There he sat with a glass in his hand ready to confront whatever it was that he was going to confront. Hayden had asked him to be at this particular restaurant, IHOP of all places, and had asked him to find somewhere where they would be out of view from the other people attending the place. He felt no reason to hide himself; it wasn’t particularly safe with all that had gone on between Hayden and him so he didn’t.
"Hurry up would ya?" Trenton said to himself as he raised the sleeve of his shirt and looked at his watch and shook his wrist just to make sure everything was working properly. It was.
Trenton sat annoyed for another twenty minutes. His anger was building up so that whenever Arran Hayden had finally decided to walk through the door, he’d probably regret that he did. Trenton looked down at his glass and took another sip of the orange liquid that occupied its space.
"Fuck this…" Trenton said as he rose from the booth and threw a couple of dollars onto the table… Just as he started down the aisle something caught his eyes. It was a little girl with beauty unmatched by any ordinary girl. He smiled when he saw her, thinking nothing but that he wanted to tear Arran Hayden apart.
That’s when Hayden stepped around the corner.
“Going somewhere?” Hayden asked with a wide grin on his face. Trenton didn’t reply. He just stood in silence staring into his daughter’s eyes. She quickly latched onto Hayden’s leg and hid her face. Hayden chuckled to himself and scooped Kaydence up into his arms. He then imitated a rocket launching off and swung her back and forth. She started to giggle and Hayden continued until she erupted into laughter. Finally, he sat her down onto her feet and whispered something in her ear.
“Just like we talked about, okay?” Kaydence nodded her head in response and took Hayden's hand into hers. They walked over to Trenton and all of them sat down at the same time.
“It’s been too long,” Hayden said looking at Trenton, as the waitress walked over and sat down two extra menus. “What will you two have to drink?”
“Water for me and a juice for the lady,” Hayden said smiling at the waitress. She pulled two straws from her apron and notice Kaydence, who now stood up in the booth. “Is that your daughter?”
Hayden didn’t answer.
“No.” Trenton said almost immediately, “she’s not… She’s mine.”
The waitress looked at Trenton taken aback, apparently the way he had released the words had been rude to her but nevermind that. Trenton continued to stare down Hayden and then turned his head slightly to the right to look at his precious daughter. There she was, his baby girl. The girl he had mourned over for the last three years was right in front of him. She had grown so much that he didn’t recognize her at first but now it was clear, she had her mothers beautiful features and thank the heavens that she wasn’t plagued with his.
“Look Hayden…”
“Please… Arran.”
But Trenton didn’t respond to interruptions. He simply ignored them.
“I want to thank you for saving my life…” He stopped for a moment as his little girl giggled as the returning waitress placed a cup of juice in front of her. “On more than one occasion. You shouldn’t have done so after everything I put you through.”
Hayden just nodded away as Trenton talked.
“And as much as I despise anybody involved in this for keeping me out of the loop for so long, I’m wiling to forgive.” Trenton said as his daughter sipped on her juice paying no attention to him but to Hayden instead.
“It’s clear, however, that she doesn’t even know I exist. Perhaps this was all just a big mistake. Excuse me.”
Trenton stood to his feet and grabbed his jacket from the booth clearly hurt that after all these years, after all the love he had shown to his daughter before he thought she had died, she didn’t even care that he was standing in front of her. Heartbroken that he had missed so many valuable moments.
“After three years of believing your daughter was dead, is that all you’re going do? Just walk away and forget that you ever had her in your life? You truly are a son-of-a-bitch!”
It was too late to take back his last words. Kaydence had heard them and it hurt her more than anything. The last thing Hayden wanted to do was hurt her. This was her time, not his and he had forgotten the sole purpose of this get together. Kaydence burst into tears and Hayden tried to hug her. She quickly sat down in the booth and wouldn’t let him. Everyone in IHOP, the manager included, turned their heads to take notice of the commotion caused. Hayden just covered his face, took a sip of his water, and stared at Trenton. The manager walked over to their table and looked at the waitress with an angry look on his face. He just pointed his finger at her and motioned for her to follow him to the back.
As they walked off, Hayden shot up from his seat. He came face to face with Trenton and smirked.
"This is your fault."
“My fault?” Trenton said as he stared Hayden in the face hoping that he would provoke him so he could finish what he started years ago. “How do you figure?”
Trenton looked at his daughter and then back up to Hayden. He still had that damn smirk on his face and the longer he held it, the sicker Trenton felt. Finally, as if he had no other choice, he pushed Hayden to the side and sat down next to his daughter.
“Daddy’s here baby, no need to cry.” Trenton said. Kaydence looked up at him a little unsure of what it was exactly that was going on. He didn’t expect her to know, she was still a small child.
“Come here baby.” And he held open his arms letting Kaydence make the choice. Meanwhile, Hayden sat down on Trenton’s side of the booth and switched the drinks around so that they were in the right order when everything was sorted out.
“Daddy?” She said with tears still falling from her eyes. Trenton lowered his head in shame as his daughter lunged towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She began crying again and so did he. Finally, a side of Trenton that he himself would be proud of. He had his little girl back and nothing in this world could tear them apart.
“I’ve missed you so much Kaydence… I’m so sor… Sorry for leaving you. I love you!” He said between his sobs.
“I love you too daddy, please don’t leave me again.” She said, gaining a little more control of herself then what Trenton currently had. He looked down at her and smiled. Then he looked back towards Hayden. He wiped both eyes with his hands before looking Hayden straight in the face again. Hayden looked smug and comfortable on the otherside of the table.
“I guess…” And just like that Trenton was up on his feet, he jerked Hayden out of the booth and looked back at Kaydence.
“Kaydence baby, stay there, daddy and Uncle Hayden will be right back.” Kaydence nodded as Trenton drug Hayden around the otherside of the wall and slammed him against it.
“I don’t know what you did three years ago and I really don’t give a shit at this point. But the moment you took her out of my life is the moment you fucked up!” Trenton said trying to get a hold of himself as the employees began looking on worried.
“I thank you for bringing her back into my life but what you seem to be forgetting is that I will never forget that it was you who took her out my life in the first place you sick son-of-a-bitch!” And with this Trenton cocked his arm back and slammed his fist into Hayden’s stomach. Hayden doubled over for a moment and fell to his knees.
“I’m not going to fight you anymore Trenton,” Hayden said in a weak voice. “We’ve been fighting for three fucking years and I’m sick of it.”
Trenton pulled Hayden slowly to his feet. Hayden held his hand over the pit of his stomach. He didn’t want to admit it, but Pierce was right. He was the one who took Kaydence out of his life. He was the one who designed that part of the plan. Everyone was against it, but he did it anyway without their knowledge. He was paying for it now.
“Let it go,” Hayden said in a pleading manner.
It was unlike him to beg. But if it would stop Trenton from punching him, he’d do anything. The manager tapped Trenton on the shoulder before Hayden could get a reply. This time Trenton responded to the interruption. He elbowed the manager and watched as he fell to his ass. Everyone was shocked at the display of violence and some stopped eating, after seeing the blood running down the manager's nose.
Hayden tried breaking himself from Trenton’s grip during the altercation, but he didn't. Another punch landed into his gut and then one hit him in the face. He could feel himself swaying back and forth, but he didn’t fall. He caught himself and a ringing noise filled his ears. He saw stars and his body landed to the ground with a hard thud. The last punch sounded like nothing. He had missed the noise of the impact entirely. They weren't even at Eternity and already Trenton had handed him his ass. He blacked out.
"What's up doc?"
Hayden awoke to Bugs Bunny and Kaydence in laughter. His senses kicked in and he felt something cold resting on the side of his face. He felt around and grabbed a hold of something. CRUNCH! He realized an ice bag had covered his face. He took it off and opened his eyes, while groaning. He didn't care to use all of his senses, so he just looked off to his left at a picture that sat on a glass table next to him. It was one of Trenton holding Kaydence in the emergency room. He picked it up and smiled at it.
“Yeah, that’s what you cost me.” Trenton said as he appeared staring down at Hayden as he lay on the couch unmoving. Hayden said nothing.
“Sorry about that lashing I gave you back at the restaurant, I really didn’t mean to go crazy like that. Seeing my little girl and you together just kinda set me off and well.” Trenton seemed at a loss for words for the first time since he could remember. He looked down at the picture and smiled as he looked towards Kaydence who was giggling uncontrollably at the cartoons.
“I figured the least I could do was give you some ice. Hopefully it’ll clear up before the match at Eternity. “
Hayden looked at him as if he had just remembered the match but still said nothing.
“Look, let’s get one thing straight from the start. Facing Morgana, no matter how much I’d hate to admit it, will be no walk in the park. I plan to win just as much as you do and the biggest problem we face right now is the fact that neither of us has seemed to give any thought about just what kind of threat she poses.”
Still, Hayden just laid there looking at Trenton. Trenton had changed the subject in such a way that he almost appeared to be looking for a way out of apologizing any further to Hayden.
“You really are stubborn.”
Hayden ignored Trenton’s observation and stared back down at the picture. He didn’t want to think about Eternity at the moment, besides Trenton overlooked one thing in particular. He wasn’t guaranteed a spot in the Lust Championship match. Trent Turner could very well pull off an upset over him. Just the thought of that alone was ludicrous. Trenton wouldn't lose. There was no doubt in Hayden’s mind that he’d be facing Trenton and Morgana, but who would be the fourth man? It didn’t really matter. He wouldn’t stand a chance against the likes of three superstars anyway.
“You see Morgana as a threat?” Hayden asked, as sat the picture back down onto the table. He leaned back into the couch and placed the bag of ice over his face. Kaydence laughed more. “See! Even your daughter knows that bitch is a joke.”
Hayden had said the words quietly so Kaydence wouldn’t hear them. He smirked at Trenton and closed his eyes. "The moment you start seeing someone as a threat is the moment you lose."
Hayden ignored how the words came out. No one was going to stop him from winning the championship, not even Trenton, so he did what anyone would do. He put his challenger on the spot. “You think you can stop me?”
Hayden grimaced a moment and remembered he was the one lying on the couch with ice over his face. "You got anything cold to drink?"
“What, you think I can’t beat you?” Trenton asked as he walked around the corner to get a drink for Hayden. He returned with a small cup of water and handed it to Hayden who looked at the cup and then shrugged before drinking the water.
“You’re sadly mistaken if that’s the case, my friend.” He looked at his daughter who was still busy watching her cartoons and took a seat across from Hayden.
“Worried about Morgana? Hardly, do I see her as a threat? Yes.” He took a drink out of his own cup of water before setting it down on the table and then grabbing a pack of cigarettes from the table and offering one up to Hayden before taking one himself.
“Morgana is a woman. I know exactly what women can do and I don’t put it past Morgana to find some way to try to take you and me out. Don’t underestimate her Hayden…”
With that Trenton looked towards his daughter and blew out a ring of smoke into the air. He looked around the room and laid his head back against the top of the chair in contemplation.
“Even with as much as I appreciate what you’ve done for me, regardless if you are the one who screwed my life up in the first place, I will not hesitate when it comes to taking you out. I’m a man of my word so you can bank on that.”
Trenton raised his head from the top of the chair and stood up before picking up his glass and walking around the wall to the kitchen. He could hear Kaydence giggling in the living room and smiled at the thought of having his daughter back but it all changed quickly when he refocused on the match. There’s no way he could let Hayden win, it was his time for revenge.
Hayden followed Trenton into the kitchen and looked at him with a disappointed look on his face. “What in the fuck are you doing?” Hayden reached over and snatched the cigarette from Trenton’s hand. “Jesus Christ! If you’re going to smoke, please take into consideration your daughter’s health.”
Hayden went to the sink and ran water over the cigarette. “Besides, if you plan on beating me, you might want to quit. You’re right about Morgana though. She is only a woman. You’re wrong about her too though. She’s not Ares, Wonder Women, or Angelina Jolie. That bitch can be broken.”
Hayden turned the water off and threw away the wet cigarette. “Forget about her. You think you can beat Trent Turner? He did pull out a couple of stops on Phayze and me at the PPV. He has talent and I admit that. He’s no Arran Hayden of course.”
Kaydence walked into the kitchen. She looked at Hayden, then to Trenton, and then back to Hayden. She stared at him for awhile and Hayden just nodded in Trenton’s direction. She looked at him and said, “I want pancakes daddy.”
“You want Uncle Hayden to…”
Before Hayden could finish his sentence, Trenton cut him off.
“You give props to a little scrub like Trent Turner but continue on refusing to believe that, just maybe, Morgana can actually spar with the big boys?” Trenton said as Hayden turned around to meet him face to face.
“I’m not exactly sure what it is that you’ve got going on inside that head of yours Hayden, but woman or no woman, Morgana has proven on more than one occasion throughout her career that she can hang with whomever she pleases. Your denial is what will lose you this match, not my negativity.”
Trenton turned around but Hayden followed behind him as he walked into the living room to grab the glasses off the table and then back into the kitchen. He laid the glasses off to the side of the sink and then grabbed a box of Bisquick off the nearby counter. Trenton turned around to walk towards the stove and ran into Hayden who was still lurking around behind him.
“Look Hayden, you believe what you want to and I’ll do the same but you need to realize a couple of things first.” Trenton said as he pushed past Hayden and continued on to the stove. “First thing is first. Under no circumstances should you believe that Morgana is a ‘joke’. If she were, she would not have been given the opportunity to claim the Lust championship in only her first match…”
“Before you go criticizing me and the way I see things, maybe you should take a step back and look at yourself. I feel the need to point out that maybe it is you, not I that is flawed in your ways of thinking…”
Hayden chuckled lightly and started to tap his fingers on the kitchen counter. Not able to hold his anger in any longer, he smiled at Kaydence and signaled for her to leave the room. As soon as he heard her laughing again, he quickly slapped the Bisquick box from Trenton’s hands. The mix went everywhere and that’s when Hayden made his move. He gripped Trenton’s shirt collar and pinned him up against the fridge.
“Understand one thing! We’re all flawed, you included! I didn’t want to mention the flaws I’ve overlooked today, since you’ve crossed the line. I’ll just use them against you come Eternity and then you will understand my way of thinking. You will also understand why exactly it is I’m confident in my abilities and why this business leaves no room for doubting yourself. Sure, Trent Turner may not defeat you, but Morgana will. It’s too late to even stop it from happening as well. You’ve given her power over your mind and you’ve let her career’s success suck away the heart and soul of your own. She's a fucking present given to Sin Wrestling! That’s it! You can bet your ass I’m going to break her head and wrap her up faster than Chris unwrapped her. This is our life Trenton, not some fucking game! Understand that!”
Hayden let Trenton go and turned away from him. He then muttered under his breath, “I really can’t believe he’d pull this reverse psychology bullshit on me.”
Hayden turned back around to face Trenton. Right before he decided to apologize for his action, his anger exploded once more. This time he slammed Trenton’s head down onto the island. He twisted Trenton’s arm behind his back and pulled a knife from the rack that sat on top of the island. He slid it under Trenton’s throat and put his mouth up closer to Trenton’s ear, so he could hear him clearly.
“You know what that is under your throat? Before you answer, think about it for a second. Don’t reply with the obvious answer. Just think outside the box for a minute. Time’s up! Since you’re having trouble, I’ll tell you what it is. That’s Morgana under your throat. She’s got you right where she wants you. What do you do? No, no! Excuse me. What can you do? Nothing!”
Hayden brushed the knife back and forth under Trenton’s throat hairs. The sound of them crunching made Hayden smirked. He then stopped the knife and pulled Trenton’s head back with it carefully, making sure not to cut his throat.
“Like a venomous snake, she’s waiting for the perfect time to strike. Who will save you now?” Trenton tried to overpower Hayden, and almost did, but he wouldn’t let him. It was too early.
“No matter how hard you try and break her, you’re still the little mouse going down her throat. You my friend are what she eats for breakfast. Forget about eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Wrestlers like you succumb to her achievements. You are what keeps her alive and breathing. You are what makes her stronger every time you acknowledge her accomplishments. Wrestlers like you let her win. That’s why there are two sides. Wrestlers like me destroy and devour wrestlers like Morgana. We make our names off of breaking them. We don’t blind ourselves to what they’ve won or what they’ve done. We live and breathe the present. Fuck the past! That’s something you should try to consider Trenton. Forget that I ever ruined and saved your life. After I raise this knife from your throat, forget it. Don’t forget what I told you though. That my friend must stay with you forever. That’s the only way Kaydence can grow up. You have to make yourself stronger in life to make her stronger than you could ever be. I’m done doing you favors Trenton. After I leave, you’re on your own from here on out. Please, take care of Kaydence and visit your wife.”
Hayden nicked Trenton under his throat just a little. He waited until the fine red liquid slowly poured down the tip of the knife and pulled it away from under Trenton’s throat. He was done with him and his daughter. He slammed the knife into the island and began to walk away from Trenton.
Trenton slid his finger across the wound on his throat and looked at the blood before rubbing it in with his forefinger and thumb. He turned around and looked at Hayden deciding against his initial thoughts to tackle Hayden and put an end to his life once and for all..
“Arran…” Trenton said as Hayden turned around to face him. He gave him a look that signaled more hatred than pity. Trenton was glad of this, he wanted no pity but he felt if he were to receive pity, it’d be Arran Hayden giving it to him. Afterall, the man saved his life on more than one occasion.
“Look, you can continue on doing what you do. I don’t blame you. It’s working for you. But I, for one, am not about to take myself down to your level. I don’t care what Morgana has done in her past and I certainly don’t think she’s as bad as you try to paint her. But one thing I realize is the first mistake is giving your opponent no credit. I’ve been in enough matches in my lifetime to realize that everyone has a chance, no matter who they are. You hide behind a false hope thinking that as long as you don’t think it’s there, it can’t hurt you. Well it can and it will. Remember that.”
Trenton turned around satisfied; Hayden shrugged off his comments and turned back around to walk away just as Trenton turned back around.
“Oh and one more thing…” Hayden turned around as Trenton spoke out.
“Even when you erase Morgana from this match, you’ve still got much bigger problems on your hands. I’m still in this match Hayden, regardless of what happens between Morgana and her opponents, I will be in that very ring in the final round. That’s something you’re going to have to think about. I’m no pushover. I have just as much talent in my body as you do and I fully intend to prove that at Eternity.”
Hayden turned to walk away.
“Fuck you Hayden. Fuck you, fuck this match, and fuck everything you’ve said to me today. Let your actions speak for you and quit making idle threats. They’ll get you nowhere; I’d have figured that you out of all people would understand that.”
Hayden froze dead in his track and grinned. He slightly turned his head to leave Trenton with some witticism, but decided against it. Eternity would be the stage and he was going to make a showing. One no one in Sin would ever forget, including Trenton and Morgana. With that thought, he walked into the living room. He looked at Kaydence and bent down to one knee. He kissed her on the forehead. He then whispered his last words to her.
“I’m sorry, but daddy won’t be able to protect you for long.”