied.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Amy took my hand and I took a deep breath, thankful she was here to help me through this.

"I've gone through some very dark times in my life. Times where I didn't care about anything, not my career, not what I was doing to myself, not how my actions were affecting anyone I cared about, nothing. It led me to some very dark places," I started explaining, looking at Amy for encouragement. "During those dark times, I got into some very bad habits and got into a lot of trouble."

"What kind?" Taylor asked.

"Drinking, drugs. I've been arrested a few times. I was fired from a few of my wrestling jobs because of my drug habits. But that's all in the past now. I've been clean for a few years. I haven't gotten high in years. Since I've been clean, I haven't gotten in trouble with the law at all," I explained.

"And the drinking?" she asked.

"I still drink from time to time, but it's not often. But that and cigarettes are the worst of my vices at this point."

Taylor took a few bites of her burger and pushed it away. I noticed she did that a lot. She barely ever ate.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Taylor asked, obviously done with her lunch.

"You told me that your mother kept you from watching wrestling all these years and you had no idea I was your father. Now that you do, as people find out, I don't want you to be put in a situation where you find out something like that from some stranger, or worse, online. There's a lot of information on the internet about me and my brother. We've both had our problems in the past."

"You promise that you've been clean?" Taylor asked.

"I can vouch for that," Amy said, putting down her veggie burger. "He asked me to help him when he was finally ready to get clean. And he's back to the Jeff I remember before he got hooked on the drugs. He lost part of himself when he fell into all of that. He's not the same as he was before, but he's close to it."

"You have to promise me you're not gonna start any of that again, Jeff. This is a lot to take in and I don't know how to do with this now, and I can't even think about what would happen if you started again," Taylor said to me. "I don't think I'd be able to forgive you if you did."

"I promise, for you, I'll stay clean, Taylor."

"I'm kinda tired. Can I be excused?" Taylor asked.

"Sure, I'll help you upstairs to your room," Amy said.

Taylor's POV:

Amy helped me up to my room. I was in shock at what Jeff had just told me. Should I be upset and not trust him because he used to use drugs? Or should I trust him because he was honest with me and wanted me to hear the truth from him instead of finding out on my own? My emotions were mixed up and I didn't know what to do with them so I just used the excuse of a nap to get away from the situation.

"Do you need anything?" Amy asked me as she helped me into my bed.

"No," I said and she started to walk away from me before I stopped her. "Amy?"

"Yeah, Taylor?" she replied from by the door.

"Is Jeff really off the drugs? I mean, is he really okay now? Will he go back to all of that because of me and Mom?" I asked, voicing one of my fears.

Amy came back to my bed and started stroking my hair.

"He's clean, Taylor. He's not going back there. And he won't go back because of you or your mother. If anything, he's got more of a reason to fight the urge to fall back on the habit because of you."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you see the way he is with you already, Taylor? You've already got him wrapped around your little finger. He's never going to intentionally do anything that he knows will hurt you. You already told him that would. That gave him more reason to fight to stay clean. He'll be okay," Amy tried to reassure me.

"But how will he deal with all of this? I don't even know how to," I said to her.

"He has his art, his music, friends, family and other hobbies. He'll find away. And he'll help you. We'll all help you get through this," Amy reassured me. "Get some rest. I'll have Jeff check on you a little later."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Just to run an errand. I'll only be gone for an hour or two. Don't worry."

"Amy. Thank you," I said to her as she left my room.