Chapter 22

"That's it. I quit." Jeff said jumping out of the ring.

"All ready?" Jessica asked.

"We've been in there for hours. Besides, I'm hungry. So how about you come out and make me something to eat?"

"How about you go in and make me something to eat?" She said getting out of the ring.

"Come on woman, earn your keep."

"Oh yea?" She jumped on his back. He held on and they went inside with Matt following them. Jessica jumped down when they got into the kitchen. "Okay let's see what's in here." She said rummaging through the kitchen to figure out what to make.

"I'm gonna call Shannon and see where they are. They should have been here by now." Matt went to the phone and saw that they had missed a call. Before he got a chance to push the button, he heard a knock at the door.

"Hey, let us in!" Shannon yelled from outside.

"It's about time you guys got here." Matt said and opened the door.

"We had to make sure we brought supplies." Shane Helms said as he came in with a case of beer.

"Yea, I was brought up to never go to anyone's house without a gift." Shannon said.

"Put it in the fridge. Jess and Jeff are in there." Matt said.

"Hey guys!" Jessica said as they came in. "Dinner's almost ready."

"God, I've missed your cooking." Shannon said and went to taste the food.

"Hey." She said and slapped his hand. "Wait till it's all done." Shannon shrugged and went and got a beer,

"So what are we doing tonight? Anyone up for a bar run?" He asked opening the beer.

"No way man. I promised Vince we would not go out. So you're just gonna have to get drunk here." Matt told him. "Shane come give me a hand with something." Matt gestured for him to follow and they headed to the living room.

"What's up?" Shane asked when they were alone.

"Listen, I know Shannon can't control himself but do me a favor? Go light on the beer, okay. I think some of us should have a straight head tonight just in case."

"Yea, no problem. Do you think anything's gonna happen?"

"I don't know but so far he hasn't let a day go by. I just want to be careful, you know?"

"Got it. I'll even try to get Shannon to cut back a bit."

"Thanks."

"So how's everyone handling it?"

"Well you know Jess, she blocks it out and Jeff he's just happy to have her back again."

"Wait, they got back together again?" Shane asked. "Do you think that's wise?"

"I don't know. I'm not gonna get in their way but I just hope they're careful. Whoever this guy is, he is seriously obsessed with Jessica."

"And that doesn't bode well for Jeff."

"You saw our match last night. This guy does not want Jeff in the picture."

"Matt, maybe he just meant it as a warning; you know to scare him off. From what you've said, this guy has never actually touched anyone before. Maybe he didn't think anyone would get really hurt."

"I don't think so. I know he's never physically hurt anyone before but don't forget Jeff and Jessica broke up. We don't know what he would have done if they had stayed together or what he would have done if Jess hadn't tried to kill herself."

"I still can't believe she did that." Shane said. "He must have done some job on her."

"Yea, he did." Matt agreed.

"Hey Dinner's ready." Jessica called out and they went back to everyone. "Everyone help themselves. They all filled up their plates and headed back to the living room to eat in front of the TV. Everything was peaceful then the phone rang. Matt reached for it.

"Everyone looks cozy, too cozy." The voice said and then hung up. Jeff stiffened when he saw the look on his brother's face. He dropped his plate spilling some of the food on the floor.

"Shit. Sorry, Honey can you get me a towel or something to clean this up?" Jeff asked her.

"Sure." Jessica said unaware of what was going on.

"What'd he say?" He asked after she left.

"He said we all looked cozy, too cozy."

"Wait? He can see us?" Shannon asked. The boys all went to the windows and looked outside.

"I don't see anything. Maybe he's just wants us to think he's nearby." Shane said.

"I don't think so." Jeff said as he shut the blinds.

"So what do we do?" Shannon asked.

"This was all I could find." Jessica entered the room with a roll of paper towels. She looked around and saw that everyone was standing. Matt was at the door, peering out a window. "What's going on? Why are the blinds closed?" She asked but everyone looked away.

"Jess come sit down." Jeff took her hand, pulling her towards the couch.

"He's out there?" She asked as Jeff put one arm around her.

"We don't know."

"That phone call," She looked to Matt, "That was him wasn't it?" Matt nodded to her and came closer to the couch.

"He was just trying to scare us." He told her.

"What did he say?"

"Just that everyone looked cozy but I'm sure he was just saying it." Matt said trying to reassure her.

"Yea or maybe he was just talking about the picture." Shannon said.

"What picture?" She looked to Jeff.

"There was a picture that someone took of us kissing last night. It got posted on some site."

"So he knows?"

"Most likely." Jeff told her

"Did you look outside?"

"We looked out the window, but didn't see anything." Matt said.

"Yea, don't worry. There's nobody out there. He's just trying to scare people." Shane said.

"Then why did you close the blinds?" She asked and no one answered.

"Maybe we should call the cops." Jeff started. "Just to make everyone feel better." Matt nodded to him and went to the phone. That's when he remembered that he had a message. Jessica saw the flashing light on the answering machine.

"Play it." She said.

"Honey, maybe we should" Jeff started to say.

"Matt, play it." She ordered and Matt pressed the button.

"I'm not happy. Jess, how could you? Didn't you understand last night? I warned you. He can't protect you, you know. No one can."

Nobody said anything, as Jeff could feel Jessica start to tremble. He pulled her closer. "Matt, call the cops, now." Matt dialed the police, as Shannon and Shane went back to the window and looked out.

"I still don't see anything." Shane said. All of the sudden, there was a burst of sound coming from their backyard.

"Shannon, get Jessica upstairs." Jeff ordered as he and Matt ran to the back.

"Come on Jess." Shannon said but Jessica followed Jeff. When they all got out back, they could see the ring engulfed in flames. Matt quickly ran for the hose, as the others tried to put out the flames.

"Jess! Get back inside!" Jeff ordered but she couldn't move. "Get her in!" Shannon turned from the flames and dragged her inside.

"Sit." He said as he sat her on the couch. He then went to the phone to dial the fire department. He could hear them yelling out back trying to stop the fire from spreading.

"Shannon, go help them." Jessica's voice said softly.

"No, I'm gonna stay right here with you." He went over to her.

"Please, you can't let him destroy everything." She pleaded with him. "I won't go anywhere, I promise." He heard Matt yelling.

"Okay, come with me." He took her to the bathroom and after checking to make sure the window is locked he turned to her. "I want you to lock this door as soon as I shut it and don't open it till we come get you. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"All right lock it." Shannon shut the door and then checked to make sure she locked it. He ran to the kitchen, filled up some pots with water and ran out to help. Eventually they heard sirens and saw flashing light. Shane ran around to the front to direct the firemen. They came around and quickly had the fire out. Jeff looked around at the smoky remains and saw Shannon.

"What the hell!" He ran charging into the house. "Jess? Jess?"

"She's in the bathroom. I told her to lock the door." Shannon told him.

"Jess, honey. It's okay. You can come out." Jeff said to the door but got no response. He turned the door handle but it was still locked. He knocked on the door. "Jess?" She still didn't respond. He threw himself against the door trying to force it open. It didn't budge. Matt came over to give him a hand. They hurled themselves against the door until it finally came crashing down with them. Jeff looked up and he saw Jessica cowering in the bathtub. She had her arms wrapped around her and her head tucked in. She didn't even look up at the commotion.

"Jess." He said gently but all she did was rock back and forth. He gently touched her shoulder. "Honey. It's okay."

"We need some help in here!" Matt called out.

"No, it's okay. She's just spooked out." He raised her head until she looked at him. "Baby, it's okay. We're all right. Let's get you out." He lifted her up and carried her out of the bathroom. He saw a fireman come over to them.

"She's okay." He said to him and placed her on the couch. "Baby, look at me. Don't do this. Don't shut down, please. We're all here and we're okay. Come on." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. She started to cry and wrapped her arms around him.

"Why is he doing this?" She said and Jeff just hugged her.

"It'll be okay." He said soothingly to her. Jeff looked around and saw Matt, Shane, and Shannon all talking to the cops, but looking to Jess intently.

"Mam, maybe you could let us take you to the hospital, just to check you out." The fireman said to them.

"No. I'm not going back to the hospital." She looked to Jeff. "Please."

"She's gonna be all right."

"She's in shock." He said to him.

"I'm okay." The fireman glanced down at her and noticed the scars on her arm.

"I think she should come down to the hospital." Jessica finally looked up to him and realized what he was staring at.

"No. I'm okay." She said pulling her sleeves down. "I'm sorry. I just freaked out for a second."

"You sure, you're okay?" He asked her.

"Yea." She pulled Jeff's arms around her closer and the fireman walked away.

"I'm sorry." She said to Jeff.

"Ssh. It's okay. Don't worry about it." He said. He looked to the door and saw his dad come in.

"Is everyone okay?" Gil said as he surveyed the situation.

"Yea Pop, we're fine. Thanks for coming." Matt said.

"What happened?" He asked as a cop came over to them.

"Okay who's the homeowner?" He said and Matt raised his hand.

"What exactly was that?" He asked.

"It was a wrestling ring."

"Well, we're waiting on the fire inspector for confirmation, but we're fairly sure that this was arson. We're gonna be gathering samples and doing our investigation. We are also going to need to talk with each of you." Matt nodded to him as the cops spread out to take their statements. Two officers came over to Jeff and Jessica.

"We'd like to speak to everyone alone." One of them said. Jeff felt Jessica squeeze his arm.

"I'm not leaving her." He told them. "So you'll have to talk to us both, or come back tomorrow after she's okay."

"We just need to ask a few questions. Then we'll leave you both alone." The officer looked down at her. "I promise. He'll never leave your sight."

"But I didn't see anything." She said. "I hid in the bathroom."

"Then we won't be long." He said to her. "Please?" She paused then eventually nodded. The cop looked at Jeff.

"I'll be right over there." Jeff said and pointed to the other side of the room. He squeezed her hand one more time then backed away never taking his eyes off her.

"Okay, why don't you tell me what happened?" The officer said to her.

"Uhm. We heard an explosion and when we looked in the back the ring was on fire."

"Is there anyone who would want to do this?"

"Yea." He looked to her to expand. "I don't know who he is. There's this guy, who been threatening me, actually us."

"A stalker? Have you filed any complaints?"

"Yes in the state of New York, and Connecticut." He wrote something down in his notepad and then looked back up to her.

"Did you see anything suspicious before the fire?"

"I didn't see anything. We'd gotten a phone call from him and he had left a message at some point. The next thing I know there was the explosion and then I hid in the bathroom."

"Okay. We're going to put a trace on the calls you received and we'll have a patrol car remain outside to keep an eye on everything. Don't worry, you'll be safe." He reassured her. Jeff came over as he walked away.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked her.

"No, I'm fine." She said as Gil came over.

"How ya holding up, kiddo?" He asked her concerned.

"I'm okay." She said.

"Maybe you need to get some rest." Jeff told her.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep." She told him.

"I'll be right back." Gil said then went to go talk to one of the paramedics. Jeff sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.

"We'll be okay." He said. All she did was nod. Gil came back with a cup of water.

"Here." He said and handed her the water and a pill. "It's a sleeping pill."

"How'd you get it?" Jeff asked.

"I know one of the EMT's. Take it honey, you need to rest and you'll feel better in the morning. Doctor's orders." He smiled at her. She took the pill and swallowed it.

"I just wish this would stop" She said.

"I know. So do I." Jeff said. "Just lay back." She lay back on Jeff and he wrapped his arms around her. "Try to get some sleep." Eventually the sleeping pill took effect and he felt Jessica fall asleep. After awhile the cops left and all of the guys gathered around in the living room.

"You headed to bed?" Matt asked his brother.

"I'll sleep here. I don't want to wake her."

In the end they all decided to stay in the living room, and after Matt passed out the blankets, they all went to sleep without saying another word.