Chapter 13
Mercy pulled her hair back as she sat in the SUV. She was wide awake, she couldn't think of anything to do to get her mind to shut up. Everything was dark around her and Seth was sleeping. His hair was down, his head leaning back and he was quiet. Seth had been quiet for pretty much the entire ride until he fell asleep with his hand outstretched between them.
Mercy looked at Seth's hand, his palm was up and she could see the callouses that adorned the flesh, the same rough hands that had cupped her face earlier. She leaned her head back against the headrest and stared at his hand. It was nice to look at, like the rest of him. His jeans hugged his thighs, his shirt was fitted like a second skin on him and the sleeves of the shirt were tight around his arms. It was his hand that intrigued her for the most part. Was it wrong to want to hold his hand?
Her mind went to the conversation she had with her mother after the show. Paul had told her mom what happened and she was checking up on Mercy. The kids were okay, they were excited to see her on the television. Raven liked the picture of her and Cesaro together before the show. Though Mercy never told her mother what she was thinking about when it came to Seth, what those thoughts were making her feel.
Mercy enjoyed her thoughts of a man she didn't know in the quiet of the SUV, watching him sleep next to her.
Eventually her eyes closed, the rumble of the SUV lulling her into a sleep that was not ideal.
For one thing she dreamt of Seth and her together, kissing. Maybe it was because he had been her attention, he had her attention. Because even in this dream he was shirtless, wearing his ring pants. Only he let her touch him. First his shoulders, down his chest, her hand skirting over the rippled flesh of his stomach, until they hit the top of his pants.
"Mercy," he said.
"Mercy, wake up." Seth said louder.
She jerked, falling out of that dream state and jumped back into the real world where there was a pressure between her legs and her heart thudding feverishly in her chest. Her hair fell around her face as she sat there, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"Mercy." Seth sounded from her side, his hand coming to touch her face to make her look at him. "You had a dream, that's all."
Heat flared in her face. She pulled her face away and looked around. It was still dark out but she saw that they were in front of a building somewhere.
"We're at the hotel." Seth said. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." She found her voice a little too tense. "I just want to sleep in a bed."
"Paul said we had a room together." Seth said as he unbuckled.
"Okay."
They got out of the SUV, Seth stopping to get their stuff before they both headed into a nice looking hotel together. They got the key to their room and headed up in an elevator. Mercy didn't say anything, she couldn't really think as she watched Seth from the corner of her eye. He leaned with his back against the elevator wall, his head back and his chest sticking out.
At their room, it became obvious what was waiting for them.
One king size bed at the far end of the room. One bed. One damn bed and two people.
"Well, shit," Seth cursed.
She looked at him. Mercy saw his arms flexing as he dropped his stuff off next to the dresser. He took out his cell phone and found a number.
"Yeah, Trips, it's Seth. You know that room you reserved for us. Did they say it was a one bed or two bed suite?"
She sat down on the edge of the bed, letting her body sink into it.
"Because there is only one bed and its two o'clock in the morning. I don't want to scare her." Seth said.
Scare her? How could Seth scare her?
With heavy eyes she went to her bag as Seth continued to talk to her brother in law. He had started talking in a low voice as she found her pajama pants and a sleep shirt her Mom had insisted on her packing. Instantly she started to undress, but she stopped when Seth yanked her shirt down.
"Change in the bathroom, Mercy." He said, his face level with her ear. "I don't want you to feel embarrassed."
"I'm not. I always changed in front of him." She looked at Seth.
"I'm not him. I'm not going to make you do that." His hand squeezed her hip, bringing her closer to him. "I'll feel like a sicko if I watched you change."
"Why?"
"Because I would want to see everything you have. And that isn't going to happen any time soon. So please, go change in the bathroom. You're making me feel uncomfortable now."
She gathered up her stuff, casting one more look at Seth before she went to the bathroom to change. When she closed the door, she heard a mumbled curse from Seth in the next room.
He had seen the scars on her back when Mercy lifted her shirt. That long scar near her hip made him see red, and he didn't want to see what else was marking her skin that the Asshole had done to her.
It was hard to think of Mercy as other than Trip's little sister in law, but his body was betraying him as he tried to get dressed down for bed. Stuck with just one bed for the rest of their stay in that city, he had to try to think of anything other than her full figure.
She came out of the bathroom in gray sweats and one of his shirts he didn't know she had. It was really weird to see her in one of his old Seth Rollins shirts, but damn it, she looked good. Mercy didn't look at him as she walked to the side of the bed closest to the door and pulled back the blankets. She climbed in and laid their, looking up at the ceiling.
Down to his boxers, he walked around to the other side and got in as well. He reached over and flicked off the lamp on his side to cast the room into darkness.
Their shoulders brushed up against each other. She stayed still, unlike himself as he fought to get comfortable in the bed. Usually able to fall asleep minutes after the lights were out, Seth found himself in a place of uncomfort.
He flipped to his left side to face away from her, he sighed and closed his eyes. Seth just couldn't get to sleep, not while she was there.
Mercy moved. She came up behind him and pressed her front into his back. Her arm snaked under his, her hand coming down to hug his chest and her face pressed into the back of his head.
"When Koda can't sleep this is how I get him to go to sleep." She said, her breath hitting that small spot in the back of his neck.
Well, at least she wasn't scared of him. Resting his hand on top of hers, Seth closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He was content in the morning, waking up feeling refreshed. Though he found they had shifted in the night, her with her head on his arm and her hand over his lower stomach. It didn't help that something else was wide awake and happy. God, did he have a wet dream or something?
Seth sighed but then stiffed as she stretched, her hand heading closer to the one thing he didn't want her to meet. Not saying a word, she pulled away, got up and headed for the bathroom. No morning, no how did you sleep or any small talk. When the door closed he sat up and leaned against the wall.
"What the hell?" Seth asked as he reached for his ringing cell phone. "Hey, Trips." He said when he answered.
"How is she doing? I'm sorry about the bed situation."
"We're fine. Just got up, in fact. When is Nattie getting here?"
"Soon, I think she and Tyson are coming in later today." Trips said. "She didn't get scared sharing the bed with you?"
"No, she wasn't. It bothered me more, but...I guess she thought I was having trouble sleeping," he explained what she had done, making sure to add that she said she did it with Koda when he couldn't sleep.
"Well if it wasn't bad. There's been a change in what is going to happen in the show. We've filled Shane in, she's not going to sit ringside like she thinks she is."
"What? Why?"
"You're going to do a skit with her, act like you have been searching for her. You'll take the ring off, but you'll also be kissing her."
"What?" He didn't mean to almost yell that one.
"Vince wants it. I don't but apparently the FBI agent thinks it would be better, to piss him off and get him to come out faster. If he sees her kissing another guy, or even get people talking about it, he'll come out of the woodwork faster."
He did say that he was willing to do anything to help Mercy.
"Don't tell her this. We need it as natural as possible." Paul said.
"I hate to break it to you, Trips, but she's starting to say stuff that makes me uncomfortable, and you know that's hard to do with me."
"What? What's she saying?"
"I think she has some feelings for me." Seth pressed his hand to his face. "When I went to comfort her she just let loose with her thoughts and feelings all at once."
Paul was quiet for just a bit. Seth waited for him to continue.
"I think this is going to screw her up, Paul. I don't want her breaking down again, she's already went through that with her sister." Seth said.
"I'm still pissed at Steph over what she said. Finn told me what had happened. The man has a golden heart."
"She likes him, too. I'm not sure how much but she admitted to me that she likes him."
"Don't tell Vince that, he'll find a way to put that in the show, too."
Seth ran a hand over his face. "The thing is, I think I'm sort of liking her, too."
He heard his friend and employer take in a breath.
"But I told her that I didn't want to start anything until after he was captured. Look, I get it that Koda and Raven like me, I don't understand how that works but I don't want to confuse them, much less Mercy if I were to start dating her. God, that sounded weird to say."
"Yeah, it did. But you're right. We need to think about getting the guy. Thanks for keeping it in your pants."
Was he ever going to live that mistake down? Seth looked at the ceiling but heard the toilet flush, and then the taps turn on.
"I'll talk to Shane about the show when we get to the arena. She's coming out of the bathroom."
They hung up, Seth thankful that Mercy was still in the bathroom during they call. She walked out soon after and her eyes flicked over to him.
"Morning." She finally said as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Hey. How are you feeling today?" He asked as he dropped his phone back down on the nightstand.
"I'm okay."
"I'll be back." Seth said as he got up and went to the bathroom. He grabbed a change of clothes on the way out.
When he came back, she was dressed in another pair of black jeans and a different top, she was pulling her hair up into a high ponytail and just generally looking good.
She had a figure that wasn't diva like, of course the company wasn't worried about BMIs for the women now. Of course she was a mother of two, three, but she looked healthy, if a little pale but then again she was in Alaska inside cabin for a lot of the time.
"Can I ask you some questions, Mercy?" Seth asked as he walked up to the bed.
She looked at him. "Sure."
"Are the scars on your back from him?"
"Yeah. He liked his belts a lot. When I tried to get away, he would purposefully leave the door unlocked and see if I would run. If I did he'd beat me up. After a while Ernie would just leave me tied with a collar."
Seth bit at the inside of his lip as he watched Mercy. She said those things so casually that it unnerved him. How could she have dealt with any of that?
"Did he force you to have sex with him?"
"He said I was his wife and that I was to give him children. I had three children with him, I didn't want to have children so in that way I guess so, yes. He forced me to have children."
Now Seth's hands clenched into fists, his face settling on her left hand ring finger. He had to think of a way to get it off of her, but how? It would have to wait to be discussed at the arena.
"I'm sorry." Mercy said.
"Huh? Why are you sorry?"
"For making you uncomfortable. I have all of this going on with me and you're trying to help." Mercy shook her head.
"You didn't make me uncomfortable. But sometimes I don't know when what I say is uncomfortable for other people. I'm saying what happened to me but it just seems to upset people."
"It's hard to hear, I guess that's why it makes us uncomfortable."
"But it's what I am used to," she let out an exasperated sigh. "It's what I went through for seventeen years. Maybe I can trust you to tell this stuff to because I don't want to let Dad know."
"Why don't you want Vince to know."
"I know my Dad, I know what he is like and I don't want him to use everything that happened to me to be broadcast to the world. Like a tell all book or something." She looked down,
Seth decided not to tell her what had happened within his own personal life with women.
"Nattie and her husband Tyson will be here soon, there's a production meeting at the arena soon so that will be entertaining." Seth said as he stood up from the bed.
Soon, he told himself, he was going to take that damn ring off her finger and screw her mind up with a kiss for the entire world to see.
He knew his day was going to end up awful.
Well, that was a little different. I'll have the next update queued up and ready in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading!