Chapter 21

Can't meet up tonight at the arena. Come to my room tonight. I'll have a keycard sent to you before the night is out.

Gabriella read the message at least a dozen times, walking inside the airport with Baron. He'd stayed with her the last few days to make sure she was alright. Her courage to tell him how she truly felt flew out the window and they enjoyed each other's company, watching movies and talking. Baron never once brought up her secret lover, which was a relief. Either he didn't care who she screwed or didn't want to know. It somewhat bothered her since he'd been so protective of her down in NXT, threatening anyone who posed a problem. Kevin Owens had been the only one she had a problem with and Baron had a few private meetings with him. Now that they were both on the main roster with Owens, Gabriella dreaded running into him. So far, they hadn't worked a program together and she was thankful for it, hoping it never happened.

"Ready to head back on the road?" Baron asked, jolting Gabriella out of her thoughts and took a seat to wait for their flight to be called. "Ya look nervous…"

"Yeah…I mean yes to going back on the road. Sorry, my brain is going a million different directions." Gabriella smiled apologetically, taking a seat beside him and leaned her head back. "Can I ask you something, Wolfie?"

Baron raised a brow down at her. "That's a loaded question, Gabi. Ya know I'm an open book. What's on yer mind?" He draped an arm around her shoulders to pull her a little closer.

"Well…"

How was she supposed to ask him something like this? Her cheeks flamed deep crimson, wishing the girls were here to converse with instead of Baron. He was her best friend, but…he was also the man she was in love with.

"Never mind…"

"Gabi, you've never had a problem talkin' to me before, so what's the problem now? What's this about, honey?" Baron coaxed, worry filling his dark eyes and noticed her face turning red. "Is it about…him?"

Maybe he did have an interest in her love life after all. "Yeah…" Gabriella frowned, not understanding why it was such a problem to talk to Baron about this. "I don't think he cares about me and I'm being used…" She couldn't tell him who it was, no matter what. "I told the girls about it…and they gave me an interesting idea on how to find out if he does or not…"

This didn't sound good; any idea regarding Lilianna never boded well for any man. "Do I even wanna know?" He asked resignedly, checking the clock to see what time it was and saw they had 20 minutes before their flight was called.

"We – um – we went to a…special shop and…Lilianna made me buy some handcuffs with black fur on them…" Gabriella felt just as mortified talking about them as she did when they were purchased. "She seems to think if I…handcuff him to the bed before having sex, I can get answers out of him. I just don't know if that's me…"

Baron had to hold back a loud groan, the thought of being straddled by this beautiful woman and handcuffed to a bed making his mind reel. He could see her in his mind, dressed in a full dominatrix ensemble with a whip in hand and everything. Black plastic or leather…anything would look remarkable on her. As hard as he fought all the naughty images filtering through his mind, his body reacted to her words. Handcuffs was really all it took. Baron had a SERIOUS problem on his hands now and he thanked the stars above for choosing to wear skintight jeans before leaving the apartment that day. They were currently cutting circulation off to his lower extremities, so thankfully he was standing or bulging out for the world to see.

"I think…" Baron cleared his throat, trying to push the huskiness out of it and had to look away from her, biting down on his closed fist harshly. He had to tell her soon – very soon. "You'd pull it off." He congratulated himself on sounding normal with that last statement and shut his eyes, trying to talk down his raging body.

Gabriella was too engrossed in her own thoughts and fear of what she was about to do with her secret lover to notice how her words had affected Baron. "Lilianna thinks so too. I'm not sure about Jecina, she stayed quiet throughout the visit to the sex shop…" For good reason, she added in thought, blinking when Baron abruptly stood up from the chair. "Where are you going?"

If he didn't get away from her, Baron would end up tackling her to the floor and tearing her clothes off. He could feel the animal coming out in him, his testosterone peaked off the charts. Relieving himself was the only way to get through the flight without attacking Gabriella. All in due time, he thought, making a promise to himself to come clean about his feelings for her soon. He just needed a little more time to muster up the courage to sit her down and tell her everything he felt. Then, hopefully he'd be able to show her with actions instead of words the truth of those words.

"Bathroom." He grunted, jogging away from her and the intoxicating scent she had to take care of his current issue.

Gabriella frowned, hoping Baron was alright and looked down at her cell phone, jumping out of her skin when someone grabbed her from behind. "What the hell?!"

"Surprise!" It was none other than five feet of fury herself, Alexa Bliss.

"Holy shit, girl, you scared the shit out of me!" Gabriella stood up, tossing her arms around the small woman and squeezed tightly. "What are you doing here?!"

"Going to Raw with you guys. Apparently, Hunter wants to meet with me to discuss possibly coming up to the main roster soon." Alexa grinned, her bleach blonde hair with blue tips currently pulled back in a French braid. "Need a plane buddy to chill with?"

She hadn't seen Alexa in months and missed her like crazy along with Baron. They were known as the three musketeers in NXT and had each other's backs. Alexa had even told Kevin Owens where to stick his attitude a few times. She really was fierce, even outside of the ring, and didn't take no grief from anyone. Size didn't matter to her and she'd gotten exceptionally better in the ring. They'd had a few matches together Hunter really enjoyed, but it was never utilized due to Gabriella being moved up to the main roster.

"How is it being on the other side of the fence?" Alexa asked, sitting down in what was supposed to be Baron's seat and folded one leg over the other. "Come on Gabs, I want details!"

"It's been…interesting." Gabriella didn't have any other word to describe her time on the main roster thus far. "Lili has really helped me along with Baron. Don't know what I would've done without them. They really need to move you up soon because I miss my best friend."

Alexa snorted, rolling her eyes lightheartedly. "Sounds like I've been replaced." She sniffled playfully. "I feel so unloved!"

"Who could ever replace my five feet of fury?" Gabriella smirked, having given her that special gimmick idea along with Baron and hugged her again. "You're my sister, never forget that. I need my better half on the main roster, so they better get their asses in gear and do it."

Alexa laughed, her eyes lighting up at the sight of Baron walking toward them. "WOLF BOY!" Hopping up, she ran across Gabriella's lap and the chairs before leaping into Baron's arms full force, not surprised he caught her.

"Whoa! What are ya doin' here?" Baron demanded, spinning her around in circles while hugging her tightly. They were also best friends and Baron felt lost without her ever since his call up to the big times. "Damn shrimp, I've missed you!"

"Ugh, don't call me that!" Alexa pulled back to tweak his nose, feeling him set her down on her feet and walked back over to join Gabriella. "I'm here to catch the flight with you guys to Raw. They wanna meet with me to discuss when I'll be brought up to the main roster."

Baron beamed, looking forward to having Alexa on the same roster as him again. He could tell Gabriella wanted the same thing too. "Man, I hope it's soon. Yer too damn talented to be stuck in NXT."

"Feeling better, Shnookums?" Gabriella asked cheekily, rolling her eyes at his warning growl. "That doesn't work on me, Wolfie."

"What's wrong with him? Everything okay?" Alexa looked between her friends, not noticing anything different and shrugged when both nodded.

"Just had to take a shit before the plane took off." Baron bluntly stated, telling half the truth and laughed at the look on their faces. "What? You asked!" Masturbating in an airport bathroom would definitely not go on Baron's top 10 list of fun times, but at least he wasn't suffering blue ball syndrome anymore.

"TMI, Wolf boy." Alexa muttered, looking at the clock and saw the plane was late boarding, shaking her head. "Never fails with this stupid airport, I swear. They are ALWAYS late boarding and I don't understand it. By the way, Gabi and I are sitting together on the plane unless we can get into one of those rows where all 3 of us will fit. We got some catching up to do."

Baron chuckled, not having a problem with that. He'd spent the last few days with Gabriella alone in her apartment and lost count how many times he had to leave to go work out. Having a bed that close and the small apartment not giving much breathing room caused many issues for Baron. Then it got worse when Gabriella dragged him into her room, wearing cotton shorts and a tank top that clung to every curve of her body, in order to watch a movie in bed together. She fell asleep against him and when he tried to move to go back out into the living room, she mumbled for him to stay. Never in his life did Baron want someone as much as he did Gabriella, to take her to heights only they could reach together and make her forget about whoever she was currently screwing on the road. Baron had been tempted to touch her and see how she'd react, but he also didn't want to risk being punched in the nose or any other part of his body. Still, sleeping with her in his arms, Baron concluded he had to tell her how he felt soon before he fell apart and lost her to her secret lover.

"Flight 540 to St. Louis, Missouri now boarding!" The announcement blared through the speakers.

"Thank god! Let's get this bad boy rolling!" Alexa crowed, grabbing her suitcase and smacked Baron's hand when he tried grabbing it. "Nope, I got it Wolf boy. Thanks anyway." She sauntered past the security guard and down the terminal, dragging Gabriella with her. "We need to talk once the plane takes off." She murmured quietly to where Baron couldn't hear her.

Alexa, Lilianna and Jecina were the only people in the entire WWE franchise who knew how she truly felt about the man trailing behind them. She was the first to find out since they'd worked together a lot in NXT. If there was anyone in the world Gabriella trusted, it was Alexa. She could keep a secret and they considered each other family. Once everyone was seated on the plane, -Baron decided to take a spot on the opposite side to give them plenty of privacy and breathing room for himself- Alexa turned to Gabriella and folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Gabriella knew what was coming and braced herself, shaking her head.

"Why the hell not? How much longer are you gonna wait before some hottie sweeps him away? He's HOT, Gabs. If I wasn't with someone, I'd go for him in a heartbeat." Alexa admitted, then made a face and groaned. "No – no I wouldn't because it would be like fucking my brother. And I'm not into that whole Game of Thrones incest shit."

This was the time to tell Alexa about what she'd been doing since coming to the main roster. "I haven't told him because…I'm seeing someone else." She confessed quietly, lowering her eyes to her lap and clasped her hands. "Baron doesn't feel that way about me. He thinks of me as a sister just like you, Lex…"

"Wait, you're seeing someone and didn't tell ME? What gives?!" Alexa nudged her with her elbow none too gently, frowning at how pensive Gabriella looked. "He's…treating you right…RIGHT?" She would go back to the Baron situation in a minute.

"Yeah, it's nothing like that. I want to be with him, but…it's just sex. At least to him. We meet up, fuck and he leaves. He tells me when to show up too. It's not a relationship, he's more of a fuck buddy." Gabriella felt ashamed since she'd never been the type to be in this type of predicament with a man. "I don't know what came over me. You know me, I don't have sex with guys unless I feel something for them. And I still have feelings for Baron, but…it was hard to say no to someone who showed me attention and that's terrible to say."

Alexa understood where she was coming from and had a fuck buddy in her days as well. "Why do you think Baron doesn't feel the same way about you? How are you going to know unless you tell him? I told you this so many times, I feel like a broken record, Gabs. You need to tell him. Because something tells me he feels the same way about you. He's never told me anything, but I can sense it. All you gotta do is take the first step and tell him how you feel."

"And what if he doesn't feel that way about me? What if I make a complete ass out of myself and it ruins our friendship?" Gabriella shot back, both keeping their voices down and leaned forward to grip her hair in her hands. "I'd rather have him in my life as a friend than nothing at all. I can't lose him, Lex. I just can't. I tried telling him so many times…he stayed with me these past few days in Tampa and I wanted to throw caution to the wind and make a move on him. But I'm not that type of person and I just feel in my heart he doesn't have any romantic feelings for me. If he did, don't you think he would make a bigger stink about me having sex with someone else and not even telling him who it is?"

"Maybe he feels it's not right to stick his nose in your love life. I'm just speculating, but you've had feelings for him for a couple years now. It's time to put your big girl panties on and tell him." Alexa stated emphatically, thinking back to the secret lover and raised a brow at her best friend. "So, who is the lucky guy anyway? Come on, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone or judge you, you know that."

Gabriella had to tell someone who he was. Alexa had kept her secret about her feelings for Baron, so she wouldn't say anything about this. "I'm only telling you because I have to tell someone." She leaned forward to hover her mouth over Alexa's ear and whispered the name.

Alexa's eyeballs about popped out of her skull as soon as she heard it.