Heaven Beside You

Chapter 11: What's Wrong with Pensacola?

Roman sat quietly next to Seth inside the GB Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. They ended up having to switch flights instead of flying straight into Austin, so they sat and waited for Dean and their other travel buddy, Antonio Cesaro, to return with their rental car.

"It's good thing the show isn't till tomorrow night" Seth sighed looking down at his phone. "I mean we could drive to Austin from here, but we're all pretty tired so it's a good thing we're staying in Houston tonight."

"Yeah it is..." Roman said looking up from his iPad. "So what are you doing exactly?" Seth asked raising an eyebrow at the big man.

"Uh...I'm looking at houses in different areas and book marking them so I can email the listings to Coco and see what she thinks. After all we are getting married and buttercup is gonna keep growing so we're gonna need a bigger house" he said running a hand through his hair.

"Oh! So is Chrissie just gonna up and leave her house in Atlanta and move herself and Lani down to Pensacola with you or will it not be that easy?" Seth chuckled.

"Easy?" Roman scoffed. "Hell no it won't be easy! I love that woman to death but I swear to God she's stubborn as fuck!"

"Alright kiddies, we got ourselves a ride and a hotel booked. Let's go!" Dean's voice cut through.

Roman and Seth chuckled as they gathered their things and followed Dean out to the car.

"Mamma, when is daddy going to call?" Noelani asked staring up at Tina.

"Well baby girl, he said he would call as soon as he gets settled in. He texted me saying they were staying in Houston tonight so I guess he'll call before he goes to sleep" she said as she brushed Lani's hair getting her ready for bed.

At 8:30 Tina's phone started to ring but she didn't recognize the ring tone. Noelani sprang up as she knew it was her father calling.

"Daddy's calling!" she squealed. "How on earth do you know it's him?" Tina chuckled reaching for her phone.

"Because daddy set the Shield's entrance music as his ring tone for when he calls you" Lani grinned watching her mother answer the phone.

Christina playfully rolled her eyes at Noelani as she placed the phone at her ear.

"Well hello there you sly handsome devil..." Tina said in a sultry voice.

"Mm...hey Coco!" Roman grumbled. "This sucks you know? The last few days I spent in Atlanta with you and buttercup were some of the best days I've had in a very a long time" he sighed letting a small smile spread across his face.

"Don't do that to me Ro..." Christina huffed. "Do what babe?" he muttered.

She sighed running a hand over her face, "Make me miss you more than I already do. I thought the little one was having trouble letting you leave, but it's really starting to hit me now. I've gotten so used to cuddling and snuggling up with you in bed again and it sucks knowing you're not here tonight."

"Yeah I know the feeling beautiful. How's my buttercup doing?" Roman chuckled trying to lighten their mood.

"Oh she's fine, sitting here giving me that signature Roman Reigns glare cause she's waiting for me to hand her my phone so she can talk to you before she gets tucked in for bed." Tina smiled pinching Noelani's chin.

Roman laughed softly as he stared at the picture he had in his wallet of Christina and Noelani.

"Alright I guess you need to give buttercup the phone before she gets mad" he mused. "Guess so! Hold on babe." Tina smiled handing her phone to Lani.

"Hi daddy!" Lani smiled at Roman as she crawled into her bed. Tina had him on FaceTime so he could watch Noelani fall asleep.

"What's up buttercup?" Roman chuckled.

"Nothing. I miss you daddy, when are you coming home?" Noelani pouted. Roman sighed and ran a hand over his goatee as he wasn't prepared for the look she would give him when he told her how long he would be gone.

"Well baby girl, I'll be gone for the next week and a half and won't be back until Wednesday. If I could get out of my current schedule, you know I'd be right there with you and mommy" he huffed as he saw the tears forming in his daughter's eyes.

Noelani simply nodded her head not wanting to say anything to Roman as she buried herself under her blanket.

"It'll be ok pumpkin, daddy will be home before you know it. But for right now he needs you to be a big girl. You know how much it hurts him to see you cry, right?" Tina asked stroking Lani's forehead.

"Yes mamma..." Noelani sniffled while wiping her eyes.

"Buttercup, I'm sorry and daddy doesn't want you to cry anymore. Just know that I love you so so much baby girl and I can't wait to get home to you and mommy. Now close those big pretty grey eyes of yours and get some sleep. Mommy has to go back to work in the morning and she needs to make sure you're well rested" Roman smiled softly at Lani.

"I love you mommy. I love you daddy." Noelani yawned as she closed her eyes and slowly faded off into sleep.

"Love you too buttercup..." Roman whispered. He remained silent until he knew Christina was no longer in their daughter's room with him on the phone.

Tina walked into her room and placed her phone on the docking station as she sat down her bed. "Aw babe are you about to do a little strip tease for me?" Roman chuckled.

"No..." Tina scoffed playfully trying to stifle her laughter looking at Roman's face on her phone. "I swear you are so silly Ro!" she smiled. He returned her smile with a huge grin of his own.

"So how's Houston?" Tina sighed.

"Lonely as fuck without my girls..." Roman scoffed running a hand through his long black hair. A soft moan escaped Tina's lips at the sight of his biceps flexing when he ran his hand through his hair.

"Oh what was that?" he grinned after realizing the sound she made.

"What...nothing! There was no sound...what are you talking about?" Christina replied sheepishly. Roman loved the fact that he could make Tina weak at the knees with something as simple as flexing his muscles or smiling at her.

"It was more than nothing babe" he said teasingly.

"Hey, I'm about to go grab something to eat with dumb and dumber at the pub across the street. But I'll call you back in about an hour or so since I know you need to get your beauty rest for work in the morning. When you have a chance, glance over the email that I sent you. Oh and one more thing..." he trailed off.

"Yes..." Tina chuckled.

"I want your sexy ass naked and laying on that bed when I call you back! Love you, Coco." Roman grumbled before telling her goodbye.

Roman, Seth and Dean sat at the bar with menus in hand as they mulled over what they wanted to eat when a soft voice rang out drawing their attention, Dean's in particular.

"Welcome to Lane's Pub & Grill. My name is Mallory and I will be your waitress and bartender this evening! Can I get you gentlemen something to drink?" she said with a soft smile.

"I'll have a Corona…" Roman nodded. "Uh...I'll take a...Sprite" Seth chuckled after flipping through the menu again.

Dean was too busy staring at the woman to think about ordering his drink. In fact he couldn't find his words to order so Roman ordered for him.

"This doofus will gladly take a scotch, no ice" he said rolling his eyes at Dean. Mallory smirked at Dean and gave Roman a quick nod before she turned to walk back to the other end of the bar and get their drinks.

"What the hell was that, Ambrose? Cat got your tongue or something?" Roman said mockingly.

"Nah, his ass finally came across a woman that for once has him star struck so to speak" Seth jeered.

"Fuck you guys…" Dean chuckled finally regaining his train of thought. Mallory returned with their drinks of choice and eventually jotted down their food orders.

The guys at their food quietly and glanced up at the TV's on occasion to check the scores of the games that were on. Seth's phone buzzed repeatedly as he kept feverishly firing off text messages to Brenna and Dean was once again distracted by staring at Mallory, watching her every move.

"Well…" Roman trailed off beginning to stretch. "Mallory, I'll take my check now" he said waving his hand. "Coming right up!" she said walking towards the register.

"Dean, why don't you get her number or something? You keep making googly eyes at her, I mean come on man step up" Roman said as he nudged Dean's arm.

"Nope." Dean shook his head. "Besides, she's kind of not really my type. Don't get me wrong she's fucking stunning and all but I'm probably not her type either" he shrugged. "Look, let's just pay for our meals and get back to the hotel. I know you need to call Christina and I'm sure Rollins is dying to call Brenna" Dean smirked at his friends.

"I don't know if I'm dying to call honey bun, but I would like to talk to her" Seth laughed.

"Alright guys...here are your checks. Thanks for dropping by Lane's Pub & Grill. Come by and see us again the next time you guys are in Houston. Have a great night fellas and by the way, I Believe in the Shield!" Mallory smiled as giving Dean a very shy wink.

"She totally winked at you Ambrose and you still didn't want her number?" Seth sneered.

"You two quit worrying about me and go make your nightly phone calls. I'll see you both in the morning" Dean waved as the three of them made it back to the lobby of their hotel.

Roman gave Seth a quick nod as he and they left the elevator walking in opposite directions. "Night man!" Roman yelled. "Later bro!" Seth responded.

Once he was back in his hotel room, Roman took a quick shower and washed his hair. After he stepped out of the shower, he set up his iPad and called Christina on FaceTime as he searched through his luggage for something to sleep in.

"Hey sexy!" Christina said cheerfully as she sat up straight on her bed.

"Hey Coco!" Roman said slamming his suitcase shut and moving it to the floor.

"Whoa...Roman Reigns, you are butt ass naked on my FaceTime right now!" Tina giggled. He smirked turning his back to the camera and flexed.

"What? You know you want this body on top of you right now. Don't even play Coco..." he said teasingly. "Besides, did I not tell you that I wanted to see your pretty ass naked when I called you back?" Roman huffed.

Christina smiled softly at him, "I'm sorry Ro, but I've got to go to work in the morning baby. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me for not taking my clothes off tonight?" she pouted deviously.

Roman rolled his eyes and scoffed at her as he slid his basketball shorts up over his hips. He grabbed his iPad from the nightstand and crawled onto the bed. Once he was settled in comfortably he licked his lips and purposely stared at Tina.

"Yeah...I forgive you for not doing this for me tonight babe" he sighed then held his iPad up above him so Christina could see his entire body. "I forgive you...but this dick won't when I tear that pussy up after I get back" he growled gripping his this cock through his shorts to emphasize his point.

Tina bit her lip and choked back a gasp as Roman moved his camera again so that he could stare at her. It was little things like that that made Christina weak around him. He wasn't a dominant type of guy in the bedroom with her but he definitely exuded a dominant personality. On a really good day, sometimes all it took to make her wet was the sound of his voice.

After a few moments of awkward silence between the two of them, Roman finally chimed in.

"So...I guess we could talk about something else" he shrugged. Christina swallowed hard, "Um...yeah. I...I did check the email that you sent me" she mumbled.

"Great! Did you like any of the houses in there?" he grinned.

"Yeah but..." Tina started but trailed off not wanting to hurt or upset Roman with an argument she felt would happen.

He knew something was wrong as the tone of Tina's voice had changed. "Coco, what's wrong baby? Talk to me" he pleaded.

"The houses were beautiful...don't get me wrong, but I don't know about Pensacola" she muttered.

"What do you mean you don't know? What's wrong with Pensacola babe..." Roman groaned.

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. I just can't up and leave Atlanta like that though. I do have a job, Lani goes to school, my sister is here and with the housing market being the way it is I can't rely on selling my house" she hissed.

"So what...you don't think you could find a job or we could find a good school for Noelani? Is that it?" Roman snarled.

"No that's not it! Damn Roman it's not that simple... I can't just up and leave like that!" she glared at him.

He ran a hand through his now semi wet hair and sighed.

"Well Christina, I don't know what else you want me to do. We're getting married at some point, we gotta have a place to stay! I'm just trying to...fuck it! Guess we'll figure it out another day" he grunted loudly running his hand over his face.

Tina felt her eyes watering but she held in her tears and bit back a snarl of her own.

"Fine, whatever. I'm done having this conversation, argument, whatever the fuck you wanna call it! I have to get up in the morning for work. Goodnight Roman!" she snapped.

"Coco wait don't hang up..." Roman begged but his plea was ill timed as his screen went black.

"Samoan asshole..." Christina scoffed as she slid under the covers and turned off her light. She wiped away the tears that were stinging her eyes. She hated arguing with him even over the phone, she hated it just as much.

Roman sat back against the headboard of his hotel bed and reached for his phone. "Way to go dumbass!" he cursed himself under his breath. He flicked his phone screen on and hesitantly dialed Christina's number.

"Shit!" he cursed again realizing he hit the call button. He said a silent prayer to God secretly hoping she wouldn't answer his call.

"What!" Tina scoffed answering her phone.

"Coco please don't hang up!" he begged.

"What do you want now Roman..." Christina sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry baby. I jumped the gun on this whole looking at houses thing. We'll discuss that matter another time. I just wanted to call and apologize to you for the way I acted about the whole situation. I don't want you going to bed mad at me. Get some sleep and call me when you're on your way to work in the morning. I love you beautiful, sleep well" he said as his voice was just above a whisper.

Tina felt her heart weaken after hearing his apology. She wanted to stay angry with him but didn't have the strength to. She could see him now, lying in his hotel bed looking pitiful with his beautiful grey eyes. A small smile grew across her face at the thought of him.

"I love you too soso! Goodnight babe..." she whispered hanging up her phone.

Roman smiled to himself knowing that he made Tina feel better.

"Soso? Can't believe she called me an idiot in Samoan" he chuckled to himself as he leaned over to turn off his bedside lamp.