Chapter One
"Denise! Let's go!" Dad called from downstairs. "We've got to be at the airport in an hour!"
I went through my bag again, double checking that I had all my meds. Then I checked to see that I had all my clothes and toiletries. We were gonna be gone for a few months. When I was sure, I closed my suitcase and started dragging it down the hall.
"Denise if you don't get down here you'll be grounded!" Dad called upstairs.
"Funny! How are you gonna ground me in a hotel? Come up here and help me with my suitcase and we can get out of here sooner!" I shouted downstairs.
I heard Dad coming up the stairs and he saw me pulling my suitcase behind me. He picked it up and made a disapproving face at me. I'm not supposed to move things that heavy. It's too much of a strain on my weak heart. Oh well. I'm not gonna live forever anyway.
Dad went downstairs and I followed him slowly. I was used to things being just me and him. Mom sees me sometimes, but for the most part, she kept her distance. I don't know if she can't deal with a sick kid who's gonna die or if she feels like maybe she's responsible somehow for the fact that I'm gonna die young, but she split years ago. Since then, I travel the world with Dad, get homeschooled by private tutors, and hang out with the Superstars and Divas of the WWE, where my dad works.
We get in the car and Dad puts on the radio as we make our way to the airport. I stay quiet. My fourteenth birthday is coming up. I'm curious about what Dad is planning. He never tells me, but he goes all out every year because we never know which birthday will be my last. It's been five years since he found out that my heart was failing and so far we'd been lucky, but how long would our luck hold out?
After reaching the airport and a long flight, we get off the plane in Tokyo, Japan. We go through customs and meet up with Paul, my father's best friend, and his wife, the boss' daughter, Stephanie McMahon. While Dad is getting our baggage, I run up and into Paul's arms.
"Paul!" I said as he caught me.
"Hey, Kiddo!" he said as he kissed my cheek and hugged me. "How was your flight?"
"Boring. You know Dad snores," I said laughing.
"Like a Mack truck. Ear plugs are a blessing." Paul said laughing back.
We left the airport and went to the hotel. After we settled in, I found out what room my friend was in and ran down to her room. My friend Cassie, while she was only ten, was the best friend I had on the road. Her father was Mark Calaway, aka The Undertaker, and her mom wasn't really in her life either so we really got each other… Especially since both of our fathers were seriously overprotective of us.
When I got to the door I knocked and waited. Mark opened the door.
"Hey, Mark. Can Cassie come with me to hang out down in the hotel pool?" I asked.
"Will it just be the two of you, Denise?" he asked.
"Yeah. All of you have things to do to get ready for tonight."
"Are you going anywhere else?" Mark asked me.
"I promise we won't leave the hotel, Mark."
"Fine. She can meet you at your room in ten minutes. She needs to get ready."
"That's fine. I need to grab a few things anyway."
I ran back to my room and told my dad I was going to the pool. I changed into my swimsuit after arguing with him that I was not going to sit around the hotel room reading until he came back. When Cassie came to the room, I grabbed my things and ran out.
"Are we really going to the hotel pool, Denise?" she asked me.
"At least for now," I said giving her a devilish grin.
My father was one of the founding members of D-Generation X. You don't grow up with Shawn Michaels and not learn how to get into trouble. Cassie didn't mind coming along for the ride. She felt her dad was way too strict on her, so she liked coming with me on my adventures.
We hung out at the hotel pool for about an hour. I got bored. We went back to our hotel rooms, changed and went to the hotel restaurant to eat. After we ate, I decided to call up one of the wrestlers I knew wouldn't mind blowing off a bunch of meetings.
Jeff picked us up at the hotel and took us sightseeing. I knew I'd be in trouble with both my dad and Cassie's when we got back, but since Stephanie was the one running this tour, she'd excuse Jeff because I called him. I got a lot of special treatment like that in the WWE. All the Superstars were friends, big brothers, uncles, or fathers. All the Divas were big sisters and friends. The only people who really didn't give me special treatment were Vince McMahon himself and those closest to him. Everyone else treated me more like an adult than a 13 year old because I was dying.
By the time we got back to the hotel, I had put red streaks in my hair and Cassie had a second set of piercings in her ears. Jeff was always a lot of fun to hang out with. He didn't even mind when I flirted with guys in front of him. My father would have blown a fuse.
Just like I thought, Mark threw a fit when he saw Cassie pierced her ears again.
"You promised you were staying in the hotel, Denise!"
"We did… Until I got bored."
"You had no right to take her on the streets of Tokyo without an adult and without my permission!"
"We were supervised and we didn't get into any trouble. Relax, Mark. It's not like she got a tattoo or anything. She just got a second piercing in her ears. It's cute."
"Who took the two of you out?!"
"Don't worry about it. We were supervised and we're back safe, isn't that all that matters? Shouldn't she be allowed to live a little?"
At those words, Mark shut up. It worked like a charm. He gave me a look that told me that it was a low blow and I went back to my room.
"Denise, why do you keep doing these things?" Dad asked me.
"Why not, Dad? I wanna live as much as I can while I still can."
"But you're taking Cassie with you. Mark doesn't like that."
"She's ten years old. I'm the only one who even comes close to understanding her around here. He needs to stop trying to lock her up. One of these days, she's gonna come to hate him and he's gonna lose her. Then he'll be sorry."
"He's still her father."
"But life is for living, Dad. He just wants her to stay in the hotel room or at his side. That's not living."
Three Weeks Later:
We were in London for my fourteenth birthday. Dad rented this hall and we had a huge WWE bash. He even invited some local indie wrestlers to the party so there would be younger guys there. It was amazing. He spared no expense, but it wasn't one of those parties where you had to be all dressed up. I was there in a pair of black jeans and a blue halter top. My long blonde hair was cascading down my back.
I was having a great time at the party. Cassie stayed close to me so her father didn't try to keep her at his side, so she was having a good time too. She was dancing with wrestlers who were twice her age who had very sexy accents. I was happy for her. I had never seen her smile so much in one night.
The night was going great. After a while, Cassie and I lost track of each other among all the guests at the party, but I was fairly certain that she still wasn't with her father. I met this guy named Mitchell, an indie wrestler from Dublin. He had the same accent as one of my adopted fathers, Dave who was known as Finlay within the WWE.
"So, lass, ya wanna try some whiskey?" he asked me.
I knew I shouldn't be drinking with a heart condition, but I didn't care. I lived every moment as if it were my last, even if I knew I would get in trouble for it later. So I tried the whiskey. The night took on a different edge. Not that I ever really held back from what I wanted to do, but I really let loose after I started drinking with Mitchell.
Somehow, I wound up in Mitchell's hotel room, naked. Most girls would freak out about it. I didn't because that wasn't my biggest problem. It had been more than 24 hours since I had my heart medications and my chest was hurting.
"Mitchell," I said shaking him awake, looking around for my clothes.
"Hmmm," he grumbled.
"Mitchell," I said a little louder, finding my clothes and trying to get them on.
He finally woke up and realized what was going on. He helped me get my clothes on and dropped me at the local hospital. I had them call my father. He showed up twenty minutes later.
"I've been worried about you all night," he started. "Are you drunk?"
"Hung over, I think… And my chest hurts," I told him.
They ran a bunch of tests on me and called my cardiologist back in the States. After adjusting my medications, telling me no more drinking, and to rest for a few days, they released me to my father. They told him he was lucky that someone dropped me off as quickly as they had, otherwise the whole situation could have been much worse.
Dad got me back to the hotel and didn't know whether to be worried, relieved, or pissed. He went with a combination, even though he could never hold onto pissed off with me.
"What the hell happened last night?" he demanded.
"I tried whiskey with one of the indie wrestlers. Apparently I wound up back in his hotel room."
"WHAT?!"
"Oh relax, Dad. We both know I'm not gonna make it to the legal age of consent in any state or country. Does it really matter if I was drinking and had a one night stand with someone? I thought the real concern was the incident with my heart?"
"Why were you drinking, Denise?"
"I wanted to. I'd never tried it, so when he asked me if I wanted to, I figured why not? It's not like I have much to lose, Dad."
"But with your heart and your medications, things could have been very bad."
"I know. When I woke up, I wasn't feeling well. He helped me get dressed and dropped me at the hospital."
"He didn't even bother to stay with you."
"So you could kill him? Can you blame him?"
"Do you even know his name?"
"Yes. But I'm not giving it to you."
"You're impossible, Denise. Go to sleep. You need the rest. And you're not leaving this hotel room today. When I go to the arena, I'm having Finlay come stay with you and Cassie here. She's freaking out about you, too, you know. She's kept Mark up all night."
"Whatever, Dad. I'm tired anyway."
I slept until Finlay showed up with Cassie. When they came over, Cassie wanted to know what happened and I told her everything. She couldn't believe I had sex with someone. Finlay didn't like overhearing that someone from his hometown had touched me. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he hunted Mitchell down and introduced him to his shillelagh. Don't get me wrong, Finlay portrayed a heel on-screen, but he's such a sweet man to me.
"How much trouble are you in with your father?" Cassie asked me.
"I'm not allowed to leave the hotel room tonight. That's why you and Finlay are here. Like I'm up to going anywhere today anyway. I'm exhausted and still kinda weak."
"Maybe ya shouldn'ta been drinkin' and partyin' all night," Finlay called from the living room of the hotel room.
"It was worth the life experience!" I called back.
Cassie giggled. She couldn't believe the way I talked back to all the adults around me, including her father. With me, she did things that she would never do with anyone else, like the second piercing or hanging out with Jeff Hardy. Her father would never let her hang out with Jeff. Even though he's really cool, Mark thinks Jeff is off his rocker, which he is, and therefore would never let Cassie around him. Cassie hasn't found the courage at her young age to stand up to her father.
"Ya not gonna have many more of them life experiences if ya da kills ya!" Finlay called back.
Cassie and I got up and went out to Finlay.
"You know he's not gonna kill me," I said to him. "I know he worries about me, but he wants me to live and have as many life experiences as I can before I die."
"I don't think he meant tha one, Lass," Finlay said.
"Maybe not, but it's done. Can't change it."
We sat down with Finlay and played cards for a while. He ordered dinner for us and before we ate, he made sure I took all of my heart meds. After dinner, the three of us watched a movie and Cassie and I both fell asleep on Finlay's shoulders.