Chapter 10

I felt like I was falling, but I was motionless on the bed. I could hear Baron snoring next to me and I was on my back but I was on top of blankets not under them.

The ceiling moved, like a wave as I came into awareness of where my limbs were. My arms were at my side and my legs open and it was cold. I was cold. I touched my upper body and found a shirt but I had nothing below my waist.

"Baron?" I looked at him.

His face was buried in a pillow and his bare ass on display. I didn't feel like I had sex, there was no obvious intrusion feeling. I wasn't hurting, though my head felt like I was high for some strange ass reason.

I got out of bed, my movements staggering around but Baron didn't move. He only snored. Coherent thoughts were to get up and leave, to leave the bad stuff behind and sleep it off somewhere safe. I felt trapped, at least it wasn't under Baron's gaze.

My only option was to find Jenna and I left, with a messed up shirt and some pants that looked like they were used in an origami project.

My body swayed as I walked down the hall. I didn't even know why I was there. The wall that my hand ran across was scruffy, it had a texture that wasn't normal. My head was in a fog and I didn't know why.

I knew I had clothes on, but that was about as good as I could tell, because the top of my jeans were digging into my sides.

"Elaina?"

I stopped and looked up. "Don't you guys ever sleep?"

"It's six in the morning, Elaina. I'm going for a jog. What are you doing?" Finn asked.

He was in shorts, and a sleeveless top and his traditional shoes. He was good looking and I was not.

"I don't know." I leaned against the wall. "I want a bed."

"Did something happen? Did Baron hurt you?"

"Why do you always ask me those questions?"

"Because I care about you, Elaina. Come on, I'll let you stay in my room." He took my elbow.

I didn't budge at first and tried to pull away from him. "Don't touch me," I said.

"I will carry you to my room if I have to." His Irish accent deepened and he stepped closer to me.

"For what, so you can have sex with me, too?" I asked.

"What?" He glanced down at me. "Elaina, did you have sex?"

"I don't remember." I pressed my hand to my face. "I woke up, Baron was naked, I was, too." The tears gathered at the edges of my eyes as I pressed my back into the wall. "I got scared."

Finn pulled me from the wall, bringing me into his overly warm embrace. "Come on, Elaina. You need somewhere safe."

I finally relented to his pressure. I let him guide me along the hall. A man that was pretty much a mystery to me, an anomaly that I couldn't understand. The push and pull of work and romance had brought me to tears in front of him and he still wanted to make sure that I was okay.

I found myself waking up a second time, this time alone in a hotel room that wasn't mine. Swaths of memory still there but feeling as though I was flying. I remembered Finn getting me to his hotel room but from the fact that I was wearing sweatpants that weren't mine and I still had my top from the night before on was a little alarming. My hair was up in all sorts of places according to the mirror that was across the room from me.

A door to my immediate right opened and when I looked I found myself staring at an extraordinary man with a great set of abs and a towel wrapped around his waist. Finn was whistling something as he went to his bag.

"Good to see you're alive, Elaina." He said as he leaned down.

I looked away. "Yeah."

He grabbed what he wanted and returned to the bathroom, the door clicked behind him and I felt a sob get stuck in my chest.

I pressed my knees up to my eyes, hoping to blot out any memory of what I had seen the man have. From legs up to chest, I was the only one privy to what he had been like in just a towel. I had seen a lot more of what Baron had to offer, but why did that scare me? It could be that I had possibly have unprotected sex with my boyfriend with no memory of it. And then why was Finn the one to pick up the pieces when I shattered emotionally in the hallway?

"Elaina," I heard Finn say. "Hey, Elaina."

I lifted my head and found him with four pills in his hand, and a glass of water.

"The two small ones are the day after pill, I thought you might…" I grabbed the pills from him, popped them in my mouth and took the offered glass, taking them all in a few gulps. "I wasn't sure if you wanted me to do that, but I didn't want you to worry."

"Thanks." I said as I handed him the glass back. "I should get going."

"Is that smart?"

"I don't know." I said as I got off the bed. "But I don't want to be yelled at again."

I was just feet from the door when Finn stepped in front of me. Bare chest and all, he stood there with a look that was set in stone and his mouth turned down.

"You shouldn't let him do all that stuff to you."

"Finn, leave me and my relationship alone. It's bad enough I have to work with you, I don't need you involved in my personal life."

"Because I care about you, you're a friend. And friends to me are precious." I had a momentary Gollum voice pop in at the word Precious but I pushed it aside.

"I still need to talk to Baron about what happened, I need to know what happened." I ran my hands through the mess of short hair on my head. "I need a shower, I need to get back to my senses and just...just…" I couldn't think.

"Just what?" He stepped closer.

"Make rules, set rules for both of you. I need to take a breather." I said.

He pulled me to him. I gasped but felt him lower his chin to my shoulder. His scruff was enough to tickle, shooting sparks to my toes and then up again.

"Please, Elaina, please call me if you need anything." He rubbed my back.

I was having a hard time thinking with his body wash being so spicy. Then there were his hands at the center of my back and I knew I stopped breathing because when Finn finally pulled away I let air out through my nose. I could feel the heat in my face as he smiled at me.

"I'll try to get a hold of you, Finn." I said. "Thank you for being there for me."

Leaving was hard, but I figured out where my room was. Baron was sitting up in bed, thankfully with some boxers on. He looked at me when I closed the door behind me.

"Where have you been, Elaina?" He stood up and walked over to me. "Where have you been?"

"I got scared, Baron. You try waking up with no memory of how you got into bed with a naked person next to you, and you're almost naked. I went to Jenna. I, I got scared." I looked down.

"You shouldn't have left, Elaina. I was scared. I thought you didn't come back with me last night."

"I shouldn't have drank that much." I said. "I don't even remember getting half undressed."

"I'm clean, if that's what you need to know." He rubbed my arms.

"I don't care, I don't remember having sex. That's the problem, Baron. I don't want to ruin what we have right now with a mistake." I rubbed my face, feeling the grime under my fingertips. "I need a shower."

"Babe," he tried to catch me but I pulled out of his grasp. "Elaina."

"Why aren't you scared of this, Baron?" I spun around and looked at him. "How can you not care that we had sex and not remember it?"

"Because it's no big deal. So what if I was your first, and we didn't remember it."

"I want to remember my first time. I want my first time to be special, not while intoxicated and waking up half naked. What if it wasn't you? What if someone else had?" My throat started to close up, I was hunched over and tears were starting to form.

"I'm the only one for you. No one but me will ever know you anyway."

I stepped back from him. "Do you even respect me enough, Baron?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Do you or don't you respect me, Baron?"

He stood there with his mouth open, his hands were hanging in the air as if seeing the ghost of Elvis in front of him. I waited on bated breath for his answer but it didn't come.

"Maybe this relationship isn't worth our effort if you can't respect me." I said.

"No," he grabbed my arm as I turned towards the bathroom. "Elaina, no. You're not going to leave me."

"Get your hand off me, Baron." I raised my voice. "You're hurting me!"

He grabbed the other arm, and shoved me towards the bed. His face was hard, his grip harder.

"You're not leaving me Elaina." He loomed over me. "Do you know why I hate Bàlor so much?"

"I know about his affair with Delaney."

"Delaney was my friend's wife." He pushed me back. "That's why I don't want you anywhere near him."

"What does this have to do with us?"

His grip tightened. "It has everything to do with us. He wants to fuck you so bad, Elaina. You'll just end up like Delaney, just another locker room slut. You're never going to be like that because you and I are together."

"That makes no sense, Baron."

"Because you're too stupid to get it, Elaina." He came nose to nose with me. "You're too stupid to see how Balor looks at you, when he smiles he just wants his dick in you."

I may not have enjoyed the idea that Finn had an affair with Delaney, or the way he seemed to easily smile at her, I didn't think Finn was that way with me.

"So from now on, anytime you have to be near Bàlor, I'm going to be there with you."

"No, I have to do my job."

"And you will, but I'm going to make sure that he doesn't start something with you. End of discussion, Elaina. This is how it's going to be from now on."

I opened my mouth to say something but he kissed me quiet. And then he declared he was going to get in the shower.

The moment he closed the door, I put my stuff together and left. There was at least one place I could go where I knew I would be safe.

Jenna opened her door. "Elaina."

I looked over her shoulder at the bearded IC champion that was putting his pants on. "Jenna, I don't remember having sex with Baron, he's freaking me out and I'm scared." I said. Really, I didn't care if Seth was there or not, the words came out the way they needed.

"Seth," she looked at him.

"It's cool, I'll leave. She looks distraught."

"I would have called Finn but…"I shook my head. "You were closer."

Seth left me and Jenna to talk.

And so starts the drama I mentioned earlier. Hope you like it. It's almost done, almost, just a few more chapters to go. Hang in there with me.