A/N: This is an AU story which will include many wrestlers! Hope you enjoy it, if you do let me know! xx

Protection: Part 1

"Roman, run!"

He heard his name in an echo, his ears ringing loud enough to drown out most of the noise. His surroundings were foggy and time seemed to be slowed down, as though to give him enough time to look around in desperation at the absolute mess they had created. His eyes went from the limp body on the ground to the red flickering light reflecting on the wall rhythmically, to Jey's panicked shape as he kept screaming up at him through his face mask. He could see his lips moving, recognizing his names through the words, but could no longer hear anything else but the ringing. That awful, time-shattering ringing.

He closed his eyes, pressing his eyelids together with all his might, focusing on his beating heart as he inhaled, and when he opened his eyes again he could almost hear Jey's screeching voice.

"Let's go, Uce!"

As sound came back to him, time suddenly moved forward at a fast pace, every detail of this moment an irritation to his senses. His body switched to auto drive as he followed his cousin's large steps towards the back door, risking a last glance at the figure on the ground.

His breath caught in his throat as he turned.

Please don't be dead.

Her bare feet made no sound as she slid nonchalantly on the marbled floor, meeting the pressuring heat of the Miami air. The crushing difference between the inside of the air-conditioned villa and the outside sent an uncomfortable shiver across her pale skin, and she frowned. She had barely made it a few feet and she already felt sweaty from carrying a sunscreen bottle and a book to her pool-side lounge chair.

"Hey Rollins."

"Hey Emma."

She sent a meek smile to the man leaning against the bricked fence surrounding the villa, his figure slightly hidden in the shade. The security guards had to wear buttoned up dark shirts and long pants, which would render them uncomfortable most of their time outside.

Rollins was her favourite guard, the only one she really spoke to, since he was a little closer to her in age and gave off an unthreatening vibe. That was not something she could say about most of the men her father contracted. Most of them made her fearful more than anything else.

Speaking of which, as she settled on the chair, making sure to leave the umbrella to cover her body, her eyes met strong, intense ones and felt the need to look down at her book in a flash. He was here today, and she'd noticed the second he made his way through the door.

Not that she'd been waiting to see if he would show up. She just happened to be close by when it happened. Pure coincidence.

He'd started working there a few months ago, three to be exact. Not that she'd counted. He was there for four or five days at a time and then gone for two.

The second she'd laid eyes on him, she was hooked. Everything about him was mesmerizing; his eyes, his generous lips, his smile (which she only saw twice), his muscular arms, one covered his tattoos she had a very hard time not staring at, his long beautiful hair he always kept in a tight bun on the back of his head. He didn't speak very much, but when he did, his voice sent thrilling shivers down her legs which usually had her stammering and sweating.

She knew he was friends with Rollins; they were nearly always together if they weren't sent to do something else. They would go around the house side by side, speaking to each other through their earpiece if they got too far (which rarely happened). They were like a pack, especially when they were joined by this other guard who's name she'd forgotten. He wasn't there as much as the other two, but he was obviously part of their group.

Together they roamed the area, making sure everything was in order, protecting the property. Protecting the family. Protecting her.

The concept was familiar at this point in her life but still surreal. No other girl she'd been to high school with had people following them around everywhere like she did. She dreaded this reality even more during the summer like this, when all her friends were free to celebrate the vacations away as they pleased whilst she had to stay in most of the time or have a stoic, overly dressed bodyguard tagging along.

It's not like she was the First Lady or anything, or the daughter of some important politician. She was just Emma, daughter of renown local businessman man William Regal, head of a multi-million-dollar illegal gun trade in the center of Miami.

No big deal, really.

"They'll use you to get to me," he would tell her.

"Who's 'they'?" she would ask incredulously. He would then give her a hard stare and order her to take Rollins with her wherever she was going that time.

Bottom line: she had little to no privacy. Her safe heaven was her bedroom, where she could get away from protective stares under the excuse that she was going to study, nap or call a friend. Spending entire days confined to a single room got old very fast, however, and she had no choice but to hang around the villa or have someone take her places.

"Oh Emma, get out from under that umbrella, you need a tan," a voice cooed to her right, and the young girl snapped out of her thoughts as she watched her step mother take the lounge chair next to hers. She was suddenly thankful for her dark sunglasses and she couldn't suppress an eyeroll and the older woman's words.

"I'll burn," Emma mumbled, burying her face in her book as to end the conversation.

"That's what sunscreen is for," the other woman laughed, and Emma only let out an aggravated sigh. She couldn't understand what her father saw in Maryse; then again she couldn't understand why he was with any other woman he'd brought around for her entire childhood and teenage years. Maryse was his third marriage in ten years, and the fact that this was approximately the age difference the two women shared was only the tip of the iceberg as to why Emma wanted nothing to do with her.

Emma watched as her father's wife applied sunscreen over her toned body, moving around in her revealing two-piece bikini, almost purposely sensualizing the whole affair, and that was enough to make her rethink her afternoon by the pool.

"Where are you going?" Maryse asked as Emma stood up to leave, grabbing her things quickly.

"Inside. Too hot" she justified, making her way towards the house reluctantly. She was halfway there when she heard Maryse's voice singing Seth's name, asking him to put sunscreen on her back. She risked a glance towards him and could only frown as he made his way over, obviously uncomfortable. Her stare was a second too long, however, and she collided with a wall as soon as she reached the back door of the house, her book and sunscreen bottle falling to the ground.

"Sorry, ma'am," a gruff voice spoke, and Emma gulped as she looked up at Reigns' face. Her face flushed as their eyes met, and she was once again too mesmerized by his features to articulate a single word. She was thankful for having worn a sundress over her bikini, feeling already frozen solid under his stare, and let him lean over to grab her fallen items and hand them back to her. "You dropped this."

"Oh."

She took her things back with trembling fingers, their palms touching in a brief second, but enough to render her speechless once more. She made an unintelligible sound, somewhere between an apology and a thank you, and basically ran from him towards her bedroom, her heart pounding.

She felt like a complete mess when he was concerned, basically always falling over herself when he was around. The constant embarrassment was almost too much to bare.

Emma quickly changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top, sliding her feet into a pair of sneakers as she made her way towards her father's office. When he wasn't out dealing with his business, he spent most of his time in there, dealing with more business.

Her knuckles softly hit the door frame three times when she got there, getting his attention.

"Hey Dad, I'm'a head out to the library for a bit. I've got to return some books I borrowed for school," she announced, her body already halfway out the door when he spoke.

"Is Rollins going with you?" he inquired, barely lifting his eyes off the sheet of paper in front of him.

"Uh- I think he was busy." Emma glanced at the window, catching a glance at Maryse as she swam in the pool, all the while sending googly eyes at Seth who had reached his previous position by the shade.

"Then take Reigns," her father concluded, meeting her face to smile softly at her, as though to apologize for forcing a guard on her. She grunted but nodded anyway, already dreading having to go speak to the man after embarrassing herself in front of him only minutes prior.

"Fine."

She only had to walk around for a few minutes before she found him, sitting by the backyard door, watching the outside with a stern eye. She cleared her throat once, and he spun around in a flash, surprise showing on his features. Her tiny frame gave her the advantage of not making a lot of sounds as she walked.

"Could you, um, take me to the library?" she asked him in a small voice. "Please."

Roman's eyes widened slightly, and he glanced back at Rollins, wondering why he wasn't the one going with her, seeing as he usually was. She took his hesitation as a sign of him not wanting to go, however, and she swallowed harshly, her stomach twisting.

"I'll ask Seth, it's fine," she mumbled, but he spoke up before she could move.

"I'll take you."

She nodded, her lungs filling up with air once more, and made her way towards the garage from the inside of the house, Roman on her tail. She made it to the car before she mentally kicked herself, turning on her heel awkwardly.

"I left my books in my room," she admitted, letting out an uncomfortable laugh before she went back to gather her things. She tried to ignore the smirk that showed on his face as she walked away, once again hating herself for being so careless in front of him.

He must think I'm the biggest idiot in the world, she scolded herself, clenching her jaw in frustration as she made her way back. Roman was already sitting behind the wheel and she only had a slight hesitation before she climbed in the back seat opposite him. She'd concluded, somehow, that being far from him might keep her from messing up a third time.

The drive was painfully silent and Emma clutched her books for dear life, trying to ignore the amazing view she had on his tattooed arm. He'd pulled up his sleeves whilst she was back in the house, unbuttoning the front of his shirt, letting go of the uniform while outside of the villa. He was only wearing a tight white t-shirt underneath, and she caught herself staring at his toned chest through the side mirror on her side. Before he caught her, that is, and she kept her eyes glued to the seat in front of her for the rest of the ride.

Her cheeks were still flushed when they finally reached the library, Roman turning the engine off but not moving. She opened her door slowly, and he looked back at her, hatching his strong arm around the passenger's seat to pull himself towards her.

"I'll be here," he spoke, and Emma once again stared at his face a second too long, almost forgetting how to speak.

"You don't have to stay in the car," she heard herself say, and if she could, she would've have high-fived herself for articulating a complete sentence. "I might rent a few more, I don't want to keep you waiting in the heat."

The logic of her justification booted her confidence slightly, especially when he nodded and followed her out of the car. He walked beside her, taking big strides, and she had to do a little jog to catch up with him. He slowed down when he noticed, apologizing under his breath as he opened the front door for her. She thanked him, very aware of how awkward they were being; polite and silent all at once.

She returned the books shyly as the librarian scolded her for bringing them in so late. She had kept them a few weeks too long, having rented them for her finals right before graduating high school. The woman stopped talking altogether, however, when she noticed Roman's presence and the way he was looking hardly at her, excusing herself to the back store quickly.

Emma caught his attention by giving him a reprimanding stare, and he smirked, shrugging, pretending he had no idea what he'd done wrong. She could only shake her head, smiling back, tension finally leaving her shoulders at their shared moment.

They spent a little over an hour at the library, Emma browsing through rows of books, grabbing whichever one she was interested in. Roman waited for her at a table, flipping through his phone awkwardly, feeling out of place, getting confused stares from other people. He figured they knew he didn't belong there, doing nothing but wait on a chair he barely fit on.

Emma stole glances at him when she could, chuckling under her breath at his awkwardness. It was almost adorable.

When she joined him at last, she was carrying a dozen books in her hands with difficulty, and Roman instinctively grabbed them out of her arms without hesitation. She was taken aback by the action, having not thought of him as the gentleman type, but then again realizing she really didn't know much about him. Roman hesitated in asking her why she bothered renting books and having to return them if she could so obviously afford to buy them, but decided against it.

Somehow he figured talking about her father's money was not a subject she favoured, and certainly not the first extensive conversation he wanted to have with her.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked her once they'd been driving back for a few minutes, and her head snapped in his direction in surprise.

"Oh, uh- no, not so much," she agreed, nodding. "You don't either, though."

She saw his grin through the rear-view mirror and her cheeks warmed up suddenly, almost proud that she had succeeding in making him smile.

"Touché."

Emma chuckled, relaxing in her seat. For the rest of the ride, he asked her questions about what books she'd taken, and she proceeded to list them all before going into detail about what kind of books she liked. He listened to her with attention throughout the whole thing, and when she was done he let out a laugh. She felt uneasy for a second, wondering if she'd said something stupid that would elicit such a reaction.

"So you do speak," he laughed, and she mimicked him shakily, wondering if she'd been too enthused in what she was saying to realize she was being annoying. "I like it."

Her cheeks flushed for what seemed like the hundredth time as Roman parked the car in the garage. She was almost disappointed the ride was over, going back to her confined walls of the villa where she didn't feel as comfortable as she did here, with him.

"Thanks for driving me," she told him, stepping out of the car along with him, and he waved her comment away.

"Don't mention it. It's what I'm here for," he shrugged as they made their way inside the house once more.

Right, she thought, you're paid to do this.

The thought weighted on her shoulders as he carried her books to her room, leaving them by her desk before stepping out quickly, as though he didn't want to spend any more time than necessary inside.

Roman was hired to be there with her. He was nice and helpful because he had to, not because he wanted to. In all her excitement of spending time with him, she had foolishly forgotten that.

She had almost forgotten that most people she was in contact with were there because of her father's money. She even suspected a lot of her friends to hang around her for that reason alone. Everyone else was there because he father had told them to, because he had no time to do it himself.

As she let herself fall on her bed, bringing her knees to her chest, she wondered sadly if she would ever find someone to be with her simply because they wanted to.

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