Author's Corner

I think it's time for On the Wings of a Ravyn to really take off, don't you? So here's the chapter that's going to set off the chain of events that's going to fuck Ravyn's world up. Hold on tight.

Torque

Ray sat at the end of the bed staring at her duffle sitting between her feet. These last few days with John had been kind of cool. He had really managed to show her another side of him. He was a complete gentleman but then again that's how he started, sort of. He didn't force anything on her though he could've since she was on the rebound and they actually had a good time last night. She smiled at the memory of John's mouth nearly hitting the floor at the sight of her coming down the steps to greet him and he hadn't been able to take his eyes off her since. Far from the tomboy he had grown to know her to be, before him stood a fiery woman in her own right.

"Draw a picture John," Ray said without looking up, "it'll last so much longer than I'm going to sit here."

"You ready to head out of here?" John asked.

"Yeah," she pushed out a huge sigh, "Yeah, I'm ready."

John watched her take her bags down her stair case, "Ray,"

"Yeah?"

"You need some help with that?"

"Nope, I'm good." She said.

"Did Shane call you today?"

"Nope, haven't heard from him since last night," she said as if it didn't bother her. But he knew better, he it was killing her inside. This was her marriage, it was supposed to be her story book ending. John could just wrap his hands around Shane's neck but even more than that he wanted to comfort Ray and comfort her is what he was going to do.

"Hey what do you say we swing past Mickey D's?" John asked.

"Sure, what are you in the mood for?"

"Well I don't know about you," he said with a grin, "But I could certainly go for a cookies and cream McFlurry."

Ray smiled, "You read my mind."

Somehow I thought I would, John smiled to himself, somehow I thought I would.

When Ray reached the bottom of the steps Sean and Matt were waiting at the door for her, "Well guys, I guess this is it."

"Yep," Sean hugged her. "You be good kid."

"I will." She let go of Sean to hug Matt.

"This ain't it," Matt pretended to slug her face, "you come back and see us."

She smiled, "That would depend on your brother."

"You hear that John?" Matt screamed up the steps, "Don't be fuckin' up!"

"Shut up." John said coming down the steps. "Try not to fuck up the crib too bad. I'll call you guys later."

"It was nice meeting you guys," Ray said. "Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome," Sean said, "Go ahead out and wait for John."

Ray just gave Sean and smile and headed out to her car. She had a feeling she knew what that conversation would consist of. What she couldn't figure out was why everyone was pushing her into John's arms. She wasn't sure she was ready to go there just yet. There was so much that was still up in the air. She hadn't even talked to her husband about his infidelities. It was all just too much.

Meanwhile inside the Cena house, John was feeling about the same thing Ray was; pure anxiety.

"Don't fuck this up John,"

"Stay out of this Sean." John warned.

"He's right J," Matt followed up. "The girl isn't going to stay around forever."

"Of course she isn't," John hissed. "She's married, or did you morons forget?"

"He's cheating on her." Sean said.

"She's married." John said simply.

"But--,"

"But she's married." John insisted. "That should be the only words coming out of your mouths concerning her."

"Uh huh," Matt crossed his arms, "Aight, she married. Now what?"

"That's it," John picked up his duffle and shook his head, "That's just it." He walked out the door, "I'll catch ya'll later."

Matt looked at Sean, "You want to talk to Ravyn or should I?"

"I talked to her last time," Sean said shaking his head, "Your go."

-

Ray and John had been getting along great. The last 6 weeks had been amazing. But their time had to end. Because in the end she would have to face the infidelity, how was she supposed to do that? She hated it! Absolutely hated it. Why did it all have to come to an end? And why did she have to go back and look into the lying brown eyes of the man she married?

"Cheer up darlin'," Mark said. "If your face gets any longer, your chin is going to be dragging on the floor."

Ray gave him a weak smile, "I'm okay."

"No you're not," Mark told her, "What's going on?"

Ray froze. She never thought about what she would say to Mark when the time came. Damn you Shane, why can't you keep your dick to yourself?

"Not much," Ray told him. "I miss Kyrian and I'm kind of tired. I guess I have to get back into the swing of things."

Mark clucked his tongue, "Darlin, darlin', darlin'," he said. "You never have been good at lying. And you have never been good at hiding your emotions." He sat next to her, "What's going on?"

Ravyn ran her hands through her hair, what was she going to say to him? My husband is a cheating bastard?

"Daddy, sit down. We need to talk,"

-

Jayda had been at Shane's house for 5 weeks. That's all the time she needed. In that time she had learned all she needed to learn about the infamous Ravyn Jacobs-Helms. She was not super woman, that part was true. She didn't clean the house, cook dinner and tend to the child. She was a career woman, Jayda figured that was cool. But she knew Shane and knowing him, she knew that he wanted just what she was she was preparing to give. She finally left when Shane said his precious wife was coming home for a few days. It would be a rough couple of days if she had anything to do with it. She wasn't stupid, as much fun as Shane had turning her into a human pretzel, he like John was in love with this bitch; though she couldn't fathom why.

Shane busied himself with preparations for Ray's return. He made dinner, asked Kacey and Jeff to watch his son for tonight. Tonight was their 1 year anniversary and there was no way on this green earth that anything would spoil it. Anything at all.

-

Ray felt ugly. It was the first time in her life that he had ever felt ugly. She couldn't tell her father that shy of a year of marriage Shane was already cheating on her. How could she? He would've killed him, or worse. She smiled at the last thought; dealing with the Deadman is a fate worse than death, trust.

As she drove into the empty home she was saddened. She could remember Shane running around like a bat out of hell making all the additions to his house for his new family.

"Beautiful, are you sure we need a home gym?"

She laughed at him, rubbing her belly, "What am I going to do about this weight if we don't?"

He walked up to her kissing her on the neck, "You can always breast feed," he squeezed her full breast, "I'm hungry,"

She slapped his shoulder, "Stop that, the baby can hear."

Ray smiled wanly at the memory. What the hell was she supposed to do? Go in there swinging on all cylinders? Go in there and act as if he didn't commit the worse crime you could commit in a marriage? It made her think what about her was so bad that he had to step out on her and with that grimy bitch of all people. God Shane, what in the hell were you thinking?

"You going to sit there all night?" Shane knocked on window.

She stared at him at suddenly it was like staring at a stranger. She didn't know this man smiling down at her with his big dimples creasing his cheeks. This wasn't her husband, the man that rubbed her womb and told their son stories or the man that ran bubble baths just because he had known she'd had a fucked up long day. This was the man that committed adultery in their marital bed and for that she wanted to slit his throat.

He opened the door for her like a gentleman would, "Come on Beautiful, it's our anniversary you know?"

She put her best smile on for him, "Yeah, I know." She reached in her bag and pulled out onyx studs. Wear them well in death motherfucker.

"Beautiful, these are, wow."

"I'm glad you like them," she said quietly walking past him, "I'm going to go lie down." Just that small interaction with him had drained what had been their strength she had left.

"Wait a minute Beautiful," he called behind her, but it was too late. Candles lit the place bouncing off the walls. A bottle of champagne chilled as she walked through the door, a scent of spaghetti wafted into her nose. "Surprise," he said.

"Thank you Shane, but I'm going to go to bed."

Some anniversary, Shane thought.