I still haven't decided if the proverbial sht it going to hit the fan at the end of this chapter or the next one. I still had a few things I wanted to cover before the mystery man puts his plan into action but I've whittled them down a little so as to get to the action faster but I'm still not sure. I'm just going to start typing and we'll see how it goes. So, when you read this chapter, you'll know I'll be just as surprised at the end of it as you guys! :)

Chapter 9

Randy wasn't sure why the hell he was trying to do this. Well, he did know really because Callie was John's little sister and if someone was going to send her weird notes then they should at least know who it is. He did have to admit that nothing new had popped up since that one time but you could never be too careful. Even if they didn't decide to confront the person who had sent it Randy would feel better at least knowing who to watch out for. He had been sitting at his table signing autographs, posing for pictures and chatting with fans for the past three hours and he was actually starting to lose some steam. He'd wanted to tryt to be keeping an eye on some of the other guys' signatures to see if the handwriting might at least resemble the kind on the note but he'd been too busy trying to keep focused on the fans as well and they deserved that at least. Jeff had been down with the idea once he'd learned about what had been left on Randy's hotel room door a while back but he wasn't so keen on Callie not knowing about it. When Jeff had voiced his opinion on the matter Randy had flashbacked to when Dave had told John he would be leaving the company and they had both tried to convince him to go ahead and tell her. Little did he know that while he was filling Jeff in on yet another secret that Callie didn't know about, she had been at the arena confronting both Dave and her brother.

Finally their lunch break had come and as Randy stood up from his chair a little girl bounded up to the table with a picture in his hand. She couldn't have been more than seven and her looks were so outrageous and so adorable at the same time he found it easy to ignore the rumbling in his stomach and stay to sign her picture. She had bright pink hair done up in pigtails and had been covered from her chest to her legs in temporary tattoos. Following right behind her was her mother who also had dyed hair and was covered in real tattoos. They were such a pair that Randy found himself staying longer than he meant to, talking with the little girl about her favorite wrestlers and how she had gotten to come to the meet and greet. When they had finally left and he checked his watch lunch was almost half over. He didn't even think to check the messages on his cell phone in his sudden quest for lunch.

...

Callie had no idea where she was going. She'd stormed out of the arena, gotten into her car and just started driving. She'd ended up down by Collins Street and didn't even know why. It was in the opposite direction of her house and there wasn't much to do down this way unless you were grocery shopping or wanted to hit up the dollar store. She'd pulled over into the parking lot of one of the local corner stores so she didn't have to drive while she was on her phone. Arlington was full of them. They didn't even sell gas, just lots of alcohol. After shutting down the engine she had pulled out her cell phone and tried calling both Jeff and Punk but they both probably had their phones off; Jeff busy with his company duties and Punk most likely still too enthralled with the girl he'd met last night. After leaving them both messages to call her she'd texted Randy. She knew he was busier than Jeff since his match this Wrestlemania was a turning point in his career so she didn't call him directly. As much as she wanted to talk to him he had a habit of forgetting to turn his phone off and she didn't want to get him into trouble by hanving it ring at an inopportune time.

After staring at the sterring wheel for what seemed like forever, she finally made a decision. Fuck it, She thought to herself. Callie quickly sent a text to Jeff telling him she wasn't going to be working today and she'd meet them all back at the house tonight whenever they got done. Then she exited the car and headed into the corner store. When she was growing up and even after she'd been out on her own she'd never been one to wallow in her troubles. But tonight she felt different. Tonight, for the first time in her life, Callie was going to sit at home and drown her troubles in alcohol and be damned anyone who wanted to say anything about it.

Callie came back out ten minutes later carrying a six pack and and a bottle of Jack, loaded them into the backseat and headed home. She'd contemplated sending messages to Dave telling him she didn't want him visiting her house right now and John to say she'd have Jeff bring him his things later whenever he got a hotel room but thought the better of it. The more she tried to push them both away, the more they would try to be near her to apologize. That wasn't what she wanted right now. A good stiff drink and a hot bath was in order and she had a nice empty house in which to enjoy it. She hit interstate 30 and headed for home.

...

The atmosphere in the arena was quickly turning for the worse. After Callie's rampage at Dave and subsequent arguement with John, it had seemed the entire building was on edge. The loud pounding and growls coming from Dave's dressing room weren't helping the situation. In fact, poor Tim Bakers, one of the technicians that had been in the room when Cal had barged in looked like he was about to run like a scared little boy at the commotion that could be heard through the dressing room door. It sounded like an wild animal had been let loose in a room full of breakable objects.

On the other side of the door Dave was almost as angry as Callie had been earlier but it was an inward anger. He was more mad at himself than anything. On on hand, he should have told her about his plans much sooner, he wasn't denying that. He'd royally fucked up. But how in the hell could he have told her he was in love with her? He hadn't meant to say it at all and he'd gotten so riled up it had just happened. It wasn't a lie by any means. David had been in love with her for months but he'd never voiced it before. Their relationship was at a good place and they had both been happy with it. At least up until Dave had realized his feelings for Callie. He'd wanted more after that but had worried the thought of such a commitment would scare her off, especially considering how little they got to be together anyway. Dave had been willing to hide his feelings if it meant being able to keep what little he had with her now. But dammit, then he had to go a fuck it up. He growled out loud again at his own stupidity and punched yet another hole in the wall beside the dressing room door.

...

On his side of the arena, John had turned off the tv and sat in quiet contemplation in the empty room, his head in his hands. How did he turn into this person? He wasn't supposed to be the person that CC was mad at...ever. Wasn't he the one who had worked so hard to earn her trust and love all that time ago? Hadn't he promised her that he would never do anything that would hurt her? Well, all of that could be thrown out the window now. He had known from the start that Callie should have been warned of Dave's impending departure as soon as possible so she could have adjusted to the idea. She had had so little in her life that had been stable that John knew she didn't like sudden surprises. Well, surprises like these anyway. Eventually she might have gotten over it but she had always needed time to adjust. And John knew that most of this was his fault and not Dave's. Sure, Dave had asked him not to tell her yet and that it would have been better had she heard it from his own lips but John didn't have to agree. Even if he had he should have broken his promise and told her anyway. All he had done now was give her a reason not to trust him, which was another one of those promises he had made when they had started getting close. How was he going o fix this?

...

Callie sunk down lower into the tub and sighed at the warm water flowing over her. One of her favorite things about her master bathroom was the garden tub. It didn't have any jets or anything but with all the extra space Callie felt like she could almost go swimming in it. It was set right up against bay windows looking out into the backyard. Living in her small, rundown apartment that had been one of the things that she had alwasy seen on television and dreamed about having one day. A large tub with huge windows that looked out into a beautiful backyard garden. Well, she didn't have the garden yet, only her little yard, but she'd been on the road for so long that she hadn't time to make any of the remodels that she had been planning on. Outside the sun was beginning to set and the light was dimming.

Callie had come home and thrown her own little fit while no one else was there. Nothing too major. She'd thrown most of her clothes out of her closet and all around her room and her bed was completely messed up. It wasn't quite the fit she'd wanted to throw but growing up poor Callie didn't have the heart to do any actual damage to her personal belongings or her home. The next best thing was throwing around all of the things that she couldn't actually break. Afterwards she'd had herself a good cry and then, almost magically, she'd felt better. Not completely better, of course, but enough to feel like she could actually function somewhat normally. Not really feeling like making herself a late lunch she'd settled for cracking open a beer and planting herself in front of the tv. The news actually hadn't been so bad until they started talking about the big upcoming events with the WWE and showing snippets of some interviews from earlier this morning with some of the superstars. When John's short interview had come up he was as captivating to the audience as always. He answered all the questions thrown at him with a witty confidence. But he didn't quite look like himself. Callie thought he almost looked sad even though she was sure no one else would see it. Just seconds after finding herself feeling sorry for him the old anger came rushing back. Of course he should look like he felt bad. He had every reason to feel lilke shit. He'd basically lied to her by pretending everything was okay and that his little sister wasn't going to get her heart broken...

That very thought had caused Callie to stop and look at herself in an almost out-of-body sort of way. Get her heart broken? But she and Dave weren't really together. They were only having some fun while they could and enjoying their friendship in the process. How could feelings possibly be involved? Then she flashed back to what Dave had said; had practically screamed. He loved her. And just maybe the whole reason that confession had really pissed her off was because...maybe...just maybe, she loved him too. The realization was like a punch in the gut and Cal had no intention of sitting around long enough for it to really sink in. She didn't want to think right now. She wanted to just forget it and worry about it later. Right now all she wanted was to be at peace for just a little while. Callie had grabbed the bottle of whiskey and shot glass and made her way up to run her bath.

And there she had been for the past two hours, running new water when the old had gotten too cool for comfort. 2 beers and 5 shots of whiskey later and she had managed to finally get back into a good mood. The warm water, the sun setting outside. It was so damn peaceful she'd nearly forgotten about all of the events of the day and was mentally planning new ways of scaring the crap out of Jeff until her landline rang, suddenly slicing throught the thick silence she'd allowed herself to sink into. Not wanting to leave the sanctuary of her newly warmed bath she let it ring. The machine in her bedroom picked up and she heard Punk's voice coming through the speakers.

"Hey Cal, we got your message from earlier. Everything okay? We thought we'd all go out and grab some dinner before heading back to the house. Let us know if you want us to pick you up anything..."

"HI CALLIE!" Came a piercing yell from the background.

Punk laughed a little. "Jeff says hi babe! Anyway, let us know what's up. You sounded kind of off in your message earlier. Later babe!"

The machine clicked off and Cal was in silence once more. But dammit now she couldn't enjoy it as much. She might have wanted John to feel as bad as he should but the alcohol was working on her and she actually did feel bad knowing that Jeff and Punk were worried about her. She reached over the side of the tub and dried her hands on the towel before grabbing her cell phone off of the floor beside it. She quickly typed in a message to Punk that she was fine and they didn't need to being her back anything for dinner. She'd tell them about it all later and they should have a good time. Almost immediately she got a smiley face in return.

Not she felt better. She hoped John was going out with them so she wouldn't have to deal with him alone. Without the others here as a buffer then he would probably want to try to talk about what happened and she wadn't ready for that yet. She wasn't ready to forgive him. She downed another shot before pulling the plug on the drain and carefully climbing out. Maybe getting lost in a book would help. Hell, with the whiskey in her system anything would be interesting right about now.

It wasn't until a few minutes later, after she had dried off and begun pulling on her clothes that she heard the door open and close downstairs. She'd already wiggled into her pajama pants and her bra. Thinking that the guys had changed their minds about going out and come back anyway, she quickly pulled on a tight tanktop and ran her fingers through her wet hair before flicking off the light and heading out through the bedroom and into the upstairs hallway. "Hey guys!" She called out, trying not to sound totally buzzed. Thankfully she wasn't drunk yet but she was well on her way. When Callie didn't get an answer she tried calling out again with no luck.

It was then that she was struck with the realization that the house was still way too quiet. Normally when the guys walked in her door, especially Jeff and Punk, they were boisterous and noisy. She should be hearing them talking about what they did at the convention center today and Matt should be jingling jars and bottles around while rummaging through her fridge. But it was stone silent. What should have been her first clue that something was amiss was clouded over by the whiskey and she managed to halfway convince herself that she had imagined the noise. Maybe she should head to the kitchen and rummage through the fridge herself so she could soak up some of the liquor in ther stomach. Probably a good idea.

Carefully she made her way down the stairs, making sure to keep her footing. She hadn't thought to turn on any lights downstairs before her bath and without the sun filtering through the windows it was completely dark. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs she flicked the switch at the bottom to turn on the living room light. All was in place and the front door was still locked so maybe she really had imagined it all.

Turning to her right to head towards the kitchen Callie flipped another switch on the wall to turn on the three pendant lights over the breakfast bar and stopped dead in her tracks. Standing there in front of her stove was a large, hulking figure. Too tall and bulky to be any of the men taking up residence in her home at the moment. After a split second of confusion and fear it dawned on her that she knew this man. His dark hair and trim, muscular figure. The dark eyes and crooked grin looking dangerous in the dim light. The same man who had lost his title to John just a little over a month ago and who had proceeded to hit on her backstage afterwards. Callie breathed in in a gasp as the terror suddenly overwhelmed her. Her heart pounded and she couldn't breathe. This man was not supposed to be in her house. His grin widened into a devilish smirk that send more jolts of fear racing through her body.

When she finally could speak, it was little more than a whisper. "What are you doing here?" The words seemed deafening in the silence.

He was so calm, so collected and looked so damn smug. "You owe me a date, Love. And that brother of yours owes me a title belt."

Even as angry as she was at him, the last sane thought that ran through Callie's mind was a silent screaming thought for John to come save her. Very nearly willing him to hear her thoughts wherever he was and keep this man away from her before she felt her entire body hitting the tiled floor, the wind being knocked out of her. She heard the sickening thud of her head pounding on the floor and then there was nothing but black.