Chapter 19
Steve looked at the arena, across from it in the parking lot and glanced back at Jaxine, smiling when her silver wedding ring flashed at him. The simple cut diamond sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight. "You ready for this, honey?" He asked, taking her hand and raising it to his mouth, kissing her ring finger, smiling at her.
She smiled back at him with love shining in her eyes, nodding, wearing a light blue denim skirt that went two inches above her knees with an Austin 3:16 tank top that was blue and black mix, the lettering white. Her black hair was pulled up in a ponytail, a few tendrils framing her face delicately with white tennis shoes on. She entwined her fingers with his and reached up, kissing his lips softly.
"I love you. Lead the way sweetie."
Nodding, he got out of the truck, smiling when she scooted across the seat and lifted her down, kissing her gently before setting her feet on the pavement. "I love you too, honey." He said, threading his fingers with hers, his bag -championship belt tucked inside of it- over his shoulder and led the way across the street. Three days off, he'd recovered nicely and with Jaxine there beside him, they had been the best three days ever spent.
Jaxine took a deep breath as she slid her blue sunglasses on top of her head, a smile on her face before walking inside the arena with Steve right by her side. As they walked, everyone began greeting them and noticing the big rock on her left ring finger. Jaxine giggled as she showed it off to Teri and Tori, who was currently dating Kane, knowing she would tell him the happy news. "Wow, everyone missed you." She nudged her fiancé, who just groaned as he kept his arm protectively around her shoulders.
"I'm a popular guy, what can I say?" He chuckled, unable to resist showing off his future bride-to-be. He called for Mick and Dwayne to come over, showing her ring off to them as well.
"You lucky dog." Dwayne teased, lightly punching Steve on the shoulder.
Mick just beamed at them both, his smile at odds with his wild appearance. "I hope you two are very-" He trailed off, looking over them.
"Mick, are you alright?" Jaxine asked softly, seeing the color drain out of his face and that familiar scent entered her nostrils as she turned around, confirming it as those acid green eyes pierced hers. She felt Steve put her behind him, her hands resting on his shoulders, biting her bottom lip. The rock on her finger reflected off the fluorescent lighting and shined in his eyes, but Jaxine was too worried about what Undertaker was going to do. She was prepared to step in front of Steve if necessary.
He stared at them malevolently, eyes lingering on the ring before slowly raising them up to lock eyes with her, completely ignoring Austin. "Congratulations, pet." He said darkly, holding up a hand when the Ministry appeared behind him. "We're not fighting, gentlemen. We're just offering best wishes to the happy couple. I gather this means you'll no longer be coming to my room after hours, Jaxine?"
"You son of a bitch!"
"Steve, relax." She stated gently, but firmly, slowly walking to step in front of him, smiling as his arms wrapped around her waist while staring back at this evil monster. "You can say all the lies you want, Undertaker, because it doesn't matter. You told me to choose and I did." She held the ring up right in his face, her eyes flashing almost wickedly. "This is something you will never have because I don't love you. I love Steve and I'm going to marry him and have his children and take care of him. That is also something you will never have. So make all the idle threats you want and say whatever you want because Steve knows the truth. I told him everything that happened between us, which was a lousy kiss. That's it. Now if you'll excuse us, we have more IMPORTANT business to attend too." Her voice was like warm honey as she leaned back against her fiancé, rubbing the back of his neck to soothe him, her eyes never leaving Undertaker's.
He arched an eyebrow slowly. "Woman, do I look like the kind of man who wants marriage and children?" He asked, sounding disgusted. "I told you to choose between us, that wasn't an offer for marriage."
Steve's blue eyes narrowed. "What the hell do you mean choose?" He spat. "There was never any choice."
"Oh, really?" His own eyes lit up in malicious amusement. "If Kane hadn't interfered, your lovely little fiancée would have gone to bed with me that night you saw fit to 'rescue' her. The interesting part is that she didn't even want to be rescued."
She could not believe the words that were coming out of his mouth and slowly shook her head, knowing Steve would be questioning her about that. She hadn't told him EVERYTHING apparently, completely forgetting that, and swallowed hard. "The only reason I would've slept with you is so you wouldn't rape me." She stated coldly, causing the Ministry to physically cringe, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "The ONLY reason why I kissed you back is so you wouldn't physically hurt me, nothing more nothing less. And actually, you're pretty deluded if you think I want to be with a miserable, vicious, cold hearted bastard instead of this man standing behind me. I made my choice, Undertaker. There's nothing you can say or do to change my mind either."
He wasn't phased a bit, just studied her like she was something he'd discovered in the toilet bowl. "Don't flatter yourself, pet. I don't need to resort to rape. Especially when the woman in question is defending ME to MYSELF. You're not a bad person, Undertaker. How can you be so cold and cruel if you're trying to protect me?" He mimicked viciously, seeing her face flush. "That's what I thought too."
The echoing sound of a hand slapping flesh echoed throughout the arena as Jaxine slapped the Undertaker as hard as she could, his head whipping to the side, feeling Steve hold her back with widened blue eyes. "Go ahead, I dare you to strike me mother fucker." Her amber eyes flashed at him angrily, trembling as the rage completely consumed her, the red handprint on his face a nice fit for him. "I was wrong about everything regarding you, EVERYTHING!!" She seen Kane walk up to stand by her side, the tears rushing down her face like two rapid streams. "Kane..." She stepped back when he stepped in front of her, immediately turning and fleeing down the hallway.
"Stay away from her!" Steve snarled, turning and chasing after her.
Kane turned to stare at his brother, head tilting to the side, his eyes asking the question.
"Don't tell me you honestly thought I'd let her make the wrong choice now did you?"
When Kane went to attack, Dwayne and Mick held him back, neither man wanting to see Kane get pounded by the Ministry.
Jaxine found Steve's dressing room and ran inside of it, collapsing on the couch on her stomach, burying her face in her arms, crying her heart and soul out. She felt a hand on her back and slowly looked up through swollen eyes, immediately throwing her arms around his neck. "I didn't mean to do it!! I really didn't!! I'm sorry!!" She cried out harder, knowing Steve probably despised her now and began trembling from head to toe.
"What the hell are you talkin' bout, woman?" He demanded, pushing the tendrils of her hair out of her wet face, staring down at her. "What he said? You think I'm goin' to believe a word that comes out of that lyin' bastard's mouth?" He snorted. "This is the Undertaker we're talkin' bout, Jaxine. Master of mind games. He was talkin' shit trying to trip us up. We both know the truth. Right?"
She slowly pulled away from him and stood up, raking a hand through her hair, having taken it out of the ponytail, swallowing hard. "Steve, that night when you and Kane rescued me, Undertaker did kiss me." She dropped her head, closing her eyes. "I don't know what would've happened had Kane not shown up when he did, but it happened. Then he cornered me at the arena those few days later and demanded that I make a choice between him and you. At the time, I knew I had already fallen in love with you, but Undertaker and I also have this...bond..." She rubbed the back of her neck, touching her scar, and slowly turned around to face him. "There's something I want to show you, that you need to know if you still want to marry me." The tears kept falling as she slowly turned around and moved her hair from her neck, swallowing hard. "What does that look like to you?"
Frowning, he peered down at her neck, reaching out to touch the scar. "It looks like a burn scar." He said at first, his eyes taking in the shape. "It also looks like...Did he do this to you, Jaxine?" He demanded, spinning her around by the arms. "Honey, if he-" He stopped when she started shaking her head. "I don't understand, baby. If he didn't do this, then how did you get it?"
"My father." She whispered, barely able to be heard, slowly turning around and wrapped her arms around herself.
Jaxine proceeded to go into the whole story about from the time she was six, when she first got the scar, to when she was seventeen and fleeing for her life. How her father raped her and called her Satan's whore, how he'd been a bible thumping, church worshipping bastard who beat his child for not giving into his religion and his way. Every bad thing that happened to her in her childhood she told him. It took nearly an hour and when she was done, Jaxine was slumped against the couch, bent over, crying her heart and soul out.
"'Taker thinks we're meant to be together because of my scar. I admit it's coincidental, but there's no way I could be destined to be with that cold hearted bastard."
Steve was in shock, he didn't even know what to say. What could he say? Finally he just dropped down onto the couch, tugging her down with him. "Damn honey, I'm sorry that you had to live through somethin' like that." He whispered, his heart breaking for her. "Coincidence..." He snorted. "Only 'Taker could take somethin' morbid like that and turn it into a soul searchin' experience."
Jaxine laughed in spite of her tears, nodding at him and cupped his face in her hands, staring into his blue eyes. "I love you and I swear to you on my life that I never slept with him. I didn't sleep with him and I haven't gone to his room like he's told you, Steve. I've tried staying away from him because every time we are together, he torments me, making me think he's going to change and then becomes that evil bastard. You're right; he's the master of mind games." She sniffled, slowly pulling back and looked down at her lap. "I'll understand if you don't want to marry a damaged woman like me..." She said that quietly, already taking the ring off.
He grabbed her hands to stop her, shaking his head. "Yer not damaged and don't ever let me catch ya saying it again." He said evenly, sliding the ring back into its proper place. "You're an incredibly strong woman who's been through more shit in your life then most people would even dream about. I love you, Jaxine and nothing's goin' to change that, understand?"
She nodded with tears spilling down her cheeks and kissed his lips before hugging him tightly around the neck, closing her eyes, thanking the stars above that he believed and trusted in her. She'd been completely honest with him and nothing Undertaker said was going to destroy their relationship. "I will always be honest with you in everything, Steve. I promise. I love you and I want you, not him." She meant it too and held him tighter, smiling when his arms tightened slightly, knowing he understood what she meant. "Okay enough of this." She pulled back, wiping her tears away, smiling at him. "We're supposed to be happy and damn it, we're going to be!" She kissed his lips before walking into the bathroom to fix her eyeliner.
Steve shook his head, watching over the back of the couch as she fixed her make-up, unable to comprehend women. One minute she was weeping like a willow all over him, the next she was fussing over her damn make-up. He just shook his head again. "Want a beer?" He offered, suddenly needing one. That had been a lot of information to digest.
Jaxine was one of those people who always bounced back from things, no matter how bad they were, and walked back out of the bathroom, looking as if she hadn't been crying. Her eyes sparkled down at him and kissed his lips softly, taking water instead. "You know I can't stand beer." She chuckled before walking over to sit on the couch, crossing one leg over the other, and unscrewed the cap just a knock sounded at Steve's dressing room door.
"This had better be good!" Steve roared, draining half the beer before getting up to answer the door. He frowned when he seen a delivery boy standing there, shaking in his boots. "What?"
"F-for, Mr. Austin." He held out a card.
Grunting, Steve opened the card, reading it.
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
She's thinking of me when she's fucking you.
He folded it in half and stuck it in his back pocket, finishing the beer and cracking his neck.
"What's that?" She asked, seeing him tuck a piece of paper in his pocket and sighed when he just waved it off. Having a feeling it had something to do with the Undertaker; Jaxine leaned back against the couch, pulling out her notebook from her bag, deciding to jot some thoughts down. She suddenly didn't want to do that and pulled out wedding magazines, a grin on her face. She couldn't wait to be married to Steve and sighed as she stared at the beautiful dresses, pursing her lips together, popping her foot up and down as she flipped through the pages.
He seen what she was looking at and grinned, pleased to see Jaxine was bouncing back and obviously still ready to marry him. He understood she thought she had felt something for the Undertaker. It was too plain that 'Taker had somehow implanted those feelings into her. Steve didn't blame her. She didn't know any better. He slipped into the bathroom to change into his wrestling trunks, coming out, adjusting the band.
"I need to go see the trainer about my new knee brace, you gonna be alright or do ya want to come?" He asked gruffly, that card message still in his mind.
"I'll be fine." She smiled up at him and winked, laughing softly when he kissed her lips. "Have fun." She giggled when he snorted and watched him walk out of the door before tossing the wedding magazine on the ground, flipping through another one. She needed the perfect gown, her amber eyes scanning. Jaxine started writing down a list, the caterer, what type of food they could and would eat, band or a DJ, whatever Steve wanted…things of that sort. She smirked and suddenly pulled out a booklet of honeymoon spots.