TITLE: Secrets and Lies 3

AUTHOR: Kelly Rowe

DISCLAIMER: The WWF and all characters belong to the almighty Vince McMahon and the WWFE.

RATING: PG-13.

SUMMARY: Triple H's suspicions about Stephanie and Angle are aroused by a phone call.

SPOILERS: Smackdown 01.31.02

DISTRIBUTION: You want you can have it; just tell me where you put it.

The phone ringing incessantly was what woke Hunter from the first restful sleep that he'd had since Raw on Monday night and his very *public* fight with Stephanie. He knew that she hadn't meant to cost him the match against Booker, it was that she always seemed to be interfering in his life... especially since ECW had gone under at Survivor Series. While she had been busy with her *career* she hadn't bothered him, in fact he had rarely even seen her. She'd always been off somewhere with Heyman and/or her wrestlers and when she spared a moment to chat on the phone, it was always Alliance this, or Austin that. The worst was when she talked about Angle, the person he hated most in this world, even more than Austin. He didn't like the feeling he was getting from Stephanie when Angle was mentioned, he was sure something was either going on or had gone on.

The ringing just refused to stop and Stephanie was noticeably absent. Finally he answered it, "What?"

"Cheerful, aren't we?" the annoyingly smug voice of Chris Jericho came down the line.

Hunter wondered why in hell Jericho was calling him, they despised each other. "Jericho," he replied, "What do you want?"

Jericho chuckled, "I actually wanted to tell you something... but if you're not in the mood, I suppose I could go and tell some of the others..."

"What?" Hunter asked. He didn't know why he felt he needed to hear Jericho's gossip, he guessed that it was because he'd been out of the loop for so long.

"Are you sure that *you* want to hear it? It's about Angle..."

"Just talk already," Hunter almost yelled, as that sinking feeling reappeared in the bottom of his stomach.

"It's nothing really, just about who he went visiting at the Rumble," Jericho started. "Actually he spent about five minutes in your locker room."

Hunter was confused, "Angle was snooping?"

"Only if snooping gets you a kiss from your wife," Jericho replied. "Your locker room was across from mine and I got to see the whole thing."

Hunter didn't even bother to answer, he just hung up. He looked around the empty hotel room and felt Stephanie's absence more than ever. Was she shopping or gossiping? Or was she with *him* again? Hunter simply sat down in a chair and waited for her return.

When Stephanie returned to the hotel room almost an hour later, she dropped the shopping bags. "Hi honey" she said, pausing only when she saw his expression. "What's wrong?" she asked him cautiously, the look in his eyes scared her.

"Where were you?" he asked her in a careful tone, one that gave nothing away.

"Shopping with..."

"Kurt," Hunter interrupted.

Stephanie looked at him with a funny expression reflected in her eyes, "No... with Stacy."

"Why? Was Kurt busy?"

Stephanie wished that her McMahon calm hadn't deserted her. She did love Hunter in her own way, it was just that during her time as owner of ECW she realised that she also loved someone else, Kurt. She had tried to keep away from him, but Kurt was persistent and frankly she liked all the attention that she got from him. Unfortunately she knew that she and Kurt had been crossing the line again, at the Rumble they had kissed in the corridor outside Hunter's locker room. She had thought that no one had seen them, but judging Hunter's reaction someone must have and told him.

"Kurt is only a friend," Stephanie told him, "He never has been or will be anything more to me than that."

"Really," Hunter replied looking her in the eye. "Is that why you kissed him?"

Stephanie paled, "I never..."

"Jericho saw you" Hunter said bitterly staring down at her with a mixture of anger and hurt in his eyes.

{Jericho... it figures. I'll make sure that he gets his} Stephanie thought to herself. Stephanie clasped Hunter's hand, "It's not true."

Hunter removed his hand from her grasp and stood up. He grabbed his equipment bag and headed to the door, ready to leave.

"Wait for me," Stephanie yelled racing to grab her things.

"No," he told her. "I don't *want* or *need* you there tonight. It'll be better for the both of us if you stay away." Then he walked out of the hotel room without bothering to look back.

Stephanie walked over to the bed and sat down, wondering how she could be so stupid. She had to make it up to Hunter and a start would be to avoid Kurt. From now on she was going to be a one man woman, or die trying.

The End.