My chest felt heavy as if I was being held down as I slowly began to wake up. I heard soft snoring next to me and was pulled closer to a warm, hard body. I turned over and smiled at the familiar two toned curly hair I saw covering up the face of the man who wanted to bring me happiness. I buried my face into his chest and inhaled his scent as his arms tightened around me as he cleared his throat and rubbed his cheek on top of my head. This felt so natural, so perfect. It reminded me of those sweet mornings that I used to have with Adam. I shook my head, pushing down my past memories as Kenny let out a grunt and held me tighter to him. I wiggled my arms around him and rubbed his back slowly, his arms relaxing slightly around me. His phone began to ring and he mumbled as he reached behind us and grabbed it, answering it with opening his eyes. "Hello," he mumbled, half asleep, "hey, Nick. No, it's fine." He laid on his back, keeping an arm around me, his hand on my back as he talked. I rubbed my eyes and looked at him, smiling when he looked at me. "Yeah, I'm listening, Nick. I'll tell her and we can meet you two downstairs for breakfast. Um I mean I'll go get her, it's no problem. Training day? Alright. See you in a few. Bye." He hung up and yawned as he looked down at me.
"Well, good morning my beautiful kitten. Did you sleep well?" I nodded as he pulled me up and kissed my cheek. "How late did we stay up last night?" "Pretty late. You went to sleep on me and you looked so adorable sleeping that I didn't want to leave. Well, I left for a while, but I came back and spent most of the night just looking at your peaceful face. The moonlight looked so beautiful on you. It took my breath away." I buried my face into the crook of his neck, making him chuckle. "Don't say weird things like that," I said, feeling my face heat up. "I'm just telling the truth. My kitten is so beautiful, sleeping and awake. I'm glad that I got to see both faces." "Stop!" He laughed and pulled away from me. "If this kind of stuff makes you blush now then how are you going to handle this for months, hopefully years to come?" I shrugged and stared at him. "What did Nick want so early in the morning?" "Oh. Right. We need to start preparing you for New Japan. Try to undo the damage WWE has done to you." "Whatever," I chuckled as I sat up and stretched. "He also said that you're all leaving tomorrow."
Reality crashed back down at his words and sadness crept back in. "Oh yeah. I forgot that I had to go back home," I sighed as he sat up and wrapped his arms around me. "Don't worry. Christmas is in just two weeks and we'll be reunited. In the meantime, you have to focus on meeting with Vince about leaving the company." I nodded as he kissed my forehead. "Now. Breakfast?" "Duh," I giggled as he climbed out of bed. "Good. Watching you sleep so peacefully can make a man hungry." "Stop teasing me!" He laughed as he grabbed an unfamiliar bag and set it on top of the bed. "Did you bring your stuff in here," I asked as he pulled out some clothes. "Well, yeah. When you went to sleep, I managed to slip out of bed, grab your keycard then went to my room and grabbed my bags and brought them in here. It was either do that or spend the entire night here and go back to my room, getting caught by either Matt, Nick, or Adam leaving here. Which reminds me, we have to tell him about us today. I rather him hear it from us than read it online." "That's going to be fun," I sighed, climbing out of bed and flipped my hair over my shoulder before going to my bag and grabbed a pair of camo jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. I kept my back to Kenny as I pulled off my shirt and tossed it on my bag. "Nice tattoo. What's the story?" "Before everything that happened, my dad used to refer to me as his angel. In fact, they was going to name me Angel, but settled on Ashley instead," I said as I pulled on a sports bra then put on my shirt. "So you do have some good memories with your parents?" "Yeah. It wasn't all bad. I still love them. I mean they are my parents. The only parents I will ever have." I quickly changed into my camo jeans and packed my gym bags when I felt strong arms wrap around my waist and Kenny nuzzled into my neck, his beard tickling my skin. "Well, let me ask you this. Is there any chance of you and your parents can ever get back on good terms?" I stared out of the window as I mulled over the idea of speaking with my parents again. "I would love to, but I don't know if they want to talk to the trouble child," I said with a heavy sigh. "I hope so because I would love to meet them one day, if that's okay." I shrugged as I kissed his forehead. "I could always give you their address and you can go visit them yourself." "I'm not going by myself. What would you do if I just randomly showed up at your door," he asked, releasing me. "Easy. Hug you and pepper you in kisses," I said turning around and stared at his bare, chiseled chest, "of course if you showed up like this, who knows what I would do?" He smirked as he placed his hands on my hips. "Are you trying to seduce me, you little minx?" I giggled and shook my head. "Just giving you an innocent compliment," I said, removing his hands and walked back to the front of the mirror and brushed my hair. "Yeah. Sure. Tell me anything. I have plenty of time to figure you out and learn when you're just messing with me." I put my brush down and smiled at him. "I'm not, Ken," I whined, poking out my lip, "I'm being honest." He sucked in his breath as he stared at me. "So adorable. But we need to hurry and get to the lobby so we can get the day started."
We finished getting ready and carefully left my room, making sure no one saw us as we rode the elevator down to the lobby where Nick, Matt, and Adam were waiting for us at a table with plates full of food. "Yay, breakfast," I said as we walked up and sat down next to Nick, rubbing my cheek against his. "Ugh why must you be so weird," he chuckled. "Because being normal is overrated and you guys wouldn't like me if I wasn't weird," I giggled. "True. There should always be that one weirdo in a group so you definitely earn that spot," Matt teased as I immediately began to stuff my face with food. "What took you two so long? We were waiting for twenty minutes," Adam asked, staring at me. "Adam, you know me. I'm not a morning person," I said in between bites. "Right. I forgot. Remember that time I had to physically get you out of bed because you were running late for a shoot?" "Yeah and you put me in the tub and turned on the cold water, you jerk." He laughed as I rolled my eyes. "Wow. You two had a violent relationship," Kenny smirked. "No! He was just a jerk every chance he got. Putting me in the pool on a floaty while I was sleeping then watched as I rolled over and fell in. Or the time you put a stupid mannequin head in the bed when I was trying to rest, knowing that I hate mannequins." "And you didn't kill him after all of that," Kenny asked, looking shocked. "She loves me way too much to kill me. Put all of my clothes in the pool and hide my shoes, yes, but killing me? Way too much love for me to do that," Adam said confidently. "That love died years ago, Adam. Let it go." "Oh come on. You can't just block out and forget what we had. Not five long wonderful years," he said, pressing to get me to smile at our past memories. "Adam, back off. You shouldn't dwell in the past," Kenny said. "Yeah, man. The past is the past. Time to focus on the future," Matt added. Adam kept staring between Kenny and I as we ate our breakfast, making plans for the day and planning out my training. "I think we should start out with you against either me or Matt," Nick said as I sipped on my coffee. "Think you can keep up," I smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Relax. We watch all of your matches so I'm pretty sure I got you beat," Nick confidently said. "Famous last words," I sung, smiling at him as he glared at me. "We'll see. Trust me. There's no way you can beat me. We haven't faced off in a few years. I got better. There's no way you can beat me now." "So are you laying down the challenge or are you all talk like always," I said as the others ooh'd. "You are so on," Nick said, grabbing my hand and forced me to shake his. "Whatever you say," I chuckled as we sat around and chatted after breakfast.
One hour later, we went to a gym that had a wrestling ring to get a work out, followed by an impromptu match between Nick and I. I stood in the bathroom, changing into a black sports bra and blue and black leggings and put my hair up in a ponytail for my workout. I walked out of the bathroom and went over to the treadmills, putting in my earbuds before I began my run. "You're seriously going to wrestle her," Kenny asked Nick as he lifted weights. Nick nodded from the floor where he was doing pushups. "Don't worry. I won't hurt your girlfriend," he chuckled, looking up at Kenny. "Girlfriend? That some type of joke or what," Adam said as he set his weights down and walked over to Kenny and Nick. Kenny glared at Nick who gave him an apologetic look. "There's no way she would date you. No offense, buddy, but you're not Adam Cole, the only man who can make her happy." Kenny rolled his eyes. "I don't care if you believe me or not. I know the truth and whether you like it or not, she's trying to move on, although, it's very difficult after everything she's been through, but at least she's willing to try. So if you want to continue to live in this fantasy land that you're getting back together then fine, but I refuse to let you continue to disrespect her." Kenny set his weights down and stood chest to chest with Adam. "Guys, easy," Nick said, hopping up and stood between the two men. "Calm down. We're all friends here," Matt said, walking up. Adam smirked and walked away, heading over to me.
Oblivious to what was going on, I hummed to my music as I slowed down and turned off the treadmill. I pulled out my earbuds and turned around, getting picked up and put over a shoulder. "Put me down! What the hell, Adam," I yelled, hitting his back. "Calm down, princess. I'm taking you to the ring," he sighed. "I can walk, thanks." "I got you. I want to be your warm up before you step in the ring with Nick. That's all." I clawed at his back and yelped when he hit the back of my leg. "Stop misbehaving." "Stop bullying us smaller people then!" "I'm not bullying you," he chuckled. "Yes you are with your tallness and your ability to pick me up like I'm weightless and carrying me over your shoulder like I'm a doll. This isn't fair!" "Whining won't help you so stop fighting me." I sighed and gave up, letting him carry me over to the ring before he set me down on the apron. He sat on the middle rope and lifted the top rope for me to enter. I placed my phone down on the steps before I stepped through the ropes and pulled my hair out of the ponytail and shook it apart as Adam entered the ring and stood in front of me. "Ready, cupcake," he smirked as I stretched my arms. "Now I want a cupcake. Thanks, Adam," I sighed as he chuckled. "Well, I'll take you to get some cupcakes later. Okay?" "You better," I pouted. "Alright. Now lock up." I nodded and held up my hands before we locked up, Adam trying to push me back, but I stood my ground. I put him in a side headlock and attempted to take him to the ground but he pushed me into the ropes. I rebound and ran into him and he knocked me down. He dropped on top of me and went for the ground and pound, but I blocked his punches and rolled us over until I was sitting on his back. I grabbed his arms and pulled them back, putting my legs under them before placing my hands under his chin, setting him perfectly in the Acolade. He struggled to break free, but I kept a tight grip on him, keeping him grounded. I felt him relax before he tapped my leg and I let him go, getting off of him. "Nice try, Adam," I said as Matt and Kenny clapped ringside while Nick stood on the apron. "That was just a warm up. You still have to face me," Nick said, hopping over the top rope. "Yeah, I know," I sighed, focusing on Nick. Adam hopped to his feet behind me, wrapping his arms around my midsection, setting me up for a German suplex, but I managed to slip out and slid under him. I hopped up and kicked him in the lower back before picking him up onto my shoulders then dropped down onto my knees, releasing him as he rolled into his back. "Okay, I'm done," he chuckled before rolling out of the ring and onto the floor. "You tried," Matt teased, holding up his camera, "I wouldn't miss this opportunity in the world to film this." Nick and I locked up and he wrestled me to the mat with a side headlock. I slowly got to my knees and Nick re-adjust himself, putting me in a sleeper hold as I got to my feet. I twisted my body in an attempt to throw him off, but his hold on me tightened. I ran backwards, full speed into a corner repeatedly until Nick finally released me. I moved to the other side of the ring before I lined myself up with Nick as I took one step forward and cartwheel my way to Nick before hitting him with my forearm and he hit the mat. "It's over," Matt chuckled from the side, setting the camera down and entered the ring. I looked down at Nick who smirked at me and mouthed 'superkick' to me. I gave a small nod as Nick pretended to stagger to his feet as Matt reached us. Nick gave a nod and we both gave Matt a super kick. "That wasn't fair," Matt yelled as he fell to the mat. "Double trouble back together at last," Nick chuckled as we high fived. "Ugh. That's the last thing I want to deal with again," Matt sighed as Nick helped him up. Kenny snuck up behind me and lifted me up onto his shoulders. "Wait! I did not consent to this! This isn't right!" Nick and Matt cleared the ring as Kenny smirked at me before hitting his finisher, One Winged Angel. "You're a terrible person," I said, looking up at him. "Yet you agreed to date me," he smirked. I rolled over onto all fours before climbing into his lap and wrapped my legs around his midsection, putting his head under my arm as I trapped him. "I don't give up so easily," he gasped as he slowly got to his feet. I tightened the hold only to have him back me into a corner where I was forced to break the hold. As I was trying to gather myself, he charged and his shoulder connected with my stomach. Pain shot through me as I dropped to mat and clutched at my ribs. "Had enough," he asked as I crawled out of the corner. I smirked to myself and crawled over to him and hugged his leg. "What the fuck are you doing? Let go of my leg!" Nick and Matt started laughing as Kenny attempted to pry me from his leg. While I had him distracted, I used all of my strength to knock him down face first to the mat before wrapping my legs around his throat and squeezed until he tapped and I released him.
"Okay. WWE didn't ruin you," he coughed and stood up. "Told you. I did work out with Jon and Colby so of course I'm not that bad," I said as the others joined us in the ring. Adam handed me my water bottle and ruffled my hair. "Remind not to piss you off," he chuckled. "Why? You do it anyway. Most of the time I just don't have the energy to do anything about it." "Oh yeah. I used to wait until you were super tired before pissing you off. I forgot," he chuckled as I rolled my eyes and handed him back the bottle. Kenny wrapped his arms around me in what I thought was a hug, but instead he suplex me. I rolled away and stared at him. "You did not just do that." He smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "What are you going to do about it?" Nick, Matt and Adam cleared the ring as I glared at Kenny before we locked up again. My arm slipped through the hold and I grabbed his hair, pulling him down onto the mat. I smirked and held my arms out to the sighed. "Okay. I'll give you credit for that," he chuckled, standing up. He grabbed my arm and attempted to whip me into the ropes, but I reversed it and sent him into the ropes. He charged at me, but I managed to use Matrix at the last second to avoid being clotheslined. I spun around and caught his arm just as he was about to swing and kicked him in the stomach. He hunched over which gave me the opportunity to wrap my arms around his midsection and picked him up and over and hit Widows Peak. "Wow," Matt said as I stood up and stretched. "Impressive. I think you will be just fine," Nick said as I slid out of the ring. "Thanks. Won't I have to train with the others though?" "Yeah, but we'll worry about all of that later," Kenny said as he slid out of the ring and put his arm on my shoulder. I could feel Adam staring daggers into Kenny as we stood there. My phone began to ring and I walked up to it. "Yay," I said, knowing the familiar Facetime ringtone before answering, "hey, Finnamon bun." "I really wish you would stop calling me that," my favorite Irish friend, Finn Bàlor, groaned as I giggled. "I'll think about it. How are you? How's the shoulder?" "The shoulder is fine. I can start building with my Legos so I'm pretty happy. How ya doing? I see that yer in Japan with the guys." "I want to live here," I chuckled as I sat down on the ring steps. "No. Ya not leaving me alone. I need my Lego partner." "I know, but I am leaving WWE though. My contract is almost up and I'm not going to sign a new one." "Frustration got the better of ya, huh," he asked and I nodded, "whatever makes ya happy. Just don't forget yer friends, okay?" "Speaking of friends..." I held out my phone and a very eager Nick took it from me. "If it isn't the Prince," he chuckled as Matt stepped next to him. "Bucks! How are ya? Keeping my friend out of trouble, right?" "Yeah. Then she just beat the crap out of all of us...well, Nick, Kenny and Adam. I knew better," Matt chuckled. Kenny walked over to me and rubbed my shoulders. "Everything okay?" I nodded, smiling at him. "I think I hurt Finn's feelings when I told him that I was leaving. We were supposed to do a storyline down the road when he came back, but that's not happening." "Well, this will be a temporary change. You'll be back. Just need to boost your worth, learn some new moves and you will be back on top." I nodded as Nick handed the phone to Kenny. "Hey, Finn," he said, waving at him. "If it isn't the guy trying to still my best friend," Finn chuckled as Kenny say down between my legs. "Steal is such a harsh word. I prefer... Hmm recruit maybe. I made her a member of Bullet Club and the Elite. We need a woman in the group so why not her?" "Yer just sayin that because you two are datin. Matt and Nick filled me in. I saw what da fans were posting, but I didn't think you two would give it a shot."Kenny shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I can be very persuasive. And I was willing to beg and bribe her with food. I was prepared." "Dedication. I've always liked that about ya. Just don't go hurting my friend. I will find ya." "Can everyone just stop threatening me? I haven't done anything," he scoffed as I took the phone from him. "Everyone is so protective of me. I can't wait to see what Xavier says then," I giggled. Adam walked over and smiled. "What's up, man? Glad to see you back to your usual self," he said to Finn. "Thanks. It's great to see ya again. Still annoying Ash?" Adam chuckled and nodded. "Yeah and she kicks the crap out of me, but she does it out of love." "And frustration," I added. "Sounds about right. Ash, I was just catching up with ya. I'll let ya get back to beating up everyone. When ya return home, call me." I nodded before we said our goodbyes and hung up. "Same old Finn. At least he's smiling and not down in the dumps," Kenny said. "Yeah. That's my best friend," I chuckled as Kenny raised an eyebrow. "I thought Xavier was your best friend." "What? I can't have more than one best friend? Xavier is more of a brother to me than a best friend." Adam placed a hand on my shoulder. "You have more training. Let's go." I whined and poked out my lip. "Don't. You're not guilt tripping me this time," he said, grabbing my arm and pulled me to my feet. I stared at him as I crossed my arms and gave him the best puppy eyes. "No! Don't you dare!" "That's Ashley's true finisher, Guilt Trip," Matt teased. "This won't work so stop," Adam said, looking away. "Fine. I give up. Let's go," I sighed, getting bored since he didn't play along and got back inside of the ring. "Wow. That was fast. I was going to wait you out for a few more minutes," Adam said as he slid into the ring. "I know which is boring so I gave up. I'm in the ring. Let's go," I said as he pushed his hair back. "Fine. Lock up." We locked up as the training session continued.