(AUTHORS NOTE: THIS PICKS UP EXACTLY 3 MONTHS AFTER THE PHONE CALL IN THE LAST STORY. WILL EVERYTHING BE STRAIGHTENED OUT FINALLY? OR WILL THERE BE NEW OBSTACLES STANDING IN THE WAY OF DEAN AND EMBER? AGAIN, THANKS TO ALL OF YOU AMAZING READERS FOR THE ALERTS, THE REVIEWS AND JUST BEING AWESOME! LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! KISSES ALL OF YOUR FACES OFF!)
IT'S NOT OVER
3 months went by, and Dean kept trying, he kept calling, but it was almost like she was ignoring his calls. Frankly, he didn't understand why she was angry with him, because for one thing, they hadn't been dating when she'd called that night and Sera answered and for another, he'd given her all the proof that she needed to realize that he did mean it back then, when they'd been kids, and he said that he loved her.
She'd been the onlyperson he did mean that for. Tonight the show was in Louisiana, and he knew from Maxine (and Twitter even though he rarely used the damn thing) that she was living there alone now.
Maxine said she'd been on a few dates, but none of the guys really caught Ember's eye and Dean found himself clinging to some small hope that maybe, just maybe she'd realize there was some shred of Jon left in him and come to him.
But as he stood at the payphone outside the bar in the light rain, he was beginning to lose that small hope. He'd just tried calling her, again, and she hadn't answered, as usual.
"What gives her the god damn right to be angry at me?" he fumed as he shook the rain from his shaggy hair and dug around in his pockets for his cigarette pack and a lighter, before walking back into the bar.
Ember walked into her apartment and sat down her bags, and slid her feet out of the pointe shoes she wore for ballet, which she was teaching now, to little girls. The red light on her answering machine indicated a message, and she quickly hit play, thinking it'd be Maxine, because she knew NXT and WWE were both in Louisiana tonight.
Her heart fluttered a little as she heard him trying to stammer through a message, obviously a little drunk, and obviously a bit more than furious with her for evading him for so long. She wasn't doing it because she was hurt because of the other girl that night she called, she wasn't doing it because she was still blaming him for 'walking away'.
She was doing it this time, so she'd finally be able to say she did attempt to live her own life, stand on her own two feet with nobody's help. If she were going to go back to him, she wanted things to work for them, and she wanted to go in knowing she was strong, she could make it through a potentially rough and very dysfunctional relationship with him.
Because once she had him this time, she had no intentions of letting go, no matter how many times he purposely pushed her, tried to force her to walk away just to prove he was an ulovable bastard. In a sense, she really did want to start over.
She played the message back again, and sighed, taking a deep breath, stretching as she slid onto a stool at the kitchenette's counter. She wanted to go to him so badly she could taste it almost. Lately, it'd been almost all she thought about and that's probably what compelled her to text Maxine and ask what hotel Dean and the NXT roster were staying in.
The text she got back had her raising a brow as it said "STAY AT HOME. I REPEAT. STAY AT HOME. OPEN BEDROOM WINDOW."
Raking her hand through her hair, she raised a brow at the phone then texted back, "WHY?"
"BECAUSE I TOLD YOU TO, THATS WHY."
"WHY?"
"JUST DO ITTTT! DAMN I'M TRYING TO PICK UP THIS GUY RIGHT NOW, CAN YOU NOT QUESTION ME?"
Ember figured that Maxine was implying she was going to crash there later, and after texting back one more time, she walked into the living room, turned on the television and found a movie on, stretching out on the couch.
Maxine smirked as she put the cell phone up and then texted Dean "OKAY. YOU OWE ME 4 THIS, AMBROSE. LOOK FOR AN OPEN WINDOW." as she got back to drinking and flirting with some of the men working the bar she was in that night.
Dean spotted the open window on the 3rd floor, and started scaling the fire escapes, until he stood there.. For some reason, he felt almost as tense and excited as he had when he'd done this shit at her house when they were dating.
Ember had just gotten into bed, was sleeping, and she heard rustling around, followed by a few swears and someone falling on her bedroom floor with a thud. She sat up quickly, felt around for the light and turned it on, on the verge of screaming when she felt his hand close over her mouth, heard him say "Don't scream. It's.. It's just me, Emmy."
"You're drunk. You could have fallen and broken your neck out there, damn it." Ember said quietly as she turned to look at him. He shrugged and then leaned in, pulling her body against him, pulling her into a possessive and rough kiss as he muttered, "Forget what the fuck a phone was, Emmy?"
"No, Dean, I've... Look, I've been avoiding you because I was trying to live my life, prove to myself that I could be alone."
"About done?"
"Excuse me? But did you or did you not have a girl in bed with you not even two days after I tried to call you?"
"She didn't mean a damn thing, Ember.. Christ.." Dean muttered as he tried distracting her from her bitter anger, the slight jealousy he'd detected in her tone by grazing his teeth along her bare shoulder, biting down a little.
Ember bit her lip, closed her eyes, trying to resist giving in. But, she couldn't even think straight by now, and any willpower she had was pretty much gone at waking up finding him in her room.
"Sure she didn't.. Maybe that's why I didn't call.. Because you do shit like that and I don't feel like being hurt all the damn time."
"She meant nothing.. And she's gone, babe."
"So? Doesn't mean we'll be able to make it work." Ember muttered as she groaned a little, his tongue dancing along her shoulder blades as she tried again to collect her willpower, remind herself what she was trying to accomplish by staying away.
"See, that's where I think ya wrong, Emmy." Dean muttered, his hand moving her hair out of the way, and his teeth grazing her neck. By this point, it'd been a total of almost 5 months since she'd blown back into his life then out again, and damn it, he was getting more than a little impatient, just wanting her to himself again, wanting her body and her heart to belong to only him, again, as it should be..
Like she promised.
This was one promise he wasn't letting her break, because he honestly didn't know what he'd do without her, or the hope of her being with him one day. It'd been the only thing that'd made him a halfway decent person then, and not only did he want her, he needed her and though he'd never say it, he'd rather be dragged behind a car going full speed down a rocky road, he loved her.
"D-dean.."
"Emmy, shhh. Don't start a fuckin fight now and piss me off, ruin this.. Would ya?" Dean coaxed as he turned her around, sitting her in his lap, looking at her, waiting on her to say anything.
If she told him she was done, and he needed to get out, he wasn't prepared for how he'd deal with it. He'd sort of pinned the few scant hopes he had on tonight, on this working to his advantage.. Because he knew Sandow had been trying to charm her again too, and he knew that Sandow was planning on asking her to marry him if she actually took him back this time.
The fact that so far she hadn't, well, it told him all he needed to know, really. She was his for the taking, and he intended to do just that. He'd waited long enough, hadn't he? And patience was NOT one of the man's virtues, it was a known fact that it never had been.
"Piss you off? What about how pissed I was when I called you that night and another bitch answered the phone?" Ember flared jealously as she leaned in, nipped his lower lip with her teeth.
He growled and nipped her lower lip back as he shook his head, laughing a little. "Cute. Forgot how sexy ya are when ya mad as hell."
"Dean, stop tryin to get in my pants and listen to me. I'm trying to stand on my own two feet because I want things to work with us. I wanna know that if I come back to you, I can stay through anything you do to try and push me away."
He blinked, looked at her with a raised brow then said calmly, "And ya didn't try and push me away? If I remember correctly, ya were just as good at that shit as me."
"I'm not fighting with you."
"Well I'm not fightin with you either. So shut it and let me kiss ya." Dean grumbled as he laughed a little and then said quietly, "That last weekend before I skipped town.. remember that? All weekend up at that cabin.. Only the two of us.."
"Yeah, I remember." Ember said quietly as she leaned against him, still breathless from the attack of kisses earlier and now.
"We okay?"
"We'll figure it out in the morning, Dean.. Just sleep.. You're drunk." Ember muttered as she gently pushed him back down onto the bed and then wiggled down into place next to him, surprised when his arms wrapped around her almost instantly, grasping her so close that she almost couldn't move for anything.
"Ya not movin." Dean muttered as he dropped off to sleep for the night, wondering what would happen in the am.. Would they be okay? Or would she shove him out the door and say they were done.