I LIVE THIS, I BREATHE THIS, YOU CRAVE IT

CHAPTER 13: Forgive Me

It's Saturday night. We have a flight tomorrow afternoon to do some media before Monday Night RAW, so right now we're just relaxing. All of our stuff has already been packed and ready to go. Our house was clean, the dogs were fed and tuckered out after a long day at the park. Couples Retreat was playing on our TV and I was snuggled up to my girlfriend on the couch. There were only two more RAWs before Wrestle Mania, which means that next weekend, Rhea would be going to war with Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women's Championship.

"Hey," I said to Rhea. She turned to look at me. "How are you feeling about Wrestle Mania coming up?" I asked.

"I'm excited. It's the biggest match of my career so far," she said as she squeezed me closer.

"What about your gear? You got your guys working on it, yeah?"

"Yep. You're not seeing it until the day, though," she said with a wink and a smile.

"Oh, come on," I pushed.

"Nope."

"We live in the same house. It's not like you can hide it from me," I joked.

"Wanna bet?"

"Fine," I conceded. For now.

The movie credits started rolling and we were just about to get up and go to bed when we heard a car alarm go off outside. It sounded like Rhea's truck.

I looked at Rhea. My heart fell.

"Stay here," she said as she got up and walked toward the front door, swiping her keys from the line of hooks on the wall.

"Wait, don't--" I started. But she was already opening the door.

Like Hell, I was staying here. I grabbed a kitchen knife off the island as I rushed after her, not caring about my safety at the moment. My sudden rush of bravery was the only thing fueling me right now. I stormed out the door after her and stopped in my tracks. Rhea's truck's tires were all slashed and her windshield was cracked over the driver's side like someone punched it. But what caught my eye was another manila envelope stuck under one of the windshield wipers. The hand that held the knife began to tremble as I looked at the scene before me. Rhea was fuming mad, pacing back and forth with her keys in her hand. Then I remembered.

"The cameras!" I yelled. Rhea turned toward me and nodded, still upset about her truck. Rightfully so.

Before she came back inside, she grabbed the envelope from her car. I tried not to think about what was in the envelope right now. All we had to focus on was what the cameras caught. I picked my phone up off the couch and tapped the app icon for the camera feed. Once I got to the right time frame, I hit play and Rhea watched from over my shoulder. All we saw was our driveway for a couple of minutes before a dark figure entered the frame. They were walking along the sidewalk and stopped at our driveway, just staring at our house for a moment. That's him. He was holding something in his hand. It looked to me like a small knife. And on the other hand, the envelope. I fought hard to stop my heart from literally pounding itself out of my chest while I watched the footage. Although he made sure to keep his hood up, I knew it was him. He was actually here.

We continued watching as he stuck his knife in Rhea's tires and used his fist to crack her windshield. But he paused for a moment before he stuck the envelope under the windshield wiper. He looked around for a moment before he found the camera near our front door. Then he stared at it, the top half of his face covered in a shadow. After a couple of seconds of him staring at the camera, he held up the envelope with his right hand and pointed to it with his left, then held his finger against his lips. Like he was telling us to keep quiet about whatever was in the envelope. Then, we saw him stick it under the windshield wiper and leave, running down the street.