Chapter Two

Sharyn was silent as Cody drove along the rainy roads, anxious to get out of town. There was something about his encounter with Gene Snitsky that wasn't sitting right with him at all. Every now and then he would sneak a peek at Sharyn, who was tense and rigid in the passenger's seat. Cody suspected that Sharyn had left a situation that wasn't healthy. Reaching over, keeping his eyes on the road, Cody fumbled with the radio dial, finding something with a country, a news station, a top forty station. He sighed, turning the knob to the right a little more until he came across a rock music station. He was a country boy, but there was something about Sharyn that made him think of rock.

"You're pretty quiet over there. Anything you want to tell me about that guy back there?"

"No." Her tone was definitive and left no room for argument. She was looking out the window, never turning her gaze to him. Cody nodded. Fair enough, he thought. There was a Nickelback song on the radio with lyrics that made Cody inwardly cringe. Sharyn sighed. "Can we shut this shit off? I'm sorry, but I just have a monster headache."

"Sure thing. I'm a country boy myself," he told her. Reaching over, he shut the radio off. They drove in silence. He stole another peek at her. She was soaked to the bone, visibly shivering from the chill that had settled in. Cody felt a tug in his heart for her. Something about Gene Snitsky wasn't sitting right with him. He hated to imagine what would have happened had he found her.

With the tension and the chaos of the evening behind them, Cody drove along, taking a few moments to study Sharyn as she rested her head against the glass. She was a beautiful girl. Gene hadn't been lying about that; even when she looked like a drowned rat she was still beautiful. But there was so much tension in her body. He could tell just with one look that she was wound up tighter than a stopwatch. It told him that despite her escape, she was convinced her troubles were far from over. He wished he knew where she was going, but he knew getting information out of her would take time. She needed to trust him before she would divulge anything.

"What takes you to Louisiana?" she asked, her voice shattering the thick silence between them. Cody smiled. He was worried the entire trip was going to be taken in silence.

"I'm a wrestler. I got a show in Baton Rouge in a few days. You ever watch wrestling?"

"I used to, when I was really little. Back then when there were guys like Hogan, Steamboat, Flair and Rhodes. I was a huge fan of Dusty Rhodes. The guy seemed like a lot of fun, with his dancing and his polka dots..." Cody grimaced, but she didn't see it. "I haven't watched since I was like six, though." She fell silent for a moment, thinking of something to say. "You must be a fan, too. If that's what you want to do for the rest of your life. Who were your favorites?"

"My dad." She thought about it. She recalled him introducing himself as Cody Rhodes when Gene had approached. She blanched.

"Rhodes...Your father is Dusty."

"Yeah. And for the record, the polka dots were awful." She giggled, a sound that caught him completely off-guard. It was a sound he wanted to hear more of, he had to admit. It was a light, girlish giggle.

"I guess this is kind of in your blood, then, huh?" He nodded. "So why aren't you in the big leagues yet?"

"I've had offers, but I just want to pay my dues, get some more experience." Sharyn nodded, a soft smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"It must be nice having a direction in life." Cody cocked an eyebrow. The bitterness at the edge of her voice wasn't lost on him.

"How old are you, Sharyn?"

"Nineteen. I'll be twenty in a few days."

"You still have your entire life ahead of you. I'll bet you're a smart woman who can do anything you put your mind to."

"Not smart enough," she replied, turning her gaze to look out the window again. Cody wanted to ask her to elaborate, but he knew now was not the time to ask. She was clearly not ready to divulge any information about her past to him just yet. He hoped she would say something in the next day or two.

The rain wasn't easing up at all. The windshield wipers did very little against the heavy rain. Cody was thankful that his eyes were good, but he wondered if Sharyn was worried that she couldn't see two feet in front of her. Cody was pretty sure he was going to have to stop in at a hotel for the night and wait for the rain to ease up. He had been working all summer for this trip, for this car. He was finally on the main event card in Louisiana, and from there he was going to do another show or two before spring-boarding himself into WWE. Everything was starting to come together for him now and he couldn't be happier.

He looked over at Sharyn. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and even. He bit his lower lip. She was going to get sick if he didn't get her somewhere where she could dry off and warm up. He thought back to Gene. He didn't want to believe the things Gene said about Sharyn; she seemed too calloused and too vulnerable to be a typical wayward teenager. What he had said about her rang untrue to Cody. None of it sat right in his gut and he liked to think his instincts didn't steer him very wrong too often.

Cody reached out and turned the radio back on, turning it back to the country station. An electric fiddle filled the car at a soft volume. Cody felt an odd sense of comfort with the country music, the rain and the road. His father was going to call his cell phone in the morning and make sure everything was all right. It was only after seven. He thought he could drive another three hours before calling it a night.

He thought about his trip, about just how far it was to Louisiana. He had just finished a show in Washington State, where had been in a tag team match. It meant the world to him to be seen as a main event player somewhere. He was taking on his buddy Ted, the one who had sold him his car. His father had been a wrestler, too, the popular villain "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Sr. Both Dusty and Ted were proud of their sons. They both supported their sons in their decision to follow in their father's footsteps. Their only condition was they graduated high school first. Both agreed, graduating with outstanding GPAs.

Sharyn Halliday fascinated him. He had no idea what she was going to do, but he felt the need to keep her safe. He wondered if Gene knew he was lying. She had been so reluctant to get into the car with him, thinking he was some kind of killer or rapist until Gene had come along. Then she had wanted to get into the car. Everything about Gene had screamed bad news. She seemed like a strong woman, but he wanted her to trust him. Judging by her demeanor, she needed somebody that she could trust.

Exiting Iowa, Cody felt a surge of relief. The more distance he put between the state and himself, the better. Everything about Gene Snitsky made Cody uneasy. His sleazy smile left Cody's bones feeling slimy. The thought of leaving Sharyn alone made him sick. The strangest thing was that Sharyn didn't seem to be afraid of Cody. He wondered if she was in shock, if she had seen something to make her run away. All he knew about her was that she couldn't go back to where she had come from. And he knew he would do everything in his power to ensure that she didn't have to.