Chapter 18

The room was practically empty and the ring was almost
down. There was no sign of Jeff, Gilbert or her
grandfather, which only seemed to piss her off even
more. She wanted the hell out here and now. Her mind
was racing and her blood boiling. Just the thought of
him with her made her sick. Hell the thought of him
with her after having dropped her off was mind numbing
and heartbreaking at the same time. But he deserved a
chance to tell his side of the things; she just wasn't
sure when he'd get the chance. Before or after she
beat the tar out of him.

She heard the deep laugh of her grandfather coming
from the hall that was once blocked by the curtain.
Trying her best to keep her anger in check like she
was taught. She needed both sides.

"This is how a woman ends up killing her man and
having it labeled as crimes of passion." She spoke out
loud to herself.

She found them all around the corner. Gramps, Gilbert,
Matt, a few of the others and Jeff. She bit her lip at
the sight of him. Wearing a baggy long sleeve orange
cotton shirt and a pair of white wind pants. His hair
was wet from his shower and pulled back into a tight
ponytail.

Kendall shivered, still chilled from the outside and
marched up to the men. She pushed herself up against
her grandfathers back for warmth, reaching around to
grab his coat.

"I'm a little cold." She stated as he looked at her.

"Cupcake where've you been? We were getting worried."
He helped her into his coat, pulling her in front of
him to rub her arms.

"Outside." She glanced over at Jeff who smiled
lovingly at her.

"Alone?" gramps continued to rub her, "You're
shivering."

"N-N-No I wasn't alone."

The smile disappeared from Jeffs face, "Who was with
you?"

"Jealous baby bro?" Matt punched him lightly, pulling
back when he saw how serious he was.

Kendall noticed, "Two young ladies. Actually I think
they told me they were ring rats."

Gramps pulled her back, peeking over her shoulder,
"What's a ring rat?"

"Whores for wrestlers gramps."

"Ah ok."

Shane held his hand up to his mouth, "Kendall Morgan
hanging out with ring rats? Who'd a thunk it?"

She laughed, "Not quite Shane. Apparently, we have
something in common." She stared at Jeff, "I believe
she said her name was Tina."

Matt noted the anger in her eyes, "Oh boy. Um dad,
everybody there's a really nice ah. ah photo in the
bar over here. I think we should all take a look."

"Yep son you're right. Let's go." Gilbert grabbed
Michael, nudging his head towards the bar.

Kendall would've cracked up at them trying to get out
of the room and each others way to leave them alone
but she couldn't.

Jeff closed the gap between them, "What's this all
about?"

"What?"

"This. This whole ring rat story. Where's it going?"
he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"The question is where are you going once this night
is over?" she immediately regretted it as soon as she
said it but he seemed unphase by it.

"Home with you."

"Do you know her?"

"You already know the answer to that or you wouldn't
have asked me. Why don't you ask the real question
that has you so angry you're ready to choke me?"

"Are you sleeping with her?"

"No. I did in the past. A couple of times but it was
nothing."

She rolled her eyes, letting out a ragged sigh, "She
said months. She said you two have been having sex for
months. She also said you cheated on your last two
girlfriends because she was there and they weren't
and," she lowered her voice and looked around to make
sure no one was listening, "You need to be satisfied
right then and there."

"Kendall that's not even close to the truth."

"Ok fine. But you know what, that's in your past. I
can live with that. I didn't think you'd be a virgin
because I'm not but that's not what's pissing me off
Jeff."

"Then tell me so we can yell at each other and get out
of here."

She looked him dead in the eye, "She said you two were
together Sunday night. As in this past Sunday after
you dropped me off. Were you?"

He dropped his hands to his sides, "It's not what you
think."

"Oh god." She tossed her head back trying to fight off
the tears. Her legs felt like mush as she tried to
steady herself before falling. She felt him grab her
and instinctively shoved him back, "Don't touch me!"

"I didn't do anything with her. I swear. I went to her
because we were supposed to hook up after my show. I
told her that I had met someone and I wanted her to
back off because I wanted this one to work. I told her
good bye."

"You told you're whore goodbye? Did you leave her a
big deposit when you were done?"

He looked down at her, "That's not fair. I told her I
was falling in love and that she needed to respect
that and stay away. She was the reason why the others
split up with me but only because she would go to them
and tell them things that weren't true. They'd believe
her and end it. I never once slept with her while I
had a girlfriend. I'm not like that."

"So let me get this straight. You slept with her in
between girlfriends even though she was the reason you
split up in the first place?" she shook her in
confusion, "That doesn't make sense Jeff."

"She was the only who wanted me." He spoke softly
casting his eyes to the floor, "But I didn't sleep
with her Sunday. You gotta believe me. The last time I
ever slept with her was over two weeks ago. After
meeting you, I realized that there's no one else I
want more than you. No one else matters to me but
you."

"Agh." She raked her hands through her hair, "I'm
sorry. God I feel so stupid. I didn't mean to lash out
at you like that. She just planted this picture in my
head and it took on a life of it's own. I'm sorry. Can
you forgive me?" she placed her hands on his chest.

He smirked, moving his hands to her waist, "Yes I
forgive you. Your reaction was normal. Jealousy
doesn't agree with you though."

"Who said I was jealous? I was pissed off Jeff." Then
she remembered her statement to the girls, "Ok maybe a
little jealous. It makes me ugly."

"Nothing can make you ugly." He kissed the top of her
head.

"Stop being so sweet all the time. My god you're
giving me a cavity. Besides you've never seen me first
thing in the morning," she scrunched up her face,
"Very scary."

He traced his fingers lightly over her face, "I think
seeing you first thing in the morning would be a
beautiful sight."

She kissed his fingertips, "Flattery? Are you trying
to ease my guilt? I have an idea." She turned around
in his arms, pressing her back against his chest and
pulling his arms over her shoulders, "How about what
ever happened before we met Sunday, with others that
is, has no relevance in our relationship, deal?"

"Well that's one way to ease your conscience. Oomph."
Her elbow connected with his ribs, "Ok deal. You ready
to go home?" He locked their fingers together,
spreading their arms out like they were flying.

"No but I will go. Let's go say goodnight to
everybody."

"We just had our first spat."

"I know. Glad that's out of the way. We've done enough
fighting to last a lifetime."


         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Kendall opened the door to her loft, reaching back for
Jeff, "Don't leave my side until I turn on the light."
She ran her hand up the wall by the door flicking the
switch, "Ugh my things aren't put away."

Jeff laughed spanking her, "They don't magically do
that."

"At my parents house they did. Oh wait that was Lucy."
She flopped down on the couch, kicking off her shoes.

"Who's Lucy?" he crawled across the couch, laying his
head on her lap, smiling as she pulled the tie out of
his hair and ran her fingers through it.

"My nanny as I was growing up, now the woman who keeps
my life organized, kept my life organized. Oh good
lord Jeff I have to keep my own life organized." She
lay her head back, "I can't even organize my sock
drawer."

He laughed rubbing her knee, "I can organize your
socks for ya."

"Awe thanks. I guess I have to take a course from Lucy
on everything. I mean everything. Jeff?"

"Yeah?" her fingers were putting him to sleep.

"Will you stay here tonight? I don't want to be alone
here." She felt childish asking him but the new place
felt uncomfortable, "It doesn't feel like mine."

He rolled over, looking up into her eyes, "Sure.
Anything for you."

She smiled down at him, "I'm so thankful we found each
other."


        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Jeff had run down to his car to get his bag. He
changed in her room as she changed in the bathroom.
The thought of being alone with her all night excited
him too much. After that spat earlier, tonight would
not be their first time. There were things that needed
to be addressed before they could even move in that
direction. Their first time was going to be as
romantic as he could make it.

He crawled under her thick black comforter, yawning.
He was much more tired than he realized. Her bed
cradled his body relaxing his muscles making it even
harder to stay awake. His eyes were closed when he
heard her come into the room. He could hear her fidget
around. Unable to open his eyes, he just listened to
her.

Click, click, click, click.

'What the hell was that?' he thought, as he listened
but didn't hear it again.

She lit the assorted candles around the room with a
lighter. Sleeping in total darkness was out of the
question until she got used to this place. She crawled
in beside him after shutting off the light.

"Why do I still see light if you're in bed?" he asked,
eyes still closed.

"Because I have candles lit. My mind would spaz out if
it were totally dark in here. I'd see things; hearing
things is one thing but seeing, forget it. Laugh all
you want I'm a big baby. I'll admit it." She lay
facing him, running the tip of her index finger along
his profile, giggling when he kissed her finger, "I
love to look at you."

He turned his head, staring at her. Her face glowing
from the light of the candles, "What did you say?"

"I said I love to look at you.  I love staring into
your eyes. I love touching you. I just love being with
you."

He pulled her over to him, resting her head on his
chest, "I'm speechless. I cannot put into words what
I'm feeling right now."

"You don't have to." She rubbed his bare chest,
playing with the few chest hairs that he had.

"I need to tell you something."

"Uh oh. This sounds serious. What's the matter?"

"The WWF want us on the road with them more. We only
do two days a week and they want more. I have to leave
tomorrow afternoon for California. I'll be gone until
Monday but then I have to leave again Wednesday
night." He traced the tiny strap of her tank top.

"What about your job?"

"Well that's what I asked Matt and he said they're
gonna be paying us more a week. It's gonna be well
worth it if I give up my job. Getting paid to do what
I love. The only thing that's going to kill me is
being away from you."

She hugged him tighter to her body, "We'll be fine."

"I know but it's still going to be awful strain on us;
worse because our relationship is so new. I wanted to
be able to spend nights with you talking until the sun
rose and really get to know each other. I just."

"Hey," she rose up on her elbow , covering his mouth,
"We're going to be able to do that. We'll spend those
nights and days too. It'll work out just fine, you'll
see." She lay back down, biting her lip to hide her
sadness, "Go to sleep now. We'll talk in the morning."

"It's after midnight. It is morning."

"Go to sleep smart guy."

"I love you." He kissed the top of her head.

"I love you too."

Chapter 19

back to Chapter 17