Chapter 6: Opening Up

The ride to my first day of work was silent. I was really tired and Mark was still upset with me for the night before. I didn't know how to make it up to him without making the situation worse so I remained quiet. When we got to the gym he kindly showed me around and then left me at the front desk while he finished getting the gym set up and ready for his clients. We weren't busy at first so I basically read a magazine and watched TV until a phone call came. To my utter dislike, it was Erica calling.

"Hi, is Mark there?" She asked, not knowing it was me on the other end.

"Yes but he is currently busy with another client can I take a message?" I asked.

She sighed, "Well I just needed to cancel my appointment for today and reschedule."

I didn't know why, but the thought of Mark being her personal trainer bothered the hell out of me. I mean sure we were only friends, but I really cared about Mark and I knew what it was like for a girl to hurt him. When we were high school he dated a girl named Allison. He did everything for this girl and all she did was cheat on him every chance she got. That really tore him apart and I didn't like for Erica to be around him.

"I'm his new secretary; I can cancel it for you. Would you like to reschedule it?"

She got quiet for a second, "Since when did he have a female secretary? Wait…is this Serena?"

"Yes why?"

She giggled, "How did I know he would have you working there and to make things worse you're living with him."

"Erica, do you want to reschedule or not?" I snapped.

"No I don't think so. I'll let you know when I'll reschedule….bye."

I quickly hung up the phone and then got up to get a drink from the vending machine.

"Are you ok pup?" Mark asked. I guess he must have seen my anger and followed me over here.

I shook my head and bent down to get my soda. "Erica called…she cancelled her appointment for today."

He shook his head, "That girl is always cancelling appointments. What else did she say to you."

I sighed, "Basically she can't believe you are "falling for my act". Why does she think I only came here so you guys can take care of me? It's really starting to piss me off."

"Come here," He said as he pulled me in for a hug. "It's alright pup, I'll tell that jerk of a brother of yours to tell her to lay off. I don't know why she's bothering you so much."

I stepped back from him after the hug, "Listen, I'm sorry about last night. I know you were just trying to help me."

He smiled, "It's alright pup. I understand. I wasn't mad about it once I got some sleep. "

I smiled, "Well I'm sorry. Maybe I'll tell you about it later ok?"

"Sounds like a plan, now get back to work silly."

"Yes sir," I said as I rolled my eyes and headed back to my desk.

After work we headed back to his place and got ourselves changed. He then decided to take me down to his friend's karaoke bar. His friend's name is Sam. He was just as tall and nicely built like Mark only he had blue eyes and long black curly hair. Together these two looked like brothers. I got a chance to meet Sam's wife, Kayleigh. She was really pretty with long red hair, brown eyes, and neatly tanned skin. She was just as skinny as me only she was slightly taller.

"So you're Stone Cold's little sister?" She asked.

"Yep and he's a douche bag." I told her as we got acquainted.

She shook his head, "No he wasn't like that until he married that wench."

"Oh so you know her?"

"Hell yea. We use to be best friends but all of the sudden Steve became a wrestler, married her and I became an afterthought."

"Oh my, I'm sorry you had to go through that. She's been accusing me of moving here just to steal my brother's money."

"Get out of here! Is she serious?" Kayleigh said in disbelief. "She use to accuse me of that very same thing. She thought I only wanted to be her friend because Steve gives her money for everything. Ridiculous."

I shook my head and at that moment I noticed that Mark was staring at me from the bar. He had a soft smile on his face and a look of satisfaction in his eyes…or was that passion? Gosh I had to get a grip. Mark was my friend and he would only be that…

Later on Kayleigh got up on stage and started singing a few songs. She had a beautiful voice and she was a great dancer. I was actually inspired to get up on stage myself and sing a few songs. I think I had just about everyone on their feet clapping and cheering me on. Mark had a look of total shock on his face. When I came down off the stage he greeted me with a big hug.

"Girl you never told me you could sing!" He said. "What else haven't you told me?"

"Well I can play the guitar and sing at the same time."

He folded his arms. "That explains the fascination in guitar hero."

I giggled, "Yea I guess you can say that."

I took a seat next to him and we ordered two more sodas. "Are you having fun pup?"

I nodded with a smile of appreciation. He smiled back at me "You know…I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time."

I looked down at my lap, "Yea...it has been awhile huh?"

"Yes it has. What has been holding that smile back?"

I turned myself so that my body was facing him. "You must promise me that what I'm about to tell you will not get back to Steve."

"I give you my word pup."

I didn't know what it was about Mark, but I always felt like I could trust him. Even when we were young he was always the one I went to about everything. So much for Steve being my brother right?

"Alright…you remember Eric right?"

"You mean that punk kid that use to be Capitan of the football team?"

I sighed, "Yea…anyways I started dating him after Steve left our house. I didn't tell you because I knew you hated the guy."

"Damn straight,"

I giggled at his comment and then continued my story. "Well after you left and my parents died, I went to live with him. Don't look at me like that,"

His eyes had narrowed and he shook his head at me. I laughed and then remembered that this story only gets worse. "Well things were alright at first but then he started changing…the bruise on my back was from him throwing me into a wall."

"What? Oh my goodness pup, why didn't you leave him when he first hit you?"

"I don't know. I guess I thought I loved him."

He sighed, "Well I'm glad you're here and safe. I would have came and got you myself if I knew how he was treating you."

I smiled, "You really seem to care for me a lot Markey."

"I do care for you a lot…" he said as he took a swig of his drink.

I blushed, "I care about you too you know."

He put his arm around me and pulled me in for a hug. "Thanks pup, I'm in need of a friend right now anyway."

"Why what's up?"

"Well you remember when you asked me if I was involved with anyone."

I nodded recalling the horrible night out with my brother and Erica.

He sighed, "I just went through a bad break-up with a girl that I thought was going to be my wife. Her name was Sara."

I took a drink of my Dr. Pepper and listened intently. "We met in college when I got down here. She seemed really nice and all but I could tell she was hiding something from me. About two weeks before you moved down here, she sent me an e-mail telling me that she was leaving me for some guy named Brent. She took half of my money that I had in my safe at home and she took one of my cars…bitch."

"Oh Markey I'm so sorry that happened to you." I said as I rubbed his back. "I wish I could have been there for you."

"It's alright pup, I'm a strong man and you're a strong woman. We'll help each other get through this tough time right?"

"Right," I said.

We didn't get home until midnight. I had fallen asleep in the truck on the way home and Mark carried me into the house. I loved how he was so gentle with me and respected me enough not to try and dress me in my night clothes. I ended up getting up in the middle of the night and changing into some night clothes. I was so happy that Mark decided to open up to me and I got the chance to do the same. I knew that now that the cat was out of the bag, I could move on and try to do something else with my life.