Title: Looks Good On Paper

Characters/Parings: John/Ashley (eventually); Matt/Ashley; Lita/Hunter (married); Melina/Nathan Morris (engaged); Randy/Mickie (dating); Trish/Test (married).

Rating: Strong R for smut, violence, language and loads of drama and angst.

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Can't sue me. I'm just playing with them for a while (evil grins).

Setting/Classification: Late 2005

Spoilers: Matt Hardy's comeback. The Matt-Lita-Adam drama never happened; in fact, Matt dumped Lita. Mickie debuted a lot sooner in this story. Nathan's taking some time off from his singer career. Test came back a year earlier. Randy stayed on RAW and Melina got traded.

Summary: The 2005 Diva Search winner thought she had finally found the man of her dreams. But, when he doesn't turn out to be the man she thought he was, she begins to fear for her life.

Author's note: This is the firs time I'm using a Cena/Ashley paring because there seems to be a lot of them growing. I happen to love this paring myself, so I thought, why shouldn't I go ahead and use it?

RAW was so awesome last night! The top two highlights for me were DX and Stone Cold. Those three make me laugh. And I love the goofy side of Hunter. Him dancing with the Playboy bunnies made me fall out of my chair!

Enjoy and happy reading!

Lots of love, hugs and kisses from your resident writer and friend, Nina!

X

September 2005

Monday Night RAW

Women's locker room

Ashley Massaro quietly sat on the sofa, reading a magazine. The show wouldn't be starting for another couple of hours so she relished the time she had to herself. It wasn't like she couldn't hang out with the other divas, but she likes to be by herself for a while.

Punkie, as the other divas like to call her, became the latest addition to the WWE family. She came aboard as the winner of the 2005 Diva Search contest. She was the immediate fan favorite who took on any challenge that was handed to her. During the competition, she even began training to become a wrestler. That proved to work to her advantage.

Since she won, she had already made many friends. Some of them were over at SmackDown, but they made sure to keep in touch with her as much as possible. Some of Ashley's best friends include Amy (Lita), Trish, Mickie and Melina. She can tell them anything without fear of being criticized.

Ashley even picked up a boyfriend during the competition and was real happy about. Matt Hardy came up to her one day and asked her out. She was skeptical about it at first because she knew about the history between him and Amy. But, once she knew that Lita was happy in her new marriage, she decided to give him a chance. They've been together ever since.

"Hey, Punkie," Amy called out cheerfully as she walked inside.

Ashley put the magazine down on her lap and smiled at her best friend.

"Hey, Ames. What's going on, Xtreme?" she asked, still smiling.

"Nothing much, other than Hunter's gonna kill me," Amy laughed, blushing furiously.

"Got laid again, huh? Man, how long can that man go, anyway?" Ashley teased.

"Forever. I mean, my God, my husband has talent. He knows all my weak spots, can nibble like it's nothing and his hands...oh, God, his hands are like pure magic," Amy moaned.

"Stop! Please, I don't need to hear anymore from you. It's obvious that Hunter knows what he's doing," Ashley giggled.

"I'll stop then. Um, so, how are things with you and Matt?" Amy asked, looking skeptical. She was still upset over the way he broke up with her two years ago.

"We're doing good. He took me out to dinner last night and gave me a bouquet of lilies. He's been so good to me. I love him," Ashley beamed.

Amy smiled slightly. "Well, that's good. I'm happy for you, Ash. You deserve to have a good man in your life after what your last boyfriend did to you."

Ashley rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Tell me about it, Ames. But, I quickly got over him."

"I know," Amy said.

"Anyway, where are the others?" Ashley asked as she got up and grabbed some things from her bag.

"Randy and Mickie are meeting with Vince over tonight's show, Nathan and Melina are meeting with their wedding planner, Trish and Andrew wandering around and Matt's meeting up with John over their tag match later tonight," Amy explained.

"Okay. Well, I'm gonna see my man for a while. Catch you later, Xtreme," Ashley said before she left, leaving a still heartbroken Amy behind.

Punkie, if you only knew what Matt was really like.

X

20 minutes later

Men's locker room

"Okay, so we covered everything, right?" WWE champion John Cena asked his partner for tonight.

"Absolutely, man. We're gonna kick some serious ass tonight," Matt said, smiling.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. John got up and answered it while Matt reached into his bag and pulled out his cell phone. He was supposed to call his brother Jeff tonight.

"Ashley, what a nice surprise! Please, come in," John beamed as he stepped aside and allowed the punk diva to walk in.

"Thanks, Cena. My boyfriend wouldn't happen to be here, would he?" she teased.

"I'm right here, beautiful," Matt called out to her. She squealed with delight as she leaped into his arms. John decided to give the couple some privacy. Before he left, though, he looked over his shoulder and saw how happy she was. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he found himself falling for her. But, he also knew better. After all, he wasn't the type to go after another man's girl.

She looks so happy with him. God, you're hopeless, champ. Get over it, man. You'll never be with the likes of her. Find your own woman.

Shaking his head, he looked at the happy couple one more time before he left the room.

X

2 hours later

Showtime!

The crowd was on its feet for the main event. Ashley kept banging her hands on the mat; cheering her men on as the match kept rolling on and on. Cena and Matt (with Ashley in their corner) were taking on Triple H and Randy Orton (with Lita and Mickie in their corner) in a tag team match and you could feel the electricity in the air.

The conclusion of the match saw Lita and Mickie trying to interfere, but Ashley made sure that didn't happen by knocking them both down with her signature clothesline . That gave Cena enough strength to holster Randy up over his shoulders and plant his ass with an FU. Meanwhile, Triple H tried to interfere, but Matt came in just in time to kick him out of the ring while the referee made the count.

"Here are your winners, John Cena and Matt Hardy!" Lillian Garcia announced.

Ashley, who was grinning from ear to ear, got in the ring and celebrated with the guys. Matt scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around; planting sweet kisses on her lips. John watched with a genuine smile on his face as the couple laughed and cried. Sometimes he wished that it was him who was holding her.

He wasn't even prepared for what was to come because Ashley leaped in his arms. She planted a searing kiss on his cheek and smiled at him. He felt warm all over his body and it showed. He couldn't get this grin off his face.

However, one person who quickly became very concerned about what was going on was Matt. He watched his girlfriend and his partner being so cozy with one another. He heard the rumors about Cena's bedroom antics and he heard the rumors about the champ sweet-talking a woman into having sex with him. Matt just wanted to make sure Ashley didn't fall for his charms.

Even if it killed him.

X

10 minutes later

Backstage

"That was awesome!" Ashley squealed with delight as she, Amy and Mickie walked towards their locker room.

"Yeah, it was. God, what a rush!" Mickie beamed excitedly.

"That was a nice move you did, Punkie. You're gonna do very well here in the long run," Amy said with a smile on her face.

"God, I hope so," Ashley said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

"And what's the deal with you kissing Cena? Do we have a crush on him or something?" Mickie teased.

"What? No! I just got caught up with the excitement, that's all. We were celebrating, you know. Besides, he's just a friend, nothing more," Ashley reminded her friends.

"Yeah, whatever. But, we know what we saw. You were a little too excited," Amy beamed as they walked into the locker room. Mickie went in the bathroom to shower, leaving Amy and Ashley alone.

"Ash, you can tell me. I won't say anything. Do you like John?" Amy asked curiously.

"Even if I did, which I don't, I'm with Matt, remember? I'm not gonna stray. Why, do you like him?" Ashley asked the redhead, turning the tables on her best friend.

"What? No! He's just a friend, a really good friend. I'm married to Hunter. I love him," Amy quickly replied.

"Okay, well, let me ask you this then. Do you still love Matt? Because if you do, I won't be mad," Ashley said honestly.

Amy was not prepared to answer that question. A part of her wanted to answer and a part of her wanted to kill herself. It's been two years since he kicked her to the curb and she could still feel the effects from it. She thought she'd never get over it.

"Ames?" Ashley called to her.

She turned around and smiled slightly at her best friend. She decided to answer with the best of her ability.

"Ash, a part of me does. But, I'll never forgive him for breaking my heart," she replied softly.

"Matt broke your heart, Ames? How come you didn't tell me sooner?" Ashley pressed.

"I wanted to spare you, Punkie. For a while, I thought I could handle it, you know? With everything that happened between us; from my recent leg injury to him jumping brands, I should've seen the signs. However, it was when I broke my neck in 2002 that things really started to unravel," the redhead explained, tears threatening to fall from her hazel eyes.

"God, what happened? What did he do?" Ashley asked. She needed to know what happened.

"Matt...he changed. And it was not for the better. He started treated me differently. It was like I wasn't important to him anymore. I actually confronted him about it and he went off of me. When we were finally together on RAW in late 2003, everything seemed fine; until he broke up with me on national television. I've never been so humiliated in my life."

"I'm sorry, Ames. I didn't know you were hurting," Ashley said and meant it.

"Look, Punkie, I know you're not gonna leave him, but, just be careful, okay? He's not all what he seems to be," Amy warned her.

"It sounds like there's more to the story than your leading on. What happened? Did he hurt you?" Ashley asked, more like pleading with her to talk. Amy couldn't get the words out of her mouth because Mickie came out a moment later.

"Hey, ladies, if you're gonna use the shower, you better use it now. I think someone across from us is hogging all the hot water," she said as she went over to her dressing area and got dressed.

Ashley, breathing heavily and running her fingers through her long black/blond hair, decided not to press on this issue further. She grabbed her things from bag and decided to take a shower.

Amy breathed a sigh of relief because she didn't wanna talk about it anymore. Just thinking about Matt broke her heart again and that's something she shouldn't be even thinking about. Boy, if Ashley only knew what the elder Hardy had really done to her.

Meanwhile, Ashley went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She stepped into the shower and felt the water splashing on her toned body, her eyes brimming with tears. She couldn't stop thinking about what Amy told her earlier. Matt Hardy, her boyfriend, the man she loves, broke the redhead's heart? Somehow, everything she had worked so hard for just went up in smoke.

She knew she had to be careful. There's no telling what's gonna happen tomorrow. But, she also have to give her boyfriend the benefit of the doubt. Deep down inside, she knew Matt would never hurt her.

Or would he?

This has been a long time in the making, but I did it. Tell me what you think and stay tuned in the next chapter!

Please review!