Chapter 1

Sharp steel sat before her on the white porcelain sink of her bathroom in her brother’s four story mansion, begging, pleading, taunting her to use it. Her arms were scarred up, from her wrists to the crease in her arm that linked her elbows and forearms together. Her wrists had black fingerless gloves that covered and wrapped around them tightly. They were Velcro and hid the truth well, but she was forbidden to take them off, except when she took a shower. Tears of pain and anguish slid down her cheeks as she sighed, hating herself for what she was doing, but couldn’t stop it.

Picking it up off the sink and closing her eyes, she slowly sunk the four inch blade in her skin, breaking it, and snapped her eyes open as they watched little tricklets of blood flow down her arm. It was almost entrancing as she continued doing it, cutting slit after slit up her arm, making new scars over her old ones. The pain ceased to exist at this point because she was too far gone in her own misery as she looked in the mirror, her amber colored eyes dead to the world and nothing, but pure darkness beheld them. Her long, raven hair flowed down her back in waves that curled at the ends, even though she tried in vain to make them straight and narrow.

Once she was finished and finally started to feel the pain completely dissolve from her mind, she turned the faucet on ice cold water and slipped her arms underneath the running liquid, groaning at the little stabs of pain that shot up her arms. The blood ran down the drain as the cuts began to heal little by little. She never cut too deep, not wanting to make another trip to the hospital that would notify her overprotective brother on what was happening in his little sister’s life. Ripping the towel off the handle in which it lay, she quickly wrapped both arms together, making sure the cuts were covered completely, and looked in the mirror as a few more droplets fell on her cheeks.

Her reflection was always the first that made her do these types of things, to make her want to hurt herself, to make the blade her best friend. After bandaging up her arms and taking one last look in the mirror, she vanished from the bathroom and headed into her bedroom, sighing heavily when the phone began to blare throughout the entire house. She was the only one home, as usual, but always had her nosey case worker come see her every Wednesday afternoon to talk about her problems. Yet another reason why she used the blade and made it her best friend, the only object she could confide in.

‘I better answer it or else he’ll come home worrying about me.’ She thought miserably, wincing at the little stabs of pain her arms brought forth, and sighed as she walked over, sitting on the bed. Picking up the receiver and putting it to her ear, she simply said, “What is it now, dear brother?”

“What are you doing?” He asked immediately, one of the first questions to always come out of his mouth. It was so typical of him not to even ask how she was doing until after he found out she hadn’t harmed herself yet again.

“I’m lying on my bed staring up at the ceiling contemplating death and you?” She muttered obnoxiously, causing her brother to start berating her over the phone, and it only caused her to roll her eyes at him.

“Adrianna, that’s not funny damn it! Now if you can’t answer me decently than I’ll be on the first flight back there and force you to tell me what you’ve really been doing!” Her brother shouted back, causing her to sigh yet again solemnly.

It was bad enough that she had rueful, unforgiving parents, but now she had an unforgiving brother too that she’d been forced to live with since the age of fourteen? “Paul, I’m not a little kid anymore so please stop treating me like one!” She shot back at him, causing him to take a deep breath, not wanting to upset her anymore than he already had.

Raking a hand through his thick blonde tresses, Paul sighed as he said, “I’m sorry, Anna, but I worry about you constantly. I just wish you wouldn’t take death so lightly.”

“I’m not you, Paul! You can’t control me for the rest of your life so just get your own and stay the Hell out of mine!” She spat angrily, hating when he pried in her personal life, especially when it was none of his business to begin with. She as turning eighteen in a few short weeks and then her plan to run away would be in full effect. She didn’t realize how long she’d have to put that plan on hold, especially with the next set of words that came from her brother’s mouth.

“No, you are MY life, Adrianna and the sooner you can realize that, the better off we’ll both be! Now then, about why I called…” Paul trailed off, waiting for his sister to blow up at him, and was surprised when the phone went silent. “You didn’t hang up on me, did you?” He asked softly, causing Adrianna to sigh over the phone as she shook her head in response.

“No brother, I didn’t. I wanted to, but I’m curious as to why you called, besides to check up on me.” She replied, running a hand through her thick, black hair, and looked down at her painted black nails while her brother started to tell her his reasoning.

Taking a deep breath and hoping this conversation didn’t end on a bad note, Paul began his explanation, “I called to let you know that you’re coming on the road with me for the entire summer once school is out after graduation. All you do is sit in that house day in and day out and I can’t take it anymore. You’ve tried killing yourself five times this year alone and I can’t be worrying about you while I’m on the road with the WWE. It’s not healthy for my career so I’ve decided to get you out of that house for a few months. I think it’ll do you some good, Anna.” He stopped and waited for the explosion that was sure to follow.

Adrianna was about to blow up at her brother and tell him to go screw himself, but the thought somehow contemplated in her mind. Being on the road with her brother and seeing so many places might just be the ticket for her escape out of his prison that she had to refer to as home. A smile crossed her lips as she finally made her decision and responded to her what her brother just said. “Alright, for once in a long while, I agree with you. I’ll come with you on the road as soon as I graduate, Paul.” Stated Adrianna, causing Paul to almost fall over in the steel chair he was sitting in, and looked up at his beautiful wife in shock.

He covered the phone with his hand so his sister couldn’t overhear him and shouted, “She’s coming willingly, Gabby!!”

His wife simply smirked at him, her forest green eyes peering over at him with a knowing look, and whispered back in a retort, “Told ya so, baby.”

‘You’ll regret that.’ He mouthed back at her playfully, causing her to giggle at him in response as she ran into the bathroom to grab a quick shower before they had to leave for the arena that day. Paul quickly turned his attention back to the conversation with his sister and said, “Well, good! I knew you’d see things my way!” He declared, using that cocky tone of voice that Adrianna knew all too well.

“Paul, don’t try to get all big and bad on me, aight? You’re a big softie when it comes to me and you damn well know it.” Adrianna informed her brother, causing him to scoff at her over the phone, and that was all she could take before she burst out in a fit of laughter. It was music to Paul’s ears to hear his sister laugh because it only happened once in a blue moon.

He chuckled back at her in response, knowing he did sound just the way she’d described, and smiled as he said, “Well listen, sugar I gotta get goin’, but Gabriella and I will be home next Wednesday, just in time for your graduation.”

“Oh yay!” She replied solemnly, not sounding at all thrilled about the upcoming events, even though she was going to be valedictorian. It didn’t justify how much shit she had to deal with throughout her entire childhood and some of it was really hard to let go of. ‘I just wish he’d understand that.’ She thought sadly and cleared her throat when her arms started to burn from the cuts she’d performed on herself prior to this phone call.

Paul didn’t miss it as he became immediately concerned and asked instantly, “Anna, are you alright, sis?” The amount of concern and love in his voice tore at her heart strings, but Adrianna didn’t have the heart to tell her brother what she’d done a few minutes ago.

“I’m fine, Paul, just have a little stomachache is all. Listen, I’m gonna go lay down, but I’ll see you in a week. Give Gabby my love. Love you bye.” She ended the call abruptly, hating it when Paul said goodbye to her, and quickly ran into the bathroom to run ice cold water over her arms once more.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips as more blood ran down the drain, but that didn’t matter to her at the moment. All she cared about was stopping the burning her arms gave off from what she’d done. After the burning finally subsided an hour later, Adrianna was drained as she crawled into bed, keeping her arms against her, and felt the tears instantly start to leak from her eyes and down her cheeks. Her past suddenly invaded her thoughts as she sighed gravely and allowed them to succumb her every thought.

The first thought that entered her mind was the tragic accident that nearly took her own life, but claimed her parents’. It was extremely unfortunate and totally unexpected. Adrianna was on the cheerleading squad and the most popular girl in her school. She was dating the captain and quarterback of the football team and had all the spirit in the world. The colors she wore were of pinks and greens, all pastel, and anything her friends wanted her to wear. They had complete control over her life, what she did, how she did it, everything.

It all changed on one fatal night. Adrianna was at a party with her friends and her boyfriend, Damon, having the time of her life. Drinking and doing all the things her friends had pressured her into doing and Adrianna loved every minute of attention everyone was giving her. That all changed when her cell phone started vibrating against her hip, causing her to excuse herself, and walked outside to the quietness to answer it, incase it was her meddling parents. “Hello?” She answered calmly, even though the ecstasy Damon had given her was slowly taking effect on her entire body.

“Is this Adrianna Levesque?” A woman’s voice sounded on the other end, causing her to become instantly suspicious on what was going on.

“Yes, who is this?” She demanded, wanting to get back to the party and have uncontrollable sex with Damon before the drug completely wore off.

Taking a deep breath, the woman sighed as she solemnly replied, “Ma’am, this is the local hospital calling in regards about your parents. Could you somehow make it up here immediately?” She asked, not wanting to upset the poor girl over the phone, and Adrianna suddenly felt sick to her stomach as dread filled her entire body.

Closing her eyes and trying to breathe in and out slowly, Adrianna asked through tearful eyes, “What happened to them?” Her voice was incredibly shaky and her voice quivered with pure fear.

The woman sighed even heavier over the line, wishing she didn’t have to tell this daughter of the Levesque her unfortunate luck. Adrianna started to cry harshly as she remembered the events that soon followed. “It seems as though your parents were in a horrific car accident and…they’re in intensive care…” Her words trailed off as a blood curdling scream sounded from Adrianna’s mouth, causing everyone in the entire household to overhear her.

“NOOOO!!!!” She screamed out in horror, dropping to her knees on the wrap around porch the house came with, and covered her face with her hands as she sobbed violently. Her cell phone had crashed to the concrete below, smashing into a million pieces, and felt Damon’s arms instantly go around her, trying to get her to calm down.

She never got to say goodbye to her parents, which were rich drunks that only cared about money and nothing more. The funeral followed a few days later and the authorities had contacted Adrianna’s brother in Connecticut, Paul. He was currently home, resting a quadriceps injury, and recuperating from his brutal surgery. His wife, Gabriella, had answered the phone and had to break the horrifying news to her newlywed husband. Paul was beside himself with grief, but also knew he had to give his little sister a home. He hadn’t seen her in years, due to the fact that his parents completely disowned him with his choice in career.

Adrianna remembered reuniting with her brother on that fateful day and knew that her life would never be the same. She had to say goodbye to her friends, her school, and most importantly, her boyfriend. He’d promised to write to her and call her every chance he got, which Adrianna believed so naively. A few weeks after moving into Paul’s four story mansion, Adrianna found out from one of her best friends online on AIM that Damon was already sleeping with Cynthia, captain of the cheerleading squad. A fitting match.

That’s when her world spiraled out of control, causing her to dive deeper and deeper into depression, and eventually, Adrianna tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists. However, she did it wrong and cut them horizontally instead of vertically, but she could’ve bled to death had her brother not found her in the bathroom. He immediately took her to the hospital, where they put her away in a lock down room with padded walls for seventy two hours and put bands on her wrists so she couldn’t harm herself again.

That was the first time out of twenty that she’d tried to end her life and so far, none of them worked. Whether it was horrible timing or not being brave enough to go through with it, Adrianna was miserable and nothing could help her overcome her past. However, she didn’t realize how wrong she was as the unwelcoming darkness overtook her body, succumbing her into a restless slumber.

Chapter 2

The week flew by faster than Adrianna would’ve liked and before she knew it, Wednesday had arrived, the day Paul and Gabriella came home. She looked in the mirror in her bathroom and looked down at her arms, seeing her new scars slowly appearing, and sighed with inner relief that they had healed before her brother got home. The first thing he always did was check her arms to make sure new scars hadn’t appeared, even though she fought him tooth and nail all the way. As far as she was concerned, it was none of Paul’s or anyone else’s business what she did with her life or to herself for that matter. After all, in a few months, on July seventh, the lucky number eighteen would become her new age and therefore, make her an adult.

She sighed exasperatedly, not looking forward to her brother’s homecoming, and ran a hand through her black tresses before slipping out of her clothes. She walked over, locking the door, and turned the faucet on as hot as she could stand it. She stepped inside slowly, trying to get used to the water temperature, and began washing herself quickly. She looked down at her wrists, seeing the huge scars that were across her wrists, and felt the tears instantly sting her eyes as she quickly looked away from them. Quickly finishing up her shower, Adrianna stepped out and wrapped a towel around her waist, just as she heard the bellowing ‘I’m home’ rumbled through all four floors of the house.

‘Great, he’s home.’ She thought miserably before walking over to the sink to brush her teeth. Just as she was rinsing out her mouth with water, a banging came at her door followed by her brother’s voice. “One sec, Paul! I’m dressing!” She called out and sighed when he demanded her to open the door, especially since she’d used the excuse before while cutting herself. Slipping into the clothes she’d taken off and sliding the wristbands over her wrists, Adrianna sighed as she walked over to the door and flipped the lock up, sighing when her brother came barreling through it.

His eyes scanned the bathroom, looking for anything sharp that could cause damage to a human being, and sighed when he found nothing. He always found something whenever he came home because he’d always catch her doing it. He looked back at her, seeing the black wristbands, and walked over as he snapped his fingers. “Off now.” He ordered, complete seriousness in his hazel eyes, and glared when she refused to do so.

“I’m not a child anymore, Paul! I’m not showing you my arms just so you can berate me and chastise me like you always do!” Adrianna shouted back at him in defiance and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Paul was about to say something in response to his sister when Gabriella rushed upstairs and burst through the bathroom door. She seen what Paul was doing and immediately stepped in front of him, staring up at him with her pleading forest green eyes, hoping he would stop this nonsense he always pulled on Adrianna every time they came home. “Paul, stop this already! Get downstairs NOW!” She ordered, pointing toward the door with a scolding look on her face, and bit back a smile when Paul’s head dropped and walked dejectedly out of the bathroom.

“Thanks Gabby.” Adrianna said once her brother was gone, causing Gabriella to nod back at her and smile softly at her niece.

“Are you alright, Anna?” She asked calmly and soothingly, knowing the last thing this poor girl needed was her overbearing brother looking at her wrists again. “I know Paul doesn’t mean to do those things when he gets home, but you have no idea how much he worries about you while we’re on the road, honey. He’s constantly talking about you and wants nothing more than to be here twenty four, seven so he can watch over you. I told him it was ludicrous and ridiculous that he always checked your wrists and arms every time we came home.”

Raking a hand through her hair, Adrianna nodded in agreement and replied, “Yeah, but he’ll never listen. He’ll keep treating me like a child, an infant, someone who can’t take care of herself. I’m turning eighteen in July and he doesn’t even care! I’m just tired of it, Gabby. I’m so tired of him always checking my wrists instead of asking me how I’m doing and feeling.” Everything that came out of her mouth Gabriella agreed with because she knew how much her niece had been through in the past few years, especially after the death of her and Paul’s parents.

Walking over and pulling her into a big hug, Gabriella sighed as she said, “I’m sorry about everything your brother has been putting you through lately. I just don’t want to come home one day and find you dead on the floor of this bathroom and your brother worries about you constantly.” She didn’t want to upset her niece, but she had to make her understand why Paul was doing the things he did whenever he saw her.

“I know he worries about me and I hate it that he does. I just want to be left alone to wallow in my misery and I’d wish he’d respect that.” Adrianna stated, patting her aunt on the back, and sighed when she started to cry. “Come on, Gabby, I’m not going to try killing myself again. I figured after twenty tries, it isn’t meant to be right now.” She lied, trying to get her aunt to calm down.

“I don’t mean to cry, but I can’t help it, Anna. You’re the closest person I have to a sister and I don’t want to see you get hurt. That’s why with you coming on the road with us this summer, I think maybe this will snap you out of the depression you’re currently in.” Gabriella admitted, causing Adrianna to step out of the hug and ran a hand through her hair as she sighed heavily.

“So this was all your idea? What so you two can baby-sit me? You know what, Gabby? Get away from me and get the fuck out of my bathroom now!” She snapped, pushing her aunt out of the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her, flipping the lock on it. Her back pressed against the door and slid down it, landing on the floor on her butt, and buried her face in her knees while her arms wrapped around her legs.

Gabriella sighed as she leaned against the opposite side, not meaning to say the things she did, and ran a hand through her auburn colored hair. Tears stung her eyes as she walked away from the door and out of Adrianna’s bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her, and went to see how her husband was doing. Paul was downstairs in the basement, hitting the punching bag that hung from the low ceiling, and felt the sweat start to build up. He wasn’t angry at his wife or sister for what just happened because none of it was anyone’s fault. He knew his sister was hurting badly and had been for the past couple of years, which is why she tried killing herself on multiple occasions.

Paul tried to send her to a mental institution two years ago and Gabriella flat out refused to allow him to do it. She didn’t want her niece locked up in one of those places where they did whatever they saw fit to their patients. Gabriella grew up in a household where her parents sent her sister away to one of those places and he never came out the same. Her sister committed suicide one year before her and Paul’s wedding and it was terrible for everyone in the family. However, everyone blamed her parents for her sister’s suicide, especially with everything those so called doctors did to her sister and rape didn’t even scratch the surface. After Gabriella sat down with Paul and explained in depth what her sister went through, Paul opted for a different approach, not wanting his sister to go through the same thing Gabriella’s sister had.

The tears started to swell in Paul’s eyes as he remembered the first day he picked up his sister from their grandmother’s house. It broke his heart at the look he saw in her eyes. The light was gone and he could tell that she was slowly diving deeper and deeper to the bottom already, especially when she had to say goodbye to her boyfriend. Damon had been there with her and promised her that he’d call every chance he got and write. Paul didn’t buy it for a minute and when he found out what the little punk did, he took a flight down to the Florida, where his parents were living at the time, and beat the shit out of him. He warned Damon never to come near his sister again or he would finish the job permanently, which Damon made the promise and hadn’t broken it yet.

‘No wonder she’s so fucked up.’ He thought sadly and continued to punch the bag fiercely with his bare knuckles, not caring if they started to bleed or not.

He was so angry at the world, at how messed up his sister was emotionally and physically, and at his parents for dying on them when Adrianna needed them the most. It was his parents fault partially for their demise, especially when he received the autopsy from the wreckage of their car accident. It turned out that they were both heavily intoxicated and ran a red light, slamming on the side of a semi truck, and did a three sixty spin in the air before landing on the street in a pile of ruin. They were dead before they even reached the hospital, but Paul would never tell his sister the gory details, especially in the state of mind she’d been in lately.

“Are you okay?” Came a sweet voice from behind, causing Paul to stop as he sighed heavily, and slowly shook his head in response. Gabriella’s heart broke at the sight of seeing her husband’s tears and walked over to him, making him sit down in one of the nearby chairs, and started to rub his shoulders. “I’m really sorry about what happened up there, but you need to realize that she’s not a little girl anymore, Paul…” She tried to reason with him and sighed when he immediately stood up from the chair, glaring down at her.

“Don’t you think I know that, Gabby? Jesus Christ, I know she’s turning eighteen in July, but I still have the right to check to see if she’s been cutting!” Paul growled out argumentatively, crossing his massive arms in front of his chest, and waited for his wife to say something else.

Raking a hand through her hair in frustration, Gabriella sighed as her eyes filled with tears and stated, “That’s not your place to do that, Paul, especially with how deep in depression she is! She just threw me out of her bathroom and bedroom because I told her that it was my idea for her to come on the road with us this summer and she accused us of wanting to baby-sit her!! You just can’t even imagine what’s going on in that girl’s head because all you care about is making sure you’re the fuckin’ hero!” Before Paul could defend himself, Gabriella ran out of the basement and up the stairs in a fit of tears as they streaked down her cheeks.

Throwing his hands up in the air in pure defeat, Paul decided to call it quits and try to go reconcile with his wife. He wiped the sweat from his brow and headed up the stairs, closing the door behind him, and sighed heavily when he seen the back door was open. He walked over to the window and looking out on their huge strip of land they owned and seen she was galloping away on her horse toward the woods, which was about one hundred acres back. He knew where she was going and decided to let her blow off some steam before going after her to try to patch things up. Deciding a hot, steamy shower was in order; Paul made his way up the stairs, stopping at his sister’s bedroom door.

Pressing his ear against the door, Paul sighed when he heard blaring rock music flowing through the cracks, knowing she was either cutting herself or crying herself to sleep in her bed. ‘God what is it going to take to get her out of this?’ He questioned silently before walking away from the door and into his master bedroom. He threw the towel on the floor and headed in the bathroom, closing the door behind him, and stripped off his clothes before turning on the shower and stepping under the hot sprays. He closed his eyes and allowed all the stress and problems flow from his body, sighing deeply as he leaned forward, hoping his sister snapped out of her depression and wondered what it was going to take to get her to be the old, cheerful and lighthearted girl he once knew.

Meanwhile, in her bedroom, Adrianna lay in her bed, crying her eyes out, and sniffled as a really great song came blasting on her radio. The lyrics poured forth like liquid from a stream, right into her ear, and that caused more tears to flow from her eyes. All she wanted was to find someone who loved her for who she was on the inside instead of out. She allowed Damon to break her heart and wasn’t about to let it happen again, which is why she had such low self-esteem. She loved Damon, still did, but the way he’d hurt her by cheating on her with Cynthia cut through her heart like her four inch blade that’d become her best friend.

She’d thought Cynthia was her best friend, someone she could confide it for anything, but in one fell swoop, she took away the best thing that ever happened to Adrianna and betrayed their friendship. Jasmine had been the one to tell her online on AIM two weeks after Adrianna moved in with her brother and at first; Adrianna didn’t want to believe it. After some very good convincing though and showing pictures as proof of Damon’s infidelity, Adrianna swore she’d never let another man into her heart. Even though that’s all she ever wanted was someone to hold her at night and whisper sweet nothings in her ear.

It would never happen though…or so she thought. What Adrianna didn’t realize was that all of her problems and depression were about to drain away because her knight in shining armor was about to come into the picture and whisk her away to happiness. However, her overbearing and overprotective brother was going to get in the way and it was going to start a war between brother and sister.

Chapter 3

Graduation came the following week, much to Adrianna’s relief because she couldn’t wait to get out of school. Her hair was dyed dark black and curled at the ends, even though Gabriella wanted her to choose a different color. Adrianna flat out refused, not wanting her hair to be any other color than black. She painted her nails black, putting three coats on, and made sure to pick out all black clothes. It was bad enough her graduation gown was the color yellow and her tassel was green. It made her literally sick to know that she’d be forced to wear yellow and sighed when she slipped it on over her black clothes.

Her outfit she’d picked out consisted of a black skirt that went down past her knees along with fishnet nylons and a silver chain that had a skull attached to the bottom as it dangled halfway down her thigh. Her top was a simple black tank that had lace outlining her neckline and the bottom seams. She decided on wearing a black choker that tied in the back and had a huge silver cross hanging from it that had a skull with ruby red eyes. Her arms were covered in black arm warmers that covered both of her arms and her scars. To finish off the outfit, she had three inch boots that had spikes running all the way up them, since they stopped just below the knee.

Taking her black lipstick out of her makeup bag, Adrianna painted them, making sure they stood out, and then proceeded to apply black eyeliner underneath her eyes, on her eyelids, and right above her eyelashes. It brought out the amber color her eyes gave off nicely, making her look evil, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t about appearance to her; this was just her and everyone would have to deal with it. She took out twenty wristbands, ten silver and ten black, and split them between wrists.

Looking in the mirror at her appearance one final time and satisfied with what she saw, Adrianna grabbed her cap, gown and tassel before walking out of her bedroom and downstairs. Paul and Gabriella were downstairs, waiting for her presence, and sighed heavily at the sight before them. “Go change.” Paul ordered, not about to allow his sister to graduate in pure black and darkness.

“No.” She defiantly stated crossing her arms in front of her chest, and took the final step off the winding staircase, refusing to listen to her brother.

“Adrianna…” Paul started to say, but Gabriella stopped him by holding her hand up at him.

“Let her look the way she wants.” She whispered to her husband, causing him to grumble under his breath, and Adrianna smirked when she seen Gabriella talk Paul down.

Raking a hand through her black hair as she stared at her brother, Adrianna scoffed as she rolled her eyes and asked, “Are we ready to get this day over with?” She wasn’t thrilled at all that she was being forced to participate in her graduation ceremony, especially since she hated everyone she was graduating with.

“Yeah, I guess…” Paul muttered under his breath, feeling sick to his stomach at his sister’s appearance, and stalked out the front door, making Gabriella sigh as she lowered her head to the floor in shame.

Adrianna walked over to her and placed her hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her the best way she could. She knew it wasn’t easy with her living with them, especially since their marriage had been rocky over the course of the past few years, ever since her suicide tries began. “I’m sorry, Gabby, but I’m not going to change for anyone. This is who I am and I don’t care what anyone thinks or feels.” She said, meaning every word that came out of her mouth, and Gabriella agreed with her.

“I know, just go out to the car. I’ll be out in a moment.” Whispered Gabriella softly, trying to fight back the tears that were already burning her eyes and Adrianna didn’t miss it. She didn’t dare argue with the woman though as she nodded and walked outside, not about to slip the dreadful colors of her school on until she arrived at the high school.

Gabriella sighed heavily as she wiped away her tears frantically and looked in the mirror, knowing this had to be hard for her husband to go through. She just wished Paul would be a little more understanding and nicer to his sister, especially with the state of mind she was in for the past few years. ‘God, you would think about twenty tries, he would finally get the fuckin’ hint!’ She thought angrily, fixing her makeup, and walked out the door, locking it behind her.

The ride to the high school was made in complete silence, uncomfortable to say the least. It didn’t bother Adrianna, especially since she was used to the silence that surrounded her every day life. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest as the limo driver pulled to a stop, never taking her eyes from the window, and sighed when they finally arrived. “Great, let’s get this over with.” She muttered under her breath, hoping her brother didn’t hear her, and went to get out of the car, but was yanked back harshly.

Paul had a handkerchief out and was trying to wipe the makeup off her face, but Adrianna was fighting him the entire way. “Paul, stop it!! I can wear anything I fuckin’ want!!” She screamed, causing Gabriella to sigh heavily as she tried to stop her husband from wiping the makeup from his sister’s face.

“No!! You’re not graduating with that…gunk on your face!!” Paul growled back at her, pulling her back toward him, and groaned when Adrianna mule kicked him right in the stomach, causing him to release her. She glared back at him as she looked in the mirror, making sure the makeup hadn’t been wiped off, and bolted out of the limo, slamming the door behind her. Paul tried to breathe as he held his abdomen, and looked up at his giggling wife, glaring spitefully at her. “What the fuck are you laughing at, Gabriella?!” He demanded, causing her to sigh as she shook her head sadly at her husband.

“You deserved what she did to you, Paul. You need to learn that she’s going to dress and act the way she wants to, whether you like it or not. If you keep doing this to her and trying to change her, you’re going to end up losing the only family you have left! You think about that while nursing your bruised stomach.” Gabriella proclaimed before stepping out of the limo, closing the door softly behind her, and went to find a close seat in the audience so she could watch her niece graduate with pride.

Soon after, Paul arrived, sitting right beside his wife, and watched as the ceremony took place. That night they were leaving to head back on the road with the WWE, much to Paul’s delight. He couldn’t wait to see how his sister would mingle with his friends on the road as the principal stood at the podium and began the ceremony. “Good afternoon, parents, guardians, teachers, faculty members, and students to the graduation ceremony and class of two thousand six. Welcome to your children’s futures and the ending of their first life chapters and the beginning of the rest of their lives. College would surely follow for most of you and then afterwards, some of you will go on to be successful while others will develop families. Whatever you decide to do with your lives, we wish you nothing, but the best and hope all of your decisions are smart and precise. Now, without further ado, may I present the Class of two thousand seven’s Valedictorian…Adrianna Levesque!”

As soon as her name was announced and she stood up from her seat, the entire audience became a hushed silence as she walked up the aisle. She didn’t care about the whispers that flowed through her ear, which were nothing, but vulgar statements and shrugged her shoulders as he walked up the stairs on the platform. Arriving in front of the podium with her speech in hand, Adrianna looked out among the crowd and ran a hand through her hair as she looked over at her brother and Gabriella. Clearing her throat, she fixed the microphone and rolled her eyes before beginning her long speech. “I had this huge speech planned to tell you all, since I’m the smartest out of all of you, but I figured, I’d just tell you how I REALLY feel about this entire graduation ceremony shit…” She trailed her words off and ripped up her speech, causing gasps and screams to shout at her, but she didn’t care.

“You see, this whole graduation ceremony is nothing, but a huge money making machine and a joke. To make people who aren’t worthy of your caliber feel so low about themselves that they develop even lower self-esteems and force them to make irrational decisions. That’s the reason why I didn’t develop any friendships with any of you because you took one look at me and thought I was worthless. My appearance has nothing to do with the person I am inside, but obviously, none of you care about that nor realize how much you hurt those less fortunate and popular than you. It doesn’t matter though because no matter what my speech may have implied, all of you are going to get up in the morning with huge hangovers from partying all night over something that this school makes you think you’ve accomplished! Some of you will end up pregnant from screwing your boyfriends’ brains out until the sun comes up, but its all fun and joy isn’t it? What could a screaming baby hurt right? And as far as this school spirit is concerned, it’s nothing, but a bunch of bullshit, stupid jocks who don’t care about anything or anyone, but themselves and their rock hard bodies that will probably end up overweight or losers working at carwashes for a living after getting multiple DUI’s. It doesn’t matter though because none of you are going to listen to me, so here’s the only advice I have for you. Get out while you still can and stop being so hypocritical of everyone around you, just because of how they look, dress, and act. As you can see, my appearance hasn’t changed how smart I am and to be quite honest, I don’t give a flying fuck what you all think of me because as far as I’m concerned, I’m way better than all of you combined. Fuck you all and have a wonderful graduation.” Adrianna finished up her speech before snatching her diploma out of her shocked principal’s hand and jumped off the platform before taking off her robe and cap.

Pulling out her purse that was hidden well underneath her robe, Adrianna pulled out some lighter fluid and a lighter before flipping the flame on high and dropped it on the robe, cap, and tassel. She laughed wickedly as they burned right before hers and everyone else’s eyes before turning on her heel and walking down the sidewalk off the school property. What a way to end the thirteen years of her life! Adrianna slid inside the limo once she arrived and started laughing hard; the look on everyone’s faces priceless, and knew nobody would ever forget what she did.

Paul and Gabriella just sat there, absolutely stunned by what Adrianna just said in her Valedictorian speech and thought that was the worst of it. They were dead wrong when they witnessed her burn her tassel, robe, and cap together in front of everyone, not believing the audacity of her. Paul sighed heavily as he raked a hand through his hair, beat red from how much embarrassment he was feeling mixed with anger. He shot his wife a look that said not to say a word as he stood up, apologizing profusely for the destroyed graduation, and quickly made his way toward the limousine, hoping his sister was waiting to get the verbal lashing of a lifetime. Gabriella was hot on his trail, knowing this was going to be anything, but pleasant.

Adrianna was prepared for her brother’s explosion and remembered to bring her IPOD with her on the trip. She pulled it out of her jacket pocket and pushed play, turning it up enough to where she could block out her brother’s ranting and raving, and smirked as her eyes sunk into the window. She made sure to hide her IPOD so Paul wouldn’t see it and was thankful that she’d made the decision to grow her hair out because it covered her black earphones that stuck in her ears and hung down, blending with her outfit perfectly. She closed her eyes when the door flung open, almost flying off the hinges, and rolled her eyes when Paul got in her face. She completely ignored him, listening to her favorite song, and ran a hand through her hair, making sure her hair kept the earphones hidden, and pretended like she could hear everything that was coming out of his mouth.

“ADRIANNA!! THAT WAS THE MOST STUPID, INCONSIDERATE, ASSHOLE THING YOU’VE EVER DONE!! I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M RELATED TO A BITCH LIKE YOU WHO DOESN’T EVEN CARE HOW HER FELLOW CLASSMATES FEEL ABOUT THEIR GRADUATION!! YOU COMPLETELY RUINED THE ENTIRE CEREMONY AND FOR WHAT? BECAUSE YOU FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF AND WANT TO DIVE DEEPER INTO YOUR SO CALLED ‘DEPRESSION’? FACE FACTS, ADRIANNA, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE BABIED ON THIS TRIP!! YOU WILL HAVE A GOOD TIME AND DO THINGS WHEN I TELL YOU TO DO THEM AND IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, THEN I’LL SHIP YOUR ASS AWAY TO A FUCKIN’ BOOT CAMP WHERE THEY’LL WHIP YOUR ASS INTO SHAPE!! YOU ARE GROUNDED FROM HERE ON OUT DO YOU HEAR ME, LITTLE GIRL!?!? GROUNDED!!!!” Paul snapped at his sister, bellowing, and felt his vocal cords begin to hurt from screaming so much. He was absolutely livid at his sister for what she did and still couldn’t believe what she’d done to end her thirteen years of school.

Gabriella had plugged her ears with her fingers, knowing the explosion was about ready to erupt, and sighed heavily when he kept going for a good fifteen minutes. She had to admit that what Adrianna did was completely out of line and irresponsible. Her heart went out to all those students with their upset, livid parents, and wondered if the school was going to be lit on fire because of what Paul’s sister pulled. She looked over at Adrianna, wondering why she wasn’t screaming back at her brother, and found it rather odd. Her eyes widened in shock when Adrianna pulled the earphones out of her ears, looking confused as ever, and asked innocently, “I’m sorry, but what did you say dear brother?”

Oh yeah, this was DEFINITELY going to be the trip from Hell!

Chapter 4

The plane ride was long and grueling to put it directly as Adrianna looked out the window, thanking the heavens above when the flight attendant’s voice sounded over the speakers, letting them know the plane would be landing shortly. A smirk crossed her lips as Adrianna thought about this morning and what she’d done to her fellow classmates, not regretting one single second of it. It felt good to burn the school colors right in front of them and knew they’d never forget her because she’d left her mark on that school in only mere seconds. Paul was none to thrilled with her and said she was grounded until she turned eighteen, much to her delight. His grounding never worked, especially with his choice in career, so Adrianna knew she’d have free reign this entire summer trip. The only thing she was concerned about was escaping him for good and this trip was her ticket, especially since they were going all over the United States.

Gabriella looked over at her husband, whose eyes were glued to the window and sighed heavily, knowing this trip was going to be hard on everyone involved. “Paul…Why don’t you try talking to your sister instead of yelling and screaming at her?” She’d suggested right before they boarded the plane and he’d snapped at her, telling her to mind her own business and to stay out of it. She knew he hadn’t meant what he said, but it still hurt and Gabriella wasn’t about to forgive him so easily. She’d decided she was going to stay with her best friend and Smackdown! Diva Ashley Massaro until Paul changed his ways toward his sister.

Sighing heavily in his own thoughts, Paul raked a hand through his blonde hair, wondering what it was going to take to change his sister’s ways and attitude about life. He still couldn’t fathom the reason why she did what she had at her graduation earlier on that day and felt sick to his stomach. Once they got to the arena, Paul was going to sit down with her and have a civil conversation, knowing his wife was right. He felt awful for the way he’d yelled at her earlier and wanted to make things right between them. Ever since Adrianna had moved in with them shortly after their parent’s death, their marriage had been on the rocks and he wanted it to stop and get back to the way things used to be.

Once the plane landed a half an hour later, Paul escorted his wife and sister through the terminal and over to the luggage cart to retrieve their bags. Adrianna dragged her immediately, not wanting her brother prying through her personal belongings, and watched as Paul grabbed the remaining bags, one for Gabriella and two for him. She rolled her eyes when Paul tried to grab her bag, but Adrianna wouldn’t allow it as she whispered deadly, “Don’t even think about it. I’ll carry my own.”

“Fine whatever.” Paul muttered back, not in the mood to argue with his sister in a busy airport, and looks over at his wife with sorrow shining in his hazel eyes. Gabriella simply turned away, not wanting to even look at him right now, disgusted with how he treated her earlier, and Paul honestly didn’t blame her. Leaning down near her ear, he whispered softly, “We’ll talk later if you want about earlier.”

Gabriella didn’t say a single word as she simply lowered her head, feeling ashamed at the moment, and felt her heart splitting in two. She knew her husband was sorry for what he’d said to her earlier on, but she had to make him suffer for it this time. Adrianna was getting fed up with their whispered talk and stated, “Are we going to stand here all day with this entire ruckus or actually get out?” She wanted to go to the hotel and lay down for a while, feeling incredibly jetlagged from the flight she’d just endured.

“Let’s go, follow me and stay close.” Paul instructed, not wanting to sound mean or anything, but the last thing he needed was losing his wife and/or sister in this monstrous crowd of people. It was a mid-Saturday afternoon so the airports were packed. They went through security, which took a good half an hour, and by the time they were finished, Adrianna felt violated and trashy. They’d actually went through all of her personal belongings, making sure she didn’t have anything destructive that could harm the other passengers, and shook her head at them in disgust when they finished.

Adrianna was never so glad to be outside as fresh air hit her face, causing her to breathe it in, and sighed when her brother guided them to his rental car. It was silver SUV that was four doors, much to her liking. She quickly headed over, getting into the car and placed her bag beside her, hoping they arrived at the hotel soon so she could rest. Her entire body was tired from the day’s events and all she wanted to do was sleep for the rest of it. However, her brother crushed her hopes when he announced that they were heading to the arena first. He was already running late and had no choice, which Adrianna thought was totally lame.

“Paul, I don’t feel good.” She whined, trying to get him to change his mind and immediately stopped when he shot her a deadly look.

“Anna, I’m already late for work as it is. You can sleep at the arena.” Paul calmly replied, trying not to snap at his sister, and smiled a little when she simply agreed with him. Gabriella was shocked at this sudden turn of events from her husband, but continued to stare out the window, not wanting to get in the middle of it again.

Halfway through the ride to the arena, Paul looked in his rearview mirror, smiling when he saw his sister sleeping peacefully. He knew this was the perfect time to talk to his wife about what had happened earlier and hopefully patch things up with her. Taking her hand in his own, Paul started to caress it gently, but frowned when she pulled away from him. “Gabby, I’m sorry about earlier. I was just in a really sour mood and can you really blame me after the shit she pulled at her graduation?” He questioned, causing Gabriella to sigh heavily, knowing her husband made a good point as far as what Adrianna did today.

“I know, Paul. What you said to me earlier though really hurt me. All I was trying to do was help and you completely snapped on me for it.” Gabriella finally spoke; telling him exactly how she felt, and tears started burning her eyes as the emotions overtook her body.

Nodding at her in understanding, Paul sighed as he brought her hand up to his soft lips and said, “I know, baby and I’m so sorry for that. I promise I’ll try to not snap on you again. I love you, Gabby.” The look of sheer sincerity shined in his eyes, causing Gabriella to sigh deeply, and decided he’d been through enough punishment as he pulled up to a red light. She leaned over, bringing his face to meet hers, and kissed his lips softly, causing him to groan in her mouth, and broke the kiss just as the light turn green. “Good timing.” Paul commented, a smirk on his lips, and Gabriella smirked right back at him slyly.

“Always.” She purred in his ear, running her hand down his chest, and started stroking him through his dress pants that he had on. A half grunt, half groan escaped Paul’s lips as he looked over at her, his hazel eyes turning a dark forest greenish brown, and seen the arena was only mere inches away. He quickly pulled into the secluded parking lot that was strictly for the wrestlers, Divas, and WWE staff, and pulled into the first spot his eyes landed on.

Gabriella giggled wickedly as she leaned over, licking his earlobe, and knew that would be his complete undoing. Paul glared at her seductively as he looked in the rearview mirror, seeing Adrianna was sleeping still, and knew this wasn’t the time or place. “Dressing room?” She whispered against his lips after leaning over, his hot breath on hers, and ran a hand through her hair when he nodded in response.

“Adrianna, get up we’re here!!” Paul announced, jolting her awake, and looked at her in the rearview mirror before getting out of the car and walking behind the car to retrieve his bag. Gabriella was hot on his trail, all smiles, but Adrianna didn’t notice it as she swiped her own bag from the back of the car and followed her brother and sister-in-law that she referred to as her aunt into the huge building.

It was even bigger on the inside than on the out as she looked around, seeing a bunch of people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It was madness everywhere she looked, chaos amuck, and Adrianna wondered why her brother chose such a crazy lifestyle. She kept her head lowered, not wanting to attract attention, and sighed when Paul was stopped by one of his friends, Adrianna assumed. Peeking up at the individual, Adrianna was immediately attracted to him and could feel the darkness radiating from his soul.

He was around six foot, five and weighed almost three hundred pounds Adrianna would guess. He had short, well trimmed dark brown hair, but his eyes were covered by a pair of black sunglasses. The outfit he was wearing didn’t hide the fantastic physique the man had on him, which consisted of a tight black beater with Adidas exercise pants and white tennis shoes. The muscles on this man was absolutely incredible, bulging out in places she didn’t even know existed on a man’s body. She watched as he took his sunglasses off and was instantly entranced by his chocolate brown eyes, not believing how mysterious they were, and wanted to know more about this man.

David smiled at his best friend, shaking his hand, and bent down to kiss Gabriella’s cheek as he asked thoughtfully, “Hey Gabby, how’re you holding up honey?”

“We’re doing fine, David. This is my niece, Adrianna. She’s also Paul’s little sister.” Gabriella introduced, causing David’s eyes to stare at the petite woman who was standing behind Gabriella out of sight. “Anna, come out and say hi to David. He’s one of our closest friends on the roster.” Gabriella added, hoping that brought Adrianna into the conversation, but all they received was a small wave of her hand.

“She’s a shy one, eh?” David questioned, already knowing the answer, and Paul nodded as he sighed heavily, shooting his sister a look before staring back at his best friend.

“You have no idea just how shy, man. She’s gonna be staying with us for the next couple of months. She just graduated from high school today.” Paul explained, causing David’s mind to start spinning with wonder as he fixated his gaze on Adrianna, whose head was lowered.

He smiled softly at the mention of Adrianna graduating from high school and nodded as he stated to her, “Congratulations on that accomplishment, Adrianna.”

“Yeah…thanks. Can we go now?” Adrianna asked hostility, not wanting to be near this man any longer, and ran a hand through her hair when Paul shot her another glare.

“I’ll take her to our dressing room, Paul. You can stay and talk with David for a few minutes.” Gabriella chimed in, not wanting another war to start between them, and gave Paul a secret smirk as she guided Adrianna away from the conversation.

Adrianna sighed with inner relief and made a mental note to thank her aunt later as she allowed Gabriella to lead her down the hallway. “Thanks.” She whispered to her aunt, who simply smiled back at her with a simple nod.

Once they arrived in the dressing room, Adrianna immediately went into the bathroom, needing to freshen up her makeup. Gabriella shook her head as she set everything to the side and put some lip gloss on, wanting her husband to take her while she was beautiful. She sat on the couch in anticipation while Adrianna was in the bathroom, much to Gabriella’s dismay because that’s where she wanted to have sex with her husband. She sighed with inner relief when Adrianna walked out a few minutes later, freshly black makeup on her face, and sat down on the couch next to her aunt/sister-in-law. Paul walked in a few minutes later, causing Gabriella’s eyes to light up instantly, and smiled softly at his wife, knowing exactly what she wanted.

“Well now that your highness is back, I’m going to get a bottle of water. Does his highness want anything?” Adrianna sarcastically asked, causing Paul to glare at her as he bit his lip, not wanting to ruin the mood between him and Gabriella.

“No, but don’t stay gone too long. It’s easy to get lost in the arena.” Paul informed his sister, causing her to roll her eyes in response at him, and walked out of the door, closing the door behind her.

Gabriella slowly turned her head toward her husband, licking her lips hungrily, and stood up from the couch as she walked over to the door, flipping the lock on it. She then walked over to her husband, causing him to stand up from the couch, and wrapped her arms around his neck as their lips met in an explosive, passionate kiss. Gabriella groaned in his mouth, stroking their tongues together, and Paul’s hands slid down her back to her ass, gripping it and lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist instinctively, causing Paul to smirk as their lips never left each other, and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind them, and proceeded to slam Gabriella in the nearest wall they came in contact with. Moans and groans filled the air around them as Paul took his wife up to cloud ninety nine and back down again, not caring if he had a match that night or not. The only thing that mattered was making his wife satisfied and making up for what he’d done to her earlier on that day.

Adrianna sighed heavily as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stay out of everyone’s way, and arrived at the cafeteria a few minutes later. She looked around, keeping her head down in the process, and quickly walked over to the water machine, slipping her dollar in it, and pressed the first button. She sighed when her water got stuck and kicked it, trying to get it out, but it wasn’t working. Her entire body jolted into a jump when a hand came out of nowhere and slammed the side of it hard, causing the water bottle to fall down in the slot, and Adrianna looked up the arm that the hand was attached to, eventually locking eyes with ocean blue pools. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, and wondered why her feet felt like they were glued to the floor at that moment.

Chapter 5

Trailing her eyes up and down this massive figure, Adrianna couldn’t help, but feel instantly drawn to him. He had the most beautiful blue eyes and short, soft brown hair that was trimmed into an army cut. His chest bulged out and was very muscular, more muscular than David’s, and Adrianna wanted to reach out and run her hands up and down his chest for hours. She quickly shook that mental thought out of her head and continued looking down, seeing he had baggy black cargo jean shorts on and white sneakers. There was a huge, thick still chain around his neck that had a symbol attached to it, which consisted of target sign with the letters C and G engraved in it. A black band was around his head and he had black wristbands on his wrists and upper arms with the same symbol as the one he had around his neck on the thick steel chain. Those wristbands looked like they were about to bust off his upper arms, stretching to the limits.

Adrianna snapped out her daze and stare down of this man and quietly said, “T-Thanks.” She took the water bottle of his grasp and opened it up, taking a huge swig of it, and licked the remainder of it from her lips without wiping off her thick black lipstick.

“No problem. I’m John Cena.” He stated, extending his hand to her, and Adrianna stared at her for seemed like an eternity, but only mere seconds. She slowly slid her small hand in his much larger one, trying not to tremble, and raked a hand through her hair as she quickly pulled it back out.

“I don’t think it would be wise to introduce myself to you, but thanks for the water.” Adrianna replied before bolting out of the cafeteria, not believing what just transpired between her and this John Cena. Without even realizing it, Adrianna had ended up outside the building and smiled when she seen it was pitch black outside. ‘Just the way I like it.’ She thought and walked over to the side, sliding down the wall, and leaned her head back against the smooth surface of the arena.

“Damn, what’s her beef?” He questioned himself before walking away from the water machine, not able to get the look of fear in your eyes out of his mind. John decided to go work out before the show started shortly and secretly hoped he’s run into her again before the night ended.

“DAMN!!” Came a dark, dangerous tone of voice bellowing out the back door, swinging it open, and smacking the side of the building with a sick crunch. Adrianna jumped up instinctively and looked at the individual who just scared the shit out of her, immediately regretting doing so when she seen it was David. “That stupid lousy BITCH!!!” He shouted out into the darkness, his voice echoing in the night, and Adrianna needed to be somewhere else at the moment before he ended up throwing something and directing it at her. Slowly inching her way to the back door of the arena, Adrianna was almost in when the door creaked, causing David to whip around and stare at her with those dark brown eyes.

Adrianna stood there, frozen solid to the ground, her hand on the door handle, but she couldn’t feel anything in her body as his eyes pierced hers. Fear welled up in her eyes when he started coming toward her, causing her entire body to begin trembling with pure fright. David sighed heavily, knowing he scared the shit out of her, and went to say something, but she beat him to it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overhear. I was just out here getting some fresh air and please don’t hurt me!” She cried out in a pleading tone of voice, hoping what she said caused him to have a heart, and David’s heart instantly broke at her words.

“No, no sweetie, I’m not gonna hurt you. I don’t hit women.” David assured her, causing Adrianna to stare at him extremely skeptical and seen not one ounce of evidence that he was lying to her. Extending his hand and locking eyes with her, David softly said, “Come here and talk to me for a minute…Adrianna.” His voice held a pleading tone to it this time, which touched her heart, and slowly walked toward him.

David smiled at her when her tiny slid in his huge one, not wanting to scare her anymore than he already had, and said, “Thank you for trusting me. I just wanted to explain my actions to you because I scared the shit out of you and I feel you deserve to know the reasoning behind my snapping.”

“David, just calm down a little and tell me.” Adrianna soothingly said and David cracked a smile at her as he nodded.

“You’re right. Sorry. The reason why I came storming out here is because my soon-to-be ex-wife is trying to take half of my fortune.” David explained, causing Adrianna to cringe inwardly, and slowly slid her hand out of his.

She stepped back a few feet and replied, “This isn’t my place so I’ll be taking my leave now.” Starting to walk away and ran a hand through her hair, David gently stopped her from walking and turned her around to face him. “What?” Asked Adrianna, looking down at his hand on her shoulder and smiled a little down at her, his brown eyes twinkling.

“What do you like to be called?” He asked, completely changing the subject, much to Adrianna’s relief, and smiled softly at him.

“Anna. You can call me Adrianna though if you want.” She answered, smiling a little more at him, and walked over to the curb, sitting down on it, and David followed as he grabbed her hand out of instinct.

“That’s a beautiful name, Adrianna.” David said and looked up at the sky as he breathed out, enjoying the moment for however long it lasted. “It’s such a nice night out tonight.”

Nodding in agreement, Adrianna didn’t mind holding hands with him because for some unknown reason, she felt drawn to him in ways that were unexplainable. “Yeah it is.” She breathed out, loving how the stars glistened above them, and for the first time in awhile, felt at peace. “Can I ask you something?” Adrianna asked suddenly, causing David to look down at her with a nod of his head. “Now you don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to, but I’m curious. Does age matter to you?”

“Age is just a number to me. Why do you ask?” David replied curiously, interested in this conversation, and smirked at her when her cheeks started to turn blazing red. “It’s okay, Adrianna. You don’t have to worry about saying something that might offend me because nothing does.”

Adrianna felt really embarrassed now, wishing she hadn’t brought up the age question, but she had to know for her own benefit. “Well…” She started to say, but trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck nervously, and sighed heavily. “David, I’m just going to come right out and say it. I’m seventeen years old and I just graduated from high school. I’m turning eighteen in about a month.” Adrianna revealed and closed her eyes, waiting for the rejection to sound from his mouth.

“Wow…” David breathed out, completely speechless by what he just heard, and cleared his throat, trying to find the right words to say. “Well…I’m thirty five. Does that bother you?” He asked calmly, causing Adrianna’s eyes to widen in shock by not only what David just said, but how old he was.

Staring back into his eyes and feeling her heart drop in the pit of her stomach, Adrianna sighed heavily as she stood up from the curb and stated, “Well, I better head back inside because you probably have more important adult stuff to do. Thanks for the talk though.”

David watched her walk away and sighed heavily, knowing she was really uncomfortable with talking to a thirty five year old man, and in all honesty, he didn’t blame her. Thirty five was a long stretch from almost eighteen after all, but that didn’t stop David from having these strange feelings for her. He stood up from the curb and jogged after her, spinning her around by the arm, and looked down into her eyes before lowering his lips onto hers. Adrianna melted instantly against him, wrapping her arms instinctively around his neck, and started to enjoy the kiss, but something in her head told her to stop. The alarms started to blare off the walls of her brain and she pushed on his chest, breaking the kiss as she stumbled back a little, glaring at him for what he’d done.

“You are thirty five years old and I’m seventeen! You can’t kiss me like that because you’re old enough to be my father!” Adrianna shouted at him, not believing what just happened, and sighed deeply as she felt a few tears slide down her cheeks.

Not missing those tears, David went to pull her in his arms, but Adrianna stepped away from him. “Adrianna, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t restrain myself any longer. I find out extremely attractive and…”

Throwing her hand up in the air, Adrianna shook her head as she stated, “Stop right there! Age doesn’t matter to me, but when a seventeen year old is kissed the way you kissed me by a thirty five year old man, something is wrong there. Just leave me alone, David, please.” Before he could say another word, Adrianna ran away from him and in the arena, going back to her brother’s dressing room, and sighed with great relief when she seen Paul wasn’t there at the time.

Adrianna sighed deeply as she collapsed on the couch and began to cry herself to sleep, but she didn’t get that far when her brother and Gabriella walked in a few minutes later. Paul stopped immediately; staring at his tear streaked sister’s face, and sighed heavily. “What happened?” Paul asked tiredly, not in the mood for his sister’s depression to kick in high gear.

“Don’t worry about it. Can we just go to the damn hotel already?!” She shouted overwhelmed with a type of emotion she wasn’t used to, and immediately swung her bag over her shoulder, following her brother and Gabriella out of the dressing room when her brother agreed with her wish.

Gabriella fell behind while her husband walked in front of both of them, nudged her sister-in-law’s arm, and whispered, “Are you really okay?”

Knowing that she could trust Gabriella with anything she said, Adrianna sighed heavily as she slowly shook her head. “I’ll talk to you about it later.” She whispered back, causing Gabriella to nod in agreement, and decided now would be the perfect time to bring up another subject.

“Your brother doesn’t know this, but I arranged for the hotel to give you your own room. It’s adjoined to ours, but you can lock your connecting and front door. It’ll give you the privacy you want.” Gabriella informed her and smiled when Adrianna’s eyes lit up in happiness, hugging her close.

“Thank you!!” Adrianna whispered happily in Gabriella’s ear, truly thankful to her sister-in-law for doing that, and got in the SUV, a smile plastered on her face.

Paul looked in the rearview mirror at his sister, wondering what had gotten her spirits up so suddenly, and glanced over at his wife. He shook his head when he seen the same goofy smile on her face and shrugged his shoulders, wondering what had gotten the girls happy. ‘Whatever it is, I hope it stays around permanently.’ He thought and put the SUV in drive, pulling out of the parking lot, and headed toward the hotel with a smile on his own lips.

Throughout the ride, Adrianna couldn’t help, but think about the kiss David had bestowed upon her. It was so soft and warm, comforting, passionate, and made her feel beautifully wanted. A sigh of sadness escaped her lips as she ran a hand through her hair, her heart squeezing with pain because she knew more than ever that there was no future between them. He was too old for her and it was wrong in her eyes to be with him. ‘He’s old enough to be my father for Christ sakes!’ She thought miserably and leaned her chin on her hand as she stared out the window at the clear night sky.

On the other hand, a smile reappeared on her face as Adrianna’s mind switched from David to John. The man was beautiful in his own way and very kind. His beautiful blue eyes streamed through her mind, causing her entire body to tingle, and wondered what it would be like to kiss his red, soft lips. He’d been so nice to her, even though she was totally and utterly rude to him from the very beginning. Adrianna didn’t know why he’d popped in her mind, but somehow, he managed to sneak his way through. ‘I need to apologize to him.’ She decided, running a hand through her hair, and nodded in reassurance. ‘God what am I gonna do about this?’ She wondered, breathing out in a huff, and closed her eyes as the thoughts of both David and John swept her away.

They arrived at the hotel a few minutes later and Adrianna wanted nothing more than to get up to her own room and go to sleep. This had been a hectic, emotional day for her and she needed to recuperate. Paul put the SUV in park, causing Adrianna’s eyes to slowly open, and realized they’d arrived. She got out, along with Gabriella, and grabbed her bag before heading inside, followed by Paul. He walked up to the receptionist desk, or started to, but Gabriella quickly stopped him, smiling innocently up at her husband.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and get a shower in, honey? I’ll take care of everything else.” Gabriella suggested, causing Paul’s eyebrow to raise in question, and shrugged his shoulders after a few moments, kissing her forehead gently.

“I’ll meet you upstairs, Mrs. Levesque.” He replied and walked toward the elevator, not giving a second thought as to why his sister was staying behind with his wife.

Gabriella smirked over at her sister-in-law, who smirked right back at her, and both walked up to the counter as Gabby stated, “Reservation under the name Levesque. There should be two of them.”

The receptionist nodded and looked up the information in the system, nodding a few seconds later, and handed over two key cards over to Gabriella. “Rooms 242 and 244, adjoined. Second floor.” She informed them, causing Gabriella to nod as she handed Adrianna her key card.

“Thank you so much for doing this, sis. You’ll never know how much it means to me. Are you sure this was okay with my brother?” Adrianna asked, wanting to be reassured that everything was going to be fine, especially with how overprotective Paul was.

Waving off her sister-in-law absentmindedly and nodding in reassurance, Gabriella closed her hand with the key card in it and said, “I’m sure now get going. Get some sleep because we have a flight in the morning to Phoenix, Arizona.”

“Alright, night sis.” Adrianna replied before taking her bag and skipping to the elevator, pushing the third button, and before she knew it, she’d arrived outside her OWN room that Gabriella set up. As she snuggled into her bed and started to close her eyes, screaming and cursing could be heard in the other room followed by the slamming of the door next to hers. A few seconds later, a knock sounded on it, causing Adrianna to get up and answer it, sighing when a distraught Gabriella stood in her midst. They ended up sharing a room that night because the last thing Gabriella wanted to here was how much she’d defied her husband’s wishes when it came to his beloved sister.

Men could be such jerks sometimes, couldn’t they?

Chapter 6

“Let’s go shopping.” Gabriella suggested the following day while she and Adrianna were having a quiet breakfast together. Paul had thrown his wife out the previous night because she refused to treat her sister-in-law like a child any further and felt she deserved her own room. Adrianna felt horrible for her and wanted to go kick her brother’s teeth down his throat, but knew it wouldn’t do any good.

The suggestion caused Adrianna to cringe on the inside because she hated shopping, unless it was something she needed. She wasn’t the type to just go browse around and buy whatever she felt like, even if her brother gave her a credit card with her name on it. Gabriella’s eyes held a sense of need and since her brother was being a total jerk about the entire situation, Adrianna knew she had no choice. Raising her orange juice up in the air, she smiled at her sister-in-law and replied, “Let’s blow this joint.”

Gabriella grinned at her as they quickly finished their breakfast and hopped into the shower, one at a time of course. Once they were finished and Gabriella was ready, it was Adrianna’s turn in the bathroom. Before she could walk in, Gabriella stopped her, causing Adrianna to turn around and look at her questioningly. “Will you do me a favor?” She asked her sister, causing Adrianna to quirk her eyebrow up, and wondered what Gabriella had in mind.

“Depends on what it is.” Adrianna truthfully responded, skeptical about what her sister had in mind, and was pushed into the bathroom, right in front of the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her with no makeup on, no real way to hide from the world around her, and Adrianna felt appalled at the sight.

Standing behind her sister and pulling her long, thick black tresses up, and looked at her reflection, not believing how beautiful she was without the makeup. “I want you to go out with me today without hiding yourself from the world. You might surprise yourself, but the choice is yours.” Gabriella requested, meaning every word she said, and disappeared out of the bathroom, leaving Adrianna alone with her makeup bag and reflection.

Adrianna sighed as her eyes drifted closed, only to open back up, and watched as her reflection stared back at her. It had been a long time since she’d gone out in public without her mask on because she wanted to hide from what was out there. True it was cowardly, but she didn’t feel like dealing with the real world yet, especially when her soul was drenched in darkness. Her hand started to go for the makeup bag, needing to put the mask on that hid her well, but stopped, and dropped it at her sides. Gabriella made a good point and that was that she could surprise herself by not going out with a mask hiding her face, even though she found it hideous to begin with. Her face was pale white with amber colored eyes and black hair and looked like a ghost. ‘I can’t do it.’ She decided with a frown and raked a hand through her hair before reaching for the makeup bag once more.

Gabriella was just finishing the touches on her outfit, smiling with satisfaction at what she’d picked out. It was a simple pink and white stripped shirt with a white mini skirt that went one inch above the knee. She had on pink knee high boots that were leather and went halfway up her calf. She had them in all different colors too along with outfits to match, but she couldn’t bring them all with her on the road. Her hair was up in a messy bun that was held together by a pink clip and her eyes were outlined in black with white and pink mixed eye shadow on. Her lips were painted with clear glass and she had a simple charm around her neck of a butterfly that had white and pink diamonds in it.

Her eyes widened as she looked back at her reflection, but it wasn’t because of that. Adrianna’s reflection stared back at her as she whipped around, tears burning her eyes at the sight before her. Her sister was wearing simple black eyeliner, nothing too thick and no black lipstick coated her lips. She had on a simple pair of black cargo jeans that snug perfectly on her along with a black baby tee. It had a devil on it that said ‘Too Bad to Be Evil’ printed on it in red jeweled lettering, causing Gabriella to smile. Her feet were incased in simple black tennis shoes and her hair was down and curled, due to the gel she used to make it that way.

Walking over and wrapping her arms around Adrianna, Gabriella closed her eyes to keep the tears in and whispered softly, “Thank you. You look beautiful.”

“Yeah…right.” Adrianna replied solemnly, but was happy she could make her sister happy with her appearance for once. She hugged her back, patting her back a few times, and finally had to back out of the hug, not liking the touchy feeling that was creating inside of her. “Ready to go, princess?” She asked, referring to the bright outfit Gabriella had picked out and made a mental note to gag later on when her sister wasn’t around.

“Yup! Let’s go do some damage!” Gabriella declared as she looked her arm through Adrianna’s and together, the girls headed out for a day on the town of Los Angeles. The show that night was going to be at the Arrow Pond so they had plenty of time to shop and generally enjoy life for once.

The first stop they made was to the mall, which had hundreds of stores to choose from. It was almost as big as Mall of America, but not quite, much to Adrianna’s relief. Gabriella was all smiles as she dragged Adrianna to every store in there, finding something, even if it was a little trinket or four. They went into Victoria’s Secret, where Gabriella bought every set of perfume they had and even persuaded Adrianna to get one as well, which was the Sexiest Fragrances on Earth set. After that, Adrianna thought it was time to switch gears a little bit and pointed toward her favorite store in the entire planet: Hot Topic.

“Umm why don’t you go in there and browse while I shop somewhere else?” Gabriella suggested, not wanting to go in this store, and sighed when Adrianna dragged her inside by the arm. The music was blaring throughout the store as Adrianna went completely crazy, picking up everything of The Crow she could find. It was her all time favorite movie along with The Little Mermaid. She’d been a huge fan of both most of her life and loved how they were bringing Ariel back into the twentieth century. “Oooo look at this!” Adrianna pointed out as she dragged Gabriella with her, showing her the beautiful Disney purses they made, but was pissed when she could find no Ariel one.

“Hmmm I think I’m gonna get Sleeping Beauty since that’s my favorite Disney movie.” Gabriella stated, picking up the huge tote bag, and found it to be adorable on her. “This is too cute! I’m getting it.” She decided and walked over to the register to pay for her purchase while Adrianna browsed some more.

They spent about an hour in that store before Adrianna finally decided to pay for everything she wanted. She’d gotten two new outfits, everything The Crow she could find, The Little Mermaid keychain she’d spotted, and two new pairs of shoes. She paid for her purchases and walked out of the store with her sister-in-law, almost spent by just shopping in there. Gabriella had never been so happy to breathe fresh air as she plopped down on a nearby bench, her arms getting tired from all the bags she’d carried around. Adrianna sat beside her and pulled out her purchases, grinning at the outfits she’d picked out, and smiled over at her sister-in-law, who looked exhausted.

“You’ve been looking pretty pale the last couple of days.” Adrianna pointed out a few minutes later, causing Gabriella to sigh as she raked a hand through her hair, a knowing look in her eyes. “What’s going on? Are you sick or something?” She pried; wanting to make sure Gabriella was fine and not coming down with something serious like a virus or worse.

“Anna...There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you and I don’t now how to do it.” Gabriella said with a heavy sigh, looking down at her three stoned diamond ring that Paul slipped on her left ring finger at their wedding five years ago. It glistened under the lights of the mall, but her heart broke because she wasn’t sure if their marriage was going to last or not.

Scooting closer to her sister, sensing something wasn’t right, Adrianna wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulders and softly said, “You can tell me anything, Gabby. I won’t tell Paul. I hate him right now for what he’s doing to both of us.”

“I know…He’s a big dumb jerk, but I still love him and it breaks my heart because I can’t even tell him this news I’m about to tell you.” She confided and felt a few tears slip down her cheeks, her emotions on high because of what she was about to reveal to her sister-in-law.

“So what is it?” Adrianna urged on, dying to know what was wrong with her sister so she could get used to it sooner rather than later. She never in a million years expected it to be the next set of words that came out of Gabriella’s mouth.

Looking straight into Adrianna’s amber colored eyes with her bloodshot ones, due to all the crying she’d done lately, Gabriella whispered softly, “I’m pregnant…”


John was walking throughout the mall, looking at all the cool stores and what not, just trying to kill time before the show that night. He was facing Johnny Nitro, which was a total joke in his mind because the man couldn’t wrestle to save his life. John chuckled at that thought as he shoved his hands in the front pocket of his jean shorts and decided to venture in a sporting goods store. He looked around for an hour or so and finally decided to pick up a collector’s edition sport jersey of the Oakland Raiders, which was associated with the city of LA, even though they originated from Oakland, California. John smiled at the cashier, who was gushing over him, and sighed, knowing she only wanted him for his wealth and body instead of his brain and heart, which he had plenty of.

After signing the autograph for her and walking out, John decided to head upstairs to browse for a bit. His mind started to wander to one person in particular, one he couldn’t get away from. It was the woman he’d helped out in the cafeteria the previous night with the water machine. Even though she’d been nothing, but rude to him, John couldn’t help, but find her attractive, even with her dark makeup. He knew there was inner beauty beneath and was entranced by her for some reason. She held mystery and he wanted to unlock it, but how was he going to do that after the previous night?

His thoughts vanished into thin air when his blue eyes set on Gabriella, Paul’s beautiful wife, and decided to head over. He frowned upon hearing her sniffles and knew she was crying, wondering what happened, and sighed when he finally realized that she and Paul had a huge fight. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop earlier on that morning when they were all working out together, but he couldn’t help it. It was something about Paul’s sister and how Gabriella didn’t respect his wishes, which John thought to be total bullshit from the beginning. Taking a deep breath, he walked over with a smile on his face, not wanting her to know he knew what was going on between her and Paul.

“Hey Gabby, what’s chillin’?” He greeted, causing her head to look up and cracked a smile up at him, loving his free spirit.

“Nothing John, how are you doin’ honey?” She replied, trying to blink back more tears that were sure to flow down her cheeks at any second, much to Adrianna’s dismay.

She immediately recognized who this guy was from the previous night and wondered what he wanted, if he’d recognize her. Deciding to keep her head lowered and out of the conversation, Adrianna simply went through the remainder of her purchases, minding her own business. John bent down to wipe away a few of Gabriella’s tears, frowning at her, and sighed heavily as he shook his head. “I can’t believe what an idiot Paul’s being, especially when you were tryin’ to help out his sis.” John commented as he ran a hand through his hair and dug in his pocket, pulling out a napkin from a fast food place that was down the street. He cracked a smile at her and apologized, “That’s all I got, sweets.”

“It’ll do, John thank you.” She replied softly and took the napkin from his hand, wiping her tears away that had spilled down her cheeks and proceeded to blow her nose.

“Damn, you gotta elephant livin’ up there woman?” He joked, looking up her nose, and that caused Gabriella to laugh a little, which made John smile in return. He pointed at her with a fake shocked look at his face and stated, “AH-HA! I got you to smile AND laugh! WOOT!” He started to dance in front of her, doing the funky chicken, and that was all Gabriella could take as she burst out laughing at his childish antics. That was one thing she loved about John because he didn’t care what anyone thought of him. He would do just about anything to get everyone around him to like him or die trying.

Adrianna watched the antics he was pulling on her sister-in-law, trying not to look up much, and had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing along with them. She pulled the tags off of her pants she’d bought from Hot Topic and stopped, feeling eyes burning on her. She’d made the mistake of looking up and meeting John’s eyes once more, just like the previous night at the arena, and felt her insides start to shake. John looked back at her in shock, not believing it was the same girl he’d helped out and couldn’t stop thinking about from the previous night and looked over at Gabriella in question. Gabriella didn’t catch the shocked looks on both their faces as she stood up, introducing them to each other. “I’m sorry for my lack of manners. John, this is Adrianna, Paul’s little sister. Adrianna, this is John Cena, one of mine and your brother’s closest friends on the road.”

Seeing how uncomfortable Adrianna had gotten, John simply smiled and extended his hand as he said, “Nice to meet you, little lady.”

Biting her bottom lip and staring over at her sister-in-law hesitantly, Adrianna looked back into his eyes as her hand slid into his and shook it before replying, “Nice to meet you too, John.”

Chapter 7

After the bombshell Gabriella revealed to Adrianna and meeting up with the blue eyed hunk again, they went out to a nice lunch. Neither woman ate though, too deep in their own thoughts about life, and decided to just take it back to the hotel since they had a refrigerator in the room. John had taken off and left them at the mall, promising to call and check up on Gabriella later on. She thanked him and bid him farewell before heading to lunch with her sister-in-law. Their drive back to the hotel was made in silence or at least halfway through it before Adrianna broke the uncomfortable silence between them.

“How far along are you?” She asked, causing Gabriella to look over at her with tear filled eyes, and sighed when she started crying once again. Gabriella pulled over on the side of the road and put the SUV in park, hitting the steering wheel with her hands, and Adrianna ran a hand through her hair, not sure what to do at the moment.

After Gabriella hit the wheel a few more times, she finally lowered her head as more tears spilled down her cheeks and whispered out, “Two months. I just found out a few days ago when I took a pregnancy test when we were in Chicago. I wanted to tell him, but he kept making me insane and angry with how he’s been treating you. God, why do men have to be such assholes at times?” She questioned more to herself than Adrianna, who was simply nodding her head in agreement.

“When are you going to tell him?” She asked, wanting to know when to be away from the hotel and generally out of the state when Gabriella finally did tell her brother. He would both explode from anger or happiness and take half of whatever state they were in with him.

Shaking her head as more tears poured down her face, Gabriella looked over at her sister and replied honestly, “I have no idea. At this point, with how he’s treating both of us, I don’t ever want to tell him.”

“But you have to tell him, Gabby. You can’t keep something like this from my brother, your husband. He loves you, he’s just having a difficult time with me and I haven’t made it any easier for him.” Adrianna admitted, guilt suddenly washing over her, and realized that she’d been the reason why he threw her out of their hotel room the previous night in the first place. “I’m the reason why you two are fighting in the first damn place.” She pointed out, causing Gabriella to sigh deeply and shook her head.

“No, it’s your brother’s fault we’re fighting, not yours. You shouldn’t blame yourself for our fights, Anna. We fight because of something stupid we do to each other. It has nothing to do with you bottom line.” Gabriella defiantly stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and dared Adrianna to argue with her about it more.

Adrianna sighed heavily as she adverted her gaze from her sister’s, not meaning to upset her, and muttered out, “I just feel responsible.”

“I know you do, but please don’t blame yourself for your brother’s mistakes. He needs to realize that you are not a little girl anymore and that you’re growing into a beautiful young woman. That’s why I got you your own room because I feel you deserve your privacy and your brother disagreed with me. We’ll get through this, but he needs to learn the error of his ways.” Gabriella explained, placing her hand on her stomach, and took in a deep breath as another wave of nausea hit her.

Not missing the look on her face, Adrianna quickly asked, “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine. It’s just a wave of nausea because the baby is growing. Don’t worry; I’ll be fine in a minute.” Gabriella reassured her sister, not wanting her to worry and get herself worked up over something that wasn’t able to be helped. As promised, a few minutes later and Gabriella was ready to drive again. She winked over at Adrianna who smiled back at her and drove back to the hotel to drop off their newly purchased belongings.

When they got up to the room, Adrianna immediately hung up her new outfit, leaving the other one out to change into. Gabriella found it adorable at how excited her sister was and proceeded to change into one of her new outfits she’d bought as well. Once they were changed, the girls decided to order some snacks and veg out in their room for the remainder of the day. Neither had to nor wanted to be at the arena with the type of mood Paul was in. They decided to order a PPV movie, Stick It, along with snack foods and junk. Halfway through the movie, Gabriella looked over at her sister-in-law, who was deep in thought, and started wondering about their encounter with John earlier on at the mall.

“Can I ask you something?” Gabriella asked, turning toward her sister, who looked back at her with a questionable look in her eyes.

“It depends...” Adrianna replied, taking a sip of her 7up, and wondered what her sister-in-law wanted to ask her.

Running hand through her hair and sighing, Adrianna looked down at her food and said, “I noticed something wasn’t right between you and John today at the mall. Have you met him before?” She asked curiously, causing Adrianna to sigh as she reluctantly nodded her head.

“Yeah…Last night actually at the arena.” She admitted, adverting her gaze from Gabriella’s curious eyes to her food below, suddenly becoming more interested in it than this conversation.

“What happened?” Gabriella pried on, curious as to what their first encounter was, and smiled when she witnessed Adrianna’s cheeks turn a flaming red. For whatever reason, she did not know yet.

‘Can I trust her with what really happened between David and I?’ Adrianna thought and sighed in frustration, knowing now wasn’t the time to reveal such a detail. “Remember when I went to get some water in the cafeteria?” Gabriella nodded. “Well, my water got stuck and I was kicking at the machine and someone’s hand came out and hit the side of it really hard. When I looked up, I saw John and he introduced himself to me, but I told him it would be wise that I not introduce myself to him and left.”

“Ahhh I see because of your brother right?” Gabriella asked knowingly, not even needing Adrianna to agree with her because she already knew the truth. “So…What did you think of him?” She asked, her curiosity bursting at the seams.

Adrianna shrugged her shoulders, not sure how to answer that question, and took a scoop of whip cream, sucking it from her finger. “I honestly don’t know. I mean, he’s nice and all, but I hardly know him so I really can’t determine what I think of him quite yet.” She answered truthfully, though deep in the back of her mind she was thinking what he would be like in a more…private situation. Then again, she couldn’t seem to get the kiss David bestowed upon her the previous night out of her mind either.

“That’s understandable, but I will tell you right now, he’s a really great guy. He will do anything to bring someone’s mood up even at their worst. That’s just the type of guy he is.” Gabriella said, praising John more than Adrianna would’ve liked, and wondered if they had a hidden past with each other. Before she could ask, Gabriella read her mind and continued. “I know what you’re thinking too. Why am I talking so great about a guy who isn’t my husband? John and I do have a past with each other. We dated for about a year and he introduced me to Paul. I didn’t cheat on him or anything, but he soon figured out that I belonged with Paul more than him so we mutually agreed to end the relationship and have remained best friends since.”

“Wow, so you two dated?” Adrianna asked in disbelief, never would’ve guessing that she and John were a couple, especially with how different their personalities were.

“Yeah we did and I don’t regret it or anything, but we are better off as best friends and I love Paul dearly.” Gabriella stated, meaning every word that came out of her mouth, and felt the tears burn her eyes at the mention of her husband. “I wonder what he’s doing right now…” She whispered, trailing her words off, and excused herself to use the bathroom, needing to empty the contents of her stomach because of what the baby was doing.

Adrianna sighed as she fell back against the pillows, wondering what it would be like to be with a man as great as John seemed to be. Gabriella would never steer her wrong, but then again, David held a sense of darkness within him and mystery that Adrianna ached to explore more. ‘What am I gonna do?’ She thought miserably, putting a pillow over her head, and sighed against it, not knowing the answer to her question.

The following night at the arena, Paul was searching all over the place for his sister and wife. He had to make amends with both, tired of all this fighting and sneaking around. He sighed heavily when he asked five of his co-workers and none of them had seen a speck or hair of them. Paul’s last resort was to check the women’s locker room and was about to head there, when he looked down the hallway and spotted his sister in the cafeteria, at the water machine. He immediately jogged down to see her, tapping her on the shoulder, and smiled when she turned around. Adrianna glared at her brother upon seeing him, thinking it was either going to be John or David that interrupted her, and started wishing it was either one of them or both instead of Paul.

“Where’s my wife?” He asked breathlessly, causing Adrianna to cross her arms in front of her chest as she stared at her brother amusedly.

“Can’t seem to find her, dear brother?” She innocently asked, causing Paul to glare at her, and knew she was playing games with him.

He raked a hand through his blonde tresses as he stared at her and stated heatedly, “Adrianna, I’m NOT in the mood to play your mind games. I need to talk to Gabby now tell me where she is.” He demanded, causing her to quirk her eyebrow up at him, and shrugged her shoulders, lying through her teeth.

“I have no idea where she is, Paul. You really hurt her so I think she might’ve went back home to Greenwich to pack her shit.” Adrianna replied coldly, causing Paul’s eyes to widen in shock, and ran away from her, whipping out his cell phone in the process.

When he was out of earshot, Adrianna burst out laughing, not believing how easily she could fool her brother, and shook her head as she grabbed two bottled waters and headed down the hallway. She couldn’t wait to tell Gabriella what she’d done and headed toward the Women’s locker room, where the expectant mother was expecting an ice cold bottle of water. About two doors away from the locker room, a hand came out of nowhere, covering Adrianna’s mouth, and pulled her into a dark dressing room, causing her to drop the water bottles in the process. She went to say something, but couldn’t because a pair of lips descended on hers, causing her mind to instantly spiral out of control.

His large, strong hands ran up and down her sides, pushing her into the nearest wall, and never broke the passionate kiss he’d bestowed on her. Adrianna knew it was a man because of how strong and muscular he was. She gripped the front of his shirt, tank top, whatever was covering his chest, and went to push him away, but the passion between them was too much and he was too strong for her. Her hands simply pulled him closer and moaned in his mouth as his hands trailed down her back to her ass, gripping it firmly, and lifted her up with ease as her legs wrapped around his thick waist instinctively. Her butt sat on something solid, which Adrianna didn’t care because her mind was a blur from the kiss this stranger had on her and didn’t want it to end.

Her entire body was trembling from both fear and desire as his hand trailed down her chest while suckling on her tongue and made its way to the outline of her cargo jeans she had on. With a snap of his wrist, her jean button unsnapped and opened, causing him to groan in ecstasy as he broke the kiss and whispered down into her ear, “Just relax and enjoy this. I’m not gonna hurt ya.” He flicked her earlobe with the tip of his tongue, causing Adrianna to become breathless, and leaned her head back against the wall, her eyes drifting shut. She couldn’t believe she allowing this stranger whom she didn’t even know to do this to her, but she couldn’t help it. He was too powerful and mysterious, two combinations she couldn’t fight off.

His hand slowly slid underneath the elastic waist of her panties, feeling the heat radiate from her hot sex, and groaned inwardly he started kissing down her neck. “Please stop…” She breathed out, knowing it was no use to try, but she had to give it a shot. He didn’t stop and kept sliding his hand further down until it cupped her entire sex, causing Adrianna’s breath to quicken rapidly. He smirked, knowing she was fully enjoying what he was doing to her, and kissed her lips again to keep her moans down, not wanting anyone else to hear them, and pushed her panties aside before brushing the tip of his finger against her throbbing, swollen bud. Adrianna cried out in his mouth and gripped his shoulders, almost losing it right then and there, and broke the kiss as she hissed out in pure ecstasy.

“Still want me to stop?” He breathed in her ear huskily, his voice so low that she couldn’t tell who it was and didn’t give a damn at the moment. He smiled through the darkness at her when she shook her head no and continued his sexual assault on her body. His finger slowly slid up and down her throbbing clitoris before slipping through her wet folds and groaned at how tight she was. She hadn’t had sex in a long time that much he could tell, and loved the tightness that surrounded his huge finger. Adrianna closed her eyes and tried to breathe, not believing this was happening to her, not believing she was enjoying it, and not believing how wonderful it felt to be touched like this, even if it was some stranger.

Ten minutes later, Adrianna stumbled out of the dark dressing room, flushed and flustered, not believing what transpired in the room right behind her. She looked down, the water bottles lying before her, and quickly snatched them. Her bottom lip quivered from both fear and passion, wondering who just gave her the orgasm of the century, and ran down the hallway, trying hard not to cry. A pair of eyes watched her from inside the dark room, a sly smirk forming on his lips, and knew she fully enjoyed what he gave to her. ‘There’s more where that came from, my sweet Adrianna. It’s only a matter of time before you become mine…forever.’ He thought before closing the door behind him and looked down at his throbbing erection, wishing he hadn’t let her go so easily. ‘Next time we meet, it will be much, MUCH longer.’

Chapter 8

Ever since that encounter she’d had with the stranger in the dressing room, Adrianna grew scared of walking the hallways of the arenas. She stayed in her brother’s dressing room, secluded, and away from all the chaos that ran amuck through them, especially during PPV’s. She got to experience one of those, which was Vengeance, and vowed to never walk the halls again as long as she lived. Getting clobbered and knocked down multiple times by wrestlers and Divas wasn’t the kind of fun she was looking for. Adrianna hadn’t told a soul, not even Gabriella, about what happened that night at the arena and she was never going to. She knew if she did, her brother would go ballistic and force her to stay at the hotels, which she was not about to do. They were boring enough as it was and Adrianna liked the atmospheres the arenas brought forth, just not on PPV nights.

One night about a month later, Adrianna was sitting in her hotel room, just staring up at the ceiling as she lay in bed. No matter what she did or how she did it, she couldn’t get that stranger out of her mind and wondered who it was. Who would pull her into a dark dressing room and give her the orgasm of a lifetime? Not that Adrianna had never experienced one because she had sex all the time when she was with Damon, but this was NOTHING compared to what the stranger made her feel. She sighed heavily and sat up from her bed, frustrated and hungry. ‘I need a snack.’ She decided and stood up from her bed, putting on her terry cloth black robe that went to midthigh, and walked out of her room, making sure to grab her key card and money in the process.

John grumbled as he stared at his ceiling in his hotel room, contemplating a lot of things in his life. He was never one to worry about life and took it with a grain of salt because in his mind, life was too short to worry about it. If he worried about life, it wasn’t worth living and John went by that statement, especially when he came to the WWE three years ago. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, wishing he could get this individual off his mind, but it was no use. What was it about Paul’s little sister that had him so drawn to her that he couldn’t fall asleep? ‘I need a snack.’ He thought as he sat up in bed, pulling on his black cargo jean shorts he’d came back to the hotel in and decided to go shirtless. If he didn’t have a wear a shirt, John wasn’t wearing one, which was one of the many things he loved about his job as a professional wrestler.

Raking a hand through her hair, Adrianna stared at the machine before her, contemplating whether or not to kick the living shit out of it and throw it through the glass window that lead to the pool. The machine ate her money and there was no way she could get it back now. “Just my fuckin’ luck.” She muttered under her breath and turned around, stopping when she saw John Cena standing right in front of her.

“Need a little help?” He offered and frowned when she turned around from him, wondering why she did that, but shrugged it off. Before she could answer, he walked over and with one strong push; her bag of chips fell from the machine and into the slot, causing her to sigh with inner relief. He bent down and picked them up, handing them to her, and said softly, “These machines are a bitch sometimes.”

Adrianna bit her bottom lip as she slowly took the chips from his hand, wrapping her arms around herself, and mumbled, “Thanks.” Then started to head up the stairs when John stopped her with his voice. She had to admit, he did have one of the sexiest voices she’d ever heard.

“Adrianna, there’s somethin’ I’ve been meanin’ to ask you.” He started, causing her to slowly turn her head around to stare at him, though her hair covered half her face. She didn’t want him seeing her face because no mask covered it up. No thick black makeup was on her eyes and face, which made her feel uncomfortable, especially in the presence of one of her brother’s co-workers. When John didn’t get anything more than that little turn of her head, he shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jean shorts, and continued, “Well actually, its somethin’ I’ve been meanin’ to tell you…” His words trailed off again as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and was prepared to stop him dead in his tracks.

“Look John, I don’t like to talk to people, especially strangers, without my makeup and clothes. So please go away.” She stated and put some more coins in the pop machine this time, needing something to wash down the chips with.

John smiled at her honesty and appreciated it as he replied, “I don’t care about what you look like or any of that shit. You seem like an interesting person, Adrianna and it gets kinda boring out here on the road sometimes.” Now he was being honest with her and hoped she reciprocated his feelings, which could lead into a civilized conversation with her.

A heavy sigh sounded from her lips as she ran a hand through her hair, deciding to try a different approach with him. Her eyes gazed through the window of the pool room, while holding her pop and chips, and stated, “I’m not comfortable talking to anyone like this, especially in my sweats.” She hoped he would get the picture and leave her alone, smiling on the inside when he said he was going back to his room, but something in his eyes made her sadden. His blue eyes were filled with hurt and rejection, something she was far too used to seeing, and sighed as she called out, “John, wait.”

He stopped halfway up the stairs, hearing her call his name, and smiled to himself before turning around, asking, “Yeah?” His voice was gruff and low, full of rejection and hurt, which were Adrianna’s suspicions exactly.

Adrianna closed her eyes, trembling from what she was about to do, but knew she had to do it. She didn’t want him going to bed full of hurt and remorse for even trying to talk to her because she wouldn’t be able to live with herself. Slowly moving her hair out of her face with a huge rake back of her hand, her face was revealed to him and John was taken completely aback. The mask of torment was gone and all that was left was a beautiful angel standing before him. Her skin was pale, almost glowing white, but still had a little color to where she didn’t look like a corpse, but her eyes are what entranced him the most. They sparkled at him, even though they were clouded over with sadness and despair, and were the gorgeous color of amber with little speckles of gold mixed in. Truly remarkable eyes, he’d never seen such a color before and knew he could get lost staring into them for days on end.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound so angry and heartless toward you. I’m just not used to talking to anyone like this so I wanted to apologize.” She responded, hoping he accepted her apology for what it was worth, and John smiled softly at her as he nodded his head.

“No offense taken, Adrianna. I guess it gets kinda lonely after traveling all the time by yourself. Well, you know what I mean.” He quickly admitted, causing her to nod back at him with a small smile on her lips. John still couldn’t believe the natural, breathtaking beauty she possessed and felt more drawn to her than ever.

Nodding back at him in understanding, Adrianna knew all too well the meaning of loneliness. She’d experienced it for the past four years of her life, her teenage life, but she wasn’t about to reveal that to John or anyone for that matter. “I’ve been bored out of my friggen mind this trip so far and its only been a month.” She quietly replied, wanting him to know that she felt exactly the same way he did.

Staring back into her captivating eyes and becoming hypnotized by them, John couldn’t move and found himself actually having a conversation with her. “I can only imagine. Well, don’t you ever go out sight seeing or walking?” He asked suddenly, his curiosity bursting at the seams, and hoped she’d said no so he could offer his assistance in that respect.

Adrianna rolled her eyes and shook her head simply, running a hand through her hair, and stated, “The idea doesn’t appeal to me.” She was telling the truth and John could tell by the look her eyes gave off that she wasn’t fibbing to him.

His heart sunk at her words, but he didn’t show it, not wanting to upset her or scare her away, especially now that he’d gotten her to talk to him for the first time. “What floor are you on if you don’t mind me asking?” He asked, adding those last words onto his question so she wouldn’t get the idea that he was prying for information, even though he was.

“Third, right next to my overbearing brother.” She icily replied, her eyes darkening in anger just by the mere mention of Paul, and John could already tell that was a sore subject to her.

A chuckle sounded from his lips as he nodded in response and said thoughtfully, “Somehow, I knew you’d say that. So the bro can be high-strung at times, I take it?” He pried, hoping not to sound too pushy with his questions, and tried to lighten the mood as well.

“No, no, high-strung is a huge understatement when it comes to Paul. He’s…I don’t even know what word would describe him best.” She said honestly, tapping her chin in thought about it, and shook her head, not coming up with anything. The man was too overbearing and overprotective, but that didn’t even justify it in her eyes.

He laughed gently at her response and crossed his arms in front of his massive chest, “Big brother always hovering over you, eh?”

Adrianna sighed and nodded, wishing she wasn’t having this conversation with John, but also knew it was good to get her feelings out there once in awhile. Paul had pushed her to the brink of insanity over the past month and it was really starting to irritate her. She was happy that Gabriella had forgiven him for throwing her out that month ago; especially when he found out he was going to be a father. However, Adrianna wasn’t that forgiving and it would take a lot of talks and ass kissing on his part to win her full love and trust back. “I really hate him sometimes. I’m about to turn-” Her words immediately stopped as she closed her mouth tightly shut, not believing how close she was to revealing to him her real age. If he found out how old she was turning, he would surely never speak to her again and Adrianna didn’t want that. She’d made the mistake of telling David and finding out he was old enough to be her deceased father, but she wasn’t going to make the same with John.

John didn’t miss it and it peaked his interest greatly as he raised an eyebrow up at her and asked curiously, “Turn what?”

“Damn would you like at the time? I really should be heading off to bed. Nice talking to you John.” She quickly said, completely ignoring his question, and started up the stairs, sighing when his hand shot out and grabbed her arm gently, but firmly, causing her eyes to turn to stare into his.

“Well wait a sec; I was going to ask if you wanted to catch a movie sometime.” He told her, causing her eyes to search his, not believing what he just said.

Adrianna thought about it long and hard for a few minutes, the silence surrounding them as she kept staring into his eyes, and finally found the answer she was looking for. “Why don’t you ask me that in about three weeks and I’ll let you know then.” She replied, knowing there was no way she could go out with him to see a movie or anything for that matter until she turned eighteen.

Smiling back at her and not believing she was actually considering it, John nodded and replied in his smooth voice, “I will definitely do that.” It didn’t help Adrianna that this man’s hand was scorching her arm with his touch and he was bare-chested in front of her. Now he was using the deep voice that made all of her insides start to quake and it also didn’t help that with every movement he made, all of his muscles rippled noticeably.

Her breathing started to quicken as she backed up a little from him, yanking her arm vastly out of his grip, and felt a need to tell him the truth as to why she was turning him down. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go to the movies with him or whatever else he had in mind. It was the mere fact that she was still a minor and knew for a fact he was in his twenties, where she wasn’t sure and didn’t care. “J-John…” She began, stuttering profusely, and knew she sounded like a gigantic moron at the moment. “The r-reason why I-I turned y-you down was b-because…I-I’m a…” Her words trailed off again, not believing how difficult she was making this, and sighed heavily as she came out and said it, or more like screamed it. “I’M A MINOR!” She then rushed up the stairs, forgetting all about her chips and pop since she’d dropped them when he grabbed her arm, and felt the tears already forming in her eyes.

John stood there for a minute on the steps, trying to decipher what Adrianna just revealed to him, and felt his eyes widen. He looked over, seeing she had bolted, and immediately went after her, shouting, “Adrianna, wait!!” He took two steps at a time up the back staircase and plowed through the number three door of the hotel, seeing she was just getting into her room, and stopped, knowing her brother was right next door to her. Sighing regretfully and lowering his head, John turned around and dejectedly walked back to his room, forgetting all about the snack he was looking for prior to seeing Adrianna again. Tomorrow at the arena, he would try to speak to her again and figure out why she was so ashamed of being a minor when it didn’t mean a damn to him how old she was in the first place.

Both lay in their beds in their hotel rooms, thinking about the encounter they’d just had with one another, and sighed deeply as their eyes slowly shut, letting darkness of sleep overtake their bodies.

Chapter 9

The following night at the arena, Adrianna was sitting in her brother’s dressing room, trying to think of what to write next, and sighed when nothing came to her mind. Her brother was out lifting weights while Gabriella was out baby shopping with Ashley and a few of the other Divas. They’d asked her to come along, but Adrianna declined, telling a little white lie in saying she wasn’t feeling good. That wasn’t the case at all, even though her stomach was clenching because she didn’t want to run into John or David. She hadn’t spoken much to David ever since that kiss they’d shared outside of the arena and she wanted to keep it that way. The man was going through a divorce and she didn’t want to be the rebound girl or date someone who was twice her age.

Deciding she needed a change of scenery, Adrianna stood up from the couch and walked over to the door. She took a deep breath, deciding to watch herself carefully and her surroundings, incase that stranger tried pulling her into a dark dressing room and having his way with her again. That was another person she wanted to avoid and she didn’t even know who he was! Raking a hand through her hair in frustration, Adrianna walked out of the dressing room and down the hallway, knowing the cafeteria was straight ahead. Surprisingly enough, she entered the cafeteria a few minutes later, no sign of her attacker anywhere, much to her relief.

“Adrianna.” A familiar voice whispered behind her as she was trying to get some cookies from the snack table and closed her eyes, recognizing that voice instantly.

She slowly turned around, not wanting to, but knew she couldn’t ignore the voice, and looked up his massive chest before meeting his brown eyes. They hadn’t spoken in a month, ever since their encounter in the parking lot at the arena. “What do you want, David?” She calmly asked, keeping her voice lowered, and tried not to start shaking when she felt his hot breath on her neck.

“I wanna go somewhere and talk with you for a few minutes.” He replied soothingly, his voice caressing her as her eyes never left his, becoming entranced by them instantly. She didn’t know what it was about those eyes, but they bore a path into the depths of her soul.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” She managed to whisper back, causing him to sigh as he reached his hand out, caressing her face with the back of it, his eyes pleading with her to come with him.

“Please?” He pushed, wanting to get her alone for two seconds so he could explain his actions and hopefully change her mind about the age difference between them.

Knowing he wouldn’t take no for an answer, Adrianna sighed as she reluctantly set her plate of food down and nodded at him. David smiled graciously back at her as he took her hand and escorted her out of the cafeteria, taking her to his dressing room, and Adrianna wondered if this was a smart idea or not. Once they arrived, David pushed open the door and let her walk in first before closing the door behind him, and turned to face her. Adrianna stood there with her arms crossed in front of her chest and questions were in her eyes as she bluntly asked, “What do you wanna talk about?”

Walking over to her and looking down into her eyes, David smiled a little as he huskily replied, “I wanted to talk to you about you told me about a month ago in the parking lot.”

“What about it?” She shot back, trying not to tremble from both fear and wonder that this man was causing her to feel at the moment.

Standing behind her, David’s arms wrapped around her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder, causing Adrianna’s heart to start beating as she instantly tensed. “Maintain your distance, David.” She growled out in an order, causing him to chuckle darkly in her ear, and Adrianna knew this was a mistake from the beginning.

“I can’t do that, Adrianna. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t get you out of my mind.” He revealed, causing her eyes to widen as she closed them and bit her bottom lip, feeling it quiver beneath her teeth, and knew she had to escape somehow. How could she when this monster of a man had his arm wrapped around her waist and his hot breath was leaking on her neck and ear? “You are enchanting and mysterious to me, Adrianna…Someone I could find myself with for the rest of eternity.” He continued, whispering in her ear seductively, and this was starting to get out of hand as far as she was concerned.

“David, I already told you I’m not comfortable with this. You are old enough to be my…father.” She stated, trying not to choke on her words at the mention of her deceased father that she missed dearly. The tears started to burn her eyes from the amount of pain and anguish that was flowing throughout her body at that moment.

His hands started running down her sides, feeling her pain as his eyes drifted shut, and leaned down as he said in her ear, “I feel your pain and darkness, Adrianna. You need to let go and let me take it away. Let me take all of your pain away.” He started moving his hands lower, causing Adrianna’s breath to quicken, and drifted her eyes shut when his lips descended on her neck, causing her entire body to start melting against his rock hard body.

Suddenly, images of those beautiful blue pools of John’s entered her mind, causing her eyes to snap open, and used all of her strength to shove David off of her. She whipped around, touching the wet spot on her neck where he’d been suckling and glared at him heatedly as she spat at him, “Stay the fuck away from me, David or I WILL tell my brother about what you’re doing!”

A low, dark chuckle escaped his lips as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, her threat not fazing him in the least, and retorted, “Like your brother could do anything to me. Adrianna, don’t be ridiculous. Come back over here and continue to enjoy what I was doing to you.” He gently commanded, his eyes already a dark brown that was filled with desire and lust for her, which intimidated Adrianna.

“No! I want to go back to my brother’s dressing room.” She defiantly replied, refusing to allow this man to touch her so intimately like he had before, and turned around, gulping nervously when she felt the door was locked. Whipping back around and staring at him with a hateful glare, Adrianna pressed her back against the door and ordered viciously, “Open this door right now!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that without giving you something first.” David replied swiftly, taking a few steps toward her, and had to admire the fire that lit up in her eyes. His lips were mere inches from hers, causing Adrianna to start panicking, and couldn’t do anything as they captured her own, pressing her against his dressing room door. His lips were so soft, but Adrianna didn’t want this from him. She wanted to get as far away from this man as possible and tried to fight him off, crying out in his mouth. David ignored it as his hands gripped her hips, rising her up from her feet from the ground, and pinned her against the door, groaning when she started hitting him. It turned him on as he broke the kiss, staring into her eyes wickedly, and growled out in pure lust, “I need you now, Adrianna. Just open up to me. Let me wrap you up in the comfort of darkness.”

“NO!!” She screamed out and started hitting him with everything she had in her body, causing him to simply laugh in her face, and tears poured down her cheeks as the fear completely took over her body. “Please don’t do this!!” She cried out, wanting to get away from this animal he’d turned into, and sighed with great relief when a knock sounded on his dressing room door. “HE-” She started to scream out, but David covered her mouth instantly with his hand, glaring at her with his dangerous brown orbs.

“If you want to get out of here in one piece then you’ll shut the fuck up.” He growled in a whisper in her ear, causing her to whimper against his mouth, and closed her eyes as she did the only thing she could think of. She nodded her head back at him regretfully, causing David to smirk, and growled out in a shout, “WHAT?!”

“David, open the door right now. It’s Stephanie.” The daughter of the owner of this billion dollar corporation, Vince McMahon, stated through the door, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and David knew he couldn’t ignore her. He looked down into Adrianna’s fear filled eyes, knowing if he released her, he might not get the chance to do what he wanted to her and growled in frustration. “Not a fucking word about what happened.” He ordered and released her, letting her drop to the floor, and immediately scurried away from him, regretfully away from the door as he took a deep breath. “Hold on a sec, Steph! I’m getting changed!” He called out through the door, lying through his teeth, and stared down at his angel of darkness with his dark, dangerous brown eyes. He threw a white envelope at her and smirked, deciding to play mind games with her, and stated, “If you want to continue what we started, you’ll use that tonight. Just letting you know I wasn’t going to hurt you or take you as my own. I just wanted to get you to realize that the age thing doesn’t matter to me. Now get out of here and not a word to anyone about this.”

Adrianna couldn’t believe what she’d just heard as she bolted up from the floor and waited for David to unlock the door. Her fleeing form ran down the hallway as fast as she could, keeping the white envelope with her, and once she was in her brother’s dressing room, she completely broke down in a fit of sobs. ‘How could I have been so stupid!?’ She thought angrily and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, and looked in the mirror, her hands trembling with pure fear from what just happened between her and David.

Her reflection stared back at her, causing her to cry harder as she dropped her head in shame, and looked down at the envelope that rested in her hand. Shakily opening it and dropping it to the floor, Adrianna opened the folded piece of paper and felt her stomach twist in knots by the words that were printed on it:

~Adrianna,

Here is another key card to my hotel room. If you want to experience true darkness, meet me there tonight after the house show. I look forward to your appearance, my dark princess.

David~

The key card fell into her hand as she immediately dropped it and backed away, her entire body trembling from head to toe, and felt the tears stream down her face like two unstoppable rivers. She shook her head, refusing to believe this was happening, and looked down at the key card, reminding her it wasn’t a dream that it really happened. ‘What am I going to do?’ She thought, wondering what would’ve really happened had Stephanie not knocked on his dressing room door. ‘He said he wouldn’t hurt me and that it was just a taste of what was to come…’ She went over his words in her mind over and over again, trying to make sense of everything, and suddenly snapped her head up.

Her eyes drifted shut as the memory of the strange man overtook her. His strong body, his hands, the kisses he performed on her body. She then went back to a few minutes ago and how David touched her, suddenly beginning to shake and tremble with fear as her eyes snapped open. David was the stranger!! Adrianna couldn’t hold it in anymore and crawled into a bathroom stall, emptying the contents of her stomach in the porcelain bowl while tears streamed down her cheeks. There was NO way she was going to his hotel room after finding that out, no way in HELL! All he wanted was sex and she wasn’t giving it to him, no matter if she wasn’t a virgin.

After Adrianna finished vomiting, she shakily stood up in the stall and looked around; closing her eyes for a minute to balance herself, and walked over to the mirror. She picked up the key card David had given to her and pulled a pair of scissors out of her bag she’d left in the bathroom after arriving at the arena that day with her brother and Gabriella. Staring at it with cold, unforgiving eyes, she began cutting it up in little pieces, letting them fall into the sink, and dropped the scissors when she cut the final piece off. She then took the cut up pieces and threw them in the trash, wiping her tears frantically away before her brother returned from working out.

She looked around, seeing the note, and quickly cut that up too before disposing it. Walking over to the mirror and looking into it, Adrianna took a deep breath as she took out her makeup and began redoing it, not wanting her brother to notice she’d been crying. After she was finished, Adrianna put her things away and walked out, just as her brother and Gabriella came walking through the door, all smiles. She was happy for them, knowing her brother couldn’t wait to be a father, and pretended like nothing was wrong.

Gabriella was glowing from head to toe and was three months along, going into her second trimester, and doing very well. She’d had her first ultrasound, with Paul there of course, and they seen their baby for the first time, which brought tears to Paul’s eyes. He smiled over at his sister and said, “Hey sis!”

“Hey, did you two finish your baby shopping?” Adrianna asked, walking over to the couch and sitting down, shaking her head as Gabriella started gushing about all the cute baby clothes she’d found. “How do you know if its going to be a boy or a girl?” She asked curiously, causing both her sister and brother to stare at her with smiles adorned on their faces.

“That’s why we’re buying it lavender and yellow because both would be good for a boy or a girl.” Gabriella simply informed her, causing Adrianna to nod in understanding, and delved her mind into what her sister-in-law was showing her. However, what David had pulled on her earlier on in his dressing room was still in the back of her mind, and Adrianna felt helpless because she couldn’t tell anyone about it, especially her overprotective brother.

Chapter 10

David stared out the window of his hotel room, not believing it was past midnight and Adrianna hadn’t showed up. He thought after what he’d done to her back at the arena earlier on that she want the entire package that he was willing to give. He closed his eyes, picturing her beautiful face as he drove her to the brink of ecstasy, not regretting a single second of what happened between them. David hadn’t meant to scare her or make her uncomfortable, but ever since that kiss they’d shared in the parking lot, something lit inside of him, something he couldn’t explain. Granted, David was a good guy at heart, but he was also very involved with the darkness and could help Adrianna if she would allow it. He could make it better for her; make it so that she wouldn’t hurt herself anymore.

Paul told him all about her past, about what she’d done, about her twenty suicide attempts, everything. David felt horrible for the girl and knew she’d been through a lot, but that was no reason to shut out the world around her. He could take her pain and anguish she’d been feeling for the past almost five years and share it if she would open up to him. He sighed when another hour passed and knew she wasn’t coming on this night, which saddened him greatly. Walking over and sitting down at the table nearby, David looked down at the papers and knew it was over between him and his wife, Angela. Signing on the dotted line on each piece of paper, David felt a piece of his heart go with each penmanship before finally finishing.

His eyes suddenly narrowed to dangerous slits as he looked out the window once more and crossed his arms in front of his massive chest. He’d lost one love of his life and unbeknownst to Adrianna, she’d already been chosen to become the next love of David’s life. “I just have to back off for a bit and wait for the right time.” He darkly said to the silence that surrounded him and decided to call it a night, having to catch a flight that morning to Washington D.C. to finalize things with his divorce. As David’s eyes drifted shut, all he could picture in his mind was Adrianna and smiled on the inside, knowing it was just a matter of time before she became his fully.


A few days later, Adrianna was walking through the hotel, silently thanking God she hadn’t run into David. She was happy when her brother informed her that he’d gone back to Washington D.C. and wouldn’t be back for two weeks. That would be two weeks of freedom and trying to figure out how to get the man away from her for good. She knew he wasn’t going to give up, especially when she didn’t show up at his hotel room a few nights ago. Sighing heavily and running a hand through her hair, Adrianna decided she was tired of sitting in her hotel room, and stood up as she looked at herself in the mirror.

Pulling on a pair of faded blue jeans that had holes already ripped in the kneecaps and a zip up hoodie sweatshirt that had the letters DX painted on the front, Adrianna grabbed her purse and key card before walking out of her hotel room. The sky was clear blue, not a cloud in it, and the sun was shining brightly down at her, but it was only in the fifties, which wasn’t typical for North Carolina. It was the perfect weather for her as Adrianna crossed the street and headed down the sidewalk, her black Sketchers pouncing on the ground with every step she took. She looked around, seeing the little town was so active and lively, something she wasn’t used to seeing, and smiled at the sight before her.

The Atlantic Ocean stared back at her as she ran a hand through her hair and walked toward it, not seeing it before. Granted, she’d seen the Pacific Ocean, but her favorite was the Atlantic because of how much history it had. She shoved her hands in the front pockets of her jeans as she stopped just before the shore and closed her eyes, allowing the breeze to blow through her hair in a gentle caress. Peace swirled around her as she stepped out of her Sketchers and sat down on the sand, simply staring out onto the horizon, and began to think about her past once again. She hadn’t cut herself in over a month, which was a record as far as Adrianna was concerned, and actually felt proud for not doing it.

Her thoughts did a three sixty turn and closed her eyes, tears instantly burning them as she thought about David and what he’d try to pull on her. She couldn’t believe she was stupid enough to actually believe his sincerity and fell right into his trap. The things he did to her body caused her to feel violated and appalled because of how he made her react. She hated herself for falling under his spell and knew that if it wasn’t for Stephanie interrupting them, she would’ve allowed him to have sex with her right then and there. Tears slowly slid down her cheeks as she shook her head, wishing she was braver and stronger against David, but that was close to impossible. He was three times her size and probably twenty times as strong. How could she fight him off with such insurmountable odds against her? Adrianna’s thoughts were cut in half when she felt a throat clear behind her, causing her to sigh, and wondered who it was.


John was walking through the hotel, his hands shoved in the front pockets of his jean shorts, not able to get Adrianna off of his mind. It was almost as if she’d sewn herself in his brain and no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to shake this feeling about her. Her mystery and captivating eyes entranced him in ways John never felt before and he was finding himself staring out the window outside. It was a beautiful day and he wanted to get out to enjoy it, but something else caught his eye. He looked closer as he walked out of the lobby doors, looking closer, and knew it was her. Before John knew it, he was following her down the path, toward the ocean, and found himself admiring her from a distance.

She was so beautiful in his eyes, not one single flaw, even though he knew she had a past that wasn’t pleasant. No matter what it held, John still wanted her, but knew he had to give her time before jumping her. Taking a deep breath, he slowly made his way down to where she was sitting in the sand and cleared his throat, causing her head to whip around, locking eyes instantly. “Hey there, small world isn’t it?” He joked, trying to lighten the mood and erase the tension that had developed between them.

“Hi…What are you doing here?” Adrianna asked, wondering if he’d followed her down to the ocean and was spying on her. Her makeup was at a minimum, only wearing thin black eyeliner under his eyes, and John smiled on the inside because of it. He loved her face, especially when it wasn’t painted with black makeup.

John smiled innocently at her and replied softly, “Just taking in some of this fresh air and beautiful day.” He’d lied through his teeth, but for good reason, especially since he’d just gotten Adrianna to talk to him recently.

Smirking back at him knowingly and crossing her arms in front of her chest, Adrianna called him on his bluff as she stated, “Bullshit, what’s up?”

Chuckling quietly as his ears started turning red, John looked back at her as he said, “Okay so that was a lame excuse. I came to talk to you. Do you hate me?” He asked, complete seriousness in his eyes as he stared into her amber colored orbs, and sighed with inner relief when she shook her head.

“No John, I don’t hate you. I’m just really confused right now about everything.” Adrianna admitted, running a hand through her hair, and closed her eyes as another breeze hit her face, loving the feeling it gave her.

“I’m here to listen if you need someone to talk to.” John offered, causing Adrianna to smile up at him genuinely, and looked back at the ocean horizon, softly sighing. He walked down the beach and sat down beside her, hoping she didn’t mind, and looked at the clear ocean water along with her. “It’s beautiful out here.” He commented, trying to start a civilized conversation, and smiled when she agreed with him. “Is your stay getting better?” He asked, causing her to turn her head to stare up at him, a frown appearing on his face when he seen the tears glistening on her cheeks.

“I wish.” She muttered back and wiped her tears away, sniffling a little, and leaned into John’s strong, tender embrace when his arm went around her.

His hand ran up and down her arm, trying to get her to calm down, and moved up to her hair as he softly asked, “You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to, Adrianna, but what’s wrong?”

For some odd reason, Adrianna trusted John and knew she could tell him anything. She wiped her eyes of the tears and ran a hand through her hair, deciding to confide in someone other than her four inch blade. “You sure you wanna know?” She softly asked, wanting to make sure he was ready to hear about her horrific past, and couldn’t help, but feel her heart soar to the heavens when John nodded in response.

“I don’t want to pressure you into telling me, Adrianna. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I would really like to be your friend and help you in any way I can.” He replied, meaning every word he said, and hoped she would finally open up to him. They had talked in the arenas over the past few weeks and became friends, but Adrianna still hadn’t opened up to him. He’d told her all about his family back in West Newbury, Massachusetts, and pure love shone in his eyes for his family, which Adrianna found to be extremely sweet. She’d listened to every word he said and appreciated taking time out of his busy schedule to hang out with her.

“No, I think I’m ready. I haven’t spoken to anyone about this since it happened, besides my therapists and psychiatrists, but they were all jokes.” Adrianna bitterly replied, hating the fact that her brother forced her to see five different therapists and three psychiatrists in the past almost five years.

John had to agree with her on that note and stated, “I hate therapists and psychiatrists. My cousin, Marc had to see a few when he was younger after his mom died from cancer.” Sadness casted over his blue eyes, causing Adrianna’s heart shatter in her chest.

“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.” She whispered back, biting her bottom lip, and adverted her eyes from his gaze, sighing when he lifted her chin up to meet his eyes.

“It’s not your fault or anyone’s, Adrianna. It just happened and Marc got over it on his own, without any stupid professionals. He just needed the love and comfort from the family and we gave it to him.” John explained, making Adrianna smile sadly in return, and leaned against his shoulder once again.

“I wish I had a family I could go to. All I ever wanted was for Paul to talk to me instead of sending me to those fuckin’ worthless people who thought they knew how I was feeling inside. He never did though and it hurt because I needed him more than ever. I still do.” Adrianna admitted, whispering that last phrase out, and John tightened his hold on her, wishing he could take her pain away.

He sighed when she started to cry against him and wrapped his arms around her body, feeling her begin to tremble against him, and closed his eyes as he soothed her with his voice. “Shhh it’s okay, Adrianna. You can tell me anything and I’ll try to understand.” He truthfully told her and looked down into her eyes when she looked back up at him.

Closing her eyes and standing up on the sand, Adrianna’s hair flowed behind her as she sighed deeply, knowing she could trust John. She stared at the horizon, shoving her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, took a deep breath. “What I’m about to tell you cannot be repeated John, alright?” She pronounced, causing John to nod back at her, and waited for her to keep her courage up to tell him about her past.

“Take your time, Adrianna.” His voice caressed her, soothing her fears, and raked a hand through her hair as she nodded back at him thankfully.

The painful memories swept over her like a tsunami wave, causing her entire body to tremble, and took a few deep breaths before starting her horrific story. “I used to be a girly girl, prep, someone who thought was better than everyone else around me and I had loads of friends. I had one best friend in particular and we were on the cheerleading squad together. I was the captain and she was right behind me in line, incase anything ever happened to me or I quit and I dated the quarterback and captain of the football team. I was the Queen B of my high school and was living the high life. That all changed though after my parent’s accident…” Her words trailed off, biting her bottom lip as a few tears escape her closed eyelids.

John looked up at her, giving her his full attention, and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked up at her, urging her to continue. He grabbed her hand in his own, entwining their fingers together, and softly whispered, “I’m here for you, sweetheart and if you don’t want to continue, I’ll understand.”

“No, I want to continue. It’s already taking me back and I don’t want to stop until I get all of it out completely.” Adrianna replied determinedly, wanting to get this off of her chest, and squeezed John’s hand a little as she slowly opened her eyes, seeing her parent’s before her standing on the horizon, and knew it was only a brief flashback because of her memories. More tears poured down her cheeks, scorching them, and continued, “After their funeral, which is still a blur to me because it happened so fast, I had to move away from all my friends and who I thought was the love of my life. His name was Aaron and we dated extensively throughout middle school before arriving in high school. I was a freshman, getting ready to go in my sophomore year, when they died. I had to leave behind everything that ever meant anything to me because Florida was all I’d ever known from the time I was born until their accident. Paul forced me to move with him back to Greenwich, Connecticut and I was devastated. Aaron promised he’d call and write me every chance he got and proclaimed his love to me before I left, making me actually believe his bullshit.”

“That must’ve made you feel so empty inside.” John murmured softly, more to himself than her, but Adrianna heard it and nodded in agreement.

“It did and I hated leaving him, but my brother wouldn’t move to Florida, especially since he’d recently gotten married to Gabriella. So anyway, not even a week later, I got online and talked to one of my friends, which was a huge mistake on my part. Her name was Cindy and she was a close friend of mine who wasn’t in our little circle and told me that Aaron and my best friend were cheating on me with each other behind my back. Apparently, Aaron had announced at the Friday night football game right after my departure that day that we’d broken up and he had a new girlfriend to all of his friends and the school. It literally shattered my heart and I called Aaron’s house, only to get the answering machine, so I left him a message to call me back so we could talk about this. I never received one phone call.” Adrianna explained, causing John’s heart to shatter for her and couldn’t believe how cruel her best friend and boyfriend had been to her. Her parents had just died and they were cheating on her behind her back on top of it! No wonder Adrianna was in the state of mind she was in and John felt horrible for her because that would be a lot to deal with for a teenage girl, in his mind at least.

He squeezed her hand a little more, wanting to her continue, and softly urged, “Go on, what happened next?” He wanted to hear everything now that she’d told him about her parents and what her best friend and ex-boyfriend did to her. He’d hoped she still wasn’t friends with the slut, especially after what she’d done.

Adrianna began to struggle with her words a little as she raked a hand through her hair with her free hand, since John had her other one in his grip, and took a deep, shaky breath. “After that, I made a vow to myself to never let it happen again, to not let anyone close to my heart and it just snowballed from there. I was fourteen and just lost both of my parents because of a stupid semi truck and I lost the love of my life and my best friend since kindergarten all in one week. So I started dressing in darker colors, black mostly and began covering my face up, hiding it from the world around me. I didn’t want to see the light of day anymore; I didn’t want to experience happiness because I didn’t want to feel betrayed and hurt when it was yanked away from me again. It got more serious as I dove deeper and deeper into my depression to the point where…I tried killing myself.” Her words died as she dropped to her knees in the sand right in front of him, her hand slipping out of his, and removed her arm warmers that covered her arms, showing him the scars of her past.

“Jesus…” John whispered out as he gently ran his fingertips over her scars, not believing everything this girl had been through in the past four years, and ran a hand through his hair as he looked up into her eyes. “You must’ve felt so dead and empty inside to do this to yourself.”

Nodding at him in agreement, more tears spilled down her cheeks and landed on her arms, on the scars, and couldn’t believe she was actually telling him about her past. She wanted to stop, but for some reason, she kept going, wanting to make him understand why she’d done what she did and the reasoning behind it all. “I felt dead and I didn’t want to live anymore so I tried slitting my wrists. It didn’t work because Paul found me in my bathroom one night when he came home from the road, unexpected, and rushed me to the hospital. They put me in a lock down room for seventy two hours with nothing, but four padded walls and a bed to look at. Like that would really help me out, which it didn’t because it only made me think and ponder about my parents, about Aaron and my best friend, and about the deep amount of sadness I was feeling inside. I’ve tried nineteen other times in the past four years to end my life and finally decided to take a break from it, hoping my life would turn around. I still feel dead somewhat, but it’s not as lethal as what I’ve felt before.”

Her words, the pain in her voice, everything she’d just told him out of pure trust, touched John’s heart, but also made it shatter for her. It went out to her for all she’d been through and John made his own vow at that moment to make this girl smile, no matter what it took, from this day forward until she left the road. John looked deep into her amber colored eyes, seeing all the pain and sadness swimming through them, and couldn’t help himself any longer. He pulled her into his arms, and held her close, rubbing her back soothingly, wanting her to release all that anger, pain, and anguish she’d been keeping inside of her for the past four years.

Adrianna wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest, and started crying her heart out to him. The emotions she’d been carrying around with her, that burdened her, for the past four years were finally starting to come out because she finally found someone who she could talk to and not get judged for it. Her entire body shook with intensity as heart wrenching sobs tore throughout her body and John held her the entire time. The sun was slowly starting to set as she continued to cry, but she didn’t care and neither did John. He wanted to be with her at that moment and Adrianna didn’t want to leave his arms because they felt so wonderful and comforting to her.

Feelings she hadn’t experienced in four long, grueling, and tiresome years.

Chapter 11

After Adrianna calmed down a little and got most of her emotions out in the open, she sighed deeply and stared up into John’s beautiful blue eyes. “Sorry about your jersey.” She apologized in a mutter and started to wipe her nose and eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie, but John opted for a better solution.

John waved her off and chuckled softly as he replied, “It’s cool. Nothin’ that won’t come out in the wash, right?” He joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit since there was so much emotional tension in the air and winked at her. He pulled out a napkin from his pocket and handed it to her, cracking a smile in return. “It’s the best I can do.” He sheepishly said, causing her to smile a little back at him for his efforts, and proceeded to blow her nose with it.

“Thanks, John.” She replied softly, a small laugh escaping her lips from his joke, and shoved the snot filled napkin in her pocket before leaning against him again, biting her bottom lip as she looked down at the sand. “So, do you think ill of me after what I’ve told you?” Asked Adrianna after a few moments of silence between them, almost afraid to hear his answer as she bit her bottom lip nervously.

Shaking his head at her, John took her hand in his and replied gently, “No, I don’t think any less of you, Adrianna. I do think you’re a lot braver than most girls would have been in that whole situation though.” He was being honest with her and hoped she didn’t get offended.

She scoffed at him and quickly replaced the arm warmers on her arms, covering the scars of her past, and muttered out, “Yeah, brave. Brave enough to cut myself over the past four years and try to end my miserable existence twenty times. I’m not brave at all, I was just looking for an easy way out, but I’ve finally come to realize that there is no such thing. There is no easy way out and it sucks.” The amount of bitterness in her voice caused John to sigh, knowing she hated herself for hurting herself. It was no reason to put herself down because if anything, she did what she thought was best to cope with the situation and John honestly didn’t blame her.

“You’re right about that. There is no easy way. That’s life though and you have to just…learn to get through the bad times the best you can and I know for a fact that there are better things out there waiting for you. You just have to find them and when you do, hold onto them forever.” John replied, offering his wisdom to her, and smiled when she looked back at him, pure thankfulness shining in her eyes.

Even though Adrianna agreed with him, that still didn’t stop the pain she felt and laughed bitterly, picking up a rock, and threw it in the depths of the ocean. “Problem with me is, it’s all been bad for the past four years, ever since my parent’s death and I don’t know if I can get any better.”

John sighed heavily at her revelation and turned her face with his hand to meet his eyes, though she turned away from him immediately. “Adrianna, look at me.” He gently commanded causing her head to rise as their eyes met once again. “You can get better and now that I’m in your life, I’ll make sure of it. No one deserves to feel the way you have for the past four years.” He promised, revealing his personal vow to her, and Adrianna was stunned into silence to say the least.

She knew he meant what he said because that was the type of man John was. Anything he promised or said was for a reason and he never broke either of them. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she hugged him tightly around the waist, her head buried in his chest, and whispered out, “I haven’t trusted anyone like this in so long or been held like this. Thank you, John.” She was truly blessed to have met such a decent and honest human being who actually listened to her and didn’t judge her for her mistakes.

Closing his eyes as he held her tightly against him, John never experienced anything like this before in his entire life, not even with Marc. He suddenly felt like a God, an unstoppable force, and replied soothingly, “You’re welcome. I told you I’m here for you anytime you need to vent or chill.”

“So, are there any else you want to know about me?” Adrianna asked after silence leaked between them again, not wanting this night to ever end as she snuggled further into John’s warm body.

John started thinking about it while rubbing his hands together in thought, staying close to her, and snapped his fingers when it hit him. “Hmm let’s see…Well sort of. What do YOU want to ask ME?” He asked, emphasizing on the words you and me to her, causing her to laugh because of the goofy look that’d appeared on his face.

In all the time they’d talked, Adrianna never once asked anything about John. He’d just come right out and talked about his family to her and Adrianna was truly honored because family was usually a sacred treasure to discuss deeper into the relationship or friendship. She tapped her chin in thought and shrugged her shoulders when nothing came to her mind. “Nothing. You seem like a pretty stand up guy so I’m not worried.” Adrianna stated and suddenly, the light bulb clicked in her head as a slow smirk spread across her lips. “Actually…Okay, how many girlfriends have you had?” She asked rather bluntly, causing John to chuckle back at her nervously, not expecting the question.

“I knew you’d think of something.” He retorted playfully, holding her closer, and sighed as he ran a hand through his soft, brown hair. “So, what are we talkin’ here…like serious relationships?” He asked, wanting to know the extension of what the question entailed that she’d just fired at him.

Adrianna giggled a little, feeling a sense of happiness and peace sweep over her, and smiled as she answered, “No, just in general.” She loved how his body felt against hers and couldn’t believe the warmth his body gave off. He was her personal heater since it’d gotten colder outside now that the sun had diminished.

“Then I’d say about six.” He replied, causing Adrianna to burst out laughing as she shook her head, knowing he was messing with her. “What?” John questioned, raising an eyebrow up at her, and her laughter died down when she looked into his eyes, seeing they were filled with total seriousness. When she didn’t answer him, his face took on a serious facial expression that showed no trace that this was a joke and repeated, “Six.”

“Wow…” Adrianna breathed, not believing this gorgeous man only had six girlfriends in his entire life thus far. Most guys would’ve bragged and said they’d banged pretty much any girl they came in contact with, but not John. He’d shocked her yet again and Adrianna was blown away by his answer. “That’s…Wow…” Was all she could think to say, trying to find the right words, and raked a hand through her hair in frustration when an awkward silence formed between them.

Deciding to lighten the mood again, John chuckled at her a little and retorted playfully, “What is that a lot to you?”

“No, it’s just…shocking because you’re so…BLAH! Never mind, forget I even mentioned the question.” She promulgated, her cheeks becoming inflamed from the amount of embarrassment she felt at that moment and buried her face in John’s chest.

“I’m so what?” John pried, curious as to what she thought of him, and chuckled when she muffled something in his chest that he couldn’t quite hear. He loved messing with her and making her blush, which he knew she was doing at the moment. “I didn’t quite catch that, Adrianna.”

Adrianna knew she was busted and had to figure out someway to change the subject. She looked up at him quickly and bit her bottom lip before asking nimbly, “Are you hungry? I’m starving!” She exclaimed and went to stand up, but John pulled her back down, shaking his finger at her.

“Uh-uh, you’re not gettin’ away that easily, baby girl. Now tell me what you think of me.” He gently stated, his eyes blazing with wonder into hers, and Adrianna sighed as she bit the bullet and decided to tell him.

“You’re just…so gorgeous and I just assumed that-” Adrianna started to say, but John cut her off, finishing what she was about to say.

“I can have any woman I want at any time, right?” John finished and asked, causing her to blush harder as she covered her cheeks with her hands, glaring playfully at him. “Adrianna, I’m going to be unbelievably, strictly honest with you right now. From the first moment I laid eyes on you, I felt something inside me erupt, something I can’t explain. I haven’t been able to get you off my mind and no matter how hard I try, you won’t go away. I find you extremely attractive, even with your makeup, but you are more beautiful without it in all honesty. The point I’m trying to make here is that I don’t go out with just any girl. She’s gotta have the right qualities and she’s gotta have a heart. Understand what I’m sayin’?” He asked, after explaining himself, and Adrianna just nodded, not able to find the words because her breath had caught in her throat when he’d told her his true feelings about her.

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Adrianna was truly shocked as she looked up into his eyes and whispered, “I didn’t know you felt that way about me.” She couldn’t think of anything more to say to him as she raked a hand through her hair, wishing her vocal cords would start working, but nothing was coming out.

“Well now you know. Now, I have a question for you.” John stated, looking down at her and smiled when she gave him her attention. “What else was bothering you before I showed up besides your past?” He asked, causing Adrianna’s entire body to begin trembling, causing John’s eyebrow to raise and knew there was more to the story. Visions of that night flowed through her mind as Adrianna shut her eyes tightly, the feeling of David’s touch flowing over her body, and the pure dread sweeping over her. John held her tighter, wondering why his question could’ve caused her to become this scared, and decided to leave well enough alone for now. “Forget I said anything, Adrianna.” He whispered in her ear, causing her eyes to snap open, and looked out at the horizon and then up at the stars. It was a beautiful night with a zillion stars sparkling down on them and the full lit moon lighting the ocean up along with them.

“I’m sorry, John. I just…I can’t talk about it.” She softly stated, causing him to nod back at her as he looked down into her eyes, and felt his entire body hypnotized by her.

The moonlight casted over his eyes, shadowing them along with hers, and Adrianna felt her body start to instantly relax. David disappeared from her mind as his hand gently came up; caressing her face delicately in his hand, and Adrianna leaned against his touch as her eyes drifted shut. That was John’s undoing as he slowly leaned down and feathered his lips over hers in a soft, gentle caress. His hands gently gripped her face, loving the feel of her lips against his, and Adrianna was in pure heaven as she melted against him instantly. A soft moan escaped her lips and flowed into John’s mouth, causing him to groan as he deepened the kiss a little more, his tongue delving in her mouth when her lips parted as an invitation for him.

They continued to kiss like that for what seemed like hours, but only mere minutes before John parted from her, needing to catch his breath, and raked his hand through his hair. Adrianna stared at him, completely floored by what just transpired between them, and touched her lips with her fingertips, still feeling his lips on hers. John wanted to kick himself for what he’d done, but he couldn’t help it. She was so beautiful and the moment felt perfect to move in and take it. He smiled sheepishly at her, but couldn’t find any words to say, especially when he knew Adrianna probably didn’t want the kiss in the first place.

“So…” Adrianna tried to think of something, anything to say to break the awkward moment apart, and rubbed the back of her neck. “That was…nice.”

“You mean you actually wanted it?” John asked, hope shining in his blue eyes, and smiled at her widely when she nodded back at him. He pulled her into his arms, kissing her again, and broke it as he breathed against her lips, “You have NO idea how long I’ve been waiting and wanting to do that.”

Running her thumb down his soft, red lips, Adrianna sighed as she suddenly become wary of the situation. “Does my age bother you?” She asked suddenly, needing to know the answer to that question before they went any further.

“It never did. I was going to tell you that night in the staircase, but you ran off too soon.” John admitted, staring down into her amber colored eyes, and caressed her face gently with the back of his hand. “You’re beautiful.” He murmured softly, causing Adrianna to blush, and wrapped her arms around his neck as he lowered his lips to hers once more.

She suddenly broke the kiss and sat up, raking a hand through her hair hastily, and looked back at John with fear ridden eyes. “What about my brother?” She questioned, worried sick about Paul finding out about her and John. “If he ever found out about us, his head would explode from rage and take half of whatever state we were in with him.”

John couldn’t help, but laugh at her comment and shook his head, knowing Paul would blow a gasket if he ever found out about them. He started thinking for a minute and snapped his fingers, knowing exactly what to do. “What if we didn’t tell him?” John asked her, causing Adrianna to stare at him like he’d just grown three heads.

“What do you mean ‘not tell him’?” Adrianna retorted, doing the quotation mark motion with her fingers, and wondered what John was getting at. “He’ll find out John if we start hanging out a lot more.” She pointed out, causing John to nod back at her knowingly as he walked over to her, kissing her lips softly.

“What I was thinking was we could keep this secret for the time being and then after you turn eighteen, then we could bomb him with the news.” John suggested, hoping she went along with his idea, and watched as different emotions swept over her face for a few minutes, contemplating the decision obviously.

Walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, Adrianna kissed his lips softly and replied, “Let’s do it.”

Chapter 12

The night of Adrianna’s birthday arrived and she was extremely happy about it. John told her that he had something special planned later on that night and she couldn’t wait to sneak out to be with him. Ever since that day on the beach, they’d be inseparable, except around people, especially Paul and Gabriella. Gabriella was going on her fourth month pregnancy and doing very well, showing just a tad, and extremely hormonal, so Paul had his hands full. He hadn’t spoken more than three words to her because his full attention was on his wife, which Adrianna didn’t mind. It gave her more opportunities to sneak out and be with John, where she wanted be always.

She didn’t want to admit it, but Adrianna was falling in love with John and she couldn’t stop it even if she wanted to, which she didn’t. David had recently came back on the road and luckily for her, they hadn’t crossed paths, much to her relief. She started adding more color to her wardrobe and hardly wore makeup, except the black eyeliner. That she would never be rid of because it had become apart of her and John didn’t mind, as long as she didn’t paint her face like she used to. She couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face as she continued to write in her notebook, her heart swelling at the thought of John, and closed her eyes as she envisioned his incredible eyes.

Her eyes snapped open when the door of Paul’s dressing room opened and smiled at Gabriella, who was smiling back at her. “Now, what did I come in here for?” She wondered aloud and smirked before throwing confetti in the air and shouted, “Happy Birthday, Anna!”

Adrianna laughed as the confetti fell on her, shaking it out of her hair, and shook her head at her sister-in-law before stating, “You are one crazy woman.”

“I know, but you love me anyway.” Gabriella retorted, causing Adrianna to roll her eyes, and laughed when her arm was swatted. “Okay smartass, I came in here to tell you that your brother and I want to take you out to dinner for your birthday tonight. The choice of restaurant is yours entirely.” She informed the eighteen year old and Adrianna could feel her heart dropping in the pit of her stomach, not believing her brother would ruin her plans with John like this.

A forged smile spread across Adrianna’s lips as she replied, “Oh…okay.” She knew her voice held a sense of disappointment, but she couldn’t help it. Her brother could be such an asshole at times and this was just an example.

“Is everything okay, Anna?” Gabriella asked, noticing a sudden change of attitude in her sister after she’d surprised her with dinner plans. Granted, she should’ve told her about it sooner, but the baby had been taking up most of her time lately and it wasn’t even born yet!

Adrianna sighed, knowing if she told Gabriella about her and John that she would go tell her brother. That’s the way it always worked so she simply shook her head and simply answered, “No.”

“Alright, well you choose the restaurant and let me know so I can relay the message to Paul.” Gabriella told her before walking out of the dressing room and Adrianna finally let out a dangerous growl.

“Damn you, Paul!” She muttered under her breath and started writing in her notebook harshly just as there was a knock on the dressing room door. “No one’s here!” She called out, truly fed up with everything and everybody around her at the moment, and felt her insides quake with fear when a familiar voice lingered in the air and entered her ear. ‘No.’ She thought and slowly looked up, her worst nightmare confirmed as brown eyes stared back into hers.

“Well hello my beautiful Adrianna. I heard it was your birthday.” David greeted, a sly smile curving his lips, and slowly walked toward her, pure evil intentions swimming through his orbs.

“Thanks.” She softly replied, scooting further back into the couch, and bit her bottom lip when he sat down beside her, closer than she liked, and tried to scoot away from him. “What do you want, David?” She asked, knowing he wasn’t just there to wish her a happy birthday. His eyes gave him away every time and she could see the darkness swirling through them.

Running a hand over his bald head, David sighed sadly as he looked back at her and said, “You never showed up that night, Adrianna. I came to ask you why.”

“Because I didn’t want to.” She shot back at him, her courage slowly building along with her anger for this man. “Because you violated me and made me feel disgusting.”

A deep, dark chuckle flowed from his mouth, sending a shiver of dread down her spine, and bit her bottom lip when his finger snaked out, running it down her cheek. “Now that’s no way to talk to your future boyfriend, baby.” He whispered in her ear and began to slowly descend his lips down on her neck when another knock sounded at the door. Adrianna closed her eyes and silently thanked whoever it was that was at the door for stopping David’s administrations. Her eyes lit up when John walked in a second later, but immediately looked down when David stood up, squaring his shoulders. “What can I do for you, Cena?” He asked gruffly, angered that he’d been interrupted yet again, and wondered what the man wanted.

John looked David up and down, eyeing him for a minute, and finally replied, “I came here to talk to Paul about something. He’s on his way.” He lied and glanced over at Adrianna, seeing she was visibly trembling, and wondered what David had done to her before he showed up.

‘I need to get out of here.’ David thought suddenly, buying John’s lie, and walked over as he whispered down in Adrianna’s ear, “I’ll see you later, princess.” Adrianna shuddered when he said that and bit her bottom lip as he glared at John before disappearing out the door, slamming it behind him.

“Okay, what was that about?” John questioned once he knew David was gone and out of sight.

Sighing deeply and raking a hand through her hair, Adrianna smiled weakly up at John and said, “It’s a long story that I don’t want to get into right now. I’m just glad you showed up when you did.” The amount of relief that shone in her eyes made John wonder if something happened previously between David and his girlfriend, but he wasn’t about to upset her on her birthday with it. He smiled and pulled out a bouquet of blood red roses, her favorite flower, and handed them to her, dropping a quick kiss on her lips in the process.

Adrianna gasped as he handed her the bouquet of beautiful flowers, tears instantly pooling in her eyes, and kissed him back as she breathed out, “Thank you, John! They’re beautiful!” She stood up from the couch, still on shaky legs from the encounter she’d just had with David, but shook that out of her mind as she put the flowers in a vase. She set them on the coffee table that was in front of the couch and wrapped her arms around John’s neck, giving him a hug.

“Anything to keep that beautiful smile on your face, baby girl.” John murmured softly in her ear and parted away from her reluctantly as he sat on the couch beside her. “So, are our plans still on for tonight?” He asked, immediately frowning when Adrianna lowered her head, and knew this couldn’t be good.

“My brother is ruining them by taking me out to dinner. I don’t know how long its going to be.” Adrianna softly revealed, biting her bottom lip, and sighed when John lifted her chin to meet his blue eyes.

“I’ll wait all night if that’s what it takes to spend some time with my girlfriend on her birthday.” John stated determinedly, causing Adrianna’s eyes to light up, and kissed his lips softly, not believing how wonderful he was to her.

They broke apart when the door opened and Adrianna looked down at her notebook, completely forgetting to put the roses away, and looked up at Gabriella with a smile. John looked up at her as well and stood up from the couch, shoving his hands in his pockets, and asked, “Do you know where Paul is?”

“He’s on his way back here, John.” She responded and turned toward her sister, who looked up at her, and asked, “Have you decided on the restaurant?”

Adrianna’s heart broke as she sighed on the inside, smiling on the outside, and nodded, knowing the perfect restaurant who would give them fast service, “TGI Friday’s.”

Gabriella laughed softly and nodded, knowing she’d pick either that or Applebee’s. “Alright, you can tell your brother when he gets here.” She informed Adrianna, who sighed and rolled her eyes once they adverted back to her notebook, not looking forward to this dinner at all.

As promised, a few minutes later, Paul walked into the room, wearing a pair of tight blue jeans with a white polo shirt and his hair was down, a pair of black shades over his eyes. “We ready to go?” He asked, looking over at his co-worker John Cena and wondered what he was doing here. “Somethin’ I can help you with, Cena?” Paul asked, taking his shades off and sliding them on the top of his head, pushing his bangs back as well.

“I just wanted to make sure that we’re still on for the house show.” John lied, hoping Paul bought it, and smiled when he nodded, patting his shoulder firmly.

“Yeah we’re good to go for that. I talked to Steph and she’s all for it too.” Paul informed him, causing John to smile, and took his leave, giving Adrianna a quick look that was unbeknownst to both Paul and Gabriella. Slapping his hands together and rubbing them, Paul looked down at his sister and stated, “Let’s go eat ‘cause I’m starving.”

“Don’t you want to know where she chose, Paul?” Gabriella asked, causing Paul to chuckle as he shook his head. This caused Gabriella to frown as she gave Adrianna an apologetic look before glaring back at her husband spitefully. “Paul, this is HER birthday, remember?”

“She’ll like the place I’ve picked out.” Paul simply retorted, causing Adrianna to glare up at him hatefully, and stood up from the couch, slamming her notebook down on the ground.

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Adrianna stated defiantly, “I’m not going with you unless I choose the restaurant.”

Paul glared back at his little sister, not believing she was acting like this over the pick of the restaurant, and shook his head, “No you’re not now get your shit packed up and let’s go right now!” His voice sounded in a low growl, causing Adrianna’s eyes to well up with tears, and ran out of the dressing room, not believing how cruel her brother had been toward her.

Hauling off, Gabriella smacked Paul’s arm hard with authority, causing him to whip his head around to stare at her in shock. “What the Hell was that for?!” He screeched out, causing her to glare at him as her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“If you have to even ask then you’re not as smart as I thought.” She retorted and stormed out of the dressing room, leaving Paul wondering what he had done wrong to deserve both women to storm out on him.

Reluctantly, Adrianna was forced to go to dinner with her brother and sister-in-law, and picked at her food when it finally came an hour later. She couldn’t believe this was happening and knew John wouldn’t wait for her, especially the way her brother could eat. The frown never left her face as Paul looked up at her, wondering why she wasn’t eating, and placed his fork down on the plate, wiping his mouth. “You haven’t touched your food, Adrianna.” He pointed out, causing her to look up at him with the deadliest glare. If looks could kill, Paul would keel over dead right then and there.

“I’m not hungry.” She icily replied, causing him to sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, and Gabriella was the same way, wanting to get as far away from her husband as possible.

Paul sighed deeply and shook his head, taking another bite of his steak he’d ordered, and retorted, “You need to get a new attitude before I send your ass to boot camp.”

That was all Adrianna could take as she stood up hastily from the table, causing her brother to stare up at her with shocked eyes, and threw her napkin down as she stated heatedly, “I’m not a fuckin’ child anymore!” She then stormed out of the restaurant, with or without her brother’s consent, and Gabriella followed, disappointed in her husband for his cruel words toward his sister. She sighed when she arrived outside, holding her stomach since the baby was active, and walked over, placing her hand on her sister-in-law’s shoulder. “Why does he have to treat me this way? I’m not a little girl anymore and he needs to realize that!” Adrianna cried out, looking out on the pier since that restaurant was on one, and wiped her tears away frantically.

Her heart broke at Adrianna’s words and knew she was right. Paul was treating her like a child still and it wasn’t fair, especially in Gabriella’s eyes. She hugged Adrianna from behind and whispered softly, “I’m sorry, honey. I really thought he would allow you to choose the restaurant.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, Gabby. I’m talking about what he just said in there. Sending me away to boot camp and all that shit. I’m fuckin’ eighteen now, an adult, a person who can make her OWN decisions!” Adrianna shouted, completely frustrated with her brother and his overbearing ways. She would definitely have to talk to John that night if the plans were still on for her birthday, what was left of it.

“I know, Paul just doesn’t seem to get it. It makes me wonder if I should even have this baby now.” Gabriella mumbled out, but Adrianna heard the last part, causing her to advert her eyes to the ground below. “I just don’t want him being overprotective and overbearing to our children like he is with you.”

Before Adrianna could respond to Gabriella’s comment, Paul had walked out, a scowl on his face, and growled out in a low voice, “Let’s go now.”

The entire ride back to the hotel was made in silence, neither woman wanting to talk to Paul, and it was starting to irritate him. He told Gabriella he loved her and she just shrugged him off, giving him the silent treatment while his sister had her arms crossed in front of her chest, refusing to look at him. He finally gave up after a few more tries and drove the rest of the way in pure silence. He didn’t even get to stop and park the car as both girls hopped up when they arrived a few minutes later, Adrianna running up the back staircase, and this caused Paul to hit the steering wheel in anger. Neither woman cared as they went to their respective hotel rooms, Adrianna immediately calling John while Gabriella started packing her things. Paul walked in a few minutes later and stared at his wife, wondering what she was doing, and felt his heart fall in the pit of his stomach.

“What are you doing?” He asked, not understanding why she’d gotten so upset with him and sighs deeply when she shoots daggers of hatred in his midst.

“I’m leaving. You don’t care about me. You don’t care about this baby. You’re too wrapped up in your own world and trying to rule over your sister to even care. You’re not ready to be a father.” Gabriella stated as she walked to the other dresser, not allowing Paul to convince her to stay again.

“Gabby, please reconsider.” Paul started to plead, wondering where she was going to stay. “Where are you going to go?”

“I’m staying with my parents until I can figure out what to do next.” Gabriella replied simply before throwing her bag over her shoulder, staring into Paul’s tear filled eyes, and shook her head, refusing to stay with someone who didn’t even care about his sister’s happiness. She walked out on him, not looking back as she padded down the hallway with Paul standing by the open door as it slowly started to close, his heart shattering in his chest and knew he’d lost the best thing that ever happened to him.

Chapter 13

Meanwhile, Adrianna had called John as soon as she arrived back in her hotel room, thankful to be away from her heartless brother. She sat on her bed after ending the call with John and waited, tears silently sliding down her cheeks in the process. Why did Paul have to such a jerk sometimes? She sniffled a little and stood up from her bed when there was a knock at her door a few minutes later, quickly opening it, and pulling John in before anyone saw him. Her back was facing him as she tried to wipe away her excess tears, not wanting him to find out that she’d been crying before his arrival. John wasn’t stupid though as he slowly walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, and sighed heavily when she turned her face into his chest.

He couldn’t believe his beautiful girlfriend was crying on her eighteenth birthday! John sighed as he finally managed to calm her down and looked into her red puffy eyes as he asked, “What happened?”

“It was awful. Paul forced us to go to the restaurant of HIS choosing and then he proceeded to threaten me like he always does because I was giving him attitude.” Adrianna answered, wiping her tears away, and bit her bottom lip as John’s blue eyes flared up in anger.

Crossing his arms in front of his massive chest, John shook his head and stated, “That’s a bunch of bullshit. What do you mean he threatened you? How?” He questioned, causing Adrianna to roll her eyes, and still couldn’t believe how ridiculous her brother sounded at dinner earlier on.

“He said if I didn’t get a new attitude he was going to ship me off to boot camp. All because I refused to eat that crappy meal he forced me and Gabby into.” Adrianna replied, raking a hand through her hair, and sighed heavily as she plopped down on the bed. “I’m eighteen now, John and it really sucks that he’s STILL treating me like a child.”

John walked over and sat down besides her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her to lean against him. His hand slowly ran up and down her arm as he thought about his words carefully before saying them. “Your brother needs to get a fuckin’ life and stop trying to run yours.” John stated in a low tone of voice, truly angered by Paul’s harsh words he’d inflicted on his sister. He knew now more than ever that keeping their relationship a secret from him was the best decision they could’ve made.

“He won’t though. He’s going to keep treating me like a little girl until I finally snap on him and tell him to get the Hell out of my life for good.” Adrianna retorted, knowing her brother would never see the light and sighed heavily, putting her head in her hands. “This was supposed to be my day, John and he ruined it…”

Lifting her chin up to meet his eyes, John shook his head and stated emphatically, “He might’ve ruined a part of your birthday, but it’s not over yet, Adrianna. Come on, it’s time to show you my surprise.” He announced and stood to his feet, extending his hand to her, and Adrianna looked up at him with wonder swimming through her eyes.

She trusted this man fully so she knew whatever he had planned was wonderful. John smiled when her hand slid into his, hoping she liked what he had planned, and escorted her out of her room, entwining their fingers together. They took the back staircase, not wanting anyone from the company to catch them in the lobby, and John was jumping for joy on the inside. They were in North Carolina and the hotel was near the ocean, much to John’s delight and walked down the street toward it. Adrianna smiled upon seeing the ocean and felt her eyes start to sparkle with happiness, knowing John could take her bad mood away.

They walked onto the sand a few minutes later and John stopped, standing in front of her, and took Adrianna’s hands in his own, gently commanding, “Close your eyes.”

“John, what’s going on?” She asked, curiosity peeking her interest, and started to pout when he shook his head in return.

“Nope, if you want to know what your birthday surprise is, you’ll close those beautiful eyes and keep them shut.” John replied swiftly, not budging an inch, and smirked when she reluctantly obeyed. “Good girl.” He murmured softly in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine, and took her hand as he started walking toward her surprise, which was a few hundred feet away.

A few minutes later, John stopped again and looked over his shoulder, grinning when Adrianna had kept her eyes shut the entire time. He knew it had to be hard for her, but also knew it would be worth the grueling wait. Adrianna felt herself stop and bit her bottom lip, anticipation flowing through her veins, and looked at John with her eyes closed as she asked, “Now can I open them?” She asked, causing John to look down at the last minute preparations, and nodded in his own approval as he looked back up at her.

He didn’t answer and walked around, standing behind her, and wrapped her up in his strong embrace. His lips leaned down near her ear and whispered, “Now.” A shocked gasp flowed from her mouth as her eyes slowly opened, not believing the sight before her. There was a midnight blue colored blanket lying on the sand with two long stemmed candles set up and two plates that were on each side of the blanket, silverware and all. “Oh John, this is...beautiful!” Adrianna exclaimed and turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck, and stood up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips softly against his.

John kissed her back and pulled away, staring deeper into her eyes, and replied, “I hope you left room for dessert.” He winked at her with a grin and took her hand, leading her over to the blanket, and gently sat down with her. The ocean breeze flowed through her hair as she leaned against his chest, snuggling into his warmth, and sighed in contentment as the sound of the Atlantic Ocean crashed softly against the shore. It was a soothing and beautiful atmosphere and Adrianna never wanted it to end. “Are you feeling better?” John asked quietly, tightening his grip on her a little more.

Adrianna nodded in response as she turned her body in his arms and managed to straddle his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, and whispered softly against his lips, “Much better now that I’m with you.” Their lips crashed against each others, moaning and groaning sounding from their mouths, and John was in pure heaven. She felt so right in his arms, like a perfect fit, and wasn’t about to let her go without the fight of his life. His tongue slowly parted her lips, delving in her depths, and searched every crevice of her mouth that he could find, causing her head to move from side to side, deepening the kiss even more.

Realizing what was happening as his hand started sliding up her shirt, John broke the kiss, breathless, and looked into her eyes as he softly said, “We’re moving too fast.” Adrianna sighed, knowing he was right, but she couldn’t help it. Everything about this man captivated her and made her want him more, especially now that she was an adult and very consenting.

The amount of heart he had caused tears to come to her eyes as she caressed his face with her hand, biting her bottom lip, and took a deep breath before speaking. “I know we are, but I can’t help it, John. You’re so sweet and treat me like a princess.” Adrianna admitted, running a hand through her hair, and John smiled.

“That’s because you are in my eyes. You’re perfect in every way to me and I don’t want to do something we’ll both regret later. Not that I would regret it, but I want us to be together for a bit before moving to that next step.” John explained to her, running his finger down her cheek, and continued before she could talk. “I’ll admit right now that I would love to take you right here and now, Adrianna. I would love to undress you and see that beautiful body of yours and look into your eyes as I make love to you, but we’re not ready for that yet.”

“Yes we are!” Adrianna protested, her breathing becoming erratic, and her heart was thudding against her chest. He was revealing what he wanted to do to her body and felt her entire body start to light on fire. “John, I’m ready.” She insisted, running her hand down his chest, and stared up into his beautiful blue eyes that sparkled back at her.

Sighing deeply as her eyes pleaded with him, but John wasn’t going to crack under pressure. He simply smiled at her and shook his head as he swiftly argued, “No you’re not, Adrianna. You may think and feel that you are, but this…” His words trailed off for a split second and touched her heart with his hand, feeling it beat against his hand. “This isn’t ready.”

“How do you know what I’m feeling inside, John?” She retorted, hurt starting to build in her eyes, and felt her bottom lip begin to quiver, not believing he was rejecting her.

“Adrianna, we haven’t been together that long and I want to make sure that this is going to last before we make love.” John tried to reason with her, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Standing up from the sand, Adrianna looked back down at him as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, glaring at him. “You’re treating me like a child just like Paul was!! You’re not different than him!!” She shouted at him, anger in her tone of voice, and John sighed heavily, not expecting this reaction from her.

“Adrianna…” John started to say and felt his eyes widen when she bolted from him toward the ocean, causing him to instantly stand up and run after her. “Adrianna, wait!!” He shouted out to her, not believing she was acting this way, and stopped when he seen her dive into the ocean waves that were surely cold. “Damn…” He muttered under his breath and peeled off his jersey, throwing it on the sand and slipped out of his sneakers, making sure to set them far enough away from the shore so they wouldn’t get soaked. Taking a deep breath, John ran into the water, hissing at how cold the water was, but that wasn’t his main goal. “Adrianna, come back here!!” He ordered, seeing she was swimming farther and farther away from the shore and began going after her.

“No!!” She shouted back at him and dived under water, under a wave, and closed her eyes as the tears mixed in with the salt water. Her heart was shattering in her chest, not believing John had rejected her, and accused her of what she was feeling inside. How the Hell did he know what she was feeling?!

John sighed heavily as he dived under the wave after her, reaching his hand out, and came back up for air as he seen her just a few feet away from him, the water splashing against his rock hard body. “Adrianna, stop!” He ordered, breathing heavily, and shook the water out of his ears as she floated before him. Even with the mixture of the ocean water, John seen the tears glistening on her cheeks, her side facing him, but she refused to stare into his eyes. His voice lowered a little as he calmed down when she didn’t move and began to swim toward her. “I didn’t mean to upset you or make you think that I didn’t want you because I do. I want you more than anything in the world, but I want us to get to know each other better before we do it.” John explained to her, revealing his true feelings, and ran a hand through his short, short brown hair.

“That’s a lame excuse, John. Just go away and leave me alone. You’re no different than my brother.” She stated and wiped her tears away that were sliding down her cheeks at the moment.

“Baby girl, please don’t do this. I’m nothing like your brother and you know it!” John pleaded with her, his anger started to surface as he sighed when she still refused to look at him.

“Yeah, that’s why you said you knew how I was feeling inside about us! You don’t know what I’m feeling unless you actually live inside my body, which you don’t!” Adrianna spat at him and sunk back down under the water, starting to swim further away from him, but John was too fast for her.

He dived under the water the same time and grabbed her ankle, holding it in a vise grip, and pulled her back against him just as they both came up for air. His arms instantly wrapped around her body, locking her arms at her sides, and rested his chin on her shoulder. “I know what you’re feeling inside, Adrianna because I can see it in your eyes. You think that if you don’t have sex with me that I’ll leave you.” John stated, tightening his hold on her when she tried to get away from him.

“Let me go!!” She demanded, trying to swim away and wiggle out of his arms, but John wasn’t giving up that easily. “Jonathan Felix-Anthony Cena, let me go right now!!”

“No! I’m not letting you go until we work this out!” John growled back in her ear and turned her around, gripping her upper arms, and crashed his lips onto hers.

Adrianna started to fight him, wanting to get away from him, but her body was betraying her as it began melting against him. John knew this was working as he slowly released his grip on her arms and trailed his hands down her back, pushing her against him even closer as their kiss intensified. He groaned in her mouth when her hand slid down beneath the water and began stroking him through his jean shorts, causing him to instantly produce an erection. Adrianna moaned softly against him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pressed herself further against his rock hard body, wanting him more than she ever wanted anyone, even her ex-boyfriend Aaron.

Slowly pulling out of the kiss, John looked deep into her eyes, stroking her face with the back of his hand, and whispered softly, “I’m sorry for upsetting you. I never meant to hurt you, baby girl.”

Sighing deeply as she looked down, Adrianna nodded in return and replied, “I’m sorry for overreacting. I just, I want you really bad, John. I want you to make me feel like a woman.” She admitted openly, causing his eyes to widen, and knew she was telling the truth.

“In time, baby girl. In time.” John murmured against her lips before capturing them again, running his hands down her sides under the water, and enjoyed the moment with his girlfriend.

None of them seen the cold, calculating eyes that were watching everything they were doing in the ocean as his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. He’d been searching all over for her and finally found her at the ocean with John Cena. Feeling his heart start to break at the sight of them, anger suddenly invaded his mind along with revenge as a slow, sadistic smirk spread across his lips, and knew just what to do. ‘You will be mine, Adrianna and when I finally have you, you’ll never want to see the light in life again. Enjoy your time with John for now because soon, I will have you as my own, my dark princess.’ He thought before storming back into the hotel, needing to think over his plans and finalize them. Tomorrow would definitely be the time to act on them and what better way to start them out by telling a certain big brother about his sister’s secretive relationship with his co-worker?

Chapter 14

A smirk was plastered on David’s lips as he walked into the arena the following day, wondering if Paul had arrived yet. He seen the scheduled matches for that night’s show and nodded his approval when he saw he was in a tag team match with Bobby Lashley against Booker T and Fit Finlay. He growled at the mere thought of the two men, hating them with a passion, and couldn’t wait to get his hands on them in the ring. They’d jumped script on him countless number of times and David was tired of it. He patted his World Heavyweight Championship belt that was thrown over his shoulder and sauntered down the hallway, putting that match in the back of his mind for later on. He had one goal in mind and that was to find his best friend Paul Levesque.

He spotted Jeff Hardy down the hall, near the drinking fountain, and walked up to him, clearing his throat. Jeff looked up at him and smiled a little as he greeted casually, “Hey Animal, what’s up?”

“Hey Jeff, I was wondering if you’ve seen Paul anywhere. I need to speak with him about something.” David answered, running a hand over his bald head, and smiled when the puny boy before him revealed Paul’s location.

“He’s down in the workout room, but I wouldn’t bother him if I were you.” Jeff informed him, causing David’s eyebrow to raise in question, wondering why Paul was in such a bad mood. He only worked out if he absolutely had to or if he had pent up anger and frustration.

His curiosity got the better of him as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms in front of his chest, and retorted, “Why wouldn’t I go bother him?”

Jeff sighed heavily and ran a hand through his multicolored hair, completely innocent, and didn’t realize what David was about to do. “There’s been a rumor going around that him and Gabriella are splitting up.” Jeff revealed, causing David to stroke his soul patch deep in thought.

He sighed deeply, pretending like he gave two shits about Paul’s marriage, and rubbed the back of his neck before replying, “Damn, that’s gotta be rough. I wonder what happened between them.” He wondered aloud and patted Jeff’s shoulder, thanking him for his information. This was even better than David thought as he walked down the hallway toward the work out room that was build into the arena.

Sweat dripped from Paul’s brow as he kept lifting the bar, the weight past his max, but he didn’t care. Gabriella had really thrown a curve ball at him the previous night and he needed to get some of his anger and hurt out before he went into the ring that night. He didn’t want to kill his opponent after all as he gritted his teeth and kept pushing himself, not seeing a pair of eyes watching him from the doorway. His entire body was covered in sweat from head to toe and he had this disfigured look on his face as he lifted the bar up and down, his muscles rippling with every movement he made while his thighs tightened dangerously from how much Paul was pushing himself.

‘This is going to be like taking candy from a baby.’ David thought happily as he walked into the room, trying to get that sorrow look on his face, even though he didn’t care if Paul’s marriage was ending or not. He sat down on the nearby bench right beside Paul, who kept lifting, and sighed deeply as he gruffly said, “Hey man.”

Paul looked over at his best friend, not hearing him walk in, and decided to take a break as he put the bar back on the arms and sat up. His hand ran through his hair as he looked straight at the floor and mumbled, “Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing man, I just heard about you and Gabby. I’m really sorry, man.” David replied, clasping his hands together, and hoped Paul bought his entire act he was about to perform.

“Yeah well, there’s nothing you could’ve done to stop it, Dave. I just…I don’t understand where I went wrong.” Paul replied in a low tone of voice, heartache and hurt purely evident.

David sighed as he shook his head and stated, “It’s women these days, man. I mean, look what happened between me and Angie. She got a relapse in her cancer and started pushing me away until I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Yeah, but me and Gabriella aren’t like you and Angie. She left me because of how I’m treating my little sister.” Paul revealed, gaining David’s interest all of a sudden, and knew this was the perfect time to drop the bomb on him about her secret relationship with John Cena. He had to wait for the perfect time though in order to execute the first part of his master plan flawlessly.

“Wanna tell me about what’s been going on, Paul?” David asked, trying to act like the usual, typical best friend, and smirked on the inside when Paul nodded back at him. He was about to gain inside information that he could use later against Paul once he convinced Adrianna to stay with him for all eternity.

Paul stood up from the bench and began pacing back and forth in front of his best friend, the man he trusted more than life itself. He considered David as a brother to him because they traveled all the time, especially when they were in Evolution together as team, a unit. It still hurt that they had to split up, but due to Randy Orton’s lack of ability to listen to them, they had no choice. “Ever since I brought Adrianna with us on the road, she’s been really distant and hasn’t spoken three words to me. It’s frustrating as Hell and every time we talk, we end up fighting like cats and dogs. I know siblings are supposed to do that, but goddamn it, I’m all she has left! She doesn’t understand that I’m trying to protect her from all the evil that’s out there and she could give two shits! She keeps saying I treat her like a child and I’m overbearing, which she’s right, and I’m not going to change my ways. She needs to grow up and realize that I’m the ONLY person in this planet she has left to rely on and if she doesn’t, she can move her fuckin’ shit out of my house and get lost.” Paul’s temper was starting to show, which was making David even more thrilled, and decided now was the perfect time to bring up the subject he’d found Paul to talk about in the first place.

“How does Gabriella feel about all this?” David asked, wanting to hear what Paul had to say about his wife to gain even more leverage against him. The man was so naïve and stupid, it made David want to laugh in his face, but he had to wait for the right moment.

“She said that I don’t care about her or the baby and that I’m too wrapped up in trying to control my sister’s life to even notice.” Paul answered, remembering her words as they flowed through his mind and down toward his broken heart. He plopped down on the work out bench in defeat and ran his hands over his face in pure frustration, trying to sort through his thoughts.

“Do you, Paul?” David asked, heading back on the road toward Adrianna again, and took a deep breath before his best friend could answer. “Because she’s the reason why I came down here to talk to you in the first place.” He admitted causing Paul’s head to snap up as his eyes flared up from both anger and wonder.

Paul stood up as he squared his shoulders, crossing his arms in front of his chest, not in the right state of mind at the moment, and asked bluntly, “What about my sister, Dave?”

Sighing artificially with regret, David lowered his head as he stood up as well, knowing Paul was going to blow the gasket of a lifetime once he revealed the truth about what he’d found out about Adrianna. “Well Paul, I don’t quite know how to tell you this, but I’m gonna give it my best shot.”

“Get to the fuckin’ point!” Paul growled out in response, his arms bulging as they remained crossed in front of his chest.

“Last night, I was walking out of the hotel, just needing some fresh air, and decided the beach was the perfect place to think things through about my life and what not. I was trying to figure out where I went wrong with my marriage to Angie and everything.” David began to explain, making him look like the victim in this situation, and could tell Paul was eating every word that spewed from his mouth. He smirked on the inside, keeping that same look of sadness on his face though, and continued. “I started walking down the beach and stopped when I noticed two figures in the ocean. They were making out pretty heavily and everything, but what really shocked me was who they were.” His words stopped dead in his tracks as he looked up at his best friend, who was already seething with rage.

“Go on.” Paul ordered, having a deep, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that one of those people that David caught in the ocean was Adrianna. His suspicions were soon confirmed as David finished off his story.

Taking a deep breath, David shook his head as he sat back down on the bench and said, “I hate to tell you this, man and I know I’m not the one who should be telling you this, but I felt you deserved to know what Adrianna’s been doing behind your back.”

Closing his eyes tightly shut, Paul could feel the rage building inside of him as his hands clenched and unclenched furiously, not believing what his sister had done. “Who was she with?” He asked in more of a demanding tone of voice, ready to kill whoever touched his sister, especially if it was a co-worker of his. Nobody he worked with was going to date his sister unless it was over his dead body!

“It was John Cena, man. The playboy himself.” David uncovered and lowered his head in false shame, waiting for the explosion to come that was sure to follow. “I’m sorry, man, but I thought you should know so you could stop them before your sister gets hurt.”

Hazel orbs suddenly turned dark and stormy, slowly filling with rage as Paul processed this information in his head that his best friend just unveiled to him. He started pacing back and forth, still not saying a word, trying to get over the initial shock that his sister would be interested in John Cena out of all the men on the roster. “I’ll fucking kill him!!!” Paul finally exploded and hauled off, punching the nearest wall he could find, not caring if his hand was busted open. It was going to be a lot more bloody and bruised after he was done beating the shit out of it John Cena for laying one finger on his sister.

“I don’t blame you, Paul. I mean, you know how dangerous John is, especially when it comes to vulnerable, innocent, angelic little girls such as your sister.” David replied, spreading it on thick, and grinned on the inside when he saw Paul’s eyes grow even more dark with anger.

Paul had listened and believed every word that came out of David’s mouth and he was livid. Not saying one more word to his best friend, Paul stalked out of the work out room, leaving David standing there as a slow, sadistic smirk spread across his lips. Phase one of his master plan worked out perfectly as he walked out of the work out room and toward his dressing room, needing to plan out his next course of action so it was flawless. “Oh yes, soon my dark princess. Very soon.” David whispered darkly to himself and looked down at his dress pants, sighing when he seen he had a problem to deal with. He locked his dressing room door and sat down on the couch, unzipping them, and pulled out his fully erected cock before leaning back against the couch, needing to get rid of it fast.

His hand started pumping it, his eyes drifting shut, and envisioned Adrianna, groaning even more as he begin pumping fiercely. Her amber colored eyes, her innocence, the natural beauty she possessed everything about her turned David on in more ways than one. He couldn’t wait to get her in his bed and show her the true meaning of darkness as he envisioned her legs wrapped around his waist while his cock drove in and out of her soaking wet sex over and over again. Her cries filled his ears as he started to cum, growling out her name in his release, and spewed out his semen as it landed on the floor, but David didn’t care. Leaning back against the couch and breathing raggedly, David ran his hand down his face and knew he had to get this plan moving faster before he went completely insane.

Meanwhile, Paul stalked the halls, one goal in his mind as Gabriella vanished from it for the time being. He found his dressing room and mentally counted to three before kicking it open, seeing his sister was sitting on the couch, and stalked toward her. Adrianna’s head snapped up as she looked at her brother, immediately fearing for her life with the stormy look his eyes brought forth, and ran a hand through her hair timidly. She cried out in pain when it gripped her arm harshly, yanking her off the couch, and pushed her to the floor, bellowing out, “YOU’RE GOING HOME! PACK YOUR FUCKING SHIT RIGHT NOW, LITTLE GIRL!”

Adrianna’s eyes instantly narrowed to slits as she quickly stood up, ready to face her brother, and crossed her arms in front of her chest, “No I’m not! I’m eighteen fucking years old, Paul! You can’t control me anymore!”

That was the biggest mistake she’d ever made in her life and Paul couldn’t take it anymore as he hauled off, backhanding her across the face. Adrianna fell to the floor, screaming out in pain, and held her cheek with her hand as she looked up at her brother, fright swimming through her eyes now. “YOU LITTLE BITCH! HOW DARE YOU GO BEHIND MY BACK AND FUCK ONE OF MY CO-WORKERS! YOU DON’T HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EMBARRASSING AND HUMUMILATING THAT IS TO ME TO ACTUALLY FIND OUT FROM ONE OF MY FRIENDS THAT YOU’VE BEEN SEEING JOHN FUCKING CENA FOR I DON’T KNOW HOW FUCKING LONG BEHIND MY BACK!! YOU ARE NEVER SEEING HIM AGAIN, DO YOU HEAR ME, ADRIANNA!? NEVER!”

The words that came from her brother’s mouth brought heart wrenching tears to Adrianna’s eyes as she slowly stood up, holding her throbbing cheek, and glared spitefully back at him. “You know what, DEAR BROTHER, you can’t control me or my life anymore and if I want to see John Cena then I damn well am going too! I hope Gabriella divorces your ass too, especially after she finds out what you did to me just now! You can take your idle threats and your temper and GO STRAIGHT TO FUCKING HELL YOU PRICK!” She screamed back at him, shoving him away from him so hard, he landed on the floor on his ass as he stared up at her in shock.

Adrianna didn’t say one more word to him before grabbing her bag and bolted out of the door, down the hallway, and outside to the parking lot. She looked around frightfully, not knowing where to go, what to do, and decided to call Gabriella as she whipped out her cell phone. Once she answered, Adrianna broke down completely as she dropped to her knees and said, “Gabby, its Anna…”

Chapter 15

After hearing what her husband did to her sister-in-law and his flesh and blood, Gabriella was fuming with anger at Paul. He had no right to raise his hand to a woman, no matter if she was his sister or not! Gabriella sighed as she heard the painful sobs over the phone, trying to calm Adrianna down, and looked over at her parents sadly. She didn’t want her sister on the road with her husband, especially in the state of mind he was currently in, and held the phone out as she looked at her parents. “I need a favor.”

“What is it, dear?” Patricia asked her daughter, seeing the look of worry and concern etched in her features.

“It’s Paul’s sister, Adrianna. Paul…did something to her and I don’t want her on the road with him. He’s not in the right state of mind right now.” Gabriella quickly explained, hoping her parents didn’t reject her idea, and sighed heavily as she heard Adrianna crying even harder.

Patricia looked over at her husband Robert, who was sighing deeply because he could hear the poor girl’s sobs from his chair, which was across the way. He looked at his daughter and simply nodded his head, letting her know Adrianna could come and stay with them if she wanted to. Patricia smiled at her husband, loving how big his heart was, and looked back at her daughter as she said, “We’ll pay for the flight and everything. Where are they located?” She asked softly, running a hand through her short, gray colored hair.

Gabriella smiled at her mom and walked over, her five month old protruding stomach growing rapidly each day, and kissed her cheek as she whispered, “Thanks mom. This means a lot. Where are you located, Anna?” She asked into the phone and nodded; knowing North Carolina wasn’t that far away from their destination. Her parents lived in Richmond, Virginia, which was about an hour flight. “North Carolina, mom. She’s going to fly from Wilmington since they’re in Carolina Beach for a house show.” Gabriella informed her mother, who simply nodded, and watched as her husband got on the phone, dialing the airport’s number after looking it up on his laptop.

“No problem, dear. Just tell that poor girl to get here and tell her I’ll have hot tea with cookies waiting for her.” Patricia stated and stood up from her chair, walking into the kitchen, and Gabriella shook her head at her mother. She always was the perfect mother in her eyes and hoped those traits flowed into her genes so she could be a perfect mother to her unborn child.

“Tell her that she’s gotta get goin’ because there’s a four o’clock flight and it’s close to two right now.” Robert told his daughter, who nodded back at him, and relayed the information to her sister.

Sniffling a little and wiping the tears away from her eyes, Adrianna coughed and asked shakily, “A-Are you sure a-about t-this?”

“Yes now get moving. Call a cab and get to the airport. You should be here in about an hour if it’s a straight shot flight.” Gabriella said, causing Adrianna to nod as she looked around, and bit her bottom lip. They talked for a few minutes longer and hung up, knowing they’d see each other within a few hours. Gabriella sighed heavily as she put her head in her hands and slowly felt the tears slide down her cheeks.

Robert seen this and sighed, shaking his head in disappointment, and set his laptop aside as he walked over, sitting beside her. “Are you alright, honey bee?” He asked softly, using her nickname, hating to see his daughter in this predicament, and wanted to ring Paul’s neck for causing his baby girl so much trouble.

“I just don’t know what to do anymore, daddy. I love Paul with all my heart and soul, but lately, he’s become really mean.” Gabriella confided, knowing her father would never steer her wrong, and finally broke down in tears when Robert wrapped his arms around her.

He stroked her hair back soothingly, his heart breaking at feeling his daughter’s sobs rack through her body, and cooed gently, “I know you love him, honey bee, but if he’s going to treat you this way, then maybe its time you moved on.” He wasn’t trying to upset her or anything, but the fact of the matter was Paul had a dangerous temper on him and he didn’t want his daughter to be the target. “Shhh calm down, honey bee, it’s going to be alright. You need to calm down; it’s not healthy for the baby.”

Sniffling a little and looking up at her father, Gabriella sighed as she took the tissue he offered her and blew her nose with it. “I know it, but I don’t want to bring this baby into the world without having a stable home.”

Robert understood his daughter’s point of view and agreed with her, which fueled his rage toward his son-in-law even more at the moment. “It will all work out in the end, dear.” Her mother’s voice flowed into the room, wearing her pink baking apron, and walked over as she hugged her Gabriella close. “Why don’t you come help me in the kitchen, hmm? It’s about time I taught you how to bake.” Patricia suggested, wanting her daughter to forget about her husband for the time being, and winked over at Robert, who simply smiled back at her in return.

Gabriella smiled at her mother and nodded, knowing she was trying to get her mind off of Paul. She stood up and walked into the kitchen, sitting down at the table, and proceeded to listen to her mother’s instructions on how to bake proper cookies. Meanwhile, Adrianna had arrived at the airport, bag in hand, and paid the cab driver with the last of her money. She walked inside the airport and toward the front desk, running a hand through her hair, and cleared her throat as the receptionist stared down at her. “My name is Adrianna Levesque and I have a plane ticket reserved for me here.” She stated, causing the receptionist to type up the information, and nodded when she saw it.

“For security purposes, I will need the first and last name of this recipient.” She informed Adrianna, who sighed heavily as she tapped her head, trying to think of what Gabriella’s maiden name was. Biting her bottom lip, the light bulb clicked on in her head as it snapped up.

“Coleman. Robert Coleman.” She answered confidently and sighed with inner relief when the receptionist nodded her head, handing her the ticket.

“The terminal gate for that flight is down the hall about two miles.” The receptionist informed her and Adrianna nodded, thanking her before making her way down the airport hallway, reading the number on her ticket, and groaned when she realized she still had a ways to go.


Meanwhile, back at the arena, David was absolutely livid when he learned that Adrianna had left the building. Paul had bellowed at her to get out and now his plan was ruined because he had no idea where she could’ve gone. He’d found out from Jeff Hardy and pushed him out of the way in pure anger, not believing the audacity of Paul to screw up his plans this way. ‘I have to find her.’ David thought, but knew he couldn’t leave the arena until after the tag match that night. Muttering under his breath and raking a hand over his bald head, David decided to go shower, knowing his match was coming up shortly, and couldn’t imagine where Adrianna had disappeared to.

Paul sat in his dressing room, sitting on the couch rocking back and forth, trying to get his blood pressure to go down. He still couldn’t believe he’d struck his sister and felt terrible about doing it. Now she was gone and he had no idea where she ran off to. Not that he could blame her because if the roles were reversed, he would’ve done the exact same thing. His head was lowered to the ground with his hands buried in his hair when his dressing room door opened and snapped his head up. His eyes inflamed and darkened at the man standing before him and slowly stood up from the couch, ready to kick the living shit out of him.

“Get the fuck out of my dressing room NOW, Cena!” Paul ordered in a growl, pointing toward the door, but John refused to budge an inch.

He shook his head, standing his ground against a man he used to look up to, and stated, “I’m not leavin’ until we talk about Adrianna.”

Just the mere mention of her name coming from his mouth was all Paul could take as he stalked over to John and punched him square in the mouth. John’s head whipped back as the blood came spurting out, but slowly turned his head back to stare at Paul with fire of his own in his eyes. He slowly wiped the blood from his lip and looked at it on his finger before saying, “Damn, is that all ya got, Game?”

“You insolent motherfucker!” Paul screeched out and bull rushed John, wrapping his hand around his throat, and smashed him into the wall. “How DARE you say that to me after what you’ve put me and my family through!”

John shook his head back at him, refusing to believe that, and kept his arms at his sides as Paul’s hand tightened around his thick throat. “No Paul, what I did was made your sister happy and full of life again!” John retorted plainly, coughing a little, but never unlocked his eyes from Paul’s for a second.

“You liar!! My sister hasn’t been happy in years! What makes you think you made her feel any different, besides fucking her brains out!?” Paul icily stated and that was all John could take. He wasn’t about to stand here and listen to what Paul was saying about his little sister, especially when none of it was true. “Was she a good little fuck for you, Cena, huh?!”

His foot came up out of nowhere, kicking Paul in the stomach, and punched him in the mouth, causing the man to fly back and land with a sickening thud. “Don’t you EVER speak about her like that again! You don’t even know her anymore!” John roared, causing Paul to groan as he hold his mouth and nose because both were streaming out blood rapidly. John’s fist had caught both his upper lip and nose with that punch. “We never had sex, even though she begged me for it! I said no and that we had to wait until we knew each other better before we engaged in that sort of thing! You’re not really angry at her for us being together either, Paul.” He accused, causing Paul to shoot daggers back at the man who was standing over him, feeding him lies about his sister even though they were the truth.

“What the fuck else would it be about, you bastard?!” Paul yelled back, causing John’s blue eyes to ice over and narrow to dangerous slits.

“First off, I’m not a bastard because I have a father. Secondly, this isn’t about me at all. This is about you wanting control over her entire life!” John indicted, causing Paul to glare up at him enraged by his accusation.

Slowly standing up to his full height, Paul squared his shoulders and retorted swiftly, “No, I just want to protect her from scumbags like you!”

“What makes you think I’m a scumbag, Paul?” John asked plainly, crossing his arms in front of his chest in wonder.

“For Christ sakes, John, you have a different woman in every city we wrestle in!” Paul thundered, causing John’s eyebrow to quirk up in question as he stared at this man who he used to respect a great deal.

Rubbing the back of his neck, John sighed heavily as he shook his head and replied vaguely, “I don’t know where the fuck you came up with that conclusion, dude, but I can tell you one thing, I don’t have sex with just any girl. You’re confusin’ me with Randy Orton.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Paul roared, shoving John away from him, and glowered at the next set of words that came out of his mouth.

“I’M NOT LYING TO YOU!! I DON’T FUCK EVERY GIRL I LAY MY GODDAMN EYES ON, DAMN IT!! I HAVE MORALS AND RESPECT!!” John bellowed back at him in defense, not believing the accusations Paul was throwing his way, and wondered who filled his head with all these lies.

Raking a hand through his hair, Paul sighed heavily as he closed his eyes, becoming extremely confused. John’s voice had rose above his normal volume level, pure hurt evident in it, and suddenly, Paul wondered if he was indeed telling the truth. “Do you swear on your life that you didn’t engage in sexual situations with my sister?” Paul finally asked, staring back at John with tasteless look etched in his face, that had somewhat relaxed.

“I didn’t have sex with Adrianna, but that doesn’t mean we won’t in the future.” John truthfully replied, knowing he’d probably get his head knocked off his shoulders, and was shocked when Paul simply stared at him with a blank expression on his face. “She’s eighteen now, man and old enough to make her own decisions and…mistakes.” John pointed out, causing Paul’s eyes to slowly drift shut, and lowered his head in utter shame.

“I hit her.” He whispered in a revelation, causing John’s eyes to instantly taper as he started charging after Paul.

He grabbed Paul by the collar of his shirt this time, slammed him against he wall, and gritted out dangerously, “You fuckin’ prick! I can’t believe you would do that to your own sister and for what? Because she was happy and finally alive for ONCE in the past four years?! You’re truly pathetic, Paul.” He spat, releasing him, and stormed out of his dressing room, but no before turning around and stating, “I swear to God, if ANYTHING has happened to her or she’s done something to herself, I will kill you with my BARE HANDS!” He then slammed the door behind him so hard, the walls shook, and Paul was left standing there, feeling like the world had finally crashed around him.

His eyes tightly shut as the realization poured throughout his body and mind, causing them to snap open. Pure fear gripped his insides as he quickly packed all of belongings and called Stephanie, telling her there was a family emergency that had to be taken care of. Within minutes, Paul was running out of the arena, followed by John, who witnessed him running. He didn’t stop him, knowing John was worried sick about his sister, and finally realized that the man actually did care for Adrianna and that it wasn’t just about sex. ‘God please tell me she’s still here.’ He thought and closed his eyes as a plane went over them, not realizing his sister was on it headed toward Richmond, Virginia.

Chapter 16

An hour later, the plane landed at Richmond International Airport and Adrianna couldn’t wait to get off. She hated planes and felt the jetlag already setting in as she closed her eyes, waiting for the landing, which was the worst part. That and the take off, in her mind, were the hardest parts of flying in an airplane to cope with. Within minutes, after the safe landing, Adrianna retrieved her back from the cart above that held her luggage and quickly departed from the plane, hoping Gabriella was there waiting for her. She walked through the terminal, looking like a train wreck, and sighed with relief upon seeing her sister-in-law standing on the side.

Tears ran down her cheeks as Adrianna ran down the terminal, not caring if she broke the rules or not, and hugged her sister-in-law around the waist, crying her heart out again. Gabriella sighed heavily as she held Adrianna close, knowing she was extremely heart broken over what Paul had done to her, and pulled back, staring into her bloodshot eyes. She’d cried the whole trip to Richmond, no doubt about it. “My mom has cookies and hot tea waiting for you when we get back.” Gabriella informed her, causing Adrianna to look up at her, and together, they walked out of the airport.

Halfway to her parent’s house, Gabriella had a question brewing in her mind and couldn’t help it any longer. “Why did Paul freak out so badly on you, Anna?” She asked, truly wondering what would cause Paul to lose his temper so easily with her. Adrianna’s graduation was probably the worse thing she’d ever do in her life, but yet, Paul didn’t strike her for her it so she wondered why he would do it now.

Adrianna bit her bottom lip nervously, feeling it begin to quiver, and hoped her sister wasn’t angry with her for what she was about to say. “I don’t want you to be mad at me because I kept it from you.” She quietly admitted, making Gabriella sigh deeply.

“I’m not going to be mad. I might feel a little hurt, but I won’t be mad at you, Anna.” Gabriella replied, reassuring her sister that everything was going to be alright between them, no matter what she kept hidden. As long as it wasn’t about Paul screwing some Diva’s brains out or a ringrat for that matter, she didn’t mind.

Nodding back at her and taking a deep breath, Adrianna softly stammered, “For the past month, I’ve been seeing someone on the roster…behind Paul’s back.” Her entire body cringed at the look Gabriella shot at her, which was a look of shock and wonder.

Her eyes had grown to the size of potatoes as she ran a hand through her hair, trying to decipher what she’d just heard. “Alright, who is he and do you love him?” She questioned instantly, needing to know who this individual was that her sister had been spending so much time with. Gabriella had often gone to her room late at night to talk, but found that Adrianna was gone somewhere all the time. The pieces had finally been put together, except one, and that one piece would reveal who her secret lover was.

Raking a hand through her black hair as she stared out the window, Adrianna felt the tears instantly burn her eyes at the thought of John. She’d left him without leaving any inclination on where she was going and didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to him. “It doesn’t matter anymore because we’re through, thanks to my deadbeat brother.” She croaked out, trying to swallow back her tears, but it was no use. They came flooding down her cheeks as her heart broke once more like it did all those years ago with Aaron.

“Yes it most certainly does!” Gabriella exclaimed, refusing to allow her husband to deny his sister her happiness. “Adrianna, you can’t allow Paul to take away your happiness and love for this man, whoever he is. I would like to know, but if you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.”

Adrianna knew she could trust her sister-in-law with the truth as she stared out the window, watching the trees pass by, and wiped her eyes with her hand. “You sure you wanna know?” She murmured softly, causing Gabriella to nod back at her in response. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Adrianna closed her eyes shut as she mumbled out, “It’s John Cena.”

The car stopped seconds later to a screeching halt, smoke coming from the tires, and Adrianna stared over at Gabriella like she had two heads. She was breathing incredibly hard, panting almost, and her eyes were the size of saucers. Gripping the steering wheel tightly as her entire body began to tremble; Gabriella tried to calm her racing heart as she looked straight ahead, trying to decipher this new information as well. “What…was that name again?” She grunted out, causing Adrianna to swallow past the lump that had formed in her throat at the look Gabriella’s eyes took on.

“John Cena.” Adrianna repeated, running a hand through her hair, and peeked over at her, wondering what was going through her mind at that moment.

Gabriella couldn’t believe what she’d heard come from her sister’s lips and tried to calm down, not wanting to upset the baby anymore than she already had. Her head slowly turned to look at her sister and softly asked, “Do you know what kind of man he is, Anna?”

“No, what do you mean?” Adrianna asked, confused by what her sister was trying to tell her, and ran a hand through her hair while biting her bottom lip nervously. Whatever Gabriella was about to say, she knew it wasn’t good, just by the look etched in her features.

Taking a deep breath and swallowing hard, Gabriella sighed as she put the car in drive, and answered, “He’s a playboy, Anna. I know I introduced you to him and everything, but you don’t know what kind of man he is. He’s the type of man who will take your heart and crush it after he gets what he wants. Him and Randy Orton are known around the RAW locker room as the Playboys of the WWE. It’s their nicknames.” She didn’t mean to make her sister upset, but from she didn’t want Adrianna’s heart to get broken again. Paul had told her the stories about John and Randy, which made her sick to her stomach, and threatened Paul that if he ever cheated on her with multiple girls, she would castrate him and she meant every word.

“No, it can’t be true…” Adrianna breathed in response, feeling her heart tightening already, and before she knew it, huge tears were sliding down her cheeks and landing on her arms, which were covered in arm warmers again. “John’s not like that! He…He…” She couldn’t speak as she threw her head in her hands and proceeded to cry her heart and soul out, not believing how stupid she’d been to trust a man like John Cena with her heart. Her vow had gone out the window that she’d made after Aaron tore her heart in half and now she’d allowed it to happen again. “God, I’m so fucking stupid!!” She shrieked, causing Gabriella to sigh remorsefully, and wished none of it was true.

Gabriella reached her arm over and started running her hand down Adrianna’s shoulder, hating that she had to be the one who revealed the real John Cena. She refused to allow him to put her sister on his list of how many women he had sex with because Adrianna was more special than that. “I’m sorry, honey.” She mournfully whispered, knowing she had just broken her sister’s heart. It was better to break it to her in the beginning rather than a few months down the road when she found herself falling in love with him. Unbeknownst it to her, however, Adrianna already had.

The rest of the ride to her parent’s house was made in silence, Adrianna crying softly to herself the entire way, and Gabriella feeling completely helpless. She knew there was nothing she could do or say to make the blow any easier on her sister, but knew it was truly for the best. About an hour later, she pulled into her parent’s driveway and cut the ignition off, her head bowed in shame. Adrianna looked up and at the huge house before her, sniffling a little, and wiped her eyes frantically before exiting the vehicle. Gabriella sighed as she stepped out along with her sister and walked over to her, wrapping her arm around her shoulders, and escorted her into her parent’s house.

The aroma of cookies flowed through the air and up their nostrils as Gabriella walked inside, along with Adrianna, and smiled, knowing her mother was baking again. She looked down at her sister and softly said, “You can put your stuff by the door until we figure out which room you’ll be staying in.”

Adrianna could only nod, not having the strength to speak at that moment just as Patricia walked into the room. “Hello dears!” She greeted warmly and walked over, looking down into Adrianna’s bloodshot eyes that still had unshed tears in them. “You poor dear.” She murmured softly and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, a sense of comfort flowing over Adrianna at that moment. Patricia smiled and led her over to the couch, sitting her down, and asked gently, “Would you like a cookie and some hot cocoa? I was going to make tea, but unfortunately, I ran out of it.”

The amount of kindness in this woman’s eyes was foreign to Adrianna as she bit her bottom lip and ran her hand from her neck down to her lap. “No thank you…Mrs. Coleman.” She whispered out softly, wanting to go up to the room where she’d be staying in, and cry herself to sleep, wanting to forget this day ever existed.

“My name is Patricia, dear, but you can call me whatever you like, just not Mrs. Coleman. I’m not that old, after all.” She winked at her, causing Adrianna to crack a wry smile, and nodded in understanding.

She slowly stood from the couch, feeling the exhaustion caving in around her, and twiddled her thumbs as she asked, “If you don’t mind, I’m rather tired and would like to be shown to my room?”

Gabriella went to interject, knowing Adrianna hadn’t eaten at all, but Patricia shook her head slowly at her daughter. “Right this way, dear.” She replied wholesomely and guided Adrianna up the stairs to the room she’d prepared for her. She opened the door and Adrianna gaped at how huge this room was. It had its own private bathroom and television, things she’d never had at Paul’s house. “Will this satisfy you?” Patricia kindly asked, folding her hands as they rested in front of her, and smiled when Adrianna nodded in awe. “Very well, I’ll leave you to unpack and change into your evening wear. If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you M-Patricia.” She quickly caught herself, making the elder woman smile, and watched as she departed from the door, closing it gently behind her.

Adrianna sighed sadly as she walked over, her bag over her shoulder, and set it down beside the bed, feeling her entire body start to reject against her. Heartbreaking tears burned her eyes as she thought about what Gabriella had told her, still not fully believing it. John wouldn’t be that cruel, would he? She couldn’t take it anymore and collapsed on top of the bed stomach first, burying her face in her arms, and allowed heart wrenching sobs to shake her body violently. Her vow had been broken and it was all because of her naivety, stupidity and listening to her heart instead of her mind. Sleep soon consumed her body as she curled up in a tight ball and closed her eyes tightly shut; wishing all of this was all one big nightmare.


John and Paul had searched all over town, in every hotel, motel, anywhere they could possibly think to look. The ocean was the last place they thought about and felt their hearts sink when they realized she wasn’t there either. John sighed heavily as he shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jean shorts, glaring over at Paul, who felt completely helpless at the moment. Not only had his wife vanished on him, even though he knew where she was, but now his sister was gone. He plopped down in the sand, staring out at the horizon, and wished he could see Adrianna and tell her how sorry he was for striking her.

“Where could she be?” John wondered out loud, causing Paul to sigh heavily as he shook his head, completely clueless.

“I have no idea. This is my entire fault that she’s gone. If I would’ve kept my mouth shut for two seconds, she would still be here.” Paul muttered, causing John to nod in agreement with him, which didn’t make Paul feel any better.

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, John stared down at Paul with hardening eyes and stated, “We have to find her. Can you think of anyone she would contact and go to?” John asked trying to get any clue that would lead him closer to getting Adrianna back in his arms again. He missed her so much and it hadn’t even been twelve hours.

Paul started racking his brain, trying to think of anyone that his sister would contact, and tapped his chin in thought. His fingers snapped a few minutes later as he whipped out his cell phone, stood up in the sand, and dialed a number, hoping and praying she answered. He closed his eyes when her voice flowed through his ear and sighed deeply as he said, “Gabriella, it’s me, Paul. Please don’t hang up, this is important.”

Gabriella was sitting on the couch, looking at old baby pictures of herself, and trying to decide on a name when her cell phone began to ring. She hadn’t looked at the caller ID and automatically regretted it when she heard her husband’s voice on the other end. His pleading voice caused her to sigh as she reluctantly obliged him and asked heatedly, “What do you want, Paul?”

“Have you heard from my sister?” He asked frantically, causing Gabriella to smirk, and wanted to tell him to go to Hell, but the amount of fear that was in his voice broke her heart.

Running a hand through her hair as she looked over at her father, who was on his laptop, and thankfully wasn’t listening to her conversation. She knew Adrianna would hate her for doing this, but also knew they had to talk things out before brother and sister ended up hating each other for the rest of their lives. “She’s here with me and my parents.” She quietly spoke, not wanting her parents to overhear, and smiled a little when she heard Paul sigh with great relief. “If you want her, you come get her, but I’m warning you right now, if you lay one more hand on her in any way and I’m divorcing your ass.”

Paul knew she meant what she said and felt horrible about striking his sister as he nodded and immediately stated, “It’ll never happen again, baby. I promise you that. I’m on my way to get her. Just do me a favor.”

“What?” She asked, wondering what else he wanted from her after she’d revealed his sister’s whereabouts.

“Warn your parents they’re about to have World War III in their house.”

Chapter 17

Patricia was showing Adrianna some baby pictures of Gabriella when she was little the following day, worried sick about the girl being cooped up in her room. She knew Adrianna was hurting badly and wanted to do everything possible to get her to smile. In Patricia’s eyes, she was beautiful, light hearted, and very sweet and felt that she didn’t deserve the pain Paul had caused her. “She was so cute as a baby!” Adrianna gushed, causing Patricia to grin back in response and nodded her head while wiping her hands off her apron.

“She might’ve looked cute, but I’ll tell you one thing, Adrianna, that girl took forever to come out.” Patricia stated, causing Adrianna to laugh softly as she continued flipping through the pages.

Gabriella grumbled as she put her head in her hands, not believing her mother was embarrassing her like this. “Would you rather look at pictures of something else?” She asked and got swatted with a towel gently for her troubles. “Mom!” She whined, causing Patricia to shake her finger at her and gave her a stern look.

“These are great, Gabby. You were so cute. I wonder what the baby will look like.” Adrianna wondered, laughing when she seen a picture of Gabriella’s bare bottom as a baby and she was looking back at the camera with a big smile on her face. “Oooo you little hussy!” She teased, causing Gabriella to cross her arms in front of her chest and grumbled more.

“This is so not funny.” She muttered under her breath and stood up from the couch, wincing a little because her back was killing her. “I swear I don’t want to come to my full trimester because I won’t be able to move!”

Patricia and Adrianna burst out in laughter as they shook their heads, causing Gabriella to sigh as she rolled her eyes. “Oh come now, honey bee, you look beautiful.” Robert piped in, grinning over at his daughter, and couldn’t believe she was about to be a mother.

“Thanks, daddy.” Gabriella replied with a small smile on her face, knowing her father could always cheer her up. However, something else was troubling her and she wasn’t sure how to tell her parent’s about it. Paul would be arriving anytime that day to have it out with Adrianna and she still hadn’t told her parent’s about his arrival. ‘I guess now is a good of a time as any.’ She thought miserably and slowly stood up from the couch, clearing her throat at her mother. “Uhh mom? Can I talk to you and dad privately for a minute?” She asked, hoping they didn’t question her in front of Adrianna. Just by the look in their daughter’s eyes, the Coleman’s new something was up as they nodded.

Adrianna thought it had something to do with the baby so she didn’t think anything of it as she continued flipping through the photo album. Patricia and Robert followed their daughter into the kitchen, closing the door behind them, and Gabriella was a bundle of nerves. “What is it sweetheart?” Patricia asked her daughter, seeing the troubled look in her eyes, and wondered what was going on.

“I think you two better sit down for this.” Gabriella advised causing her parent’s to look at each other and then back at their daughter before sitting down at the kitchen table. Biting her bottom lip nervously and leaning against the table, Gabriella took a deep breath and said, “Mom, Dad, someone’s coming over today.”

“Who dear?” Patricia questioned, causing Gabriella to run a hand through her hair, and slowly sat down in the chair before her.

“Please don’t be mad at me you guys. I just…I hate seeing them like this and I want to try to make amends.” Gabriella replied, causing Robert to slowly stand to his feet as he gripped the chair in front of him.

His eyes narrowed to slits as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring down at his daughter, and stated, “Paul’s coming here.”

Gabriella nodded while Patricia stood up to her feet, staring down at her daughter in disbelief, and shook her head as she sighed. “I know you want to make amends with your husband, Gabriella, but Adrianna does NOT want to see him right now. This only happened yesterday. She needs time to heal and cope with this.” Patricia explained, standing beside her husband, who was seething. One thing about Robert was that he rarely got angry, but when he did, it was explosive.

“He’s not stepping foot inside my house.” Robert defiantly stated causing Patricia to sigh as her head lowered while her eyes drifted shut.

Gabriella stood up as she glared at her father; her hand placed on her stomach, and shook her head as the tears filled her eyes. “Whether you like it or not, father, he’s my husband and I love him. I don’t want my marriage to end like this and they need to talk out a lot of their problems!” Gabriella defended, crossing her arms in front of her chest, not about to back down from her parents about Paul coming.

Patricia opened her eyes, knowing her daughter wanted to save her marriage, and slowly turned around to face her husband. Her hand rested on his chest, over his beating heart, and softly said, “Robert, maybe we should allow them to work this out. I’ve always liked Paul and so have you, but the man is going through a lot right now and I’m sure there’s more to the story between him and his sister that we don’t know about.”

“That still doesn’t give him the right to hit her. Did you see her face? It’s black and blue on the right side!” Robert growled back angrily, causing Gabriella to close her eyes as her head lowered, knowing her father was against men hitting women strongly.

“Dad, I know what Paul did was wrong, but mom’s right. We don’t know the whole story and I think we owe it to ourselves to find out.” Gabriella added, causing Robert to sigh heavily as he ran a hand through his hair, and both Patricia and Gabriella knew he was slowly breaking down.

A grunt sounded from his lips as he looked down into his wife’s pleading eyes, knowing she just wanted their daughter to be happy. “I don’t like this one bit, but I will allow it to happen. I’ll be in our bedroom watching television until he leaves.” Robert informed them, running a finger down Patricia’s cheek, and kissed her lips softly before walking out of the kitchen.

Gabriella smiled at her parents, loving how their love hasn’t burnt out after thirty years of marriage. She wanted her marriage to have the same amount of passion and love that her parents’ marriage had, which is why she was willing to talk to Paul. Patricia sighed heavily as she turned back around to face her daughter, giving her a scolding look, and said, “He better not hurt you or Adrianna again or next time, I will allow your father to ban him from our house.”

“Thanks for understanding, mom. I just want to fix my marriage.” Gabriella replied, walking over and hugging her mother close, smiling when Patricia hugged her back.

“Alright dear, when are you going to tell Adrianna about her brother’s arrival?” Patricia asked, walking over to the oven, and stopped when her daughter didn’t answer her. “You are going to tell her, right?”

Before Gabriella could respond, the doorbell rung and Adrianna was the closest to the door. Her eyes widened as she looked at her mother and stated, “Oh shit.” As fast as her pregnant body would allow her to run, Gabriella headed toward the living room and stopped when she seen Adrianna had already opened the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Adrianna spat at her brother, her eyes narrowed to dangerous, deadly slits, and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Paul sighed heavily, his hands shoved in the front pockets of his blue jeans, and cleared his throat as he replied, “I came to talk to you and Gabby.”

Adrianna slowly turned around, her lips sucked in and gave Gabriella a killer look as she stated, “You brought him here!? After everything he’s done!?” She was beside herself as she raked a hand through her hair and felt the rage building inside, flowing through her veins. “Thanks a lot, Gabriella. I can’t believe I trusted you!” She shouted and ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door so hard, the hinges almost broke off, and Paul sighed heavily as he looked over at his wife.

Gabriella felt the tears burn her eyes, not believing how Adrianna reacted, and walked out of the living room. Patricia stared at her son-in-law hardening, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and said, “I hope you’re proud of yourself, Paul. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go comfort my daughter.” She walked into the kitchen, leaving him standing in the doorway, and took a deep breath before entering, closing the door behind him.

His eyes trailed over to the staircase and then back to the kitchen, wondering which woman he should get to love him again first. He sighed, running a hand through his blonde tresses, and walked toward the stairs, knowing he had more to heal with his sister than his wife at the moment. There were five rooms and Paul had no clue which door lead to his sister’s room, so he decided to walk near each and press his ear to the door. On the third try, Paul felt his heart break upon hearing sobs leaking through the door and knew Adrianna was in there. Taking a deep breath, Paul slowly opened the door, and closed it behind it, just as Adrianna turned around, thinking it was Gabriella.

“Just leave me al-” Her words immediately stopped as her brother stood before her, staring into her bloodshot puffy eyes, and glared hatefully at him as she shouted, “Get out now!”

“Adrianna, we have to talk about this.” Paul said, refusing to leave until they were completely reunited. “We have a lot of things to work out.”

Scoffing back at him with a roll of her eyes, Adrianna stood up from her bed and walked over to her window. “There’s nothing to talk about, Paul. You’ve made it clear as crystal that you don’t want me around unless you can control me, which isn’t going to happen.” She stated emphatically, wiping away her excess tears, and sighed deeply.

“Look, I know I’ve been an overbearing asshole, Adrianna, but I can’t take all the blame. You dated a co-worker of mine behind my back and lied to me over and over again.” Paul retorted, causing her blood to start boiling overboard as she stayed right where she was.

“Just get out, Paul. You hit me. And not just a little hit. You backhanded me hard across the face…” She trailed off and turned around, showing him exactly what he’d done, and Paul felt tears instantly burn his eyes upon seeing the black and blue bruise that covered half her face.

Not able to stop himself, Paul took two long strides and pulled her in his arms, resting his head on top of hers, and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Adrianna. I never meant to hit you. I just…Dave came and told me about you and John and I didn’t know what to do.”

Adrianna shoved him away from her, not believing what she’d just heard, and raked a hand through her hair. “What did you just say?” She questioned, wanting to verify if what she’d heard from her brother was right or not.

“I said I never meant to hurt you and I’m sorry…” Paul started to repeat it, but Adrianna cut him off.

“No no, after the apologies and mushy shit.” She corrected him, causing Paul to tap his chin as he started thinking back.

“Oh, you mean about Dave coming to tell me about you and John?” Paul questioned and Adrianna felt her eyes narrow to dangerous slits once again, not believing the audacity of that man to do such a thing!

Her entire body began to tremble with pure fear and anger as she looked at her brother in shock. ‘How did HE find out!?’ She thought, raking a hand through her hair nervously, and contemplated on whether or not to tell Paul about what David had put her through over the past month. ‘He’ll only worry more about me and become even more overbearing.’ She decided and looked at him, deciding to stay on topic for the time being. When the time was right, she’d deal with David in her own way, but for now, she wanted to hear her brother grovel. “You think you can just say sorry and make everything better again, Paul?! I’ve needed you for the past four years and you haven’t been there! You’ve been pushing me further and further away, which is why I did what I did to myself! You made me grow to hate you and not to trust you with my feelings! YOU did! Nobody else and now when I thought you couldn’t stoop any lower, you did by striking me!” Adrianna shouted the anger and pain of what her brother did to her flowing back as David was pushed to the back of her mind for the time being.

“I know and I’m sorry for that. It’s just…After mom and dad died; I didn’t know what to do. I just got married and thought my life was so great, but then they died and I was responsible for another life that I hadn’t seen practically the first fourteen years. I just felt burdened and I hated mom and dad for what they did. I know that sounds selfish, but I pushed all the pain of their death in the back of my mind so I could cope with it better.” Paul explained, finally revealing his feelings to Adrianna for the first time in four years, since their parent’s untimely death.

“That doesn’t excuse what you did, Paul! If you were feeling as bad as I was, why didn’t you come and talk to me about it? I’ll tell ya why, it’s because of that stupid, ridiculous male pride you have stirring inside of you constantly!” Adrianna snarled, meaning every word that came out of her mouth.

Paul sighed, knowing she was right, but that wasn’t the entire reason. “I was just confused…and didn’t know how to express my feelings. I was too concerned about you trying to end your life and just put my feelings back in my mind. I never meant to push you away, Adrianna.” He meant what he said and spoke from his heart, hoping she would find it in hers to forgive him in time. “I never meant to hit you and I’ve been thinking about that John situation too.”

Adrianna bit her bottom lip and walked over to the bed, sitting down on it, and shook her head as she said, “Please don’t say his name again. It hurts enough as it is.”

Paul became confused as he quirked his eyebrow, wondering what his sister meant by that, and slowly walked over, sitting down beside her. “I thought you wanted to be with him.” Paul said, causing Adrianna to start crying as she buried her face in her hands, her shoulders slumped and shaking.

“Not anymore. Now that I found out what he’s really after from your wife.” Adrianna muttered, wiping her tears away from her eyes, and sniffled a little as Paul’s eyes widened suddenly.

He felt awful for what happened, especially since it was his entire fault because he knew exactly how Gabriella reacted. “None of it is true, Adrianna. I assumed he was a playboy because him and Randy Orton used to hang around a lot together. I was stupid and foolish to ever assume anything and judge him without knowing the man.” Paul admitted causing Adrianna to look up at him as a single tear slid down her cheek, hope shining in her eyes that her brother wasn’t messing with her heart.

“You really mean it?” She asked and Paul nodded just as the bedroom door opened, causing Adrianna to gasp out in shock at who it was. Jumping off the bed, Adrianna ran into John’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as he caught her and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Paul smiled and chuckled a little as he shook his head and stood from the bed, walking over, and stroked his sister’s back, looking at John knowingly.

“I’ll leave you two be to catch up while I try to go put my marriage back together. I love you, Adrianna and I know you don’t trust me right now, but in time, I hope you do.” Paul whispered in her ear and sighed when she didn’t say it back, expecting it to happen, and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

“Did you mean what you said?” Gabriella’s voice sounded behind him, causing him to turn around, and stared at his beautiful wife.

He nodded his head back at her and slowly walked over, rubbing the back of his neck, and said, “I’m sorry for what happened between us, Gabby. I love you so much and I’ve missed you terribly.”

“I know the feeling and I overheard the whole conversation. I forgive you for everything, but if you ever hit her again like that or any woman for that matter, I will divorce you on the spot.” Gabriella promised, causing Paul to smile at her a little and nodded in understanding. “Now come over here and make it up to me and the baby.” She commanded, causing Paul’s eyes to light up with life, and immediately did as she asked, pulling her into his arms, and descended his lips upon hers.

He finally had his wife back and secretly vowed to never let her walk out of his life again.

Chapter 18

~Two Weeks Later~

Paul, Gabriella, John, and Adrianna walked into the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois, all smiles, finally at peace with their lives. Adrianna leaned against John’s side; his arm wrapped around her shoulders, and leaned down, kissing her lips softly. Paul smiled over at his sister, loving the smile that was on her face, and held his wife close to his side, never wanting to let her go. They had all taken a two week vacation from the road, just wanting to enjoy each other’s company and get back to the way things used to be. Granted, John hadn’t been with Adrianna that long, but long enough to where he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. They were far away from marriage though and both were content with where their relationship was.

“Who do you face tonight?” Adrianna asked, looking up into John’s beautiful blue eyes.

Sighing heavily and rolling his eyes, John replied, “I’m in a fuckin’ tag team match that involves Jamal.” Jamal was known to the wrestling world as Umaga, a man who had an undefeated streak and thought he was hot shit.

Paul chuckled at John’s bitter words and ran a hand through his hair as he said, “I don’t blame you for hating him, man. That man is scum of the Earth.”

“He’s got no respect for nobody.” John stated and Paul agreed with him once again. The girls laughed at their men, shaking their heads, and continued to walk with them down the hall.

Adrianna sighed heavily when she felt prying eyes on her, knowing David was watching her every move, and had plans for him that night. ‘I better do it now before I lose my nerve.’ She thought, but it quickly flew out the window when John whispered something provocative in her ear. She giggled and smacked him on the arm, whispering back, “You’re terrible!”

“I know, but you love me anyway.” John retorted, a Cheshire grin plastered on his lips, and Adrianna shook her head, not believing she was in love with such a horn dog.

Once they arrived in John’s dressing, Paul and Gabriella excused themselves to go to his own, wanting some quality time together. John smirked as he closed the door behind him and walked over, sitting down on the couch, and pulled Adrianna on his lap, making her straddle him. Adrianna’s eyes drifted shut as she smiled, leaning her head back and allowed the man to do whatever he pleased to her body. John groaned out, “You feel so fuckin’ good, baby girl…” His lips trailed along her jaw to her ear, flicking the lobe with his tongue, and that sent a shiver down her spine.

“Mmmm, you don’t feel so bad yourself, blue eyes.” She purred back, running her hands down his muscular arms and down his chest, slowly inching her hands up his jersey, and touched his warm flesh. She loved feeling his muscles ripple underneath her fingertips and immediately stopped as she lost all sense of reality. His lips had trailed to her neck, finding that one spot that made her putty in his hands, and felt her entire body break out in goose bumps. John felt them and smirked, loving how he made her body react, and continued, gently nipping and nibbling her tender flesh.

“Mmmm John…Don’t leave hickeys.” She warned softly, causing him to nod back at her, but continue assaulting her neck with his lips and experienced tongue.

Their moment of passion was disturbed by the sound of knocking on his dressing room door. “Just a minute!” John called out, looking up into Adrianna’s eyes apologetically, not wanting to stop what they were doing.

“It’s okay. Just find out who it is.” She assured him, kissing his lips softly before getting up, and sitting on the couch while John went to see who was at his door.

He opened it and smiled sheepishly upon seeing Stephanie McMahon before him, her arms crossed in front of her chest with her eyebrow raised. “Took ya long enough, Cena.” She stated, smiling knowingly. The whole roster knew that John and Adrianna were together and knew she was hands off, but that didn’t effect David or interest him in the least. He was livid to find out that Paul had actually allowed his sister to date John Cena and wanted to ring his neck. It took a lot of resistance on his part, knowing his plan would work out in the end and he would be the one she fell asleep with every night and had sex with.

“Hey Steph, come on in.” He offered, opening his dressing room door, and allowed her to step in, causing Adrianna to instantly start shaking with fear. She didn’t know if Stephanie knew she was the reason why David took so long answering his dressing room door those few weeks ago when she was dumb enough to follow him to his dressing room. “Hello, Adrianna.” She greeted warmly, not giving any indication that she knew what had happened between her and David.

“Hi Steph.” She replied, smiling nervously, and decided now would be the perfect time to go pay the big mouth a visit. “I have to go talk to Ashley real quick about Gabriella’s baby shower. I’ll be back shortly.” She lied, standing to her feet, and walking over to John, giving him a peck on the cheek.

“Alright, but don’t be too long.” John advised, smirking at her knowingly, and Adrianna could feel her cheeks growing hot instantly under his heated gaze before disappearing out the door. Her entire body began to tremble with fear and anger, a terrible combination, as she made her way down the hall toward David’s dressing room. She hated lying to John, but she knew if he found out where she was really going, he would stop her in an instant. John wanted to kill David for revealing to Paul about their secret relationship, but after strong persuasion from Adrianna, he reluctantly backed down. Before she knew it, Adrianna was standing outside his dressing room door, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and her lips pursed together tightly.

David growled when he heard a knock on his dressing room door, not wanting to be disturbed, especially since he was finalizing the second part of his master plan. He knew he couldn’t ignore it and wanted to shoot whoever it was who was bothering him at this delicate time. Stalking over to the door and whipping it open fiercely, David was about to give whoever it was a tongue lashing and didn’t see what was coming next. A fist came out of nowhere, plowing him in the nose, and caused him to stumble back as he landed on the couch, bellowing out in pain. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” He went to stand up, but Adrianna’s foot planted firmly on his chest, not caring how big and bad David thought he was because nothing was worse than a woman scorned.

“Don’t you fucking move!” Adrianna ordered dangerously, her eyes narrowed to deadly slits as she stared down at this man with pure venom dripping in her voice. Blood was pouring like a fountain out of David’s nose as he stared up at her in shock, not believing how hard she’d hit him. “Now, I’m only going to ask you this ONE time, David. Why the fuck did you tell MY brother about me and John?” She questioned, her foot firmly planted on his chest, and David knew better than to move it cause she’d probably end up kicking his teeth down his throat if he did.

“He’s my best friend and I thought he deserved to know the truth about who his sister was fuckin’ around with.” He replied, his eyes hardening at her, but held his nose, trying to keep the blood from rushing out.

Adrianna shook her head in disbelief, not buying his reason for a second, and gritted out in a low voice, “Oh, so you told my brother about mine and John’s relationship, but yet you CONVIENTLY left out the fact that you’ve been trying to seduce me for the past MONTH? Clever David, really clever, but your plan is about to go up in smoke because I’m on my way to tell my brother about everything you’ve been doing to me! You better stay away from me and out of my life before you end up dead at my brother’s hand!”

David’s eyes widened, knowing she couldn’t tell Paul what he’d been doing or else his own master plan would go up in smoke. “Please, Adrianna don’t tell him! I promise, I’ll stay away from you from now on!” He pleaded, though he was lying through his teeth and hoped she didn’t see past it.

Apparently she hadn’t because her foot came off of his chest, backing up away from him, and stated dangerously, “If you ever come near me again, David, I WILL tell Paul what you’ve done to me, how you made me feel and I’ll piss on your ashes on your gravesite. Do I make myself clear?” She demanded, putting her hands on her hips, and waited for his answer.

“Crystal.” David growled back at her in response, groaning at how much his nose was throbbing, and still couldn’t believe how hard she’d hit him. ‘Girl has a nice hook.’ He thought as he watched her walk out the door, slamming it behind her, and felt his eyes narrow while his rage built in his big body. ‘Oh you have NO idea what you’ve done, my dark princess. NO CLUE!’

Smiling from ear to ear, Adrianna headed back down to John’s dressing room, but winced at how much her hand hurt. The man had a jaw made of steel it seemed because her knuckles were already turning black and blue. “I better go visit Donald before I see John and see if he can get the swelling to go down.” She muttered to herself and winced again when she moved it again. In a few minutes, she was outside the trainer’s room and knocked on the door with her good hand, keeping her injured one close to her just incase anyone she knew came to talk to her.

“Come in!” Donald called and smiled upon seeing Adrianna. He walked over and hugged her, looking into her eyes, and said, “This is a pleasant surprise! Need some more ice for your brother, I take it?”

A nervous laugh escaped her lips as she replied, “Well, actually…” Her words trailed off and slowly slipped her wrist from her pocket, showing it to him. “I need the ice this time.”

“My God, Adrianna! What happened?” Donald asked in concern, rushing over, and taking her hand in his hand, cringing when she cried out in pain. “It might be broken. Come on and sit so I can examine it further. What the Hell did you do, girl?”

Biting her bottom lip nervously and lowered her gaze to the floor, Adrianna muttered out, “I had to take care of some business.” There was no way she was about to reveal what she’d done to David and knew he wouldn’t tell a soul, especially since she’d threatened him to tell her brother about what he’d done to her if he came near her again.

“Well whatever this business was, it caused you to bruise your hand incredibly bad. I’m gonna have to wrap this up and you need to put ice on it, but for no more than twenty minutes at a time. Five minute break if you constantly want to keep it on.” Donald instructed her, making Adrianna nod at him in understanding.

“It was worth it.” She softly replied and Donald chuckled knowingly.

“Obviously or you wouldn’t have busted your hand up this bad.” He retorted, causing her to blush as she looked down and allowed him to wrap her hand up in the gauze. Luckily, it was black so it didn’t really show that much, especially with the arm warmers she wore constantly.

When he was finished wrapping it up, she slipped her arm warmer back on immediately and smiled at him. “Thanks for everything, Don. I appreciate it, but could I ask you a favor?” She asked, hoping he didn’t reject her request and took a deep breath when he nodded. “Keep this a secret between us.”

Donald smiled back at her knowingly and nodded, “Of course, Adrianna. I don’t want to cause any problems between you and John or your brother for that matter.”

Smiling softly up at him, Adrianna wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly before pulling away. “Thanks Don, you’re the best. Well, I better get going back to John’s dressing room before he sends out the search party after me.”

Chuckling at her with a small nod, Donald helped her off the table and said, “Take care of yourself and no more busting your hand. You’re a woman; you shouldn’t be doing that to yourself.”

Adrianna smiled and nodded before walking out and down the hallway toward John’s dressing room. She completely forgot about the ice pack and decided to take the pain pills instead that Donald had given her before she walked out. ‘How am I gonna keep this from him?’ She thought worriedly, walking a little slower down the hallway, and sighed heavily when she arrived outside John’s dressing room. Waiting a few minutes before entering, Adrianna tried to compose herself before walking inside, plastering a fake smile on her lips.

John’s head shot up upon seeing her and immediately went to her side, hugging her close, and looked down into her eyes. “Thank God you’re here! I was about to call out the search party.” John exclaimed his hands on her shoulders firmly, but not too tight, and raised his eyebrow when she started laughing at him. “What’s so damn funny?”

“Nothing, I said the same thing to Ashley.” She lied again, cringing on the inside, and hated herself for it, but she didn’t have any alternative. The truth would only anger John and possibly force her to lose him and she wasn’t about to take that risk.

John chuckled as he shook his head, kissing her forehead gently, and said, “I’m going out for my match. You stay in here until I get back or I’ll tan that ass when we get back to the hotel.” He winked at her, causing her to blush, and knew what he meant by that. He would never hurt her intentionally or raise a hand unless it was in a provocative and sexual manner.

“I look forward to it, Mr. Cena.” She purred, running her hands up and down his bare chest, and licked her lips seductively at him. John groaned as he shook his head and kissed her lips quickly before exiting the room, sexually frustrated and having an extremely big problem in his jean shorts. He was just glad they were baggy so the fans couldn’t notice his huge hard on Adrianna caused him to have.

Adrianna yawned, suddenly feeling exhausted, and decided to take a nap as she walked over to the couch. She collapsed on top of it on her stomach, her eyes shutting instantly, and let the darkness of sleep take over her body. About ten minutes later, a figure walked inside the room, his black shoes thudding softly against the concrete floor, and smirked wickedly down at the sleeping angel. He pulled on his latex glove, snapping it on his wrist, and proceeded toward her, carrying something in his hand. Bringing it out from behind his back, he flicked the needle with his fingers, making sure it was ready, and looked down at her before slowly bending down. She started to wake up so he did the only thing he could think of, he knocked her out with a single shot to the back of the neck and proceeded on with his work. Wrapping the band around her arm, he smacked it a couple of times before finding her vein and injected the serum into her system. A slow, sadistic smirk spread across his lips as he finished, pulling the needle out of her arm, and quickly disposed of it before walking back out. Lifting her up in his arms and placing a blanket over her, he threw her over his shoulder and walked out of the arena, nobody witnessing a thing, and placed her in the getaway car. Getting in the driver’s seat, he looked over at her in the passenger side and smirked, putting the car in drive, and peeled out of the parking lot, executing the second part of his master plan perfectly.

“You’re mine now, my dark princess and I’m never letting you go.” He murmured softly, running his finger down her cheek, and drove on the highway, heading down it at eighty miles an hour and far away from Chicago, Illinois.

Chapter 19

The sun slowly streamed through the room, hitting her face as her eyes slowly fluttered open a few days later and looked around her surroundings, wondering where she was. She slowly sat up, stretching her arms above her head, and scratched it in thought, confused about her surroundings for some reason. Adrianna looked down at her hands and felt her eyes widen at the three stoned diamond ring that was on her left ring finger, tears coming to her eyes instantly, and began to tremble all over. She quickly slid from the bed, her bare feet landing on the floor gently, and began looking around the room, finally coming to a full length mirror. Her eyes widened in horror at how bad she looked and wished she could remember what had happened the previous night or even any night for that matter. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t do it and it was really starting to freak her out.

The door suddenly creaked open, causing her head to whip around, and stared into a pair of brown eyes that were softened. She immediately began to back away when he smiled at her, holding her hands up, and felt her entire body begin to tremble with fear gripping at her insides. David frowned at her reaction, but kept his distance, not wanting to scare her or anything and softly greeted, “Good morning, my dark princess.”

“Where am I?” She immediately asked, the nickname he’d called her sending shivers down her spine of pure dread.

David sighed heavily and ran a hand through his very short black hair, letting it start to grow back somewhat, and looked at her sorrowfully as he replied, “You still don’t remember, do you?” It was more of a statement than an actual question.

Adrianna closed her eyes, trying to rekindle one memory, just one, any memory, but found she couldn’t as she opened them back up, immediately tearing up and shook her head. “No, I can’t even remember my name.” She replied, raking a hand through her hair, and began to freak out again. “What’s going on?!”

“Shhh calm down, baby. Please don’t get yourself worked up.” David pleaded with her, his brown eyes concerned, even though he knew what the problem was because he’d bestowed it upon her. “Here sit down for a minute and I’ll explain everything.” He gently ordered, causing her to stare at him, and crossed her arms in front of her chest instantly, refusing to budge.

“I’m fine standing right here now tell me what’s going on! Why can’t I remember anything, not even my name?” She demanded, staring at this man intensely, and wished she knew why she was feeling the need to run as far away from him as possible. Nothing was making sense to her and it was really starting to make her angry.

Clearing his throat and walking over to the bed, David sat down on it, facing her, and started off the explanation. “You’re name is Adrianna and you live here with me in this beautiful house, just outside the ocean. You are my fiancée and we’re going to be married very soon, once you learn to trust me again.” David began, causing her to nod as she ran a hand through her hair, seeming to feel like that was really her name for some reason.

“What’s my last name?” Adrianna asked, causing David to panic on the inside, not expecting her to actually ask him that question.

‘I gotta think of one before she grows suspicious.’ He thought frantically and simply smiled widely at her. “It’s Carson, but not for long.” He replied swiftly, winking at her, and sighed when she didn’t smile at what he’d said.

Sighing heavily, she walked over toward the window, staring out at the beautiful ocean view they had, and closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself. “Why can’t I remember anything?” She asked, suddenly feeling completely helpless because all of her memories seemed to have disappeared on her and she didn’t understand why.

He smirked with his back toward her, chuckling wickedly to himself, and knew his plan had worked. Now all he had to do was convince her that he was the love of her life and gain her full trust so that they could finally be together in matrimonial bliss. His eyes took on a really sorrowful look, knowing he had to make it as realistic as possible, and slowly stood from the bed. Walking over to her, David gently placed his hands on her shoulders, sighing when she cringed, but knew that would pass in time. “Adrianna, come sit down with me for a minute. I need to tell you something and I don’t want you to collapse like you did the last time I told you.” He lied, sounding convincing as possible, and smiled softly when she turned around, obliging his request.

She sat down on the bed, her hands clasped together firmly in her lap, and bit her bottom lip as her head lowered, wishing she could remember one detail from her past. It felt so strange to have her head completely empty and wondered what had happened to make her this way. David began pacing in front of her, rubbing the back of his neck, and sighed heavily, pretending like he was actually troubled with what he was about to say to her. “Four months ago, my love, you were in a horrible car accident. We were driving down the highway when some moron swerved in front of us, cutting us off completely. I couldn’t stop it even if I’d tried and slammed on the breaks, spinning the car out of control, and hit it against a cement wall on your side. The blow you sustained to your head caused you to have temporary amnesia. You were in a coma for a week and thankfully awoke and the hospital released you another week later. I brought you here back to our house to recuperate the rest of the way, but unfortunately, the amnesia still hasn’t gone away yet. It will though, the doctor has reassured me.” David explained, causing Adrianna’s eyes to fill with tears as she stood up and walked over to the window again, not believing the story she’d just heard.

Silence filled the room between them for a few minutes as she listened to the soft ocean waves crashing against the shore, trying to decipher what she just heard. It was a lot to take in all in one day, but she still had so many questions. “I want to go and see my doctor, the one who diagnosed me. I want to hear it from his own mouth about what happened.” She stated, causing David’s eyes to widen, and began to stutter over his words.

“Uhh Well…Umm…You see, baby, you can’t.” He finally got out, not believing how ridiculous he was sounding, and raked a hand over his head furiously, frustration kicking into high gear.

“And why not?” She questioned, turning around to face him with her amber colored orbs blazing, not believing she’d just been denied her request. “I want to see if there’s anything I can do to speed up the healing process.”

Sucking in his chest as he slowly stood up from the bed, David’s eyes narrowed somewhat at her and retorted, “I’ve told you everything you need to know. It would be a waste of time and money to go and see him again.”

“You don’t have to come along…” Her words trailed off, not able to remember his name, and instantly felt the tears swell in her eyes again. “What’s your name?” She quietly asked, causing David to smile down at her as he closed the distance between them.

Running a finger down her cheek gently, David stared into her eyes and replied in a murmur, “David. My name is David.”

“What’s your last name?” She asked, wanting to know it, especially if she was engaged to be married to the guy and hoped it jogged some memories for her.

“Batista.” He answered simply, getting sick of all these questions, but knew they would slowly diminish and he would just have to be patient. David knew better than to try and push her, especially in the state of mind she was in. He’d wait it out until his trust was insured within her and then take her as his wife, which would end his master plan.

For some reason, that name rang a bell in Adrianna’s mind, but she thought better than to mention that fact and felt her entire body cringe again when he touched her. “I’m gonna go outside for awhile.” She whispered softly and ran a hand through her hair, walking past him, and over to the door, grabbing the coat that looked to be her size. Slipping it over her shoulders and arms, Adrianna departed from the room and down the hallway, trying to find her way out, even though she couldn’t remember a single thing about this house.

As soon as she was out of earshot, David growled and ran a hand over his face, purely frustrated with all of her questions. The girl was smart, he’d give her that much credit, but there was no way she could remember her past. A dark chuckle sounded from his lips as he looked out the window, seeing she was standing on the beach, and knew it was only a matter of time now. “Soon, my dark princess, soon.” He snarled, cackling wickedly and decided to join her on the beach, wanting to keep her mind as far away from her past as possible.

Adrianna stood on the beach, the ocean breeze flowing through her hair, and looked out on the horizon, thinking it was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining down and she suddenly felt herself not needing a jacket so she discarded it to the sand, and walked further towards the water. Her thoughts went to David, her first memories it seemed, and what he’d said to her in the bedroom. She noticed how he stammered over his words when she told him she wanted to go see the doctor who’d diagnosed and wondered what that was all about. Her eyes looked down at her hands, particularly the ring that shone on her left ring finger, and wished she knew why it didn’t feel right. ‘That’s because you’re engaged to a man you don’t even know!’ Her mind screamed at her, causing her to sigh deeply, and knew she’d have to rethink the whole engagement ordeal with David.

She turned her arms over, wanting to see if there were any traces from the accident, and felt her eyes widen at the sight before her. Hundreds of little slash scar marks covered the entire back of her forearms, causing tears to instantly start sliding down her cheeks. She seen the scars on her wrists, the horizontal slashes, and wondered if they were from the accident or apart of her past. Adrianna’s body began to shake as she quickly wrapped her arms around herself, not wanting to see them anymore, and felt unfamiliar pain flow throughout her body that she didn’t understand. ‘I need to remember!’ She told herself mentally and jumped about three feet in the air when a voice sounded behind her.

“Are you alright?” His deep voice asked, causing her to turn around, and bit her bottom lip when it was David.

Slowly holding out her arms and showing him, David felt sick to his stomach at all the scars that covered her arms. He’d heard from Paul about what she’d done to herself, but never did he believe it for an instant, until now. “What are these from?” She asked plainly, causing David to walk toward her, and slowly took her hands in his, running his fingertips over them, trying to keep himself in check.

“These are from the accident.” He answered, his voice soothing, truly not believing how much pain this girl had put herself through. She was still beautiful in his eyes and couldn’t wait to show her the true meaning of darkness, a world without pain and blades as companions.

Adrianna nodded, feeling a bit apprehensive at his answer for some reason, and mentally shook herself as she sighed. “This is so damn frustrating!” She exclaimed, kicking a rock that was near her foot, and raked a hand through her long black hair. Her thought suddenly went to her family, her blood relatives, and wondered about them as she closed her eyes. “David, can I ask you something?” She asked softly, causing him to smile at her, and knew she was slowly starting to warm up to him.

“Anything, my dark princess.” He replied softly, standing beside her, and hesitantly wrapped an arm around her shoulders. A smile curved his lips when her head rested against his chest and knew this was going to happen sooner than he expected it to. “Remember you can ask me anything.” David assured her, making her nod up at him, and continued to lean against him.

“Do I have any family? Siblings, parents, anyone?” Adrianna questioned, causing David’s entire body to tense up, and wondered how he was going to pull this off.

He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, feeling sorrow fill his body because he knew what happened to her parents. Turning toward her and staring down into her eyes, he took her hands in his and gruffly replied, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but your parents died four years ago, my love. They were in a horrible car accident.”

Her hands slipped out of his as she slowly backed up, feeling her chest tighten instantly, and felt the tears instantly slide down her cheeks. She dropped to the sand on her knees, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, and began to rock back and forth, feeling an overwhelming sadness sweep over her. Her parents were dead? Four years ago? Why couldn’t she remember them, remember it? So many questions swirled through her mind as David simply watched her, not believing how much pain he had to cause her, but knew it was all going to be worth it in the end.

“I’m sorry.” He painfully whispered, reaching his hand out to try and comfort her, but her head whipped up and stared into his eyes hardening.

“What about siblings? Any brothers or sisters?” She frantically asked, wishing she could talk to someone about her parent’s death, besides this man crouching down before her.

David shook his head back at her, completely lying, knowing he had to keep hurting her with disappointment, but there was no other way. “No, I’m sorry, but you were an only child.” He despaired, feeling his heart clench when she started crying harder, and wished he could take her pain away in some way. The truth would be the only solution and there was no way he was about to reveal that to her. She’d end up escaping and running back to John, which wasn’t going to happen unless it was over David’s dead body.

No more questions came from her lips, just the sad, violent cries and sobs that racked throughout her entire body. She finally managed to pull herself back up, seeing David had already disappeared into the house, and looked back on the horizon, seeing the sun was ready to set. Her eyes drifted shut, tears dried and scorched on her cheeks, and suddenly gasped upon seeing something in her mind. Crystal clear, ocean blue eyes flowed through her mind as they pierced her memory, but only for a split second. They snapped open, causing her to bite her bottom lip, and somehow felt that what David had told her about not having any family was false.

‘I won’t tell him about my vision.’ She decided, not trusting him one bit, and quickly headed into the house, needing to take a nice, hot, soothing shower to calm her body down from all the crying and sobbing she’d done that day. Adrianna was determined to crack the mystery about her past and knew the first step was to make David think that she loved him, even though it was far from the truth.

Chapter 20

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and before Adrianna knew it, a half of a year had gone by. She had questioned David on about her past throughout them, about his family and life, anything she could to get one clue that would unlock her memories. David was extremely sly though, cutting her off at every corner, and reassured her that everything was fine. Adrianna didn’t understand why she could remember the past six months with David, but yet nothing else. It didn’t make any sense and she was starting to lose hope that she would never regain her past memories.

One night into their sixth month together, David had surprised Adrianna with a beautiful dinner while she went walking around the area they lived in. There wasn’t a neighbor for miles, just her and him in a huge house by the ocean. She had to admit, the beauty and architecture of it was breathtaking, captivating hers in ways unimaginable. David had cooked her favorite meal, according to him, which was spaghetti with meatballs. She’d just gotten back from her walk when he ran toward her, sweeping her up in his arms, and kissed her lips softly, taken her completely aback.

He set her down on her feet and smiled down at her, entwining their fingers together, and asked, “Did you enjoy your walk?”

“Yeah, we’re very secluded out here.” She pointed out, taking her jacket off since it’d gotten a little cold outside and hung it up on the mantle that was by the door. David smiled at her, ignoring her comment, not wanting this night to be ruined. “Mmm what smells so good?” She asked, her mouth watering since she’d gotten her appetite back and smirked when David escorted her into the kitchen.

Pulling out her chair for her, Adrianna smiled back at him as he whispered gently, “I made us dinner.” He walked over to the stove, stirring the sauce one final time, and then checked on the garlic bread that was baking in the oven. “It should be done in a few minutes.”

“It smells delicious.” She complimented, causing him to bow at her, and giggled at how funny her fiancé was being. Her laughter died down as she looked down at the table, causing David to stare at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s wrong, princess?” He asked, sitting down beside her, and took her hand in his, gently stroking it with his thumb as she looked up into his eyes.

Adrianna bit her bottom lip, running a hand through her hair, and answered, “I was just wondering about something. What exactly do you do for the WWE?” David had told her about the company he worked for, but he’d never actually clarified what he did for a living. Her curiosity had peeked her interest greatly and wondered how David could afford such a beautiful house for both of them to live in out in the middle of nowhere and by the beach.

Clearing his throat a little and cracking a smile at her, David hesitated a little, but knew she couldn’t remember anything so it wouldn’t hurt to tell her the truth this time. “I’m a professional wrestler. I’m on hiatus until you’re completely better with your memory back.” He replied, throwing in that extra lie just to smooth the surface, and stood up to check on the garlic bread.

“Oh David! You don’t have to stay home with me!” She exclaimed, finding it incredibly sweet of the man to take time out of his life to be there for her. “I’m fine, I just need to jog some memories.”

“I know that, but I want to be here for you incase you do remember. I love you, Adrianna and I just want to comfort you the best I can.” David replied, spreading it on thick with her, but honestly meant what he said about wanting to be there for her. That wasn’t a lie.

Standing up and walking over to him, Adrianna wrapped her arms around his thick body, and kissed his t-shirt covered back, murmuring softly, “You are the best. Thank you so much.” David smiled upon hearing that and turned around, staring down into her eyes, and kissed her lips softly before patting her bottom, pointing toward the chair.

“Dinner’s served.” He softly announced and brought a pot of sauce over and then picked the drainer out of the sink, the noodles in it, and set it on the table. Adrianna licked her lips, loving the spread David had made, and watched as he took the garlic bread out, putting them in a basket, and set it on the table. He sat down in his chair, rubbing his hands together, and proceeded to make them each a plate, smiling gently at her and knew she was starting to give up, much to David’s delight.

They had slept in the same bed, but never made love, which frustrated David more than words could say. Adrianna refused to do it until she unlocked her past, which was never going to happen so David opted for a different solution. He’d made this beautiful dinner and decided he had to bring up their wedding plans again. The last time he’d done it, Adrianna snapped at him, telling him she wasn’t ready to talk about it, but now that six months had passed and she finally seemed comfortable, he was going to try again. Dinner was ate in silence, both in their own thoughts and Adrianna finally broke the silence with a question.

“David, I’ve been thinking a lot lately and I’m starting to get cabin fever from this house so I was wondering if maybe you’d be willing to go back to work and take me with you on the road?” Her soft voice asked, causing him to drop the fork on his plate and stared at her with widened eyes, wondering where this came about.

He’d told her stories about the road, leaving out what he did until now, but cleverly didn’t mention Paul and John, not wanting to take a chance in jogging her memory. He’d shown her the website, standing over her the entire time, making sure she didn’t click on something that would stir her memories. David was scared that if she even seen a glimpse of her brother or John that everything he’d worked so hard for would go up in smoke. He couldn’t deny her, especially now that she’d starting rekindling memories of them together, and started to contemplate it. “I’ll tell ya what, princess. Let me sleep on it and I’ll let you know in the morning.” David finally said, smiling back at her, and took a sip of his wine while she nodded and lowered her head. “There’s something I want to talk to you about, Adrianna.”

Her head snapped up, staring into his brown eyes curiously and wiped her mouth with her napkin as she nodded, “Alright, what is it?” She asked, running a hand through her hair, and hoped she didn’t upset her fiancé by asking if he’d take her on the road with him with the WWE.

Setting his fork down and swallowing another bite of food, David turned his full attention on her, taking her hands in his, and said, “I was wondering if we could talk about our wedding plans again. I just get the feeling like its never going to happen and I want you to be Mrs. Batista more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

Adrianna bit her bottom lip, refusing to marry this man she’d gotten to know over the past six months, and sighed deeply. “David, I’m really sorry, but I’m just not ready to talk about it yet. I need to focus on trying to figure out why my past memories won’t come back to me. I’ve already told you once they come back, then we’ll sit down and go over all the plans for as long as it takes.” Adrianna replied, reminding David of their previous argument, but this time, she was very sweet and kind about it.

“What if it never happens, Adrianna? Then what? Are you going to just be engaged to me until we both die?” David growled, releasing her hands, and threw those questions back at her vigorously. Time was running out for him and he had to act fast before she started rekindling some of her memories. The serum he’d injected into her arm at the arena those six months ago would wear off sooner or later so David didn’t have the time to sit around and be patient.

Narrowing her eyes to dangerous slits at him, Adrianna stood up abruptly from her chair, and shouted at him, “If you can’t be patient and understanding long enough for me to remember my past, then maybe this engagement needs to be called off!” She was truly hurt and angered by his outburst, not about to take it line down.

This was crumbling right before his eyes as David sighed heavily, raking a hand through his hair, and knew he’d really upset her this time. “Princess, I just want us to be together. Is that so bad to want?” David asked heartbrokenly, causing Adrianna to sigh sadly back at him.

“No, it’s not, but you need to be patient with me. I can’t walk down the aisle with a man I don’t even know and keeps dodging most of my questions that I ask him.” She retorted, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and David’s eyes glared at her when he heard that.

“That’s not true!! I’ve tried telling you countless times about your past, but for some reason, you think I’m lying to you!” David spat back at her, his temper overcoming his rational thinking, and clenched his fists tightly at his sides.

An incredulous laugh echoed from her lips as she stared at him and snapped back, “Oh really? Then how come you’re always standing over me when I’m on the internet? Or that you refuse to give me my uncle’s number that you told me lived in California? How about the fact that you refuse to let me go see the doctor who diagnosed me and fed me a line of bullshit that he had to move to Nicaragua!? Those are so unbelievable and full of shit, David! Why won’t you allow me to remember my fucking past!!!” She screamed at him, finally revealing her true feelings about this entire situation, and that was all David could take.

Before he knew what was happening, his hand flew forward, backhanding her across the face, and watched as her body crumpled to the floor in a heap. She cried out in pain as she covered her cheek with her hand, staring up at this man in shock, and couldn’t believe he’d just struck her. Her eyes shut tightly as she suddenly envisioned the same thing happening to her, only it wasn’t David. It was a man with long blonde hair and rage filled hazel eyes, but that’s all that the vision would allow her to see. David couldn’t believe what he’d done and went to touch her, but she immediately backed away from him, shrieking out, “STAY AWAY FROM ME!!”

“My dark princess…” He murmured, trying to talk to her and apologize for striking her like that, but it wasn’t happening.

“DON’T CALL ME THAT! GET AWAY FROM ME!!” She screamed at him in horror, the tears streaming down her face as she scrambled to get away from him when he started coming toward her. Her back was pressed against the wall when she stood up to her feet, her legs feeling like putty as they trembled along with the rest of her body, and bolted away from him when he went to grab her. Running up the stairs as fast as she could, Adrianna ran into the first room she could find, which was the bathroom, and flipped the lock on it, crying her heart and soul out as she collapsed to the black tiled floor.

David grunted, raking a hand through his short, black hair that’d he let grow back, and sighed as he went after her. He walked up the stairs, taking two at a time, and stopped when he seen the bathroom door closed, trying the doorknob. It was locked so he pressed his ear to the door, lightly tapping on it, and felt his heart break as her heart wrenching sobs flowed through the door and into his ear. “Adrianna, please open the door, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to hit you.” He pleaded, hoping she obliged him and sighed deep with regret when she screamed at him again.

“LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE, YOU MONSTER!” Adrianna choked out, refusing to let him in so he could hit her again, and looked down at the ring as she quickly took it off. She threw it in the garbage can that was near the toilet and felt her stomach rumbling, barely getting the porcelain bowl before emptying the contents of her stomach. Her cries became sharp as she threw up for a good five minutes, not believing she’d been so stupid to trust a man she hardly knew, and finally finished up.

Standing up from the floor and slowly pulling herself up with the sink, Adrianna immediately started sobbing again as the black and blue bruise began forming on her cheek. Her fingertips barely brushed it, wincing as the pain shot through her cheek to her head, and turned the faucet on, filling her hands with cold water, and splashed it on her face. ‘I have to find out why I can’t remember my past. He knows something and he’s not telling me.’ She thought, wondering how she was going to get him out of the house and ran a hand through her hair as her fingers snapped. They were out of milk and a few other items that they needed in the house so she would demand him to go to the store as part of his punishment.

Slowly opening the door a few hours later, after going over the plan in her mind, Adrianna walked into the room, seeing David was laying down with his back to her on the bed. ‘There’s NO way I’m sleeping in that bed tonight.’ She decided and carefully walked over to the dresser, pulling out a nightgown, her back to him, and gasped when his voice sounded behind her.

“Where are you going?” He sleepily asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and Adrianna shut her eyes tightly shut.

“I’m getting my pajamas, not that its any of your business.” She retorted, slamming the dresser shut with authority, and went to walk out of the room, but David quickly stopped her, blocking the doorway. “Get out of my way, David.” She ordered in a low, deadly tone of voice, and sighed heavily when he shook his head at her.

“Not until you agree to sleep in here.” He replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest defiantly and stared down at her hardening.

Adrianna scoffed back at him as she shook her head, refusing to oblige him, and pointed to her cheek, “After what you did to me, you’re lucky I don’t go to the fucking police. Now get out of my way!! I’m sleeping in one of the guests rooms without you!” She spat, causing David’s temper to start building again, but knew he had to let her do this. It was the only way to get her back in his good graces so his head fell forward and nodded.

“I’m sorry I hit you. I didn’t even know I was doing it until it was too late.” He gruffly whispered, truly feeling guilty as sin for what he’d done to her, and Adrianna knew she had him wrapped around her finger at that moment.

“Good, I hope you don’t sleep a wink tonight for what you’ve done. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss this, but right now, I need some sleep.” She stated, informing him of what was going to happen the following day, and walked out of the bedroom toward the guest room at the end of the hallway. She closed the door behind her and felt the tears slide down her cheeks, hoping her plan worked so she could snoop around and find out if there was any trace to her memories in the house.

Growling deadly under his breath, David shut the door harshly behind him, and stalked over to the bed, not believing what was happening. He’d hit her! He’d actually struck her! There was no way she would trust him for a long time and he didn’t have it. “I’ve gotta make this right. Tomorrow, I’ll show her a really great time and make her trust me fully again.” He decided, promising himself that, and turned the light off as he laid down on the bed, hoping to get at least a few hours of sleep.

Chapter 21

Walking downstairs the following morning, David stretched his arms above his head, not getting hardly any sleep the previous night. He needed some coffee as he walked into the kitchen, stopping when he seen Adrianna was sitting at the kitchen table, writing something on a piece of paper. For some reason, David’s curiosity peeked as he looked at her and gruffly asked, “What’s that you’re writing?”

“A grocery list.” She replied vaguely, her voice low and dark and finished as she thrust it forward at his chest. “You’re going grocery shopping or else I’ll make your life a living Hell.” The threat poured of our mouth like liquid fire, meaning every word that she said, and walked away from him as she sat down on the couch.

David stared down at the list, raising his eyebrow, and looked over the huge list. “Why do we need all of this?” He questioned, not really wanting to leave the house, especially after what happened the previous night between them.

Turning her face toward him purposely and revealing the huge black and purple bruise that covered half her face, Adrianna looked out the window as she stated, “It’s things we need around here to keep us healthy, David. Now go get dressed and get going.” She ordered, running a hand through her hair, and dared David to argue with her as she shot him a deadly glare.

About ready to retort with something, David held his tongue when she shot him that glare, and slumped his shoulders defeated. He knew when to back off for the time being and decided to listen to her as he cleared his throat, heading back upstairs to change into some clothes. The nearest town was about a half an hour away and David was incredibly apprehensive about leaving Adrianna alone for a few hours by herself. ‘I have no choice. This is the only way to get her to forgive me.’ David thought, deciding not to worry about Adrianna snooping, especially after what happened last night.

He changed into a pair of black jeans with a black t-shirt and brushed his teeth before slipping his jacket on. He grabbed his car keys, wallet, and sunglasses, slipping them over his brown eyes, and looked in the mirror, making sure everything was where it should be. He slipped into his boots, tying them up tightly, and then walked out of the bedroom, downstairs, and into the living room. “I’m on my way out.” He informed her, causing her to simply nod at him, not speaking one word. He sighed heavily and lowered his head, knowing she was still really angry at him, and walked out of the front door, closing it behind him.

As soon as Adrianna heard the door click shut, she immediately bolted off the couch and ran over to the window, watching him pull out of the driveway. When he was gone out of sight, she immediately went on the search as she ran upstairs, closing the door behind her, and opened the closet door. There was a shoebox full of items that he would never allow her to see as she stood on her tiptoes, barely able to reach it, and sighed as she bit her bottom lip. Her eyes landed on a step stool that was hidden in his clothes and pulled it out, opening it up, and slowly slid the box into her hands, not believing she was doing this. After what happened the previous night, Adrianna was determined to find out who the real David Batista was as she stepped down from the stool and set the box on the bed.

It was duct tapped shut heavily as she walked over to the dresser, pulling out a pair of scissors, and quickly cut it open, deciding she’d duct tape it shut when she was finished. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Adrianna lifted the top on it, and was shocked by what she found. Hundreds of pictures stared back at her of a woman she’d never heard of, wondering who she was. She sat on the bed on her knees and began going through each picture, seeing three little girls with David and this strange woman, tears instantly pricking her eyes. When she was finished, Adrianna quickly put the lid back on it and duct tapped it heavily, making it look almost the same, and hoped he didn’t notice. She lifted it up and walked up the stool, slipping it back in the precise place in the closet, and then folded up the stool, placing it in the same spot as well, and closed the closet door.

‘That’s one clue as to who he is, but there has to be more around here somewhere.’ She thought, pacing back and forth, and snapped her fingers, knowing exactly where to look for information. She quickly walked out of the bedroom, leaving the door open, and rushed downstairs. Sliding on the computer chair and turning it on, Adrianna waited for the thing to load before clicking on the internet icon, bringing up a white screen. She typed in wwe.com in the address bar and brought up the website, deciding to click on the Superstars page. Her eyes widened when she seen David’s picture, a gold strap over his shoulder, and Adrianna couldn’t believe he was the champion!

Her search continued as she clicked on his picture, reading all about his accomplishments, but her eyes landed on a particular name in his biography. Paul Levesque. Why did that name sound so familiar? Adrianna sighed heavily as she decided to look up the name, seeing Paul’s wrestling name was Triple H, and went over to the other roster page, which was RAW, when she couldn’t find him on the Smackdown! roster. She finally found him after a little bit of searching and looked at the clock, sighing when she seen an hour had already passed, and hoped the grocery shopping lasted David a good four hours. She’d given him over two hundred items to get on the list after all.

Clicking on his picture, Adrianna started reading his biography, not believing how many accomplishments this man had achieved, and felt her heart burn. She didn’t understand why and ran a hand down her face, finishing up his biography, and decided to look at his picture, captivated by him for some odd reason. Her eyes widened in shock when she got a close up shot of him and closed her eyes tightly shut, the vision of him coming back to her in full force, and she could actually hear him shouting at her. “Have I met him before?” Adrianna wondered, running a hand through her hair, and continued staring at the one picture. His hazel eyes bore into her head, causing flashes of his face to echo through her mind, but her memory wouldn’t work with her.

After looking extensively at all of his information, pictures, and anything else she could find about him, Adrianna went to stand up from her chair, when something caught her eye. She immediately sat down and looked at the picture before her, seeing a man with short, brown hair standing in the ring with the man named Paul Levesque who had captivated her. Not able to stop herself, Adrianna started reading about their relationship, seeing his name was John Cena. John Cena. John Cena. That name kept replaying in her mind over and over again. “I have to know about him more.” Adrianna decided and found him on the RAW roster page, clicking on his picture, and began reading about him, seeing he was currently the WWE champion while David was the Smackdown! champion, this was known as the World Heavyweight champion.

His biography wasn’t that long, but she’d found out quite a lot about him and wondered why he’d captivated her just like Paul had. No matter how badly she wanted to stand up and walk away from the computer, she just couldn’t as she clicked on the pictures, and felt the tears instantly well up in her eyes. They flowed down her cheeks as she found a close up shot, seeing those same beautiful ocean blue eyes that she’d been dreaming about and envisioning for the past six months. She winced when the tears began stinging her cheek and looked at the clock, seeing it was going on two hours since David had went out, and decided to play it safe. She shut the computer down and put the chair back where it was, those two names not able to escape her thoughts.

John Cena and Paul Levesque. Levesque. Cena. Levesque. Cena. Why did those names jog her mind? Adrianna felt a headache coming on as she began pacing back and forth, knowing she still had some more time on her hands to search the house. That’s exactly what she did. Under the beds, in the closets, anywhere she could find, anything that would bring her closer to those names. She finally found it when she walked into the last guest room, leaving the door open incase David came home, and began searching through the boxes that were in the closet. Her eyes widened when she found something that jogged her memory and quickly pulled it out, setting it on the floor, and got on her knees as she pulled out a notebook.

It was incredibly dusty from sitting in a box all this time, but she couldn’t stop herself and opened it, the writing flooding her mind instantly. “This is mine.” She whispered, tears instantly burning her eyes, and wondered why David would keep this from her. Searching further into this box, she pulled out a backpack with a purple skull on the back of it, and immediately crushed it to her chest, feeling an overwhelming sensation course throughout her body, and closed her eyes tightly shut. This was her backpack that she’d carried all of her things in, especially her notebook!

Setting her backpack down on the floor, Adrianna leaned against the bed and started going through page after page, delving herself in her work, and finally came to the conclusion. Her throat tightened and became instantly dry when she seen her handwritten signature, but it didn’t say Adrianna Carson. The name that was written that ended the first story of this notebook was Adrianna Levesque! She immediately dropped the notebook and stood up, not able to comprehend what she just found out, and started hitting her head with her knuckles. “Think damn it think!” Adrianna coached herself and immediately looked down at the notebook, deciding to hide it as she quickly stuffed the rest of the things back in, keeping her backpack and notebook out.

After she seen everything was as it should be, she quickly took the notebook she’d found with her real name in it and backpack, hiding them in the guest room she’d be sleeping in from now on. David had lied to her about her last name and who knows how much more! Adrianna felt the anger coursing through her veins as she sat down on the bed, staring out at the ocean, and kept going over the newly found information she’d discovered. Sending David grocery shopping was the best thing that ever happened to her and now all Adrianna needed to know was why her last name was Levesque. Was Paul her father, brother, the uncle who lived in California? “He probably lied to me about that too.” She muttered under her breath, and shook her head, not believing what was happening to her.

“Why would he lie to me and tell me my last name was Carson if its Levesque?” She wondered to herself, knowing he wasn’t home yet because she hadn’t heard the front door open, and suddenly, fear gripped her insides. She bolted off the bed and felt her entire body began to shake, not believing she had actually been living with a man who had lied to her constantly for the past six months! “No wonder I felt a strange connection when I seen Paul’s picture.” She whispered, biting her bottom lip, and finally decided what she would make David’s punishment be. “He won’t resist me because if he does, I’ll make him miserable and call off the engagement.” She hissed, looking down at her left ring finger, and remembered it was still in the bathroom garbage.

The sound of the front door opened, causing Adrianna’s head to snap up, and quickly hid the items that were starting to unlock her past before rushing into the bathroom, closing the door silently behind her, and started the shower. She stripped out of her clothes and stepped under the hot sprays, needing to make it seem like she wasn’t snooping, and closed her eyes as the water cascaded down her body. It felt wonderful, but it still didn’t wash away all of her worries, fears, and concerns about what she’d found out. After a half an hour, she turned the shower off and stepped out, wrapping a towel around her body, and walked into the bedroom, stopping when she seen David sitting on the bed waiting for her.

Running a hand through her hair, she winced a little at the stabbing pain her cheek gave off, and glared at him as she ordered, “Get out so I can dress. I don’t want you in here.” David sighed heavily as he nodded, understanding where she was coming from, and started to head for the door, when her voice stopped him. “By the way, David, I’ve decided what your punishment will be for what you did to me last night.” She informed him, causing him to slowly turn around, and could only imagine what it was.

“What is it?” He mumbled, shoving his hands in the front pocket of his black jeans, and felt his eyes widen at what she said next.

“You will take me on the road with you and get me out of this fucking house. I’m sick of being cooped up here. I want to see firsthand what you do for a living.” She stated, not even asking him, and crossed her arms in front of her chest when he went to say something.

He was speechless, not believing she hadn’t forgotten about her request the previous night, and sighed. ‘If I don’t take her with me, she’ll never forgive me and my plan will be shot to Hell.’ He thought angrily, the rage streaming through his body, but knew he had to keep it in check. Running a hand through his hair in frustration, David finally nodded, caving in, and said, “I’ll make the arrangements and let you know when we’re leaving.” He replied vaguely, not liking this idea one bit, especially with how messed up her face was, thanks to his backhand.

“Good, now get the fuck out so I can dress in private.” She commanded, pushing him out, and slammed the door in his face, locking it as her back pressed against the door. Her eyes closed as she smiled a little and placed her hand over her heart, hoping this road trip would help her get her life back. ‘I have to meet this Paul and ask him about my past. If my last name is the same as his, he’s got to be apart of me somehow.’ She thought, deciding on formulating a plan to get away from David while they were on the road. Quickly dressing and opening the door, Adrianna headed down the stairs to fix something to eat, hoping the day they left this house sooner rather than later.

Chapter 22

A week later, Adrianna sat on a plane with David beside her, staring out the window. For some reason, she kept getting stronger visions of those two men by the name of John Cena and Paul Levesque that she’d discovered. She hadn’t told David, knowing he wouldn’t bring her on the road with him, and sighed deeply to herself. He was sleeping, snoring a little, but it didn’t bother her because her mind was too wrapped up in the wonders of what else David had been keeping from her. However, she didn’t keep quiet about the pictures of the woman with the girls and casually asked him about his past relationships. The last thing she wanted to do was getting him suspicious so she brought it up in a nice way.

David had told her about the woman and the girls, saying that she was his ex-wife he’d divorced years before meeting her. The two elder girls weren’t his, but the youngest one was, which caused Adrianna to ask him when the last time he’d seen her. “Angela won’t allow it.” He’d simply replied, though that was a lie too and somehow, Adrianna knew it. That answered her questions about the pictures she’d found in the duct tapped shoebox and wondered if he was lying to her about being divorced from her.

‘He’s lied about everything else, why wouldn’t he lie about that?’ She thought bitterly, raking a hand through her hair, and wondered when they were going to arrive in Los Angeles, where they were meeting up with the WWE. Biting her bottom lip, Adrianna pulled out the notebook she’d found, making sure to hide it in another one that she’d bought, and continued reading her stories she’d apparently written. They were all in her handwriting so there was no other excuse; they were hers and her name was Adrianna Levesque, not Carson. ‘Another lie he told me.’ Her mind growled, causing her anger to surface, but she had to keep it in check around him until she found this Paul Levesque. ‘Did he lie about my parents, about having any family members?’ She wondered, though somehow, for some reason, she knew that he hadn’t lied to her about her parent’s death.

A deep, sinking sadness always swept over her whenever she’d thought about them, a mourning one. Adrianna sighed heavily as leaned her head against the window and looked down at the sparkling that adorned her left ring finger. David had found it in the bathroom garbage can and proposed to her with it again, which she accepted reluctantly. She wasn’t about to marry a man who lied to her constantly, especially about her existence, but she also didn’t want him suspecting anything so she decided to play along for the time being. Her face had healed, only a faint bruise on it now that could barely be seen unless stared at for a long period of time.

Sleep claimed her body as she felt another headache zipping through her forehead from all the thinking she’d done over the past week and decided to take a small nap for the remainder of the flight. An hour later, she was being tapped, causing her to groan as she swatted the hand away. “Five more minutes.” Adrianna mumbled, trying to get comfortable again, and sighed when David refused to leave her alone. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and looked up, seeing they’d landed, and immediately began to wake up. “Oh sorry.” She muttered an apology before standing up, walking off the plane, and through the terminal, with David behind her.

After retrieving their luggage from the baggage area, Adrianna left David to pick them up as she headed for the security. David quickly followed behind her, not wanting to lose her, and an hour later, they finally were allowed to walk through the airport doors, the fresh air hitting their faces. “This way.” David ordered, motioning his head toward the rental car. Adrianna nodded, following him, and David licked his lips at the outfit she chose to wear. It was a short, denim blue jean skirt with a black tank top that had jagged sleeves, slowing down her arms. Her hair was down, flowing in waves as it cascaded down her back. To finish off the outfit, she had black heels on that were one inch and strapped up her legs halfway. ‘Damn, she’s hot.’ He thought, licking his lips hungrily, and wondered if she would engage in some provocative activities.

The ride to the arena was made in silence, Adrianna too deep in her own thoughts about what was going to happen. She’d already thought over what she was going to say to David, even practiced it in her mind, and leaned back in her seat, staring out the window. They arrived at the arena an hour later, due to heavy traffic, and Adrianna was more than happy to get out of the car. Her nose inhaled the wonderful air Los Angeles brought forth and ran a hand through her hair as she looked behind her, smirking to herself when David grabbed all five bags. “This place is so…huge!” Adrianna exclaimed, looking up at the building before them, and David nodded back at her.

“You need to stay close to me, Adrianna. I don’t want anyone messing with you.” David ordered, causing her to roll her eyes back at him, even though he didn’t see it. If anything, HE was the person she wanted to be far away from not protected by.

“Whatever you say, honey.” She lied, causing him to smile back at her as they entered the building, seeing all the chaos around them. Adrianna smiled as she looked at all the wrestlers and Divas she passed by, noticing them instantly from the website, but she kept it to herself. David finally arrived at his dressing room and walked in after his dark princess, closing the door behind him, and set all the bags down. He then turned toward her and took her face in his hands, passionately kissing her lips, and Adrianna felt like she wanted to vomit all over when his tongue slipped inside her mouth. ‘Just go with it. Go with the flow so he doesn’t suspect.’ She reminded herself and moaned back in his mouth, pretending it obviously, and started running her hands up and down his chest.

Groaning in her mouth, David’s hands started sliding down her sides and felt his erection pulsating, pressing against his black jeans, and felt like it was going to bust at any given second. He had to have her right here and now, no matter what it took, and decided to do it fast before she could stop him. He quickly unzipped is jeans, shoving them down his pants, never breaking the kiss he had her lips captured in. Visions started flowing through her mind as the kiss intensified and yelped in his arms when he lifted her up by her waist, slamming her against the nearest wall, and began trailing his lips down her neck. Her eyes closed tightly shut, pretending to enjoy what he was doing to her, and started to get a flashback as a full memory finally flowed over her just as she felt his finger shove her panties to the side…

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Adrianna.” A familiar voice whispered behind her as she was trying to get some cookies from the snack table and closed her eyes, recognizing that voice instantly.

She slowly turned around, not wanting to, but knew she couldn’t ignore the voice, and looked up his massive chest before meeting his brown eyes. They hadn’t spoken in a month, ever since their encounter in the parking lot at the arena. “What do you want, David?” She calmly asked, keeping her voice lowered, and tried not to start shaking when she felt his hot breath on her neck.

“I wanna go somewhere and talk with you for a few minutes.” He replied soothingly, his voice caressing her as her eyes never left his, becoming entranced by them instantly. She didn’t know what it was about those eyes, but they bore a path into the depths of her soul.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” She managed to whisper back, causing him to sigh as he reached his hand out, caressing her face with the back of it, his eyes pleading with her to come with him.

“Please?” He pushed, wanting to get her alone for two seconds so he could explain his actions and hopefully change her mind about the age difference between them.

Knowing he wouldn’t take no for an answer, Adrianna sighed as she reluctantly set her plate of food down and nodded at him. David smiled graciously back at her as he took her hand and escorted her out of the cafeteria, taking her to his dressing room, and Adrianna wondered if this was a smart idea or not. Once they arrived, David pushed open the door and let her walk in first before closing the door behind him, and turned to face her. Adrianna stood there with her arms crossed in front of her chest and questions were in her eyes as she bluntly asked, “What do you wanna talk about?”

Walking over to her and looking down into her eyes, David smiled a little as he huskily replied, “I wanted to talk to you about what told me about a month ago in the parking lot.”

“What about it?” She shot back, trying not to tremble from both fear and wonder that this man was causing her to feel at the moment.

Standing behind her, David’s arms wrapped around her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder, causing Adrianna’s heart to start beating as she instantly tensed. “Maintain your distance, David.” She growled out in an order, causing him to chuckle darkly in her ear, and Adrianna knew this was a mistake from the beginning.

“I can’t do that, Adrianna. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t get you out of my mind.” He revealed, causing her eyes to widen as she closed them and bit her bottom lip, feeling it quiver beneath her teeth, and knew she had to escape somehow. How could she when this monster of a man had his arm wrapped around her waist and his hot breath was leaking on her neck and ear? “You are enchanting and mysterious to me, Adrianna…Someone I could find myself with for the rest of eternity.” He continued, whispering in her ear seductively, and this was starting to get out of hand as far as she was concerned.

“David, I already told you I’m not comfortable with this. You are old enough to be my…father.” She stated, trying not to choke on her words at the mention of her deceased father that she missed dearly. The tears started to burn her eyes from the amount of pain and anguish that was flowing throughout her body at that moment.

His hands started running down her sides, feeling her pain as his eyes drifted shut, and leaned down as he said in her ear, “I feel your pain and darkness, Adrianna. You need to let go and let me take it away. Let me take all of your pain away.” He started moving his hands lower, causing Adrianna’s breath to quicken, and drifted her eyes shut when his lips descended on her neck, causing her entire body to start melting against his rock hard body.

Suddenly, images of those beautiful blue pools of John’s entered her mind, causing her eyes to snap open, and used all of her strength to shove David off of her. She whipped around, touching the wet spot on her neck where he’d been suckling and glared at him heatedly as she spat at him, “Stay the fuck away from me, David or I WILL tell my brother about what you’re doing!”

A low, dark chuckle escaped his lips as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, her threat not fazing him in the least, and retorted, “Like your brother could do anything to me. Adrianna, don’t be ridiculous. Come back over here and continue to enjoy what I was doing to you.” He gently commanded, his eyes already a dark brown that was filled with desire and lust for her, which intimidated Adrianna.

“No! I want to go back to my brother’s dressing room.” She defiantly replied, refusing to allow this man to touch her so intimately like he had before, and turned around, gulping nervously when she felt the door was locked. Whipping back around and staring at him with a hateful glare, Adrianna pressed her back against the door and ordered viciously, “Open this door right now!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that without giving you something first.” David replied swiftly, taking a few steps toward her, and had to admire the fire that lit up in her eyes. His lips were mere inches from hers, causing Adrianna to start panicking, and couldn’t do anything as they captured her own, pressing her against his dressing room door. His lips were so soft, but Adrianna didn’t want this from him. She wanted to get as far away from this man as possible and tried to fight him off, crying out in his mouth. David ignored it as his hands gripped her hips, rising her up from her feet from the ground, and pinned her against the door, groaning when she started hitting him. It turned him on as he broke the kiss, staring into her eyes wickedly, and growled out in pure lust, “I need you now, Adrianna. Just open up to me. Let me wrap you up in the comfort of darkness.”

“NO!!” She screamed out and started hitting him with everything she had in her body, causing him to simply laugh in her face, and tears poured down her cheeks as the fear completely took over her body. “Please don’t do this!!” She cried out, wanting to get away from this animal he’d turned into, and sighed with great relief when a knock sounded on his dressing room door. “HE-” She started to scream out, but David covered her mouth instantly with his hand, glaring at her with his dangerous brown orbs…

~*~*~*~*~*~

The memory ended just as David brought her to the edge, causing her eyes to roll in the back of her head, and leaned back against the wall. Her breathing was incredibly erratic and her palms were sweaty, both from what he did to her and the memory she just had. Just as David was about to yank her panties off, Adrianna began shoving him away from her, shaking her head, “No, David. No stop please!” She cried out and felt her eyes widen in pure fear when his hand reached over, flipping the lock on his dressing room door, and stared down at her, pure evil intentions in his eyes as he stared at her. ‘Just like the vision.’ She concluded and knew she wasn’t just imagining it as she began struggling against him, but David was too strong.

With one fierce yank, David ripped her panties from underneath her skirt, and hiked it up, smirking at her wickedly while his hand covered her mouth. Tears streamed down her cheeks as David’s cock entered her, slipping inside her wet sex, not believing her body was betraying her this way. Her eyes squeezed shut, tensing in his arms, and started screaming when he started powering inside of her, never bringing his hand from her mouth. “You’ve made me wait long enough, my dark princess. Too long so now I’m taking what’s rightfully mine.” He growled dangerously in her ear, panting heavily as the sweat started caking on his body. He’d unbuttoned her shirt while she was caught up in the memory and unsnapped her bra, pulling both off her body so his mouth descended on her nipple while thrusting harder and faster inside of her, grunting and groaning as he hissed out, loving the feeling of her walls tightening around his thick cock. “Fuck, Adrianna cum for me!” He groaned in her ear, slapping her ass, and heard her cry out, growling out as her walls began milking him for all he was worth. “Oh yeah…Oh fuck yeah, that’s it, baby.” He hissed out, gripping her thighs, and didn’t care if tears were streaming down her cheeks or not.

“Why are you doing this?” She choked out, not able to scream any longer, and covered her face with her hands when his seed exploded inside of her, making her entire body shutter against him.

“Because, my dark princess, I love you and I was tired of waiting for you to come around.” David gasped back, trying to catch his breath, and slid out of her, his cock limp, and pulled his pants up as she slid down the wall, curling up in a tight ball. He didn’t care if he’d just raped her or not, he deserved to get what he wanted and this was going to happen every day for the rest of their lives as long as they were on the road together.

Adrianna’s body began to violently tremble, tears streaming down her face like two streams, and watched as David walked into the shower room. She went to get up, wanting to run out of the room, but immediately stopped herself when he came out, growling out in a deadly tone of voice, “Don’t fucking move until I get out.” Not wanting to anger him anymore than he already was, Adrianna just nodded at him, completely scared to death and intimidated.

Her mind began to wonder back to the flashback she’d experienced, the memory of her and David, and from what it seemed, she hated him with a passion in her past. ‘Tonight, I’ll find out the truth.’ She thought and slowly stood up from the floor, immediately trying to squeeze out the semen he’d loaded her body with, but it was no use. Collapsing on the couch, Adrianna proceeded to cry her heart and soul out, hoping she didn’t get pregnant from the rape she’d just received at the hands of David.

Chapter 23

If Adrianna thought she was going to escape David’s grasp that night to try to find Paul, she was sadly mistaken. After they arrived at the hotel, David took a shower and proceeded to seduce her into having sex with him two more times. It wasn’t consenting and Adrianna fought him the best she could, but David overpowered her once again, intimidating her, and she just shut her mouth and let him rape her twice. Her body lay curled up beside him on the bed, shaking and trembling from head to toe, and couldn’t believe she’d let it happen three times. His loud snoring was getting on her nerves so she decided to go for a walk, needing to clear her mind.

As carefully and quietly as she could, Adrianna tiptoed around the room, picking up her clothes that had literally been ripped off of her, and held in her sobs until after she left. She pulled a pair of clean panties on with a bra and then slipped a tank top on with her blue jeans, silent tears flowing down her cheeks. Picking up her hoodie sweatshirt, Adrianna slipped it on along with her white tennis shoes, knowing it was chilly outside, and bit her bottom lip, contemplating whether or not she was coming back. ‘Fuck this, he can go to Hell.’ She thought angrily and took her backpack with her that she’d hidden in her suitcase, along with her notebook, and quietly opened the door, disappearing out of it, and softly closed it behind her.

Adrianna headed down the hallway toward the elevator, nervous that David would awaken at any given second and come after her, and decided it was taking too long. She opted for a better solution and headed to the back staircase, running down them as fast as her feet would carry her. Bursting through the back door of the hotel, Adrianna crossed the parking lot and headed down the street, headed to where she had no idea. The cool breeze blew through her hair as she started running instead of walking, wanting to get as far away from that hotel as possible.

Her feet made her end up at the beach as she finally stopped and fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands. The tears flowed down her cheeks freely, like two raging rivers that were unstoppable, and Adrianna didn’t care if they ever did. She had allowed a monster to intimidate her into having sex with him, unconsenting sex, which was known as rape. Never in a million years did she think she’d actually be in this type of situation and felt extremely violated and dirty. Her head looked up, staring at the horizon, the stars glistening down on her, and ran a hand through her hair.

Adrianna jumped when she heard a voice behind her and whipped around, staring into the eyes of one of the men she wanted to talk to during this trip.

John Cena.


Laying down on his bed and staring up at the ceiling, John couldn’t stop thinking about Adrianna, not believing she’d run away from him. It’d been six months since her disappearance and he’d tried to find her. He went to every location they’d been at and found absolutely nothing. Not one clue as to where she was and it hurt him to know that she really didn’t love him. Why else would she leave without telling him or his brother about her whereabouts?

Paul didn’t believe she ran away and hired a private detective to try and track her down. He finally gave up after four months and knew one day, his sister would return when she was ready. John sighed deeply as he stood up from his bed and walked over to the window, staring out at the night. He’d grown accustom to doing this, not getting much sleep, and lived off coffee and energy bars. His heart ached, wishing he could see Adrianna one last time, and tell her how much he loved her and wished she hadn’t run away from him.

His eyes looked down at the street and raised an eyebrow, seeing a woman walk out of the back door of the hotel, and ran a hand through his hair. Looking closer as he watched her cross the parking lot and starting to walk down the street, John seen something very familiar about her and felt something inside of him start to stir. Quickly grabbing his sweatshirt and slipping on his white sneakers, he ran out of his hotel room, the key card already in his pocket with his cell phone, and ran toward the back staircase. He ran down them as quick as possible, jumping off the third step of every floor, and finally burst through the back door where she’d been only moments later.

As fast as he could run, John headed toward the ocean, having this feeling that she was heading toward there. He stopped when he arrived and saw her, standing on the sand, her sweatshirt on with her backpack over her shoulder, and couldn’t believe it. Rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, John looked at her closely, seeing the purple skull design, and felt the tears instantly prick his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he walked toward her, not caring about anything else, and softly said, “Adrianna?”

“John Cena?” She questioned, feeling a huge lump rise within her throat, and tried swallowing past it when he nodded his head, confusion swimming through his blue eyes. “My God, I never thought I’d get the chance to meet you.”

John’s eyebrows drew together in puzzlement, wondering what she meant by getting the chance to meet him, and cleared his throat as he stated, “Adrianna, it’s me. It’s John. Where the Hell have you been, girl?!” He exclaimed, walking toward her, but stopped when she began backing away from him, her eyes a sheer mask of uncertainty.

“What do you mean where’ve I been? How do you even know my name?” She demanded, becoming frightened as it entered her eyes while she stared at him, waiting for his answers.

What the Hell was going on? Adrianna didn’t recognize him? Something definitely wasn’t right and John was determined to find out as much information as possible from her. “You disappeared six months ago from me and your brother. We’ve been worried sick about you. Why don’t you remember me?” John wondered out loud, wanting to badly to take her in his arms and hold her close to his huge body, but thought better of it with this type of situation.

Raking a trembling hand through her hair, Adrianna’s bottom lip began to quiver as she tried to find the words. “I’m sorry…I don’t remember anything about you.” She apologized, feeling awkward at the moment, and wondered how he knew her name. “How do you know my name?” She asked, trying the question yet again, and hoped he gave a clue to unlocking her past.

“I know your name because we’re in love with each other…or used to be. We dated when you came on the road with your brother…” John started to explain, but Adrianna cut him off, her eyes widening in shock as her heartbeat increased rapidly.

Tears burned her eyes as she looked at John, those blue eyes piercing her memories, but nothing came to her at the moment. “B-Brother?! I-I have a b-brother?!” She exclaimed, the shock apparent in her eyes, and John knew now that something definitely wasn’t right with this situation.

“Yeah, don’t you remember your brother. Paul Levesque?” He retorted, thinking she was having a temporary state of delusion or maybe a mental breakdown. His heart broke as the tears spilled down her cheeks and seen the horrid fear coursing through her eyes at that moment. It was real, very real.

Her chest felt like it was going to cave in as she dropped to her knees in the sand and began to sob harshly while wrapping her arms around her body tightly. “He lied to me!” She shrieked out, not caring who heard her, and felt her heart slowly start to break in pieces. “He told me I didn’t have any siblings!”

John’s eyebrow raised upon hearing her confessions and wondered who would tell her such a thing. What had happened to her memory? Why couldn’t she remember anything about him or her brother? ‘I need to take her to Paul. Maybe he has the answers.’ He thought suddenly, frightened for her life, and took a chance as he slowly moved toward her. “Adrianna…” He spoke softly. “Let me take you to your brother.”

Raising her head as her eyes met his, Adrianna immediately saw past him as another memory overtook her body…

~*~*~*~*~*~

The moonlight casted over his eyes, shadowing them along with hers, and Adrianna felt her body start to instantly relax. David disappeared from her mind as his hand gently came up; caressing her face delicately in his hand, and Adrianna leaned against his touch as her eyes drifted shut. That was John’s undoing as he slowly leaned down and feathered his lips over hers in a soft, gentle caress. His hands gently gripped her face, loving the feel of her lips against his, and Adrianna was in pure heaven as she melted against him instantly. A soft moan escaped her lips and flowed into John’s mouth, causing him to groan as he deepened the kiss a little more, his tongue delving in her mouth when her lips parted as an invitation for him.

They continued to kiss like that for what seemed like hours, but only mere minutes before John parted from her, needing to catch his breath, and raked his hand through his hair. Adrianna stared at him, completely floored by what just transpired between them, and touched her lips with her fingertips, still feeling his lips on hers. John wanted to kick himself for what he’d done, but he couldn’t help it. She was so beautiful and the moment felt perfect to move in and take it. He smiled sheepishly at her, but couldn’t find any words to say, especially when he knew Adrianna probably didn’t want the kiss in the first place.

“So…” Adrianna tried to think of something, anything to say to break the awkward moment apart, and rubbed the back of her neck. “That was…nice.”

“You mean you actually wanted it?” John asked, hope shining in his blue eyes, and smiled at her widely when she nodded back at him. He pulled her into his arms, kissing her again, and broke it as he breathed against her lips, “You have NO idea how long I’ve been waiting and wanting to do that.”

Running her thumb down his soft, red lips, Adrianna sighed as she suddenly become wary of the situation. “Does my age bother you?” She asked suddenly, needing to know the answer to that question before they went any further.

“It never did. I was going to tell you that night in the staircase, but you ran off too soon.” John admitted, staring down into her amber colored eyes, and caressed her face gently with the back of his hand. “You’re beautiful.” He murmured softly, causing Adrianna to blush, and wrapped her arms around his neck as he lowered his lips to hers once more.

She suddenly broke the kiss and sat up, raking a hand through her hair hastily, and looked back at John with fear ridden eyes. “What about my brother?” She questioned, worried sick about Paul finding out about her and John. “If he ever found out about us, his head would explode from rage and take half of whatever state we were in with him.”

John couldn’t help, but laugh at her comment and shook his head, knowing Paul would blow a gasket if he ever found out about them. He started thinking for a minute and snapped his fingers, knowing exactly what to do. “What if we didn’t tell him?” John asked her, causing Adrianna to stare at him like he’d just grown three heads.

“What do you mean ‘not tell him’?” Adrianna retorted, doing the quotation mark motion with her fingers, and wondered what John was getting at. “He’ll find out John if we start hanging out a lot more.” She pointed out, causing John to nod back at her knowingly as he walked over to her, kissing her lips softly.

“What I was thinking was we could keep this secret for the time being and then after you turn eighteen, then we could bomb him with the news.” John suggested, hoping she went along with his idea, and watched as different emotions swept over her face for a few minutes, contemplating the decision obviously.

Walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, Adrianna kissed his lips softly and replied, “Let’s do it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

The memory ended as her eyes slowly opened, squeezing them shut from the intensity it brought forth, and stared into his beautiful blue eyes. The same eyes she’d been envisioning for the past six months, and shook herself mentally, trying to focus on the task at hand. John seen some of the familiarity shine in her eyes and wondered what had happened to her. He was trying to convince her to go with him back to Paul’s room and she cried out in pain before shutting her eyes tightly, causing to John to panic a little. He sighed a huge breath of relief when her eyes slowly fluttered open and stared into his, the same fire slowly igniting in them that he remembered seeing before she disappeared.

“Are you alright?” He softly asked, slowly reaching out to touch her hand, and smiled a little when she didn’t pull away from him.

Adrianna couldn’t pull away from his touch, the memory she’d remembered suddenly making her trust him. “I had a vision.” She admitted openly, causing John to raise his eyebrow at her in confusion.

“A vision? A vision of what?” He urged, his curiosity peeking his interest greatly, and slowly lifted her chin with his hand when she went to look down at him. “Tell me Adrianna, please.”

“It was about you…about us. Something about a secret. We kissed.” She recollected it, turning a few things upside down, and John’s eyes lit up upon hearing it, remembering that was the night they had started going out after she poured her heart out to him. “It probably doesn’t mean anything.”

“No, that was a memory of us, Adrianna. That was the night that we first started dating.” John informed her, hoping to jog her memory, even though he didn’t know what the Hell was going on at the time.

Her eyes widened in astonishment, not believing what John just said, and raked a hand through her hair as she replied, “Dated? We…We were a couple?”

John sighed, knowing now wasn’t the time to remind her of their past, and decided he had to take her to Paul. He slowly stood up from the sand and extended his hand, looking deep into her eyes, and softly commanded, “Come, let me take you to your brother. He’s been worried sick about you, girl.”

Adrianna still couldn’t believe this newfound information and also couldn’t believe she really did have a brother. She looked up into John’s blue eyes, knowing he held the key to unlocking her past, and slowly slid her hand in his, all the fear draining from her body. He pulled her up from the ground, his smile melting her heart instantly, and bit her bottom lip as she looked down at the hand he’d grabbed. John immediately released it, staring at it like he’d just been scorched, and looked into her eyes as his heart shattered in his chest. It was a three stoned diamond ring on her left ring finger, which indicated she’d gotten married or engaged.

Slipping the ring off and putting it in her jean pocket, she grabbed his hand again and softly said, “Take me to my brother, please. There’s so much he and you need to know about what’s going on with me.”

For some reason, John believed her, especially since she didn’t recognize who he was or what they were to each other. “Alright, let’s go.” He stated, gripping her hand in his, afraid if he let go, she might disappear from him again.

Together, they headed back toward the hotel, hoping to unlock the mysteries that had arisen.

Chapter 24

Gabriella was up with their two month old son, trying to get him back to sleep after feeding him, when she heard a knock sound at the hotel door. Paul was sleeping peacefully, his snoring loud, and Gabriella sighed, wondering who it could be at this hour. She had recently come back on the road with him, after the baby turned two months, and this was her first night with her husband. ‘He’s so exhausted.’ She thought sadly and looked down at her little bundle of joy, smiling softly, and set him down in his bassinet while she went to answer the door. Peeking through the peephole to see who it was first, Gabriella sighed when she seen it was John and opened it, about to say something, until she laid eyes on the person she thought she’d never see again.

“Anna?!” She whispered in exclamatory, covering her mouth with her hand in pure shock, and felt the tears instantly swell in her eyes as she went to hug her. However, John stopped her when Adrianna began to back away and shook his head, causing Gabriella to become very confused.

“Let’s talk inside. There’s some shit goin’ down.” John suggested, looking over his shoulder to make sure David wasn’t coming, and Gabriella nodded as she quickly ushered them in, closing the door behind her. The baby was wailing so she went over and picked him up, causing Adrianna to smile at the baby sweetly.

“Shhh it’s okay my little man. It’s okay, baby boy.” Gabriella cooed to him, trying to soothe his crying, and smiled apologetically at them as she excused herself to go into the other room. She walked over to the bed, still holding the baby in her arms, and shook Paul awake. It wasn’t easy getting her husband up, especially with how exhausted he was, and sighed when he simply rolled over on his stomach, grumbling something incoherent. “Paul, get up. The baby needs you.” She lied, causing him to instantly shoot up, which made her smile back at him. “There’s someone here you need to see.” She told him the truth, causing him to glare and groan at her, and reluctantly slipped out of bed.

Stretching his arms up in the air, Paul quickly slipped into a pair of exercise pants, not even bothering to put a shirt on because he was going to kill whoever was disturbing him at this time of night. He walked out of the bedroom, leaving Gabriella to tend to their baby, and rubbed the back of his neck when he seen John before him. “Man, it’s the middle of the fuckin’ night! Do you have ANY idea what time it is!?” Paul shouted at him, truly angered that it was only John, or so he thought.

John sighed deeply as he stood up from sitting on the arm of the chair and turned around, facing who had become a great friend to him. “There’s someone here that you need to see.” He stated, causing Paul to sigh deeply, and pinched the bridge of his nose, already feeling a headache coming on, and shook his head.

“Gabby just said the same thing to me. Who is it and where are they?” Paul demanded, wanting nothing more than to get some more sleep before their flight that afternoon. They were heading to Sacramento for a house show and then back home for a few days of relaxation before the PPV that weekend, which was a joined roster one.

Not saying a little word, John simply moved to the side, his head lowered, and Paul’s eyes widened in shock while his jaw dropped to the ground. There she was standing before him, her backpack swung over her shoulder, her black hair all over the place. Paul’s bottom lip began to quiver as he slowly reached out, tears burning his hazel eyes, and took a few steps forward, standing right in front of her now. Adrianna looked up into this man’s eyes, seeing so much emotion swirling through them, and gasped when he pulled her in his arms for a bone crunching hug. She couldn’t help, but hug back, feeling a sense of familiarity sweep over her, and closed her eyes, wishing she could get another flashback from her past.

“I’m so glad you’re safe, sis.” Paul whispered heartfelt, not believing she was back in his arms, and then released her as his eyes narrowed down at her. “Where the Hell have you been?!” He yelled, causing her to instantly back away, and looked up at John with pure fear swimming through her amber orbs by now.

Stepping between them and glaring in Paul’s direction, John crossed his arms in front of his chest and stated, “Dude, chill the fuck out. She doesn’t remember you.”

“What do you mean she doesn’t remember me? I’m her brother!” Paul retorted, complete confusion developing in his own eyes, and looked at his sister, noticing something different about her instantly. “Adrianna?”

“I think we all need to sit down and let her explain to us where she’s been for the past six months.” John suggested, raking a hand through his hair, still not forgetting about the ring he’d found on her left ring finger earlier on.

“That sounds like a perfect idea.” Gabriella responded from behind, liking John’s suggestion, and walked over to stand beside her husband, without the baby in her arms. “The baby is finally sleeping so we must keep it down. Paul, John’s right about Adrianna. She didn’t even recognize me when I opened the door. We need to figure this out rationally and calmly.” Gabriella stated, running a hand through her hair, and walked over as they sat down on the couch with Adrianna across from them. John remained standing, not able to sit for the obvious reasons.

Adrianna could feel her entire body begin to shake as all eyes locked on her, feeling completely uncomfortable, and closed her eyes as a few tears slid down her cheeks. She never expected Paul Levesque to actually hug and then yell at her, but there had to be reasoning behind it. Sighing heavily and looking up at John, he simply nodded back at her, telling her silently that it was alright, and gave her the courage to finally speak. “I’m not sure where to begin. I was actually hoping I’d run into you…Mr. Levesque.” Adrianna said, causing Paul’s heart to squeeze with pain, and knew something definitely wasn’t correct about this situation.

“Paul, just call me Paul.” He informed, causing her to nod back at him, and bit her bottom lip as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Alright…Paul, I wanted to ask you something personal and I hope you don’t mind.” She replied, obliging his request to call him by his first name, and took a deep breath.

Paul nodded back at her, wrapping an arm around Gabriella’s shoulders, and looked at his sister as he asked, “What is it?”

“Well, first let me explain where I’ve been.” Adrianna replied swiftly, causing Paul to nod back at her, and took a deep, shaky breath as she closed her eyes. Her head lowered to the floor, clasping her hands together, and tried to figure out where she wanted to begin.

“Just go with your instincts.” Gabriella encouraged, causing Adrianna to look up as her eyes opened and nodded back in response.

Standing up from the couch she was sitting on, Adrianna began pacing as the story of the past six months of her life slowly unfolded. “I woke up six months ago in a house I didn’t know or recognized. I didn’t recognized anything and I couldn’t remember anything, not even about my past. I remember waking up and looking around, completely confused and scared because for the life of me I couldn’t remember anything or anyone. A man walked in the room I was sleeping in and proceeded to tell me that I’d been in a horrible car accident four months to that moment of awakening and that I had temporary amnesia.” Adrianna stopped for a minute, needing to recollect her thoughts, and raked a hand through her hair.

“Who are you talking about?” Paul asked, wanting to know who filled his sister’s head with all these lies as his fist clenched and unclenched. “Who told you that line of bullshit, Adrianna?”

“Paul, calm down. Don’t scare her.” Gabriella whispered in his ear, knowing the last thing that she wanted to happen was for Adrianna to run away from them. “Continue honey.” She urged softly, looking back at Adrianna, and took Paul’s clenched fist in her hand, rubbing it soothingly.

“His name is David Batista and he’s a wrestler for this organization.” Adrianna answered, causing all three of their jaws to drop in shock at her, and Paul’s eyes suddenly narrowed to deadly slits.

Gabriella and John couldn’t believe what they just heard as they looked at each other, not able to comprehend why David would do something so cruel to Paul’s sister. Gabriella suddenly let go of Paul’s hand, feeling the anger welling up in his body as it tensed, and knew he was either going to put David in the ICU for the rest of his natural born life or kill him and go to prison for murder. Not that she blamed him, especially after what they just heard and somehow, they knew Adrianna was telling the truth. ‘What did he do to her?’ She thought, the tears slowly spilling down her cheeks, and put her face in her hands as she started to cry.

Paul seen this and instinctively pulled her in his arms, letting her cry on him, and was absolutely shocked and livid at his best friend. “Go on, Adrianna. I want to hear everything that motherfucker did to you.” Paul growled out, wanting to hear every single detail so he could pound David’s skull in and bellow at him about ever laying a finger on his baby sister. ‘I’m going to kill him.’ He thought severely, holding his sobbing wife in his arms, and couldn’t believe how much pain David had inflicted on his family.

“I asked him tons of questions like about my family, if I had any siblings…my parents…” Her words trailed off as the tears stung her eyes, lowering her head once more, and allowed them to slide down her cheeks freely. Paul was getting pissed now; that worthless son of a bitch had not only LIED to HIM and his sister, but made her relive the painful memories of their parent’s death. She took a deep, quivering breath and continued, “He told me that they died in a car accident four years ago and that I didn’t have any siblings or family members. He said I had an uncle in California, but he refused to speak to me.” She sniffled a little and wiped her tears away, the pain and anguish sweeping over her body like a wild fire, and Paul shook his head, encouraging her to continue. “I asked him to take me to the doctor who’d diagnosed me with the amnesia and he said he moved to Nicaragua for an important case. I didn’t believe it for a second and felt this guy wasn’t trustworthy from the start. I wanted to snoop through the house and see if I could find out anything that would unlock my past, but he was with me twenty four, seven. He even stood over me while I went on the net to search for my siblings and wouldn’t allow me to click on certain things. Everything was secretive and I grew suspicious of this, that and the fact that he was constantly asking me about when we were going to set a date for our marriage plans.”

“Marriage plans?” Paul questioned, raising an eyebrow at her, and Adrianna nodded as she stood up, pulling the ring out of her pocket, and handed it to him.

“He said we were engaged before the car accident and loved each other deeply. I woke up with that on my finger and have no recollection of him proposing to me or anything. There was no way I was going to marry him without unlocking my past memories and finding out the truth. He got pissed about it one night because he kept badgering me about it and I snapped on him. I told him that if he wasn’t going to be patient enough with me that I was going to call the engagement off. I accused him of being secretive and brushing off all of my questions and he…he…” Adrianna couldn’t go on as she burst out in tears, breaking Paul and John’s hearts in half, and John instantly went to her side, wrapping an arm around her in comfort while staring steely blue daggers back at Paul.

Running a hand through his blonde tresses, Paul cleared his throat, trying to get over the emotion and initial shock of all his best friend had done to his sister and demanded, “What did he do to you?”

“He…struck me…hard.” She choked out, holding her face, which had a yellow faint bruise on it, and dropped to her knees as she started crying harder. “That’s the first flashback I got, but it wasn’t of him hitting me, it was of you.” She admitted, causing Paul’s eyes to shut tightly, and sighed regretfully to himself.

“I will explain that later because it’s a long story, but in the meantime, continue with yours.” Paul told her, trying to keep his temper in check, even though he wanted to go down to David’s hotel room and knock his teeth down his throat.

This was getting harder and harder for Adrianna to talk about as her body began to tremble, but it was getting to the part where she wanted to arrive at. “Anyway, after he hit me…I got really angry and ordered him to go grocery shopping the following day, telling him if he didn’t that I would make his life a living Hell, and I meant it.” Her voice had dropped a few octaves to a low, icy tone, and narrowed her eyes as she recalled the events. “He reluctantly went and while he was gone, I searched the entire house, needing to find out who the real David Batista was, and I did. He was married prior to my awakening and I went on the internet after I couldn’t find anything else. I clicked on your name because it captivated me for some reason and seen your last name. It rung in my head for some reason and I had to find out more so I read your biography. I did the same with yours…” She trailed off, looking up into John’s beautiful blue eyes, and smiled a little as he smiled back down at her. Her eyes adverted back to Paul’s as she continued, “After that, I went back upstairs and started searching further, hoping to find something, anything that would bring me closer to the truth, and found a box full of things.” Taking her backpack from her shoulders and opening the notebook, Adrianna walked over to Paul and opened to the page that had her full name written on it. “I found this notebook with all these stories and at the end of one, in my handwriting, it had my name with your last name.”

Paul nodded back at her, taking her hand in his, and stroking it with his thumb as he asked, “You’re wondering if I’m related to you, right?” Adrianna bit her bottom lip as the tears pooled in her eyes, staring into his, and Paul simply nodded, squeezing her hand a bit more. “I’m your big brother, Adrianna and you’re my little sister.” He informed her, causing her to gasp out in shock as she dropped to her knees again, not able to feel her legs at that moment, and began to cry even harder as the tears flowed.

“H-He lied to me!! He told me I didn’t have any siblings!! How could I of been so stupid!!” She cried out, covering her face with her hands, and felt her heart begin to twinge because she had almost believed David’s lies. Paul immediately placed a sleeping Gabriella to the side and pulled his sister in his arms, hugging her tightly to his chest, and stroked her hair, wanting to murder David in cold blood for what he’d done. The next set of words that came out of her mouth set what he wanted to do to the son of a bitch in stone. “H-He raped me…brother! He raped me three times!!”

Not able to take it anymore, John tore a hand through his hair as he began to pace back and forth, the amount of anger and rage inside of him almost inhuman. His teeth were gritted and his jaw was clenched tightly, almost to the point of breaking teeth, and hissed out in a lethal voice, “He’s going to die. I don’t care how and I don’t care when, but that motherfucker is going to DIE!!”

Chapter 25

David awoke the following morning, groaning out as he coughed a bit, and scratched himself before standing up. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he walked over to stare out the window, yawning loudly, and rubbed the back of his neck before walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. Not even two seconds later, the door ripped open and David’s eyes bulged out of his head when he seen the other side of the bed was empty. “Where the Hell is she?!” He growled out menacingly and immediately stalked over to her suitcase, seeing she had taken every single item that was in it with her, and punched the wall furiously. “I’ll kill that bitch for running!” He hissed, not caring about his hand at the moment, and yanked on a pair of jeans and boots, zipping and tying them up, and grabbed his key card, stalking out of the hotel room.

Once the elevator dinged to a stop, David sauntered out of it and toward the receptionist desk, smirking wickedly at her, and asked, “Hey sweetheart, you mind answering me a question?” His deep voice caused shivers to flow down her spine and she couldn’t help, but blush at what he’d called her.

“Sure sir, how may I help you?” She squeaked out, giggling uncontrollably, and David smirked, knowing he had her in the palm of his hand.

Leaning further over the desk and staring into her eyes, David smiled sweetly at her and drawled out, “Why yes you can, I’m looking for a specific woman. She’s about your height, long black hair, gold eyes, kinda dark. Do you have any idea of her location?” He asked, turning his charm on and the receptionist was fawning all over him at the moment.

Biting her bottom lip, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and softly replied, “I’m sorry sir, but no I haven’t seen anyone remotely like that. I could do a search and see if we can find her in the building.” She suggested, causing David to growl underneath his breath, and shook his head, knowing it wouldn’t do any good. He stalked away from the desk and back to the elevator, needing to grab his things before going to the arena.

‘I’m going to make her wish she’d NEVER tried running from me!! She’s not going to ruin my plan!!’ David thought as he packed up his things, zipping his bag, and glared down at the suitcase that belonged to her, throwing it against the wall harshly. “She’ll be lucky if I even ASK for her permission to marry me after this!!” He grumbled under his breath before stalking out of the hotel room, all of his things in hand, and proceeded to head to the arena.

Traffic was terrible in L.A., especially during the morning commute, and David was getting impatient to say the least. He hit his steering wheel, growling in frustration, and couldn’t wait to get to Sacramento so he could find that bitch and fuck her brains out again like he did the previous night. David licked his lips at the mere thought and felt the bulge in his pants erupt, groaning. His mind traveled back to the previous night, loving how she struggling and fought against him, overpowering her with his bodily strength. She didn’t want it, but it didn’t matter to him. Whenever he wanted to fuck her, he was going to and nothing was going to stop him or nobody! He started envisioning her hot, dripping sex wrapping around his thick muscled up cock, loving the feel of her and couldn’t wait to take her again. This time it would be from behind and he would punish her by spanking her ass, making it a juicy read, and then proceed to put the belt to her.

David arrived at the arena sometime later that day, around four o’clock, and couldn’t wait to get out of the small rental car he was forced to take at the airport. The morons who ran the rental car place completely neglected his request for an SUV so he had no choice because they were all out of the SUV’s. David rolled his eyes as he finally pulled into a parking spot, not believing so many others had arrived, but also knew it was a PPV that night. He wasn’t in it, but he still had to show up, which he thought was completely retarded, but it was his job and he was getting paid for it. Slowly stepping out of his car and retrieving his bags, David sauntered into the building, a sick smirk plastered on his lips and headed directly to his dressing room.

As soon as he arrived in the building, everyone went deathly silent, so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping on the floor. This was unsettling to David as he looked at all of them, wondering what was going on, and mentally shook himself as he walked down the hallway. Glares and slits were shot at him as everyone watched him closely, their arms folded in front of their chests, including the Divas, and David suddenly felt very uncomfortable. “What the fuck are you all staring at?!” He bellowed, causing them to glare at him hatefully even more, and watched as he walked inside his dressing room.

“Hello David.” Her voice sounded when he rested his forehead against the door, causing him to slowly turn around, and glared at Adrianna sitting on his couch.

“Where the fuck have you been?!” He demanded, his eyes narrowed to slits at her, and all Adrianna did was shrug her shoulders absentmindedly.

“Where else would I be? Getting as far away from you as humanly possible.” She responded coolly, her voice like ice, and her eyes were narrowed slits back at him while her legs were crossed, her foot bouncing up and down.

A slow smirk slowly spread across his lips as he stared at her, licking his lips hungrily, and ran a hand through his hair as he retorted swiftly, “If you wanted to get away from me so badly, then why did you come crawling back to me?”

A dark laugh echoed from her lips as she slowly stood, placing her hands on her hips, and ran a hand through her hair as she kept the same cool, icy look on her face. “I came back to tell you something.” Adrianna replied calmly, keeping her temper in check, especially after what he just said to her. She was anything, but crawling back to this creep.

David chuckled evilly at her, taking a step toward her, but stopped when she didn’t back up from him. His eyebrow raised in curiosity as he devoured her whole with his eyes and asked, “And what is that?” His voice took on a cocky tone, causing her eyes to burn a hole through him of pure anger.

This was the moment Adrianna had been waiting for since the moment she first awoke in the house with David. Flipping her hair over her shoulder with her hands still on her hips, Adrianna stared at him with a cold, dark expression and stated, “I know about everything. I know about your lies, your plan, everything.” She informed him, lying about the plan part, and smirked when he fell right into her trap.

“Well what did you expect me to do, Adrianna? You wouldn’t be with me so I had no choice, but to tear you away from your family and John Cena. You belong to me! I do have to admit though, it was like snatching candy from a baby when I drugged you and wiped your entire memory.” David stated, his voice deep and filled with no remorse whatsoever.

The words hit her emotionally, but Adrianna wasn’t going to allow him to get the better of her. Instead, a low, sadistic smile spread across her lips this time, taking him completely aback, and purred satanically, “Thank you.”

“For what?” David questioned, raising his eyebrow at her on confusion and uncertainty.

Adrianna was loving every single second of this as she licked her lips in front of him, her eyes glowing back at him with a twinkle, and simply snarled back, “For admitting your plan to me and my family.”

David’s eyes widened in shock as she pulled out a microphone from behind her back, which was shoved in her jeans, and held it up to him with a sinister smile. “YOU LITTLE BITCH!!” He roared and immediately charged after her, but was quickly stopped in his tracks when something sharp slammed against his back, causing him to grunt before falling to the floor.

Adrianna laughed wickedly at she walked over to her brother, who had ran out of the shower room where he’d been hiding and attacked him with a steel chair. She bent down near his ear, running her hand through her hair, and whispered cruelly, “How does it feel to be lied to and manipulated, David?” Standing back up as his head turned to face her, she backed away from him and nodded at her brother, who started kicking the living shit out of him in front of her.

He lifted the big man up and put his fingers in his mouth, whistling, and John came out of the shower room next, pure deadly intentions in his eyes. They kicked David in the stomach and then proceeded to give him double DDT's, which busted him wide open. Adrianna stood there, wrapping her arms around herself, and watched the entire scene unfold before her eyes. Her brother started stomping in David’s chest, right in his ribs, and proceeded to snap every single one of them, along with John’s help. The brutality escalated when John grabbed the steel chair that Paul had hit David in the back with and proceeded to slam it on his body repeatedly, driving all of his strength and rage into every blow. Blood was coming out of every part of his body, but they didn’t stop there. Paul straddled him and started pounding his skull in with his hands, David’s blood splattering on his hands and body, but didn’t care. The man was going to pay with his life for fucking with his little sister and almost literally destroying her life!

John smirked viciously as he looked over at Paul’s jeans, seeing he was wearing a belt, and ordered perilously, “Take off your belt.”

Looking down at his black belt and then back up at John, Paul got that same smirk on his face, and nodded, unbuckling it and slipping it from his jeans. He looked down at the bloodied, broken body of David and began whipping him, red lashing marks showing up instantly. Adrianna couldn’t believe the brutality she was witnessing before her eyes as she watched her brother and John take turns beating David with the belt. She finally couldn’t take it anymore and walked over to them, placing her hand on John’s wrist since he was the one with the belt currently, and stated, “That’s enough. You’re going to kill him if you continue and that wasn’t apart of the deal.”

Steely blue eyes met hers as he looked down at David, wanting to kill him, wanting to bury him six feet under, but it wasn’t worth it. He dropped the belt on his body, knowing they gave him the beating of his life, and raked a hand through his hair as he bent down near his ear. He wrapped his fingers in his hair, lifting his head up so he could hear loud and clear. “If you EVER come near her again, I swear to God, I don’t care if she begs me with her own life, I will kill you and bury your ass six feet under.” John aggressively promised and slammed his head face down in the cement, hoping he broke his nose, and stood up.

It was Paul’s turn as he bent down near David’s ear, not one bit of remorse shining in his eyes, and stated treacherously in David’s ear, “And I’ll piss on your ashes, you no good son of a bitch!! If you EVER come near my sister again, be prepared to sign on the dotted line because your death warrant will be signed, sealed and DELIVERED!”

Adrianna felt sick to her stomach at all the blood that was on the floor, on the walls, the furniture, and couldn’t believe she’d actually witnessed it. The previous night had been interesting after she revealed to them everything David had put her through. They stayed up for the rest of the night, reminding Adrianna of her past, everything they could remember of. She’d never cried so hard in her life at the sweet things John said to her. For some reason, just as they were leaving David’s dressing room, her memory started to come back to her because vision after vision struck her, causing her to fall to her knees and shrieked out in pain. John and Paul looked at each other frantically as they went to her side, trying to get her to come out of it, but Adrianna couldn’t hear them.

Visions of her past, of what Aaron did to her, the betrayals, her parents death, living with Paul, cutting herself, committing suicide, coming on the road with her brother, meeting David, meeting John, everything flowed back to her in one instant, causing her body to rack and shudder. She rocked back and forth, holding her head tightly as her eyes were shut, and proceeded to do this for ten straight minutes. Paul and John were calling for help, screaming at the top of their lungs for someone to help her. Adrianna could hear them screaming as her head slowly lifted, looking around her surroundings, and raked a hand through her hair as she grumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Dear brother, would you STOP screaming like that?! You’re going to give me a fucking headache!” She crowed out, slowly standing to her feet, and stumbled a little as Paul’s head whipped around, not believing what she just said.

He immediately ran over to her, staring into her eyes, and seen all the familiarity in the world swimming through them. “Adrianna, you remember me?” He asked shakily, gripping her shoulders in his hands, and hoped it was true as the tears welled up in his eyes.

Staring at her brother like he had just grown three heads, Adrianna groaned as she looked at his hands, “Why wouldn’t I remember you, ya big moron? Can you please let go of me before you give me bruises?” She looked at her arms and immediately covered them up. “Where the fuck are my arm warmers?!”

Slowly walking over toward the woman he loved more than life itself, John ran his finger down her cheek, seeing all the love shining in his eyes, and asked, “Do you remember me?”

“Of course I do, John. I love you, silly.” She replied wholesomely and John couldn’t believe what she’d just said. He lifted her up and spun her around in circles, tears of joy sliding down his cheeks, and Adrianna was very confused at the moment.

“What the Hell is going on?” She demanded, holding onto John tightly, and was glad he set her down as she stared at her family with her arms crossed in front of her chest. “Well? I’m waiting.”

Paul and John stared back at each other and then back at her, running a hand through their hair, and John spoke up first. “Adrianna, it’s a long story. Let’s go get something to eat and I’ll tell you everything.”

“Thank God because if I didn’t eat something soon, I was going to die of starvation.” She retorted, causing John to chuckle as he lifted her up in his arms, and proceeded to carry her down the hallway of the arena. “You know I can walk right?”

“Yeah, but I enjoy having you in my arms.” He replied, hoping this wasn’t a dream that she was really there with him at that moment, and was afraid if he let her go again, she would disappear for good.

Chapter 26


Shadows fill an empty heart
As love is fading,
From all the things that we are
But are not saying.
Can we see beyond the scars
And make it to the dawn?


After John explained extensively what happened to Adrianna over the past six months, she was happy that he’d gotten the beating of his life. To be lied to repeatedly for months and then raped three times, Adrianna was glad she couldn’t remember it. She knew it might come back some day, but in the meantime, she was going to enjoy her life to the fullest from here on out. Paul and Gabriella had caught their flight that night to Greenwich, with the baby, while Adrianna decided to stay on the road with John. He’d gotten them a suite with a Jacuzzi right beside the bed, wanting them both to relax that night. Adrianna didn’t mind, needing to night of pure relaxation, and couldn’t wait to get it started as they drove back to the hotel together.

The microphone that Adrianna had been hiding from David that day, even though she couldn’t remember it, was attached to a tape recorder that Vince McMahon gave the police. They couldn’t take the bloodied body to jail without having him properly treated, much to the dismay of the Superstars, but also knew they didn’t want him to die. They wanted him to heal so he could get back in the ring and get his ass kicked by every single one of them. When Adrianna stated that David had told her entire family, she meant them as well. The ambulance took David’s body away, bringing him to the hospital, and proceeded to treat his injuries the best they could. After all, Paul and John had done a number on him that he would never forget, unless he woke up with amnesia.

Adrianna sighed in pure contentment as she stared out the window, her eyes sparkling with pure happiness, and leaned her forehead against the window. She couldn’t believe she’d been away from John for the past six months and fully expected to make it up to him as soon as they arrived back at the hotel. The thought made her tingle all over as she closed her eyes, never releasing John’s hand, and smiled when he entwined their fingers together. She looked over at him and leaned over, kissing his lips softly, and looked into his blue eyes, getting lost in their depths. John was hoping he could drive without looking at the road because no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t pull away from her hypnotic eyes.

A few minutes later, they pulled into the hotel parking lot and stepped out, just as it started to rain. Adrianna giggled as the drops slowly coated each portion of her skin and closed her eyes, her arms spread out widely, and allowed the downpour to coat her body. John looked over at her, his eyes instantly darkening with passion at the sight of her clothes clinging to her every curve. She was wearing a pair of light blue jeans with a white baby t-shirt that said ‘Devil Girl’ printed on the front in blue gemstones. She had her arm warmers on, but that didn’t bother him. He loved how the water cascaded down her body since it was pouring hard outside, completely soaking her, and felt his pants tighten instantly.

Adrianna didn’t notice him devouring her with his eyes as she looked up at the sky, loving the rain, and smiled as she finally looked over at him. Her eyes immediately clouded over with desire at the sight of his clothes looking like a second skin on him, clinging to his rock hard, muscular body. John couldn’t take it anymore as he walked over, closing the distance between them, and captured her lips with his in a passionate kiss. She completely melted in his arms, wrapping her arms around his thick muscled up neck, and moaned in his mouth as the rain pounded down on them. Neither cared as John’s hand slid down her back and to her jean covered ass, gripping it gently, and lifted her up.


Change the colors of the sky.
And open up to
The ways you made me feel alive,
The ways I loved you.
For all the things that never died,
To make it through the night,
Love will find you.


Her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, locking her ankles, and held onto him for dear life as they continued to kiss. The intensity increased between them as John broke the kiss, breathing heavily as he pressed his forehead against hers, and whispered suggestively, “What do you say we continue this upstairs?”

“Lead the way.” She breathed against his lips, her eyes boring into his soul, and John couldn’t deprive her of the request. He left the bags in the car and immediately carried her inside, her nose buried in the crook of his neck, and her hold was firmly on him.

Her hot breath against his neck was almost his undoing as John took two stairs at a time, deciding to take the back staircase, and arrived at the second floor. He’d been smart enough to grab his key card before going to the arena that day so he fished it out of his pocket and slid it in the slot. Adrianna leaned forward, opening it, and John smiled as he walked inside with her, kicking the door shut behind him with his foot. Their lips immediately crashed together as John pressed her back to the wall, groaning in her mouth, and began running his hands up and down her sides.

Adrianna gasped at how warm his hands were against her icy skin, due to standing in the pouring rain, and ran a hand through his soft brown hair as their lips entangled together. John pulled her away from the wall and walked over to the bed, never breaking the lip lock they had on each other, and gently placed her on it. Their eyes met, searching each other’s for the answers they were desperately looking for, and pressed their foreheads together, breathing extremely erratic. Her hand began trailing down his chest, keeping focused on what she was doing, and ran it up his jersey, pushing it up and over his head, pulling it off and threw it to the floor as she smiled at him. John smiled back at her as he leaned down, brushing his lips against her neck, causing Adrianna’s eyes to slowly drift shut, and felt his warm hand come in contact with her stomach.

Pulling away for just a second, John pushed her top up and over her head, dropping it to the pile of clothes that were forming on the floor, and went back to the task at hand. Adrianna leaned back against the bed, completely delved in the delicious feeling John was causing her body to experience, and didn’t want to be anywhere else at that moment. John’s lips trailed up her neck, sending shivers coursing down her spine, and groaned when she started caressing his chest with her soft hands. His lips arrived behind her earlobe, causing her to gasp out as she gripped his upper arms, not believing how much power was held in them. Her senses were reeling out of control in a downward spiral that was filled with nothing, but ecstasy.

Their shadows could be seen on the walls as the rain tapped furiously on the window, making the moment even more erotic, and John smirked when he felt her body break out in goose bumps. He found the spot on her neck and felt her entire body arch into him, wanting him to continue, and he wasn’t about to disappoint her. “You’re so beautiful…” He murmured in her ear, flicking the earlobe with his tongue, and that sent another shiver to shoot down her spine as she looked into his eyes. John had to suck in a deep breath at what he seen in her orbs, not believing how wickedly entrancing they were.


What about now?
What about today?
What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it’s lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it’s too late,
What about now?


Her eyes had taken on a deep, dark gold with speckles of amber in them clouded over with pure love and ecstasy combined. John groaned as he immediately captured her lips again, loving how soft they were against his, and began sliding his hand down her sides, loving her curves, and arrived at the button of her jeans. He broke the kiss, staring at her, silently asking for permission to enter, and smiled when Adrianna nodded back at him instantly. With a quick flick of his wrist, he unsnapped her jeans and slowly crawled off of her, landing on the floor at the foot of the bed, and pulled them down her long, slender legs. The sight in his bed sent shudders coursing through his body as he admired her for a moment.

The only clothes that were left on her mesmerizing body was a matching set of midnight blue panties and bra. They clung to her body like a second skin and little droplets of water slowly slid off of her, from being soaked in the rain earlier, and John licked his lips hungrily down at her. Adrianna could only stare at him with widened eyes, seeing the predatory look his orbs gave off, and bit her bottom lip as she laid there, wondering what he was going to do next. After taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, wanting to take this nice and slow with her, John gradually crawled up the length of her body, placing soft kisses in her inner thighs, and that caused a small moan to escape from her lips.

He smirked up at her and sat up, straddling her knees, and hooked his thumbs in the elastic waist of her panties, slowly sliding them down her legs. Adrianna sat up on the bed on her knees, staring into his eyes as her hands cupped his face gently, kissing him passionately, and trailed her hand down his muscular chest, feeling his heart thudding against his chest. Her hand found the button of his jean shorts and immediately discarded them, along with his boxers, licking her dry lips at his incredible naked form. His body was chiseled and looked like a God in his eyes, dripping with pure sexuality. John reached around her back, never breaking the kiss he had on her, and unsnapped her bra, peeling off her arms, and tossed it over his shoulder as he guided her back down on the bed, both of their bodies already breaking out in a sweat.

Breaking the kiss and staring up into his eyes, Adrianna smiled softly as she ran her finger down his cheek and whispered, “Take me John…Make me yours completely…” Her breathing was irregular so she was gasping the words out, and John wasn’t about to deny her the pleasure he had in store for her.

“I love you, Adrianna.” He grunted in her ear, his entire body covering hers, and slowly parted her thighs with his knees, grinning when she opened them for invitation to him.


The sun is breaking in your eyes
To start a new day.
This broken heart can still survive
With a touch of your grace.
Shadows fade into the light.
I am by your side,
Where love will find you.


He wasn’t about to decline it either as he kissed her lips softly, passionately, and began trailing hot, fiery kisses down her jaw to her neck, and further down to her collarbone, nipping, kissing the tender flesh. His cock brushed up against her dripping wet sex, causing a gasp to flow out of her mouth, and John smirked, knowing she was more than ready for him. He wasn’t going to take her yet though as his lips kept traveling further below, licking his way down the valley of her breasts, and went over to her right breast, seeing the nipple crying out to him for attention. Taking the rosy peak in his mouth, John swirled it around in his saliva, tormenting her with his teasing, and smirked when her back arched up against his mouth, causing him to gently begin suckling on it.

irrepressible moans slowly flowed from her mouth as her eyes drifted shut, not believing how incredible he was making her feel. Once he felt her nipple turn as hard as a little pebble, he proceeded onto the other one, giving it the same treatment, and by now, Adrianna’s chest was rising rapidly. John knew she couldn’t take much more and decided to stop the teasing as he kissed his way back up, leaving a fiery trace behind him that lit her body completely ablaze. Her pussy tingled when his cock brushed up against it again, causing her to cry out, and John knew it was time to finally take her as his own. He knew this was going to be painful for her, even though she’d had sex prior to this engagement between them, but he didn’t know the extensive damage David caused her.

Sitting on the bed and wrapping his hands around her wrists, John pulled her to sit up with him, staring into her confused eyes, and scooted forward, never breaking the eye contact. He took her legs, wrapping them around his waist, and Adrianna knew what he was doing as her butt rested on his knees. A sharp gasp sounded from her lips when she felt him start to slide inside of her, not stopping, but not going too fast either. She whipped her head back, the feeling overpowering her senses and mind as she closed her eyes, feeling him completely fill her whole, and couldn’t describe the feeling even if her life depended on it. Her body was tingling all over as she finally wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her forehead to his, both breathing extremely inconsistently, both hearts thundering against the other as their chests pressed together.


What about now?
What about today?
What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love, it never went away?
What if it’s lost behind words we could never find?
Before, baby it’s too late,
What about now?


The burning sensation her pussy created, due to the fact that her walls were encasing around him fiercely, slowly began to subside and all that was left was the sensational emotion flowing throughout her entire body. He felt so perfect inside of her and so superior. John slowly began to thrust inside of her, running his hands up and down her back and sides while her hands ran up and down the length of his muscular back, loving how the muscles rippled beneath her fingertips. She began meeting him thrust for thrust and couldn’t help it as she tightened her grip around his neck, her moans growing louder and louder as they echoed off the walls. John growled in her ear as he increased the pace, wanting her to get used to him at first, but now he wasn’t holding back.

Adrianna held on for dear life when he began thrusting harder, faster, and definitely deeper inside of her, causing her entire body to shudder against him. “Oh John!!” She cried out as he took her to the heavens, closing her eyes tightly shut, and couldn’t believe this was happening between them. In her mind and heart, she knew this was her true soul mate and nothing and nobody would ever rip them apart again.

Gritting his teeth, John couldn’t stand this position anymore as he gently guided her back on the bed, never sliding out of her, and began pounding her hard. The sounds of her moans and cries of passion echoed off the walls of the room and were pure sweet music to his ears as he nodded, sweat beginning to form on his forehead. Adrianna ran her hands up and down his chest, meeting him thrust for thrust, and finally dropped her hands above her head as he pulled her hips up further, causing her back to arch, and her hair pooled on the bed, the elation completely overtaking her mind, body, heart, and soul. She knew she was close as her pussy began to quiver against him, slowly coming apart in his arms, and John couldn’t think of anything more beautiful than watching her do so.

With a few more powerful thrusts, Adrianna finally screamed out her release as the orgasm ripped through entire body, feeling her pussy clenching around his thick cock, milking him for everything it was worth, and coated him with her juices. John growled as he began thrusting fiercer, the sounds of flesh smacking flesh echoing off the walls. He finally couldn’t take it anymore as he sunk his cock deep inside of her with one more deep, powerful thrust and exploded, his semen splashing against her inner walls, and collapsed on top of her, kissing her forehead. Their sweaty bodies pressed together as their breathing was incredibly intermittent and their hearts were thudding in unison against their chests.


Now that we’re here,
Now that we’ve come this far,
Just hold on.
There is nothing to fear,
For I am right beside you.
For all my life,
I am yours.


After John calmed down and felt his cock go completely limp inside of her, he slowly slid out and pushed himself off of her, not wanting to crush her. He slowly rolled to the side, immediately pulling her body against his, and kissed her neck softly as he softly asked, “Will you still love me in the morning?”

Turning over so she was on her back and staring up into his beautiful blue eyes, Adrianna smiled with tears in her eyes and nodded as she replied, “Forever.” She kissed his lips softly, hugging him tightly to her, and knew she’d finally found the peace she’d desperately been searching for. “I love you, John.”

“I love you too, baby girl, forever.” He purred back in her ear and nuzzled her neck with his chin as they both fell asleep in each other’s arms, finally finding love and planned on keeping it in their hearts forever.


What about now?
What about today?
What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it’s lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it’s too late,
Baby, before it’s too late,
Baby, before it’s too late,
What about now?


The End.