Chapter 6 (In the Shadows)

The Next Day

-Reilly-

John and I spent the rest of the day together and he walked me to my room when we got back to the hotel that night. A big part of me wanted to ask him to stay, just so I wouldn't have to say goodbye to him but I knew better. After all, I was the one who had suggested earlier in the day that we take it slow so as not to complicate his divorce any further. As it was, he had a meeting with the lawyers that he was leaving for directly after our house show.

The next morning, John and I agreed to find each other at the arena as we both had a fairly busy schedule for the day. I wanted to grab a workout and had an afternoon photo shoot and interview for the WWE website while John had various press dealings and a Make-A-Wish kid he was meeting. He was adorable telling me how excited he was to meet this little boy. It was enthralling to watch him get truly emotional about meeting these amazing kids, another quality I loved about him.

I arrived at the arena just after 9:00 a.m. and after dropping my things in the diva's locker room, headed down to the gym before the rest of the girls got there. I hadn't talked to Kelly since the day I got my flowers in the locker room and I'm sure once she found out what had transpired over the past two days, I'd hear it for not telling her sooner.

An hour and a half later, I left the gym and wound my way through the halls of the mostly empty arena, taking the long way back. I stopped and chatted with a few of the road crew who bustling around with carts and boxes full of set pieces before finally reaching the locker room. Seeing as it was still empty, I grabbed my towel and body wash and headed in to the showers. I turned the water up high and stood under the spray, letting it massage my achy muscles. As I stood there leaning into the water, my hand on the wall in front of me, I closed my eyes and thought about the insane turn of events that last couple days had taken. After Monday I was convinced that John had given up on he and I ever having any kind of relationship, friendship or not. And then yesterday...possibly one of the best days of my life. Realizing that John had felt the same thing for me that I had hid from him all along, realizing I wasn't alone...Even in my dreams I could never have imagined things working out the way they did. In a way, that fact scared me as much as it made me happy. Had things worked out too well? Shouldn't there have been something making it more difficult for us to be together? I was certainly not used to things being easy in my life and just being handed the fact that John and I had feelings for each other seemed almost too simple...

I shook my head abruptly, water flying everywhere. I didn't care if it was too easy. I'd take whatever I could when it came to John, even if that meant dealing with things as they happened. I wanted to be happy and for the first time in quite awhile, I felt as if I could be. I finished up in the shower, then wrapped a towel around myself and headed back into the locker room.

"OH MY GOD!" I screamed as I turned the corner toward my locker. John was sitting there on the bench in front of it, his legs stretched out in front of him and a huge smile on his face.

"Well, it's nice to see you too." He smirked and I shivered as I watched his gaze travel down and then back up my body.

"What are you doing in here?" I exclaimed, clutching at the towel as if my life depended on it.

"I figured I'd stop and see you before I headed to my next interview. And I have to say, I couldn't have picked a better time." John's smile was a mile wide as he stood from the bench and stepped toward me, his arms outstretched.

I sighed and gripped the towel tighter, stopping him from coming any closer with my other hand. "John Cena, I'm happy to see you too...now OUT!" I exclaimed, pushing him back towards the door.

"Awe...but Reilly..." John pouted, sticking his lips out in protest.

"This is NOT taking it slow Mr. Cena. Now go before the girls catch you in here. I'm sure Beth would have some choice words about that." I stood on my tip toes and kissed his cheek quickly before pushing him towards the door again. "I'll come find you in awhile, I promise. Now out!"

"Alright, alright..fine."He held up his hands in surrender as he turned and headed for the door. He stopped with his hand on the doorknob and turned back to me momentarily, "Promise you'll come find me?"

"Yes I promise, as soon as I'm done with my interview. Now get..." I shooed him out the door with my hand. He flashed me a smile and I couldn't help but shake my head and smile back at him as he left the room. He was like a little boy sometimes with that grin and I hated that one look could have me melted into a puddle on the floor.

I finished getting ready and, after having to spend an hour telling Kelly EVERYTHING that had happened the past two days, I headed out of the locker room to my interview. As I made my way down the hall, I heard voices coming through an open door and peeked inside to see John entertaining his Make-A-Wish kid. Leaning against the door frame, I stood there, arms crossed in front of me with my head tilted to the side, and watched John's face light up as he interacted with the young boy. There was something I couldn't put my finger on, something downright sexy about the way he put these kids before everything else. John had one of the biggest hearts and it showed everytime he met one of these special children.

He happened to glance up at the door and saw me standing there. A huge smile crossed his face and I just smiled back and left him to his passion. There was one thing I knew I could never compete with and that was John's Make-A-Wish family. And truth be told, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I finished my interview, which ran longer than I expected and then had to run back down the hall to get to my photo shoot on time. I knew I'd hear it from John later for not coming to find him, but also knew he'd understand. I ran into the the room, apologizing to Jennie, our wardrobe department head as I breezed by her and into the dressing room. I realized as I walked in that I had no idea what type of shoot this was going to be so my mouth fell open a little when I saw my outfits hanging across the back wall. I shook my head and slipped into the first one, [polyvore] , before making my way out to hair and makeup.

Once I was ready, I walked out to the shoot area, only to find John and a few of his closest friends all sitting there. They all whistled at me, all except for John who just stared. I felt his eyes follow me as I stepped in front of the cameras and willed myself to just focus on the photographer and not on any of the guys in the room. Along with John I had picked out Randy, Phil, Matt (Zack Ryder) and Stephen, along with the usual photog crew. The one man I didn't notice was standing in the back corner of the room, hands in his pockets, the shadows keeping him half hidden. If I had seen him standing there, I would have seen a well-built guy, about 6'3". He was tan with a great complexion and muscular frame. His hair was medium length, auburn in color and swept back from his face casually. He was new, a rookie in the company. He was also my abusive ex-boyfriend...