Eric woke up the next morning before Stephanie and quietly started dressing himself. He was already feeling flustered after having been so close to Stephanie and the fact that Hunter had already called twice was just another reason to get the heck up out of there. If he were to find the two of them in bed, no matter how innocent it was he was going to freak out. I don't need this. I should just stay away despite what she says.

"Eric?"

"Hmmm? Go back to sleep princess," he whispered. Why isn't she sleeping? Damn this woman…

"Why are you leaving so early?" she asked, rolling around to face him.

"Well…I have some things I need to do," he lied.

"Oh…well okay but…aren't you going to eat something?"

"Uh…" He hadn't really planned on it. He was just trying to hurry and get the heck out of there before an irate husband decided to pop in.

"Eric, if you don't eat something…"

"Fine. If it'll shut you up I'll go and grab a bite to eat," he groaned.

"Why do you have to be so…? You know, I can't understand why I even care," she mumbled.

"I don't know either. Maybe you should stop caring," he muttered. It sure as heck would make my life a whole lot easier.

"Jesus Eric! You're such an… Just go," she huffed pulling the covers over her head.

"Fine, I'll…" There was a knock at the door and both just froze.

"Stephanie, sweetheart, are you in there?" Stephanie quickly sat up in bed and just froze. Eric didn't know whether he should answer for her or just keep his mouth shut. Either way, the situation would be misunderstood so they were both now officially fucked.

"Uh…yeah…give me a second. You woke me up," she grumbled. Stephanie slid out of bed and sprinted towards Eric. She grabbed him by the arm and started ushering him towards the closet.

"Stephanie, what the hell…?"

"Just get in there and keep still!" she hissed.

"But…I thought you didn't care what Hunter thought?" he hissed back.

"Yeah well right now I don't feel like dealing with him for something so trivial so in case you wish to have the hell beat out of you then I suggest you stay put." She shoved him in the closet and closed it shut. She made sure Eric's clothes were out of sight before opening the door. Eric just rolled his eyes and cursed under his breath. This is what I get for being such an asshole. If he finds me then it serves me right…

"Honey, are you alright?" he heard Hunter asked. It took everything he had not to laugh out loud. Of course she's alright. In fact, she's more than alright…

"Uh…yeah. Just…tired," he heard her say.

Tired?! Eric scoffed. Give me break! She slept like a baby…and I did too now that I think about it.

"Tired? You didn't get much sleep huh?" Hunter asked.

"Uh…not really but I'm gonna go back to bed for a while in a few. When you called, I was finally starting to drift off." Again Eric had to suppress laughter.

"Alright sweetheart. I was just checking on you. When you didn't answer your phone I thought…but I see you're ok. Anyway, I am going to the gym to work out with Shawn then we're going to lunch. I'll see you later tonight alright?"

"Yeah." He leaned over and planted a kiss on her lips before heading out the door. When Stephanie was sure he was gone, she let out a huge breath before collapsing on the bed again. Eric quickly emerged from the closet wearing the smuggest of grins. Stephanie just rolled her eyes.

"Wow. That was quite the show princess."

"Oh just shut up," she muttered.

"Do you always lie to your husband?" he asked softly, standing over the bed grinning at her. She quickly rolled off the bed and stomped towards him staring him down.

"No I don't but for some reason I couldn't help myself this time. I suppose I was just trying to save your ass. Forgive me for caring," she huffed.

"Save me? I don't need saving because I didn't do anything."

"Didn't do anything huh? You're lucky that kisses don't bother me," she grinned. There was a smug look about her that Eric couldn't quite comprehend.

"Kisses? What are you talking about? I never kissed…"

"You did last night."

"I did not," he replied indignantly. Shit. She remembers…

"Yes you did. I know you did. I felt your lips brush my shoulder…" she teased, stepping closer to him.

"I don't…" he stammered marching backwards towards the closet but she continued to close the gap between them.

"And then my neck," she finished shoving him against the closet. He glared at her for a second, clearly annoyed with her until she pursed her lips and folded her arms. "So what excuse do you have now Mr. Bischoff?"

"None at this time."

"That's what I thought."

"However…" he smirked. "I didn't hear you complaining. In fact, you sounded as if you were enjoying it."

"I…WHAT?!" she exclaimed.

"You heard me. You could have stopped me at any point but you didn't. That makes you just as guilty as I am princess."

"But I—

"Enjoyed every second of it," he said as he lowered his head to her ear. "I heard you moan with pleasure which only motivated me to keep going," he whispered.

"Then what made you stop?" she breathed.

"My conscience," he said flatly.

"You have no conscience," she snapped irritably.

"Then I did you a favor," he shrugged.

"What makes you think that?"

He smiled that arrogant smile of his making her frown. "Because," he said, lowering his head to nip at her neck. He used his tongue to trail a path back up to her ear causing her to gasp. "I'd hate for you to scream out my name when you're making love to Hunter."

"I'd…I'd need a reason to," she stammered, clearly shocked by his actions yet turned on at the same time.

"Don't tempt me."

The way his voice wavered gave her just the ammunition she needed."Why shouldn't I? Your conscience will stop you before you could start."

"Oh really?" He took this opportunity to bend over and cradle her into his arms.

"Eric, what are you…?" He carried her over to the bed laying her down gently before lowering himself on top of her.

"I told you not to tempt me princess." He lowered his head and began kissing her neck. His hands wandered up her legs under the nightie towards her thighs. His tongue found the pulse of her neck and sucked on it softly, not nearly hard enough to leave a mark. She had to bite her lip to suppress the shudder that went through her body. "Is this what you want princess?" he whispered softly, kissing her earlobe. When she chose not to respond, he lifted himself off of her and headed out the door leaving her behind.

~*~*~

Shawn and Hunter did a few warm ups before doing some all American wrestling on the gym mat. Shawn won the first three bouts with Hunter winning the next two. When Shawn ended up winning another round, Hunter called it quits.

"Awe come on man. I know you aren't about to give up that easily."

"As you can see, my head isn't in the game today."

"I see. So did you see your wife this morning?"

"Yeah I did. As you know, she and I had separate hotel rooms."

"Was that really necessary?" Shawn asked, his brows raised curiously.

"I suppose since she couldn't stand to be in the same room with me."

"What about you though? How did you manage to cope last night?"

"Well, uh…I…kind of had company," he winced.

"Company? Now Hunter—

"Just a sec Shawn." Hunter held up his hands. "In my defense, before you start lecturing me, think about your vacation in Miami. You had 'company' over one night and look at you now?"

"Okay. Alright. Fine. So how'd it go?"

"Uh…"

"Hunter…" Shawn warned. "How did it go? Do I need to be prepared for a war here?"

"No just…just hear me out. I took a shower…"

~~XX~~

Hunter quickly showered and headed out to the parking lot. His wife was being a complete ass so he wanted to just get back to the hotel and get some shut eye. He was almost to his car when he heard someone call out to him.

"Hunter!" He turned to see Stacy running towards him.

"Oh hey Stace. What's up?"

"Oh…well um…Vince said that you and I were staying at the same hotel. I was just wondering if I could get a ride back with you."

"Oh…of course you can. No need to ask. Just hop in," he said grinning. Steph probably wouldn't like this but at the moment I'm too pissed to care.

A few minutes later they were back at the hotel and Hunter found himself inviting Stacy to spend some time with him. It wasn't that he had evil intentions. In all honesty, he could never actually cheat on his wife but right now he could use a friendly face. With Stephanie acting like the spoiled brat she could be, he needed something positive to focus on and Stacy was the perfect substitute. Hunter grabbed some cokes out of the fridge then took his seat next to Stacy on the couch.

"So how are things with you and Steph?" she asked, taking a sip of her coke.

"Oh well…things are good," he said laughing.

"I see. Are you sure?"

"Um…yeah…" But he took too long to answer which made her suspicious.

"You're lying," she answered flatly.

"How would you…?"

"Because I could always tell when something was bothering you or when you were lying. What's really going on between the two of you?" she asked sincerely. "I'm asking you as a friend and not just someone who wants to get all in your business. You know me better than that so talk to me."

Hunter just sat his coke on the end table before running a hand through his hair. "I don't know Stace. I mean, I think we're ok…just not great right now."

"What's wrong? Is it just stress?"

"I…guess you could say that," he winced. Stacy just stared at him with those beautiful brown eyes of hers causing something inside him to stir. Now he remembered why he didn't want her in DX. She was too good. She placed her drink down and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Well…whatever it is, I hope you can get through it," she answered softly. "I can tell that it's really bothering you even though you do your best to hide it."

Hunter didn't know why but his natural instincts told him to put his arm around her and pull her closer. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. It was a subconscious reaction that he didn't really mean to do. "Don't you worry about me. I'll be alright. You should know me by now."

"But I can't help but to worry. I've always worried about you Hunter. Despite our…history, I could never stop worrying about you." She pulled away from him and captured him again with her alluring stare. "It's hard to stop worrying about someone you care about." She lowered her head staring at the floor. "I…I need to go." She stood to her feet, wiping her eyes as she darted for the door.

"You're leaving now?" he asked standing to his feet. A part of him wanted her to go away – far, far away – but then the other part of him hated to see her leave. He followed her over to the door stopping merely inches in front of her. "You know you can't just leave without giving me a hug. We're DX…We're family now," he said flashing her a warm smile.

"Yeah…you're right," she replied softly. He grabbed her and pulled her into a warm embrace that was all too familiar to him. He patted her head as she nuzzled into his chest. He could feel her warm breath through his shirt and it was making him extremely uncomfortable. She suddenly pulled away, staring up at him with her lips poked out in a bit of a pout. He didn't even realize he was kissing her until he felt the tiny fingers teasing his spine. Her warm tongue suddenly entered his mouth and he went nuts, pushing her back against the door.

"Hunter." She moaned into his mouth, arching into him when he pressed his hips against hers. Stacy…Stace…Steph…Oh God… Stop Hunter! Stop it! When it finally dawned on him what was happening, he stopped himself and quickly apologized to Stacy.

"I'm…I'm sorry," he stammered. "I don't know…"

"It's ok," she whispered before hurrying out the door.

~~XX~~

"Oh man," Shawn winced. "That's—

"It's cheating. I know," Hunter mumbled. "I cheated on my wife with my ex and it hasn't even been two good weeks!"

"You didn't… Yeah you did but at least you stopped yourself," Shawn reasoned, trying his best to sound upbeat. "You do realize what this sounds like though right?" Shawn asked, smirking at his friend.

Hunter looked up at him and shook his head. "Oh, no. No, no, no…no you don't. Don't say that. This is nothing like you and Kim."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that bro. I tried to tell Cena. He's having a bit of a time with women at the moment too but you…" Shawn shook his head. "What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"You can't avoid Stacy forever you know and pretty soon you and Stephanie are going to have to decide whether or not your marriage is worth saving."

"Just like you huh?"

"Yeah…just like me."