"Are you nervous, Sweetheart?" Stormie looked up from wringing her hands in front of her, blushing when she realized that Seth had been watching her. She immediately stopped wringing her hands and instead, chose to sit on them to avoid the temptation. Stormie and Seth woke up early in the morning to meet with a realtor to go over what Stormie wanted in a home and possibly look at some potentials.
They were currently the only people sitting in a comfortable real estate office, waiting for the friendly brunette receptionist to finish with her phone call to see if the realtor was still with other customers. She hadn't realized just how nervous she was until Seth pointed out her fidgeting.
"Just a little." Stormie replied, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth; another nervous habit. "I mean, by this time next week, I could be a home owner."
"I wouldn't be surprised if it was sooner." The receptionist interrupted their conversation, after she hung up the phone. "Ian is one of the best realtors in Chicago, he can close a deal within a few hours. Excuse me for interrupting, ma'am, sir. Ian is ready to see you now."
Stormie practically jumped out of the dark red leather armchair she was sitting on when the receptionist said those words to her and Seth, her cheeks flaming once again when Seth chuckled, no doubt in amusement as he watched how she stumbled forward into him when he stood, she was trying not to trip in high heeled Converse.
He immediately caught her around the waist, enjoying the feeling of her warm, lithe body pressed against him before he steadied her, making sure to put some distance between them before she realized just how much he liked her body pressed against him. Seth put a comforting hand on the small of her back, urging her forward gently to follow the receptionist down a hallway to a partially open door that the receptionist knocked on once before walking in, motioning for them to follow her.
The realtor was a young man with brown hair, not quite as dark as Stormie or Seth's. He looked to be about Seth's age, though not nearly as tall or as toned, but judging from the way his body filled out that slim fitting navy blue suit, he did okay for himself.
"Miss Rhodes!" He said enthusiastically as he stood up from his office chair and walked around his desk to pull Stormie into a hug. "It's so nice to meet you! And who is this?" The tone of his voice completely changed from friendly to flirtatious as his hazel eyes landed on Seth and Stormie immediately felt a rush of what she could only describe as jealousy.
She smiled pleasantly at the real estate agent, but made the reality of the situation very clear as she intertwined hers and Seth's fingers and moved her body closer to his side, allowing her head to rest on his left pectoral. She didn't appreciate anybody, male or female, blatantly checking him out when she was standing right there.
"This is Seth Rollins." Stormie said the words sweetly, but Ian appeared to be smart enough to realize that Seth was taken, even though truthfully he wasn't. He quickly shook Seth's hand and walked back around his desk and sat down, gesturing for the both of them to sit as well. Stormie did so, feeling ten times more comfortable knowing that Ian was backing off.
"So," Ian began, clasping his hands on his desk in front of him, "what is the happy couple looking for in a house?"
"Well, we're hardly ever home, so I'm thinking maybe an apartment or a condo or something. Nothing too fancy, but not suburban either. 2 bedrooms, 3 baths." As Stormie and Ian began discussing other things like budget and location, she noticed the stupid grin on Seth's face and the way he looked like he was about to break out in song and dance. She knew exactly why, too.
Ian referred to the two of them as a couple, and Stormie never corrected him.
After talking for about five minutes, Ian brought his MacBook out of its hibernating state and began clicking on his mouse. "I have a few places in mind that match the description you gave me, let me just check and see if their available to look at." He typed for a couple minutes before he smiled at them. "I know you don't have much time to spend in Chicago, so I guess we better go look at those condos."
They only spent one day in Chicago looking at condos and apartments. Each one was better than the next, but after the sixth, Stormie found a condo that she fell in love with. It was located on North Lake Shore Drive, with a beautiful view of Lake Michigan, it had everything she wanted on her wish list and it was even in her price range. She put in an offer at once and Ian promised to text her the moment he found out any news.
"There's really no sense to stay in Chicago anymore." Stormie stated as Seth drove them back to the hotel in a black Honda Civic that he rented that same morning. "As far as I'm concerned, condo hunting is done, I just need to wait for the owners to accept my offer."
"I guess you're right." Seth agreed. He drove back to the hotel where they packed up their belongings and checked out of the room before driving back to O'Hare. Stormie naturally assumed that Seth was going to go back to his own home, but he surprised her when he ordered another two first class tickets to Tampa. That was how they ended up back at Stormie's apartment. At first she was nervous to see the state of her home, but nothing was out of place, everything was exactly the way she left it.
"I'm sorry," Stormie apologized as she began sorting through her dirty clothes in the living room, her cheeks flushed slightly when she realized she was holding up a pair of lacy panties for Seth to see, she promptly buried them under her pile of whites. "I know I'm acting weird. I guess I'm just a little paranoid."
"You have nothing to apologize for, Sweetheart." Seth said soothingly as he plopped down on the floor next to her, allowing her to lean her body against him. "I don't know the full extent of the way Bo treated you, but I know he was wrong, and I also know that he was stupid for letting someone as special as you slip through his fingers." He kissed her cheek, but there was a frown on his face.
The extent of what he knew Bo had done only went as far as the things that Stormie screamed at him on Tuesday night. He physically abused her, how? He tried to pressure her into having sex with him, had he succeeded? These were questions that Seth was dying to know the answer to, but not willing to bring it up to Stormie in case his worst thoughts were true.
"I don't want you to think that I was stupid for staying with him." She said quietly, looking down at her mismatched socks, one with polka dots, the other with stripes. "I don't want you to think that I never fought back, or that I just let him control me, because I didn't."
She got up off the floor and wandered into the kitchen to get a bottle of water from the fridge, she sat herself upon her gleaming counter top as she twisted off the cap and took a generous drink to moisten her suddenly parched mouth. Seth followed her, watching her closely with a look that could only be described as concern.
Stormie took a deep breath. "I've known Bo since I was two months old, when my family adopted me from Canada. He's five years older than me, so we didn't start dating until I was eighteen. You remember my try out match down at the Performance Center?"
Seth nodded, he remembered the match clearly because he was training with Chelsey at the time and Stormie's try-out match was against her, and even then, she was impressive, despite her lack of training.
"I was dating Bo for about two weeks at the time. He seemed so happy that I took an interest in wrestling, I never really told anyone but Dustin until then, and he was so proud when I signed the developmental contract, but I think he never expected me to get as far as I have."
"When I started traveling on the road with Cody, Bo began getting… distant. Passive aggressive, even. I think he was jealous that I was traveling with the main roster, while he was in developmental. I mean, Bray is his brother, but he was never offered the chance to go on the road. We communicated through text messages, and whenever something happened, he automatically assumed that I was going back to Florida."
"And when we were at Dean's place and we kissed..." She blushed slightly. "It felt good, It felt right, but I also felt guilty because, despite Bo being the asshole of the century, I was still his girlfriend and I cheated on him by kissing you." She paused for a moment to chug back the rest of her water and swallowed hard, subconsciously bringing a hand to the side of her face where the purple bruise used to blemish her face. "That was when he tried to force me to sleep with him, and I told him what happened, that I cheated on him. And then he hit me."
Seth could feel the anger coming off of him in waves. He knew that Bo abused her, Stormie already mentioned it before, but hearing it coming out of her mouth this way, like a confession made him want to drive over to Brooksville and finish what he started, but he knew he couldn't do that.
"I don't want to pressure you into anything like he did, but I want you to remember that you'll always be safe with me around." Stormie stood frozen in her place as she watched Seth stalk closer to her before eventually enveloping her in his arms, his beard brushing against her ear as he spoke. "Bo is never going to harm you again, believe that."
She wanted to believe him, but deep down inside, she knew that a small part of her would always be afraid. Seth seemed to know that too because he broke the embrace and pecked her cheek gently, like he was afraid he would scare her away with the simple sweet gesture.
He hated that he had to tip toe around Stormie to avoid triggering a negative reaction from her, but until he knew for sure that she was over this, he would be cautious. When her cell phone rang from the living room where it was charging and she raced to get it, coming back five minutes later, screaming that her offer was accepted and she was now a homeowner, Seth thought that maybe she would be over this sooner than he originally thought.
Seth stayed with Stormie for the rest of the week, helping her pack up all of her belongings. And for such a small apartment, she had a lot of belongings. But Seth didn't seem to mind, because he knew this was exactly what Stormie needed. As soon as she heard the news, she texted everyone she knew and told them. On Thursday morning, Stormie hired a couple of professional movers to move all her furniture and drive the truck from Tampa to Chicago. On Friday Stormie gave her house key back to her landlord and she and Seth rented a hotel room for the night before they flied back to Chicago.
She talked nonstop on the flight to Chicago and the ride from the airport to her new condo. She lived on the seventh floor and had access to the roof in the summer time. There was a swimming pool, a hot tub and even a gym. The movers got to Chicago before Stormie and Seth did and she was surprised to see that they set up her furniture for her.
"Why don't you go and get settled?" Seth suggested. "I'll go order us some take out for dinner." Stormie promptly agreed and went into her new bedroom to shower in the on suite.
After talking with Chelsey when he learned that Stormie's offer was accepted, Seth decided that he would throw her a housewarming party and invited everyone he knew was Stormie's friend, which surprisingly wasn't a lot of people. Himself, Chelsey, Dean and Roman. Her brothers, Punk and AJ. He was sure there had to be more, but he didn't want to ask her. Not only would it be awkward, but she might suspect something and Seth wanted to keep this a secret for as long as he could.
He pulled out his phone and texted a message to Chelsey, telling her that Stormie was occupied and they should come over now to be here when she was ready. She agreed and said that she, Dean and Roman were leaving the hotel room now. Seth was reluctant to call Stormie's brothers because they have never been friendly towards each other.
So almost embarrassingly, Seth stole Stormie's iPhone and unlocked it to text Cody while pretending to be Stormie, asking him and Dustin to come over to her new home. When he agreed, Seth sent a message to Punk from his own phone and he was very surprised to learn that Punk and AJ lived in the same complex. In fact, they lived just across the hall from Stormie.
When there was a knock on the door, Seth opened it and allowed AJ to skip inside, Punk was following close behind her. "Thanks for coming, Stormie's going to be so surprised when she sees you."
"I can't believe Stormie moved in just across the hall from us!" AJ beamed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Where is she?"
"She's in the shower." Seth announced and watched with mild amusement as AJ turned on her heels and began walking to the direction of the master bedroom, claiming she was going to greet her when she came out, while Seth and Punk began setting up things for her housewarming, including ordering takeout food like Seth promised and taking several 2 litre bottles of Pepsi from Punk and AJ's condo, which Seth promised to replace.
Half an hour later, Stormie stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, the hot water and steam made her bones and muscles feel like they were made out of jelly, she couldn't remember a time when taking a shower had been so relaxing, but she gave all the credit to the wonderful shower head message. She sprayed a leave-in conditioner in her hair and gently combed her fingers through it before deciding to let it air dry. Upon entering her new master bedroom, she was surprised to see AJ sifting through her collection of comic books.
"What are you doing here?" She asked with raised eyebrows. AJ looked up from the copy of X-Men in her hand. "Phil and I live just across the hall." She informed her, putting the comic book back on the shelf where she found it before she began to search through her closet and dressers. Stormie knew better than to argue with her about AJ choosing her outfit, so she just sat down on the edge of the bed and watched as she pulled one of her dresses from the closet.
It was thin strapped and black, with a pattern of red roses that was supposed to be a baby doll, but it fell to her knees. There was also a bit of a ruffle near the hem. It was one of the girliest articles of clothing that she owned and it was one of her absolute favorites. It wasn't really appropriate for the weather, but Stormie figured that she wasn't going outside anywhere, so she took the dress from AJ, got a pair of panties and a bra from her dresser and went into the bathroom to change
AJ was still sitting on the floor with her comic books when Stormie returned from the bathroom with her dress on and her slightly damp hair curly and hanging around her shoulders and framing her face. She allowed AJ to link arms with her before AJ opened the bedroom door and skipped out into the hallway, pulling Stormie with her. The sight of Dean stuffing his face with meat lovers pizza made her stop in her tracks.
There was an entire party going on in her living room. Chelsey was tossing back Jell-O shots like they were water, Seth was chatting with Punk by the breakfast counter, her brothers were eyeing all of her friends in the Shield warily and Roman was looking at Dean, disgusted when he began speaking with his mouth full. When Dean noticed her standing there, he came forward and grinned, pizza sauce dribbling from the corner of his mouth. "Happy housewarming! Where's the beer?"
"Housewarming?" Stormie questioned, looking around at everyone, her eyes finally landing on Seth, who looked as though he wanted to become a human chameleon and blend in with her distressed hardwood floor. "I didn't plan a housewarming party…"
"I know you didn't." Seth said, a little sheepishly. "I did. You were so excited to be a homeowner, and I know you're not going to spend a lot of time here, so I thought we should make some memories while we can…"
"You don't have to worry about a thing, Stormie!" AJ smiled, taking her by the hand to walk her around the room, pointing out little things. "The food and drinks are all taken care of, you don't even have to clean when the party is over because we hired some people. And everyone got you homey gifts!" AJ stopped walking in front of the couch and pushed Stormie so she was sitting on it, before handing her a pink and yellow gift bag with the words "Happy Birthday" written on the side. "You can open mine and Phil's gift first! Sorry about the bag, the only other thing they had was for Christmas, but I thought you'd like this one better."
Inside the gift bag was the first two seasons of The Walking Dead. "So you have something to watch whenever you're home! Just be sure to invite us over first." Stormie laughed and said that she would. Dean gave Stormie a radio similar to the one he had in his kitchen window, which was where she put hers. Roman gave her a fleece throw blanket with five black wolves on it to put over the back of her couch. Chelsey insisted that her gift was to be opened in private, which Stormie was grateful for, because she definitely did not want her brothers and friends to see whatever was vibrating inside the box Chelsey gave her, labeled with a sticky note that said to use it when she got lonely. Her brothers bought her a few picture frames and a scrapbook, but Seth said that he would give her gift when everyone was gone.
As reluctant as Stormie was to allow this housewarming party to continue, she had to admit that it was fun. After opening those presents, she set up her new radio in the kitchen window and set the station to one that was playing songs she liked. She, Chelsey and AJ all danced while the boys either watched, talked amongst themselves about wrestling, or eventually joined in. She giggled to herself as Cody took her hand and spun her around before Dustin did the same.
The party dispersed around one o'clock in the morning when everyone seemed to realize that they had an important Pay-Per-View event tomorrow night. She hugged all her friends, giving extra squeezes around the middles of her brothers and Chelsey and watched them pile into the elevator or, in Punk and AJ's case, walk through the door right across the hall. It was only when she shut the door and leaned back against it that she seemed to notice that Seth hadn't followed his fellow Shield members.
"I still haven't given you my gift yet." He reminded her, offering his hand, which Stormie took and allowed herself to be led over to the sofa. Seth gently pushed her down so she was sitting on it.
She glanced around the room. "So where did you hide it without me knowing?"
"Well," Seth began, a smile growing on his face. "I figured the best place to hide your gift was in plain sight." He took a step back from her and threw his arms open wide. Stormie was still glancing around the room, searching for her gift that was apparently hiding in plain sight. All of the things in her living room either belonged to her previously or were recently bought in Chicago, but nothing seemed to stand out to her as new.
"I don't see it…" She admitted and Seth couldn't help but chuckle slightly. He took her hand in his and bent down so he was eye level with her. "Me, Sweetheart." He said gently. "I'm your gift."
She shook her head slowly, clearly confused. Seth Rollins was her gift? "I… I don't understand…" Seth had a feeling that she wouldn't, which is why he came prepare with what he was going to say to make her see what he was talking about, his heart began to beat a little faster and his palms grew sweaty as he took a deep breath and began to explain.
"I'm your gift because I'll be whatever you need." He told her. "Your friend, your brother, your protector, your…" He swallowed the lump that suddenly grew in his throat. "Your… boyfriend. If you want." And that was it. He had said what was on his mind, what he wanted to have with Stormie, and he was putting the ball squarely in her court. He would be whatever she needed, if she needed a friend, or a brother, he would be there for her.
"Whatever I need?" She asked softly. Seth nodded and she thought for a minute. "I already have two brothers, and I have more friends than I ever hoped to have in my life. I kind of like the thought of having a protector, though." She didn't miss the way Seth's face fell slightly, although he tried his hardest to fight it.
"Bo wasn't a good protector… In fact, he was actually the complete opposite." She tightened her grip on his hand. "You don't mind having two jobs, right?" It took Seth's brain a few seconds to process her meaning. She had brothers and friends, and if he was going to have two jobs, that would mean…
He understood what she meant the moment she closed the space between them and pressed her lips to his.
Yay for happy endings and updates, finally! I know it's been well over a month since I last updated, but school is really kicking my butt. I have to do English all day there, so when I come home, I never want to write, I just play my video game, which is Dragon Age, if anyone is curious. I finished this chapter on a school laptop because I literally have nothing else to do. And as for Stormie's housewarming gift from Chelsey… it's an electric razor, I swear! ;)