A/N: So I was gonna wait until later this week to post this but hey I've never been a patient person. I'm sacrificing my precious sleep to edit this chapter FYI. Thanks for the reviews for the last update. Although most of y'all are feeling stabby towards Dean and want to see him permanently removed from the story LOLOL. But if that chapter made you mad then this chapter...
Alyssa stared at her solemn reflection in the mirror as she ran her hands over her hair that was gathered into a simple chic side bun, staring at her attire of her black ruffle sleeveless blouse and black pencil skirt. She exhaled deeply as she noticed her reddened eyes, an indication that she hadn't gotten any sleep since last week when she received the call from her Aunt Dolores notifying her that her mother passed away.
The news shocked everybody in Alyssa's family including her. Her mother didn't look sick to her when she visited in December so it was shocking to learn that an aneurysm ruptured in her head while she was in the grocery store one day. As soon as she heard the news, Alyssa couldn't help but immediately feel guilty. The last time she spoke to her mother, she told her that she was dead to her and that would be something she could never take back.
Once she overcame the initial shock, Alyssa became withdrawn from everybody around her. Roman, Cameron, and Naomi tried to comfort her the best way they could but she remained unresponsive. There was nothing anybody could say that would make her not feel guilty about the last words she spoke to her mother. Maybe if she just didn't lose her cool she would've handled things differently. Maybe then they would have been able to make amends before her mother died.
A soft knock on the door interrupted Alyssa's thoughts. She looked away from her reflection to see her brother, Garrett, step into the room. He leaned against the doorframe staring at his younger sister, a saddened expression on his face. Before her father died, Garrett and Alyssa were extremely close. But after his death, they drifted apart. Garrett became more involved in different activities after school to cope with the loss whereas Alyssa became more introverted and unsociable as a result of her mother's verbal belittlement. As the years passed by, the drift between the two siblings widened since they both barely kept in contact with each other due to their hectic schedules. This was a time when they should've been comforting each other over their loss. However, their lack of contact made the situation more awkward. The more Alyssa thought about it, her interactions with her other family members was also awkward since she wasn't close with them either.
"We're getting ready to go. Are you ready?" Garrett asked.
Alyssa nodded her head as she grabbed her purse from the dresser that sat in her old childhood room, memories of her childhood that she would rather forget flowing through her mind. She followed Garrett out of the bedroom and into the awaiting Lincoln town car that would escort them to the funeral home she picked to have the service at. Although her relationship with her mother was tempestuous, the responsibility of planning the funeral and handling Veronica's affairs still fell on her since nobody else in her family wanted to be bothered with the task. Alyssa sat in the back of the town car, her arms folded across her chest as the rest of her family members in the car made small talk with each other.
"Alyssa honey is your boyfriend going to be able to make it to the service?" Alyssa's Aunt Delores asked her.
Alyssa snapped out of her daydream and turned her head to look at her aunt. She shook her head, thinking about how Roman was determined to take a few days off of work to travel back to Chicago with her as she took care of the arrangements for her mother's service. However, Alyssa quickly talked him out of his idea as she convinced him that he needed to be on the road and couldn't afford to take any days off while he was still being pushed by management.
"He couldn't make it because of work but he sends his condolences," Alyssa replied.
The rest of the ride to the funeral home was quiet for Alyssa since she didn't know what to say or do around her family. She hadn't seen nor talked to them in years. She knew they were aware of the tumultuous relationship she had with her mother and more than likely knew about their last blow up. Therefore she was sitting on pins and needles as she waited for somebody to bring it up at the worst possible time.
The town car came to a stop indicating that they had arrived at the funeral home. Alyssa's family filed out of the car, with her being the last one. She pulled her coat close to her body as she walked behind the rest of the group hoping the service would go by quickly. Although she wasn't scheduled to leave Chicago until a few days later, she couldn't wait to leave the funeral home. Alyssa was never able to deal with death well and she knew today wouldn't be any different. She was definitely looking forward to getting back on the road as soon as possible and trying to get back into the swing of things.
Once she stepped into the funeral home, she stood in the foyer as different family members that visited from out of town greeted the ones that rode in the town car. Alyssa sulked to the back as anxiety crept into her bones at how out of place she felt. She jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and came face to face with Roman, Naomi, Jimmy, and Cameron.
"What are you guys doing here?" Alyssa sputtered. She wasn't expecting to see them at the service since she knew how busy they were on their current tour. However she couldn't help but admit that she was surely glad to see them.
"Did you think that we would let you go through this by yourself?" Cameron asked as she and Naomi engulfed their friend in a hug. The tears pricked her eyes at how thoughtful her friends were. She knew they didn't like her mother because of the treatment she endured from her. But the fact that they were still willing to come to support her at this time meant the world to her.
"How are you doing?" Naomi asked as she pulled away from the embrace.
"Could be better," Alyssa answered with a slight shrug before Jimmy hugged her quickly. "I'm just ready to get out of here honestly. This all has been emotionally draining."
Naomi nodded her head, although she couldn't begin to fathom what Alyssa was currently going through. Despite the relationship she had with her mother, both of Alyssa's parents were gone and weren't coming back. The mere thought sent a chill down Naomi's spine.
"Well if you need to talk you know me and Cameron are here for you always," Naomi reminded her, flashing her a weak smile. "We're going to go grab a seat."
Alyssa watched as her friends walked into the room where the service would be taking place, leaving her alone with Roman. Roman silently opened his arms and wrapped Alyssa's small body in a hug. Her body relaxed in his arms as a few tears trickled down her face, his large hand rubbing her back in a soothing motion. He pulled back, wiping the tears with his thumbs and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"You don't have to be strong for me baby girl. How are you really feeling?" he asked softly making Alyssa sigh.
"Like shit," she admitted sullenly, shaking her head. "The last time I talked to her I told her she was dead to me. Told her she was just some woman that gave birth to me. Those were the last words I spoke to her Roman and I can't take them back. I'm a horrible person."
"No Alyssa you're not a horrible person. You were just emotional and upset with how everything was playing out. You were upset that your mother laid her hands on you and you finally got tired of her berating you all your life. You're not horrible. You were just fed up and let everything out. Gorgeous don't go blaming yourself for her death. It's not your fault."
"Then I feel so awkward here. I haven't talked to anybody in my family in years. I don't want to try to make small talk with them because it feels so fake. I just feel like an outsider."
"Well that's why your true family came here to support you Alyssa. We're here for you to lean on during this time so instead of trying to act like everything is okay, let us know if you need our help. We're willing to do that for you."
Alyssa nodded her head as Roman embraced her again, resting his head on top of hers. A few seconds later, Garrett cleared his throat interrupting the couple. Alyssa pulled away from Roman, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.
Garrett glanced at the protective arm Roman wrapped Alyssa's waist with, immediately realizing that the man standing next to his baby sister must've been her boyfriend,. He stuck his hand out. "You must be Roman. I'm Garrett, Alyssa's brother."
Roman shook Garrett's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you man. Sorry it couldn't have been under better circumstances."
Garrett nodded his head in agreement. "We're about to start Alyssa," he informed her before slipping away.
Alyssa peered up at Roman, a weak smile on her lips. "Guess I should join them."
"I'll see you afterwards babe. You will be fine. If you want to cry, go ahead and cry. If you don't, you don't have to do that either."
Alyssa elevated her height on her tip toes and placed a quick kiss on Roman's lips. "I love you," she mumbled.
"I love you too," Roman repeated before releasing Alyssa from his grasp. He watched while she joined the rest of the family in the hallway as they prepared to say goodbye to Veronica before making his way inside.
Roman sat the cup of water in front of Alyssa before taking a seat next to her. He wrapped his arm around the back of her chair as he watched her mindlessly pick at the fruit sitting on her plate. The service was over and some of the guests piled into Alyssa's aunt's house for the repast. Roman exhaled softly as he rubbed Alyssa's shoulder comfortingly. He knew despite his best efforts, she was still beating herself up for the last conversation she had with her mother. Roman was trying his best to make sure the guilt didn't eat her alive and stop her from taking care of herself but it seemed like his efforts weren't working.
"So when are you coming back to work?" he asked, breaking the silence between the two of them. The others were busy grabbing some refreshments leaving the couple to have a moment of alone time.
"I'll be back on Friday."
Roman furrowed his brow, a frown appearing on his lips. "Do you think that's such a good idea to come back two days after your mother's funeral?"
"I need to get back into my regular habit Roman," Alyssa replied as she ran a hand over her hair. "If I continue to stay at home then I'll do nothing but think about everything I could've done differently. That won't help me either."
Roman nodded his head as he bit his tongue, not wanting to start an argument at that time with Alyssa. He was afraid that she was going to try to push herself too hard and try to be a modern day Superwoman to get over her grief. But if she claimed she could handle going back to work so soon then he just had to trust her judgment.
"You know you didn't have to come," Alyssa said, glancing up from her fruit plate into Roman's eyes. "I know you're busy especially with the pay per view next weekend and Wrestlemania happening in a few months. I would've understood if you didn't come."
Roman shook his head with a tiny smile before placing a kiss on Alyssa's forehead. "What do I always say? I'm always here for you no matter the circumstance. So I definitely wasn't going to let you go through this alone gorgeous. Yeah it's a busy time for me right now but that doesn't mean I'm too busy to offer you moral support when you need it."
Alyssa sighed as she placed her head on Roman's shoulder. "Thank you for being my rock Roman. I don't know what I would do without you," she whispered with a sniffle.
Roman squeezed Alyssa's hand without a word as he watched Naomi, Cameron, and Jimmy approach the table quietly. "How are you feeling girl?" Cameron asked taking a seat on the other side of Alyssa..
Alyssa shrugged her shoulders as she lifted her head from Roman's shoulder. She stood to her feet, glancing back at her friends and boyfriend. "I'm going to go the bathroom," she told them before disappearing from the table and walking towards the restroom.
"She's taking this harder than I thought," Naomi said with a sigh as Roman nodded his head in agreement.
"She's upset about her last conversation she had with her mother. She feels guilty because she told her that she was dead to her."
"Look I know it's horrible that Alyssa's mother passed away but she didn't cause the aneurysm to rupture in her brain. She didn't even know she was sick because according to everybody she didn't seem sick. And Alyssa's outburst was a result of years of mistreatment from her mother. I'm not saying it's right but I can understand why she reacted in the way she did," Cameron said as she shook her head. She knew that her friend had a tendency to shoulder a lot of blame and guilt based off the way she was raised by her mother that blamed her for everything that went wrong. Alyssa shouldered a majority of the blame for her miscarriage and the end of her engagement to Justin and it took her a long time to get over that. Cameron just hoped it wouldn't take her as long to overcome her guilt for her mother's death.
Roman ran a hand over his face before placing his hands underneath his chin. "I've been telling her that. But she continues to blame herself. And then on top of that she's coming back on the road on Friday which I don't think is a good idea at all. But I'm trying to give her space and not be too overbearing. I'm not trying to start any arguments right now."
"That's pretty much all you can do. Just tell her that you're there if she feels like talking. Alyssa will stop feeling guilty sooner or later but you need to let her grieve in her own way," Jimmy advised his cousin. "You can't be her Superman this time brah. She has to get over this in her own way."
Roman bit the inside corner of his lip. He knew Jimmy's advice was sound but he didn't know if he could follow it. He hated seeing Alyssa in pain and always wanted to protect her from anything that would cause her pain. That was just in his nature. However Roman couldn't help but feel helpless because he didn't know how to fix this for her. While he was lucky to still have both his parents in her life, both of Alyssa's were dead. Roman just wished that for once Alyssa could be happy. It seemed as if she could never catch a break and that pained him. It pained him to see somebody he loved go through the hell she went through. He just wished that for once Alyssa could be happy. Roman exhaled deeply as he mimicked Alyssa's moves, standing to his feet. "I'm going to go see if she's okay," he said before heading in the direction Alyssa went.
While he looked for Alyssa, Roman shook his head amused at how quickly life could be turned upside down. There he was ready to have a wonderful time with his girlfriend as they celebrated Valentine's Day. Then all of a sudden, she was on a red eye flight to Chicago to help plan her mother's funeral. Although he knew Alyssa would have to grieve in her own way, he still wanted to do whatever he could to make things right for Alyssa. He had this innate desire to fix everything that was wrong in Alyssa's life and protect her from any future pain.
Roman rounded the corner and was instantly halted in his steps at the image before him. His jaw muscles clenched in anger as he watched Alyssa stand on the empty enclosed front porch, involved in a conversation with the man he hoped he never saw again.
Justin.
'What the hell is he doing here?' Roman asked himself. The memory of Alyssa receiving the flowers from Justin the week before reappeared in his mind. He knew there wasn't any definitive proof that Justin sent the arrangement but Roman just knew it was him. He saw the way that Justin looked at Alyssa when they ran into each other in December. Roman knew that the man wanted another chance with his girlfriend simply based off the gleam in his eye; the same gleam that Roman constantly had in his grey orbs whenever he thought about Alyssa. The flower delivery just proved his suspicions correct. However, Roman wouldn't let the man that broke Alyssa's heart years ago steal her away from him.
No chance in hell.
Roman stood in silence as he continued to watch the interaction between the two former lovers. He attempted to calm down, not wanting to blow things out of proportion on today of all days.
But when he saw Justin engulf Alyssa in a hug, that attempt quickly fizzled.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Roman sneered as he quickly approached the two. He stood behind Alyssa as his chest heaved in anger, his lips curling upward.
Alyssa quickly retracted her body from Justin's embrace and turned around, her eyes widening in surprise at Roman's appearance. She shook her head as she placed her hands on Roman's chest, noticing the stormy appearance in his glare. "Roman just calm down-" Alyssa begged, her plea falling short as he shook her hands off of him.
Roman ignored Alyssa as his grey orbs bore a hole into the man in front of him. Alyssa's ex fiancee held his stare and puffed his chest out. Although Roman was more muscular than he was, Justin wasn't going to allow him to bully him around. "I just came by to pay my respects. I was just seeing how Alyssa was holding up."
"Now you care about Alyssa's feelings? That's hilarious."
Justin bit the corner of his bottom lip, guilt slowly eating away at him. He knew the thought of him caring about Alyssa's feelings was ironic considering how everything transpired between them years ago. But he was desperately trying to make up for the mistake that he made. He damn sure didn't need Alyssa's new steroid laced boyfriend reminding him of his mistakes.
"Look I didn't mean any harm by coming here," Justin said, holding up his hands in a surrendering stance. He slowly began to back away from the couple. "Alyssa once again I'm sorry for your loss. I gave Garrett my card if you two need help handling your mother's affairs. I'll be more than glad to help so don't hesitate to ask," he told her as he reached out to rub her arm comfortingly.
Before Alyssa could reply, she yelped in shock as she watched Roman roughly move her out the way and push Justin against the wall, his hands gripping the collar of his shirt. Alyssa tried to grab Roman by his arms to pull him off but to no avail; he was way too strong for her.
"You have a lot of fuckin nerve. First you send my girlfriend flowers for Valentine's Day. Then you show up here to check on her and weasel back into her good graces. Now you fuckin hug and touch her right in front of me?" Roman gritted through his teeth, his grip on the shirt tightening. "Tell me why I shouldn't fuck you up here and now?"
Justin's cocky smirk quickly disappeared from his face when he saw how serious Roman was. If looks could kill, he would be six feet under right now. "I didn't send Lyssa any flowers," he choked out, wondering where Roman would get such an idea from.
"That's ALYSSA to you!" Roman exclaimed. "Don't fuckin lie to me. I know you sent them. Who else would send them telling her they're thinking about her because it damn sure wasn't me."
While Roman continued to interrogate Justin, Alyssa's eyes darted around nervously. She didn't want any of her family members to appear and see the boyfriend they never met nearly choking her ex fiancee. She had never seen Roman so angry outside the ring before. He was typically the calm one between the two of them yet the look in his eyes frightened her. She knew he was upset by the flowers she received last week but she never thought he was this mad.
"Roman just let him go! Who cares who sent the flowers? It doesn't fuckin matter!"
"It matters because he's lying. He's trying to steal you away from me and I'm not going to let that happen! He doesn't deserve you!" Roman replied not taking his eyes off of Justin's face.
"If somebody doesn't deserve Alyssa, it's the barbarian that has me hemmed up against the wall. If you think somebody sending Alyssa a bouquet of flowers will make her want to leave you then maybe your relationship isn't as strong as you think it is. Hell maybe I should've sent them."
Roman's eyes suddenly turned cold as his jaw twitched again. He removed one of his hands from around Justin's collar and he pulled his fist back and punched him in the face, making Alyssa scream in shock. Justin's body instantly fell to the floor as Roman stood over him raining more punches to his body. He didn't know what came over him but he had to make sure Justin understood that Alyssa was not available. He needed to understand that Roman wasn't letting go of the woman that brought so much joy to his life without a fight.
"Stop it! Stop!" Alyssa screamed, pulling at Roman's arms to try to stop the onslaught of punches. She yelped again as Roman roughly snatched his arm away making her tumble backwards and on the floor in her dress.
"Brah what the fuck are you doing?!" Jimmy exclaimed as he ran over to Roman, Cameron and Naomi quickly running behind him. Jimmy was able to pull Roman off Justin and pushed him away from the fallen man as Naomi went to check on him. Cameron stooped down to check on Alyssa who still sat on the ground, speechless. When Justin slowly sat up, Alyssa inhaled a sharp breath as she saw the different bruises on his face courtesy of Roman's fist. She looked up to see Roman still glaring at him, the hatred in his eyes evident. She swallowed nervously, afraid of what Roman was going to do next.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Cameron asked looking between the two men before her eyes settled on Alyssa. Alyssa turned her head and shook it, unable to formulate a sentence to explain everything to Cameron. "Have you two lost your fuckin mind? You're at Alyssa's mother funeral repast and you're fuckin fighting?!"
"He attacked me!" Justin accused as he gingerly stood to his feet, Naomi helping him as she held onto his elbow. "I should have you arrested."
Alyssa's head jerked up at Justin's words, worry lines appearing on her face. Having charges filed against him for assault was something Roman didn't need now, especially with his current push going on. It just took one blemish like that to effectively end everything that he worked so hard for. But she couldn't completely blame Justin for wanting to go that route after seeing the damage Roman caused to his face.
"Look Justin there's no need to talk about filing charges," Naomi said attempting to quickly diffuse the situation. "Everybody's emotions are just riled up right now due to the circumstances. I'm sure that Roman didn't mea-"
"The hell I didn't!" Roman spat despite Jimmy trying to silence him. "You sent my girl flowers after she told you that she moved on. Then you pop up here and start touching her like you have that right. You couldn't take no for an answer so I had to teach you a lesson. Don't come around her again, don't call her, don't text her. Forget about her like you've done the past three years!"
Cameron's eyes glanced over to Alyssa who still was looking at the ground, refusing to look at the scene before her and sighed. Usually Alyssa would be the one to handle a situation like this, able to return everything to normal. Instead she was despondent from everybody, slipping back into her own world. She stood up and walked over to where Naomi and Justin stood, gesturing to the door. "Let's talk for a minute Justin," she requested, hoping she and Naomi could fix the mess.
Justin bit his bottom lip as he stared back at Roman from behind his left eye that was beginning to swell before his gaze rested on Alyssa. His heart broke as he watched her wrap her arms around her knees, rocking back and forth. He wanted to do nothing more but to envelop her in his arms to comfort her. But he knew that act would earn him another beat down at the hands of Roman, something he wasn't trying to endure again.
Justin nodded his head and followed the two divas outside, closing the door behind him. Once the door clicked shut, Jimmy promptly pushed his cousin in his chest, frustration decorating his face. "What the fuck brah? What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asked. He, like Alyssa, wasn't used to seeing this side of Roman. Roman was normally the one able to keep his emotions in check and not act irrationally. Seeing him pound on a man so mercilessly outside the ring was unusual for his character.
"He had no right to send Alyssa flowers or touch her. None."
"Ok so he sent her flowers! You're acting like he kissed her! Even if he did send her flowers and wants her back that doesn't mean Alyssa wants him back! She's with you and she loves you dumbass! Do you know how much trouble you'll be in if he files charges? You can kiss that babyface push goodbye if he decides to go that route. Everything you worked hard for these past few years will be for nothing because you wanted to pound your chest like a caveman and stake your claim on Alyssa. You betta hope to God Naomi and Cameron can talk him out of it!"
Roman exhaled sharply as he pushed his hair that fell out of his neat ponytail off his face. He knew Jimmy's words were true. He fucked up. Assaulting somebody was way out of character for him and he knew the mistake could cost him big time. He didn't know what happened but as soon as he saw Justin touch Alyssa, something inside of him snapped. He couldn't explain the anger he felt but it scared even himself. He glanced over at Alyssa, a frown gracing his lips as he watched her stare blankly in front of her, unable to look at him. The sound of the door opening broke his trance as he watched the two women rush back inside, quickly closing the door.
"He's not going to file charges against Roman granted that Roman stays away from him. I told him that would be no problem as long as he stayed away from Roman and Alyssa," Naomi explained, causing sighs of relief to tumble from Roman and Jimmy's lips. She placed a hand on her hip as she looked pointedly at Roman. "I can trust that won't be a problem right?"
Roman nodded his head, thankful that Naomi and Cameron were able to clean up his mess. He watched as Cameron helped Alyssa to her feet before he moved towards her to wrap his arms around her to apologize for his actions. His frown appeared again as she flinched away from him.
"Alyssa baby-"
"Don't touch me," Alyssa said, her voice cracking with fear. She finally looked at him through teary eyes, her bottom lip trembling. She shook her head and sighed. She didn't know who the man standing before her was but he definitely wasn't the man that she fell in love with. It was as if he was the same monster that destroyed his opponents in the ring, the man that she was originally petrified to even approach. Seeing his anger on full display frightened her and she didn't know how to respond.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry? You're sorry?! Roman if it wasn't for Jimmy racing in you would've beat him into a bloody pulp! You didn't even listen to me when I tried to get you to let it go. And then you pushed me! Me! You pushed the woman that you claim to love out the way like I was a fuckin rag doll!"
By now, the tears streamed down Alyssa's face making Roman's heart break at the sight. He watched as she roughly wiped the tears away, grabbing her purse from the floor, avoiding his eye contact. "I fucked up! I snapped! It was horrible I know but I made a mistake!" Roman exclaimed, his voice raising an octave. "Baby I don't know what else you want me to say!"
"Nothing you can say will matter Roman. Today I needed you to be that rock that you're always are, to comfort me after I laid my mother to rest. Instead you're fighting my ex fiancee over some stupid fuckin flowers! So what if he sent them and he's lying that he didn't. I don't give a shit! I'm with you and I love you! No fuckin flowers can destroy what we have! But your inability to control your anger may destroy everything we have!"
And with that, Alyssa quickly turned on her heel and walked back inside the house, leaving Roman staring at her retreating form, his mouth agape in shock.
A/N: *goes into hiding until the next update* R&R