A/N: Thanks big time for the reviews, you are the best and I can't get tired of repeating it. So, another one, hope you like ;)

CHAPTER 10

Placing her hands against a chest that felt made of steel, Maryse's used all the strength she had in her to achieve a goal that seemed almost impossible, pushing Ted away from her. But just as she knew in her head, the southern native had a clear advantage over her, not only he was taller but he was also stronger, and as hard as she tried to push him off she didn't even managed to move him an inch.

Consumed by frustration and anger, the blonde Diva snarled her upper lip and lifted her face to his, piercing him with her stare as his cool-blue eyes looked back into hers. "Are you crazy? Get off"

"No" He said, his face angled towards her. "I told you it was time to play by my rules so I'm the one calling the shots here"

Maryse set her feet firm on the marble floor of her suite's small living room and tried once again to push him away, but just like before her efforts were in vain. "Ugh, you know… Phil is going to be here any minute now so if you don't want him to beat you out of here you better leave now"

At the mention of the older man's name, Ted grumbled, let go of Maryse and turned his back on her, his hands lifting up in the air until they came to rest over his head. "Phil, Phil, Phil… I'm tired of that punk and I wish you would stop using him to get back to me" He hissed, turning around so he could stand right in front of her. "So I get that you wanted to get me jealous, I can see that, but I already told you that it worked so quit playing this sick game"

Maryse rolled her eyes and shook her head, closing her eyes for a second as she prepared herself to repeat to him what she has been telling him for months. "I'm not playing any games with you, Ted. We are over, it ended and I just want you to leave me alone. What part of that can't you understand?"

In a swift movement that annoyed her more than it surprised her, Ted circled her waist with his arms and pressed her back to him. "We are not over, Maryse… we are not over by a long shot"

Pushing his arms with her hands, the French Canadian took in a deep breath, once again feeling frustration over the fact that she was unable to move him. "But of course we are, or what? Do you think that I'm stupid enough to go back to you, a man who thinks he can buy it all with diamonds and purses… no Ted… I'll never go back to that"

"Yeah, you say that now to make me mad, but very much that you liked wearing all the little gifts I bought for you. You loved living the great life I gave to you and now look at you, ungrateful little bitch screwing around with a man that can't even tie my shoes. You are lucky I'm willing to take you back after that stunt"

Feeling a bolt of anger rise all the way from her feet to her head, Maryse exploded. "Screw you Ted, you…"

But he didn't let her finish, he cut her off just when she was about to tell him how little of a man he was if he thought he could go into her room and disturb her already established peace; and he cut her off by moving his face to her to kiss her.

As soon as their lips met Maryse began to struggle to break off his hold, but because he was now holding the back of her head hard against his face her efforts gave no result.

So he kissed her, hard and punishing; his tongue pushing deep into her mouth as she tried to use whatever strength she had against him. But as much as she tried it didn't work, the man didn't seem to mind her nails digging into his skin or the way her legs tried to find a way to push him off.

It wasn't until she used her teeth to bite his tongue that he let go of her with a groan. "Come on, not again"

"What is wrong with you?" She yelled, her accent getting thick and heavy as her hands flung towards him, hitting him on his chest and face and wherever her aim would guide her. "Don't you ever put your hands on me!"

Ted used his hands as a barrier against her assault, but because she wasn't stopping he sprung forward and pushed her over the sofa, making her stumble over it as he stood right in front of it, looking down on her.

By that point Maryse was seeing red and not thinking what she was doing, she grabbed for the lamp resting over a small table near the sofa and threw it at him. It didn't hit him, it just crashed into dozens of pieces all over the floor.

"What do you think you are doing? Kill me?" Ted hissed, his eyes looking at the scattered lamp and then to Maryse.

"Get out, get out!" She yelled, getting up to her feet to confront him, standing on her tip toes so she could be right in front of his face.

"Why…?" He asked with a dark smile while his eyes ate holes through her. "Why don't I wait on your boyfriend so we can all have a little chat? I have a few things to say that he's going to find interesting"

"He's going to kill you if he finds you here" Maryse spat, knowing full well that she was exaggerating but saying it anyway.

"Now don't make me laugh babe, it would take more than that tool to take me down. You know, I'll give it to you, you really picked the right guy for this little game; it really hits me hard to know that you are with the likes of him… I mean yeah your trick worked, but if you really expected me to believe this farce you should have picked someone better than me"

"He is better than you, in all possible aspect" She said, flashing him a dark smile of her own. She had dated the guy for a while and she knew just how to push his bottoms; she knew how to rile him up and she was going to do just that. Stronger he may be, but sometimes the use of words that cut deep was enough to stand up against brute force. "He's a better man and he's definitely a better wrestler; but what's more important, he didn't have to rely on his daddy to give him the world like you did. Yeah you walk around with great pretenses but nothing you have you have earned. Did you know that no one takes you seriously? Everyone knows that you will always live under the shadow of your dad and no money in the…"

Before she could go on with her rant, Ted lifted his hand and connected it to Maryse's face, hitting her hard enough to make her head jerk to the side.

Her reaction to the slap was to bring her hand up to her tingling cheek and look at him, the look on her face a mix of stupefaction and concealed anger.

He hit her… he just hit her.

But if the look in her face was stupefaction, Ted's face wasn't far behind, he was staring back at her with confused eyes and an expression of complete shock. "Maryse… I didn't mean…"

"Get out" She hissed through clenched teeth, her hand still resting against her face as she glared straight at Ted, her eyes shooting flames towards him. "Get out before I call security and make them drag you out"

"I didn't mean, it was… I swear I didn't mean it"

Tired of seeing his face and mad as never before, Maryse took two steps toward him and pushed him hard, she pushed him until he was out the door and once he was out in the corridor she slammed the door hard and forced her legs to carry her to the bathroom.

Once in there, she took a look at her reflection through the mirror, her eyes taking in the red mark Ted left there. It stung, it hurt and even if she has been slapped more times than she could count, never before has she ended up feeling like she was feeling at the moment.

It was just that she hasn't been expecting it, all the other slaps she has received had been in the ring or performing for her character, and even if some of the other Divas would put more impetus than what was necessary when it was written for them to hit her she was always prepared to receive.

But Ted took her completely by surprise, and the fact that he has been the first man to lay a hand on her in anger wasn't helping matters. So she was mad, she was upset and what bothered her the most, she was feeling vulnerable and more than a little shaken up.

With her hands trembing and drawing in a deep breath, Maryse opened the faucet and let it run, her liquid warm eyes fixed on her reflection as the water ran free.

She remained like that for a moment, almost in a trance, and it wasn't until she heard the door of the room open up that she reacted, sniffing and splashing her face with cold water.

"Anybody home?"

At the sound of his voice, Maryse hurried up and dried up her face, wondering if she would need to put some make-up on so Phil wouldn't notice the mark Ted left in her. "I'll be up in a second" She called, deciding to go up with it and use some corrector to cover up.

"Maryse… what the hell happened here?"

"Nothing… I…" She tried to hurry up but her hands were still shaking and she just managed to drop the contents of her make-up bag all over the sink.

"Are you aware that there is a broken lamp…"

Maryse heard him say the words, his voice sounding way too close… and when she looked up from the small fortune of M.A.C. products all over the place she saw his reflection through the mirror, standing right in front of her bathroom's door and staring directly at her.

Maryse blinked and casted her eyes down, grabbing everything her hand could take and putting it back into the bag. "Yeah... I know"

"What happened to your face" He asked, his voice carrying a dark tone he has never used on her before.

"It's nothing" She said, very aware that he was walking in her direction. "Really, it's nothing"

When he was right behind her, he grabbed her shoulders and made her turn around, and once she was face to face with him he took her chin in his hand and made her look up at him. "So this nothing… let me get it straight. I come in and to find that your living room hosted a hell of a brawl, then I come to you and see that you have a mark on your face, and just when I touch you I see that you are trembling… so don't try to say nothing happened here, when I talked to you a little over an hour ago you sounded perfectly fine, now you are not so"

"I am fine, Phil… it's really nothing" She replied, wanting to drop the subject already. She didn't do well when showing her vulnerable side to people and if he kept going she was apt to unwillingly show it to him.

"Tell me what happened" He asked again, the intensity of his green eyes digging into her hazel ones. His voice also told her that he wasn't buying her words and that he wasn't going to give in until she talked to him.

Sighing and hoping that her voice would come out as even as it could, Maryse closed her eyes. "It was Ted… he came here and…"

"He hit you?"

"It was…"

Taking his hands off of her, Phil cussed under his breath and turned around, walking out the door and leaving Maryse behind. It took a second so she would react, but when she did she followed him and found him about to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" She asked, her voice unusually low and her arms up against her chest.

Phil turned from the door and looked at her, his face a pure mask of anger. "What do you mean where I'm going? I'm going to find that son of a bitch and…"

"No. It really was nothing… I don't want you to…"

"Nothing?" He said with a snort and closed the door, turning back to her as his lips turned into a hard line in his face. "He fucking hit you, you can't expect me to stay here and do nothing about it!"

Breathing in and feeling that she was still shaking, Maryse closed her eyes. "Please don't go" She didn't want him to get in trouble because of her and she didn't want him to walk out and leave her alone. As she saw it Ted could get what he deserved but not at the hands of Phil and not that night…

Opening her eyes, Maryse saw that Phil was still there, his hands resting against his hips as his eyes fixed on the broken lamp. He was shaking his head, and even if he wasn't saying it, Maryse could say that he wanted nothing more than walk out and find Ted so he could take out of his system the anger that was consuming him.

"I can't let him get away with this" He shook his head, his easy going nature nowhere to found. "What else did he do?" He asked, his eyes hard on her.

"He didn't do anything else"

He nodded, brought one hand up to his short hair and let his fingers run through it. He didn't say anything and Maryse felt like she needed to say something to break the silence.

"Just don't go okay" Her voice trembled after the words were spoken and she cleared her throat, hating that side of her and hating Ted for bringing it out.

On his part Phil sighed and walked to her, one of his arms sneaking around her waist to bring her to him. He did it gently, not like Ted, and when she felt him near she hugged her body to his and rested her head against his chest.

He felt comforting, the feeling of him, the way his scent hit her nose… she just liked having him near, so turning her face a little she pressed her lips over his shirt and closed her eyes.

"I'm going to get him whenever I see him, it doesn't matter where, I'm just going to get him"

Maryse closed her eyes and hugged him tighter, breathing against his shirt as he held her close. She didn't want him to get in trouble, but if it meant that he was going to stay with her that night, she wasn't going to say anything to change his mind…