Chapter 30
Once she arrived, Emery stopped at the sight of Mark sitting up in bed with a stern look on his face. "I know I left without telling you, but…I had to go talk to Paul alone about this situation. Him and Randy, actually. And I need to talk to you. This can't wait, so if you're going to yell at me for leaving without letting you know what was going on, hold it in. You're gonna be screaming at me for a different reason in a few minutes…"
Sighing, Mark leaned back against the headboard, folding his hands behind his head as he took her in. She had been crying. Her eyes were red and watery, her face was splotchy… he had a feeling he was about to be very upset with her.
"Fine, Emery." He said quietly, wishing the feeling of dread in his gut would go away. "Let's hear it." A very large part of him strongly wished he didn't have to hear anything, honestly. "Blow your nose first." Maybe a strong drink was in order. She was sniffling.
Walking into the bathroom, Emery took several deep breaths and blew her nose as told, trying to keep the tears at bay. This was her fault – all of it, even if she was doing her job. There were lines that shouldn't have been crossed and she did…on a whole new level. It was time to come clean about all of it, every single thing. And if she died today, at least she would pass on with a guilt-free conscience. Being murdered by the man she was in love with…it could be worse. She exited the bathroom a few minutes later with tissue in hand and couldn't look at him, slowly settling down on the bed on the edge.
"You asked me if anything else regarding your storylines came to mind…and I told you no. I lied to you about that. There were a few that popped in my head, but one stands out the most. And I know David and his accomplice will use it against me, so I'm coming clean about everything I did to your character…to you." Another deep breath was taken in. "When you asked me that, the first storyline that popped in my head was…the one with your ex-wife, Sara. The stalking angle with Diamond Dallas Page…was my idea."
From there, she told him everything she'd told Paul and Randy, keeping her voice low and calm, but the tears flowed silently down her cheeks. She also included catching Sara and DDP in the act at the arena during the angle, not hiding anything from Mark anymore. Mark had been right, a drink was definitely needed and he rolled right out of bed, heading for the dry bar, eyeballing the contents. All tiny ass shot sized bottles. He began opening and shooting them, knowing if he looked at her right now, he'd strangle her.
"Why bother mentioning Sara cheating?" Mark wondered what the purpose of that was. "I knew, Emery." Of course he had known, he was the Undertaker. "Do you think it lessens your crimes?" He remembered that fight with Vince, how he had pleaded, threatened… begged his boss not to do that line. It was stupid and he wasn't one to involve his personal life like that. "I asked you, a couple times, if there was anything else… and yet, you keep lying to me." His voice had dropped to a harsh whisper.
Closing her eyes, Emery shook her head at his first question. Of course it didn't lessen her crimes toward him. "That's why I told you I was only saying sorry once. And you accepted it. But after talking to Randy and Paul, they convinced me it was better the truth comes from me, out of my mouth, then any more of those damn videos. And Sara's infidelity, I mentioned it because I didn't know if you knew or not. When I found them together, I immediately regretted that storyline, but by then, it was too late to cancel it. It was halfway through the storyline, there was no way Vince would cancel it on a whim." Clenching her hands together, Emery could feel his anger and didn't dare look up at him, taking a deep breath. "It was also my idea to bring her back on television in 2002 when you were going against Brock Lesnar for the championship…when she was pregnant. Which I didn't know about until the segment was filmed. Vince didn't tell me about that or I never would've given him the idea in the first place. The Tracy angle with you being accused of cheating on Sara…that was also my idea. Lesnar didn't want to do it, but Paul Heyman and Vince really liked it, so they pushed it through. I – I don't know if it lead to your divorce from her, but…I know it couldn't have helped matters either."
Her stupid little comment about saying sorry once and him accepting it was probably not a very good remark on her end. "You manipulative little bitch!" He roared, whirling to glare at her, noting she was looking everywhere except at him. "You said you were sorry and I accepted it, do you think that is a pass!? That it magically makes it so I forgive you for continuously lying to me, Emery?! You also told me you didn't remember everything, so this all tells me you're nothing but a manipulative liar!" All the rest didn't really matter, he had connected the dots very quickly. "WHY do you keep LYING?"
"I'm NOT lying to you! This is the truth! The cold, hard truth! All of it, laid out for you! I didn't tell you right away because, honestly, you scared the hell out of me the last time we were in Sedona! I'm not manipulative and I'm not a bitch! I did my fucking JOB! I did what I was hired to do and that was create storylines for the company!" Emery shouted, defending herself because, when it came down to it, it was her job. "I did cross lines, yes I fucking did. And I'm paying for it now. But THE BOSS is the one who pushed all of these ideas, NOT ME! All I did was come up with them, Calaway! I'm not solely responsible for everything that happened to you – VINCE IS! Blame him! I just gave him the reigns and he took them and did what the fuck he wanted like he always does! Do you think Steve Austin appreciated the fact I came up with the idea to turn him heel at WrestleMania 17? Or the Rock Concert back in 2004 where he was heel?" There'd been a short period where she'd worked for both Raw and Smackdown! because the brand split had everyone stressed out in the writing team, so Vince had to take time to create Raw's own writing team. "Or how about GTV? Or even your match against Kane at Unforgiven 1998? You remember that, right? The ring surrounded by fire, the Inferno match, you absolutely hated and despised, was MY idea too! I'm standing here, telling you the truth, like you wanted and you STILL call me a liar? FUCK YOU! You can take this line and everything else and shove it up your ass along with your goddamn career! I am DONE! Do this line without me, I really don't care if you and Batista kill each other at this point! And yeah, the only thing I can say after all of this is I'm sorry. There's nothing more I can do or say because WHAT'S DONE IS DONE! You can't change the past and neither can I! Just like I can't change the fact that I-" Emery stopped herself, refusing to admit what she was about to because it wouldn't do any good. "Go ahead and quit because you manipulated me into this. By threatening Vince to quit your job, you manipulated me ten times the amount of times you were manipulated by my storylines. And you can't deny that. And just so you know, Matthew is the one behind the videotapes, I'm 99% of it. You probably don't care about that though considering he's targeting me, not you."
"Your problem, Emery," He said slowly, softly, never a very good sign. "Is that you stand here defending yourself against everything you imagine I'm pissed off about, when it comes down simply to this: I ASKED you and you knew and you still lied. You even apologized in advance, which should have probably been a tell." Mark shook his head, swiping all the empty shot bottles off the counter, more pissed than buzzed. "Even at the end of your little 'I'm just doing my job' shit, you're still manipulative, telling me I've done worse than your lines. Well, congrats, you've got me beat."
He would never trust a woman ever again. Mark had just had his heart broken for the last time and that was what pissed him off. He cared, loved, this woman and all she did was lie out of fear.
"So that's what you're pissed about? The fact I didn't tell you right away what I did remember, what did pop into my head? Are you serious?" He was, he was actually livid with her over the fact she had taken some time to sort through all of her own emotions and thoughts before coming clean to him. "You know, instead of being pissed at me, you should be a little more lenient, considering I did come to you and told you this face to face instead of finding out on one of those damn videos from Batista and Matthew. Did it ever occur to you that I've been going through one hell of a time lately, Mark? After Sedona's blowout, here we are again. I had to mull over everything after I was outed and yeah, when you asked me if I remembered, I did lie to you because I wasn't ready to come clean about everything yet. I have that fucking right to hesitate after you PUT A FUCKING SLEEPER HOLD ON ME AND KIDNAPPED ME FROM MY PARENTS HOUSE AFTER DRUGGING THEM!" This is exactly what Batista and Matthew wanted, for them to be at each other's throats. There was no need to use videos when they were doing it to themselves! "I can't do this anymore. I can't…I can't keep apologizing and paying for what I did, for doing a job I was hired to do."
Emery grabbed her bag and began packing her things away, shaking her head repeatedly, knowing what she had to do. She was leaving the company and he would never see her again. Sedona would be a memory, she was disappearing off the face of the earth after this. Opening her mouth was the worst mistake she could've made because, at the end of the day, it didn't make a damn difference.
"You wouldn't have to keep apologizing if you'd just tell the truth when you're told and quit falling back on 'it's my job'." He mockingly whined at her. "Grow a fucking spine and admit you were wrong. You played GOD Emery, you and Vince, and I should've set your fucking house on fire when I was considering it because anything would better than this." Mark could deal with her fear of him; he deserved it and had apologized for it, tempted to do it all over again. "I love you, but that is definitely not enough Emery, not ever."
She froze when those words came out of his mouth, her eyes snapping open while she stared down at her bag and could feel her heart shattering in her chest for a completely different reason. He loved her? "I've already apologized to you and admitted I was wrong. I told you I was wrong about WrestleMania and I was wrong for lying to you about my position in the company. It's not enough for you though. It's never going to be enough, just like you said. No matter what I say or do – no matter if I stand here and tell you I've fallen in love with you, it's not gonna be enough and I'm done trying. I'm done trying to make up for what I did. I'm just done." Zipping her bag up, shaking like a leaf, Emery couldn't look at him as she tossed the bag over her shoulder along with her laptop, knowing she could bunk with Paul tonight and book the first flight to Sedona.
Her first phone call would be to Vince to put her resignation in.
"Try to avoid lying to the next man you love." He informed her, grabbing his own belongings.
Never mix business with pleasure because of situations right here. They were the shining example of that rule, not the exception. Mark didn't bother vowing to not put hands on his next woman because, he seriously doubted there would be a next. Fuck, sure, but one nights and never a relationship. He was done.
"There won't be another one."
Emery's world was shattered to pieces and there was no fixing it or coming back from this. She walked out, shutting the door quietly behind her and went to Paul's room, immediately breaking down as soon as he answered the door. It was over.
Her and Mark were over completely.
After resigning from the company, despite Paul begging her not to, Emery knew she did the right thing. Vince tried convincing her not to leave, but all she told him was she made a mistake by coming to WWE and didn't want the burden anymore. When he tried threatening to sue her, because of the storyline, Emery had one thing to say to him.
"Do it then. I don't care." And hung up on him, nursing a bottle of Jack Daniels with World of Warcraft in front of her. That's what she was meant to do – be alone in seclusion with her games and comic books.
Randy had a key. He let himself right in and regretted it at the stench of body odor and Jack Daniels. Emery was in a funk. She wouldn't return calls anymore, she ignored him on WoW, no emails, nothing. And since he was still suspended… he came to check up on his best friend. Making sure she was still alive would also help alleviate Cheryl's anxiety.
"You need a shower." He informed her, hiding a smile when she jumped and then looked around. "Uh… Em?"
"What the hell are you doing here, Orton?" Emery muttered, not moving an inch from her bed, junk food and garbage galore strewn all over the place along with pieces of the comic books Mark had gotten her. They were ripped to shreds just like her heart. "Please go away and leave me alone."
She didn't want to talk to anyone or do anything except play WoW and drown her sorrows in alcohol and junk food, her pillows stained with heartbroken tears. It'd been a week since she left WWE and Vince hadn't gone through with suing her, figuring it wasn't worth it. Emery was depressed, obviously, because there was crap everywhere and Randy really hoped she was at least pretending to do something healthy.
"So… your game plan is to kill your liver and get diabetes at the same time?" He asked, watching her eat a Twinkie and then wash it down with her whiskey. "Emery…" Randy walked around until he was sitting on the edge of her bed, cursing and reached under him. He had sat on a slice of pizza. "This isn't you."
"Yes it is." She said through a mouthful of Twinkie, tossing the wrapper on the floor along with dozens of others and held up the half eaten sponge of heaven. "This is my life now. This is my love. Twinkies. They don't hurt you. They don't call you a liar and break your heart. I'll die happily from drinking myself to death along with being a diabetic. Whichever comes first." Emery finished the Twinkie and leaned back against the headboard, her t-shirt she had on had stains all over it from dropping various amounts of junk food on it. "I'm nothing but a stupid, pencil pushing geek who loves video games and comic books. I don't deserve love. I deserve to be alone and I'm fine with it as long as I have whiskey and Twinkies."