Hey everyone...here's the latest update. Been a crazy last few weeks, but I finally managed to get this all done and here it is. I'm new to writing the deeply intimate scenes, and I gave it my first go around in this chapter, so please, let me know if I suck at it and should stop xD. That's all I've got to really say. Enjoy the ride!

Somewhere between Texas and Arkansas...

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round.."

For some reason, she found herself humming the children's song on infinite loop in her head as she watched the bus hum along on the highway, zipping by road signs, everything becoming a blur of landscape, exit ramps and nonstop pavement. They were on their way to Arkansas for the next round of shows, and hopefully, she was going to be far, far away from the bane of her existence. They had a very close call back there in Dallas, and she was thankful that she made it out in one piece, that nothing had happened. All thanks to him. Though if she could change one thing, she'd take back the fact that she nearly decapitated him with that steel chair...

It was silent, like always. No Kofi, Zack or Truth again; he had told them he needed the bus to himself, so that he could keep a watchful eye on her without any distractions. And they were gracious enough to step aside and do that for him, realizing that what had started out as an innocent little game of hard to get had become so much more than that. It had become this violent twist of love and pain, with a touch of psychosis for added drama. She had no reason to believe that she wouldn't be safe while under his guard, because he finally seemed to be waking up and smelling the roses that she had been wanting him to smell since last month. She was going to be okay as long as she stuck to him like glue. No worries.

Looking to the back of the bus, she saw him get up off his bed and make his way to the bathroom adjacent to the shower, which was what she presumed he was doing. It then dawned on her that, well, she hadn't had a nice, hot, halfway-decent shower of her own in quite some time. But she couldn't ask him if she could do that; it was his bus, his rules, his property. She was just grateful enough to be a guest here, whether she was welcome or not, though now, she felt a little bit more welcome than she had when she previously stayed.

When he walked past her, to the front of the bus in search of something from his bag, she made eye contact with him, and he immediately stopped what he was doing to face her. He had a questioning look on his face, eyebrow raised like a certain Hollywood star, waiting for her to say or do something. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Oh..um..." She hated being put on the spot like this, even by someone like him. All she wanted to do was take a shower...why was it so hard to ask a simple question like that? God, she really hated what that goat faced jerk had done to her...made her afraid to ask even the most mundane of questions, made her afraid to do anything...she could feel the white hot stir of nervousness in the pit of her rumbling stomach, being under his intense glare, it didn't make her feel good at all. It made her feel oh so small. Microscopic, even. "I was just...uhm..."

She looked around, cursing herself for not being able to ask the man a damn stupid question about whether or not she could take a shower, and also now for looking for something else to ask him about. When she saw something protruding from her own bag, her eyes lit up and she instantly grabbed it, holding it up to him like it was the prize at the bottom of a bag of Cracker Jack's and she was five years old. "Can I hook my Nintendo Wii up to the tv?"

He burst out into a fit of laughter, sitting himself down across from her in Kofi's seat, his one arm wrapped around his stomach to try and control himself, while his other hand was pounding the table as his face turned red. She didn't know how to respond to it, but she still raised a questionable eyebrow in his direction, wondering just what the hell was so funny to him. Yes, she knew it was a silly question, one that strayed way off topic from what she wanted to really ask, but it couldn't have been as hilarious as he was finding it to be...

"Of course you can! Christ girl, you had me thinking something serious had come up for a second there", he commented as the laughter subsided and he stood up, the red draining from his face as he smiled down at her, grabbing a spare towel from his bag. "Go right ahead and plug it in there. What'cha gonna play?", he then asked her, also taking some deodorant for himself, still facing her as she fumbled around with the box.

The bus hit a bump in the road and the box fell from her hands. She bent down to pick it up but saw that he had the same idea, and she found her face mere inches from his, both of them staring deeply and intently into each other's eyes. They held each other's gazes for a few moments there, devouring each other with unspoken want and silent wonder. She wondered what it would be like to be able to kiss those perfect, jagged lips of his...to nibble on that perfectly placed lip ring...to feel those lips of his crash onto hers...truthfully, he was thinking the same thing. They were both getting ahead of each other though. She shook her head and grabbed the box, sitting back up, watching him do the same, rubbing the back of his neck, an awkward grin on his lips.

"Oh yeah! I'm gonna play Mario Kart...because you asked what I was playing...oh boy..", she said, whispering the last two words to herself as she quickly turned around in her seat to face the television, going about the process of hooking it up, while he muttered something under his breath to himself, doing an about face and heading to the shower so he could have some time to himself to think about what just happened there. She thanked the skies above that he wasn't standing within three inches of her anymore, because it felt like her body heat had been turned up to the max, and she began to nervously giggle to herself. She hadn't felt anything like that in...forever...when she first met Daniel...

Of course, his face invaded her thoughts and ruined everything for her. She shuddered at the image of his sick, cruel, disgusting smile and that god awful three lettered word that would follow her everywhere she went. "Good thing her has no damn clue where we are right now...I hope...", she thought to herself as she fiddled around with the various plugs on her Wii and with the television. Crap, this was harder than she thought it was going to be. It had been a while since she had done this with a video game system, but a few minutes later, she sat there, wearing a proud smile as her little Nintendo Wii rested nicely next to his larger than life XBox 360. It looked cute, almost, how they nearly molded together, even if they were inanimate objects.

She felt the sudden urge to snap a picture of it. She didn't know why...it just kind of reminded her of what she wanted from life someday. Someone to come home to. Someone to settle down with. Someone that could make her happy...but she was still so young and tied up in this three ring circus from hell called the world of professional wrestling. She loved being a wrestler, she really did...but not if it meant having to constantly be on the run from someone she once loved, someone who thought she was his property...she wanted to show him the same kind of abuse he had shown her one day. She wanted to show him that she was stronger than he would ever be. One day, one day...

Her phone buzzed and vibrated. Grabbing it from the counter, it was a text from Kaitlyn, asking her how she was doing and where she was, who she was with. Even after basically alienating her along with the rest of her other friends...Kait kept coming back, trying to make sure that she was doing okay...their friendship was standing the test of time. She knew she'd never have another friend like Kait.

I'm with punk...we're heading to arkansas.

xxx

oh, okay, good...u 2 are riding alone?

xxx

yea, kofi, zack and truth gave punk the bus to himself...why?

xxx

don't do anything i wouldn't do, girl...

xxx

what's that supposed to mean?

xxx

i'm just sayin, if i was alone on that bus with him, the things i'd do...

xxx

omg kait! head out of the gutter, please!

xxx

i wouldn't be me if i wasn't making you blush ;)

xxx

why are you my best friend again...

xxx

get some girl! you need it!

xxx

She groaned in frustration, her cheeks a reddish tint as she thought about the dirty images that her best friend had now implanted in her brain. "I'm going to hurt her the next time I see her", she murmured to herself, not noticing that he had stepped out from the shower, watching her from afar.

"Who are we hurting, now?"

Upon hearing his voice, her eyes drifted quickly back down to her phone, where another message from Kaitlyn appeared, one that both made her slightly embarrassed and made her think about how true it was.

after all u have been thru..u deserve to be treated right 4 a change. u can't deny that, girl.

"Nobody, nobody at all", she muttered under her breath as she hastily shoved her phone into her back pocket, but that didn't stop him from walking up to her and snatching it easily from her and scrolling through the messages, while she tried, in vain, to stop him from seeing what her best friend was just telling her. "Come on, Punk! There's nothing important to read there!"

"The way you're fighting me for your phone tells me differently, Miss Mendez", he said with a grin as he held her at bay, scrolling through the messages. After reading all of them, his eyes widened a bit, but the grin remained as he handed her phone back to her, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't know how exactly to respond to those, but at least he wasn't alone in sharing the embarrassment. Though he could clearly tell that she was more bugged by it than he was, evidenced by the shade of red her cheeks had taken on. "Your best friend...she sure has a way with words, doesn't she?"

She couldn't bring herself to respond verbally, instead nodding her head furiously before turning around to face the television, turning it on along with her Wii so that she could distract herself from the many dirty thoughts that had now been planted into her mind by her best friend whose head always seemed to be in the gutter. She knew that Kaitlyn meant well, she really did...but damn that girl if she didn't make her heart start beating like a war drum right now against her ribs. 'Just avoid eye contact, just avoid eye contact...', she silently told herself, hoping he wouldn't say anything more about the subject and that he'd leave her in peace.

"So, Mario Kart, huh? Got room for one more?"

She faced him, a lopsided, goofy smile on her lips that wasn't there but a moment ago. "Sure!", she squeaked out, looking back to the television, her face even redder than before. What the hell was up with her? She gave her head a shake, trying her best to ignore the swirling cauldron of mixed emotions bouncing around in her stomach. Her attempts went right out the window of the bus, though, when he sat down next to her, both of them now sitting Indian style on the floor, their legs grazing against each other with every bump in the road they hit. She could feel tingles of electricity just from that. Really, what the hell was up with her?

They sat there in silence, a welcome silence, as she grabbed her controller and navigated the start menu to pick a two player race. She, of course, picked Toad, because he was totally badass, while he picked Bowser...which didn't surprise her at all. When she got to the courses, he nudged her with his shoulder, attempting to gain her attention, but she kept a steely resolve and built a wall up around herself. Or was trying to. He nudged her again, but she still said nothing.

"So what track are we racing on?"

Nothing.

"You know, I have ways of getting answers out of people...don't make me use them..."

"We're taking a trip down Rainbow Road."

He grinned at her, his tongue running over his lip ring. He didn't think it'd be that easy to get an answer out of her. "Rainbow Road, huh? I enjoy a challenge."

She then looked to him, a glint in her eyes that he hadn't seen there before. A devilish little smirk curled up onto her lips as she spoke back to him. "I bet you do."

Now she found herself opening flirting with and challenging him? She needed to open a window and let some cold air smack her in the face, because she was becoming delirious in this sweltering summer heat. That feeling of anxiousness began to float around in her stomach again like a flock of butterflies, and she could actually feel some sweat beginning to form on her forehead. What was it about this man that made her turn into a pile of mush? Okay, dumb question, she silently scolded herself...if it wasn't the beard, it was his lip ring...if it wasn't that, it was his eyes...or his toned, ripped body...or his tattoos...she found herself wondering what it'd be like to trace an imaginary outline around the mosaic of ink on that chest of his. Her mind was slowly going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole...she was going to kill Kaitlyn when she saw her next.

They played out their race in silence, except for when one of them would fall off the map and have to restart, which happened quite a lot. They would scream and holler when that happened, but for the most part, they kept their mouths zipped, only glancing at each other every so often, their eyes filled with the desire to win...among other things. Eventually, after splitting two races, they decided that whoever won the fifth and final race would get to sleep on his bed in the back of the bus, while the loser had to make due on the couch.

"Hah! I win! You lose!", she exclaimed, pointing at him and sticking her tongue out, her arms raised in victory. He shook his head, having completely underestimated her ability as a gamer. He should have known better. "Oh boy, I bet it's gonna be sooo nice sleeping in that bed", she sang, her inhibitions having been suppressed for a moment, before she realized what she was doing and quickly became quiet again. Extending her hand out to him for a shake, she offered up a tiny smile. "Good game", she whispered to him.

Rolling his neck, a disbelieving grin spread across his lips. Wiping sweat from his brow, he took her hand and shook it, being a good sport about the whole thing. "I know who not to mess with anymore when it comes to video games. You're the queen of this shit", he said with that grin still there, dragging his front teeth over his lip ring, then his tongue across his lips. "Seriously though...hope you enjoy the bed. It's surprisingly comfy, and don't take any offense to this...but you look like you could use a good night's sleep."

He smiled at her and it was then, right then, that she felt a white hot burn of...desire, grow out of nowhere in her stomach. She studied him for a moment, both of them forgetting that they were still holding each other's hands. She watched as he kept running his tongue over his lip ring, and that smile of his, God, was it such a pretty smile...before she knew it, she did the one thing she thought she'd never do.

She lunged forward...and kissed him.

The momentum from her launching herself at him like a missile toppled him onto the ground, but she didn't seem to care, as she was still too busy attacking his lips with her own, without any care in the world for what the hell came over her and why she was doing it; she just wanted to enjoy this, taste him, get a good feel for him...most importantly, much like Kait had said...she wanted to feel good about herself.

She kept it up for a good couple of minutes, straddling him as she pressed her body against his, still assaulting his lips, even managing to get a quick nibble on his lip ring, before she broke it off and took in a deep, deep breath. Her heart was racing a million miles a minute, evidenced by the thumping it was making against her ribs, loud enough that she was sure he could hear it. Sweeping away her dark mahogany locks, she saw the goofy, shocked look on his face. He couldn't believe it either. She went to say something, but he raised his fingers and put them on her lips, hushing her, so he could process everything before he did anything else.

Taking a deep breath of his own, he grabbed hold of her shirt, tugging on it, but she didn't seem to notice...so, as gently as he could, he pulled her back down and, this time, he crashed his lips onto hers...and they both went to town on each other. Their carnal natures took over and they kept at it, attacking each other's senses letting the moment consume them, neither one of them wanting it to end. It remained like this for a couple of minutes, until the bus hit a bump in the road, causing them to knock foreheads for a moment. She didn't miss a beat though; instead of going back to kissing him, she slid her hands down onto his chest and began pulling at his shirt, attempting to take it off, but he quickly put the kibosh on that...even if it killed him to do so.

"Are you...sure...you want to...do this?", he asked her in-between breaths, his shirt half off, with her hovering over him, lust and hunger in her almond shaped eyes that were shining in the lights. She couldn't bring herself to speak, only shyly nodding her head while biting down on her lip, her hands still grasping his shirt, watching him prop himself up with his elbows. That trademark grin of his appeared and before she knew it, he was on his feet and scooping her up into his arms bridal style, placing soft, soothing kisses along her cheek and jawline. The small whimper that came from her throat told him she was enjoying it and really did want this to happen.

Placing her down gently on the bed, he got on himself, placed between her legs as she sat up to drink in his torso. Moving his arms to the side, he let her remove his shirt, and she did so like an animal, damn near ripping it off of him. She was almost too eager for her own good, and it made him chuckle. He could sense the want and need vibrating off of her body, but he decided he'd play around with her a bit, take his time...make her enjoy this as much as he was going to. Leaning down, their lips met once more, but as they kissed, his breath hitched in his throat as he felt her hands roam down toward his belt buckle, feeling her tug at it to undo it. Not to be undone, he slid down and placed soft, sensual kisses on her neck, shoulder, collarbone, then made his way down to her stomach, her body tensing up as he took in her beauty. He could feel...sense...know how aroused she was beginning to get.

With her nodding her approval, he grabbed her belt and undid it rather quickly, discarding it to the side. She arched her hips up so that he could relieve her of her jeans, and what a great feeling it was being undressed by him. Now all that stood between him and nirvana was the kinkiest set of panties he never thought a girl like her would own...black, lacey, revealing. It turned him on even more. He watched her eyes widen with anticipation as he licked his lips. She sat up for a moment, stripping her own shirt off to reveal the bra that matched it and god damn...she was gorgeous. Even with the various bruises and still-healing cuts that littered her body...she was so fucking beautiful to him. And she trusted him. She didn't need to verbalize it or anything like that...she was letting him look at her in this light, and was about to freely let him take her to a better place.

He was beginning to become a bit uncomfortable in his pants, his arousal obvious to them both. When her hand tickled across his lower abdomen, right underneath his straight edge tattoo, he looked to her. "Do you want the honors?", he asked her, knowing what her answer would be. She nodded eagerly and he smiled, loosening his belt for her before letting her finish the job. A few seconds later, he was clad in only his boxers, watching her lie back down, silently giving him permission to remove her panties, which he was happy to oblige in, deftly moving and discarding them to the floor along with everything else. This was it. No going back now...he was all in. He was going to make her forget about all that happened for a while...and show her just how a lady deserved to be treated.

She nearly leapt from the bed and stuck to the ceiling when his fingers touched her there, and it caused him to pause for a moment. He hadn't stopped to think of what kind of other abuse that goat faced douchebag had dealt her...he saw the nervous, scared look in her eyes and in her trembling lips. He hoped to high heavens that he hadn't done far more serious damage to her than the cache of marks he had left her with...

"Hey", he whispered, moving so that he was on his side, right next to her, his arm wrapped possessively around her waist. "We don't have to do anything. I want you to be comfortable with...whatever this is", he said, using his finger to point between them. A look of relief spread across her face, and she buried it into his chest, the hot, wet tears trickling down. He began to rock her back and forth, gently, trying to put her back at ease. "I won't hurt you...I promise you that. I'll protect you from him. And when you're ready to take that next step...I'll be waiting, patiently."

"I'll never let you out of my sight."

He waited until they made the next town before sliding into bed next to her. She had been soundly asleep for the last two hours, after everything that had happened, she drifted off not soon after his declaration to watch over her. He smiled and felt his heart swell with adoration as he watched her sleep like a baby. She was grinning as she roamed the dream world, and he liked to think that it was because of him. Pulling her close to his body, his arms wrapped around her waist, he too began to doze off, towards a well deserved night of sleep. Lord knew he hadn't had one of those in a while...

A few hours later, he woke up to an empty bed. Figuring she was just using one of the bathrooms, he yawned and stretched out his limbs. Getting out of the bed and padding down the walkway, he saw that the bathroom closest to him was empty...must be using the other one he reasoned. Except when he got there, it too was empty...panic began to flood through his veins, instantly putting him on high alert. As he began to search every inch of the bus, he threw on a pair of shorts and shoes and barged outside, into the early morning mist, the sun just beginning to peek over the horizon. Nowhere. Nothing.

She was gone. And it was all his fault.

And that's that. What happens next? Where's AJ? What is Punk gonna do? Tune in next time to find out...