Seth tried his hardest to keep his cool when he got to Raw that Monday. The reality was, he didn't have much of it. He caught a glimpse of her earlier in the day, just a couple of hours before the show. She was filling a cup of coffee in catering, standing away from him in a tight velvet dress, the back dipping low and teasing her tan skin. Suddenly, he felt the overwhelming urge for coffee.
"Charly, Charly," he cooed, coming up next to her.
She laughed at the sound of his familiar flirtation.
"Hi there," she smiled up at him, looking through her thick lashes.
"How are you today, beautiful?" he asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Pretty good," she smiled again, mixing in her creamer, "How about you?"
"I'm alright, but I gotta tell you," he dropped his voice low, "that dress is killing me, Char."
Charly rolled her eyes at him but smiled smugly, "I'm headed towards the preshow desk,"
"I'll walk you," he sped up sipping on his coffee. "So how was your date?"
The bitterness in his voice bugged him, but he couldn't help it. She cleared her throat, obviously uncomfortable with the question.
"Uh it was fine."
"Fine?"
"Yeah you know, he didn't spend the whole night talking about an ex or say he didn't like cats so, not bad."
"But not good?"
"Seth," she warned.
"Whatever, cheesy dude was boring, no surprise there."
"That's enou-" she started to scold him but was cut off by someone shoving against Seth.
"Whoa!" he jumped as hot coffee splashed onto his white t-shirt, "sorry-" he said instinctively before realizing who it was.
"Yeah you should be," Braun growled, "what where you're going, Rollins."
He almost shoved him back but thought better of it with Charly standing right there. It could get messy and she obviously wasn't a fan of that.
"What's your problem man?" he shouted after Braun as he sauntered away.
"C'mon," she said softly, pulling him towards the bathrooms, "that'll stain,"
"This is the women's room,"
"Oh grow up," she laughed, wetting a paper towel and pressing it to the mark on his shirt.
He smiled for a moment at the feeling of her hand on his chest. "So," he sighed, "you gonna see him again?"
Her eyes flickered up to him, glaring.
"You're just being inappropriate now."
"I just wanna know if I have something to be worried about."
"We're not dating, Seth," she murmured, rubbing circles on the stain.
"Oh c'mon," he pouted, "we both know it's just a matter of time."
"Actually, I don't know that because it's not true."
"So you're not just milking this until I'm desperate for you?"
"I told you how I feel," she looked up at him, "and the rest of my love life is no business of yours."
A sharp pain stabbed his stomach from her words and he dismissed it with a scoff.
"There's only one way this is gonna end, Charly, and we both know it."
She held his gaze, her cheeks flushing but not backing down. He raised an eyebrow and returned the longing stare, biting his lip, desperate to kiss her. Her head was tilting slightly, moving in slowly, and she had just begun to close her eyes when the door opening made them fling apart. Lana came around the corner and jumped looking up from her phone.
"Oh! Sorry! Should I-"
"No, no, that's okay," Charly was quick to explain, "we weren't, Seth just needed some help…"
"Spilled some coffee on myself," he nodded.
"Braun knocked into him, what a jerk."
"Ugh, that guy," Lana shook her head, "he's a big bully. You know he's been giving Rusev a hard time for no reason?"
"Seems like he's been giving everyone a hard time," Seth said.
"Yeah. Uh," she leaned against the doorway of one of the stalls, "I'm really sorry about what happened, Seth but I need to-"
"No, no, of course," he headed for the door, "thanks again, Charly."
"See you," her eyes followed him all the way out the door and when she looked back to touch up her lipstick, Lana was still watching her.
"That was kind of you."
"I felt bad, he was distracted talking to me when it happened."
"I bet he was."
Charly tried to put on a believable laugh, "not like that, we were just chatting."
"Don't be embarrassed," she said, coming up next to Charly in the mirror. "He's clearly got eyes on you."
"Think he's got eyes on a lot of women."
"Maybe. But there are worse guys to compete for, he's gorgeous."
"You're married," Charly laughed, reminding her.
"I still know a gorgeous man when I see one."
"He's good looking," she admitted, "I'm just not looking for that right now."
"Oookay,"
Lana turned around again and Charly sighed. It was the truth. Wasn't it?
XXX
Backstage during the show, Seth was constantly looking around for her, but Charly was always running around. He slowed down anytime he saw the cameras, hoping she was on interview duty, but he just couldn't seem to time it tonight. Instead, he found Braun, again, berating Sami Zayn, again.
"What's it to you? Little man," he growled.
"What's it to me? You think you can just bully everyone around here? Do you really think you can get away with that and we all won't stand up to you?"
"We? All I see is you. Face it, you're not man enough to step to me. And you don't have anyone who'd bother to help your sorry little ass."
"About that, Braun," Seth called, he couldn't' help himself. He strolled in front of the camera and clamped his hand on Sami's shoulder. "You think you're the star of this show cause you break the scale every weigh in? There's one of you, and trust me there's a whole lot more of us."
Bruan stepped to him, getting in his face. "I guess little guys have to stick together. Don't worry, Seth, you can get in line."
He stormed off and the camera crew followed him, though the monitors showed they were back to the commentary desk.
"You good, man?" he asked Sami, letting go of his shoulder.
"Uh yeah. What was that about?"
"I just…he's been a real jerk around here lately and you're my friend so-"
"We're friends?" Sami raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah…I mean, aren't we? We go way back, I fought you when I was a 20-year-old kid who had just made it to ROH. You bought me a beer after our match because I was too young to get one myself and you didn't want me to feel left out."
"I remember," he laughed at the story, "but uh, no offense, Seth, you were kind of a hyper-competitive jerk back then too."
"Alright, fair. Look, the enemy of my enemy, right? Let me get Mick to approve me on commentary tonight, if he goes berserk I can even the odds. For the beer?"
"Okay then, for the beer."
So Seth ended up at the commentary desk in street clothes, watching Braun and Sami trade blows in the main event. He hadn't been booked in a match, so at least this way his face, and his merchandise, was on TV. For what it was worth, Sami was holding his own, playing smarter than he had in the past. He began with a slap to the face and then ducked out of the ring, forcing Braun to chase him around the ring, his face turning red and him breathing heavily. Despite a few bad blows, he kept popping up and dodging Braun, tiring him out and keeping him from knocking him down too hard. Eventually, he set Braun up, and hit the Helluva Kick. Seth's mouth dropped, he did it, the scrappy little underdog did it. Sami pinned him to the count of three and scurried out of the ring as his music played.
Seth met him at the bottom of the ramp, holding up his hand in victory. The two turned their back as Braun was getting to his feet, shocked. By the time they reached the top of the ramp, he heard Charly's voice come over the speakers but tried not to be obvious about turning around and drooling over her.
"Bruan, Sami Zayn just handed you your first defeat one on one here in WWE, what's your response?"
"What's my response?"
"Ah-" he heard her cry out and turned to see him gripping the arm that was extended upwards with her mic. Her face was terrified, and a hush came over the crowd.
Before he knew it, his feet were carrying him down the ramp and into the ring, bolting. Seeing him put his hands on her, it stirred something inside him, animalistic. He knew Charly hated that violent switch, but this was a special circumstance. Braun saw him charging into the ring, and flung Charly to the side, her scraping against the ring ropes and crumbling to the mat.
Seth spring-boarded off of the top rope to hit him with a knee. He got up and kicked him in the stomach, his legs struggling for the flexibility in the skinny jeans he thought were a good idea this morning. It gave him the chance to hit the Pedigree. Normally he'd celebrate the elation of getting a guy like Braun, but today there was no time, he ran over to Charly, sinking to his knees.
"Charly," he pulled her up, she was shaking, "we have to go,"
"Ow-" she jumped off of her left foot, the one that had lost a rose gold pump, probably twisted an ankle.
"C'mon, Charly, he won't stay down," he helped her out of the ring, limping. "It's okay," he told her as she leaned almost all her weight onto his shoulder. "You're okay."
Begrudgingly, he took her to the trainer's room and they evaluated her ankle.
"I don't like her being here while he's storming about the halls," he told the trainer.
"We have security at the door, I just need to make sure it's not fractured. You can treat the rope burn at home."
Seth's eyes ran down to the open back of her dress, a nasty rope burn from the ring ropes red on her skin.
"I got one like that a few months ago," he told her softly, his fingertips running over it. She shivered but ultimately smiled shyly at him. "They heal quickly."
"It's just a sprain," the trainer told her, "I'll wrap it for you."
Seth looked around impatiently as he did, "then I can take her back to the hotel?"
"Seth, you don't have to look after me," she said, "I was upset but I'm fine now."
"I'm taking you back to the hotel and making sure that maniac doesn't come near you."
"She's good," said the trainer, "by all means."
"C'mon," he helped her to her feet and guarded her all the way to the locker room where she came back out with a tote bag and Ugg books. He couldn't help but chuckle.
"I know, it looks ridiculous, but I don't have other flats with me," she tugged her long jacket closed, limping slightly.
He took her bag from her and offered her his arm. Blushing, she accepted it, wrapping both hands around him. They walked to the lot, if she was nervous about who might see, it was overridden by fear of another attack.
In her hotel room, he set her up under the sheets, with a couple of pillows under her left leg. They hadn't spoken since outside the locker room, they didn't need to. It was romantic, heated. They both could feel it, so there was no need to vocalize it.
"There's a first aid kit, green pouch, the top pocket of my suitcase," she said quietly.
He rummaged through, nervously, she hadn't mentioned that the top pocket was also filled with silky, lacy underwear. He found the pouch and returned to the bed, sliding in behind her, his back against the mass of pillows.
"Hair tie?" he asked.
"Um," she looked at both of her wrists, which were bare save for a fitness tracker.
"Don't worry," he pulled his own hair down and used it to tie hers up.
"Didn't they teach you about lice?" she teased.
"You've put your tongue down my throat," he reminded her.
"Right," she giggled, "do you need this down?" she asked, looking at the shoulder of her dress.
"It'd…help. But I can make do if-"
"Go on," she whispered, and he pulled the stretchy fabric down off her shoulders. She slipped her arms out of it and shimmed it down under the covers. He found himself blushing and pulled up the sheet handing it to her.
"Beautiful view, but, I should focus."
She smiled shyly, holding the sheet to her hardly-clothed body. He tipped his hips away from her, trying to focus on the task at hand. In the pouch, he found an alcohol wipe and tore it open.
"This is gonna hurt like hell, but you really don't want this getting infected."
"I can take it,"
"Okay," he tried to be gentle as he pressed it against the scrapes, but she let out a loud cry, gripping the sheet tighter.
"Sorry, finished."
Digging through the pouch, he found some Neosporin and started rubbing small, delicate circles on her back. Charly winced at first, but relaxed into his touch.
"That alright?"
"It'll have to be," she inhaled sharply and then let it out, "your hands feel good."
"Good," he whispered back, "listen Charly,"
"Yeah?"
"I was out of line earlier, I'm sorry."
"That's okay."
"I'm a little," he sighed, "a little bit prone to jealousy."
"I noticed," she chuckled.
"It was petty. I feel bad."
"We'll call it even," she said, looking over her shoulder with a smile.
He put the tube away and slid out from behind her, taking a quick moment to admire her under the thin sheet.
"Can I get you something to sleep in?" he asked, a smug smile coming across his face. "Unless you sleep naked?"
"There's a pink sleep shirt on the top," she handed him the dress that had been discarded and he swapped it out for the soft cotton one.
He watched as she slipped it over her head and shook out her hair. She handed him back his hair tie and he played with it in his hands for a moment.
"Will you let me stay?"
"Hm?" she looked over at him.
"I don't want to leave you like this. He's staying at this hotel too."
"Seth, Braun's not going to come kicking down my door."
"You don't know how crazy people around here can get around here. Plus, this is my fault."
"How is your fault?"
"I provoked him and he took it out on you."
"Seth," she tipped her head.
"Just- I'd feel better. Please? I can sleep on the couch-"
"You don't have to," she slid over to the other side of the bed, leaving a space for him.
Seth smiled and pulled his jeans down but left his shirt. Climbing in next to her, she turned on her side and curled against his body.
"Easy," he murmured, "I'm trying to control myself here."
"Keep trying," she teased, wiggling against him. He could feel the throbbing. He was busted.
"I'll try."
"Thank you, by the way. For everything," she turned her head and kissed his lipss lightly.
"Anything for you, beautiful Charly."
"Goodnight, Seth."
"Goodnight."
