Colby's POV

Hearing something scrap against the pavement behind me, my sentence trailed off when my eyes landed on a ghost. When she looked into my eyes, I felt all of the oxygen leave my body as if I was just punched in the gut.

"...miss her every day."

Her violet hair had grown, down to the middle of her back, she had a new tattoo of a random design on her arm, and her eyes weren't broken; they had a light behind them.

I turned my head to the left, over to Joe, hoping that I was just imagining her. I had been seeing her everywhere lately so I wouldn't be surprised if I was.

Jon's voice brought my gaze back onto her and I kept it fixated on her, heart thumping through the cage in my chest. She looked so fucking beautiful and I had to bite back the urge to scoop her up in my arms, kissing her sweet lips. I missed the taste of them; watermelon. They always tasted like watermelon.

"I missed you too. More than you believe."

Blinking back to reality, I felt my heart shatter by the look of regret that washed over her face. Our eyes locked very briefly and I felt my foot take a step forward towards her but Jon's voice stopped me.

"Feel free to swing by later for drinks to catch up!"

Without thinking about it, I smacked his shoulder. As much as I wanted to be around her, I didn't want it to be with Jon and Joe around. We had a lot to talk about that they didn't need to be around for that.

"Only if I'm wanted."

My eyes stuck on Reign's back as I watched her disappear into her house, my heart dropping. She was back? She was coming back?

It had been so long since I laid on eyes on her and needless to say, she still took my breath away. When I saw her, her presence knocked the wind out of me and I had to grip the railing of my steps to steady myself. My heart ached, wanting to go over to her place, wrap my arms around her, and tell her everything is going to be alright. But I knew that wasn't going to happen, as much as I wanted it.

She left me for twenty months. Twenty fucking months without a call or text. I may have been upset with her for wanting to leave but that didn't mean I didn't keep my eyes on her. I would check her social media accounts every day, making sure she was alright, and when Raw had rolled through Cameron, North Carolina earlier this year, I found out where she was staying and as much as I wanted to go visit, I didn't. She needed time to herself to heal; not to have me beg her to come back home.

I would never imaged she would, though, so now I didn't know what or how to feel. Part of me wanted to pick up where we left off while the other part of me wanted nothing to do with her. But I knew, deep in my heart, that there was no way I could hate her. I couldn't hate someone I loved so deep.

Love.

At that thought, my heart wrenched and I blew out a shaky breath before looking and Jon and Joe. They stood silent, careful of what to say not wanting to set me off. Running a hand down my face, I shook my head. "I need some air," I grumbled before running down the steps towards my car, hoping a drive would clear my head.

...

Reign's POV

"Hi," I breathed walking up the steps of Colby's patio.

Thankfully Colby was instead, leaving Jon and Joe outside. "Glad you came, Reign."

Smiling over to Joe, I nodded while sitting in one of the empty chairs. "Where's Colby?"

"He ran to grab more beers," Jon spoke.

Nodding, I ran my hands over my pants as silence fell upon us. My eyes glanced around the yard before landing on the two men, having small smiles on their faces. "What?"

Joe was the first to speak. "How was your time away?"

I nodded with a small shrug. "Good. I've been able to get over everything that happened. I'm feeling better, mentally."

"Were you planning on being gone for as long as you were?" Jon spoke next.

"No." I licked my lips. "Honestly, I wanted to come back months ago but after I found out that Colby injured his knee, I decided to stay away longer."

"Why?" Joe scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

"He needed time on his own to get better. He didn't need me to get in the way of his rehab."

"Did you two talk while you were away?"

I shook my head at Jon. "No, I didn't hear from him at all. I did keep tabs on him though. Followed his career. Honestly, I don't know why though. He didn't seem to care about me."

Both Jon and Joe shook their heads. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

It was my turn to give them a confused expression. "What do you mean?"

Jon scratched at his growing facial hair. "There'd be times we'd catch Colby on his phone, wanting to call you."

"Then why didn't he?"

"I think he wanted to give you your space," Joe suggested.

My shoulders slumped. "It still would have been nice to hear from him," I mumbled crossing my arms over my chest.

"You have to realize where he's coming from, Reign." Joe spoke up. "You guys went through a lot in the first few months of your relationship. He was willing to go through hell for you, to help you, but when you decided to leave, it crushed him."

Feeling the tears well up in my throat, I shook my head. "I was willing to stay together. I may have been the one that left but he's the one that walked away from me."

"Maybe that's because you never really gave me a choice."

Jumping at the voice, I looked behind me and saw Colby standing there with a clear scowl on his face. My throat went dry with the icy stare he was sending me and I stood up, throwing a thumb over my shoulder.

"I'm going to leave."

Colby shook his head. "Leaving again when things get a little to tough for you."

My eyes sliced into him and if looks could kill, Colby would be sliced in half. "You're pissed that I left to take care of myself?"

He shook his head again. "No, I'm pissed that you decided to do that without me."

"I had too!" I screamed, forgetting Jon and Joe were still there. God dammit Colby, being around you and Jon and Joe was not helping. The constant hate I got from your fans and the looks of pity I would catch you giving me was only making things worse!"

"I was not giving you pity," Colby snapped. "I was patient with you, Reign. I would have done whatever it took to help you but you shut me out! You would talk to me, hell you wouldn't even let me kiss you!"

Colby shook his head, blowing out a large breath, and looked away briefly before landing his eyes on me again.

"Can you blame me?! Every time I felt your hands on me, I thought it was Luke! You have no idea what I've been through; not just that night but the years I was married to him!" My hands shook in anger as Colby was making me relive that night again.

"Because you never fucking talked about it!" Colby's voice boomed throughout his yard.

Suddenly something snapped inside of me and I couldn't control what happened next.

"You want me to talk about it? Fine!" Not thinking about it twice, I literally ripped off my sweater and sweat pants, not giving a fuck if Jon and Joe were there, as I stood in front of them in my bra and underwear.

"You want me to talk about these scars?" I pointed to the scars on my legs, arms, stomach, and cheek.

"You want me to talk about how I was almost raped when you weren't home?" My eyes were dark.

"You want me to talk about how Luke stabbed me, killing our baby!" I screamed, not realizing the tears had fallen.

"Reign," Colby spoke, his voice softening.

But I continued to ignore him. All of these feelings were bottled up for so long and I needed to get them out. I don't care if Colby cared to listen, I just needed to yell it from the rooftop. The cold summer night air had brushed against my bare skin but ignoring it, I pointed to the scar on my stomach where Luke had stabbed me. "Every time I look at it, I am reminded of the baby that I was never going to have with you. I am reminded that Luke took that away from me!"

"So I'm fucking sorry that I didn't talk to you or let you kiss me. I was dealing with the death of our child."

Silence fell upon all four of us and when the anger had vanished, that's when I realized I was standing half naked in front of the three men. Crossing my arms over my chest, I tried to cover myself, cursing that I had ripped my clothes.

Colby took off his windbreaker before tossing it to me and I threw it over in one quick movement. Jon and Joe kept their eyes glued to the ground as we all processed my outburst. Licking my lips, I turned on my heels to walk away but Colby's voice stopped me.

"I was dealing with his death too. I'm still dealing with it."

I faced him again and I tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. "We both dealt with the death in our own ways which was the downfall of us."

Colby stuffed his hands deep into his pockets. "Do you think there's any chance we can get back to how we used to be?"

I thought about that question for quite some time, truly wondering if we would ever be able to get back to the beginning of our relationship. A soft sigh left my lips as I shook my head, noticing Colby's face fall.

"We started off rocky. I don't want that again." I said.

"What are you saying?" Colby's voice shook.

"Maybe we were never meant to be together." Turning on my heels, I ignored my breaking heart for lying to Colby as I left him alone, quickly escaping to my house.