Chapter Two
Enjoy!
Waking up with drool seeping into the pillow, vodka breath, and a blaring phone wasn't ideal for four-am. That was on her, especially knowing that it was going to kick her ass right back into bed. Luckily she didn't have to get to her flight until later in the morning, but that didn't explain why someone was blowing up her phone at such a deadly hour. She raised a brow as the caller ID flashed the unexpected name. Seth. "Hello," Sasha barley got the word out sounding as if she smoked a pack of Marlboro Lights.
"Long night?" The low tone meddled through the phone.
Sasha cleared her throat; the other night was a cluster of things, from what she could remember anyway. Along any other terms she hoped that at least whatever slum Seth was in the other day had passed. "Something like that," she yawned. "You feeling better?
"I feel revived, and I wanted to apologize about yesterday."
"Disregard the fact that you're calling me this early to apologize," she let out another yawn, "and it's okay." A sense of relief measured over her, briefly, something still didn't feel right. Maybe it was his morning voice.
"I had been channeling all this dark emotion, primarily because I just needed a change," Seth's words sounded more like a confession.
"Change is good," Sasha agreed, "sometimes it's the only way to move forward."
"And with you understanding that, I wanted you to be the first to know."
Sasha's ears twitched a little. A chill went down her spine. "Okay," her foggy mind may have been playing games at the moment. The desire of one wanting to change was relative and compelling, but for some reason he put off something more sinister.
The chatter coming from Charlotte passed through Sasha's ears like a stream and the Chicago airport was just as worse as the traffic. As the two waited for security; anything Charlotte said before or after the word party didn't register. Sasha was focused on her phone scrolling through the endless text messages that seemed way too far from reality. Had she really been texting Roman all night? At least the messages were suitable for all ages-
Just kidding. She took that back when she got to the picture message part of the night and face-palmed. Okay, so maybe she had a little more to drink than she thought? No. she was just in a really really sexy mood last night.
"Who are you texting?" Charlotte said realizing that Sasha didn't hear a damn word she said, "you've been in your phone for hours now."
Sasha took a sip of her grande ice coffee. "Oh, just Roman," she quickly locked her screen. Charlotte raised a brow.
"Well damn, that's why you left early last night," she stuck out her tongue, "I'm proud of you, I thought maybe you were going all soft on me by siding with the lesser of a man, Seth."
Sasha rolled her eyes at her friends degrading attitude. "He's not, and just like you Char he's my friend—stop being so judgemental," she snapped.
"Calm down, I was just stating the truth," she snapped back, "of all three member's of the Shield, he's just the shadow."
The calm factor substituted in the attitude that Sasha wanted to give her bestie. Because really the airport wasn't to flattering for a catfight.
That moment when you wanted to slap the bitch out of your best friend's mouth. Whatever fumes that NXT title was giving Charlotte had negative lingering from it. Between the two of them and Summer, it was really starting to become some spotlight competition. If one had all the light in their favor, the others just dwindled in the background making their contributions on occasion. Or at least it seemed that way to observers.
Shadow. Sasha shook her head clearing the words from her memory. Charlotte went off to grab more coffee while Sasha returned to the text messages soothing her boredom. Her eyes moved forward almost jumping two feet back when a small diva with long dark hair stepped in front of her. "Shit, you scared me," she said feeling her heart rate rise.
"I don't think we've met, yet," the diva flashed a curious smiled and held her hand out, "I'm A.J."
Sasha nodded smiling back at her. With A.J. on the main roster it was rare to see her prancing around like this. "Of course, A.J.," Sasha said reaching for her hand and shaking it. "What are you doing here?"
A.J. for a few moments stared at Sasha, as if she was studying her. Weird.
"A.J.?" Sasha said with an uncanny worry.
A.J. jumped out of whatever trance she was in. "Yeah, I'm sorry I'm just here to..." she stopped, gazing at the floor and back to Sasha, "warn you."
Sasha was baffled, not aware of what warning AJ would give her. "You lost me.."
"It's about Roman," she blurted, "take away what you want with this..but he's conflicted."
"Oh," Sasha said with a blank expression, so he's not really looking for anything serious. Fine. How did AJ know this?
"It's just something that I've notice," A.J. said twiddling her fingers, "be careful," the small diva flipped her hoodie over her head and disappeared into the crowd.
Sasha shrugged. Conflicted was too vague for her to register at the moment. Maybe AJ had saw something that gave her the wrong idea about Roman, but until Sasha found out for herself she would continue the harmless flirting. Grinning at the picture message she sent last night, she took it to her liking to send a message before boarding the plane.
So are you the Samoan Thor or the Samoan Superman?
I know you've got the super strength, but there's no doubt
in my mind that you bring the hammer down every time ;)
-BO$$
The plane landed smoothly in Tampa and after dropping by her apartment for a half-hour it was back to a productive day before the live RAW. Sasha dropped her phone on the nightstand, showered and grabbed a few things to snack on before heading out the door again.
It was time for a little fun at the performance center.
Right as she entered the jeering Bayley was at the door waiting to greet everyone. Kudos all around for the positive mood. Bayley gave Sasha hug despite her ticked off attitude the other night. Various rookies including Adrian Neville, Sami Zayne, and Alexa Bliss all gathered around.
All the focus in the classroom and for some reason out of the blue, the only thing Sasha could think about was Seth. The conversation in the morning seemed as if it ended with an understanding of a phase, but something about Seth saying he needed a change. Something more corrupt than that.
She didn't remember a damn word Howard Fine said, but at least he had given them a syllabus for practice.
Sasha pondered over her thoughts. Maybe she was over-analyzing, but that feeling pulling at her skin was inevitable. She reached into her bag scrambling for her phone. Nada. She cursed. Not likely there were any thieves around here, but one couldn't be so sure. She caught up with Alexa who was heading out to the parking area. "Lexi, can I please use your phone?" she sighed wanting to kick her own teeth out, "I think mine got stolen."
"Sure," Alexa handed her phone to Sasha, "I'm heading to the cafe, you joining us for the Raw party?" Sasha dialed in the first number that floated inside her head; she gave Alexa a nod, throwing her purse in the passengers side of the simple coupe. Unsure if her feeling was accurate, but better to be safe. A few rings went on and Seth picked up the phone.
"He—" Seth didn't get a chance to finish before Sasha went into full game of twenty questions.
"What are you doing?" She asked anxiously, "this morning you said you needed a change and you wanted me to be the first to know..."
"I did," he agreed as if he was expecting the call, "and that's why I'm going forth with my decision tonight," he said boldly.
Sasha sighed shaking her head. To no extent did she think that he would ever turn his back on those who cared for him the most. "No...not like this," she pleaded, "think about what you're doing."
"What's best for me, Sasha," he words reached through the phone, "you know this feeling, better than anyone else, when others try to bring you down—what do you do?" His question brought back memories of when Sasha turned her back on her former friend Paige. She hadn't been the best person since then, but the feeling of freedom in exchange of losing a friend...
"I understand," she said whirling through emotions, the call disconnected.
"You okay?" the blonde next to her raised a brow at her dismay.
"No," she shook her head, "something terrible is about to happen tonight."
"Elaborate?" Alexa said stopping at a light. Sasha closed her eyes for a moment. She couldn't let this happen. With her phone gone, she wouldn't be able to reach Roman or Dean. "I just need to get in contact with Roman," she cursed taking the phone and sending a text to Charlotte. Maybe since she had missed class today she could swing by the apartment and grab the phone.
They found a space in the nearly full lot outside the Cimmaron. Sasha took a seat at the bar next to Tyler; who was taking a picture of himself sipping a macchiato. Wow. Sasha rolled her eyes. The front door swung open and Charlotte was standing tall. She ran over to Sasha holding her phone out as if she was suddenly out of breathe. "Got your message," she coughed a little, "floored it right away." Sasha let out a sigh of relief before quickly unlocking the phone; a text message appeared.
Either way you look at it or slice it Sasha
you know I've got that superhero swag that
gets you every time. Bank on it and believe that.
-RomanWillReign
"Ohh," Charlotte said looking her shoulder, "sneaky," Sasha grinned a little before noticing her curious friend. Returning to reality, she hit the call button hoping that Roman wasn't busy.
Voicemail.
"Fuck!" She scrolled to the next name in line praying that bad luck was just a phase. Dean's phone gave the same result.
Sasha cursed again. She didn't want to resort to the whole he said she said deal, but one person that could send the message for her and sound completely accurate. She dialed in the number hoping the other line would disregard a machine.
"Hello?" The voice on the line responded after one ring.
"Hey, John," Sasha lowered her voice, "look I know this may sound insane, but I spoke with Seth earlier...he's been out of sync lately and tonight he's going to betray Roman and Dean"
John shuffled on the phone as if he was checking to see if there were any listeners. "You're sure?"
"Yes..I think it's been at his mind for awhile now...if you can find a way to stop him or warn the other two, please?"
"I got you Boston," John assured. Sasha crossed her fingers, the show began.
"Just one martini?" Charlotte sighed as Sasha nodded while looking at the screen. Still nothing between the Shield transpired and she almost thought that maybe Seth had changed his mind. Thought it over.
"For now yes, way too much to do this week and—" Sasha stopped when Evolution appeared on the screen. They stood outside the ring facing the Shield sledgehammer in hand; Seth had gone to get backup of his own, the steel chair. Hunter went on about how the Shield had conquered them, but in no means was it over and it didn't matter that Batista had quit because...
"And if plan A doesn't work out, then there's always a plan B," Hunter said with smarmy grin in villainous fashion as did Randy."
Roman and Dean took a step forward; ready for a fight, Seth stood back with the chair in his hands and an ice cold irises glaring at his 'brothers'
Goddamn you Seth!
Sasha closed her eyes hearing the metal bounce off of Romans back and avoided looking at the screen from then. "On second thought, I think I'll have another martini," she said looking at Charlotte who was in shock, along with the other rookies. Eyes wide and silence filled the room at the betrayal on the TV.
Charlotte nudged Angelo who was tweeting away about the incident. He grabbed more martini's from the bar. Sasha didn't hesitate to indulged the salty bombed drink.
"Whoa!" Breeze said gazing at his phone with a hazy expression on his face, "Sasha I didn't know you were into the whole scandal thing."
"What?" Sasha was baffled, she went over to Tyler stumbling almost as the affects of alcohol squeezed into her veins. Tyler gave her his phone.
Her jaw dropped.
The racy photo she had sent Roman had been all over the web. Every wrestling news site and even TMZ had the photograph in vivid color.
Snoop Lion's(Dogg's) cousin show's off goodies.
No. No. No.
Sasha didn't know how to respond. She looked her phone over—she had only sent it to Roman. Why would he send it to anyone else? Maybe that's what AJ's warning was for?
"You look way hot," Charlotte shrugged, "hey it gets you some attention," her friend brushed off the tension.
"Char, this isn't something to feel great about.."
"Man, if Hunter gets to this, Sasha," Angelo said shaking his head, "you gotta watch who you send this stuff too."
"You mean when," Sasha wanted paper bag over her head asap, "this night..." the fiery built in her blood, had she felt any angrier she would probably combust. She grabbed her phone calling Roman again. The show was over, the damage was done, but she needed to now what he did with her picture.
Voicemail.
"Roman, if you do not pick up your fucking phone!" she yelled so loud people in the restaurant all silenced. Before she could another word in the small Alexa Bliss snatched her phone and the fifth martini from her grip.
"Believe me, Sasha, the last thing you want to do is leave a drunken message—" Sasha didn't let Bliss finish by delivering a piercing slap to the petite rookie. Bayley quickly came to Alexa's aide.
"Don't you ever take my shit away from me again!" Sasha snapped, foggy and enraged she didn't know what was happening to her internally she couldn't control the fire building beneath her skin. Charlotte laughed. "This is the Sasha I've been waiting for," she embraced her bestie.
Sasha gave a sadistic smile as everyone kept their eyes her way. Her voice was heard, the attention was in her favor. "Turn the fuck up!" she demanded.
The night went into the morning and Sasha was shitfaced; along with Charlotte and Angelo the three climbed into the cab. The driver, who barley spoke English got them back to their apartments quickly. Sasha nearly crawled all way to her door, tripping over herself she barley made it inside enough to kick the door closed. Crawling over to the kitchen she grabbed a bottle of water and ibuprofen. For the few hours of sleep she was going to get, she knew the hangover was going to be a nasty one. She set the water and pills on her nightstand.
Two things had happened last night while one was embarrassing, the other was heartbreaking. For many, but for those who were close to Seth...
That friend you went to when you felt like the world was about to kick your ass into the deep blue sea.
She went into her walk-in closet staring at the wardrobe labeled BOSS; looking past her Louis's and Jimmy Choos.
The only thing that mattered was the oversized hoodie that Seth had given her in 2012. She took the damn thing out wanting to toss it right into the trash.
Instead she laid the hoodie on the bed and cuddled next to it.
Hey y'all! Thank you all for the feedback! Let me know what you think and keep them coming! Don't forget to check out the connecting stories by RonTheRon "Pride" and Cody'sxFavoritexGirl "Insanity"
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