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He sat there with both hands clenched into fists, his thoughts bitter. Try as he might, he couldn't stop thinking about it. And it tore at him that he couldn't come up with any positive reason he would have said all that he'd said. There was just nothing of which he could conceive.
Jeff Hardy shook his head and finally stood up. He couldn't rid his mind of Matt's blog. It was bothering him so much, and he had read it so many times throughout the day that he actually remembered it by heart. How the hell could Matt say all that about him? Did he really have so little - if any - respect for him that he would post a blog for all the world to read? And what about Ashley? Jeff knew the two of them were history now, but his brother had professed to caring about the blonde.
He approached the couch and sat down uneasily. He couldn't keep his gaze from drifting to the phone that sat on the small end table at its right side.
He was all alone once again except for little Jack. Ashley had stayed over a few hours after showing him the blog. She'd tried to change the subject for awhile, and they'd actually gotten to know a bit more about each other. Around six, she had suggested they go out and have some dinner, maybe at Cracker Barrell, but he'd declined.
Jeff sighed, thinking that maybe he'd made a mistake. Had he gone out to eat with Ashley rather than staying home and stewing, he probably would have had a pretty decent time.
He reached his right hand over toward the phone, the tips of his fingers just brushing against the receiver. How could Matt do that to him? He kept wondering about it. He knew all about the last time his brother had posted people's private life all over the internet, but that had been over a broken heart and a feeling of being betrayed by a close friend. Jeff knew Matt had handled things badly in that instance, and he'd done the same this time as well... But the thing that really got him in the gut was that he hadn't broken his heart, nor had he betrayed him. Why the hell had he gone and done this?
Those bitter thoughts helped the young man make up his mind. Squaring his shoulders, Jeff raised the receiver of his cordless phone and punched in his older brother's cell phone number.
He knew Matt had just returned to the road to do houseshows. He'd been out of action pretty much since December, when he'd had a bad case of appendicitis and then gotten sick from the toxins they hadn't flushed out of his body. Matt was probably either about to have a match soon or had already had one. Jeff just hoped he would answer the call.
He was about to give up when his brother picked up on the fourth ring.
"Hello?"
Jeff knew Matt knew it was him. His home phone number was plugged into his cell phone.
"It's me, Matt," he said, not bothering to even say hello. He couldn't recall a time when he'd been more angry with his sibling. "I bet you know why I'm calling."
"Oh, yeah - you wanted to wish me good luck in my first match back," the other man stated. "How nice of you."
Jeff shook his head in spite of the fact that his brother couldn't see it through the phone. Either Matt was playing dumb or was really that oblivious. Or maybe he honestly didn't think he would know about the blog, since he didn't surf the internet on a regular basis.
"No, Matt... That's not it at all."
There was an ever so brief hesitation, and Jeff could hear his brother let out an exhale before speaking again.
"Oh... Lemme guess - it's my blog you're talking about?" he said.
"None other," Jeff answered with irritation. "Ashley came by and let me know about it. Matt, you really upset her. How could you do that?" he demanded. "How could you do that to her, and to me, your own brother?!"
He expected a string of apologies, but instead, his brother surprised him.
"Jeff, the blog wasn't even about you guys."
The younger Hardy paused as he absorbed that statement. It actually didn't make any sense, but he knew Matt was going somewhere with it.
"It was about Amy and... and that piece of feces ex-boyfriend of hers."
The rainbow-haired man arched an eyebrow at that. How naive did his brother think he was? How on earth would it have made any sense that the blog had been about Amy Dumas and Adam Copeland? Jeff knew the answer to his mental question, and that answer was, quite simply, none.
Nevertheless, he decided to play along. Finally, he cleared his throat and spoke again.
"Oh, okay, Matt. Glad we got that cleared up."
"Yeah," the other man said. "No problem. Look, I gotta go get ready - big return match in a few."
Jeff exchanged goodbyes with his sibling before they hung up. For a long while after, he stayed seated there, his
insides festering. He couldn't believe the nerve of his own brother.