It had been a week. One amazing week that had gone by way too fast. He had spent every moment she would allow him to in bed with her and there still weren't enough moments for his liking. He wanted more, he wanted everything, he wanted her. But in between her working through the papers and him running around with his busy schedule, there just weren't enough moments to keep him satisfied. He was happy, more than he had ever been before, but that woman was just too addictive to him.
He walked in to find her as he found her every morning, sitting on the couch going through the papers. The tip of the knife lingered on her bottom lip, a thing he now knew she did whenever she was either in deep thought or worried about something. He knew the feeling. He drummed his collarbone, she placed the knife on her lip.
"Morning," he said as he sat down next to her.
She placed the knife on the table in front of them and smiled at him before leaning in to give him a quick kiss.
"What's up with the knife?" He asked.
"It's my knife," she answered.
"I know that but what's the deal about it? Why won't you let anyone touch it?" He asked.
"It was my father's," she answered.
"So he gave it to you?" He asked.
"Not exactly. I took it. My father had a big knife collection but this one..." She said and took the knife from the table. "This one was his favourite. When they died, I took the knife and hid it in my bag before I was sent into fostercare."
"Shit. Sorry for bringing up bad memories," he said.
He got up and placed himself behind her so she sat between his legs while he started rubbing her shoulders.
"So how did they die?" He asked softly, hoping she wouldn't be mad at him for asking.
"Car accident. One rainy night the road was slippery and the car went over the bridge. They drowned," she answered.
"Fuck, I'm so sorry," he said lowly.
He stopped rubbing her shoulders and instead put his arms around her stomach, pulled her near and kissed her between the shoulder blades.
"It's okay. It was ten years ago. I was 13," she said.
He wanted to ask more and get to know her full story and she sensed it and quickly changed the subject. She picked up a piece of paper.
"So, good news and bad news. Good news is that every wrestler is in the clear. Bad news is that I still have these five names of backstage workers it can be," she said and handed him the paper.
He went over the names. He knew who they were but he had no idea which one of them might be his own personal tormentor. He couldn't really see any of those five people wanting to kill him but he knew that things worked differently in a psychopath's world.
"Sam? Hey, it's Annabelle," she said.
He hadn't noticed her taking out her phone to call.
"I'm sending you five names. Run them through the database for me. That's good, Sam. Send me the results as quickly as you got them. Bye," she said.
He sighed behind her and she turned her head to look at him.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"I need to tell my friends. It's one thing to have you and my boss in my corner but I really need my friends too," he answered.
"Don't they know about the threats already?" She asked.
"Yes, everyone knows about that but they don't know about you," he answered.
"Dean, no," she said.
"Please, Annabelle. Just Roman and Seth. It's driving me crazy to lie to them. Anyone else I don't care about but I need my two friends in this," he was almost begging.
She got up and paced the room for a few seconds, the knife back on her lip while thinking it through. He just watched her closely, waiting for her answer. She finally put the knife behind her back where it usually was.
"Okay," she said.
"Okay?" He asked.
"Get them over here," she said.
He pulled out his phone and quickly texted them to come to his room. Shortly after Roman and Seth were seated on the couch just looking at Dean and Annabelle standing there on the floor.
"Are you gonna say something? What's so important?" Roman asked.
"Right, this is Annabelle," Dean started.
"We already met her several times," Seth said confused.
"You haven't met the real Annabelle. You've met the lie that I had to give you. It's just easier if she shows you," he said and turned his head to look at her. "Annabelle?"
She nodded and pulled out the knife. Before Roman or Seth could make a comment she threw it through the room and sent it into the wall. Both men jumped backwards in the couch as they first stared at the knife and then at her.
"You've outdone yourself in the psycho department this time, Dean," Seth said.
"She's not a psycho. She's my... well, like a bodyguard but not quite," Dean said.
"Explain," Roman said.
"Remember I told you Stephanie sent me to that meeting? Well, Annabelle came back with me after that meeting. I told you guys I walked out of that place without accepting their help. I lied. Annabelle is my help," Dean explained.
"So you're not really together?" Roman asked.
"Yes... or no... well, we weren't but now we are. Okay, that part is a bit more complicated. We weren't when you asked in the gym and we weren't supposed to at all but we somehow ended up that way still," Dean answered.
"Of course. It's Dean. What did you you expect?" Seth chuckled and poked Roman in the side with his elbow.
Dean walked over to them, grabbed the paper with the five names from the table and handed it to them.
"She's worked her way down to these five names. It's one of them," he said and sat down on the chair across from the couch.
"We'll help you keep an eye on them," Roman said.
Seth got up and walked towards the knife in the wall.
"Wow, that was truly a nice throw," he said.
He reached his hand towards it.
"Don't!" Dean yelled.
Seth immetiately stopped and turned to look at him.
"Don't ever touch her knife," Dean said.
"Why not?" Seth asked.
She walked over and pulled it out of the wall.
"Because it's mine," she answered.
Dean got up and walked over and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"Is it possible to get 15 minutes alone with the guys? I promise we'll stay here with the door locked," he looked at her with pleading eyes.
"Of course. I'm gonna go shower meanwhile," she said.
"Thanks," he said.
They all watched her disappear into the bathroom and shortly after the water started running.
"So?" Roman asked and smirked.
"I like her. I mean, I really like her, like I've never liked anyone this way before," Dean answered.
"Hey Seth? Do you see what I see?" Roman asked teasingly.
"Totally. Our boy is in love for the first time," Seth chuckled.