Chapter 14

"Randy!"

Yanking on the restraints, Caralyn had to make sure he hadn't been the one who was shot, but no matter how hard she yanked, they wouldn't budge. Tears streamed down Caralyn's face as she watched Randy tackle Jillian to the floor, the gun having gone off when he did that, making her heart nearly stop. Caralyn felt completely helpless and dropped her head, still feeling ill from whatever Jillian had used to knock her out, having remembered standing outside of the arena waiting for her cab.

A few long seconds later, Randy finally emerged and came into Caralyn's vision, breathing incredibly heavy from the scuffle. The gun had gone off, but luckily Randy had moved just in time and the bullet lodged into the wall, which Caralyn hadn't witnessed. He managed to put Jillian out with a sleeper hold, nearly popping her head off of her shoulders with how hard he squeezed. So she was currently lying on the floor unconscious, the gun beneath the bed somewhere and all Randy could do was stare down at Caralyn with relieved blue eyes.

Caralyn cried harder as he slowly approached her, having the small key in hand as he freed her from the restraints. Huge tears slid down her cheeks, not believing Randy had arrived moments before Jillian would've pulled the trigger and ended her life. He had saved her from disaster and Caralyn couldn't help jumping into his awaiting arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, sobbing against his neck. She was so relieved he hadn't been shot and clung to him for dear life, never wanting to let him go.

He had always been there for her when she needed him most and today was no exception.

The police arrived and Caralyn had to give several statements, along with being examined by the ambulance, assuring everyone she was fine. Just emotionally shook up a little, this was to be expected after being chloroformed and kidnapped out of the blue. When the EMT asked if Caralyn had to go to the hospital, she answered with an emphatic no, just wanting to get the hell out of there and back to her life. Randy had stayed with her through everything, holding her hand while she explained what happened, which wasn't much all things considered.

Once everything was finished, Randy drove Caralyn to the airport, handing over her cell phone, which had frantic voicemails and texts from John wondering where she was. Caralyn closed her cell phone and stared out the window the entire ride to the airport, silent tears sliding down her cheeks, knowing John had some serious explaining to do. Jillian hadn't been lying and Caralyn wondered what kind of excuse John would give her, hoping he just came clean and told her the truth. With the wedding upon them, Caralyn had no idea what to do and wiped her tears away, which kept falling, allowing Randy to hold her hand for comfort.

When Caralyn went to board the plane, she was shocked Randy had also acquired a plane ticket, insisting he accompany her. No matter what Caralyn did or said, she knew Randy was coming with her and couldn't stop him. He was going to do whatever he wanted and Caralyn was honestly too emotionally, physically and mentally drained to argue with him, deciding to just let him come with her.

Throughout the entire flight, Randy didn't let go of Caralyn's hand, having texted Ted to let him and Sheila know they were both safe and sound. Caralyn had deep bruises around her wrists from the restraints, but other than that no other damage had been done. Randy couldn't help wondering what would've happened had he arrived a few seconds later and closed his eyes, wishing Caralyn would just stay with him so he could protect her.

Of course she wouldn't because of her cheating fiancé.

Caralyn barely looked at Randy throughout the flight, nodding when he whispered in her ear that everything was going to be alright. She was thankful to have him there with her, knowing she would've probably had a complete breakdown if she'd been alone at that moment. Heaving a sigh, Caralyn couldn't help staring down at the ring on her finger, tears burning her eyes as she kept her eyes on the window.

It wasn't right. That much she knew, but Caralyn couldn't betray a love that was built on three solid years, especially with her upcoming wedding. She didn't want to betray John like he'd betrayed her by cheating with Jillian, which Caralyn had already been warned by several people in her life that it was happening. Of course she didn't listen to them because her mind had overridden her heart, telling her that John loved her and they were just jealous of what they had.

John was waiting for Caralyn at the airport when the plane landed, pacing like a caged animal, wearing his patent black cargo shorts with a white short sleeved shirt, looking worried. In all honestly, he was more concerned about Jillian than Caralyn, not believing what his secret lover had done. What the hell had she been thinking kidnapping Caralyn like that and holding her at gunpoint? Now she was facing attempted murder and kidnapping charges, John already knew she was being sent up the river and that ticked him off, silently blaming Caralyn for losing the best sex he ever had in his life.

Caralyn walked through the terminal with Randy and stopped short at the sight of John, their eyes locking around fifty feet or so away. What was she doing with her life? All Caralyn wanted to do was beg Randy to take her far away from there and be with him forever, to never let go, but she knew where she belonged. Sighing heavily, Caralyn could feel the exhaustion overwhelming her, but managed to hide it while rubbing her bruised wrist absentmindedly.

"Thank you for saving my life, Randy." She whispered, looking up into his deep blue eyes, seeing how tired he was, tears building once again.

Randy pulled her into his arms instantly, not caring what John thought and buried his nose in her hair, inhaling her scent. Caralyn could feel him trembling from pure emotion, knowing what happened scared him almost as much as it did her, both knowing how close Caralyn had been to losing her life. She simply stood there, hugging him close, trying to soothe him as much as she could; a few tears slipping down her cheeks while he rubbed her back.

"I'll always be there for you, Cara, no matter what happens." Randy vowed, whispering in her ear and held her even tighter against him, locking his blue eyes on John's from across the way. She'd go to him and it broke him in half, but Randy had to be strong, knowing Caralyn would eventually end up in his arms. "I love you." He added, releasing her reluctantly and turned away from her, walking away toward another flight that would send him back on the road in one of Vince's private jets.

Watching him walk away broke her heart as Caralyn watched him disappear in the sea of people, the tears falling harder than they had when he was with her. She closed her eyes when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, knowing exactly who it was and instantly felt sickened. Caralyn's heart was shattering and she didn't know what to do or how to stop the searing pain. She touched John's forearms, letting him know she was alright and slowly extracted herself from his arms to turn around, their eyes locking.

"I'm fine, John." She whispered, closing her eyes when he wiped her tears away with his thumbs gently.

John sighed; not believing the type of emotional strain Jillian put on Caralyn and immediately pulled into his strong arms, holding her against him tightly. "Let's go home and talk about this more in depth." He suggested, having instructed Randy to bring her to West Newbury so she could relax since Caralyn recently moved in with him. "I wanna find out everything that bitch did to you, baby." However on the inside, John was slowly dying inside, knowing Jillian was headed to prison for everything she'd done to Caralyn.

Nodding, Caralyn couldn't help longing to sleep in her own bed at their place, wanting to sleep for the next century. "Sounds good to me." She took his hand, their fingers lacing together instantly, which felt odd considering John never did that with her. "There is something we need to talk about though later on." She informed him calmly, walking out of the airport with her fiancé, heading toward one of John's prized car, this one being the 5.0 Mustang GT.

Caralyn looked behind her as she heard one of the planes taking off, seeing the WWE logo painted on the side sticking out like a sore thumb, and wondered if Randy was watching her at that moment. All she could see was the jet fading in the sky until she could no longer see it, knowing she should've been on that flight with him. Instead, she was with her cheating fiancé, who still didn't realize she knew what he'd been doing with Jillian and lord knows how many other women. The pain was too much to take as Caralyn buried her face in her hands, beginning to sob harshly, her entire body trembling uncontrollably from head to toe.

"Are you gonna be okay, baby?" John asked, truly concerned for her emotional stability, though he couldn't help wondering if Jillian was alright.

He wanted Caralyn to stay away from him after everything that happened, but knew that couldn't happen either. She was going to be his wife and he had to stand by her, even though all really wanted to do was tie her up and run her over with his Mustang. John was so close to fulfilling all of his dreams and proving to Randy once and for all that he was the better man, jumping for joy on the inside. He knew exactly why she was crying, having watched the WWE jet take off into the sky, having a feeling Caralyn wished she was on that flight with Randy.

When Caralyn nodded silently, John smiled and slid behind the wheel of his Mustang, waiting for her to join him so they could go home. He turned the radio on because he knew Caralyn wouldn't want to talk right now, pulling out of the airport parking lot and headed toward their home. She couldn't help crying harder the further they ventured from the airport, Caralyn honestly not caring if John knew why she was really sobbing or not.

She loved Randy with everything inside of her and it burned that she couldn't be with him, that she was about to marry someone who clearly didn't love her as much as she thought. Somewhere, John did love her, but there was no way he was in love with her after hearing the revelations from Jillian. How could he be? Any man who willingly cheated on their girlfriend or spouse didn't really love them and Caralyn wondered why he proposed to her if he didn't love her.

What was the purpose behind it?

Randy Orton was her entire world, her best friend, the only man she truly wanted to marry, have tons of kids and grow old with, her everything. Yet, for some ungodly reason, Caralyn was throwing all of that away and marrying someone else who wasn't anything compared to Randy. She was throwing Randy away like yesterday's garbage and Caralyn didn't understand her way of thinking, chalking up to being dropped too much as a child. She didn't say a word the entire ride home, silently wishing she hadn't agreed to move her things into John's until after they were married. Again, it was a lapse in judgment and Caralyn had to find a way to make things right, to make better decisions with her life.

Caralyn smiled at the thought of when she first met Randy, leaning back against the seat, letting the memory sweep her away…

~!~

Caralyn was really late and knew her boss was going to have her ass on a silver platter if she didn't hurry the hell up, rushing down the hallway of the arena. It was her first night on the job and navigating the arena was like going through one gigantic maze. She'd been hired on as a writer for the WWE and running late as usual, very unorganized. What was worse was the fact that she didn't know her way around from a hole in the ground. She tried stopping and asking for directions from several people, WWE Superstars, only to be brushed off as if she was an annoying fly people just wanted to swat at. They all thought it was a joke that a nobody writer was lost in an arena.

Finally giving up, Caralyn stopped running and turned the corner, making her way down yet another hallway, cursing mentally for not prepping better for this, only to hit smash into a solid brick wall. She went flying back and landed on her rear, jostled temporarily and tried shaking the cobwebs from her brain, groaning. After several seconds of setting there, Caralyn slowly began moving and felt her head swimming since she'd cracked it on the floor, blinking when a pair of huge warm hands grabbed her arms, pulling her up to her feet. It was a man; Caralyn could tell just by the hands alone and slowly trailed her eyes up until they locked on a pair of beautiful ocean blue eyes, taking her breath completely away.

"Sorry." She muttered, completely humiliated and felt the warm hands slip from her arms.

"Take my hand and don't apologize." His deep voice instructed, melting her instantly. "I should've paid more attention to where I was going." He added with a slight chuckle, making the woman sigh as she slid her hand into his without hesitation, surprising him.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop admiring the beautiful woman with long flowing honey blonde hair that pooled down her back in waves, her captivating jade eyes devouring him. She was about five foot, eight and weighed lighter than a feather, very tiny compared to him. He wondered where she came from because he hadn't seen her around the arenas, to his knowledge, but then again he didn't pay attention to much these days, mostly keeping to himself.

"It was no one's fault." She insisted, picking her bag up from the floor that went flying, smiling thankfully. "It just happened so let's leave it at that okay?" When he nodded, Caralyn began walking away down the hallway, only for the blue eyed man to stop her, turning her around to face him again.

"Where were you headed?" He asked, hoping she didn't think he was prying, but she seemed lost and he wanted to help. "I don't recall seeing you around here and I've worked for this company for about two years now."

"I'm new here." Caralyn admitted, chewing her bottom lip nervously. "It's my first night. I was actually trying to find my way around this zoo."

He chuckled from low in the back of his throat, nodding, completely understand where she was coming from and extended his arm to her. "Come with me. I'll show you where you need to go if you tell me the department you work for." He offered, winking and grinned when she began blushing, making her even more radiant than she already was.

"Thank you…" She trailed off, not knowing what to call him as they began venturing down the hallway arm in arm, not realizing it was the start of a wonderful friendship.

"Call me Randy."