Chapter 1



Tears spilled down her cheeks as she drove down the road, the past blowing behind her in a breeze, and wished she could have done this so long ago. She couldn’t believe what she had been put through in the last four years of her life, wishing she had brought her mother with her, but had to leave it all behind. The past was the past and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.



She looked behind her, making sure nobody was following, and knew she had to see her uncle soon. She was tired of living in the darkness, tired of living her life this way, tired of keeping the people who loved and cared about her most in the dark. It was time to finally spill everything out about what exactly had been going in her household over the past four years.



Briana just hoped she could handle it and not crumble at her uncle’s feet when she revealed the truth to him for the first time in four long and grueling years. It was hard to believe after all this time, she had survived somehow miraculously. She wiped the tears away from her eyes as she drove continuously into the night, feeling so young and hopeless all in one as the past started to sweep her away…



~*~*~*~



“Now you remember what I told you, Briana. Not a word about what has been going on, alright?” Briana’s mother, Tina, had explained, staring deep in her daughter’s eyes, watching as they filled up with tears.



“I don’t understand this…” Briana wanted to cry, wondering why her mother was sending her away. “Mom…”



“Listen to me, Bri,” Tina sniffled, gripping her daughter’s shoulders to try to hold her composure. “You HAVE to go. There is no other way around it. I will be fine. You can’t worry about me right now, alright? You HAVE to do this for me.”



Briana nodded, tears sliding down her cheeks, knowing she would do practically anything for her mother, including leaving her. She was only seventeen so Briana didn’t understand what was happening around her. She never did anymore, though she had a sinking feeling it had something to do with her current home life.



“Alright mom, whatever you want.” Briana sighed shakily, wiping her tears away, heart pounding in her ears thunderously. They didn’t have much time, Briana was sure of that, especially when Tina’s eyes suddenly glazed over.



Pulling her daughter into her arms, Tina stroked her waist length light brown hair, and kissed her temple softly. Tina pulled away, looking over her shoulder carefully, and shoved the plane ticket in her daughter’s hand. She kissed her cheek and disappeared out of the airport, leaving a scared and lonely seventeen year old Briana to get herself to the place where her uncle John was located.



“I love you, mom. I won’t say anything, I promise.” Briana whispered under her breath with a heavy sigh, looking out the window at the huge planes. She would have told her mother that, but Tina was always on the run and Briana understood why. She quickly shook those thoughts out of her mind, the final boarding call echoing through the airport speakers, and knew this was it.



Taking a deep, shaky breath before walking up the terminal, Briana handed over her plane ticket to the flight attendant. She smiled when the woman told her to enjoy her flight and explained how to get on the plane. Briana was very grateful for that information and found her seat, which was in first class, thanks to her uncle’s generosity, sitting down. She was excited that she had gotten a window seat, surprised when the seat beside her didn’t fill.



Shrugging, not thinking anything more about it, Briana slipped her coat off, laying it gently in the empty seat and made herself more comfortable. Briana didn’t like planes very much, but was willing to do just about anything to get out of her household. She was so excited that summer break had finally arrived, having graduated from high school. Her birthday was in about a month, which was in July, and couldn’t wait to see what her uncle had planned for her.



John was a nice guy, stood a little over six feet and had the most incredible blue eyes, just like Tina’s and Briana’s. That’s what she inherited from both her mother and uncle. John was Tina’s brother, but she was much older than John.



John was twenty seven years old and Tina was thirty five, having had Briana when she was at the tender age of seventeen. John was nine years old when his niece was born and did his best to help out Tina in any way he possibly could. John and Briana had grown up together, but when John hit that certain age period of around fifteen, everything changed.



He quit hanging out with his six year old niece, having better things to do, but quickly changed into a fun, loving uncle when Briana turned thirteen. John was twenty-two and starting out his career in wrestling. He never let anyone mess with his niece and, if they did, they’d answer to John’s fists. Briana sighed heavily as she leaned back further into the seat, closing her eyes and ended up falling asleep, before the plane even had a chance to take off. She made sure to buckle her seatbelt though before doing so.



John sighed as he paced in the airport nervously, knowing he hadn’t seen his niece in four years, the nervousness showing. Sure, he had bullied around her boyfriends when he’d come home from the road, but Briana had her own life. John didn’t want to interfere with that, so he kept back in the shadows and quietly tried to watch over her.



He’d talk with her on the phone once a week, if Tina ever called him that is, and would end up talking with Briana most of the time. John wasn’t going to lie, knowing his sister was keeping something from him. She was so quiet and timid ever since she met her now husband, Kyle, and John didn’t like him from the beginning.



The man stood around five foot eleven, almost John’s height, but was as scrawny as a toothpick. John could knock him out with one punch. He sighed heavily, feeling a pat on his shoulder and smiled as he turned around to face his girlfriend, Talethia, kissing her lips softly.



“I’m fine baby.”



“You don’t seem like it. I just figured I’d try and ease some of the tension.” She replied quietly and looked deep into his eyes, falling in love with her high school sweetheart all over again; not believing they’d been together for two years.



John was a sophomore in high school, while Talethia was just starting out as a freshman. They were one year apart and broke up just after John’s high school graduation. Talethia was a senior and still had that year to go through, but John couldn’t and wouldn’t wait for her.



He had to make his own dreams come alive and politely ended things with her, saying something about going to a wrestling school in Louisville, Kentucky. Talethia understood, never holding a grudge and they promised to keep in contact, but it never happened. They didn’t see each other for the next seven years…until John finally caught up with her at one of his wrestling shows.



It was actually his debut as the Doctor of Thuganomics and Talethia was laughing so hard as she watched him front row in center. John locked eyes with her and that was it. It just flew from there and they grew to love each other more than they did back in high school.



“Thanks baby, I’ll be fine. Just nervous about having my niece on the road, you know?” John sighed, spilling out his true feelings, and Talethia nodded in understanding.



She stroked his back lovingly, giving him the comfort he needed. “Everything will be fine, John. She’s seventeen right?” Talethia asked, not knowing if she remembered meeting Briana back in the day and smiled when John nodded, still waiting for Briana to arrive. They were in New York on that night and it was the JFK airport, so things were a bit hectic. “Excellent, looks like I’ll have someone to go shopping with.”



John shook his head and chuckled, wrapping his strong arm around her shoulders. “She doesn’t like to shop much so don’t be surprised if the shopping trips are a bummer.” He warned playfully with a wink.



Talethia nodded and just kept quiet, knowing John was extremely tense about having Briana on the road with them, but also excited at the same time. She could understand and hoped this didn’t turn out to be a total disaster. An hour passed by and Briana’s plane finally landed at JFK airport. John stood up immediately, forgetting about Talethia falling asleep on his shoulder and ran toward the terminal, wanting to be the first person to greet his niece.



He didn’t have to wait long as a sleepy, light brown haired girl stepped off the plane. He smiled at her, knowing it was her just by the color of her eyes, both staring at each other. He could see the tears building up in her eyes and immediately took her in his arms, stroking her hair lovingly.



“Hey sweetness.” That was John’s nickname for Briana when she was a little girl and it stuck throughout her childhood.



“Hey bonehead.” She replied softly, hugging her uncle like a lifeline. “Can we get out of here?”



John nodded and proceeded to keep both of his girls beside him close so no one tried anything. He introduced Talethia to his niece and Briana immediately was drawn to the fiery red head. She had the most beautiful green eyes and was around five ten. After retrieving Briana’s luggage, John escorted both women out of the airport and toward his blue SUV, knowing they had to hurry if they were going to make it to the arena in time.



John was determined to do so and both women knew better than to argue with him. Briana hadn’t gotten her driver’s license yet, so she had no say so in the matter, but Talethia did and put up a fight. John told her no sternly, kissed her lips, slipped the key into the ignition and peeled out of the JFK airport, heading for Madison Square Garden, where the WWE was located that night.



Briana stared out the window deep in thought and tried not to clutch the seat because of how fast John was going. She was abruptly brought out of her thoughts when she heard Talethia say something to her. “I’m sorry what did you say?” She asked sheepishly, looking back at the redhead.



Talethia giggled at the brown haired beauty. “I said, do you like going shopping?” She asked, green eyes sparkling with hope.



Briana shrugged her shoulders, not much of a social person. “I don’t know. I mean if I need something, sure, but just for the fun of it, not really.” She answered honestly, refusing to lie, though she felt back when the hope slowly diminished in Talethia’s eyes.



“Told ya.” John chimed in, giving his two cents like always, and laughed when Talethia smacked him in the arm for his troubles.



Briana giggled at the two, knowing and seeing how much they were in love, and bit her bottom lip, hoping one day she could find love like that. She doubted it though because number one: she didn’t find herself attractive. To her, she was just a normal looking girl, who didn’t have that sparkle like some of the beautiful women she saw in magazines or on television. She sighed and looked back out of the window, not understanding how she was going to keep her deep dark secret from her uncle.



She was going to try though, for her mother’s sanity.



Chapter 2



Briana walked inside of the huge building, blue eyes scanning the grounds she was on, and wondered what exactly her uncle did for a living. All she heard was that he wrestled, but her stepfather would never allow her to watch it. Apparently, Kyle and John never got along. They always hated each other for some reason, but deep down inside, Briana knew why. She sighed heavily, running a hand through her hair, wearing a pair of simple blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt. She looked up at her uncle, having heard his muffled voice, but she was too deep in thought to listen.



“What did you say?”



“Man, girl you sure are spacing today. I said what do you think?” John repeated himself, grunting when Talethia elbowed him in the ribs, and knew he had pushed his niece too far. She’d been through a lot, but John didn’t know just HOW much. “Let’s get you settled in my dressing room so I can go down and do some promos.” He smiled reassuringly, letting her know everything was going to be fine.



Talethia cleared her throat, glancing up at her boyfriend. “I’m gonna go down and see Lena for a while. If you want, Briana, you can come with me?” She suggested, not wanting to make it seem like she was trying to get away from Briana.



In all honesty, Talethia was glad she had come on the road with John. Somebody had to keep him in line when she wasn’t around and had a feeling Briana could do that, even though she was timid and shy. Briana was in a shell and Talethia was going to do everything she could, within reason and understanding, to crack it open, to gain her trust.



Briana smiled a little more, liking the woman more and more, and nodded her head hesitantly. She looked up at her uncle, eyes asking for permission. “Can I?”



John chuckled at both women and shrugged with a nod. “Don’t matter to me, ladies. Just as long as you be careful and come check in every once in a while. I’ll be doing promos and shit all night anyway.” John honestly didn’t mind letting Briana run off to see Lena. He adored the woman, especially since she was married to one of his best friends.



“Thanks bonehead.” Briana softly said as Talethia kissed his lips quickly and yanked her down the hallway, laughing when she seen the freaked out look on Briana’s face.



Talethia immediately let go, seeing Briana hold her arm instantly, and frowned. “You okay honey?” She asked, not liking the look on Briana’s face and wondered if she had done something wrong.



“You just caught me by surprise, that’s all. I’ll walk by myself so it won’t happen again.” Briana tried to get the stinging out of her arm that Talethia had in inadvertently caused, swallowing hard.



Talethia nodded, looking skeptic at Briana’s answer for a second and shook her head, not able to wait to see her best friend Lena. They had been friends since grade school. Lena was twenty three while Talethia was twenty six. They were three years apart, but the age didn’t matter or split their friendship apart.



“So you’re seventeen, right?” Talethia asked, trying to strike up a conversation.



“Yeah, I’ll be turning eighteen in a few weeks though.”



Briana couldn’t stop the hint of excitement that entered her voice, knowing been eighteen meant she was officially an adult. Even though she had to grow up at a very early age. Sometimes Briana wondered if that was really fair, but for the most part, she couldn’t wait to turn eighteen. It made it even better that she’ d be away from home, though she already missed her mother like crazy.



“My god, I don’t even REMEMBER being eighteen.” Talethia laughed, sighing wistfully. “I mean I do remember it, but hopefully it’s a lot more fun than mine was.” Her mind was already spinning with thoughts about what she could do for Briana’s birthday.



“I’ll miss my mom, but other than that, I’m glad I’m celebrating it here.” Briana admitted openly, biting her bottom lip, still holding her arm with a heavy sigh. She knew what would happen if she turned eighteen at home, swallowing hard.



Talethia could feel the tension between them, taking her hand gently but firmly, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Everything will work out for the best, Briana. I’m happy you’re here and I know John is too.”



She smiled when Briana did, hoping they could build this trust further with each other. That’s really what it was about was trust and, somehow, Talethia knew that was a huge factor for Briana. If she didn’t trust someone, she wouldn’t open up and that’s what Talethia wanted. She loved John with everything inside of her and she knew, if she wanted to keep that going, she would have to get close to his niece. John spoke a lot about Briana; he was extremely proud of her for everything she did so far in her young life.



It touched Talethia that an uncle cared so deeply for his niece the way John did to Briana.



Talethia raced down the hallway, waiting for Briana respectfully, arriving at a dressing room with the name ‘BATISTA’ sprawled on the door.



Talethia smirked as she looked at Briana, eyes sparkling mischievously. “Watch this.”



She tossed the door open, gasping at the sight, and started busting out laughing as streams of curse words streamed out of the door. Briana hadn’t even walked in the door, already backing up when she seen Talethia run out, landing on the floor as tears from laughing so much flowed down her cheeks. Briana looked down at her with a quirked eyebrow, wondering what the hell happened, blinking.



“What’s going-.” Before Briana could finish the question, however, a tall, brown eyed man with short dark brown hair stormed out of the dressing room, where Talethia had run out of, zipping up his pants in front of her.



He glared down at Talethia hatefully, not believing she had actually interrupted his sexual quickie with his wife. “What the fuck are you thinking!?” He spat angrily.



Talethia tried so hard to stop laughing, but she couldn’t as she fell back and actually bumped her head, mumbling something incoherent, laughing harder. She couldn’t believe she had caught them having sex again and at the perfect time too. David and Lena were like bunny rabbits, constantly going at it. She wiped her tears away and looked up at Lena, who had rearranged herself appropriately enough to make an appearance.



“T!!” Lena shouted with glee, tackling her best friend to the floor. Talethia groaned and they embraced tightly, rolling around on the ground, and David just shook his head in sheer disbelief.



“Un fucking believable.” He mumbled under his breath and noticed for the first time that there was someone else in their presence. Someone new. His brown eyes looked over and stared at the young girl, knowing she couldn’t have been anymore than sixteen or seventeen years old.



“Hey, who’s this newbie?” He asked Talethia, jabbing a thumb at the newcomer.



Talethia stood up and dusted herself off, smirking at David when he wrapped his arms around Lena’s waist, shaking her head. “I’d like you both to meet John’s niece, Briana. She’s going to be traveling with you guys on the road. Unfortunately, I can’t stay because my job requires me to only take off so many days so I’m leaving after this week.”



Lena frowned at that announcement, but didn’t show her disappointment. She knew Talethia’s job meant a lot to her and supported it wholeheartedly, even though she secretly wished Talethia would stay on the road like she did with David. Lena walked over to Briana, after prying David’s arms from her body, smiling brightly.



“Hi, my name is Lena Bautista. This is my dickhead of a husband, but I love him anyway.” She giggled as Briana’s eyes shot open and extended her hand timidly. Lena smiled as she took Briana’s hand in hers. “Welcome to the WWE, sweetie.”



“Thanks.”



Briana was extremely shy around strangers, for obvious reasons, and sighed when Talethia came up, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. She was very grateful for a shoulder at that moment because the size of David was intimidating to say the least. Knowing she would have to get used to being around huge half naked men, Briana cracked a smile, trying to relax.



David actually started to come toward her, but Briana backed away out of instinct, fear showing in her baby blue eyes, forcing David to immediately stop in his tracks. He didn’t want to scare the poor girl anymore than she already was, holding his hands up. “I’m not gonna hurt you, sweetheart. I just wanted to shake your hand. I’m David Bautista, a regular teddy bear.” He said quietly, friendly brown eyes shining with truth.



Briana nodded and very slowly extended her hand, gulping nervously when his practically swallowed hers whole, and smiled when she felt only the slightest shake from him. She quickly pulled her hand away from his, feeling awkward. “It’s nice to meet you, David.” She said politely, chewing her bottom lip.



“LENA MADISON BAUTISTA!” A voice boomed from around the corner, making Lena cringe because she knew what was coming next. She squealed when she was picked up and spun around in circles from behind. Briana couldn’t believe the size of the man that had picked up Lena and wondered who he was. He set David’s wife down on the ground and kissed her cheek softly. “It’s been forever.” Lena shook her head as she slapped his arm, knowing he had probably scared the living daylights out of John’s niece.



Randy smirked down at Lena, making her growl at him because he knew what his smirking did to her, and stopped immediately when he seen someone new in his presence. His soft blue eyes twinkled with delight as he seen the baby blue orbs of the stranger’s, immediately hooked. He walked over to her, or at least started too, but that stopped when Talethia’s hand pressed against his chest. She was blocking his way to get to the brown haired, blue eyed angel.



“She’s very shy and fragile, Randy, and tall guys scare the shit out of her.”



Randy looked behind Talethia, seeing the fragile little girl cringing with absolute fear behind her, arching an eyebrow “Who is she?” If he couldn’t introduce himself, the least he wanted to know was who she was and why she was on the road with them.



“Her name is Briana and she’s John’s niece.” Talethia answered softly and smiled when Randy nodded in understanding. He stroked his chin deep in thought, wondering why John would bring his niece on the road, since he didn’t usually invite his family.



“Aight and why would John be bringing his family on the road with him?” Randy pried, trying to get more information out of Talethia, and smirked when the girl decided to answer him for herself.



“Because he wanted me too.” Briana softly answered, not believing she just talked to this giant of a man, who was very good looking and extremely tall. He stood about six five and had on light Khaki pants with a red polo shirt that looked like a second skin on him, stretching over his chest nicely. His hair was black or dark brown –Briana wasn’t really sure-, but his eyes are what captured her the most. They were a beautiful deep blue that reminded her of the ocean with just a splash of grey, truly captivating.



Randy nodded at the girl and gently moved Talethia to the side by the waist, extending his hand to her politely. He was a gentleman first and foremost, having been raised right. “My name is Randy Orton. Just call me Randy.”



Briana looked at his extended hand, taking a deep shaky breath, before accepting it, looking up into his eyes. “Nice to meet you, Randy.”



‘This is going to be an interesting two months, that’s for sure.’ She couldn’t help thinking in the back of her mind.



Chapter 3



After spending time with Talethia, Lena, David and Randy, Briana finally excused herself, needing to go lay down because she felt a headache coming on. She sighed heavily, bidding goodbye to everyone and exited the dressing room, heading down toward her uncle’s. Briana jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.



Jumping nearly three feet in the air, Briana whipped around and ended up looking at a red shirt covered chest. Her blue eyes traveled up the chest and landed on those same pair of soft bluish gray orbs. She could feel the blush creeping up in her cheeks already, but the man had scared the shit out of her! She just wondered what he wanted.



“Yes, may I help you?”



Randy smirked down at the brown haired beauty before him, never seeing blue eyes quite like hers before. “I was wondering if you needed a tour guide. This place is pretty huge and I’d hate if something happened to such a beautiful lady such as yourself.” Randy was laying on the charm thick, having no clue just what he was getting himself into, but all he cared about was how hot John’s niece really was.



Briana blushed furiously at his compliment and covered her crimson colored cheek with her hand. “Thanks, I think.” She mumbled, feeling very embarrassed, but in all reality, Briana had no clue where she was. “I honestly don’t know where or what this place is, so yeah, I’d like some help finding my uncle. If you don’t mind that is, Randy.”



He smiled widely, his blue eyes twinkling with sheer delight that she would actually let him help her, and extended his arm. “Let me lead you the way then, beautiful.”



He smirked when her cheeks turned a darker shade of red and loved every minute of it. She looked breathtaking being all flushed and he loved the fact that he was the reason behind it. If Randy had it his way, he would be making Briana blush every second of this visit until she left.



Briana hesitantly hooked her arm through his and allowed him to guide her down the hallway, hoping her uncle wouldn’t be upset with her for not checking in sooner. She was really growing fond of Randy, even though they had only met a few hours ago, but the feeling of him around made her calm. It was a weird feeling. Never in her life had Briana been with a guy before, being that her stepfather never allowed her to date all throughout high school.



So she wasn’t that experienced when it came to relationships. She bit her bottom lip, remembering all the times her stepfather had beat guys she had TRIED to date within an inch of their lives. Kyle was a mean prick when it came to Briana dating anyone. Her mother could do nothing except sit by and watch Kyle take over her daughter’s life.



Randy could tell Briana was in deep thought about something and looked down at her as he stopped, jolting her out of her thoughts. “Here we are.”



Briana was removed from her past memories with Kyle, looking up at the door they were standing in front of. It read ‘John Cena’, confusing Briana even more. Randy knocked on the door and it opened, revealing a steaming John in their presence. Briana looked up at her uncle and knew instantly he was pissed.



‘Uh oh this can’t be good.’ She thought, immediately lowering her gaze to the floor.



“Hey, man. Just brought back your niece for ya.” Randy greeted with a cheesy smile, making John tighten his jaw a little at the sight of Briana’s arm looped through one of his best friend’s. This wasn’t good, especially since Briana was a minor.



“Thanks, Randy. I appreciate that. Briana, can you give me and Randy a few minutes alone, please?” John asked, staring down at her sternly with those familiar blue eyes of his, that were identical to hers, and Briana nodded obediently without hesitation. Slowly extracting her arm from Randy’s, Briana walked inside of her uncle’s dressing room.



“Thanks for bringing me back, Randy. It was nice of you.” She said over her shoulder, not wanting him to think she didn’t appreciate it.



“No problem, beautiful. Anytime.” Randy replied, confused by this sudden change in attitude John had. He watched John shut his dressing room door and stared at him with fired up eyes.



“What’s going on, man?” Randy asked, folding his arms in front of his chest, arching an eyebrow.



John tried to keep his temper in check, never one to lose it, but he also knew the kind of reputation Randy had. He refused to let his niece be another notch in his belt so to speak. “I’m going to make this very clear so that you can understand what I’m saying. Briana is not, I repeat NOT, a ring rat or someone you can get your rocks off with. She’s only seventeen years old, Randy.”



Randy’s eyes bugged out to the size of potatoes, blinking several times, not believing that beautiful creature, that walked into John’s dressing room a few moments ago, was only a minor and started laughing. “Come on, John, you can’t be serious. Just tell me to back off and I will.” He shook his head, already noticing just how protective John was of his niece.



John could tell Randy wasn’t believing a word he said and sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. He looked at John with those blue orbs seriously, which was a rarity for John, and Randy knew he was serious. “I’m serious, Randy. She’s a minor, but she’s turning eighteen in about a month. She’s gonna be on the road with me for two months, but just because she’s turning of age, doesn’t mean you can chase after her. Just leave her alone, aight?” The last thing John wanted was one of his best friends chasing after his niece, especially when he knew how nervous she already was around him. He wanted Briana to enjoy herself on the road, not constantly look over her shoulder, worrying about Randy jumping her.



Randy sighed heavily, wishing John wasn’t asking this of him, but knew he had to respect his friend’s wishes. He smirked to himself, suddenly forming a plan in his mind. “Can I at LEAST be her friend? Ya know, take her out to movies and dinner, show her a good time? And no, I’m not talking sex either.”



John tapped his chin, running his fingers over his jaw repeatedly, and finally nodded in agreement. “That’s not a problem, but know this: if I find out that you’ve done ONE thing to her that ISN’T to my liking, I’ll fuck you up and look in my eyes and know I’m dead serious, Randy. I’m trusting you with my niece. Don’t fuck it up.”



Randy nodded at him, understanding perfectly what John meant by that statement. “I swear man, I won’t do anything unless she wants to do it.”



“Good. I don’t want my niece being hurt on this trip.” John started forming a plan of his own suddenly, remembering what Tina had told him a few days ago on the phone. He could feel and hear the fear in Tina’s voice, knowing something wasn’t right. John looked up at Randy, knowing he could be the one who could crack Briana’s shell open, revealing the truth about what Tina was hiding. It could also explain why Tina suddenly demanded him to take Briana on the road just after she graduated high school. “There’s something I want you to do for me in the process of showing my niece a “good” time, Orton.”



“What might that be, Cena?”



John lowered his voice an octave, not wanting Briana to overhear their conversation, but this was the only way to find out what was going on with his sister. “There’s something that’s been going on at Briana’s household and I need you to find out what it is. Don’t push Bri, but I want you to find out what it is. Something tells me she’d open up to you more than she would me cause she knows the temper I have.”



After thinking it over for several minutes, Randy finally sighed and nodded his head, promising to do this, but he wasn’t going to push Briana to the limits to tell him. When she felt comfortable around him, that’s when the truth would come out and finally reveal the cold hard truth. Randy couldn’t fathom what it was, but John already had a pretty good idea. All he needed was Briana’s confession and it would be signed, sealed and delivered personally to the police.



Briana lay on the couch in her uncle’s room, wincing at her arm as she laid on it and closed her eyes, hiding her tears beneath the lids. The throbbing pain was slicing her arm in half, but Briana had to be strong. She couldn’t reveal the truth to anyone, not even that nice man named Randy, who had helped her find her way back to her uncle.



Immediately closing her eyes, Briana turned her back to the door as the handle moved, pretending to be asleep and smiled softly when she felt her Uncle John kiss her temple gently. She knew John was worried about her, but it was no use. She wasn’t going to tell him, ever. Her very life depended on it, as well as her mother’s, as sleep finally consumed her tired and dead body.



A few minutes later, Talethia entered the dressing room, smirking when she seen Briana fast asleep on the couch and yanked John back into the showers for a little one on one time. The touch lit John’s body ablaze as he kissed her lips softly, lifting her up by her slender waist and planted her back against the nearest wall, not caring about whether or not he was dressed. John smirked at his girlfriend, who had lust and love written all over her face and immediately reached down, freeing his huge, painfully throbbing erection.



He kissed her lips softly once more and completely filled her, breathing heavily, and began thrusting deep inside of her hot sex. The hot water streamed from the shower sprays as John groaned, burying his head in her neck. The scent of sunflowers –her own personal smell- was enough to drive him absolutely insane, but John had to keep control.



He didn’t want to break Talethia in half.



“Goddamn baby you feel so good wrapped around me....you wanna cum, T, huh?” John groaned out huskily, flicking her earlobe with the tip of his wet tongue, sending shivers down her spine.



“God yes, John. Finish me, please.” Talethia moaned out breathlessly, the feeling of his cock thrusting in and out of her almost too much for her to take.



Her thighs squeezed his waist, deep throaty moans emanating from her mouth. She met him thrust for thrust, glad the shower sprays were muffling her cries of passion. John knew exactly how to please her, tensing. She quickly spilled over the edge, the ecstasy consuming her completely.



Her climax triggered his own as John snapped his hips forward a few more times, before exploding, rocking both of their bodies intensely. He just stood there on shaky legs, trying to regain his breathing and regular heartbeat.



“Nice sneak attack, baby.” John smirked, kissing her softly.



Talethia returned the smirk, smacked his ass as the lust burned in her eyes. “There’s more where that came from tonight, Dr. of Thuganomics.”



John growled as she smacked his ass and chased after her, picking her up from around her waist. Letting a squeal erupt from her mouth, Talethia cringed when Briana started waking up. John looked down at himself as his niece stared at him in shock and noticed he was stark naked. Talethia was naked as well, with just a towel wrapped around her body, and they both quickly retreated back into the bathroom. Briana burst out laughing, burying her head in the couch as deep as she possibly could, not believing she just saw her uncle naked.



Chapter 4



Later that night at the hotel, after John and Talethia dropped Briana off in her own room, Briana sat on the couch and watched television. She rolled her eyes upon hearing moans and groans coming from the connecting room, which was John and Talethia’s, sighing heavily. She knew they didn’t get to see each other very often, so it didn’t bother her that they left her alone for a few hours.



When she found nothing was on television, Briana finally decided it was time to take a shower and peeled off her clothes. She grabbed a towel from her bag and walked inside of the bathroom, closing the door and looked in the mirror. The light in her blue eyes had left long ago and she wasn’t the same person she used to be.



Briana shook her head as she turned on the shower sprays and stepped inside, groaning at the feeling of the hot water making contact with her body. That’s when she started thinking about the past four years and how much damage was in her life. The tears of pain and heartache spilled out of her eyes as she looked up at the white ceiling, wondering why her family was dealt these kinds of unforgiving cards known as fate.



The beatings, the infidelity, the kicking, the screaming, the slapping, getting hit with certain and random objects; through it all, Briana wondered if it was truly worth it. She had asked her mom that several times, but all Tina would say was she didn’t know. She had no clue.



Briana looked down at her arm, that she had covered from Talethia’s suspicious eye, and seen the black mixed with purple colored bruise that was in the shape of a handprint. Briana knew she had a few broken blood vessels, but it would go away in time and would be forgotten; just like every other kick, slap, hit, punch, scratch, and beating. It seriously made her question her mother’s sanity, wondering how much more abuse she would go through before finally leaving Kyle.



Not wanting to think about it anymore, Briana shut off the water, hearing the faint dripping of water coming from the shower spray and wiped the excess water from her face. She looked around, seeing there was no one in sight, and slowly pushed the shower door open as she grabbed her towel from the sink nearby. She wrapped the towel around her body nice and tight, not wanting it to fall off, and looked in the mirror as tears formed in her eyes.



The pain in her arm was throbbing, but she ignored it, just like every other time. She picked up the brush she had brought in the bathroom with her and slowly began brushing her waist length brown hair, blinking as a few tears slid down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away, finishing her hair and then did her teeth, making them as pearly white.



After she was done with that, Briana looked in the mirror one last time, making sure there was no trace of her crying anywhere, and walked out of the bathroom. Briana stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Randy standing in her room while she was in nothing but a towel. ‘Shit.’ Briana thought instantly, trying her best to hide the bruise on her arm, but it was no use.



She had been caught.



Randy just stared at her, not believing how beautiful she looked in a towel, and had to remind himself quickly that she was a minor. He smiled at her gently. “I’m sorry, but John said I could...”



“It’s fine.” Briana quickly cut him off, tightening the towel around her body a little more, and made her way toward her bag to retrieve some pajamas.



Randy couldn’t help, but catch a glimpse of her arm as she walked past him, seeing it was in the shape of a handprint, deciding against saying anything. He knew she would tell him what had happened eventually, but wasn’t about to pressure her. He simply smiled charmingly, pretending to not even notice the bruise. “Thanks. John wanted to see me about something.” He lied smoothly, trying to advert his gaze from her, already feeling himself hardening and tried thinking of every disgusting thing he possibly could.



Briana shook her head, smiling a little, cheeks feeling as though they were on fire, carrying the clothes with her back to the bathroom. “He wanted to make sure that I was being protected. He’s afraid that something has been going on in my household.” She said over her shoulder, already knowing why Randy was here. She wasn’t stupid, hating that John thought she was that naïve, sighing.



“Has it?” Randy asked, mentally cursing himself immediately for asking, and sighed when he heard her suck in a sharp breath, tensing.



Briana felt really uncomfortable as she tightened the towel a little more around her body. “No. Nothing has. I’ll be right back after I change.” She answered evenly before walking into the bathroom quickly and shut the door, pressing her back against it. She held her arm and slid down the door, silently crying.



This was going to be harder than she thought.



Randy sighed as he shook his head, not believing what he had just saw, and knew he should tell John about it. Randy wasn’t going to though because he didn’t want to break the trust that him and Briana were currently making. He wanted her to tell him first about everything before he went and told John what he already knew. Sighing with a heavy heart, Randy glanced back at the television, but the only thing that was on his mind was what stood behind the closed bathroom door.



After having herself a thorough cry, Briana stood up from the floor, quickly pulling on her tank top and matching pajama pants. She looked in the mirror and waited for the puffiness to diminish, nodding in satisfaction and opened the door. She walked out of the bathroom and smiled when she saw Randy hadn’t left yet, much to her pleasure.



“Sorry about that. You sort of caught me by surprise.”



Randy smiled up at her, seeing the sparkle had entered her eyes once more. “It’s no problem, beautiful. John wanted me to come and check up on you. Make sure you were okay.”



Briana rolled her eyes and nodded, fully understanding why Randy was there, feeling a little disappointed because he wasn’t there just for her. She shook that thought from her head, knowing there would never be anything between them. One, she was a minor and two, there was no way she could ever be with one of her uncle’s friends.



“He’s always been worried about me, ever since we were kids. He’s always making sure someone is watching out for me. He’s too overprotective.” Briana walked over to grab her lotion, hating dry skin.



“Maybe he has good reason though.” Randy argued softly, scooting over on the bed so Briana could sit down, and smiled at her with his delightfully.



Briana seen what he had done and took the invite, sitting down beside him, secretly inhaling his scent. He smelled incredible. “Why would he though? There’s nothing going on at home. I just came on the road for two months because there was nothing better to do at my house. It’s also a great way to look for potential colleges.”



Briana was a master when it came to making stories up. That’s why she wanted to be a writer, but as far as going to college was concerned, she didn’t want any part of it right now. She had more important things to worry about.



Randy nodded, noticing how quick witted she was in coming up with excuses, and decided to play along. Briana smiled sweetly at him before opening her lotion, squeezing some in her hand, and set it aside as she rubbed it on her face, arms and hands. “That’s interesting. Is there any colleges your recommending going to see?” Randy asked, prying more without sounding too suspicious, and wanted to see if he could catch her in her own lie.



She was still a kid after all and all kids made mistakes eventually, right?



Briana nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders, moving her legs to sit Indian style, a lot smarter than people gave her credit for. “Not really. I haven’t started looking yet, but once I find one, I’ll be sure to let my uncle know.” Briana was about to say something else when the connecting door to John’s room opened. John stepped inside with a huge grin on his face, winking at both of them as he yawned nice and long.



Talethia followed, smirking wickedly at Randy. “You have NO idea what kind of animal John is in the bedroom, Randy.” She purred, licking her lips.



Randy cleared his throat, making the cut throat motion. “There’s a lady in our presence and we shouldn’t talk about this right here and now, T.” He retorted swiftly, winking at a flushing Briana, chuckling from low in his throat. He loved making her blush and didn’t understand why.



Talethia’s eyes widened in shock when she realized she had completely forgotten about Briana staying with them and blushed furiously, hiding behind John. “Sorry.” She squeaked out.



Briana laughed at both of them, shaking her head as she leaned against Randy for support. “You guys don’t have to change your lifestyles because of me or your language for that matter. I’m almost an adult and know all about sex and can handle anything you say or do, as long as it’s not being done to me.”



John crossed his huge arms across his chest, not believing how much Briana had grown up in the past four years. “Young lady you shouldn’t know about sex until you’re at least...twenty five.” He ordered sternly, having thought of Randy’s age and decided to use it.



“You’re one to talk, Mr. Fifteen Years Old.” Talethia retorted with a smirk, eyes glittering wickedly.



John blushed furiously when Briana’s jaw dropped to the floor and smacked his girlfriend’s ass. “Well now that the secret is OUT, big mouth, I’m going to bed and I’m taking this big mouth with me. Good night, Briana, and don’t stay up too late. We gotta long drive ahead of us tomorrow.” John informed her and shut the door to their room, growling when he heard howling laughter coming from the opposite room.



It was Randy and Briana.



Gasping for air, after laughing so much, Briana yawned loudly, finally deciding to call it a night. She escorted Randy to the door, smiling up at him. “Thanks for coming and checking up on me. It was sweet of you.” Though Briana wished he’d come to see her instead of trying to pry for information.



Randy leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, looking deep into her blue eyes. “It was my pleasure, beautiful. Sweet dreams and I’ll see you tomorrow.” He winked, running a finger down her cheek in a gentle caress.



Briana nodded and watched as he walked down the hallway with a little kick in his step, giggling as she shut her door and leaned back against it. She closed her eyes and knew that if she got close enough to Randy over the summer break, she could very well fall in love with him. With that thought in mind, Briana climbed into bed, turned off the lamp on her nightstand, and closed her eyes as visions of Randy Orton started entering her subconscious.



Chapter 5



~Three Weeks Later~



Briana sat in her hotel room, bored as ever since her uncle and Talethia had decided to go out on the town of New York City, which was where they were located at the time and sighed heavily. She looked out the window, seeing all the bright lights and action that surrounded her. She just wished she could take that leap of faith and live life truly for once.



She never had much of a life as a teenager, considering her mother constantly kept her in the house, due to Kyle’s order. He wanted her where he could keep her under his thumb, something Briana despised a great deal. Briana sat up some nights wondering what her mother ever saw in Kyle, why she decided to marry him on a whim, when it was obvious the man was scum.



He didn’t have a job and sponged off of her mother’s hard work, taking every check she earned for his own reasons. Some months the rent wasn’t even paid due to his heavy drinking and gambling habits, though Briana never spoke a word about any of this. She knew if her Uncle John found out about any of this, he would shove his foot up his sister’s ass.



Running a hand through her hair, finally getting sick of sitting around, Briana decided to just go to bed. She clicked her nightstand lamp off and crawled beneath the covers, closing her eyes, when her cell phone started vibrating on her side. It never left her side, in case her mother tried to contact her. Briana sat up instantly and turned on the light as she flipped the lid of the cell phone open.



“Hello.”



“Baby girl, it’s me. It’s momma.” Tina said, her voice shaking with both fear and intensity, Briana sighing with both relief and a heavy heart.



Briana knew what had happened, but wasn’t about to question it.



“Are you okay?” Briana asked, taking a deep breath, seeing the bruise on her arm had faded away.



Tina closed her eyes as she clutched the phone to her ear, feeling a few tears sliding down her cheeks. “I’m fine baby girl, but listen to me. He knows you’re gone and he’s coming to find you. He wants you back here and nowhere else. You need to stay close to John.

Every part of Briana’s body froze, eyes widened in horror, trying hard not to let the tears that were already sliding down her cheeks be heard over the phone. “Mom, what do you mean-”



“Listen I have to go baby girl, but you’re in my thoughts always. See you in a few weeks.” Tina hung up the phone and threw it in her purse, having to make the call short and sweet.



Briana sighed heavily, hanging up the phone and slipped it beneath her pillow as she lay back down, but couldn’t sleep. She frowned when a knock sounded on her hotel room door and slid from bed, wondering who it could be. She was grateful to whoever it was that was bringing her out of the misery of boredom and the terrifying thoughts of what Kyle could be doing to her mother at this moment.



Knowing what that monster was capable of, Briana physically shivered, pushing the memories out of her mind. Looking through the peephole, remembering what her mother had warned her of, Briana smiled widely when she seen Randy standing on the other side. She immediately unchained and unlocked the door and opened it, looking up into his blue eyes.



“Hey Randy.”



Randy smirked down at her, seeing she was in pajamas, and shook his finger disapprovingly. “Go change.” He ordered in a husky voice.



Briana quirked an eyebrow in confusion, wondering what he was talking about. “I already did change though. Why should I?” She asked cautiously, crossing her arms in front of her chest, wanting to know what Randy had planned.



Randy shook his head as he picked her up and hoisted her over his shoulder, carrying her back into her room, and placed her on the bed. “Please don’t make me change you, babe. You know I would enjoy that too much and it might start something both of us know we can’t finish.” He smirked and winked at her when she flushed five dark shades of red.



Briana was grateful that she was sitting down when Randy smirked at her because if she wasn’t, her knees would have given out on her instantly. She looked up at him and sighed reluctantly, deciding to cave in. “What should I wear and did you clear this little event with my uncle?” She asked, wanting to make sure John was fully aware so he didn’t check and find her missing, already knowing he was worried about her.



“Yeah, he has no problem with it.” Randy nodded, having all the bases covered. “Now go change so we can be on our way. I’ve made reservations for dinner and dancing.”



Feeling her eyes widen, Briana stood up and shook her head defiantly. “I don’t dance, Randy. I’m not going dancing.” There was no way she would trip over her own two feet in front of this gorgeous man who was out of her league, wondering why he even wanted to spend time with her.



Randy walked over to her and ran his finger down her arm, seeing the fear in her eyes. “It’s not going to be fast dancing and, if it is, we’ll sit out.” He assured her, trying to soothe her fears. “I just want to show you a good time, Bri.”



“Alright fine, I’ll go. It’s better than sitting around this damn hotel room all night.” Briana replied, feeling comfortable and safe with Randy every time he was around.



There was never an awkward moment between them and she was really glad he had become her friend…her very close friend. Whenever Briana needed someone to talk too or a shoulder to cry on, Randy was there for her. It was absolutely insane that he knew exactly when she needed him, but wasn’t complaining.



Randy grinned at her, kissing her cheek softly. “Thank you for trusting me. Make sure you wear something elegant, but not too fancy.” He informed her, making Briana nod as she went into the bathroom, wheeling her luggage behind her and shut the door.



Randy sat down on the bed and turned on the television, knowing tonight was going to be a night that Briana wouldn’t soon forget.



~*~*~*~



“Who the fuck were you talkin’ too?” Kyle growled out menacingly, smirking at the black eye he had given her.



It was a nice shade of black and blue mixed. He still couldn’t believe Tina had the audacity to go behind his back and send their angel away. He wanted Briana back in the house and Kyle always got what he wanted, regardless of what he had to do.



Tina sighed, looking up at her husband, blinking her tears back frantically. He hated crying and she would only be punished further if she didn’t stop it. “It was an employee from the office. They wanted to know if I could come in and speak with them about their problems.”



Tina had made Kyle believe she was a counselor at the local hospital for suicidal patients, but that wasn’t the truth. She had paid the hospital a lot of money to keep their mouths shut and to cover for her every time. She also made sure she didn’t tell Kyle the name of the hospital she worked for because it was against her job description.



That was a lie too.



Kyle sighed as he ran his hand over his face, glaring hatefully at his wife, who had sent his step daughter gallivanting all over the United States with John Cena. He despised the man and would have him killed if Briana told him anything about what he had been doing to them in the past four years. He looked at Tina stone face, dark eyes flashing dangerously.



“I will find her and bring her back home. Then, I’ll punish her for running off WITHOUT my permission.”



“You will NOT touch my daughter ever again!” Tina spat hatefully, shaking from head to toe as those words came out of her mouth, and knew it was a mistake instantly.



Before she could say anything else, he backhanded her right across the face, making her body fly back and land on the floor with a sickening thud. Tina cried out in pain, banging her head against the floor, feeling the lump form instantly. Why hadn’t she just kept her mouth shut and let him think what he wanted?



Kyle walked over and bent down, running his fingers gently along her jaw line. “I will touch her in any way I please. She’s MY property just like YOU. Learn not to push my buttons, Tina, or else I will make things VERY unpleasant for you.” His voice was low and quiet, almost perilously soothing. Kyle then stood up as he stalked out of the room, but not before turning around. “I’m not kidding either, Tina. You know what I’m capable of. By tonight, she’ll be back in this house and in her room, alone, with me.” He added darkly before slamming the door shut behind him.



Tina was scared to death for her daughter’s safety and slowly stood up on her feet, knowing she had to contact John. She then stopped herself as she started dialing his number and threw her phone back in her purse. She had warned Briana and that was good enough for now.



She wasn’t about to drag her very own brother into this mess and put his life in jeopardy. Tina would never forgive herself if Kyle ended up hurting John because of her and Briana. She stumbled out of the room and down the hallway, needing to make sure she didn’t bust her head open on the floor.



Looking in the mirror, her reflection looked like night of the living dead. She touched the bruise that marred her left cheek, watching it start to form along with the puffiness. Tina immediately ran the cold water and splashed her face, wincing at the pain that seared the injury, but she didn’t care about that right now.



She had to be strong more than ever now for not only herself, but for Briana as well.



~*~*~*~



John smiled at Talethia, covering her hand with his as they watched the breathtaking sight before them. John had surprised her by taking her on a trip to Niagara Falls, since his show was cancelled for the following day, and got them a hotel room. He made sure to call Randy and tell him to watch out for Briana. He could tell how much this meant to Talethia and turned her around, staring down into her eyes, kissing her lips softly. Talethia moaned against his mouth and broke the kiss, suspicious about why John brought her here.



“What is this all about, John?”



“Can’t a boyfriend show a little love for his girlfriend?” John retorted, smirking down at her, and Talethia bit her bottom lip as she laced their fingers together.



“I love you, John.” She softly whispered, staring into his beautiful blue eyes, seeing there was something he was hiding from her.



John sighed heavily as he kissed her lips softly. “I love you too; more than you know, T. You’re right, there is a reason why we’re here and why I took off the next few days from the road.”



Talethia gulped nervously, wondering what he was getting at, trying to stay calm. “What do you mean? John, what’s wrong with you?” She demanded, taking a step back from him.



“Nothing, but there’s something I want you to do for me.” John replied, holding something in his hand and slowly lowered on one knee, making her gasp out in shock as tears filled her eyes.



John smiled up at her, seeing the tears and brought out the box that was in his hand before flipping it open, revealing a three stoned carat blue sapphire stone cut in the shape of a heart. There were two diamond stones on each side of the sapphire and it was encrusted on a silver band. He locked eyes with her, taking her hand in his, feeling her tremble.



“Talethia, I love you with all my heart and my being and I know that I haven’t been the best boyfriend in the world, but I wanna make it up to you. Would you give me the honor of becoming my wife?” John asked, taking a deep breath and awaited the answer from her lips.



He just hoped she said yes.



Chapter 6



Talethia couldn’t speak as she felt her breath catch in her throat, not believing what John had just asked her, and stared at the ring for a split second. She could feel the tears pouring down her cheeks as the falls behind them roared with a fury and kept changing colors. The stars glistened in the dark midnight sky and there was a full lit moon. They were actually on the other side by the Bridal Veil Falls so the setting was perfect. Talethia finally found her voice and bent down to be eye to eye with John, kissing his lips softly.



“Yes, I’ll be your wife.”



John couldn’t wipe away the huge smile that lit his handsome face even if a mach truck came and ran him over. He immediately stood up and grabbed Talethia’s wrist as he pulled her into his arms, kissing her lips passionately, and spun her around in circles. Talethia squealed out in delight as she held onto her fiancé and kissed his lips to silence his screams of happiness. He was such a kid when he wanted to be and she loved this side of him. She took the ring from him, after breaking the kiss and slipped it on her finger, watching it shine and sparkle in the moonlight.



“I love you, John, and I can’t wait to marry you.” She meant every word, not believing he’d finally asked her, eyes sparkling.



“I love you more, T. Now, when do you want to get hitched?” John asked immediately as he picked her up and held her close to his chest, walking toward the edge of the falls.



Talethia had a tight, deathly grip on him, not wanting him to drop her. “I don’t care, but please take me away from the edge. I’m scared of heights.” Her voice was shaky, heart pounding with a vengeance against her chest.



John chuckled and kissed her lips softly. “I would never drop ya, gorgeous.” He assured her, burying his face in her neck.



“I know you wouldn’t, but I have a phobia of heights. Just take me away from the edge, please.” Talethia frantically requested, smacking his arm when he pretended like he was going to drop her, and proceeded to sit her on the ledge with his arms securely wrapped around her waist.



“There is this better?” John asked, making Talethia nod as she leaned her head against his chest, and enjoyed the moment of peace with her soon-to-be husband.



She still couldn’t believe he had finally asked her and was the happiness woman on the planet at that moment.



The moment, however, was disturbed because a hand came out of nowhere and turned John around, making Talethia scream in fright as she held onto the ledge with all her might. John’s eyes widened in shock as he turned around and came to face to face with a very angry Kyle. This wasn’t good, especially with his fiancée hanging on for dear life over raging and deadly Niagara Falls.



~*~*~*~



After taking a half an hour to get ready, Briana finally emerged out of the bathroom, wearing a simple black dress. The collar of it went around her neck, leaving her shoulders bare and it was short in the front and long in the back with black ruffles on the trim on both sides. Briana had her hair down, pooling over her shoulders with a clip in her hair on the side, which shun the diamonds off the clip that were embroidered into it.



Her legs were covered by dark tanned nylons with black dress shoes that strapped half way up her leg and had a two inch heel on them. Her eyes were perfectly lined with black eyeliner, which brought out the bright blue in them, and just a little gloss to make her lips shine. She was definitely stunning and didn’t look seventeen years old.



Randy was absolutely staggered by the sight of her and smiled when he seen the blush creep up in her cheeks. He walked over and took her hand, looking deep into her eyes. “You look absolutely breathtaking.” His voice was low and husky, trying like hell to keep this friendly between them, but Randy was having thoughts that would make John kill him if he knew.



“Thanks.” Briana shyly replied, looking down at herself, hoping it wasn’t too fancy like Randy had warned her not to be. “Is this too much?” She asked, looking up into his blue eyes.



Randy shook his head as he took her hand again and slowly twirled her around in a circle, admiring every inch of her body. He had to remind himself repeatedly that she was only seventeen, still not believing it. She was far too beautiful and mature to not be an adult yet, though looks could be deceiving.



He smiled when she faced him again, shaking his head. “Not at all. You look perfect.”



Briana smiled and stepped back, admiring the way Randy looked. He had left while she was getting ready and changed into a pair of black dress pants with a tight, black shirt that looked like a second skin on him. The shirt was tucked in his pants and showed off his physique nicely. Briana exhaled slowly, trying to get her heart beat to slow down.



“You don’t look so bad yourself, Randy.” She said as another blush crept into her cheeks, hoping that wasn’t too bold.



Randy grinned at her as he walked over and extended his arm. “Shall we?”



Briana looped her arm through his as they walked out of her hotel room toward whatever surprise that Randy had planned for that night. Briana knew instantly that Randy was her new found angel because he had saved her from dying of boredom and thinking about what Kyle had possibly done to her mother. Whatever he had planned, Briana was going to fully enjoy herself and forget everything else, just wanting to be with him.



The first place they went was a nice Italian restaurant deep in the city of New York. Randy wanted Briana to see the finer things in life and the lights of the city, since he somehow knew she hadn’t experienced or been anywhere besides with her mother all of her life, and smiled when she couldn’t keep the grin off of her face. He escorted her inside of the restaurant, making sure they had a secluded place to sit at and eat so he wouldn’t get mobbed by fans, and it was incredible. Randy pulled out her chair for her, smiling when she kissed his cheek, chuckling.



“Thanks.”



“It’s my pleasure, beautiful.” Randy replied as he sat down right across from her at the table and looked at the menu, wondering what he was going to have for dinner. He hadn’t eaten yet and was starved. He looked at Briana, seeing she was biting her bottom lip deep in thought. “Get anything you want. This is on me.” He assured her, the money not being an issue, wanting her to feel very comfortable.



Briana nodded, not about to be extremely extravagant, and just ordered some chicken strips with extra honey mustard sauce; her favorite meal in any restaurant. Randy shook his head, seeing she was a small town girl that didn’t like the more expensive things in life, and knew she was special. Most women he took out on the town ordered expensive dinners and then made him buy them something extravagant with the meal afterwards.



“Why did you bring me out on the town for dinner and dancing?” Briana asked, not able to hold back any longer, though the smile never left her face.



It was honest curiosity.



Looking up at her, after slurping down a fork full of spaghetti, Randy smiled sweetly. “You don’t deserve to be in a hotel room by yourself and besides, I was hungry and didn’t want to eat alone. I figured, what the hell, I’ll make a night out of it by inviting such a beautiful woman like you.” He replied with a wink, taking another bite of his food.



Briana blushed furiously at his charming words and sighed heavily as she nodded. She looked down at her plate, too deep in her own thoughts and worries about her mother, and knew Kyle was looking for her. She just hoped he didn’t find out where she was. She jumped when she felt a hand cover her own, jolting her out of those thoughts and looked up at Randy, seeing his eyes were full of concern and confusion.



She smiled at him sheepishly. “I’m sorry. What did you say?” Briana felt like an idiot, knowing she was supposed to be enjoying herself instead of worrying about her mother for once.



“I said are you ready to go.” Randy repeated as he looked in her eyes, knowing she was thinking about something specific, and stood up as he extended his hand to her.



Briana nodded, sliding her hand into his, having barely touched her food. Sighing heavily, she ran a hand through the side of her hair that didn’t have the diamond clip in it, looking somewhat frustrated. She looked up at him as they walked out of the restaurant and slipped inside the car, eyes adverting to her lap.



“Where are we going now?” She asked, buckling up as he slid into the driver’s side.



Randy smirked, turned on the radio, and nodded when he found the perfect song. “Just sit back and relax. You have nothing to worry about.” He assured her, not wanting to ruin anymore of his surprises for the evening.



Briana smiled at him sweetly and nodded as she leaned her head back against the seat, feeling him take her hand in his, closing her eyes as their fingers laced together. She knew this was wrong, that the feelings she sensed were wrong, but couldn’t stop them from happening. This man was older than her, but none of it mattered. He was the perfect gentleman and made her feel things that not even her ex boyfriends, if she could even call them that, made her feel.



Suddenly, her mind shifted and started thinking about her mom’s phone call again and the cell that was in the black purse that she brought with her, which matched her dress perfectly. Briana knew that their lives were being turned upside down, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Kyle was a strong, rich and powerful individual.



He was damn near unstoppable.



She started trembling in the seat and ripped her hand out of Randy’s, placing her fingers against her forehead. “I want to go back to the hotel, Randy.” She stated, suddenly not wanting to be anywhere else, hoping he didn’t question her.



Randy was shocked by the abruptness of her actions, arching an eyebrow and turned down the music, not hearing what she said. “Say that again.” He said, stopping at a red light, blue eyes full of concern by how pale she was.



“I said I want to go back to the hotel.” Briana repeated herself, feeling a strong headache coming on, and the sick feeling in her stomach started increasing.



Something wasn’t right.



Randy was surprised by her words and pulled the car over on the side, seeing they were where he wanted to take her. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that, Bri.” He cut the ignition, turning to look over at her, a frown marring his handsome face.



“W-Why not?” Briana demanded shakily, swallowing hard, feeling the nervousness creep up in her stomach.



Not saying a word as he opened his car door and slammed it shut, Randy walked over to her side and opened hers, extending his hand. “I would take you back if we weren’t here.” His blue eyes were pleading with her to just go along with this, hoping she didn’t put up a fight. “Please Bri, you’re safe with me, I swear it.”



Chapter 7



Briana looked around at her surroundings for the first time and gasped, realizing they were in the middle of a huge forest. She slowly slipped her hand into his and stepped out of the car, smiling when she seen a small picnic table set up with a gazebo over it to keep the bugs out. Randy smirked at the shocked expression that came over Briana’s face, feeling the excitement flood his body.



She looked up at him after a few moments, biting her bottom lip. “I thought we were going dancing.” She didn’t want to sound ungrateful and wondered how long Randy had been driving, knowing they had to be on the outskirts of New York City.



“Well we are, but it’s not going to be in front of millions of people. It’s just going to be you, me and nature. No judgments, no cracks of jokes, just the comfort of two people dancing the night away.” Randy explained, making tears well up in Briana’s blue eyes, and even felt a few slide down her cheeks.



This was truly the greatest surprise anyone had ever given her. Randy seen the tears in her eyes and bent down, brushing them away with his soft lips. He didn’t want her crying, his forehead pressing lightly against hers.



“This is beautiful, Randy.”



Randy smiled as he wiped the remaining excess of her tears away with his thumbs. He lifted her up by the waist, a squeal following, and placed her on his right shoulder. Briana was holding onto any part of his body for dear life, extremely terrified of heights. Randy chuckled as he carried her over to the gazebo setup he had planned for the both of them. It was big enough for dancing and relaxation, gazing up at her.



“I’m not going to drop you so relax, Bri.”



“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one on a six foot plus man’s shoulder and scared to death of heights on top of it.” Briana quickly retorted, making Randy shake his head as he lifted her off of his shoulder into the gazebo, zipping it up so the bugs and gnats wouldn’t get inside.



Randy smiled and immediately gripped her by the wrist when she tripped, not realizing there was a blanket laid out, pulling her into his body. Briana looked up at him and smiled sheepishly, feeling her cheeks flame crimson. “You need to be more careful. Maybe you should take those damn heels off before you break your ankle.”



Briana nodded and knew he was right. She bent down in front of him, not realizing he had a clear view of her cleavage, and unbuckled them both. She unwound them around her legs and threw them to the side, laughing when she took a step toward Randy only to end up slipping on the slick blanket with her nylons, and couldn’t have been happier. Randy shook his head as he bent down to check on her and Briana pushed his hand away, still giggling.



“I’m fine. That was a rush.” She laughed harder when Randy scoffed, not believing what had gotten into her. It was the perfect tension breaker and Briana knew this was going to be a perfect night between the two of them.



“Are you sure about that? You don’t seem like it.” Randy pointed out, making Briana sit up on her elbows as she looked in his eyes, and nodded. “Good cause this night isn’t about to be ruined for anything. Now get up so we can start dancing.”



Briana shook her head as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, refusing to stand up. “I told you at the hotel, Randy, I don’t dance. I hate dancing. Slow dancing is okay, but I don’t like dancing.”



Randy wasn’t taking no for an answer as he yanked her up gently by the wrist, not using a lot of energy because she was so light, and pulled her against his strong chest. “I don’t care what you say, you’re dancing with me tonight. We’re alone and I’m not going to judge or make fun of you if you screw up.”



Sighing halfheartedly and finally giving in, Briana relaxed in Randy’s arms as he leaned over and pressed the play button, letting the music flow into the night air.





She says don’t stare at me

She’s afraid that I might see

Those five extra pounds she talks about

Man, I don’t know what she’s talking about



She looks through magazines

With every page she dreams of

Looking like somebody else

I wish she wasn’t so hard on herself



Then she falls asleep with just my t-shirt on

But even when her hair’s messed up and her make up’s gone





Briana was shocked when she heard country music and looked up at Randy. “I thought you said you didn’t like country music.”



“I don’t, but this song came on the radio earlier today while I was flipping through stations and I couldn’t help but think of you.” Randy replied, wrapping his arm around her body, loving the feeling of her pressed up against him like this, and smiled when she leaned her against his chest.



Briana was confused by that statement and looked up at him. “What do you mean?” She asked softly, having heard this song a lot and even downloaded it on her IPOD.



Randy sighed heavily as he twirled her around and pulled her back against his chest gently. “You always say you’re not good or beautiful enough, but you don’t know how wrong you really are. You have this presence about you and your voice is absolute intoxication to me. It’s not annoying and it’s not manly. It’s calming and soothing.”





You can’t hide beautiful

You can’t hide wonderful

There’s nothing that she has to do

It just comes natural

She makes it look easy

I love what she does to me

No way to disguise

The way that she shines

You can’t hide beautiful, oh no





Over the past few weeks, Randy and Briana had talked frequently, getting to know each other better, and Briana made the mistake of saying some low class things about herself. That’s what Randy meant by her always putting herself down. It simply wasn’t true in his eyes and Randy was a great judge of character, having had his fair share of women. He smiled down at her, seeing her blue eyes were staring off into space, and wished to god she was eighteen now instead of later.



He didn’t know that it was her birthday on this night.



Briana bit her bottom lip, hearing his heart beating and knew she was eighteen now. Her birthday had arrived and she was no longer a minor, but also knew Randy didn’t want her that way. He was simply being nice to her and was fine with that. She would rather have Randy as a friend than nothing at all.



Randy seen she was deep in thought and leaned down, brushing his lips against her cheek. “What’s wrong, beautiful?” He whispered, his hot breath caking her ear.



“Nothing, Randy. Absolutely nothing.” Briana whispered and closed her eyes, shaking her head.





She can take a simple dress

Put it on and turn some heads

Man, every time she moves she gets me

She doesn’t even know she’s sexy



And the way she thinks sometimes

Out of nowhere it blows my mind

She makes me laugh and makes me dream

I love the way she looks at things



A little piece of heaven God gave to this world

She might thinks she’s just an ordinary girl



...But





Randy laced their fingers together and, with his other free hand, pulled the clip out of her hair. Watching as it cascaded over her shoulder, Randy had to stop himself before he did something they both knew couldn’t happen. That idea was thrown out of the window when her blue eyes locked with his, instantly hypnotized under her gaze.



Randy didn’t think twice about it as he leaned down, capturing her soft lips with his, holding her close to him and could feel her responding instantly. He knew this was wrong, but couldn’t help himself. She was just too much for him to resist the temptation, needing to feel what her soft lips felt like against his.



Briana couldn’t believe what was happening as she felt his lips on hers, knowing she had never kissed a guy before -thanks to Kyle’s threats- and moaned softly against his mouth. Her eyes closed, instinctively wrapping her arms around his neck, feeling him guide her down on the blanket that was beneath them and wasn’t about to stop this from happening. It had to be fate telling her that now was the time, now was where her innocence would be taken, with the man she was feeling so strongly for.



Was it love?



She didn’t know.



Randy groaned, knowing she was inexperienced, but the feeling of her lips against his was enough for him for the time being. He broke the kiss and looked down at her, seeing the lust building up in her eyes. “Are you okay, Briana?” He asked breathlessly, running the pad of his thumb across her lower swollen lip.



Briana nodded, Randy having completely stolen her breath away, chest rising and falling rapidly. “Yes, there’s something I need you to do for me.” She managed to say, swallowing hard, hoping he didn’t deny her.



Randy smiled down at her sweetly, loving the sight of her face all flushed from what he had done to her. “Anything, beautiful. Name it and it’s yours.” He promised in a low baritone.



Taking a deep shaky breath and locking eyes with Randy, she pulled him down for a soft kiss. “Make love to me.” She whispered against his lips, trembling slightly.





You can’t hide beautiful

You can’t hide wonderful

There’s nothing that she has to do

It just comes natural

She makes it look easy

I love what she does to me

No way to disguise

The way that she shines

You can’t hide beautiful, oh no



You can’t hide beautiful

She’s so beautiful...yeah, yeah

Ohh, Ohh ya can’t ya can’t ya can’t hide beautiful, baby



(Fade)



~*~*~*~



“What the fuck do you want?!” John growled out, taking a step back from Kyle, and received a fist to his face for his troubles.



John flew back and landed on the hard ground, making Talethia scream out in fright as she managed to somehow pull herself up over the ledge. She could have sworn she seen her life flash before her eyes, but that wasn’t important at the moment. Talethia quickly ran over to John, seeing the blood coming from his nose.



“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!?!?!” She screamed at this psycho.



Kyle smirked down at the woman, knowing it was John’s little sweetheart, and grabbed her by her hair. “I’m only going to ask you this once, where the fuck is MY daughter?” He ordered gravely, eyes flashing.



Talethia was scared to death by now as she watched John slowly get to his feet and immediately lunged at him, but stopped when Kyle pulled a gun out on Talethia. This was getting serious now and John had to be careful. He slowly stepped back, putting his hands up in surrender, refusing to tell Kyle where his niece was.



“I don’t know where she is, man. I’m here on a vacation with my new fiancée. I haven’t seen your daughter because I haven’t talked to my sister in four years.”



Looking at Talethia and then at John for several seconds, Kyle finally released her and pushed her against John, holding the gun up to them still. “If I find out that you’re lying, I’ll come back and finish the job. Mark my words, punk, don’t fuck with me.” Kyle then ran away down the stairs and toward the nearest airport, needing to find his daughter before it was too late.



John took a deep breath in and exhaled when he seen Kyle was gone, staring down at Talethia. “So much for our perfect moment.” He grumbled, worried for his niece’s safety.



“You’re tellin’ me, but right now we can’t worry about us, John. Briana needs us and something tells me that Kyle hasn’t exactly been the perfect daddy in her life.” Talethia pointed out, still trembling from almost falling to her death over Niagara Falls, and sighed heavily when John grunted angrily.



“Trust me, I’m gonna get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.” John stated irritably, pulling her into his arms, kissing her temple softly and whispered soothing, apologetic words into her ear.



He would never risk Talethia’s life again for his own amusement, still not believing how close he was to losing her.



Chapter 8



Randy just stared at her for a few minutes, trying to digest what she just asked of him, and sighed with a heavy heart. He knew no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t make love to a minor. John would hurt him if he ever found out about him kissing her, which was bad enough.



Imagine John finding out about him taking Briana’s virginity?



John would shoot him right between the eyes without a second thought of remorse. Randy also didn’t want to hurt Briana. It was breaking his heart, but he wasn’t going to do it.



He couldn’t.



Randy looked deep into her eyes, the silence surrounding them and dropped his head low as he closed his eyes, shaking his head. “Briana, you know we can’t do that. You’re a minor and John would kill me if he found out I just kissed you.” He hated the words that came out of his mouth, but they were the truth.



Sometimes a person had to say something they didn’t necessary want, but needed to.



Briana could feel the tears stinging her eyes, pulling away from him, feeling a wave of hurt and rejection flood her body. She stood up and turned her back to him, wrapping her arms around herself. “You regret it don’t you?” It wasn’t a question.



Randy sighed heavily, watching Briana turn her back on him and he honestly couldn’t blame her. He was the prick who had kissed her and lead her on to believe he wanted more, which in all honesty, he did. He wasn’t about to take it though.



It felt wrong to him, especially when she was only seventeen. He stood up and walked up behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders, and closed his eyes when she pushed his hands away. He had really hurt her.



“Damn it, Briana, look at me. You know I can’t make love to you because you’re a minor and John would murder me. Can’t you understand that I DO want to give you everything?”



Not saying a single word in reply, Briana simply gathered her things and walked out of the gazebo, not wanting to be anywhere near this man right now. Not only had her heart been broken into a million pieces, but the fact that he had made her believe he actually wanted more, then what she assumed, hurt her to the core. She wasn’t about to tell him it was her birthday. He didn’t want her. He was just being nice and giving her a little slice of what heaven could be like in her miserable hell.



Briana started to walk back to the car when she felt Randy pick her up from behind and hauled her over his shoulder as he carried her back inside the gazebo. It was chilly outside and he didn’t want her to catch a cold or something worse. He set her down on her feet, lifted her chin, and kissed her lips softly. Briana immediately melted into the kiss, but then realized what was happening again and shoved him away from her as hard as she possibly could.



“Don’t touch me.” She spat heatedly, clenching her teeth. “You don’t want me and you never did. Just take me back to the hotel right now, Randy. I don’t want to be here with you anymore.”



The crushing words hit Randy hard as he narrowed his eyes at her, knowing she was trying to make him feel as bad as he made her, but it still didn’t make it right. Randy gripped her by her shoulders and looked dead in the eye, knowing he shouldn’t have kissed her again. Control was his number one enemy when it came to Briana because he didn’t have any of it.



“You’re a child to me, Briana. I can’t make love to a child, especially after the way you just treated me. I mean, I didn’t have to take you out to dinner and I didn’t have to set this up for you, but I did. I like you, but I can’t give you what you want. It’s not right.”



“Why not? Do you know what tonight is?” Briana asked crossly, folding her arms in front of her chest, confusing Randy even more than before, blue eyes shooting daggers at him angrily.



“No, you wanna inform me on it?” He retorted with a heavy sigh, running a hand through his thin dark hair.



Briana shook her head, throwing her hands up in frustration, not about to fight with him on this. “Nope, never mind. It’s not worth it and it won’t make a difference. You don’t want me anyway so it won’t matter. Just do me a favor and take me back to the hotel and then get the fuck away from me.” She then stormed out of the gazebo and ran toward the car with Randy hot on her trail.



“We’re not going anywhere, Briana.” Randy refused to take her back, especially after tossing those ridiculous excuses at him, crossing his arms in front of his chest. This just pissed Briana off even more as she picked up a rock and threw it at him, watching as he barely dodged it. Randy looked at her with shocked, stunned eyes. “What the fuck is your problem!?”



His voice was growing dark and angry, something Briana was so used to hearing, and she could feel the tears in her eyes already welling up. She quickly blinked them back, knowing she couldn’t show fear. “You’re being an asshole. Just take me back to the hotel. There’s nothing left here I want nor care to see from you, Mr. Orton.” She growled tensely, adverting her gaze to the ground.



That was the last straw.



NOBODY called Randy by his last name in that attitude got away with it. He stormed over to her, grabbed her by her upper arm, and yanked her against his chest roughly. He then backed her up against the passenger door, staring down into her eyes intensely, trying to keep his temper in check.



“Don’t you EVER call me that again, Briana. The name is Randy and you’ll do well to remember that I don’t take things lightly when I’ve been mistreated. Do you understand me?” His voice was so cold and unforgiving, which just sent Briana into a fit of shivers and she started cowering away from him.



“Please don’t hurt me. I promise I’ll never do it again.” She softly pleaded, covering her face from what was about to happen and cringed physically, squeezing her eyes shut.



Briana slowly opened them when nothing happened and looked at Randy, seeing his eyes were wide with both alarm and question. She knew she blew it and ran a hand through her hair as she shoved him away from her, breathing heavily. Without thinking, Briana took off and ran away into the woods, glad she wasn’t wearing her heels anymore.



“Damn it! BRIANA!” Randy yelled after her, seeing she had bolted into the woods, immediately going after her.



The full lit moon above them was their only light and Randy could see her shadow. Briana could hear his footsteps and wiped her tears away frantically. He sighed when he seen she had fallen, leaning against a tree, tears streaking her beautiful face. Randy slowly bent down to see if she was alright, grunting when she pushed him away again.



Her nylons were ripped from the thorns and sharp branches and there were little tears in her dress. None of it bothered her though except the man that was standing before her. She couldn’t believe she thought they could actually have a future together, especially when he thought she was still seventeen.



He didn’t realize how big of a mistake he made, but Briana wasn’t about to point it out to him. He said so himself, she was a child in his eyes and nothing could ever happen between them. As much as it hurt to hear it, Briana knew it was the truth.



“Go away.” She faintly whispered, turning her head away from him, not even wanting to look in those blue eyes.



This night had turned out to be a living nightmare.



“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what that was all about back at the car.” Randy stated as he bent down, seeing her face was turned away from him, and knew he had messed up even more.



Man, he couldn’t do one thing right tonight.



Briana stood up on shaky legs, still hearing Kyle’s voice echoing in her mind, and dusted herself off. “Nope, it’s none of your business. I’m not sharing my personal life with a total stranger who I THOUGHT I knew. It’s cool though. I know how you TRULY feel about me now so why don’t we cut this bullshit and go back to the hotel. Maybe you can find yourself another ring rat to fuck and leave this “child” alone.” Briana then started walking toward the car, but not before turning around, facing a heartbroken Randy. “Just to let you know, Randy, thanks for the birthday present. I’ll never forget it.” She then rushed off to the car and got inside the passenger seat, more tears flowing down her cheeks.



Randy felt like a huge bulldozer just crushed him from the inside out as he heard her confession, blinking. Did he just hear her right? He scrubbed a hand down his face, knowing tonight was her eighteenth birthday.



No wonder John wanted him to take her out! Randy felt like the air had been taken from his body, wishing John would’ve told him. He slowly made his way back to the car and got in the driver’s seat, sick of fighting with Briana.



The entire ride back to the hotel was made in complete silence.



Once they arrived an hour later, Briana didn’t waste any time as she got out of the car and ran up to her room, not wanting Randy to see her unshed tears. She had fallen in love with a heartless bastard and felt even worse because she knew she had let some of her secret slip. She couldn’t and wouldn’t betray the only person she truly trusted in this world. Sure, John was her uncle, but they hadn’t seen each other in over four years and he was constantly getting rid of her.



Briana finally made it to her room and slammed the door, collapsing on top of the bed, and proceeded to cry her heart out. This was just another stab of heartache that was causing the walls around her heart to harden. She couldn’t do anything, but feel them start to build and knew that it would take one hell of a person to break through them.



Randy sighed heavily as he watched her disappear from the car and run up to her room. He couldn’t blame her. He didn’t even want to be him as he hit his steering wheel in frustration.



Something was bugging him.



He couldn’t believe she had told him not to hurt her. He would NEVER hurt her. Finally giving up all hope of making any sense of this situation, Randy finally got out of his car and headed up to his own room, knowing Briana was probably calling John right about now. He knew an ass kicking was to be expected the following day and couldn’t blame John for doing it. Randy deserved it, especially after all the cruel things he had said to Briana.



After taking another shower to try and clear his mind somewhat, Randy finally crawled into bed and slipped under the covers, where he finally let the tears in his eyes slowly slide down his cheeks. He was in love with her. It was official and there was nothing that could be said or done to change how he felt.



How was he going to make it up to Briana and get her to trust him again?



Chapter 9



“John, please talk to me about this.” Talethia pleaded as she grabbed him by his arm, but nothing was working. It was almost as if the man was in a trance of some kind and she didn’t understand why.



The real truth of the matter was that over the past three days of their vacation, Talethia had been receiving some pretty serious and gruesome threat messages from Kyle. Stating that if they knew where Briana was, he was going to hurt them both. John was getting fed up with them by the third day, especially since their vacation had been ruined, and he wasn’t about to let anyone hurt the love of his life.



Carrying a black, steel lead pipe in his hand, John stormed into the hotel, catching the eyes of both David and Lena. David looked at Lena, who looked back at him, and they both got up at the same time and raced after John, wondering what was Hell was going on with him. Something bad was happening, especially when they saw Talethia following him hastily.



John finally got tired of Talethia’s pleading and whipped around, barely catching her in the face with the pipe. “Look, I’m a man and I need to handle my bidness. Nobody is going to fuck with my family and get away with it! Now either shut your mouth and let me do this or get the fuck away from me!” He growled, blue eyes pure ice.



Tears immediately welled up in Talethia’s eyes as she took a step back, not believing what he just said to her, and looked down at her ring. She could feel her heart breaking, but wasn’t about to marry someone who talked to her like that. Slowly slipping it off and handing it to John, Talethia shook her head sadly.



“You won’t ever see me again, Cena. Goodbye.” She then raced down the hallway, crying her heart out the entire time and brushed past David and Lena, who had both came up in the elevator.



John looked down at the ring that was placed in his hand, feeling his own tears well up in his eyes, and tucked it in his pocket. He needed to find out what was going on with his niece before something bad happened to Talethia. If she couldn’t understand that, then maybe they weren’t meant to be together truly.



‘I’ll talk to her later.’ John decided as he stormed down to Briana’s hotel room, needing answers and needing them now.



Lena looked up into her husband’s blue eyes, seeing the concern swimming in them, swallowing hard. “You go find out what’s going on with John. I’ll go see why T is crying.” David smiled at his wife and kissed her lips as she ventured off to find Talethia, not liking the way her tear streaked face looked. He spotted John outside Briana’s hotel room door and sighed, knowing what this was all about.



‘He found out about the kiss.’ David thought instantly and rushed over to stop him before he busted down the door with the lead pipe he had in his hand. “John, chill out man!” David shouted, yanking the lead pipe out of his best friend’s hands and threw it to the floor.



John was about to take a swing at whoever was stopping him from opening Briana’s hotel room door, but stopped himself when he saw David. There was a fire of hatred burning in the depths of John’s blue eyes and it actually scared David to see his friend in this kind of state. John took a deep breath, trying to calm down.



“What the fuck are you doing, man!? I need to talk to my niece.”



“Then you’ll do it WITHOUT that weapon and you’ll knock on her door like a rational human being.” David ordered, knowing Briana was probably still heartbroken over what Randy did to her.



They hadn’t seen hid nor hair of her since that fateful night that Randy told David and Lena all about it. He just hoped this didn’t have anything to do with the kiss that Randy and Briana shared. John was overprotective so David didn’t doubt that’s what it involved.



John knew David was right and took a deep breath, trying to calm down, and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, John finally sighed and pulled out his keycard that he had made a copy of before taking Talethia to Niagara Falls. He slowly slid it inside the slot and opened the door when the light turned green, shocked by what he seen before him.



The room was pitch black with no sunlight coming in the windows and a lump was curled up in the bed. There were a few dishes scattered all over the place and at least three dozen boxes of tissues. Bags and bags of tissues were by the door for the room service to claim.



John knew Briana had experienced a horrible ordeal while he was away. It shattered his heart when he heard a sniffle come from beneath the blankets and walked over to his niece, wondering what had happened to her. He gently sat down on the bed, placing a hand on her shoulder or what he thought was.



“Bri?” John called softly, not wanting to scare her, and sighed when she mumbled something incoherent.



Briana had experienced three of the worst days of her entire life. Not to mention her birthday had been a total disaster and now she had her uncle trying to baby her. She didn’t want to be coddled and the tears were of pain that was within her heart.



Randy had truly hurt her in the worst possible way. He called her a child and basically told her that there could never be anything between them. She sighed heavily when John called her name again and then asked her what was wrong, which caused her to cry harder.



“Nothing! Go away!” Briana cried, refusing to come from beneath the covers, and sighed when John refused to leave. She took her feet and pushed John as hard as she could, smirking to herself when he landed on the floor and let out a deep, animalistic growl.



“Goddamn it, Briana! Look we gotta talk NOW!” John shouted, making Briana roll her eyes as she pushed the blankets off of her, revealing her tear streaked, scorched face.



It literally shattered John’s heart into a billion pieces at the sight of his distraught niece.



Briana scoffed, not wanting to talk about anything. “I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone, Cena.” She spat, just wanting to be left alone, and walked into the kitchen.



John’s eyes narrowed to slits at the change in his niece’s voice, seeing she was totally blowing him off, and stood up as he followed her into the kitchen. He turned her around by the arm, blue eyes pure ice again. “Don’t you ever call me that. You know I hate to be called by my last name, Briana.”



“Like I fucking care? Does it look like I give a fuck what you think, John?” Briana retorted, brushing past him after getting her glass of water, and rolled her eyes when she heard his footsteps behind her. He just didn’t give up and neither was she.



“What the fuck has gotten into you? You better start talkin’ before I start breakin’ faces.” John warned her, his voice deadly calm and jaw clenched angrily. He wasn’t in the mood for her games and especially this new attitude of hers.



Briana shook her head as she heard his threat; it didn’t bother her either, having been in worse situations with Kyle. “Whatever, John. Do whatever the fuck you want because I don’t give a fuck anymore.” She refused to admit anything to him, especially after the way he had treated her over these past few weeks.



Briana realized in the three days of crying that she had to change her ways, namely her attitude. She was tired of being the nice, innocent girl that everyone pushed around. She was tired of getting hurt and tired of people stepping all over her.



It was time for a change and Briana had slowly let the walls build around her heart over the past three days. She hardly got any sleep, unless she cried herself into a slumber, and was done with it. Nobody would ever blast through her walls, not even her own mother.



John couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his niece’s mouth and was getting fed up with it. He hit the wall with as much force as he could muster up, not wanting to hit her. “Tell me why Kyle is threatening mine and Talethia’s life.” He ordered in a grave voice.



A sick feeling started developing in the pit of her stomach as Briana tried to swallow past the lump that had formed in her throat. She sighed heavily as she looked at John, shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “I have no idea why he’s doing that, but I assure you, he won’t be bothering you anymore. I’m leaving tomorrow to go back home. I don’t want to be here anymore and you sure as hell don’t want me here.”



John sighed heavily as he sat back down on the bed, watching as Briana scooted away from him. “What’s happening to us, Bri?” He asked in a softer voice. “We used to be able to talk about everything and now suddenly you’re clamming up on me. I want to know what’s been going on with you and home. Why did Tina send you here with me for the summer and why are you going home tomorrow?” John was really trying hard to find out what was going on with her, but all he got was another shrug.



Finally breaking the uncomfortable silence between them, Briana took a deep breath, deciding she had to say something. “It’s none of your business what’s been going on at home, John. You don’t need to worry about us because you never have. Why should you care all of a sudden? Just cause I came on the road with you, only to be neglected constantly by you because of your girlfriend? You know what, John? I hate you. I really do. You hurt me just like every other fucked up guy out there in this godforsaken world but don’t worry, after tomorrow; you’ll never have to deal with me again. Now get out of my room.”



Briana then turned away from him and looked out the window, seeing it had started raining, and closed her eyes when she felt her hotel room door slam shut with authority. When nobody else was in the room, Briana finally let the tears slide down her cheeks, feeling her walls forming even more. She’d finally told her uncle how she truly felt, though it wasn’t meant to be directed at him.



Those are the words she desperately wanted to tell Kyle, the man who had ruined her life.



David overheard the entire conversation between the two and couldn’t believe how much John had hurt his own niece. He never noticed how much John had pushed Briana away until just now. Now that David thought about it, John hardly had ever spent any time with his niece since she’d been on the road with them.



He sighed heavily when John stood up from the bed, a heartbroken look on his face, and stormed out of her hotel room. He decided to let John go blow off some steam and wanted to take his chance in talking to Briana. Maybe she would warm up to him more than John and Randy. He couldn’t blame the girl honestly, especially after what the two men had done to her.



Then again, they probably didn’t even realize how hurt she truly must have been.



David took a deep breath as he walked back inside her hotel room. “Briana, its David. Can I come in?” He asked in a soothing, low voice.



Briana turned around at a weird voice -she hardly heard since coming on the road with her uncle-, wondering who it was. “Who are you?”



“It’s David, honey.” He repeated softly, wanting to make this as less painful for her as he possibly could.



“Do whatever you want, David. I could care less.” Briana’s dark voice replied as she continued looking out the window, watching the tiny droplets of rain slide down the window, and wiped her tears away frantically.



Tears were a sign of weakness and she wasn’t about to let this stranger see her crying.



David nodded as he took a seat on the bed, seeing she refused to look at him. “I wanted to see if you’re alright. I’m sorry for everything you’ve been put through, but you have to know that Randy never meant to hurt you. In fact, he really likes you, Briana. The problem is that he still thought you were seventeen and didn’t want to take a chance at getting his ass beat by John for touching you.”



Briana scoffed as she continued staring out the window . “So he was a chickenshit? That’s fine with me because I never want to see him again. He broke my heart and I’ll never forgive him for that or John. They both can get down on their hands and knees and beg me for my forgiveness, but it won’t happen. I’m not getting hurt again.”



“Honey, don’t you think you might be being a little harsh though? I mean, come on, you know John never meant to hurt you and neither did Randy. He’s still kicking himself for giving you such a shitty birthday present, even though he didn’t realize it was that night. He just figured John had asked him to take you out on the town to get you out of the hotel.” David explained, trying to make her see that Randy’s intentions were good and true. He just didn’t realize she was an adult instead of a teenager.



Finally having enough of hearing about Randy, Briana turned around as her dead blue eyes locked with David’s. “I don’t want to hear anymore about either of them. I want you to leave. I don’t need a fucking lecture from somebody I hardly know. Get out.” Her voice was deadly low and calm, something that sent shivers down David’s spine.



David knew she was tired of hearing about the situation and finally gave up for the time being. He stood up from the bed, nodding solemnly. “Alright, if that’s what you want then I’ll respect your wishes.” He then walked out of her hotel room and shut the door quietly behind him. Sighing when he heard a scream come from inside and the shattering of glass echo through the door, David shook his head and walked away.



Briana needed time to heal.



After all time did heal all wounds, didn’t it?



Chapter 10



The following morning was a heart breaker to say the very least, especially for John. Talethia had left him a note, saying that she didn’t want to marry someone who talked to her the way he had the previous night. All she was trying to do was calm him down and make him see that the way he was acting was childish and immature. She knew he was pissed off about Kyle’s threats, but that gave him absolutely NO right to stalk around like Godzilla.



John crushed the note in his hand, the tears welling up in his blue eyes, and knew he would probably never seen Talethia again. He had never meant to snap on her the way he had, but this situation with Briana and Kyle was getting out of hand. John finally decided there was only one thing left to do. He had to find out the truth about his sister’s relationship with Kyle. The first thing he had to do before that, though, was stop his niece from leaving the tour early.



John sighed as he leaned over and flipped open his cell, dialing the only number he knew could bring Briana back. He couldn’t let her leave, especially with a lunatic like Kyle after her. He brought the cell phone up to his ear and sighed with relief when the person answered.



“What’s up, John?” Randy’s gruff voice stated, not really in the mood to hear from anyone or talk. He knew it was about Briana so that’s the only reason why he had answered John’s call.



“What the fuck happened between you and Briana, Randy? First, I come back on a rampage, lose the person I love, and now I’m losing my niece. What did you do?” John asked in a demanding voice, cutting right to the chase since he knew there wasn’t much time to waste.



Randy sighed heavily as he ran a hand through his short hair, wishing he didn’t have to admit this over the phone, but there was no other way. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Randy closed his eyes, the memory of that night taking over. “I took her out like you told me to and ended up kissing her.” Randy confessed, waiting for the explosion from John to erupt, but all he got from the man on the other line was a deep sigh.



“I had a feeling it was something like that. I asked you to take her out because it was her birthday. It’s my fault though. I should have cleared it with you more thoroughly because she probably thinks you sent the wrong messages. I NEVER asked you to kiss her, but I know how much you care about her. That’s why I’m calling now, Randy. Briana is leaving today, but I can’t let her leave. She won’t listen to me or anyone else, but maybe you’ll have better luck with her.” John explained, his voice dropping an octave lower so Randy wouldn’t hear it crack. John was one to never lose his temper and usually had every emotion in his big body under control, but this was more powerful than his own resistance.



“What do you want me to do, John? She fucking hates me for doing this shit to her. Look, I need to confess something to you.” Randy admitted, making John’s eyebrow quirk in question as he listened to his best friend on the other line.



Something told John this wasn’t going to be good to hear, but he was willing to listen. He already knew what Randy wanted to say. “You’re in love with her.”



Randy’s eyes shot out of his sockets when he heard those words come out of John’s mouth, shocked that he already knew how Randy felt about Briana. This was surreal. Randy cringed, trying to find the right words to explain exactly why he was in love with Briana. Some things were just unexplanatory.



After letting that statement from John sink in, Randy finally found his voice.



“Yeah, I am. I’ve been in love with her ever since I first laid eyes on her. There’s something about her that peaks my interest greatly. What airport is she at?” Randy asked, knowing now more than ever the real reason behind John’s call.



John smirked to himself a bit, not believing how well Randy could read him. “She’s leaving for the airport right now as we speak. You better hurry. Her flight leaves in two hours.”



John hung up the phone and laid back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Why the hell did life have to be so damn complicated? He finally sat up and decided to make a few phone calls. He had to find out what Briana and Tina had been hiding from him all these years, no matter what it took. Whipping out his cell, John started dialing Tina’s cell phone number.



~*~*~*~



Briana sat at the airport, not looking at anyone or speaking as the tears swelled in her swollen red eyes. She honestly didn’t want to leave, but she knew with her leaving, John and Randy could finally get their lives back in order. Kyle had made John and Talethia’s lives a miserable nightmare ever since he found out about Briana’s departure.



Briana cringed at the mere fact that her mother had to suffer his brutal wrath, but that was the least of her worries. She was in love with a man who didn’t want her and it killed her spirit to no end. Briana kept thinking back to the night in the woods, even though it had happened a few days prior to now, and couldn’t help letting the waterworks start.



She was clearly in love with him.



That much was obvious, but she also knew he was too good for her. He deserved better and she wasn’t about to stand in his way. Briana would kindly step aside and let him live his life to the fullest.



His career was just starting to rise and she didn’t want to be the cause of him failing. She sighed heavily when she heard her flight being called to board and stood up, her carry-on bag in hand, starting to walk in the direction of the terminal, when she heard her name being bellowed from behind her. Just by the tone of voice, she knew exactly who it was and kept walking.



“BRIANA, WAIT!” Randy bellowed, knowing she had heard him, but what got him was the fact that she was still walking.



She was ignoring him, but Randy wasn’t giving up that easily. He sprinted toward the terminal, seeing she was handing her ticket over to the airport attendant, and grabbed her wrist before she could make the exchange. He turned her around and didn’t think twice about it as he pulled her in his strong arms and kissed her lips softly.



He had to convince her that he wanted her, but how? A kiss was the only solution Randy could think of at that time. He just hoped she didn’t push him away or reject him, even though deep down he knew he deserved it and more.



Briana immediately melted into the kiss, the tears falling freely down her cheeks, but knew this was wrong. With all the strength she could muster up, she gripped the front of Randy’s shirt and shoved him as far away from her as she possibly could. The anger boiled in her eyes and Briana acted instinctively, slapping the taste out of his mouth.



That was the next sound that echoed throughout the airport. His head barely flinched, but her hand was killing her. She glared up at him as she shook the hurt from her hand, watching in satisfaction as the red handprint formed on his cheek.



“Leave me alone, Randy. I don’t want to be anywhere near you right now or ever again. I’m going home and you’re not going to stop me.”



Randy looked down into her icy blue eyes, seeing all the hurt and pain he had caused her swimming through them, and sighed heavily. His cheek was on fire, but that wasn’t his main concern. “I love you, Briana. I know I’m not making sense, but you’ve got to believe me. You’re the ONLY woman I want.”



Briana shook her head, refusing to believe a word that came from his mouth. “Suddenly you want me after you found out I was eighteen. Why does age matter so much to you? Randy, our age difference is a HUGE deal to you and sooner or later, even if we did end up together right now, it would cause problems down the road. Just let me go and move on with your life.”



Panic started to set in Randy’s heart as he heard her heartbreaking words and sighed heavily, wishing he could make her see how much he actually did love her. That’s the whole reason behind him kissing her that night. Randy pulled her from the airport terminal, just needing a few minutes of her time.



“It doesn’t matter to me, Briana. I was confused and panicked because of your uncle, but none of that matters to me now...” Before he had a chance to finish, Briana shook her head and tried pulling her hand from his, feeling the tears spilling down her cheeks from the painful ache in her heart.



“Ma’am, the flight is leaving in five minutes. We need to get you boarded if we’re going to take off on time.” The flight attendant announced, breaking up Randy’s words, and smiled at the girl when she nodded her head in response.



“If you loved me truly, Randy, then you would have made love to me when you had the chance, regardless of whether or not I was ‘of age’. I’m sorry but I have to go. Have a nice life and forget about me.”



Briana then walked away from him, slipping her hand fully out of his grasp, and walked down the terminal with huge tears sliding down her cheeks. This was the hardest goodbye she would ever have to endure and hated herself for it more and more. Somehow, Briana knew she was making the right decision, refusing to look back because, if she did, it would only be more agonizing.



Randy watched her walk away from him, knowing she was doing this because of him, and felt remorseful for letting her go that easily. He knew she wasn’t changing her mind, but his feelings for her would never change.



‘I will have you back, Briana. Mark my words. You’re mine and nothing is going to keep us apart.’ Randy thought, dismally walking away from the terminal as the plane took off, never seeing the blue eyes watching his every move from inside the plane.



“I love you too, Randy, but I have no choice.” Briana whispered to herself as she watched him walk away from the airport terminal gate, and felt her heart shatter once more.



Not only had she lost her uncle, but she had just lost the only man who ever loved her and actually admitted it. There was no turning back either. This was the end, or so she thought, as the plane lifted in feet quickly and eventually the airport itself was out of sight.



Chapter 11



The flight was long to say the least, but as soon as the plane landed, Briana was on her way toward her prison she had to call home. She sighed heavily when she stepped out of the airport and proceeded to make the journey home by foot. It would give her time to think about what to tell her mother, knowing she couldn’t trust the truth because Tina would spill to Kyle after the first smack.



An hour later she finally arrived; only to see about one hundred police cars were in front of her prison. Sirens blared, guns pointed out, and there stood Kyle in the distance with the biggest smirk on his face. Briana wanted to walk over to him and slap the smirk right off his face, but decided against it, especially with so many guns in sight. Briana ran a hand through her hair, swallowing hard, and reluctantly walked over to Kyle.



“Where’s my mother?” She asked timidly, a sick feeling brewing in the pit of her stomach.



Kyle heard that familiar voice behind him and turned around, coming face to face with the little bitch that had caused him so much trouble over the past few months, and glared at her hatefully. He walked over to her, putting a smile on for the police and pulled her roughly into his arms, hugging her tightly. Too tightly. He leaned down, making it look like he was kissing her cheek, but instead whispered something in her ear.



“Your mother is gone and is never coming back. Go see for yourself and then get right back here. We have business to attend too.”



Briana felt chilled to the bone as she heard his words and felt tears brimming her eyelids, blue eyes advanced toward the house. She knew her mother was dead and it confirmed to be true as a stretcher was wheeled out of the king sized mansion, blood covering the top of the sheet that her mother laid under. Kyle had finally taken his beatings and raping too far.



“MOM!!!” Briana screamed and ran over to the stretcher, collapsing on top of her dead body and lifted the sheet, feeling sick to her stomach when she seen Tina’s lifeless body before her. It was the most sickening display Briana had ever seen. She slowly touched her mother’s lips with her fingertips and cried harder, not believing her mother was dead. They were cold and stuff. Briana whipped around and pointed at Kyle, angry tears flowing down her cheeks, screaming.



“HE DID IT!!! HE FUCKING KILLED MY MOTHER!!!!”



One of the police officers seen this display and looked over at Kyle, seeing he had a shocked expression on his face, and walked over to Briana. His name was Jason and he was a member of the police academy for the North Carolina police station. He looked at Briana, knowing he didn’t feel something right about this Kyle.



“Miss, what did you say?” Jason asked softly, flashing his badge.



“He killed her. He killed my mother. He killed her because she let me go on the road with my Uncle John for a few months to get away from his abusiveness. He hits me and makes me do things that are very uncomfortable.” Briana confessed, not able to hide it any longer, and knew this police officer wouldn’t believe her.



Nobody would.



Jason sighed heavily, knowing he couldn’t take Kyle into custody without some kind of evidence for the crime. “Okay, what’s your name?” He asked, pulling out a pad of paper.



“Briana. Briana Cena.” She replied, refusing to use Kyle’s last name as her own because she hated the man with so much passion, her eyes filled with pure hatred.



Jason could tell she was telling him the truth just by the look in her eyes and how she carried herself, deciding to look more in depth to this. Even though Kyle was a wealthy individual and a member of the democrats in the state of North Carolina, that still didn’t mean this girl wasn’t telling him the truth. He took a deep breath, wishing there was something he could do right now. “Alright, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’m going to look deeper and try to find out anything I can for you. Matter of fact...” Jason trailed off, reaching in his pocket and brought out a business card, handing it to her. “My cell and home phone number is on that card. If you need to reach me at ANY time, don’t hesitate to call me, alright?”



Briana nodded, not even in the mood to smile at him. “Thank you. I will do that. I don’t want to stay here with him tonight though.”



Jason sighed heavily as he put his police hat back on his head. “Unfortunately for the time being, Briana, you don’t have a choice.”



“But I’m eighteen years old.” She argued, fear gripping her insides as she seen the pure deadly intentions in Kyle’s eyes staring back at her. There was no way she could ever stay here alone with him.



He’d kill her too.



“I’m sorry about this, Officer Riles. My daughter seems to have quite the imagination. I loved her mother dearly and I was terrified for her safety after Tina let her go on the road with her uncle for her summer vacation. He’s a dangerous individual and should be dealt with immediately.” Kyle calmly stated, hiding the mere fact that, once he got alone with Briana later on that night, there was going to be hell to pay.



Serious hell.



Jason just nodded, feeling terrible for having to leave Briana with this man who claimed to be innocent, but Jason felt something else about him. He didn’t like the way Kyle had wrapped his arm around Briana’s shoulder, nor the fact when she shuddered at his touch. There was something there and he was determined to find out, regardless of what his Lieutenant said. He just tipped his hat to Kyle and Briana, secretly winked at her.



“You’ll be hearing from us in a few days about this ordeal, Mr. Richards.”



Kyle nodded and flashed a fake sympathetic look as the police and ambulance drove away, taking Tina’s body with them, and Briana knew she was in serious trouble. She looked up at Kyle and sighed heavily when he pushed her toward the house. Once inside the house, Kyle immediately hauled back and backhanded Briana hard in the face, sending her to the floor below and smirked as the sickening thud of her body crashing echoed through the house. He then got on top of her and grabbed her by the throat, murder evident in his eyes.



“If you EVER tell ANYONE about what I do in this house again, I’ll kill you, just like I killed your mother!” He promised sharply, refusing to even make it a threat.



Briana had tears streaming down her cheeks at the mere fact that he just admitted what he had done to her mother and screamed when he picked her up by her hair, slamming her face into the stairs. Blood immediately started pouring out of Briana’s nose, having collided it with the edge of one of the stairs, but she wasn’t about to let this monster get the better of her. She quickly raced up the stairs with Kyle in hot pursuit of her, and ended up running into his bedroom.



The one place she did NOT want to be reminded of.



~*~*~*~



Randy sighed with a heavy heart as he walked into the next hotel where the WWE was scheduled to be wrestling. He couldn’t help letting the tears swell in his eyes at the mere thought of Briana. He seen John coming toward him, the same look in his eyes and, just by the look in Randy’s eyes, John knew that Randy hadn’t convinced Briana to stay. This really worried him because Kyle was a dangerous individual and he hadn’t been able to get a hold of Tina to save his life.



Something wasn’t right.



Randy looked over at John, blinking the tears away. “Hey man.” He greeted solemnly.



“Hey, you didn’t convince her, did you?” John stated, sighing heavier when Randy shook his head, and knew this wasn’t good. By now, Briana was home and in the clutches of Kyle. John hated the guy ever since Tina had brought him into their lives and especially now that Kyle had threatened Talethia, who hadn’t returned any of his phone calls.



It had been three days and not one single word.



“You haven’t gotten a hold of T either.” Randy pointed out, changing the subject to something else.



He didn’t want to even think about what Briana was going through. John had filled him in on this Kyle guy and Randy was rubbed the wrong way by him. There was just something about Kyle that didn’t set Randy’s sensors off right. Randy didn’t realize just how right he actually was about the monster.



John shook his head, feeling his heart break at the mention of her name. “I fucked up. I can’t believe I lost my cool with her like that. I was just concerned for her and Briana’s safety. What really unnerves me though, man, is the fact that I can’t fuckin’ get a hold of my sister. She won’t answer her cell phone and she normally does.”



Randy tapped his chin in thought, knowing that couldn’t be good, and wondered if Briana was in some kind of danger. He sighed heavier, feeling completely helpless because he couldn’t help her out. This was really frustrating him as he glanced at John.



“We need to find out what’s been going on in that household of Briana’s. Something tells me that we’re not gonna like what we find out either.”



Just as Randy finished his statement, John’s cell phone started ringing. He immediately excused himself and flipped it open. “Talethia?”



“Is this John Cena by chance?” The voice on the other line asked, making John’s eyebrow quirk in question and looked at Randy. Jason sighed as he rubbed his hand over his face, glad he’d gotten the right number. “Sir, this is the police department for North Carolina. Do you know two women by the names of Briana and Tina Cena-Richards?”



John could feel his stomach churning at the mention of his sister and niece’s name and took a deep breath, trying not to be a pessimist. “Yeah, Tina is my sis and Briana is my niece. What’s going on, officer?” John asked, feeling that sick feeling in his stomach erupt at the next words that came out of this police officer’s mouth.



“Mr. Cena, you need to get to North Carolina immediately. Something happened to your sister.”



John hung up on him and immediately ran out of the hotel lobby toward the airport with Randy hot on his trail. Whatever set John off was something serious because John couldn’t even drive to the airport. He was shaking so hard, his teeth chattered as Randy slid in the driver’s side, peeling out of there.



‘Please be safe Bri.’ Randy silently prayed, hoping they weren’t too late.



Chapter 12



Kyle felt his blood boiling over at Briana’s stupid, childish ways of trying to get away from him, but none of it mattered. He had her right where he wanted her and NOTHING was going to keep him from her now. Kyle smirked as he stalked up the stairs, taking his sweet time, wanting the fear to grip her insides and feel her heart literally explode in her chest before he made his move on her.



He smirked as he sauntered over to her, after walking inside the bedroom, and slammed the door with so much force; the hinges almost broke off. He seen her curled up in a corner and stalked over to her slowly, gripping her by her upper arm, and shoved her on top of the bed on her back. Briana let out a small yelp, but quickly closed her mouth when Kyle glared down at her hatefully.



This was the last predicament she wanted to be in.



“You can run, but you can’t hide, Briana. I will have what I want and what I want is YOU!” Kyle growled as he pounced on her out of nowhere, having the reflexes of a cat, and straddled her waist. When she started screaming for him to get off of her and struggled against his power, Kyle backhanded her across the face, making her cry out in pain.



“GET OFF OF ME!” Briana screamed louder, refusing to give up this fight as Kyle tore the front of her shirt completely down the middle and off of her, leaving her clad in a white lace bra. She felt the chunks rising in her throat at the sight of Kyle licking his lips hungrily as he stared at her full developed breasts.



Kyle rubbed his hands together, seeing Briana wasn’t going to cooperate, and gripped both of her tiny wrists in his large hand. He then proceeded to squeeze them together hard, giving her a warning not to fight him on this, but she obviously wasn’t getting it. Kyle wasn’t about to let her win this war as he reached down and, with a flick of his wrist, unsnapped her blue jeans and brought the zipper of them down.



“God, you’re so fucking hot, Briana. I’m gonna fuck this sweet pussy all night long for the rest of your life.” Kyle sickly promised as he pressed a brutal, lethal kiss to her lips, making them split instantly.



By now, tears were pouring down Briana’s cheeks and she knew what was coming. She tried her best to squeeze her lips together as tight as possible, not wanting to feel his nasty lips on hers, but it wasn’t happening. Briana shut her eyes tightly as she felt him pulling her jeans off of her and watched as he tossed them over his shoulder to the floor, leaving her clad in her matching white lace panties.



She tried bucking Kyle off of her with her hips and cried out in pain when she felt one of his fingers slide inside of her tight hole, making her wet instantly. Briana wasn’t turned on by this situation, but her body was telling Kyle something different. It didn’t matter who the finger belonged to, the human body reacted instinctively. Her sex immediately became wet, no matter what the circumstances.



“Kyle, please don’t do this...” Briana cried out as she felt him slide a second finger inside of her, the tears falling harder out the corners of her eyes.



“Your mind and heart may be saying no, Briana, but your body is telling me something different and I choose to listen to what your body says.” Kyle informed her, making Briana struggle even more as she heard that dreaded sound.



The one sound that had kept her awake at night for the past four grueling years. Kyle slowly slid his zipper down on his dress pants and kicked them off as he hovered over Briana’s body, seeing the tears flowing down her cheeks. Nobody was going to take her innocence except him. She was the reason why he married Tina in the first place; to get to Briana.



Briana squeezed her eyes tightly shut, waiting for the worse to come, when she heard a gunshot ring throughout Kyle’s bedroom. Her eyes snapped open wide and she could feel every tendon in her body tense, her body frozen. Her eyes widened at the sight of her one and only mother -who was known to be dead to the world- standing over them with a ninety nine millimeter gun in her hand.



Kyle’s body immediately collapsed on top of her, taking the breath out of Briana instantly, but Tina wasn’t about to let him crush her daughter. She took the tip of her steel toed boot and kicked him in the side and off of Briana, extending her hand to her daughter. “Baby, it’s me. I’m really here. Take my hand and I’ll explain everything to you.” She promised, knowing this would probably traumatize her daughter for the rest of her life, but Tina did what she had to do to protect her.



Beyond petrified by this point and having enough torture for one night, Briana didn’t even fight her mother on this. She slowly slipped her hand into Tina’s, who pulled her up on her feet, and they embraced nice and long. Tears poured out of each of their eyes as they finally broke it.



“How? I mean, I thought you were...” Briana choked out, not able to finish her statement, clinging to her mother for dear life.



Tina immediately pressed her finger to her daughter’s lips, hushing her as she looked down at Kyle’s lifeless and dead body. “I couldn’t let him take away the one thing that means more to life to a girl. He took mine and I wasn’t about to let that happen to my daughter. Come on we have to get out of here.”



Tina then walked over to the door and picked up a gallon of gasoline, knowing this was the only way to get rid of Kyle Richards for good. Briana seen what her mother was doing and nodded as she followed her mother’s footsteps and started pouring the gasoline all over the room. She then walked over and got some candles off of the night stand and lit them, making the fire blaze throughout the room.



Briana wanted to make it look like it was an accidental fire and made sure to pick up the ripped clothes that Kyle took off of her. After that was finished, she quickly slipped on a new pair of jeans and t-shirt that her mother had brought for her. Both of them then got out of the house before she burned inside along with the son of a bitch who tried to rape her that night.



Tina smiled at her daughter’s intelligence, knowing she inherited that from her father, and sighed heavily. She knew she would have to tell Briana who her biological father was someday, but right now wasn’t the time. After they seen the fire roaring to life, Tina grabbed the car keys to her new car she had rented, and handed Briana them. Briana looked at her mother in question.



“Listen to me, Briana. I need you to do something for me. I can’t be your mother anymore. I’m not Tina Cena any longer. Everyone thinks I’m dead and I want it to stay that way. The whole death was staged thanks to a few friends of mine from the hospital. Kyle did beat me, but he didn’t beat me to the point of death. He was so angry at me for letting you go on the road and I know that’s where you belong. You belong with your Uncle John and Randy Orton.”



“How did you know?” Briana managed to ask, eyes widened further.



Smiling gently as she smoothed out her daughter’s hair, Tina pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I know you. You’re my daughter and I know you’re in love with him. Go back to him, Briana. He’s a good man. Don’t worry; I did some checking up on him. He used to live in St. Louis, was married once, but that didn’t work out due to his wife committing adultery. That’s where you belong with him. I love you, Briana, but I need to get on with my life now. We can keep in contact with the cell phones, but under no circumstances are you to tell my brother that I’m alive. I don’t want him protecting me constantly for the rest of my life. We can finally be happy without this fucker in our lives, Briana. Do you understand?” Tina saw the tears in Briana’s blue eyes erupt and sighed heavily as she wiped them away with her thumb. “I love you my baby girl and I always will. Take this car to wherever you want. I know you secretly got your driver’s license when you were sixteen so I know you can drive. The insurance is in your name, but I’ll pay for it until you get on your feet. I love you and goodbye.”



Tina pressed one more kiss to her daughter’s forehead, hearing sirens in the distance, and ran like the wind toward her own getaway car. She peeled out of there like a bat out of hell and waved to her daughter one final time. Telling her to hurry up and get out of there before the police arrived before speeding away in the dead of night.



Briana looked down at the keys, feeling the tears pouring down her cheeks, and sighed heavily as she got in her new car that her mother had purchased for her, starting the ignition. She looked in the rearview mirror, seeing the lights in the distance of sirens, and didn’t look back as the pure white mansion burned slowly to the ground with Kyle’s lifeless body in it. She peeled out of her there and down the road at top speeds, never looking back.



She knew where she was headed, but didn’t know what she was going to do once she arrived there as she turned on the radio.



~*~*~*~



John and Randy sighed heavily as they walked into the airport, both trying to keep their composure. After the phone call from Officer Riles, the three immediately went to Kyle’s place and John felt sick to his stomach at the sight of the ashes before him. The house had been completely burnt to a crisp, but what was worse was the fact that they thought Briana had burnt in the house along with Kyle. The ashes were never found of Briana’s body, but Kyle’s was.



John wondered if maybe she had gotten out, but immediately took that thought back when Jason picked up a ripped fabric from her shirt that somehow survived the flames. Tears immediately welled up in John’s eyes as he seen Randy staring at the fabric in shock, not believing what Jason was trying to tell them. Briana had been raped and the fire was caused by too many candles lit around that Kyle had started. Randy felt sick to his stomach and excused himself as he ran outside and vomited all over the front yard.



He dropped to his knees and looked up at the sky, closing his blue eyes as the tears slid down his cheeks. “WHY?!?!” He bellowed out excruciatingly.



John immediately followed him, rubbing his back as his own tears slid down his cheeks freely, not believing he had not only lost his sister, but now his niece all in the same night. This had been the most insane night of their lives and it wasn’t a good insane either. After saying goodbye to Jason and taking statements for the crime, John and Randy headed back on the road with the WWE, knowing they couldn’t do anything more for Briana.



She was dead and gone…or so they thought.



Boy were they in for a surprise when they arrived back at the hotel later on that night.



Chapter 13



Present…



~Two Weeks Later~



After arriving at the hotel later that night, Briana asked for John’s room, saying she was his little niece on the road for a visit and she forgot her keycard in the room. The lady seemed trusting and handed Briana another keycard, making Briana smile weakly at her as she ventured upstairs.



It had been two weeks since Kyle’s death and she had read about his huge funeral in the papers. They were calling it a homicidal accident. Briana couldn’t help but jump with glee on the inside, not wanting her or her mother to go down for his murder when he clearly deserved it.



She sighed heavily, seeing the bruises on her faces had faded from Kyle’s backhand, but it was still a shady yellow. If people looked close enough, they could tell there was a faint bruise there. Briana didn’t have brown hair anymore. She had bought two boxes of red hair dye and changed it. It was now a dark auburn red with black tips. She looked good with it and it fit her to a T.



Briana felt her insides start quaking when she heard the elevator ding, signaling she had arrived at her uncle’s floor, and took a few deep breaths before walking down to his room. Once outside of it, Briana bit her bottom lip and brought her hand up, knocking three times, and hoped John was here. She had a lot of things to get off of her chest.



There was no holding back. She was tired of all the hurting and secrets. Whether her mother liked it or not, she was going to tell John everything and nobody was going to stop her.



John was sitting down on the couch, trying once again to get a hold of Talethia on his cell phone, when there was a knock on his hotel room door. He was in nothing but a pair of black word life boxers and barefooted. He sighed heavily, wondering who it could be at this hour, since it was after 2 A.M., and walked over to open the door. John about fell over when he looked into the baby blue eyes of his niece Briana, who he thought two weeks ago, had died in that fire at Kyle’s house.



He couldn’t move.



He couldn’t think.



He couldn’t breathe.



Briana felt the tears instantly come to her eyes as she looked at her uncle, who had this shocked, disbelieving look on his face. “Hi Uncle John, it’s really me. I didn’t die in that fire.” Her voice was soft, hoping he didn’t hate her.



John didn’t say anything as he immediately took the little girl in his arms, squeezing the life out of her as tears flowed down his cheeks freely; not believing his niece was alive and well. He noticed she had changed her hair color and had a faint bruise on her cheek, but all he was worried about was holding her in his arms. They stood like that for what seemed like ages.



He couldn’t believe it was really her. She was alive. After taking a few minutes to let everything sink in, John finally broke the hug and took her face in his hands, still not believing she was here.



“My god, I thought you were dead! Come on in so we can talk.” He ordered, pressing a kiss to her forehead.



Briana nodded and wiped her tears away with her hand as she walked inside of his hotel room, shaking her head at the mess that was all over the place. She smirked over at her uncle, who still had this incredulous look on his face. “Why don’t we clean this mess up while I talk to you about what I came here to say?” She suggested, already starting.



John nodded, completely agreeing and started helping her clean up the pop cans and pizza boxes strewn all over the room. “I still can’t believe you’re here. You scared the living shit out of both me and Randy, young lady.”



Briana immediately stopped what she was doing, eyes squeezing shut at the mention of Randy’s name. “Please don’t mention him right now. I don’t want to talk about him or see him. I need time to heal.” Her voice was strained, swallowing hard.



Sighing heavily, John stopped what he was doing and took Briana in his arms as soon as she started crying, stroking her back gently. He tried to soothe her the best way he could, but wasn’t sure if he could protect her this time. It was from a broken heart, that much he knew, and he hated it.



Randy had already paid and confided in John about what happened and that’s why he wasn’t six feet under right now because John understood. He lifted Briana’s face to meet his, their eyes locking. “When you’re ready to talk about what happened between you two, I’ll be here to listen, aight?” He wanted to be there for her, refusing to push Briana because, honestly, she’d been through enough.



Briana nodded as she wiped her tears away again and stood up, starting to pace like a caged animal in front of her uncle. John immediately knew that she was ready to confide in him. He just wasn’t prepared for what he was about to hear. He looked at her, seeing she was fidgeting with her hands and started to say something, when there was a knock on his hotel room door. He looked at Briana, seeing her blue eyes were wide with confusion, and stood up to see who it was.



It was Randy.



“Hey, man. You ready to go get some grub?” Randy gruffly asked, his mood change from bad to worse still in effect ever since Briana’s ‘death’. He still couldn’t believe Briana was dead and out of his life. All he wanted was to apologize and make her his forever, but now that was never going to happen.



He didn’t realize how dead WRONG he was.



John sighed heavily as he looked back at Briana and knew she would hate him for this, but Randy had a right to know she was alive. He slowly opened the door all the way, giving Randy what he wanted to see for the past two weeks. “She didn’t die in that fire, Randy. She’s alive and that’s her.” He pointed, avoiding eye contact with Briana.



Randy blinked several times as shock filled his heart instantly, not believing he was seeing the love of his life in front of him, and could feel the tears already sliding down his cheeks. He slowly walked in the room toward her, seeing the tears already sliding down her cheeks as well, and finally stood two feet away from her. He reached out his arms to her, seeing she was still hurt and wounded from what he had done.



“Briana, please come to me. I need to hold you.” He pleaded, wondering if this was a dream.



“Why? So you can hurt me again? I don’t think so, Randy. You made the mistake of letting me go when you refused to make love to me because of our age difference. It’s like I told you before, our age difference will eventually crush us in the long run, even if we were together right now. Please, just give me time to heal my broken heart. I just lost my mother and I don’t want to feel any more pain.” Briana explained, feeling her heart breaking even more at the look in Randy’s eyes and sighed heavily as he stormed out of John’s hotel room, but not before turning around and saying something to her.



“I hope you know what you’re doing, Briana, because I’m not coming back this time. I can’t wait forever for you, but I will wait for a while. If you should decide you want to be with me and forgive me, you’ll know where to find me.” Randy stated in a low voice and said goodbye to John as he stormed down the hallway of the hotel, his own heart breaking into a million pieces at her harsh words. He just wished she could see how sorry he was for hurting her.



Apparently, though, it would never be enough.



John sighed as he shut the door quietly. “I’m sorry for doing that to you, Bri, but he had a right to know that you were alive.”



Briana nodded and sat down on the bed, feeling her resolve weakening more as she felt the bed dip. She looked up at her uncle, who was smiling at her sweetly. “I’m so confused right now, uncle. I love him. I really do, but he hurt me so much. I know I’m probably being childish about this whole thing, but how do I know that our age difference won’t come into play down the road if I should decide to be with him? I don’t want to feel this pain anymore because it’s worse than what Kyle did to me.”



The room became eerily quiet as John looked at his niece with questioning eyes, making Briana sigh heavily. “What did that fucker do to you?” He finally demanded, not able to hold back.



Standing up and starting to pace again, Briana ran a hand through her hair and looked at John, who was looking back at her with intense eyes. “You sure you wanna know the truth?” She asked warningly, arching an eyebrow.



John nodded profusely. “I want to know everything, Briana. Tell me everything. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”



Taking a deep shaky breath, Briana locked eyes with her uncle. “Mom isn’t dead. She’s still very much alive and she’s the one who killed Kyle and set the house on fire.” She confessed in a low voice.



John’s eyes shot out to the size of potatoes as he looked at his niece, who had tears streaming down her face. “C-C-Come again??” He stammered, blinking.



Briana bent down to look up into John’s shocked filled blue eyes, nodding. “She did what she thought was best. She had the whole thing staged, thanks to some friends at the hospital who knew what kind of person Kyle really was.” Briana took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she stood back up on her feet. “Kyle tried raping me, John. I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t. He was on top of me and ripped my clothes off and was just about to take me when a gunshot rang throughout the room. It was mom and she had shot him in the back of the head. It was one shot and he was gone. We couldn’t take the rap for the murder so we made it look like Kyle had caused the fire himself with candles. We lit them all over the place and then got the hell out of there. John, you can’t tell anyone that she’s alive. She doesn’t want anyone knowing she is because she wants to start out a whole new life. We call each other exactly once a month, just to catch up, but she’s not my mother anymore. She told me to come with you on the road, said you’d take care of me. You don’t need to though. I’m leaving anyway. I need to clear my head and get my priorities straight about some things.”



“Why didn’t you tell me about this to begin with, Bri? I could’ve stopped him from hurting you and my sister.” John sighed as he asked that question, running a hand through his short brown hair. It was still damp from the shower he had just before Briana showed up and gave him the shock of his life.



Briana honestly didn’t know how to answer that question as she looked at John. “Mom didn’t want you getting involved in our problems. She figured Kyle would get his act together and stop abusing us both physically and mentally, but it never happened. She finally sent me on the road with you, hoping she could talk some sense into Kyle, but all he did was beat the shit out of her for letting me come on the road with you.”



John sighed heavier, not believing what his niece was telling him, and felt bad for not being there for them when they needed him the most. He finally looked up at her, eyebrows furrowed. “How long has this been going on?” He asked in a strained voice. “Don’t lie to me either, Briana. I want to know how long you two have been enduring his pain and torture.” John was done with the games and lies. He wanted to know everything that had happened.



“Four years. Four fucking years, John.” Briana said barely above a whisper, making John’s blood boil as he tried to let this news digest. He was still getting over the shock about his niece actually being alive.



John immediately stood up and took Briana in his arms, hugging her tight against his chest. “If you leave, which is fine, you’re not going just anywhere. You can stay at my place in West Newbury. There’s nobody there and it’s peaceful and huge. Don’t leave me, Bri. I need you now more than ever, especially since I just lost Talethia.”



Briana felt the fire build up in her eyes as she heard that come from John’s mouth and shook her head. “Love stinks, uncle. It really does.” By now she had walked over to the window, looking out of it and finally sighed. “Alright, fine, I’ll stay in West Newbury, but only until I can find a job and make some money.”



“Deal. Now, are you hungry because I’m starving and I need some grub?” John admitted, making Briana laugh as she shook her head at her uncle.



“Yeah, I am ya bottomless pit, but where are we gonna go at three A.M. in the morning?” Briana retorted, turning around to face John, and smiled when he winked at her. He grabbed his jersey and slipped on a pair of baggy blue jean shorts.



“You let me worry about that, Bri. Just get yourself ready and let’s get out of here. There’s plenty of places open in Virginia.” John stated in a sassy tone, making Briana laugh harder.



A few minutes later, they were on their way to an all night diner John knew about that was down the street from the hotel.



Chapter 14



Briana was on her way to West Newbury, Massachusetts, her childhood home, a few days later. She couldn’t believe how big John’s house was. It was a crisp white with navy blue trimmings and the front yard seemed to be all caught up. John always had someone come in and mow the grass when it was spring and summer, sometimes even fall.



She inhaled the scent of the air, seeing John lived on the outskirts of the town, and walked up the steps to the house. She walked in and kicked off her shoes, remembering John’s warning at the airport later on that day, and sighed heavily when she heard a shower running upstairs. ‘Probably Trademarc.’ Briana thought and giggled at the thought of seeing him after all these years. Trademarc was her second cousin and John’s first. He was really cool and not bad looking either, but nothing compared to John.



After looking around a little bit longer, Briana finally decided to kick back on the couch and relax. She grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and flipped on the TV, smiling when she heard the shower go off. She decided to scare the hell out of her second cousin and got up off of the couch as she pressed her back against the nearest wall, waiting for him to emerge from downstairs.



She was trying so hard not to laugh.



Stepping on the last stair of the case and heading for his room, which was downstairs near the kitchen, Randy started heading in that direction when he heard a scream come from behind him. He immediately jumped and spun around, his electric blue orbs wide with shock at the sight of Briana and knew this wasn’t good. No wonder John had convinced him to come here for the next two weeks, that he had vacation for, to get his head straight. He just hoped Briana wasn’t upset about this arrangement.



“Look, before you say anything, I didn’t know...”



“What are you doing here?? You’re not supposed to be here, Randy.” Briana demanded, crossing her arms in front of her chest and started for the door, not about to spend her off time with the man who had broken her heart. His hand reached out and stopped her, forcing her to turn around and stared up into his blue eyes. Noticing he was in nothing but a towel, Briana had to exhale slowly or else she would faint.



“Please stay here. I promise I won’t try anything. Hell, I’ll even stay in my room for the rest of the time I’m here if you want, but don’t leave on my account.” Randy pleaded, knowing this could be his one last shot to get through to her that he wanted to be with her, regardless of their age difference. He loved her, but was willing to go as slow as she wanted.



Briana sighed heavily, finally giving in to him, and yanked her arm out of his grip. “Fine, but let’s make one thing clear: under NO circumstances are we to touch or bother each other. I’m here to clear my head, not to get my heart broken again by you.” She then stormed upstairs to her room -which John had specifically made for her when he built the house- and slammed the door hard.



Randy smirked as he looked up the stairs and silently thanked John in his mind for sending him here on his two week break from the road. He whistled with a little kick in his step as he ventured off to his bedroom to get dressed, thoughts of what he was going to do for Briana over the next two weeks running through his mind. They were going to be VERY interesting to say the least.



~*~*~*~



The last couple of days were hell on earth for Briana and Randy. Both for two completely different reasons respectfully. Randy wanted to be with Briana, but she kept pushing him away every time he’d try to talk to her. Tonight was no exception to that rule.



“You almost ready for dinner, beautiful?” Randy asked, looking over at her as she sat on the couch in front of the fireplace, flipping through a magazine absentmindedly.



Briana rolled her eyes as she kept flipping through the pages. “I’m not eating what you make. I’ll make my own food and don’t call me that.” Her voice was so cold and unforgiving that it was breaking Randy in half.



Randy sighed heavily, knowing he couldn’t win with an attitude like this. “Aight fine.” He mumbled out. “Damn, you don’t have to bite my damn head off about it. I was only trying to be nice.”



“Whatever, Randy. Just count me out of your half-hearted ways of trying to make up for what you did.” Briana shot back, not even looking at him as she curled up more on the couch, her feet becoming a little chilled.



Randy growled from the low in the back of his throat. “Bitch.” He then poured the spaghetti noodles into the strainer in the sink and popped them up and down before pouring them back in the same pot he boiled them in.



“I wouldn’t be a bitch if SOMEBODY wouldn’t have hurt me.” Briana retorted smugly as she stood up and placed her hands on her hips, making Randy shake his head.



He ran a hand down his face as he stirred the spaghetti sauce. “I already apologized for that and I’m not doing it again. I didn’t know you were eighteen that night and the circumstances were not right, Briana. If you wanna hate me forever, fine, but don’t expect me to feel sorry for you anymore.”



Briana’s eyes narrowed to slits as she threw her magazine down on the table and crossed her arms in front of her chest, glaring at Randy hatefully. “You haven’t even come CLOSE to making up for what you did to me.” She smirked when Randy started growing frustrated and loved it when he threw the pan of sauce in the sink, watching some of it splatter on the walls as he burned himself on the handle.



“HOT SHIT HOT SHIT!!” Randy shouted out as he waved his hand frantically and glared at her when she smirked at him. “Son of a bitch that hurt!” Randy bellowed as he sucked on his finger to get the swelling down from the burn.



“Why don’t you try running luke warm water underneath it instead of standing there looking like a complete moron?” Briana suggested as she rolled her eyes and turned back around, planting herself on the couch, and smiled when the phone rang. “Hello?”



“Who the hell is this?!” Talethia’s voice immediately shouted, thinking it was a ring rat at John’s house instead of her.



Briana couldn’t help but start laughing as she shook her head. “Number one, calm down. It’s Briana, T.”



Talethia pressed a hand to her chest as she breathed a huge sigh of relief, not believing she would think that John would ever cheat on her. “Thank God. I thought I was gonna have to kill someone for stealing my man.”



Briana giggled when heard that and immediately became serious when Randy walked in the living room, carrying a full plate of spaghetti in his hand, and set it down on the coffee table in front of her. She bit her bottom lip, not about to say thank you to the man who had broken her heart, and ignored what he just did for her. “If you’re looking for John, he’s not gonna be here until tomorrow night sometime.”



“Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to surprise him, Briana, but in order to do that, I need your help. I’m at the airport right now and in desperate need to get something for John. Can you help me out?” Talethia asked in a begging voice, hoping John’s niece would help her out with her master plan of getting John back. She had missed him like crazy and wanted nothing more than to be in his strong arms once more. She felt safe and secure in his arms and that’s where she knew she truly belonged.



Briana smiled widely, wanting nothing more than to get out of the house and away from Randy. “Give me about an hour and I’ll be there to get you. You’re a lifesaver, T. Thanks again.” Before Talethia could question her about that, Briana hung up the phone and immediately rushed upstairs with Randy hot on her trail.



“HEY! Get back here right now and eat!” Randy shouted after her, making Briana roll her eyes as she stormed into her room and slammed the door in his face, making Randy incredibly upset.



It took a lot to get Randy pissed off, but at this point in time, he was at the breaking point. Randy banged on her door, knowing she wouldn’t open it. “I’m giving you to the count of five to get back down here and eat your dinner or else you’re not going anywhere.” He shouted threateningly.



Briana ignored his threat, knowing it was harmless, and peeled her shirt off as she pulled on a black tank top just as her door swung open. Her blue eyes grew as big as potatoes and anger quickly set in. “GET OUT OF MY ROOM!” She screeched, covering herself the best she could.



Randy crossed his arms in front of his chest, a cocky smirk crossing his lips. “Make me.” He taunted smugly.



Briana growled in frustration as she stalked over to him and planted both of her hands on his chest, shoving him as hard as she could muster up, and only made him take a step back. The man was a damn tree! It was impossible for her to move him and she was getting fed up with being treated like a child.



“Listen here, fucker, I am NOT a child and I already told you I did NOT want any of your food. You go eat all you want, but I have something better I’m doing right now.”



Randy refused to move as he smiled at her way of trying to get him to leave. “Where you going?” He asked casually.



“None of your business, now move out of my way before I call John and have him come here one night early so he can kick your ass for patronizing me.” Briana stated in a low, warning tone and Randy knew she wasn’t kidding.



The last thing he needed was John’s foot up his ass so he stepped aside, staring her down like a hawk the entire time, and watched as she ran downstairs out the door. He sighed heavily, knowing he messed up again, and wondered if they would ever be on good terms again. Randy ventured downstairs after he heard the car squeal out of the driveway and sat down at the coffee table, staring at her plate of spaghetti. Feeling sick to his stomach, Randy picked it up and threw it in the garbage, not caring about anything anymore.



~*~*~*~



Briana sighed heavily as she walked down the stairs from her room later on that night, smiling when she seen Randy was nowhere to be found. It had been a busy night with picking Talethia up and taking her shopping to find something she wanted for John. She finally found it and Briana couldn’t have been more grateful. They were gone for over seven hours and finally made it back to the house, both beat from the trips they took.



Talethia was staying in John’s bedroom.



Briana’s heart hurt to push Randy away like this, but she wasn’t sure she could fully trust another man in her life after what Kyle had done to both her and her mother. Truth was, Briana was in love with Randy, but she wasn’t sure how he felt about her. Sure, he had begged her forgiveness, but that’s not what she wanted.



She wanted him to sweep her off her feet and make her feel like a real woman. Terrified of the man wasn’t the way to be feeling, but then again, Randy was huge compared to her five foot eight frame. He was almost a whole foot taller than her.



Briana sighed heavily, knowing exactly what she needed to relieve some stress. She smiled as she walked over to her uncle’s stereo system and then ran back up to her room to retrieve the perfect song that fit how she truly felt about Randy. Listening to it might put some things in perspective for her, though Briana doubted it.



After popping the CD in and pressing the track number, Briana leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes, listening to the music as it flowed through her and the entire house. She needed this more than anything at that moment and didn’t care who she woke up...





Looking back at me I see

That I never really got it right

I never stopped to think of you

I’m always wrapped up in

Things I cannot win

You are the antidote that gets me by

Something strong

Like a drug that gets me high





One of Randy’s eyes popped open as he heard the loud music flowing through the house and into his closed bedroom door. It was so loud that he felt like his brain was being rattled, but also knew how much Briana loved music. This was probably what she needed to get her mind off of things.



Kyle had done a terrible thing to both her and Tina. Randy wished he could do something to help her through this tough time. Deep down, however, he knew the only person who could help Briana was herself. Randy sighed heavily as he stood up from the bed and walked out of the room just as the next set of lyrics from the song hit him like a ton of bricks...





What I really meant to say

Is I’m sorry for the way I am

I never meant to be so cold





Briana had huge tears sliding down her cheeks, not believing how true the lyrics were about her feelings for Randy. She leaned over and pushed play again, playing it over and never seen the blue eyes staring at her with a broken heart. She could feel eyes on her and slowly looked up from staring down at the floor, locking eyes with Randy’s, and couldn’t help but start crying her eyes out.



“God, I’m so sorry, Randy. I never meant to be so cold to you or anyone for that matter. I should have told you what was going on, but I was afraid you wouldn’t believe a kid like me.”



Randy took Briana into his arms carefully, not wanting to frighten her, and stroked her back as he tried to soothe her. He sighed when she called herself a kid and immediately pulled back, staring in her glossy blue eyes. “You are by no means a kid, Briana. You’re the most beautiful, intelligent and funny woman I’ve ever met in my entire life.”



Briana wiped her tears away and smiled when Randy helped in that department by leaning down, but not before asking his permission to do so. She giggled, nodding as he kissed her tears away gently; then her lips in a soft caress. Briana immediately melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his thick, muscled up neck, and pulled him closer to her as their arms wrapped around each other. She felt at home once again and no fear consumed her soul. After breaking the kiss, Briana looked deep into his eyes, so many emotions swirling in her own.



“I want to start over. I don’t want to rush this because I don’t want to make a mistake with you.”





And I’m sorry about all the lies

Maybe in a different light

You could see me stand on my own again

Cause now I can see

You were the antidote that got me by

Something strong like a drug that got me high

I never meant to be so cold





Randy nodded, completely understanding where she was coming from, and scooted away from her a little as he extended his hand with a grin. “My name is Randy Orton. I’m a professional wrestler for the World Wrestling Entertainment.”



Smiling from ear to ear as she slipped her small hand into his much larger one, Briana stared deep into his eyes. “It’s nice to meet you, Randy. My name is Briana Cena and I’m John’s niece.”



Randy laughed as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her lips softly, making Briana giggle as she snuggled into his chest, completely content with him kissing her. That’s all they would do for the time being until she was comfortable moving forward with their relationship. “Thank you for giving me another chance, beautiful.”



Her heart swelled at his nickname he had given to her and looked up at him. “No, thank you Randy.” She closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into his massive arms and chest, making Randy smile down at her.





I never really wanted you to see

The screwed up side of me that I keep

Locked inside of me so deep

It always seems to get to me

I never really wanted you to go

So many things you should have known

I guess for me there’s just no hope

I never meant to be so cold





He gently stroked her eyebrow with his thumb, lulling her into a slumber as he thought to himself, ‘She makes me crazy sometimes, but I love her.’



Before falling into a deep sleep, Briana slowly opened her eyes to lock with Randy’s and smiled. “I love you.” She whispered before yawning.



Randy could feel the tears already stinging his eyes as he stared down at her, seeing she was serious about it, and kissed her lips softly. “I love you too, beautiful. I have since we first met.”



Briana nodded as she felt him pick her up and walked her to his room, wanting nothing more than to spend the night in this man’s arms. That’s all they did too. Randy was very grateful to her for giving him another chance with her.



He had really messed it up the last time and was bound and determined to take this chance for the long run. The sounds of Crossfade flowed through his mind as it blasted out of John’s stereo system in the living room. He ventured off into a slumber with Briana wrapped up in his strong embrace, knowing they were always meant to be.



Chapter 15



Exhaustion filled the features of John’s face as he stumbled through his door that following early morning. It was around four o’clock and he knew nobody would be up. He wondered if Randy and Briana killed each other and were trying to find ways to hide each other’s bodies. It didn’t make a lick of sense, but John wasn’t about to over analyze anything, especially with having only two hours of sleep the previous night.



Ever since Talethia had disappeared from his life, sleep just wasn’t in John’s forte. Countless hours were spent tossing and turning but thankfully, it wasn’t affecting his work in the ring. Adrenaline was the one to thank for that.



John sighed heavily as he walked over to his stereo system, seeing it was on and smiled, knowing it was Briana who had used it. Nobody else in his family was allowed to use his stereo system except Briana because she knew what she was doing and knew how to use it. He shook his head when the CD popped out and seen what it was.



Crossfade had always been one of Briana’s favorite bands. He carefully placed the CD on top of his entertainment center and closed the glass door that held his expensive stereo equipment inside. He then walked over to his bag of luggage and headed upstairs.



He dreaded sleeping alone again, but knew he needed to stop this non sleeping business. It was affecting him emotionally and physically, except in the ring. That’s the only time he wouldn’t think about what he had done to Talethia. Only because he didn’t want to let down his fans.



The knob of John’s bedroom door started to turn, making Talethia moan gently as she flipped over on her back, her hand resting on her stomach and the other laying carelessly at her side. She was wearing a tight black tank top that showed off the tops of her breasts perfectly and the covers hid the rest of her surprise. She didn’t expect John home that early, but didn’t know he was because she was sleeping and dreaming of him. John was absolutely shell shocked as he stared at her. She was absolutely breathtaking as her fiery red hair pooled around her in waves.



His bag dropped to the floor, not caring if it woke anyone up and slowly walked over to her, hoping this wasn’t a mirage from not getting enough sleep. He timidly reached out, tears forming in his blue eyes and gently caressed her face with the back of his hand, almost losing it right then and there, but he kept his emotions in check. John was never one to lose it, but that’s how much Talethia meant to him.



She was his everything.



Talethia’s blue eyes slowly fluttered open as she looked into John’s misty ones and immediately sat up, hugging him close to her as her arms wrapped around his thick, muscled up neck, never wanting to let him go. “Oh God, John!” She whispered against his ear, making John hold her even tighter.



They both never wanted to let go.



“I thought I lost you. I would’ve bet my fuckin’ life on it.” John whispered back, not believing she was there with him in the flesh. It wasn’t a mirage or a figment of his imagination. She was really there in his arms and trying to soothe him.



Talethia pulled back from him, taking his face in her hands. “I love you and I will always love you, John. I knew you were under a lot of stress about Kyle and Briana and I know how much she means to you. I should have taken your feelings into consideration, but I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry for pushing you away, John. I’ve missed you so much and I want nothing more than to be your girlfriend, wife, spouse, whatever you want me to be. As long as I’m with you, I can get through anything in life.”



John smiled with tears in his eyes as he stared at her, rubbing his thumb gently across her cheek. He took her hands in his and kissed her lips ever so softly, making a small half sigh, half moan escape Talethia’s lips. When they parted, John smirked at her as he reached in his jean short pocket and pulled out the ring that he had proposed to her with at Niagara Falls and slipped it on her finger. He’d been carrying it around with him ever since she left, refusing to give up hope of them getting back together.



“This ring belongs to you and nobody else. I was gonna pawn it, but I couldn’t go through with it because I knew you’d come back to me and we’d be together. I’m sorry for not thinking before opening my mouth, but I’d like to make it up to you.”



“How?” Talethia asked seductively, smiling coyly at him.



She closed her eyes as John captured her lips with his once more, gently guiding her down on top of the bed, the fire lighting in her soul once more. That’s all it took. One kiss from John and Talethia entire body became a blaze of sexual fury.



They ended up getting up four more times that morning to make love and didn’t get out of bed until later on the next day.



~*~*~*~



Briana’s eyes slowly fluttered open as she stared up into the electric blue eyes that were staring back at her. A twinkle of mischief swam through them and Briana knew she was in trouble. She smiled as she kissed his lips passionately, feeling the familiar ache between her thighs, and wanted nothing more than for Randy to take her over and over again as his.



“Mmm Randy...” Briana moaned out as the diamond rock on her finger glistened in the beam of sunlight that hit it from the stream in the window.



“God I love you, beautiful.” Randy groaned against her ear, loving the feeling of her soft body against his, and Briana just melted into his arms completely as the memory of how they got to this point started flowing through her mind.



After two years of being together and getting to know each other, Randy finally couldn’t wait any longer. He knew if he didn’t do something quick, he was going to lose Briana again and that wasn’t about to happen. He took her out for a nice dinner and then back to the same place where their fight had started.



Only this time, things went different. Randy made love to her on the blanket with the music flowing through the stereo system, after they danced the night away, and ended up falling asleep in each other’s arms. Briana was shocked when she woke up to find Randy twirling a piece of string around his finger, making her quirk her eyebrow in confusion.



“What’s that?” Briana asked, making Randy look at her with a glint of happiness in his eyes, but there was also worry.



“I need to ask you something, beautiful.” Randy softly said, still looking at the piece of string and this scared Briana to no end.



She took the string away from him and grabbed his face as she kissed his lips softly. “You can ask me anything, Randy. You’re scaring me so please tell me what is bothering you.” Her favorite thing about Randy besides his good heart was his eyes. They were the clearest, yet unique shade of blue she’d ever seen and she fell for them instantly.



Taking the string back from Briana and looking deep into her eyes, Randy lifted Briana’s hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on top of it as he tied the string to her ring finger, confusing Briana even more. Randy could see her blue eyes were swimming with questions and took a deep, shaky breath. “We’ve been together for two years and I can’t wait any longer to do this, beautiful. It may be fast and stupid, but I’ve been in love with you ever since we first met. I love everything about you. There isn’t just one thing. Your eyes, lips, nose, throat, body, mind, soul, heart, everything about you I love deeply.” Randy took her left hand in his, never breaking eye contact with her, and continued. “The reason why I’m holding this string is because it symbolizes something. You see, a string can only break when it is cut with a sharp pair of scissors or knives, and that’s what our love is like. It’s this single strand of string that never breaks, unless it is cut, which will never happen. I want you to look at this string as a symbol of our love for each other because with this ring...” Randy trailed off as he took the three stoned silver diamond ring and started sliding it down the string, making tears come to Briana’s eyes instantly. Randy smiled widely at her as he finished his statement. “And this string, nothing can break us apart. Briana, will you do me the honor and privilege of becoming my wife?”



Briana was absolutely shell shocked as she stared at the diamond ring, which was cut into a shape of a heart and had two ruby stones on each side of the heart shaped diamond. Briana finally got her wits about her and nodded in response, tears pouring down her cheeks as she tackled Randy to the ground and rained kisses all over his face.



Randy laughed as he looked in her eyes, the worry still there. “Is that a yes or a no?”



“What do you think?” Briana retorted, running her finger down his chest as they kissed each other and ended up making love under the gazebo.



After breaking the news to John and Talethia, who couldn’t have been happier for them, John made the grand announcement that they would be having a double wedding. It was nothing big. As a matter of fact, it was really small because they all hopped on a plane to Vegas and married there.



Talethia, who was four months pregnant, and John were their witnesses and then the foursome hopped on another plane for a three month honeymoon. They were going on their one month into their honeymoon and things couldn’t have gone better.



Randy groaned as the memory ended of him proposing to his now wife and future mother of his children as he slowly entered her, not wanting to hurt her in any way, shape or form. He loved her with everything he had and knew this was the right decision he made. They were both young and hopeless, but one thing was for sure, they were eternally in love and bonded for life.



Later on that day, Briana was staring out the window of their hotel room and smiled to herself, not believing the hand of cards fate had dealt her. The thing of it was, if she had never gone through what she had with Kyle, she would have never met Randy, the love of her life. Being young and hopeless did have its good marks, no matter the sacrifices.



Briana didn’t care about the world, only the world that surrounded her life and that was Randy all the way.



The End.