Chapter 12

A/N: Thanks for the "lovely" review you left me, Keniob, whoever the hell you are. If you think that Chris/Stephanie pairings "fucking suck" then do all of us a favor who like Chris/Steph pairings and don't "fucking" read. Who's forcing you to read anyway? To everyone else who has reviewed this story, thanks a lot:-)

Stephanie sat on the bed in her hotel suite in total darkness, waiting. She was waiting for Paul to show up. She had expected him to be back by the time she and Chris had come back from the beach, and she had been surprised that he hadn't. Now, sitting there waiting for him to show up, she was getting increasingly nervous. Her nerves and her fears were getting the best of her as she sat there on the edge of the bed tapping her foot impatiently against the room's plush carpeted floor.

After hearing the song Chris had written for her, Stephanie had been all tears. The things he had said in that song... He made her feel wanted, he made her feel beautiful. But most of all, he made her feel loved. Sure, Paul told her that he loved her daily, but she knew in her heart that if Paul truly loved her, he wouldn't hit her the way that he frequently did.

She glanced over at the clock with its bright numbers. It provided the only light in the bedroom, and from what she could see, it was just past 12 AM. She wondered where Paul could be at and what he could be doing. "Let's see... Chris and I finished in the ring at around nine or so... We all left for a late dinner about 9:45, left the restaurant at about 10:20, went to the beach and got back here at about 11:40..." She calculated times in her head. "He should be here by now!"

As if he had heard her, Paul slipped quietly into the suite. He gently shut the door, then tiptoed through the dark suite, hoping against hope that he wouldn't wake his wife. He assumed that she was probably sleeping by now. At least, he hoped she was, because after having dinner with Torrie... Well, then he'd had dessert, and now he really needed a shower. He had to get rid of the evidence, and the evidence was smelling pretty loudly in his opinion. He could even still taste her on his tongue... Yes, dessert had been quite tasty!

"I've been waiting for you," Stephanie said in a soft voice.

Paul nearly jumped out of his skin. "Steph! You scared the shit out of me!" he exclaimed, flipping the light on. He leaned in the doorway of the bedroom and held a hand against his chest. "What's the big idea? What are you still doing up?"

"I was waiting for you," she explained. "We really need to talk."

"If this is about what happened in my locker room before we left for dinner, don't bother wasting your breath," he said. "I'm sorry for they way I acted. I didn't mean to do it at all, ok?"

"NO, Paul, it's not ok. I'm not ok. We're...not ok," she said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, glaring at her.

"Us," she said simply. "We're...not the way we used to be."

"Of course not. We've grown more. People change," he said, wondering what she was getting at. "I mean, what else can be expected? Change is inevitable."

"That's not exactly what I was trying to say." She clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Our love has changed. My love for you has changed," she said, opening her eyes before standing up and walking over to him. She reached for his hand. "What I'm trying to say is..."

"You love me more now than you ever did? Great. I love you more, too," he said, pulling her into a tight embrace. Inside, he knew she was trying to tell him something important, but he didn't want to hear it. Not one word of it. Because he could see her luggage neatly waiting by the bedroom door next to him, and he had a feeling that what she had to say wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Paul, that's not-" she began, but she was interrupted when he kissed her hard. He shoved his tongue into her mouth and tried to silence her, to keep her from speaking anymore. She kissed him back. After all, she was his wife, and he would think it was weird if she didn't respond to him with the same passion.

When he was satisfied that she wouldn't say anything else, he pulled back. He smiled at her. She had her hands to her lips with a surprised look on her face. "I'm going to go get a shower," he said. "And when I come out, me and you are going to make up for that little argument we had earlier." He didn't wait for an answer. He just grabbed his stuff and headed into the shower.

Stephanie sat on the edge of the bed again, still clutching her lips. His lips tasted funny, his tongue... What the hell was that? she wondered. And that smell... She shook her head. "Nah, I must be crazy. Yeah, that's it."

A few minutes later, Paul walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. "Stephanie, you sleep?" he asked, looking over and seeing her lying on her side of the bed, facing the direction away from him.

"No, I'm not sleep," she said, sitting up and looking over at him. "I want to talk to you."

"I'm almost naked and all you want to do is talk?" He laughed, walking over to the bed and sitting next to her. "This is not normal behavior. I'm almost naked. You should be wanting to jump my bones!"

"Where were you tonight?" she asked, changing the subject as she remembered the way he had tasted when he had kissed her before his shower.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, playing dumb. "I told you what I was going to do before you even left the restaurant."

"You said you would finish your dinner and come join me," she reminded him.

"And that's what I did..."

"I've been waiting for you for quite some time," she lied. In actuality, she had only been waiting for him for about thirty minutes, but he didn't need to know that. She wanted to make him feel as guilty as possible so what she had to say would be, well, easier for her to say. She had thought about it for a long time, but after that conversation with Chris in the restaurant and then hearing Chris bare his soul to her in that song at the beach... That's when she had made her decision. She had been loving Chris for too long, and Paul had been abusing her for too long, too. It was time for a change.

"Well damn, Steph, I do have a life, too!" he said angrily. "You left with Chris and then I met up with an old friend. We had dinner, we went out for a drink."

"And you didn't bother to call me?" she asked. "Like, you didn't stop once to think that I would be here worried sick about you?"

"There's no reason for you to worry about me. There's no guy around this place that can kick my ass," he bragged. "And I've never really been one who liked to report my every action to anyone. I didn't do it before and I won't do it now. If I want to meet up with a friend then that's my choice."

"Was it a female friend?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, so what if it was?" he asked defensively.

"Are you cheating on me?" she asked, just out of the blue. She wanted to have another legitimate reason to leave him, and cheating would be the perfect reason.

"What the fuck? You don't trust me now?" he yelled.

"Forget that I asked, it's just that when you kissed me earlier, you tasted kind of different... I thought..."

"What'd you think?" he asked, eyes glittering dangerously. "That I've been going down on some other woman and you were just getting the aftertaste?"

"Are you admitting it?" she asked in disbelief.

"Are you suggesting it?" he countered, his voice low and deep.

"No, I... You just..." She was at a loss for words. She didn't know if he was admitting that he had done it or not, but she couldn't really believe that he would just admit that he was doing that. There was no way that she would just willingly tell him about the way she was sneaking around with Chris.

"You know what, I think I'll just finish what we started in the shower before dinner," he said. "Forget all that 'making up' shit I was talking about before my shower."

She scooted away from him as he started to crawl over to her. "I don't think we should," she whispered. "You might leave bruises and-"

"Don't worry, Stephanie. The only bruises I'll be leaving tonight will be on the inside," he said with a cold laugh. "So you'll still be able to look all pretty for your little Triple S photo shoot in a couple of hours..."

"Please," she whispered, still moving away.

He grabbed her and pushed her down flat on her back. He covered her body with his, leaning down to kiss her roughly. He ripped her clothes off, then sat back to look at her body as she shivered beneath him, tears already leaking from her eyes. She was scared, and he reveled in the fact that he could instill such fear in her. It was a great feeling, this power he knew he had. But the tears were pissing him off.

"Stop fucking crying, you know you want this," he spat, pulling his towel off. He didn't wait for her to say anything else. He just spread her legs as wide as they could go and plunged into her.

"Paul," she whimpered. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because you love it," he answered, pounding into her. "You love it and you crave it."

She couldn't reply because she was hurting. She laid there and prayed silently that he would hurry up and get what he wanted. He bit one of her nipples hard as he pounded into her mercilessly, and she closed her eyes, biting her lip as the tears rolled down her face and soaked the pillow...

When he was finally satisfied, he pulled out of her. He leaned over and practically shoved his tongue down her throat. She had to force herself not to gag. "Now wasn't that a great fuck?" he asked when he pulled back. He laughed sadistically and rolled over on his side with his back to her, immediately falling asleep.

She rolled over on her side with her back to him as well, wincing at the pain between her legs. She looked at the clock, which now read 1:13 AM. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the stinging pain that was coursing through her body.

She fell asleep wondering what Chris would do if he ever found out what Paul had just done to her...