Reality (Linstead AU)

Chapter 77

When Jay walked into Erin's office, his first thought was how beautiful she was when she greeted him with one of those wide smiles that he adored so much. His line of thinking was hardly appropriate for a professional setting, but he didn't care in the least.

"Jay. Come in and have a seat," Erin said warmly.

Kelly Severide was already in the office, sitting on one of the metal chairs in front of the desk. There were three of them. Jay shook Severide's hand and took one of the available chairs.

"Hope you're both okay?" he asked. "I'm assuming this is about Hailey and Maya?"

"We're good," Erin responded. "And yes, that's why we're here. I've sent someone to get Hailey, so she should be here momentarily. You both know what the conversation is going to be about. Maya has agreed to return to WWE. The three of us are in agreement that we're in favour of the deal, but it's not going to happen unless or until Hailey agrees, given the history between them."

"Obviously we're not here to bully her into agreeing. That would be totally inappropriate," Severide said.

Jay realised why that had to be said. Severide was doing his job as Head of Talent Relations.

"Obviously," Erin said, showing a little annoyance. "We're pitching the idea to her, not attacking her with it."

Severide placated her. "I know. Just laying it out before she arrives."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Erin called out.

The door opened and Hailey Upton walked in. Understandably, she was on the back foot as soon as she saw who was waiting for her. "Well this doesn't look good," she commented.

Erin chuckled, intending to put her at ease. "It's nothing to be concerned about. Have a seat. There's something I'd like to discuss with you. I've already talked it over with Jay and with Kelly."

"You're not going to take me off the team with Sylvie and Stella are you?" Hailey asked as she sat down.

"No, that's not it," Erin assured her. Then she went right ahead and dropped the bomb. "I'm interested in bringing Maya Mizrachi back."

Hailey stared at Erin for a moment. Jay imagined she was trying to figure out if this was a rib of some kind.

"Why would you do that?" she asked after a moment.

"Because Maya is an excellent wrestler, and I see money and ratings in her returning," Erin said evenly. "For obvious reasons, I wanted to speak to you about it first."

Hailey grunted out a laugh. "For obvious reasons. You mean the fact that she smashed my face up and put me in hospital? Those reasons?"

"Watch your tone when you talk to Erin," Jay said. Being confrontational wasn't his style, but hearing Erin spoken to disrespectfully had triggered something inside him.

He noticed some surprise on Erin and Kelly's faces. Meanwhile, Hailey looked chastened.

"Sorry," she said to Erin. "This is... I just can't believe we're actually talking about this after what she did to me."

"From what I hear, she wasn't the only one at fault that day," Erin said carefully.

"What do you mean?" Hailey asked. Jay thought that even he could read people well enough to tell that she was being defensive.

"Listen carefully to what I'm about to say to you," Erin said, looking Hailey right in the eyes. "No action is going to be taken against anyone for things that happened five years ago, before I was in charge of the company. But what would be a serious mistake would be to start me thinking you're dishonest. I don't work with dishonest people. So, did you make a racist remark to Maya that night? And don't tell me you don't remember. I'm sure you remember every detail of that night. I know I would."