Chapter 74:
"Dave?" Eve glanced away from the mirror where she had been touching up her lip-gloss. In twenty minutes, she'd accompany Dave to the ring where he'd face Chris Jericho in a steel cage with the title on the line since Chris had invoked his rematch clause.
Dave met Eve's gaze coolly from where he sat across the room, World Heavyweight title on the couch beside him. "Yeah?"
"I want to ask you something, and I'm not trying to be a bitch this time." Eve steeled herself and turned to fully face him. "Do you think in time, when you get over Haley, you'll ever want me?'
He didn't say anything for a long moment, just simply stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. It made her slightly anxious and she wondered if maybe she shouldn't have said anything.
"No." He said finally. "Don't get me wrong, Eve, you're a beautiful girl." He added when her expression fell. "And I'm sure there's a good person inside as well, but the thing is, I'm never going to get over Haley."
He said the last part with complete honesty, no hesitation whatsoever.
"I'm not quite sure what you expected, Eve, or why you want me." He continued. "The truth is that I'm not the guy for you, and no amount of scheming is going to change that. I fell for the girl from Boston with the huge heart and the sweetest smile. I never got my heart back and honestly, I don't want it back. I'm hers, Eve, and I always will be."
He let that sink in a moment, just as a knock sounded on his locker room door. "You're needed in the gorilla in ten minutes, Batista!"
Dave reached for his title and stood up. "There's our cue." He rolled his shoulders and headed for the door, mentally pumping himself up for the match ahead of him.
Meanwhile, Eve trailed behind him more slowly, her expression grim and her gaze unfocused.
The truth is that I'm not the guy for you. The words resounded in her head like a foreboding metronome. I'm hers, Eve, and I always will be.
It was all for nothing. The move to RAW, the Love Him or Leave Him match, getting Haley injured, joining forces with Randy, slipping Dave the aphrodisiac, breaking him and Haley up, all for nothing. Dave would never see her, absolutely refused to. Dave didn't want Eve and never would.
It was bitter pill to swallow. But hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
"Not good enough for you, Dave." Eve muttered as he moved ahead, his mind on the match. "I'll show you not good enough. You're going to regret not picking me. I'll make damn sure of it. You pissed off the wrong diva!"
~Legacy~
Curled up on the couch in the living room, Haley sat down in front of her television, rubbing her shoulder, which was slowly, but surely healing. She was just in time to catch the final match for that evening's RAW, which featured World Heavyweight Champion Batista vs Chris Jericho in a Steel Cage match for the title. And while it killed Haley to see Dave on television every Monday night knowing how everything had gone wrong for them, she was still internally rooting for him to be victorious tonight. Despite her broken heart, she still wanted the best for him.
"You know you're torturing yourself by watching this match, right?" A slow southern drawl commented as it's owner ambled into the room, popping the top off a beer. "We've already seen the rest of the show, we can shut it off now."
Haley glanced away from the screen where Chris Jericho was making his entrance to look at Jeff Hardy. "I want to watch it." She said quietly.
Jeff shrugged, sitting down beside her. "Never figured you as the martyr type."
"I never figured you'd wind up with someone like Maria, but there you go." She noticed the auburn haired Diva wasn't in sight. "Where is she, anyway?"
"Asleep, we've got an early flight tomorrow, so she wanted some shut eye." Jeff explained. "Besides, Maria's bright, bubbly and beautiful, why wouldn't I go for her?"
"I don't know, I always took you for wanting someone with more of an edge. Not that I dislike you and Maria together, I think it's great, it was just unexpected." She tried not to flinch as Saliva's opening guitar riffs sounded a familiar entrance theme and she turned her attention back to the program.
Dave came into view in his black trunks, World Heavyweight title over his shoulder. The sight of him made her heart lurch painfully in her chest. He was intense, focused and with eyes for no one but Chris Jericho. Eve Torres may have been steps behind him, but to him she didn't exist. Haley reluctantly felt love for him as he came down the ramp to empathic cheering.
"Are you okay?" Jeff asked gently. "I can change the channel." He offered, reaching forward for the remote.
"Don't." She said firmly. "I need to watch this. I need to see him. I don't care how wrong it is."
"You're allowed to miss him, Haley." He assured her, sitting back against the cushions. "You love him, it's only natural."
"I don't want to love him anymore." She admitted. "It hurts so much. I try to make it go away, but I just can't stop." Her eyes moistened as the bell rang and Batista charged at Jericho. "He's everything."
Jeff reached for her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I'm sorry, Haley. I hate to be a broken record here, but it's just going to take time."
"Time's not the issue. I'd be okay if it were just me I had to worry about but, all of you are here, keep coming here, to take care of me and I'm keeping you all from your own lives. I mean, look at Michelle and Candice, they rotate their off days so one of them is always here with me unless you or Kennedy are here. And Randy, he might as well have moved in." Haley ran a hand through her hair. "Dwayne certainly has."
"Haley, I'm going to be honest. I don't like the guy. Randy has done a lot of things to me, and to Matt that I'm not okay with. He may be on a so-called road to redemption right now, but there's blackness there inside him that will never truly go away. Knowing that, I don't and can't trust him." Jeff rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "However, I do know, that whatever good there is in him, it's connected to you. Despite all the bad he's done, I know that he loves you, as much as he is capable to love. Just, be careful with him okay? As much as he loves you, I worry about the blackness and you've been hurt enough."
Haley smiled ruefully; she'd forgotten how great a listener Jeff was and how honest he could be. "You don't have to worry Jeff. My heart," She gestured toward the television screen where Batista launched Jericho into the unforgiving side of the steel cage. "Is still right there and always will be. Sometimes I wish I could love Randy the way he wants me to, it would make things simpler. But they're not. Nothing's ever simple."
"It wouldn't be life if it were." Jeff chuckled dryly, playfully ruffling her hair. "You'll be all right, Haley. You may not feel it now, but you are strong. And you have people to help you, you don't have to go through this alone."
Haley exhaled and in doing so, felt some of the weight she'd been carrying fall off her shoulders. "Thank you." She said softly, inching closer to drop her head on Jeff's shoulder so they could watch the rest of the match in companionable silence.
Jeff smiled and lowered his head to let it rest on hers. Once upon a time, he would have loved to have Haley leaning against him in a more romantic sense. But now, he'd realized the connection they shared had always been meant to be platonic. Jeff was finding love in Maria, and though it seemed impossible, he still believed Haley was meant to be with Dave.
Suddenly, Haley stiffened and swore, sitting straight up again. "That bitch!" She snarled furiously, shoulders shaking with her anger.
Jeff had an expression of surprise on his face. Eve Torres had gotten involved in the match and while everyone had been expecting it to be for Batista's benefit, no one expected her to come to the aid of Chris Jericho. She had taken a steel chair the moment Chris Jericho had crawled over the top of the cage with Batista in hot pursuit. At the exact same time, Chris smashed Batista in the face with a piece of the cage; Eve had slammed the animal with the chair through the cage, right in the knees. Dave fell backwards onto the canvas, a bloody mess, and Chris landed outside the cage, the winner.
"Here is your winner, and the NEW World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Jericho."
Eve lifted Chris's arm victoriously, glaring triumphantly at Dave who remained in the cage, blood pouring down his face from his head wound. Chris was smirking as he was handed the belt, though he'd occasionally shoot Eve a look of confusion.
Meanwhile, Haley felt her heart ache for Dave, who seemed to finally be coming around with aid from the referee. Eve had made sure Dave lost his Championship and effectively turned on him by teaming with Jericho of all people.
"Did that really just happen?" Jeff asked, looking dumbfounded.
"Dave." Haley murmured. "Oh Dave." She shook her head in misery as the camera zoomed back in on his stunned, hurt and bloody face.
"He's still got his rematch clause." Jeff told her comfortingly. "He'll get it back. He's beaten Jericho before."
"I can't believe she just did that. What was the point? I thought she wanted Dave." Haley was at a loss for what happened onscreen.
"Yeah, but Dave doesn't want her."