Chapter 18
Kat was sleeping soundly, but was awakened early in the morning by the sound of a phone ringing. She had forgotten that she had charged her phone. She was used to setting an alarm for herself, and she had forgotten to disable it when she charged it. She instantly jumped up, now wide awake, and went over to her bag.
She shut off the alarm and went to go take a shower. She knew it was no use trying to go back to sleep. The alarm had shaken her awake. Once she was finished taking a shower, she picked up her bag and went downstairs to buy herself coffee.
There was a café downstairs and she sat sipping a large cup. She was surprised when she heard ringing. She opened her bag. It was Randy's phone. She had forgotten that it was there.
She picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Yes, is Mr. Orton there?"
"Can I take a message for him?" Kat asked.
"Yes, this is management. We were trying to reach his manager yesterday, but we weren't able to. He needs to be at the arena with the rest of the wrestlers. Can you please relay this to him?"
"Sure," Kat said, and hung up his phone. Oh man, she thought, Randy's probably fast asleep, and the rest of the guys left already. She knew that Shawn had said they were leaving very early. She picked up her coffee, went back over to the counter and ordered another large coffee with milk and sugar. She paid and went upstairs to Randy's room.
She knocked on the door but received no answer. "Oh man, he's probably out cold." She thought to herself about what to do, when she saw a housekeeping lady walking down the hallway. A thought occurred to her. "Um excuse me? I just locked myself out of my room, and my husband's in the shower. Could you open the door for me?" she asked sweetly.
"Of course," the woman answered and stuck her key in the door. The door opened.
"Thank you," Kat said, and went into the room. That was way too easy, she thought to herself with a laugh.
The room was dark and it was clear that Randy was still asleep. She set the two coffees down on the dresser. Then she went over to the bed and touched his shoulder. "Randy?" He didn't answer. She shook his shoulder harder. "Randy? Wake up."
He turned and stretched. "What's going on?" he asked sleepily.
"Wake up sunshine," she said. She went over to the window and drew the curtain back a little. It let in a little light, not enough to be blinding, but enough to keep him from falling asleep again.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked at Kat. "How did you get in here? And why did you wake me up?"
"Your phone just rang. Management says you need to be with the other guys."
He groaned and then caught sight of the clock. "Goddamn it!" he said jumping out of bed. "Oh man, they must've left already."
He went to the closet and started pulling out his clothes. Kat went over to the dresser and picked up the coffee.
"Here," she said.
"Coffee?" he asked. "Thank God. I'm half dead here." He took a few sips. "Alright, these need to come with me, and these I'll wear," he said to himself, looking at the clothes he had pulled out. Then he disappeared into the bathroom.
She heard the faucet running and guessed that he was washing his face. She looked at the clothes. She saw a gym bag on the floor and put his clothes in it, figuring that it would save him some time.
He came back out of the bathroom. "Where's the other clothes?" he asked.
"I put them in your gym bag," she said.
"Thanks," he said. He took another sip of coffee and then picked up his clothes. He went back into the bathroom and came out dressed in workout clothes. "I'd better get moving," he said. "Thanks for getting me up."
"No problem," she answered. She walked with him out of his room, and went back to her own. Randy quickly went downstairs and headed out to the arena.
Kat looked at the clock in the room. Getting him up and out had only taken her fifteen minutes. He probably wouldn't be very late.
She finished her coffee and went downstairs to the convenience shop. She bought a small bottle of shampoo and another one of conditioner. Her hair felt very dry and frizzy. She figured it must be the dry air. She also bought some frizz cream. She put the bottles in her purse and walked around again. She wondered if Mark was awake yet.
She decided to go back to the store she had gone past the night before and look at the dress she had liked. She remembered Randy saying that they were having dinner at a very fancy restaurant, and knew that she didn't have anything with her to wear to such a place.
Kat went into the store and found the dress immediately. She found her size and went and tried it on. She looked in the mirror and smiled.
It was a really pretty dress. It was black, and fitted through the top, which was low cut. Low enough to show off her top, but not enough to be sleazy. The bottom part of the dress floated away very slightly, and there was a slit on the side. The slit had black lace sewn behind it. She loved it. She put it by the cash register and wandered over to the shoe section.
She found a really nice pair of black heels, and tried those on. She was surprised by how comfortable they were, despite the four inch heel. She took those over to the register too. The girl at the counter rang her up, and she left with her new purchases.
She went back up to her room and put the bag in the closet. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
She opened it. "Hi Mark," she said cheerily, letting him in.
"Morning angel," he said. "I was wondering if you were up yet, and I figured why not knock."
She smiled. "I've been up for a while," she said. "I forgot to turn off my cell alarm, and it went off early. How's your shoulder by the way?"
"It's fine now. I think I slept it off." He shrugged. "Did you and Randy walk around a lot last night?"
"He bought a new shirt, and then we had a few drinks. It was fun."
Mark nodded. "Have you seen him yet?"
Kat nodded. "I had his phone and it rang this morning. It was management. He was supposed to go with the rest of the guys. I went to his room and woke him up."
"I'm surprised he wasn't in a bad mood. Randy's not a morning person," Mark said shaking his head.
Kat laughed. "I woke him up very carefully. Nice and gentle. I don't need to get RKO'd."
Mark laughed. "Very smart."
"I got him coffee too. That might have helped."
"Very very smart," Mark said. "Softening him up with coffee."
She smiled. "Well whatever it was, he wasn't in a bad mood. I think he was just in a hurry."
He nodded. "Understandable. I'm surprised Janice didn't call him though, about needing to be there."
"The guy on the phone said they had been trying to reach her, but they couldn't."
"That's not good. If you hadn't answered the phone, Randy wouldn't have known to go. That really doesn't look good to management, when a superstar doesn't show up when they're supposed to."
Kat nodded. "Well at least he went. I don't think he was very late either. The place isn't far from here is it?"
He shook his head. "It's about a ten minute drive."
"That's good," she said. "So what are you doing today?"
Mark shrugged. "I don't really know. I'm probably going to hit the gym for a while. What about you?"
"Hmmm. Does the hotel have a swimming pool?" she asked.
"Yea, it does. It's on the sixth floor, right next to the gym."
"Oh good. I think I'll be going swimming then. I love the water."
He smiled at her with a trace of mischief. "You didn't seem to love it so much the other day."
She looked at him wryly. "I don't like swimming with my clothes and sneakers on."
He laughed. "I guess nobody would. I'm going to head to the gym. I'll see you later."
He left her room and went to the gym. He started working out. He started with his lower body, and then did core exercises. He was trying to work out without putting strain on his shoulder. He felt fine though, and after a while started to lift weights.
Meanwhile Kat was digging around looking for her bathing suit. She knew she had brought it with her. The house in Georgia had a pool, so she had been sure to pack one when she had first left on the trip.
She found it tangled up in one of her sweaters. She stripped out of her clothes and put it on. Her bathing suit was one piece, and it was black. The top part tied around the neck. She pulled on a cover up and headed to the sixth floor.
She brought her purse with her, and put her iPod and cell phone in it. She figured that if she got tired swimming, she could relax on a chair or something. She found the pool easily. The sixth floor had no guest rooms on it. It had a spa, the pool, a kids' pool and the gym.
The kids' pool was in a separate area on an opposite end of the floor. No children were allowed in the regular pool. As a result of this, the pool was empty. The gym and the pool were separated by a glass wall, and had a door connecting them.
When she went into the pool room, she could see Mark working out in a corner through the glass. She set her bag down on a chair and got a towel from the counter. She spread the towel on the chair and took off her flip flops.
Mark in the meantime had sat up from lifting the weights and was stretching. His shoulder was starting to feel tense again. He knew that if he continued to lift the weights, he might pull the muscle. He stood up from the bench and started doing a shoulder stretch to try to loosen up. He was facing the glass wall and he could see Kat putting her stuff down. Her back was turned to him though.
Kat pulled her hair up into a bun. She wasn't sure if she wanted to get her hair wet. She pulled off the cover up and put it down on the chair. Then she went to the edge of the pool and slipped into the water.
The pool was enormous. It started at three feet and went to six and a half. The pool was big, so the depth changed very gradually. Kat had slipped in at the three foot mark. The water was shallow and she moved toward the deeper side. The pool was heated, and there wasn't a lot of chlorine in the water. She could feel her body relaxing.
"How's the water?" asked a voice from behind her.
Kat turned around in the water to see Mark standing by the edge. He was looking down at her. "It's good," she said looking up. "I thought you were lifting weights?"
"My shoulder's tensing up again. I don't wanna push it."
"Why don't you come swim then?" she asked. "It'll take the pressure off your shoulder."
He nodded. "That's why I was asking about the water. I'll be back," he said.
A few minutes later he came back wearing swimming trunks and a t-shirt. He put his room key on a chair with a towel, took off his shoes and went over to the edge of the water. He kneeled down and Kat swam over to him.
He dipped a hand into the water to test it. "Good, it's warm." Before he knew what was happening, Kat grabbed his hand and pulled him as hard as she could. He fell right into the water still wearing his shirt.
He stood up and saw Kat laughing hysterically. He went over to her. "Payback I guess?" he asked.
She grinned at him. "I couldn't resist. It was too good a chance." She looked up at him. "You're not mad are you?"
He smiled. "I guess I walked right into that. I shouldn't have kneeled next to the edge." He looked around. "Unfortunately for you, there's nobody else here," he said with a grin.
She looked at him. "Uh oh…" She quickly swam away to the deepest part of the water, away from him. She was treading water to stay up. The water here was well over her head. Mark on the other hand, could stand up in it with no problem.
Mark pulled his shirt off and put it down on the floor by the edge of the pool. He swam over to her. "Going somewhere?" he asked.
"I thought you weren't mad?" she asked.
He grinned. "I'm not."
"Then what are you…" Before she could finish, he lifted her up out of the water over his head. "Oh my God, Mark put me down!"
"If that's what you want," he said wickedly, and dropped her in the water. She went under with a splash. Having been dropped from such a height, she sank down all the way to the bottom. Gives new meaning to the term six feet under, she thought as she pushed herself back toward the surface.
Her lungs were burning. She hadn't taken a deep breath before she hit the water, and she was really pushing herself to make it to the top. She surfaced, took a deep breath and started coughing. She was coughing so much that she was struggling to stay afloat. She wanted to hold onto the wall, but she was nowhere near it.
She felt two hands come around her waist, holding her up. She caught her breath and turned to look over her shoulder. "Are you okay angel?" Mark asked looking with her with a touch of concern.
"Trying to kill me?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Of course not." He walked with her to the four foot deep part of the pool and put her down. Her feet now touching the ground, she turned around to face him.
"I'm okay," she said. "I just needed to catch my breath. That would have been fun, if I hadn't gone all the way to the bottom."
He nodded. "Next time I won't drop you from so high," he said with a smile.
"Next time?" she asked smiling and raising her eyebrows.
He grinned mischievously in response. Kat laughed. "You're too much," she said.
"You sure you're okay? I didn't mean for you to start coughing like that."
She nodded. "I'm fine, and I know." She looked over at the deep end of the pool. "I can't believe that you can stand up there. It's like a foot and a half over my head."
He laughed. "I'm tall, I can't exactly help that."
She laughed. "I guess not." She pulled her hair loose. It was wet now, no sense in keeping it tied up. "I thought your shoulder was bothering you. You picked me up pretty easy though."
"You're not very heavy," Mark said. "And my shoulder feels better. Being in the water helped take a lot of the pressure off of it."
She nodded. "That's good." She lay back in the water, floating on her back. "Can you do this?" she asked.
He nodded and did the same. "Even I can float. Water makes things almost weightless."
"I know. I was just wondering. You should do a backstroke or something. It would work out your shoulder. It might loosen it up."
Mark nodded. "I was thinking that myself," he said. "But then you pulled me in, and I got distracted with a revenge plot. Which was pretty funny," he added with a laugh.
She laughed and splashed him. "You should be nice, before I hold your head under."
He stood up and went over to her. He was looking down at her. "You're gonna hold my head under?" he asked. He looked at her wickedly.
Kat moved backwards. "Now Mark…I was only teasing. No need to get any ideas…"
Taker laughed. "So was I. I'm not going to do anything to you."
Kat sighed in relief. "You had me there." She shivered suddenly. She had been in the water for quite a while.
"Cold?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm going in the hot tub to warm up."
"I'm going to do some laps," he said.
She got out of the pool and went into the hot tub. She pressed the button and soon it was bubbling away. She leaned back and closed her eyes.
She felt a lot warmer already. She could hear Mark doing laps, and the steady sound was making her sleepy. She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Her eyes fluttered open. "Wake up sleeping beauty," Mark said. "Don't you know it's not good to fall asleep in a hot tub?"
Kat stood up and got out. He handed her a towel and she wrapped herself up. "I didn't realize that I was falling asleep," she said. "I guess the water made me tired."
She pulled her cover up over her bathing suit and put her flip flops back on. Her and Mark walked back to their rooms.
"Why don't you get some sleep before we have dinner?" he said as they got to her door. "That reminds me, I don't know if Randy mentioned it to you last night, but dress for dinner."
She nodded. "He did, and I will. I think I'll take your advice about sleeping though. I don't wanna pass out over dinner," she said with a smile.
Kat went into the room and looked at the clock. She would be able to sleep for a few hours. She changed out of her bathing suit and slipped on her pajamas. She would shower once she woke up. She set her phone to ring at the right time, and crawled into the bed.
She fell asleep almost instantly. She slept soundly and woke up feeling refreshed when the alarm went off. She got up and took a hot shower. She washed her hair with the shampoo and conditioner she had bought. After her swim, her hair needed a good wash.
When she was done with her shower she dried off and went out into the bedroom. She put on her bra and panties, and then put on the bathrobe that was hanging in the closet.
She went back into the bathroom and put some of the frizz cream in her hair and then blew it out with the blow dryer and a brush. For the first time in days, she thought her hair looked pretty. There wasn't a single strand out of place.
She found her bag and then went back into the bathroom with her makeup. She put it on very carefully. She glanced at her reflection and smiled. She went back out into the bedroom and pulled her new dress and shoes out of the closet. She was about to take off the robe and put them on when there was a knock at the door. She opened it and found Randy on the other side.
"Sorry," he said. "You're not done yet," he said looking at the robe she was wearing.
He was only half dressed himself, wearing only his pants and shoes. He was holding his shirt in his hands. She let him into the room, then looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Something wrong?" she asked with a smile. "Or do you just enjoy making me trip by walking around shirtless?"
He stepped into the room and sat on the bed. "Both," he answered with a smirk.
Kat shook her head. "What's the matter?"
"The iron in my room isn't working, and my shirt's wrinkled. I wanted to see if yours was working."
"Let me see." Kat went over to the closet and pulled out the iron. She plugged it in and a minute later it was hot. "Give me your shirt," she said. "I'll iron it."
He handed it to her and she quickly smoothed it out. "There you go," she said giving it back to him.
He pulled it on and buttoned it. "What do you think?" he asked taking a step back.
She laughed. "Randy, you already know you look gorgeous. Why are you asking?"
He grinned. "Just like hearing someone say it."
She shook her head with a smile. "You really are too much," she said.
"I know. But thanks for ironing my shirt for me. Janice doesn't even do that for me."
"No?"
"She says it's not part of her job. I'm not really sure what her job is, aside from driving me out of my mind."
She laughed. "I'm surprised she doesn't try to help you out though. Her job can't be that time consuming. That's too bad."
Randy looked like he was going over something in his mind, debating with himself. "Can I ask you something? I've been thinking about this for a while, and I want to see what you think."
"Shoot."
"Is there any chance that you would be interested in being my manager?" he asked.
"What?" Kat asked. She wasn't sure if she heard him right.
"Would you like to be my manager?" he asked again. "I know it's completely out of left field, but hear me out. First, you're obviously intelligent, which is a major plus in a manager. Second, you were able to get my room booked without any questions. Third, you're friendly, which is also extremely helpful when you need to talk to people to do bookings. And finally and most important, you don't make me crazy and I get along with you. What do you think?"
"You want me to manage you?" Kat asked. "What exactly does a manager do?"
"A manager books hotels, sets up places for autograph signings, makes sure I am where I need to be on time, etc. Basically my manager has to keep things running smoothly."
"And that's it?"
"Pretty much. That's the basics."
Kat thought it over. A chance to manage a WWE superstar? And Randy Orton no less! How could she pass it up? She could always quit if she thought it was too much for her, but she figured she could deal with it. Besides, she got along pretty well with Randy.
She smiled. "Yes."
"Yes? As in yes you'll do it?"
She nodded. "I'll be your manager Randy. You just might have to give me some pointers."
"You're serious? You'll do it?"
"Totally. I'd love to."
"Oh my God," Randy said. "This means I'm finally rid of Janice!" He hopped up with a grin and Kat stood up laughing.
"You have no idea how happy I am right now," he said. He picked her up off the floor and spun her around in a hug.
She laughed when he put her down. "I can see that," she said. "I should probably get dressed now though. The rest of the guys are probably waiting."
Randy glanced at the clock. "Oh yea! I forgot," he said with a grin. "I can't wait to tell the guys." He paused for a moment. "Oh man, wait a minute. Before I tell them anything I have to call Vince, and clear this with him. Let me use your phone," he said.
Randy took her cell phone and sat back down on the bed. He called up Mr. McMahon, who quickly answered the phone.
"Hey Vince," Randy said.
"Randy," Mr. McMahon said. "What're you up to? You guys all in Dallas already?"
"Yea we got here yesterday. But listen, that's not why I'm calling. Vince do you remember that you told me if I could find a new manager you'd get rid of Janice?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Well, I found one."
"You're serious? Who is it?"
"Her name's Kat Taylor and she's from New York. She's already met the other guys, and they get along great with her. She's smart, friendly, and she's not afraid to get tough. I really think she's perfect for this. What do you say?"
"I'll have to run background on her, as always. But if she's everything you say and she agrees, then that's alright with me. I'm expecting nothing but the best. She knows all the things she has to do as your manager?"
"Yea, I just filled her in on the basics. She says she's good to go. In fact, she got me my room here. The hotel lost my reservation and she got me a new room in five minutes."
"Good," McMahon answered. "Have her forward all contact info to my office as soon as possible. I'll have the background check results by the end of the day tomorrow."
"Great," Randy said. "Thanks a lot Vince."
"I'm glad you finally found one that you seem happy about Randy. It does me no good to have an unhappy superstar. By the way, you said she's met some of the other guys?"
"Yea, she gets along well with them, even Taker."
"I don't think we'll have any problems then. Taker's a good judge of character. If he's alright with her, then I don't see any difficulties. I'll let you know about the check tomorrow. If she passes it'll be official. But for right now, she's unofficially your new manager."
"Thanks," Randy said as he hung up the phone. He turned back to Kat.
"I guess that went well?" she asked, noting the grin on his face.
"He said he's going to have a background check run on you. And that he wants you to send all your contact info to his office. But the bottom line is, he agreed. You're my new manager."
"Awesome!" she said smiling. "Let me just send my info to him. He can't run a check on me without it." She quickly accessed a word program on her phone, and typed out all her info. She had Randy forward it to Mr. McMahon's office, and a minute later, she got a message saying that her info had been received by his secretary.
"Let's go downstairs and tell the guys," Randy said. "I'm sure they'll be as happy as I am."
"Hold it hot stuff," she said laughing. "I'm not going down there in a bathrobe."
"Sorry," he said with a laugh, sitting down on the bed to wait for her. "I forgot."
Kat took the bag with her clothes and shoes into the bathroom. She pulled on the dress and slipped on the shoes. She needed help with the dress though. She walked back out into the bedroom.
"Randy, can you please zip me up?" she asked walking over to him.
He stood up. "Sure." He zipped up her dress and she turned around.
"My turn," she said teasingly. "What do you think?"
He looked her over and smirked. "You're the one that's going to be tripping people. You look…wow."
She laughed. "Thanks. We can go now." The two went downstairs to the lobby. Ted, Cody and John were already there waiting.
They stood up when they saw Kat and Randy.
"Wow," John said looking at Kat. "That is some hell of a dress."
"You said it," Ted said.
"You look pretty," Cody said.
Kat smiled. "Thanks guys, you all look really nice too." All three were wearing button shirts with dark pants. They all looked very nice. Ted was wearing light grey, John was wearing blue, and Cody was wearing a black shirt with a green design.
A few minutes later Shawn came down. He was wearing a very light blue shirt. It brought out his eyes, Kat noticed.
"You look nice in that color Shawn," Kat said.
"Thanks doll," he said. "That dress is really something," he said looking at her.
She laughed and thanked him. A moment later Edge and Taker came down. Edge was wearing a black shirt with a red design, and Taker was wearing solid black.
"Hi all," Edge said coming over. He looked at Kat and whistled teasingly. "Very pretty."
She smiled. "Your shirt's pretty too. I like the red roses."
"I notice I'm the only one man enough to wear flowers," he said looking at the other guys.
"Man enough? You keep telling yourself that," Randy said with a grin.
Taker looked at Kat. "Isn't that the dress you saw last night?"
She nodded with a grin. "I got my credit cards back and I couldn't help it. I fell in love with it."
"I can see why," he said smiling at her and she smiled back.
"Alright everybody, let's go," John said.
Kat, Randy, and Shawn went with Mark. Kat sat next to Randy in the back again. "I'm gonna tell them over dinner," Randy whispered to her. "I can't wait to see their faces."
Kat grinned. "Me either."
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Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, and I hope you guys liked this chapter! {Kudos to all the readers who predicted this would happen ;-) } Happy New Year! =)