Chapter 17

"Then what do lilacs and roses mean? Roses have all kinds of meaning, don't they?"

When he nodded, Rajani began kicking the carnations as well, gritting her teeth. Who the hell was doing this and why? It wasn't John, it wasn't Taker...was it Kane? Was Kane doing all of this? Is that why he cornered her and attacked her last night? Sitting on the bed, Rajani reached for the card on her pillow and opened the envelope it was in, taking a deep shaky breath. Even with a false name and direct orders of the hotel staff, whoever this was STILL found her room. He wasn't going to state the obvious and say that obviously someone was keeping some extremely close tabs on that. Rajani had registered under a false name, apparently that hadn't been a deterrent at all.

"What does it say?" Taker asked, walking over to stand behind her, reading over her shoulder. "JUST DAYS NOW." That wasn't good. "Come on." He ordered gruffly, pulling the card from her hand and tossing it back onto the bed. "You can come stay in my room and I'm going to go rip management a new asshole..."

"Wait a minute, what?" Rajani blinked when Taker practically yanked her out of the hotel room of carnations, dark eyes wide with both fear and confusion. She had no choice, Taker wasn't leaving her alone that much was obvious. "I'm not sure this is a good idea..."

She was shoved on an elevator and taken down a floor, the doors opening with a 'DING'. Before Rajani knew what was happening, she was in Taker's hotel suite. Looking around while he set the bags down, Rajani was guided over to sit on the bed. She grabbed his hand before he could walk away, swallowing hard and knew he was definitely going to find out about her throat eventually.

"Taker wait, I have to show you something..."

Folding his arms over his chest, Taker simply stared down at her. Watching as she rolled down the neck of her top, green eyes automatically narrowed in on the bruises. A full-fledged scowl on his face, he kneeled down in front of her and reached out to gently stroke his fingers along the marks.

"Who did it?" Taker demanded, his rather soft tone of voice at odds with the darkness clouding his features and the rage building in his eyes.

"You really don't know do you."

It wasn't a question. The look in Taker's eyes told her that he was completely clueless and the fire there told her he was livid. Rajani looked down away from him, tears stinging her eyes and began trembling as she pulled the turtleneck right back up to cover them.

"I can't tell you, it will only cause problems and there's enough of them right now. I'm not adding to it."

Now that didn't help his already raging temper. "Then why the hell did you show them to me, Rajani?" Taker demanded, not moving from his spot crouching directly in front of her. Large hands on her knees though he was mindful not to grip them tightly or squeeze, Taker was very aware of his own strength and how easy it would be to hurt her inadvertently. "And why would I know? What's this about? What's going on?" He felt like he was getting drawn into a mind game and that did NOT set well with him. Taker orchestrated mind games; he didn't play them.

"Because you won't believe me!" Rajani shouted back, ripping the rose clips out of her hair, blinking as a few tears slid down her cheeks. "I thought...he would've told you already. I thought you might've..."

She shook her head, Rajani wasn't making any sense and she knew it. The heat of his hands on her bare skin was enough to make her heady, but Rajani was too scared right now to think about that. Actually, she was making a lot of sense without even meaning too. What triggered the coherency was the 'I thought he would've told you already'. That right there told Taker someone he knew had done to this her. Someone who would obviously have no problem in sharing this information with him. Someone who had put his hands on her and wasn't ashamed of it.

"Who was it?" Taker demanded, his tone flat and lifeless, having already reached a conclusion, but wanted to hear it from her lips. "Say the name, Rajani."

"Kane." She whispered, knowing he'd figured it out and just needed it clarified, trembling so hard her teeth chattered. "Please don't say anything. If my brother finds out..." Rajani immediately covered her mouth with her hand, knowing she had DEFINITELY said too much. "I have to go." Pulling away from him, or trying to, Taker had a grip on her knees that refused to let her move. "I'm sorry, I appreciate your help, but...I can handle this. I'll go to another hotel and..." Rajani couldn't stop crying, opening up several cans of worms with this man and she didn't understand why he was so trustworthy.

Kane. Glen fucking Jacobs. Taker knew he hurt her with the iron grip he now had on her struggling form, but for the life of him he couldn't let go. Finally, he managed to relax his hold and, when she stood up to bolt, Taker placed his palm on the flat of her stomach and pushed, sending her backwards onto the bed.

"You are not going anywhere." He commanded slowly, standing to his full height, green eyes seething. "You're going to tell me everythin' that motherfucker did to you."

Rajani's eyes were shot open, swallowing incredibly hard at the look in Taker's acid filled orbs. It was frightening how pissed off this man was. He looked like he was ready to kill someone.

"T-That's it..." Rajani stammered out, telling the complete truth and scooted back on the bed away from him because was terrifying her right now. "His forearm did it, I mouthed off to him about attacking Beth, because I know for a fact he did it and Beth is one of my best friends, and he didn't like it so he slammed me back against the wall and his forearm pressed against my throat. He didn't hit me or anything. I tried fighting him off, but...he was too strong..." Her back hit the headboard, Rajani hadn't even felt herself moving backwards, her eyes locked on Taker. "I...I think he might be the one doing the secret admirer thing..."

Taker ran a hand through his loose hair, still staring down at her, fighting to control his temper, which was dangerously close to breaking through. Just her body language was enough to tell him she was scared out of her mind. Never mind the fact that her eyes were filling with tears and she had literally hauled her ass as far away from him as the bed would allow. If Taker lost it right now, Rajani would try running out of this room like some madwoman. Cursing, he turned around, presenting her with his back and clenched his fists at his sides, forcing himself to take several deep breaths.

"I'll handle him." Taker said finally, through gritted teeth.

"W-What do you mean?" Rajani demanded, standing up from the bed and slowly walking toward him. "Taker, you two are friends and this really has nothing to do with you. This has to do with the fact that for some sick reason I am on Kane's radar and..." Suddenly, it hit Rajani like a ton of a bricks and she had to sit down because her breath was stolen away. "Cena..." She looked up at Taker with wide dark eyes, not believing she hadn't seen it sooner. "He thinks there's something going on between me and Cena. Think about it, they've been feuding since Kane's return and Beth is both mine and Eve's friend. I can't explain Phil's attack, but something is telling me that he's doing all of this. I'm on his radar because of Cena, I guarantee it. And for the record, there is nothing going on between me and Cena. I can't be involved with anyone in this company."

"First of all, I don't give a flying fuck if you are or are not involved with Cena on any level. Secondly, worrying about being involved with anyone in the company at this exact moment in time is really...pointless."

Taker knew he sounded like a snarky prick at the moment, but this was all a lot to take in, especially considering that psychopath was also his best friend. He turned around, looking down at her. A moment later, Taker was on the bed beside her, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his hair hanging down in his face.

"Third, you have no say in whether or not this concerns me. But...it does make sense. This isn't about you so much as him getting to Cena through you..." Taker groaned, wondering what the hell Kane was even thinking. "You sure there's nothing between the two of you?"

"I'm positive. I've turned him down at every turn every time he's asked me out. So why Kane thinks there's something between us..." Rajani suddenly groaned, putting her head in her hands, feeling a headache coming on. "Getting to Cena through me...He knows on some level Cena wants me, which means on some level Cena maybe...cares about me..." John actually loved her and Rajani still hadn't gotten to the bottom of that, it all just made her head hurt more. "And even if I wanted to be with him, which I don't, it can't happen." Rajani slowly looked up and brushed some of Taker's hair out of his face, frowning. "Why do you want to be involved in this? What's in it for you? You don't seem like the hero type, but then again what the hell do I know?"

"I'm not the hero type, so don't ever think that one again." Taker growled, catching her hand in his. "But I'm not goin' to sit by and watch one of my coworkers get her ass kicked either, especially not by a guy I call my best friend. I don't give a fuck about his little issues with Cena or whether or not Cena has the hots for you or vice versa. I care about the fact that it is totally fuckin' up the WWE and puttin' people in the damn hospital...or sending them to the insane asylum." Some of that may have been bullshit or at least, not completely true because he did care, but...Taker was a bit frustrated and angry at the moment. "And you keep talkin' about not being able to be involved, or things not happenin'. Explain."

"Remember my big brother who called earlier in the day?" Rajani hoped she was doing the right thing by telling Taker this and it wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass later on. "You know him. Everyone knows him. He's one of the biggest entities in this company and he's coming back in a few weeks for WrestleMania." Rajani took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "Please don't tell anyone this. Stephanie and Paul know who he is, but nobody else does. My name is Rajani Johnson..." She watched his green eyes slowly narrow, chewing her bottom lip. "I'm Dwayne Johnson's little sister. The Rock's sister."

For some stupid reason, that didn't surprise him as much as it probably should have and Taker attributed it to the fact that he had way to much information sprung on him tonight. It did make sense though. The big brother. From Miami, her exotic looks.

"And you're worried Rocky will what? Defend your honor? Which he should, he's family. Or are you afraid Kane will hurt him too?" Taker shook his head, this woman was keeping WAY too many secrets. "You need to tell Stephanie what's going on with Kane, because eventually she's going to find out and probably not in a way anyone is going to like...not that'll it matter after I'm done kickin' Glen's ass..."

"I'm not talking about Kane right now. Just think about it!" Rajani stood up from the bed and began pacing back and forth, chewing on her acrylic thumbnail. "Cena and Dwayne HATE each other. They can't stand each other. Cena hates him because he left the company for Hollywood and Dwayne hates him because of Cena's image. Do you have any idea what would happen if I was stuck in the middle of that situation? I know for a fact, with how Cena has been around here lately, he will use whatever means necessary to get one up on my brother. That's if he doesn't already know. Hell, maybe he figured it out and that's why he's been pursuing me. I have no idea, don't really care. And as for telling Stephanie, that's not happening either. I'm not starting more problems, I'm not going to cause her more stress than what she already has. So forget it, Cena already tried telling me to do it and I'm not. It may be a stupid decision, but it's better than everyone finding out about it and I KNOW how fast shit spreads around here. You can't keep anything secret around here unless you do it VERY carefully, which is why the only people that knew who I really was when I took the internship are the McMahons and Paul."

"Rajani, if you don't speak up then he's going to keep doing this and I don't frankly care about Cena or your brother to be honest. If Cena actually cares about you, he'd put that shit aside and the same goes for Rocky." Providing there was anything left to go after on Kane when he was done. When she opened her mouth to start protesting again, Taker held up a hand. "Fine, have it your way then. But I'm tellin' you, when Stephanie finds out about this, and she WILL eventually-" Though not from him since Taker was going to be an idiot and keep his mouth shut. "She's not going to take kindly to you hidin' it." Now...how best to handle his good buddy Kane... "You're stayin' here tonight, by the way." Taker added as an afterthought. "So you might as well get comfortable."

The tone of Taker's voice told Rajani she had no choice in the matter, nodding. "I'll think about telling Stephanie." She said, needing to mull things over in her head and reached down to take her shoes off, tossing them in the corner so neither tripped over them.

Rajani had no idea what was going on between her and Taker, not sure if it was friendship or if he was just being nice to her because she was part of the company. She didn't know and was too tired to analyze it, knowing she was safe with Taker. Beginning pulling off the tan thigh highs she wore, Rajani yawned loudly and tossed them on top of her bag.