Joe had put the past behind him. The decision was forced upon him, but he truly believed that he was finally moving forward in his life. And yet, even as he stepped out of the past, his feet were now planted firmly on the shaky ground of the present.
There was still so much going wrong. He lost to Hide Yamazaki (his finger was now in a split after he dislocated it). His mental health was, as always, held together with scotch tape and bubble gum. He lashed out at his best friend and likely lost the respect of those he used to work with.
On top of all that...Lucy's life was in shambles, and he took a lot of that on himself. He didn't know how to help her. Handling the situation with kid gloves wasn't working and neither was trying to get her to open up. She was spiraling into depression and he was spiraling into a manic period as a result. The latest incursion from this mystery stalker of hers was a threat against her family.
That meant a threat against his family. His brother, his ex-wife and more importantly, his daughter. He could still recall the conversation the two had when Lucy informed him of the news.
Lucy, who had told him a little under a year ago that yes, she would marry him and that he was "it" for her, told him now that he needed to leave because his life was in danger. His daughter's life was in danger.
JC reacted as any father would: he saw red. He saw a shade of red he hadn't experienced before, and for the briefest of moments, a flash of hate and rage centered on Lucy herself. For dragging him into yet another one of her messes and dragging him down with her. It happened so quickly he was hardly aware it happened, and yet the guilt that followed for letting his dark passenger take over his thoughts was immense.
Even then, he refused to leave. He sent Lizzie and her mother to stay with their Uncle Eric for a while. They protested, but he convinced them well enough. GI was fully capable of protecting them, and he didn't want Lizzie to see what he would do if that motherfucker dared come after him.
After the aforementioned lashing out in Baltimore, he got himself off of Twitter and fired off some texts to Lucy, as she was elsewhere and he was preparing to depart for another engagement.
"Sorry about that stuff with Kyra. I get why she's mad but I shouldn't have needled her."
"I know. Probably why she lashed out. One of the reasons, anyway."
"You knew yet you did it anyway."
"Just going to focus on Pierce on Monday. Any tips?"
"He got lucky."
He waited for another text to come. After ten minutes, when nothing did, he grew irritated and tossed the phone into his gym bag. He did indeed have to take off, and if she didn't want to talk to him, then he wouldn't bother.
Travis Pierce was a manageable situation, at least. Yes, he had defeated Lucy. Yes, he could surprise just about anyone on the roster with a win. But he was still a parody of a wrestler, in JC's eyes. The Piercing Truth, which he had watched on the UGWC Archives, was mildly amusing back when it first started. But now it seemed more like a poor man's TMZ than any kind of talk show with credibility. Likely due to the fact that Pierce thought Jet Somers in drag was comedy gold in the year 2021.
He looked down at his phone and picked it up again, deciding to send off a tweet before he hit the road.
"No time to cut my mandated promo so I'll just say this. @PMN_Pierce is a joke. But that's by design. He thinks he can disarm his opponents with his lame talk show and sometimes that allows him to surprise even the best of us. I won't fall into that trap. And you won't beat me."
Just as he hit send, he heard a thud against the door, and a knock. With an eyebrow raised and his bag in his hand, he walked to the door. As he opened it, he looked down to see a small tan box. It was about the size of a notebook, and just as thin.
To Lucy, it read.
"Well Lucy's not here," he grumbled. He sent off another text.
"You got a box. No note on who it's from. Going to open it for you just to be safe."
He put the phone back in his pocket, not really caring if he got a text back or not. Joe's eyes darted around, wondering he was being watched by whoever sent it. He was sure that a certain stalker was responsible. That theory was proven when he popped the lid off and looked inside.
There were photos. He grabbed the contents and let the box fall as he looked through them.
Photos of Lucy. Outside on the patio. Through the windows of their condo. Out and about in the city. Photos of the two of them occasionally.
Then he saw a photo that made the redness flash before his eyes again.
It was a photo of Lucy outside this very door, looking down at Lizzie. Lucy was bad enough, but this was beyond the pale.
"I'm going to kill this asshole," he growled. Thankfully his better judgment prevailed and he didn't shout it at whoever might be watching, preventing him from looking crazier to people nearby.
Without thinking about it, he shoved the photos into his bag and stormed off, hoping he'd run into the man who delivered them.
