"Wade, it's me. I really, really need to talk. I'm so sorry, I... I totally understand if you won't speak to me, I know it's rich after ignoring you for so long, but please... just tell me where you are and I'll come. I need you."
AJ's mind pirouetted with increasing velocity and the need to erase the hideous mistake that had been the past three weeks intensified. She knew she had no time for anyone but Wade. She couldn't focus on anything or anyone else until she knew the whole one night stand revelation and its aftermath could be consigned to the ether.
Why hadn't he picked up? It was 2AM, sure, but she knew that with a whole day to deal with the repercussions a quiet night in would not be on his agenda. She'd heard the stories, of the hard-drinking, girl-chasing, devil-may-care Wade Barrett returning with a vengeance. At first she viewed it as further evidence that she'd made the right decision, but now she was racked with guilt about forcing him back into that way of life having shown him something so much more meaningful and rewarding. Every other woman that went before meant nothing as soon as she became his, that was what he'd told her. One of the over-sentimental proclamations he was prone to, the ones she teased him about but was inwardly elated to hear.
In the weeks since their separation she'd dismissed it as empty words, how could someone who felt that way about her repeatedly allow himself to behave in a way that upset and frightened her so much? Now in the wake of her change of heart it became clear to her that everything about his behaviour toward her reinforced the truth of this statement. It was the reason he could be so patient and understanding with her when she flew into one of her panics, while Punk clearly could not. But the panic would not be over until she knew for sure their weeks apart hadn't caused Wade to have his own re-evaluation of his emotions.
"It's April again. Please pick up. I'll make all of this up to you, I promise. I'm just... I'm scared... I feel like I'm losing my mind. Give me a chance to fix this. I love you."
She checked the time on her phone. Seven minutes since her last message. Pathetic. Thank heaven the corridor had remained deserted. The prospect of someone seeing her in this state, having to answer their questions, maybe even having to absorb barbs and mockery, added yet another tortuous dimension to her disquiet. The jubilant, no doubt intoxicated bellow of voices rang out from the far end of the hall. AJ froze to the spot, mulling over how she could go about hiding her distress. She couldn't. She prayed it was no one she knew, or at least someone who would show her a modicum of sympathy. The voices were female, so if they did belong to some of her colleagues the chances of being taken pity on were rather slim.
Three instantly-identifiable figures rounded the corner in the distance. Natalya, Layla and Rosa. Not Rosa, not now. AJ's mind was already firing out its own suggestions as to the sneering put-downs that would be directed her way in a minute or two's time. AJ wheeled around, she had no idea where she was going, but she couldn't remain here, and retreating back to her room, back to Punk, would be both humiliating and hypocritical. Before she had chance to focus on the hallway ahead, she felt a thud as she collided with a wall of muscular flesh, just managing to steady herself with an outstretched arm before she hit the floor.
Her gaze worked its way upwards, she pushed herself back to her feet to meet the bemused blue eyes of Drew McIntyre. It wasn't Wade, but if anyone were able to shed light on his whereabouts, it would surely be his best friend.
"Steady on there, lass. Where are you going looking so upset?" he queried, fixing her with a look of concerned confusion. He always looked a little confused when they spoke. Emotionally he and Wade were very different animals and Drew seemed to find her rather difficult to relate to. But he was always nice enough to try and in dire straits such as these that would have to be enough. The giggles behind her got closer, and she prickled with the paranoia that she may have been the butt of whatever joke was being shared.
"Not... not here," she said softly and looked pleadingly at him. Glancing over her shoulder at the trio advancing on them, Drew nodded in acknowledgement and beckoned to the door of his room, which he had been about to open until AJ clattered into him.
He guided her in with his arm draped lightly around her shoulder. She heard Rosa mutter some catty aside at this sight, sparking more laughter from her companions as they passed. It didn't matter, she was safe now, and hopefully moments away from being able to quell the ache that plagued her.
On the floor above, another room door swung open. Wade stumbled across the threshold back-first, Summer's lips stuck fast to his own. She released herself from his grip and took in her surroundings.
"Damn!" she exclaimed with an impressed whistle.
"What do you have to do to get one of these to yourself?"
"Well, it took two years for them to stop sticking me in with the Scotsman," Wade smiled ruefully.
"Drew sings in his sleep, you know? Like, proper belts them out like he were onstage at Wembley. Not that..."
His words slowly ran dry at the sight unfolding before him. She certainly wasn't backward in coming forward, as they said in England.
"At least leave something for me to take off," he implored, grinning.
"I'm not one for foreplay, darling, and if I wanted to talk we'd have stayed at the bar," Summer smirked with an enticing lick of her lips, before giving a decidedly inebriated-sounding chuckle and falling backwards onto the bed, whether deliberately or not Wade did not know. They were probably both about one drink away from being physically incapable of achieving their aims.
He undressed as quickly as his faltering co-ordination would allow and dived on top of her, lowering into another kiss as she sunk her fingers into his hair. If this was the bad times, if this was his life going to seed, then he was a very lucky man indeed.
AJ dabbed her eyes with the hem of her nightshirt. She'd just finished relaying her predicament. Drew had been able to offer little clue as to his friend's whereabouts beyond 'probably still out somewhere' but she'd welcomed the opportunity to voice her anguish. Drew remained silent throughout, save for the odd exclamation of surprise. She was amazed how little he seemed to know about the circumstances that had pulled her and Wade apart. She was aware their friendship was hardly akin to her and Kaitlyn's in terms of emotional transparency, but nonetheless the idea that people so close to one another would not communicate any more than the basic details of life-altering events baffled her. Men were a strange breed.
"I just hope he can forgive me the way I'm willing to forgive him," she finished, giving a heavy, full-bodied sigh.
Drew paused. And paused. She began to feel cruel for putting him in this position.
"You don't need to say anything, you've been a great help regardless," she said encouragingly with a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly to her shock, he clasped said hand with his own and looked purposefully into her eyes.
"I'm not always the most emotionally perceptive person," he began, before adding with a wry grin: "Just ask my ex-wife..."
"...but even I can see that there's almost nothing you could do to that man that would stop him loving you. You could run over his cat, then smash his signed twelve-inch of Gold Against the Soul, then punch Sir Tom Finney right in his 90-year-old face and he'd still think you were the most divine creature to walk this Earth."
For the first time since awakening half an hour ago, AJ lit up with a smile. She knew how important all those things were to Wade, and Drew's mention of them was causing fond memories to flood her mind, his words of reassurance diluting and destroying her fear.
"The bloke never fucking shut up about you for the last three months. He was using all these words he'd never have been caught dead saying when we first met. And that was when he was sober. When he'd had a few, Jesus..."
"Oh, I've received plenty of texts from your boozy excursions, and rest assured I teased him just as much as you did," AJ put in. They shared a laugh, bound by their affection for the subject of their discussion. But it didn't change the fact that neither of them had been able to make contact with him, and while that remained the case, AJ's angst could not fully subside.
"Right, where the fuck is he?" Drew questioned with playful impatience, picking his phone up from the bedside table and feverishly going to work with his thumbs.
"Where've you got to, Barrett, you daft twat?" he murmured absent-mindedly.
"She won't wait forever you know. And if you dare say you would, lass, I reserve the right to roll my eyes and stick my finger down my throat."
Wade's sense of privilege was growing by the second, comfortably suppressing any feeling of loss or emptiness that attempted to pounce from the margins in his mind. Here he was in the complementary four-star hotel room his dream job had earned him, his expensive wardrobe strewn across the floor, laying back on a king-size bed while a stunning blonde worked wonders upon him with her mouth and hands. It would be conceited and almost immoral not be content with his lot at this very moment.
He watched her working away, her eyes smiling at him each time he let out a moan of pleasure, which he was doing with ever-increasing frequency as she adapted her technique based on the feedback he was giving. She was a fast learner. He didn't want this to stop, but he knew were it to continue for much longer proceedings would come to a very early conclusion, and they were far from done with each other yet. She was just like him; no hang-ups, principles or emotional attachment to factor in, just lust and adventure. It was much simpler this way, this was what came naturally. Love was a failed experiment.
He shifted himself backwards towards the headboard in a seated position, causing her to take the hint and release him.
"Told you I was good at that," Summer grinned proudly. He found her unabashed confidence exhilarating. She didn't need any coaxing or cosseting to let go of her inhibitions, unlike... 'No, don't even think about her' a voice inside his head said firmly.
He leant forward onto his knees, meeting Summer with another deep kiss, hoping that making physical contact with her would plug the leak that was allowing thoughts of AJ to seep into consciousness once again. He lowered her slowly onto her back, her long, shapely legs stretching out either side of him. He pecked his way down her neck to her collarbone as she closed her eyes and gasped in arousal. He shifted his lips down to her right breast quicker than she would be expecting, illiciting a gloriously sharp wail from her throat. He raised his head to make eye contact with her, knowing she'd give him the kind of look his ego was founded upon. However, as he did so, a flash of light in the corner of his vision caused him to divert his attention to the foot of the bed.
He'd intentionally left his phone in the room when he left for his rendezvous with Summer, not wanting any distractions, or reminders. Any time he set eyes on it he was forced to think about the texts and the pictures it contained; the ones that he didn't have it in his heart to delete, the ones he still pored over in his more desperate moments. He couldn't be that man this evening. But instinct had drawn him to the screen, and there was no way he could dismiss what he saw.
'2 missed calls - April.'
"What the?" he questioned in disbelief.
"Surely it can wait?" Summer cooed, cupping her hands around his bristly cheeks.
All of a sudden any desire he had to finish what he had started with this woman evaporated. It had been relatively easy to tell himself that this was what he really wanted when there seemed no prospect of reconciliation but now, knowing she'd tried to reach him, his desire to see her, hear her, experience anything that told him she still wanted him in her life, overwhelmed all else. It had been over a week since he'd finally given up on getting through to her after countless texts, calls and knocks upon doors went unanswered. He picked the phone up, reclining back against the headboard, leaving Summer prostrate around him.
"Wade, what the hell?" she questioned incredulously.
"I'm sorry, was I boring you?"
"Shh!" he snapped without thinking. She was but an inconvenience and a distraction as he held the phone to his ear, barely able to contain his anticipation at what AJ had to say.
"Don't you shush me!" shouted Summer, her indignation growing by the second.
"What's so important that it can't..."
The colour drained from Wade's face, his expression changing from wonderment to worry and tension. The altering in his mood wasn't lost on Summer.
"Wade, what's going on?" she asked helplessly.
He had to address her. What he really wanted to do was sprint down the corridor to Drew's room without as much as a bye or leave, but both social etiquette and the amount of alcohol he'd consumed stood in the way of that idea.
"Summer, you're a lovely girl, but we should never have done this..." he began, knowing nothing he could say would result in her being anything other than justifiably livid.
"And you wait til I'm naked and I've sucked your cock for ten minutes before deciding that?" she snarled bluntly.
"Sorry... I wasn't ready... I..."
"Wasn't ready?! You've been screwing your way across America for the past three weeks, but when it's my turn your blood runs all the way to your head for once? Well, isn't that just typical?"
"You've got to go. I guess with all the drink I thought..."
"Oh, I'm going. Don't worry. Fuck you, you fucking fuck!"
With stiff kicks to his stomach accompanying each expletive, Summer then got to her feet and ashen-facedly gathered her clothes together. When she was dressed she picked her bag up from the dresser and gave one last furious, frustrated grunt in his direction before storming out the door. Wade hoped that in the near future they'd be able to have a sober, grown-up discussion and he could somehow explain himself and make it up to her. But that was extremely low on his list of priorities at this point in time.
Three rings.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Had he missed his window? Had her desire for a reunion passed in the time it had taken him to notice she'd tried contacting him? He'd never be able to live with himself if it had.
Seven.
Eight.
"Wade?"
"Yes it's me, sweetheart."
"Where are you? Wherever you are, I..."
"Room 264. See you soon. And just to get things clear: I don't blame you. I still love you. I can't tell you how glad I am to hear you say the same thing."
After some hasty rustling the line went dead, he hoped that meant she'd be at the door shortly. He was already fantasising about holding her again, telling her all these feelings that had been corroding his mind over the past month, being honest about who he now was.
"Thank you so much, Drew," AJ said hurriedly, returning her phone to her purse and standing up from the bed.
"No problem, love. And don't tell him I said this, but I've hated seeing him so cut up these past few weeks. You're good for him, just what he needed," Drew replied, offering her a brisk hug. Once again, the idea that Drew would not want his best friend to know he cared about his feelings made no sense to AJ whatsoever. Men.
She strode impassively along the corridor, feeling a full foot taller. If she encountered Rosa now she'd lay her out with a shining wizard. No one was going to stand in her way. She took the stairs, meaning she was slightly out of breath by the time she reached the door.
He opened it almost instantly.
She savoured being able to look at his face again after weeks of fleeing the scene every time their paths crossed. Bleary-eyed and slightly dishevelled from his evening's entertainment he may have been, but there still wasn't a more handsome sight imaginable to her.
They both went to speak, their words cutting across each other and becoming incomprehensible.
He placed her hands at her sides. Next thing she knew she was being hoisted aloft. As she had infamously done on numerous occasions on-screen, she coiled her legs around his middle with her arms knotting around his neck.
He pushed her hair behind her ear as she continued to beam at him. The smile that he feared would never be directed at him ever again. She was back. She was his. He was still extremely drunk and this was far too much drama and exhilaration for his mind to take.
He flopped down on the chair by the balcony, causing her to land in his lap, burrowing her head into his chest as she so often did. The rest of the world seemed so distant when she was there.
"I thought I'd lost you," he breathed, still not quite able to comprehend that this was really happening.
"You'll never lose me," she replied.
"Other than maybe down the back of the sofa," he grinned, making reference to his commentary on one of her FCW matches all those years ago.
"Just don't put me in a drawer," AJ added with a wink.
"I fucking love you, April Mendez," Wade said with a slight lump in his throat.
"You're the best thing that's happened to me, and that's not just the drink talking."
"You realise it's only ever really drunk people that say that?" she smirked.
"But I fucking love you too, you boozed-up British bastard."
"You know, I can't guarantee there'll never be another time like what happened with Punk," he said apprehensively. He didn't want to go there but his drunken bravado was forcing his hand.
"But you'll try your best," she added sympathetically, caressing his cheek with the delicate touch he'd so sorely missed.
"Of course," he smiled.
"That's all I need to hear," concluded AJ as her lips met his. A little more clumsy and slobbery than she had envisaged their make-up kiss being, but then in her fantasy he didn't reek of cheap wine either.
As AJ and Wade felt their eyes become leaden, collapsing into bed together still intertwined, their thoughts followed eerily similar paths. Both had begun the evening in the company of the opposite sex, seriously considering the possibility of drawing a line under the relationship. Both had quickly been reminded of why that wasn't possible, of how imperfectly perfect they were together, that they had been living a lie for the previous few weeks. And now, reunited at last, they knew they should never be parted. Never before and never again.
Much as it may sound like it, this is not the end of the story, so please continue to read and review :)