Chapter 12


"His name is Stefano Russo, he's my manager, and he's twenty-eight," Tom said as he handed her his phone with his picture on it. "He loves hiking, swimming, and he tries to cook but it's not gourmet level. Don't bother expecting top chef shit from him."

Amber sat there, waiting for him to say something that would put her off. From the picture, he was gorgeous. He had wavy brown hair, hazel eyes, a chiseled jaw line, and sun kissed skin. And he seemed perfect if she went with Tom's description, but there was one thing she was curious about. "Does he—"

"No kids, never been married or engaged," he said as if he read her mind. "If you're looking for flaws, he doesn't give me enough hours. That's about all I can tell you right now," he answered her unasked question.

"When is he picking me up and where are we going?" she asked as she handed his phone back to him.

"Tomorrow at six. You're supposed to be going to a restaurant, but I don't know which one it is," he said, sitting down next to her. "Also, I made sure to warn him about your ankle, so don't try to play it off. No heels or dancing."

She nodded, feeling herself getting nervous as she thought about going on a date for the first time in literally years. Her already weak flirting abilities were long gone, and she had no clue how she was going to come across to a guy that was seemingly perfect. "What did you tell him about me?"

"Not much, honestly. He's just as desperate as you are, so— Ow!" Amber smacked him right on his shoulder, causing him to rub the affected area. "Is this what honesty gets you these days? Jeez."

"I'm not desperate," she said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I know, I'm just joking," he laughed as she snaked his arm around her shoulder. "But I honestly didn't even tell him much. He doesn't even know how you look. So, when he sees you tomorrow, he's gonna wanna marry you on the spot just like I did."

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Tom, the first thing you told me when you met was that you wanted to eat me out. Is that how you talk to people you wanna marry?"

"I was nervous, and it was the first thing that popped out of my mouth," he explained with a smile on his face as the memory came back to him. "You looked so fucking exhausted and grumpy when you stepped into that bar."

"And that's your idea of attractive?" she asked, resting her head on his shoulder as she watched TV, although her focus was everywhere but what was on. "Why did you stop pursuing me, though? This is the first time in a while that you've been so close to me physically – excluding when you were comforting me, of course."

He shrugged and brought his beer up to his lips, taking a sip before placing it back on the coffee table. "It's probably because of Dean. Not because I'm afraid or anything, but it just seemed like the only person you'd ever be interested in is him, so I gave up. I may be gorgeous, but I'm not Dean Ambrose."

Hearing him say that made her realize how much she put on Jon on a pedestal, despite her denying it. She sighed and shook her head. "You need to give yourself more credit. You managed to make me go from thinking you're an annoying, egotistical pervert to thinking you're a slightly less annoying, somewhat egotistical person with perverted tendencies," she joked, unable to hold in her laugh near the end of her sentence.

"Whatever," he said after rolling his eyes. "Speaking of Dean, how did yesterday go?"

"I just told him that he can't come back until his relationship with Christina is completely over. The rest is unimportant," she shrugged in an attempt to ward off the tears that threatened to form. "You know, just because he's a wrestler, doesn't mean you have to put yourself down."

"You know it's gonna take some time to adjust to the fact that you had wrestler DNA inside of you already, right? I still can't fuckin' believe it," he said as he shook his head. "And now that I know that you're the Amber he's been talking about in old interviews, I can't get over the fact that you lost your virginity to him while he was your mom's boyfriend, and on her bed."

"Yeah, my life was completely normal until my mom's boyfriend walked into my life and robbed me of all my common sense. Now I have a million wild stories to tell, all of them involving him in some form," she said with a laugh at the end. "You know, one time he convinced me to play some weird sex game with him and his mom came home early and neither of us knew it until he walked out with his dick just sticking out and she was sitting on the couch, eating popcorn as if her nineteen-year-old son wasn't just in his room giving his eighteen-year-old girlfriend a mind blowing orgasm."

Tom busted out laughing and shook head at the nonsense they got themselves into. "You miss him, don't you?" He could tell by the way she was staring longingly into the distance. He couldn't blame her; if he was in her shoes, he'd miss him too.

"I know he isn't good for me, but I can't help it. He was my first everything, and I know I'll always love him in some way no matter how hard I try to hate him," she sighed, her tears finally making their way to the surface. "Stupid fucking asshole."

"That's why you're going on this date," he said as he soothingly rubbed her shoulder. "Stefano's gonna make you forget that he even exists."


Even though Amber made it clear that he wasn't welcomed in her life until he was completely single, he still didn't plan to go back home until Tuesday. It wasn't a punishment for Christina; it was just for him to get his head on straight and figure out what – or who – he wanted more. Of course, that wasn't going to happen in the span of four days, but it was a start, and that was the best he could do.

But honestly, this mess wouldn't have started again if he just pretended he never saw her. His feelings wouldn't have come rushing back like a tsunami, and he never would've questioned being with Christina. He would've been on the way to plan his marriage, and living the life that he was supposed to have.

If only he could've had that life with Amber, just like he planned to from the moment he realized he loved her.

He sighed and lied back in bed, closing his eyes to relax. Unfortunately, Christina wouldn't allow that. He answered his buzzing phone and brought it up to his ear. "Hi, Chris"

"Hey, I'm just checking to see how you're doing," she said. "I haven't talked to you since yesterday morning. I thought you died or something."

"Well… I'm fine, clearly," he said as he sat up in bed. "You need anything else?"

He heard he sigh before talking again. "What I need is to see my soon-to-be husband, because lately, he's been acting really distant and it's making feel like he doesn't want to marry me."

It lured him in before, but not this time. He was nearing his limits with her cheating, so he needed to see that she was being loyal. Of course, he knew he wasn't so innocent either, but it didn't mean that he liked his fiancée cheating on him constantly. "When you drop Sanders, I'll stop being distant."

"We'll talk about this more when you come home, which I hope is soon, because I know you don't have anything WWE related in Indiana."

He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. "I'll see you Tuesday, Chris. Bye, I love you." He didn't bother to wait for her to say it back. He just wanted to take a nap for a bit and then get back to brainstorming. Thinking about the whole situation was giving him a huge headache.


"Well… I lost my job," Amber said as she hung up the house phone. "They told me that my injury has apparently hindered the work process, and since they don't know when I'll be back, they decided to just replace me and get it over with," she explained to Tom.

"Oh," Tom said as he pursed his lips. "Well, what are you gonna do about rent?"

She shrugged and ran her fingers through her hair as she limped to the couch. "It's only been a week; how could they fire me?"

Tom sighed and scooted closer to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "It's gonna work out, I promise. And if you absolutely can't make rent, you can stay with me until you can get back on your feet."

"I don't wanna think about this right now; maybe after the date," she mumbled, playing with her shirt's hem. "I went to private schools, always had proper food, and I always had money in case of emergencies, and still had some more left over. Now I can't even keep a job as a waitress," she sighed before looking up.

"Amber, you worked for a high-end restaurant that's known for firing people for every little thing. The fact that you were able to keep that job for four years says a lot, so don't beat yourself up," he comforted her.

She looked up and nodded. He actually was right, but she never thought of it that way. It kinda made her feel better, but it still didn't give her a job. "Maybe I can get a job that I actually like this time," she said with a small smile before looking at Tom's phone as it rang. "Do you really need a smiley face next to his name?"

Tom rolled his eyes and answered the phone. "Hi Mr. Ambrose," he said, only for Amber to know who he was talking to.

"Call me Jon. Mr. Ambrose is weird as shit," he began. "Anyway, if anything goes wrong whenever she goes on her date, I need you to tell me immediately. God knows she won't tell me on her own, and I don't blame her, but… please."

"Sure, but I doubt anything's gonna happen," he replied.

"Yeah, whatever…" he mumbled. "Send me a picture of him. And don't tell Amber about any of this."

Jon hung up without letting Tom get another word in. He stared at the phone, confused as to what made him call him for that. "He just wants to know if you're doing alright and to call him if you need anything," he partially lied. "There's really nothing to worry about, I promise. Just focus on your date tomorrow, and not on Jon."

"God, I wish I could do that. I already know that I'm just gonna compare every little thing he does to Jon, which is fucking pathetic. I don't know how to stop myself from thinking like that," she sighed, looking down. "Out of all the people I could've dated when I was younger, why did I have to date a future WWE superstar?"

"I think that Stefano is gonna knock him out of the park. Trust me; he's a really good guy," he assured her. "I don't want you to be miserable and lonely because you're too hung up on him. Give Stefano a chance before comparing him to Jon. After that, if he really doesn't match up, then compare him all you want."

She nodded and smiled at him. "You're right, Tom. I'm gonna try really hard to enjoy Stefano for him, I promise."