Dark Saviour

Chapter 8 - Lies and Deception

….

Jeff woke with a start as the sunlight hit his face. He squinted against the light and saw Matt moving away from the window. Moaning lightly, Jeff buried his face into the pillow, not wanting to get up just yet. He wanted to go back to his dream. Even though it had confused him, it had been a nice dream. If only he could remember what exactly happened in it.

"Hey, there sleepy head," Matt said, sitting next to Jeff. "I didn't hear you come in last night."

"Uh . . ." Jeff mumbled as he turned his head to look at Matt. "You were sleeping when I came in."

"If I knew that you were going to be down there that long I would have stayed with you."

If only you did, Jeff thought to himself. To Matt he said, "Like I said last night, if you had stayed down there, you would have fallen asleep on me."

"But still, to think that you were all alone down there. It just doesn't seem right."

"I wasn't alone," Jeff muttered bitterly, not realizing that he has said it out loud.

"Who was there with you?" Matt tilted his head slightly, a look of confusion on his face.

"Mark," Jeff answered automatically, mentally kicking himself for the slip.

"You mean he went back down to the bar?"

"Yeah, uh . . . he couldn't sleep. So, instead of keeping Glen awake all night he . . . he came back down to the bar," Jeff said as he shifted slightly so that he could sit up.

"Hmm. And here I always thought that Glen and Mark were heavy sleepers. I didn't think anything could keep them awake?"

"Well, Glen had fallen asleep but maybe it was fitful last night. Anyway, Mark decided not to disturb him too much so he came back downstairs," Jeff paused. "What's wrong?" he asked as Matt stared at him intently.

"Those the same clothes you wore yesterday?" Matt finally asked. "Didn't you get changed last night?"

"What?" Jeff looked down at his shirt. "I guess I forgot to get changed when I came up."

"Were you that hammered last night?"

"Didn't think so," Jeff shrugged, looking away. "Maybe I was just that tired. I really don't remember much from last night."

"But you would think that you would remember something."

"I vaguely remember coming into the room last night, but I was so tired that I guess I just crawled into bed."

"Well, at least it sounds like you got a good nights sleep," Matt said, getting up. "Which is a good thing since we have to go soon."

"Go where? We're not going to the mall again are we?"

"No," Matt chuckled. "We have to go to that meeting this morning, remember?"

"No."

"Well then, we have to go to a meeting in an hour."

"We do?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah, Vince wants to talk to all the Superstars and Diva's before tonight's show."

"Why?" Jeff asked, swinging his legs off the bed.

Matt shrugged. "How should I know? This is Vince remember, he doesn't tell anybody anything."

"That's true," Jeff nodded. "Guess that mean's no sleeping in today either."

Matt shook his head at his younger brother. "You and your sleep."

"There is nothing wrong with sleep."

Still shaking his head, Matt walked away. "Whatever. Go get dressed. I'm going to go take a shower."

Jeff grabbed a pillow and threw it at Matt. Unfortunately, Matt had closed the door to the bathroom, leaving the pillow to hit the door harmlessly. Sighing, Jeff ran his fingers through his hair before getting up to go get his duffel bag. After grabbing his bag, he started to walk back to the bed, but as his mind began to wonder, he stumbled on a discarded shoe, falling into the side of the bed.

"Ah, shit!" Jeff yelled, wincing as he felt a shooting stab of pain travel down his right leg.

"You okay in there?" Matt called from the bathroom.

"Yeah, I just stubbed my toe."

"Didn't break anything, did you?" Matt asked as he opened the door to look at his brother.

"No, I didn't break anything," Jeff rolled his eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"I didn't break your lamp, mother," Jeff replied sarcastically.

"Watch that tone there, mister," Matt joked, waving his finger at Jeff.

"Sorry, mother dear."

Matt laughed as he disappeared into the bathroom again. As soon Jeff heard the water turn on, he gingerly removed his pants to take a look at his leg. The entire top portion of his right leg was discoloured. He touched the bruise softly, biting his lip as he winced in pain. As he removed the rest of his clothing, he noticed a couple of other marks and bruises along his legs, arms and torso. Luckily, none hurt like the big one on his leg or the one that decorated his wrists. Jeff sighed as he once again looked at his body in the mirror.

This is going to be difficult to explain.

Jeff closed his eyes for a second before he getting dressed again. As soon as he was fully clothed, he crept over to the door. He could still hear the water running in the bathroom and Matt had started singing something that may have been an actual song. However, his pitch that morning was so bad, that it sounded more like a rodent getting caught in the blades of a lawn mower.

Or something getting caught in some kind of machinery, Jeff thought as he carefully opened the door and creped out into the hallway. He quickly made his way down the hall, coming to a stop at the last door. Holding his breath, he raised his hand to knock.

….

Undertaker was sleeping soundly when he was startled awake by a loud knocking at his door. He lay there for a few minutes, trying to decide whether to get up or not. By the time he decided to roll over and ignore whoever was at the door, they knocked again, a little more insistent. Taker sighed, closing his eyes. If I just ignore them, they'll go away.

Unfortunately for him, they didn't go away. The knocking got more persistent with each passing moment. Finally, Undertaker couldn't take the noise anymore and got up to go yell at the idiot on the other side. Opening the door, his scowl turned into a look of confusion as he saw the younger Hardy standing on the doorstep.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his brow rose in confusion.

"I was, uh, hoping I could talk to you," Jeff bit his lip nervously. "In private?"

This made Taker even more confused. "Why?"

"Please?" Jeff pleaded.

Undertaker merely nodded, walking back into the room. Jeff followed timidly, closing the door slowly behind him, throwing the room into complete darkness. Jeff stayed next to the door, unsure of where to move. He could barely make out the shape of the big man moving toward the opposite side of the room. Jeff had to shield his eyes as the light suddenly poured in from the now open window.

"Damn it! Why do people keep doing that?" Jeff snapped.

"Would you rather live your life in the dark?"

"No," Jeff replied calmly, rubbing his temple and his head throbbed. "It's just that, that's the second time that's happened to me today."

Taker nodded, moving to sit in one of the chairs. He motioned for Jeff to take the other. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Where's Glen?" Jeff asked as he took the chair opposite of Taker's.

"You mean to say, that you woke me up at," Taker glanced at the clock. "9:30 in the morning to ask where Glen is?" Taker said, giving the younger Hardy a strange look.

"No, I . . . I wanted to ask you a favour."

"And what would that be?"

"I . . . I need you to . . ."

"What is it?" Taker asked, watching the younger Hardy closely, his brow creased in concern.

"If Matt asks you about last night, could you tell him that you spent part of it talking with me down in the bar?" Jeff blurted out.

"What?" Undertaker asked in disbelief.

"Look. I told Matt that I stayed down in the bar talking to you last night."

"Now why would I go back down there?"

"Because you couldn't sleep last night," Jeff explained. "And you didn't want to keep Glen awake."

"Glen wasn't here last night," Undertaker said, leaning back in the chair.

"Well, Matt doesn't need to know that. Or, if he finds out that Glen wasn't there, then say that I must have misunderstood you."

"And how could you misunderstand something like that?"

"I don't know," Jeff said, searching for words. "I'm grasping at straws here, Mark. I need your help with this."

"And why do you need me to lie to Matt?" Undertaker asked, trying to understand what was going on.

"I . . ." Jeff paused, closing his eyes, he continued. "I can't tell you that. Please, can you do this one thing for me? I'll owe you big time."

"I don't want to come in between a brother thing," Taker shook his head.

"It's not a brother thing, Mark. It's . . ." Jeff paused again, biting his lip. "Look, it's something that deals with me and me alone. I just don't want Matt to know about it."

Undertaker watched Jeff silently for a few minutes. He could see the turmoil in the younger Hardy's eyes as they searched for an answer from Taker. Undertaker felt that the guy in front of him was in some sort of trouble, but just how much trouble, he didn't know. Nor did he even want to know.

"If I help you," Taker paused, trying to choose his words carefully. "How will this affect things?"

"It won't. If you do this for me, nothing will happen. If you don't, I . . . I don't know what will happen," Jeff sighed.

Taker watched Jeff's expression as he answered the question and he could see the turmoil, the defeat, wash over his features.

What the hell could make you so scared? Taker thought to himself.

Jeff turned away from Undertaker's intense gaze, suddenly feeling very foolish. It was only a couple years ago that he had managed to earn the Deadman's respect. Now, here he was, no more then six years later and he was taking a risk on losing the big guys respect. Damn it. Why did I have to go and say his name? There are hundreds of other names I could have mentioned. But no, I had to mention Mark's name. How stupid could I be?

"Okay."

Jeff looked up at Taker, not sure if he heard right. "What?"

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'll help you."

"You mean it?"

"If you keeping doubting me, I'll change my mind."

"No, no, no," Jeff stammered. "It's just that, I didn't expect that."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Taker said. "Calm down there, Hardy."

"Sorry," Jeff smiled. "But, you don't know how much this means to me."

"I think I have an idea," Undertaker rolled his eyes.

Jeff jumped up, looked like he was going to give Taker a big hug, then thought better of it and held his hand out to him instead. "I really appreciate it."

Undertaker looked at the outstretched hand for a second, before grabbing it in a firm handshake, sealing the deal. "Just don't make me regret it."

Jeff shook his head. "You won't, I promise. If anything happens and you end up regretting it, I give you full permission to beat me to a bloody pulp," he said as he let go of Taker's hand, still smiling brightly.

"I will hold you to that."

Jeff nodded. "And I'll expect you to."

"If that's all?"

"I will leave you alone now," Jeff said, inclining his head to the big guy. "Thanks again and I'll see you later, maybe."

Undertaker just watched as Jeff let himself out of the room, the door closing with a soft snap. Shaking his head, he got up and walked over to the window. He stared down at the street for a few seconds before closing the blinds, once more casting the room into darkness. With a sigh, he slid back into bed. Nestling under the blankets, Taker closed his eyes as he let out a slow breath. After a few minutes, Taker opened his eyes again, rolling over onto his back. Damn it. I can't sleep anymore. Damn that Hardy. Why couldn't he wait until a normal hour to come knocking on my door? Taker sighed, sitting up. I guess that means that I should get up and go to that stupid meeting. I was so hoping to sleep in today.

….

As Jeff closed the door behind him, he let out a huge sigh, thankful that the great weight that had been on his shoulders since waking up had disappeared. Leaning against the door, he couldn't help but smile. Things were going to be okay.

"Hey, Jeff. What are you doing down here?"

Jeff opened his eyes to see Jericho staring at him, a look of confusion on his face.

"Nothing," Jeff answered.

"I hardly believe that."

"Honestly, I'm not doing anything."

"Come on, Jeff. You're telling me that you are coming out of Mark's room for nothing?" Jericho smirked. "I don't think so."

"Think what you want," Jeff shrugged, turning to walk down the hall, but was stopped when Jericho grabbed a hold of Jeff's wrist.

"What are you hiding, Jeff?" Jericho asked in concern.

"I'm not hiding anything," Jeff replied, trying to hide the pain he felt as Jericho held onto his wrist. "I just had to ask Mark something."

"Like what?"

"Something personal," Jeff answered. "Why are you so curious?"

"I was just wondering if something was wrong, that's all?"

"Are you jealous or something?"

"What do I have to be jealous of? We're not together or anything and you're not with Mark," Jericho paused. "Or are you?"

"No, I'm not with Mark," Jeff smiled, shaking his head. "Not that it would be any of your business if I was or not."

"I . . ."

"Don't worry about it. I'm single and proud of it. I just had to talk to Mark about something, that's all," Jeff patted Jericho on the cheek. "There's no need to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous. I was only curious."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Right."

"I was."

"Sure, sure," Jeff said sarcastically.

"Hey, why would I be jealous? We both agreed that we would just be friends," Jericho said in his defense.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to bug you, which seems to be working."

Jericho punched Jeff playfully in the arm. "You always knew how to get under my skin."

"It's a gift," Jeff shrugged as he bit the inside of his cheek to keep his pain in check. "Anyway, what are you doing up so early?"

"I'm heading down to the conference room. Figured I would get to the meeting early."

"Right, because if you didn't, you'd be late."

"Exactly," Jericho nodded. "You going?"

"Yeah, so is Matt."

"Why Matt? Isn't he still out for a couple months?"

Jeff nodded. "Yeah, but he will be doing some work for the WWE. You know, visiting sick kids and making their wishes come true."

"Oh, yeah. Guess some of the other guys will be going to do that too."

"So, I guess instead of having multiple meetings, Vince wants everyone together and get it over with in one shot."

"Makes sense. Saves time and energy."

"Yeah."

"Well, then, see you down there," Jericho smiled, waving at Jeff as he walked down the hall. "Don't be late, or the Boogeyman will get you."

Jeff laughed as he waved at Jericho. As soon as Jericho was out of sight, Jeff's laugh turned into a sob as he hung his head.

Great, now what am I going to do? I can't let Jericho find out that I asked Mark to lie for me. Shit. Jeff leaned against the wall, his head in his hands. Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair before turning back toward the door behind him.

Jeff knocked softly before opening the door. "Mark? I need to ask you another favour."

….

When Jeff finally made it back to the hotel room, he saw that the room was empty. Looking around, he found no sign of Matt.

Must have gone down early. Jeff shrugged before flopping onto his bed.

He didn't need to be down there for another half hour, so he turned on the T.V. and surfed the channels. When he was considering turning off the T.V. since nothing was on, Matt walked through the door.

"There you are! I was looking everywhere for you!" Matt said as he closed the door behind him.

"Why were you looking for me?" Jeff asked, turning off the T.V.

"Why wouldn't I? I came out of the shower to find that you were gone!"

"You know, that sounds kind of wrong," Jeff joked.

"Don't you turn this into a joke, Jeff. You could have been hurt or lost, and you didn't have your phone with you."

"Or I could have been hungry."

"What?" Matt asked, not completely paying attention.

"You were listing all these negative things. I mean, come on. I know I'm crazy and all, but that doesn't mean I will get lost in a hotel. Give me a break."

"But what if?"

"What if? Is that all you can say? I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself," Jeff said, giving Matt the puppy dog eyes.

"Damn it," Matt growled. "How the hell can you do that?"

"Practice," Jeff replied sweetly, giving his innocent face.

"Oh, trying to get out of being in trouble are you?" Matt smirked as he jumped on the bed and started to tickle Jeff.

"No! Stop it!" Jeff laughed. "Rape!"

Matt sat back, stunned. "How could you say that?" he asked, trying to hold back his laughter.

But Jeff wasn't listening. He had curled up into a ball still yelling, "Rape! Abuse!"

Matt burst into laughter, unable to hold it back. Grabbing a pillow, he gave Jeff a good wallop with it. "There, now it's abuse."

Jeff smiled a second before grabbing a pillow of his own and hitting Matt with it. Matt, who hadn't been expecting the attack, was knocked off balance and fell off the bed. "Ha, pay backs a bitch, isn't it?" Jeff laughed.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," Matt said sarcastically as he sat up, leaning against the bed. "You are so going to pay for that."

Jeff stuck his tongue out at Matt.

"Be nice."

"I don't know how to. I must have missed that class."

"You're so strange," Matt said, patting Jeff on the leg as he got up. Jeff hissed in pain as he flinched away from Matt.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Matt asked.

"Nothing," Jeff smiled weakly, still feeling the pain shoot down his leg.

"No, something's wrong. You don't normally flinch like that," Matt said, looking at Jeff with concern.

"No, really, it's nothing. I just happened to run into a table last night and now I have a small bruise."

"Come on, let me see it."

"Matt, it's just a bruise, nothing more. It'll teach me to watch where I walk next time."

Matt looked at Jeff, his brow furrowed. "Jeff, depending on how bad it is . . ."

"I'll be fine."

"But what about your match tonight?"

"I'll be fine. I've gone into plenty of matches in worse shape then this," Jeff pointed out. "If it's too bad before the match, I'll take something."

"Jeff," Matt said, a hint of warning in his voice.

"Don't worry, it will only be one Motrin," Jeff replied. "I promise."

Matt looked at Jeff skeptically. "I guess I'm just going to have to trust you on that," he sighed.

"You can trust me."

"I know I can," Matt smiled. "Besides, I can get some of the other guys to watch you for me."

"Oh? Where are you going?"

"Vince called when you were gone. I'll be going on promotions until I'm medically cleared to compete again and when there is a place for me," Matt smiled.

"Oh. I see," Jeff said, feeling a little deflated. He had been hoping that Matt would have been able to stay close by. "At least they're giving you something to do. You won't be cooped up in a house all day."

"Yeah," Matt smirked. "Just think, you'll be free of my nagging until sometime around WrestleMania."

"Yes, I'm free!" Jeff said as he raised his arms in triumph, until he was hit in the middle by a pillow.

"Okay, okay, celebrate later. We've got to go to that meeting."

"Kill joy," Jeff joked, though his heart wasn't all in it. He had gotten used to Matt being around him constantly. Now he had to get used to being alone again.

"Oh, come on. It won't be that bad," Matt smiled, playfully punching Jeff in the arm.

Jeff smiled, thankful that he was able to keep from wincing again as Matt managed to find yet another bruise. At least I won't have to hide them from Matt after today. And then, maybe, I won't have to get Mark to lie for me anymore.

….

A/N: Well, I hoped you enjoyed the randomness.