Chapter 10

"So... This is fun," Stephanie said, taking a bite of her food. She looked over at Chris, who was sitting across from her.

"Exciting," Chris agreed, staring at her while taking a bite of his food as well.

"Really. I've never had more exciting fun than this," Paul said in a bored tone, looking away and pushing his food around with his fork.

They were sitting in one of the most expensive restaurants in the city, if not the most expensive one. The limo ride to the restaurant had been one of uncomfortable silence. The three had basically looked at each other, then looked away, at a complete loss of words. Once at the restaurant, they were still at a complete loss of words, and the tension in the air was getting thicker and thicker by the minute.

"So, Paul, what do you think about the Triple S photo shoot Vince is having Stephanie and me do tomorrow?" Chris asked finally, trying to start a conversation. He couldn't stand the silence.

"I think it's a bunch of bullshit," Paul answered immediately, looking down into his plate of food. "But Vince is right, it'll be good for business."

"I'm actually looking forward to this photo shoot," Stephanie spoke up. Paul raised his head and glared at her. "But only, of course, because I haven't been in a major photo shoot in a while," she added quickly.

"You haven't been in a major storyline in a while, either," Chris went on. "But now you're in one with me. How does it feel?"

"It feels..." Great, she thought. But she knew Paul would split his wig if she said something like that, so she said, "It feels weird."

"It's weird watching, too," Paul said, looking hard at Chris. "It's weird watching some guy shove his tongue down your wife's throat in front of millions of fans... How'd your wife take it?"

"Jessica kind of freaked out about it," Chris said, looking away as memories of his most recent conversation with his wife ran through his mind.

"Did you tell her about it beforehand?" Paul asked, enjoying the way Chris was suddenly squirming in his seat.

"No. I was told to keep the new storyline a secret, so I kept it to myself," Chris said, suddenly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going. "Jess got mad about that part."

"Aw," Stephanie said in a voice full of sympathy. "Well I probably would've been upset, too. Just speaking from a woman's point of view."

Paul rolled his eyes at Stephanie's show of sympathy. Across the room, he spotted Torrie Wilson a couple of tables away in a corner, looking at him. He stood up. "I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be back," he said.

"Ok, sweetie," Stephanie said. She watched him walk away, then looked at Chris.

"Finally, we're alone," Chris said. "I thought he'd never leave."

"Listen, I've been meaning to tell you thank you ever since you came to Paul's locker room earlier," she said.

"Thank you? For what?" he asked curiously. He couldn't remembering doing anything to warrant a "thank you" from Stephanie.

"For being my savior tonight," she said quietly. "See, Paul and I were having a little argument..." Her voice trailed off as memories of what had been about to take place in the shower came back. She gulped and shook her head before turning back to him. "Anyway, you saved me. So thank you."

"Saved you from what?" he asked seriously. She looked down at the table. "Don't tell me that bastard was about to hit you or something."

"It's not important. It didn't happen," she said. Just as she said that, she became aware of her thigh still stinging from the hard slap Paul had given it in the shower. Gosh, I can't even lie for a second, she thought.

Chris frowned at her as he watched her become quiet and look down at her plate. He thought of all the things Paul could've been about to do to her if he hadn't arrived when he did. He could've been hitting her, hurting her some kind of way, he thought angrily. His eyes got darker as he thought of something else. Hell, he could've even been raping her or something!

"So, what happened with your wife?" Stephanie asked a minute later, when the intensity of his stare had become way too much for her to handle. She looked up and met his eyes and couldn't believe how dark they had gotten.

Now it was his turn to look down at his plate. "She called me after the match. She was pissed. She had accusations flying everywhere."

"Accusations?" she asked curiously. "Like what?"

"Like, she swears she saw a certain look on my face in the ring when I kissed you," he said, looking up at her and meeting her gaze. "She asked me if that look was real."

"What was your answer?"

He sighed. "What could I say? I couldn't deny it and I couldn't lie to her either. So I didn't answer her."

"So basically you let her draw her own conclusion?"

"Yeah, basically. And her own conclusion was that the look was real." He gave a wry laugh. "She hung up the phone in my face."

"I'm so sorry, Chris," Stephanie said, reaching across the table to touch his hand. "If I had known this storyline I came up with would cause so much drama, I never would've pushed so hard to get it approved."

"Don't apologize for that," Chris replied, holding her hand in his. "It's my fault. I just need to be a man and tell her the way I feel about you. And I need to do it soon, because sneaking around hasn't been all that easy."

"That's true," she said slowly, thinking. "I need to be a real woman and let Paul know that my feelings for him have really changed. But I just can't bring myself to break his heart."

"Don't wait until he breaks a bone, Stephanie," Chris warned. "Does he hit you often?"

"I don't want to have this conversation right now, Chris," she replied shortly, removing her hand from his. "Let's just have dinner, ok?"

There was no way he could tell her no. He just didn't have it in him. "Ok, beautiful," he agreed. "We'll continue this conversation another day."

"Thank you," she whispered, looking over at him with a smile on her face. "Thank you so much."

"Anything for you," he whispered back. "You have to know that I would do anything for you..."

In front of the bathroom, Paul was waiting patiently by the door. "You're late," he grumbled when Torrie approached him. He grabbed her hand and led her inside.

"Sorry, baby," Torrie said as she followed him inside the co-ed bathroom and into the last stall. She leaned up to kiss him as he hurriedly undid his belt. "Mmmm, you taste so good, you know that?"

"Yeah, baby, I know," he replied as he undid his belt and pulled his pants down just enough. "Now come on, I need this, and we don't have much time." He was practically dying from an overwhelming need to be orally pleased, and she was the only one for the job.

She dropped to her knees in front of him. "Ok, I'll make it quick for you."

He gave a slight groan and tangled his hands in her blonde hair as she started working on him... Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered what Stephanie would do if she knew that he was sneaking around with Torrie... But then the feeling of Torrie's mouth on him erased his concerns over Stephanie, and all he could think about was what was happening in the bathroom stall...