Author's note: As always, thanks to LivHardy, for beta-reading this chapter!
May I be a little presumptious for once and truly saying this is one of my favorite chapter EVER? I really did love writing it and I hope you're going to love it as well and you're going to feel the same emotions I myself felt while I was writing it! I put all my soul and heart in here, so leave me a review with your thoughts! And, as always, I wanna thank each and everyone of you who spends two minutes to leave me a review, they mean the world to me and they're the reason why I still am fully in this story and why I continue to work on the English translation even if I have small free time! This is all because of you, amazing people! Keep your love coming and "feed me more" LOL
Just some informations before you get your head in the reading:
-I'm Italian, so English isn't my first language. I'm trying to do my best to translate it, but if there are any grammatical mistakes or other kind of mistakes, feel free to let me know: I'd really like to improve my English knowledge;
-The title of the story, "Anything but Ordinary" comes from a song by Avril Lavigne. The lyrics are quoted in the first chapters and many part of it will eventually be used as chapters' name. If you have never listened it, go search it on youtube: it's really amazing and it's the thing that inspired this entire story;
-Obviously (and sadly!) I do not own Dean Ambrose or other of the WWE Superstars that will be mentioned in this story. I own just Lydia and some other original characters you could easily figure out.
-There will be strong languages, violence and sex scenes.
-(new!) I've created a TumblrBLOG on this fanfiction, you can find it here (www . anythingbutordinaryff . tumblr . com); if you wanna follow it, you'll find pictures, gifs, spoilers, videos and much more on "Anything but Ordinary" world!
And that's all: enjoy!
25. Just to feel the danger
«I promise I'm gonna take care of you, as I always did since your parents…»
Lydia couldn't hear Callum's following words because the volume of the music seemed to suddenly grow louder. As Lydia stared at him with wide-eyes, craving to know more, Call, without removing his hands from the arms of the chair, continued to keep her trapped between his body. He leaned on her and the chair's seatback, he turned his head to glance at the bar over his right shoulder.
«We chose the worst night…» he murmured to himself, as the dance floor was filled with blinking lights, artificial fog and foam soap.
Callum turned again towards the girl and addressed her with an amenable smile; he said something, but Lydia couldn't understand what, so she shook her head and pointed to her ear, communicating him that she couldn't hear him because of the loud music. Callum lowered more toward her and murmured directly into her ear.
«It's becoming a bedlam in here: let's go outside to finish our talk.»
Lydia swallowed hard and widened her eyes again. He pulled away and stretched one hand at her, pointing to the nearest exit with a nod of the head.
A part of her was yelling not to accept and to immediately go back to Dean Ambrose and the other members of The SHIELD. But another part, the deepest and most emotional one, wanted to know more about herself and her past.
"Since your parents…" Callum had said briefly before.
What had happened to her parents?
Lydia needed to know.
She subtly raised her gaze toward the point where she knew Jon, Colby and Joe were, but she couldn't see them: there was too much confusion and with the foam and the fog it was impossible to see an inch from the nose.
What should she do?
«C'mon, honey, let's go. I'll bring your car back, too. I guess you want it back.»
That was the spark which made her spring.
Lydia brought her attention back on Callum, who was now addressing her with a gentle smile, then she weakly nodded and rested her hand on the one Call was offering to her. His stocky fingers tightened her delicate ones and, effortlessly, Call picked her up, driving her outside the bar.
Jon would have gotten mad at her, that was for sure… but Lydia hoped he would have eventually understood her reasons.
«What the fuckin' hell is going on?!»
The bar was soon full of fog and foam everywhere and the bodies dancing on the dance floor were the only thing Jon was able to see.
Eventually, even Colby and Joe started to show the first signs of impatience, especially when a group of girls came to dance next to them, impeding them to see the table where Lydia and Callum were.
Jon jumped to his feet, trying to see beyond that wild mass of little heads which rocked in front of him, but with all that artificial fog it was difficult to distinguish even Roman's and Seth's faces, let alone if he could even get a glimpse of Lydia.
«Goddammit!» he shouted, more and more agitated «Fuck! I can't see them anymore! I knew this was the fucking wrong idea!» without thinking about it twice, Jon squeezed in through the wild crowd and forced his way through it with violent jabs and pushes, which made him deserve more than a curse and even some menaces. When a big guy stopped him, grabbing him by a shoulder and forcing him to turn around, Jon had on his face such an angry and dangerous expression that the big guy gave his pugnacious intent up and returned to mix himself up in the dancing crowd, with his tail between his legs.
When Jon finally reached Lydia's table, after what seemed like infinite centuries trapped into that mass of sweated bodies, his heart stopped.
Lydia and Callum weren't there anymore.
He didn't even realize Joe and Colby flanking him, but they took their time too, they realized the situation and they all stared at the empty table, breathless and wordless.
«She's not here…» Jon murmured, his eyes wide open, his face white «She's not fuckin' here anymore, goddammit! I told her to stay where the fuck I could see her and not to fuckin' leave with him! Shit! Fuck! FUCK!»
Jon grabbed the table and angrily knocked it over before starting to kick the chairs.
Colby remained still, unable to realize the situation… Lydia wasn't there.
Did she go away with Callum? Or did he take her away? And what if he was hurting her, right now? No… he didn't want to think about it, he couldn't think about it.
«DAMMIT!» Colby yelled, too, hurling a fist against the wall and scratching his knuckles.
Joe tried to keep calm for his teammates, who were clearly losing their minds. One of them must remain lucid, if they wanted to find Lydia in time, before Callum could hurt her… or take her away from them.
To that thought, even Joe had to close his eyes for a moment and take a deep breath, because he had felt the rage taking possess of his chest and, if he would have let it explode, he was sure he wouldn't be able to control himself. Instead, he must be strong for Jon and Colby.
And for Lydia's sake.
«Stop this right now! You need to calm down!» he boomed out, grabbing Jon by a shoulder and forcing him to stop from venting his rage out on the now broken chairs to his feet.
Jon backfired to him and pushed both his hands on his chest, abruptly pushing him away; Joe finished against the dancing crowd behind him.
«STOP TELLING ME THE FUCK I HAVE TO DO! IT'S YOUR FUCKIN' FAULT! IT'S ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT IF SOMETHING HAPPEN TO HER!» he shouted, beside himself with anger, pointing a menacing finger toward Reigns and Rollins.
«The fuck are you talking about?» Colby railed against him, with a tense voice, his hands strained into two fists so violently that the muscles of his arms were huge and prominent «How could it be our fucking fault?»
«YA STOPPED ME WHEN I WAS ABOUT TO COME HERE AND RIP HIS FUCKIN' FACE AS SOON AS HE TOUCHED HER!» Jon yelled again, gesticulating furiously and nervously ruffling his hair; he closed his fingers around his hair, grabbing it into his fists «GODDAMMIT! She was here… I shouldn't have allowed her to come here, I knew it was a fuckin' wrong idea! FUCK!»
Jon squatted against the wall and brought both his hands to his mouth, starting to nervously bite his knuckles.
Colby frantically looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lydia's auburn hair somewhere in the crowd, but there was too much confusion, too much fog, too much people… And what if they would have never found her again? What if Lydia was gone… for good?
«We lost her…» Seth murmured, lowering his head as he felt his rage being replaced by a sense of nausea and dismay.
«No! No, no, no, no!» Roman exclaimed «We haven't lost anyone. We still have time to find her. To save her!» he bent down and roughly grabbed Dean by the shoulders, forcing him to return on his feet; then, he shook him «You can still save her, Jon! Lydia trusts you!»
Those words seemed to be able to wake him up, because Jon widened his eyes and his blue irises burned of a new anger… but also of a new pep.
«Colby and I will try and see if she's still in here, you go outside and…» Joe didn't even finish the sentence: Jon was already rushing to the exit.
Lydia regretted having followed Callum outside the bar. The music seemed to be immediately muffled and distant and the cold wind hit her, brushing her hair away from her face and sending thousands of shivers down her naked arms. She quickly disentangled her fingers from Callum's and remained still, in front of the entrance, turning around to glance at the closed door and pondering the idea of going back inside as fast as possible.
But she couldn't… she needed to know more about her, about her parents, about her past.
Callum turned to look at her, «Did you change your mind, sweety bitchy?»
Lydia clenched her jaw and tightened her hands into two fists: she loathed that nickname.
She wasn't a bitch.
«No.» she answered through gritted teeth «But I don't trust you.»
«Oh, come on, honey.You're hurting me, here.» Call pouted «I'm not gonna do anything to you, I just wanna take you to your car.»
«And should I believe you because…?»
Callum sighed and ran one hand through his very black hair, ruffling it even more.
«Don't make things even more difficult, Lys, come on. I already told you what happened last week was just a misunderstanding. We were both drunk and high… you know I would never hurt you.»
«Do I know it?» Lydia skeptically raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest, trying to repair herself from the cold.
«Of course you do, sweetie.» Callum took some steps toward her «You've always trusted me, don't let a meaningless episode change what we are.»
"What we are… if I could only remember what in the hell we are."
«A meaningless episode?» Lydia scornfully repeated «You tried to rape me in that alley! I would not call it just a meaningless episode.»
«Oh, come on, Lydia. Stop being so dramatic, now. I didn't rape you. I just kissed you, period. And then, since when were you this chaste and pure, huh? I don't remember hearing you complaining about what we did and how we did it… indeed, you have always loved it.» Callum showed her a mischievous smile, languidly licking his lips and looking at her up and down with a long, appreciative glance, which made her feel immediately in awe.
She didn't like where that chat was going. She didn't like the thing he was saying. They made her feel dirty and humiliated, just like a bitch.
She would have liked to remember… but now, she didn't know what Callum was talking about and, truth be told, she had no idea what to say back to defend herself. Supposing that she could defend herself.
So, she just stared at him in silence, with a look in her eyes which she hoped expressed all the hatred she felt for him in that very moment.
«Aww, don't look at me that way,honey, you know it always has on me the opposing effect to the one you hope to achieve.» he came closer to her that now he was blowing those words a few inches from her ear «This fighting side of you always turned me on, it's always extremely fulfilling taming you.»
Lydia raised both her hand and shoved him away.
«Stay away from me!»
Callum laughed amused and raised one hand to touch her face, but she took a step back, backing out of his caress.
«Come on, don't be like that, now.»
«You mustn't come close to me. And-you-must-not-touch-me.» Lydia hissed.
Callum raised both his hands to the sky in resignation, that mischievous and amused grin still bent on his thin lips.
«Okay, okay. Let's go. Your car's this way.» he nodded toward a tiny street to his left and started heading towards it.
Lydia looked at him, still in the air, then she took a deep breath and followed him, being very careful to keep herself at least two meters back from him, so she could have a little advantage if she decided to run away.
Callum, now and again, stopped, as if he wanted her to flank him but, every time, Lydia stopped, too, behind him, nodding to him to proceed. By the fourth time, Call huffed and turned around, coming back to her who, instinctively, took a step back.
«What are you doing?» she asked suspiciously.
«What am I doing? What are you doing! I already told you I don't wanna hurt you, you don't need to be so wary.»
«And I already told you I don't trust you. You go ahead, I'm following.»
Callum sighed and ran one hand over his face, then he oddly glanced at her.
«You're shaking…» he noticed, lingering his eyes on Lydia's naked arms, now covered with an evident layer of goose bumps «Are you cold?»
«I'm fine.» she dryly answered; she didn't want him to get worry about her, he had no right to.
«You have always had this bad habit to dress light.» Callum commented, taking his jacket off and handing it to her «Here, cover up.»
Lydia immediately shook her head and took another step back.
«I don't need it, put it on again.»
«Don't be stupid, now, Lys. Take it.» he insisted.
«I told you I don't need it! I don't need anything from you! So, stop being gentle with me, it's not working! Give me my purse back and get over it, I'll find my car alone.»
Callum gave her a withering look and Lydia immediately regretted not being able to hold her tongue; she pondered the idea of turning around and running away, but the hurt expression which colored Call's clear irises convinced her to stay. She saw him sighing and slowly put his jacket on, a sad smile on his lips.
Who know why in the fucking hell it hurt her seeing him like that.
«Okay, okay, got it.» he murmured yielding «Let's finish it here, I'm taking you to your car and then I'll go, if that's what you want.»
Callum turned around leaving Lydia to stare at his wilt shoulders, feeling an odd, sorry sensation inside her stomach.
Why was she feeling so bad, right now? He had tried to rape her, she must not forget about that! It was his entire fault if she had lost her memory!
Lydia tightened her hands into two fists and breathed deeply.
«Callum?» she called him, forcing him to stop; he turned and sadly glanced at her over his shoulder.
«Yeah?»
«What do you want from me?»
Callum stared at her for what seemed like infinite moments and Lydia felt like time had stopped to that instant; the wind blew between them like an invisible snake, making her hair wavering around her shoulders and provoking other thousand of shivers on her naked arms. In the end, Callum smiled and took a step toward her who, this time, didn't back away.
«Isn't it obvious what I want, Lydia?» he murmured, once he was in front of her; he raised one and and, tenderly, he brushed his fingertips against her cheek, in a caress to which Lydia didn't back out; his very clear eyes was fixing her intensively and Lydia looked at him as well, from what was now a ridiculous distance, which brought their noses to almost brush «I want you back, Lydia.»
Callum leaned forward and was about to eliminate the gap between their lips, when Lydia widened her eyes and her body moved instinctively.
The sharp noise of flesh hitting flesh filled the silence of the night.
Callum raised one shaking hand and touched his cheek, which now had a bad, red bruise.
Lydia, still with her eyes wide, was now short of breath; she had backed away again and was holding her hand pressed against her chest and she massaging it: that smack had almost hurt her more than it had hurt him.
«You should have thought about that before trying to rape me with those disgusting assholes you call friends.» she hissed sternly, taking courage from she didn't even know where «I'm never ever coming back to you, get that in your fucking head!»
Callum stared at her with an astonished gaze, then he rubbed his jaw and, in the end, his lips curved into a sick grin.
«Wrong answer, sweetie bitchy.» he murmured, staring at her with suddenly furious eyes «Now you've really pissed me off. Don't you wanna come with me? If I can't have you by will, I'll take you by force!»
Callum was on her in a blink of an eye: he had moved so quickly Lydia hadn't even had time to turn around; he grabbed her by an arm and brutally dragged her against a wall.
They were again in that dark alley of a week before.
«NO! LET ME GO! YOU DISGUSTING SON OF A BITCH! YOU BASTARD! DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T TOUCH ME!» Lydia screamed, squirming like crazy, but Callum was stronger than her and easily kept her nailed against the wall.
«I don't think so, honey. I won't have you run away from me again. You are mine.» he hissed, with a cold voice, clamping her wrists above her head and leaning on her.
Lydia's screams were suffocated by a rude and violent kiss, but as soon as Callum injected his tongue between her lips, Lydia bit it, forcing him to pull away.
«YOU ARE JUST A WHORE! AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR YOU!» he shouted in her face; then, he raised one hand and gave her the smack back: his hand was heavier than Lydia's little and delicate one and, as soon as it hit her cheek, she was flung to the ground.
Despite of the dizziness, mixed with pain which was starting to burn her face and her knees, which she had badly scratched on the ground, Lydia did not lose time: she took advantage of being finally free from his grasp and, without thinking about it twice, she snapped on her feet and started to run away. Callum grabbed her by the hair, trying to trail her behind him again, but Lydia reacted instinctively: she stopped dead in her tracks, turned around under his arm and put it on a lever – just as she had done during her training with The SHIELD.
Finally, her jutsuka instinct was coming to light.
When Callum let her hair go, she didn't waste any time: she tried to hit him right to his jaw with a hook, but he was quicker and blocked her.
«Nice try, slut. But it's over.» he hissed devilishly.
«I don't think so!» Lydia spit into his face and, before he could react, she hit him with a knee right into his nuts.
Callum widened his eyes and let her go, doubled up with pain.
«You damn bitch… I'm gonna kill you for thiiiiis…» she heard him murmur.
Lydia quickly turned around and started to run as fast as she could toward "The Discordant Note".
Dean… she had to go back to Dean!
With tears which had started to run down her cheeks, Lydia pulled her cell phone out. She was about to dial Dean, when…
«LYDIA!»
His voice reached her like a life line. Lydia stopped dead in her tracks and turned around: through her sight blurred with tears, she was able to pick out the unmistakable figure of Dean Ambrose.
«DEAN!» she screamed and, in a heart-beat, she found herself tightened between his strong arms, pressed against his hard and reassuring chest.
Lydia clung to him, clamping her fingers around his white shirt, and she continue to cry and shake, too freaked out and scared to be able to say even one, single word.
Jon tightened her strongly, pressing one hand in her hair, trying to stop the trembling of her little body against his own.
«Shh… calm down, Lydia, calm down. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here with ya.» he murmured, his lips pressed against her forehead.
«I-I'm… I'm s-sorry, D-Dean… r-really… I… I didn't want… but he… and the c-car…» she confusingly slurred, with trembling and faint voice, some words which disappeared into the violent hiccup which made her chest to jolt «S-sorry… sorry… f-forgive… forgive me… d-don't… don't get m-mad… don't g-get mad at me… p-please…»
If it was still possible, Jon tightened her more to himself.
He was angry, deeply pissed off, that was for sure.
But not with her.
«Shhh… relax. I'm not mad at ya, really. I'm not mad, I promise. Now, though, ya need to calm down, okay?»
Lydia swallowed hard and violently sniffled; when she was sure to be able to control her emotions, she slowly pressed her hands against Jon's chest, making him understand he could let her go. He loosened his grip, but his arms remained to encircle her waist, protectively and possessively. Lydia slowly raised her face, until she was able to lock her eyes with Dean Ambrose's cold and furious ones which, in the dark of the night, seemed to shine of a violent and scary light.
He told her he wasn't mad, but his expression told a completely different story.
She couldn't say anything, because Dean's gaze shifted from Lydia's full of tears ones to her cheek; she felt her guts twisting when she realized what he was staring at so intensively: if she hadn't received a violent smack briefly before, Lydia would have thought the sting she was feeling on her cheek was just an effect of those eyes, now even more full of anger.
«What happened?» Jon whispered and his calm and unstressed tone scared her: she would have almost preferred if he had yelled those words, because his sudden calmness was a thousand times more terrifying and made him even more dangerous.
Lydia instinctively lowered her gaze, as a shiver shook her shoulder. She raised one hand to cover her cheek, as if she wanted to hide the bad bruise which was quickly darkening under her right eye… as if he hadn't already seen it.
«N-nothing, i-it's nothing…» she murmured «I'm here, now. I'm with you, its okay.»
Her words were words thrown into the wind, because Dean seemed not to have even heard her.
Continuing to hold her firmly nailed against himself with one arm, Jon raised the other arm and delicately grabbed her wrist.
«Let me see.» he demanded.
Lydia trembled and shook her head, without removing her hand.
«No, n-no Dean, it's okay. Let's go home, please.»
«Let me see, Lydia.» he repeated sternly, as if she hadn't even spoken; applying just a little strength, but being careful not to hurt her in any way, he forced her to lower her hand.
A bad, red bruise was quickly appearing on her cheek and soon it would have turned black against her pale and delicate skin. Jon stared at it for a few moments and his silence was scary. He slowly raised one hand and his cold fingertips lightly brushed against the bruise, giving her a sense of relief.
«Dean… please, say something…»
«Did he do this to ya?»
«Dean…»
«He hit ya?»
«Jon…»
«Answer my question, Lydia. Did he it ya?» he insisted, his voice became angrier and angrier at each question.
Lydia swallowed «Why do you ask me questions you already know the answers to…?» she whispered.
«I'm gonna kill him.»
Lydia widened her eyes and snap-raised her head, resting both her hands on his chest to try to stop him.
«Dean! Dean, don't!» she begged, panic in her voice «He's not worth it, really! Let's come back home!»
«Where is he?» again that calm and dangerous voice.
«Let's go away!» Lydia persisted, without answering to his question.
Dean had his gaze on an indefinite point behind her and he wasn't looking at her: his eyes were blind and scary, his face calm, inexpressive and terribly incomprehensible.
«Ya trust me, Lydia?» he suddenly whispered, out of the blue, his voice distant.
Lydia frowned, caught off guard by that question.
«Why do you ask that right now?» she murmured back, confused and agitated.
«Answer my question. Ya trust me?» he repeated, never looking down at her.
«Yes.» she answered steadfastly «Yes, I trust you. But wh-»
He didn't let her finish «Tell me where he is, then.» he calmly ordered.
«Dean…»
«Lydia. Tell. Me. Where. He. Is.»
Lydia trembled and a weak sigh left her lips; Jon tightened her more to himself.
«I… I don't know. I left… I left him in that dark alley…»
«Thanks.» Jon brushed his lips against her forehead in a quick kiss and loosened his grip on her waist «Now, ya go back inside to Colby and Joe, understand? And ya remain glued to them.»
Lydia widened her eyes «What?! No! Dean, come back inside with me! Don't go, don't…!»
Jon leaned forward and hushed her simply pressing his lips on hers, with a rough and dominant kiss; he pulled away almost immediately, but he remained few inches away from her face, which he cupped in his hands, being careful not to touch the red part on her cheek, and he rested his forehead against hers. His blue eyes shone of a light which was contemporaneously sinister and reassuring.
«Trust me, little fighter. Everything is gonna be okay.» he murmured.
Then, he pulled away, touched her face with a last, painful caress and passed her by, but Lydia didn't give up and followed him, standing still in front of him and stopping him.
«Dean, don't! Don't go!» she insisted, pressing both her hands on his chest.
Jon stared at her blankly, sighed and ran one hand through his hair; then he grabbed her by both her wrists and kept her hands firm against his hard chest.
«What did I told ya, Lydia? Go back inside.»
She shook her head.
«No. I'm not letting you go to Callum, not alone. Not in this condition. You'll really end up killing him, and I…»
Dean raised a brow and then a smirk curved his perfect lips, making her tremble.
«When I say something, I expect ya to do it, Sunshine. I don't like to repeat myself. Go. Back. Inside.» he was starting to get mad at her, too, but Lydia knew she couldn't give up, so she stubbornly remained in front of him, who was still holding her by the wrists.
«You… you don't have to go to him… I taught him a lesson myself!» Lydia decided to pull out her last card. To that statement, Dean finally lowered his gaze to look at her: his skepticism, mixed to a singular amusement, was well impressed in the raised brow he addressed her with.
«Ya what?»
Lydia was relieved to have been able to momentarily catch his attention and divert him from his target.
«I… I hit him. Three times, actually. Well, twice, if truth be told… he was able to block my hook, but he hadn't been able to avoid a knee right into the nuts. I left him there,… he will never see me again, he will never have the chance to put his hands on me ever again, it's over now.»
Dean's expression had changed so quickly and so many times that, in a completely different situation, Lydia would have chuckled: she loved Dean Ambrose's expressions. He would pass from having a purely skeptical expression, to astonishment, then to a subtle amusement which had curved his lips. Though, anger had never left his eyes and it kept to harden his jaw, Lydia came closer to him once again and buried her face against his chest, forcing him to let her wrists go to encircle again her waist and tightened her to himself.
«I'm here with you, now, Jon.» she repeated «Let's go back home…»
Lydia felt Dean's chest inflating under her, as he took a deep breath, maybe to try and calm himself down. He remained quiet for a while and Lydia hoped he had finally decided to listen to her, but, instead, he raised one hand and he slowly stroke her hair.
«I can't, Lydia. I really can't. He hurt ya. And, this time, I'm not gonna let him get away without paying for everything he did to ya.» he whispered «Sorry.»
Lydia snap-raised her head and she pressed again her hands on his chest. She looked at him from below with pleading eyes.
«Don't go, please…»
Dean didn't move, but his expression became suddenly stern and then, really, mean. He wasn't looking at her anymore, his icy eyes were now fixed beyond her shoulders.
«So, this is your new little slave, Lys? That's why you don't need me anymore?» Callum's voice reached her like a stab in the back.
Lydia widened her eyes and spun around: Callum was right there, behind them. He had one hand still pressed on his down below, but he seemed to have recovered.
Instinctively, Dean tightened her more to himself, then he pushed her to one side, standing in front of her and making his body act like a shield. Lydia clung to his arm, as if she wanted to stop him. She could feel every, single vein standing out in an almost violent way under his skin; it was almost like she could feel the rage flowing inside them.
«Go away, Callum.» Lydia hissed, trying to hold Jon, whose eyes were now so dark and threatening that it seemed there was an ice storm in his blue irises.
«Oh, I don't think so, sweetie bitchy.» Callum sniggered «You hurt me before, you know? After everything I did for you, this is how you thank me? You're nothing more than a cunt, a disgusting who-»
«Another word…» Dean took a step toward him and Lydia tightened more the grip around his arm, even if she perfectly knew that, if he would have wanted to jerk forward and pitch into Callum, she couldn't do anything to stop him.
«Dean, no!»
«…and I swear to God ya won't have a tongue to speak with any longer.» Jon ignored her, ice in his voice «And ya wanna know why? Because after I've put my hands on ya, and believe me, it will happen in less than a minute…» Lydia shivered and powerfully shook her head «Your tongue won't be in your mouth anymore. It will be in the empty hole where once there was your eye, which I would have pulled out with my own fingers.»
Callum burst out laughing, but Lydia, who knew him, had glimpsed a hint of fright crossing his gaze.
«And what are you waiting for, an invitation?» Call provoked him, stretching his arms «If it's that tiny thing holding you, I have nothing to be worried about.»
«Callum, go away! You have done enough!» Lydia insisted, starting to fear for the worst, especially when Dean, instead of lashing back, smiled.
It wasn't his beautiful smile, the one she was quickly falling in love with. It was his sick smile, the one which made him look like a fucking psycho on the road to pure madness.
«Oh, I don't think so… if I would have done enough, your cunt wouldn't be here anymore, by now.» Callum answered, addressing her with a very mean glance, which made her shake.
«Lydia, go back inside.» Dean ordered, pushing her behind himself and taking a step toward Callum with a terrifying look in his eyes.
«No, I'm not leaving you!»
«It won't take long, trust me.»
Lydia continued to hold him by an arm with all the strength she had.
«No, Dean: please, please, don't. Let it go, don't let him provoke you!» she begged him.
Callum's laugh was chilling and completely out of place and Lydia felt Dean's arm growing bigger and lightly trembling under her fingers.
«Yeah, Dean, let it go.» he taunted him «In the end, she's not worth it. It's not worth to start a fight over a useless cunt like her. Truth be told, she wasn't even able to suck my cock-» Callum couldn't finish the sentence.
Dean Ambrose had jerked forward, easily backing out of Lydia's grip, and had hit him with a so violent and ferocious punch it was a true miracle Callum's nose hadn't turned up directly into his nape.
«DEAN!» Lydia's terrified scream filled the silence, as she observed the scene with wide-eyes, both her hands pressed over her mouth.
Callum, for the backlash, had fallen to the ground and he was now pressing one hand to his nose: sure enough, it was broken, just like his lip and maybe even some tooth. His pale face was already covered in blood.
And it had been enough just one single punch from Dean to reduce him this way!
«You, son of a bitch….» Callum wheezed, trying to return to his feet.
«Told ya so.» Dean said calmly «Try and repeat that again, now: what's Lydia? I didn't quite understand.» he squatted in front of him, scrutinizing him with a psycho glance of his wide opened eyes.
«I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna kill you both! You and that dirty slut!» Callum hissed, trying to hit Dean with a hook, but he was still too much dazed because of the punch, so his fist crashed in the air, making the wrestler laughing.
«Wrong answer.» Dean answered, grabbing him by the hair and forcing him to look at him in the eyes «I'm the one who's gonna kill ya, now, for everything ya have done to her.» holding the grip on his hair, he threw Callum to the ground, making his head pound against the pavement; then, he started to hit him with a series of punch to the face.
«Ya.»
Punch.
«Won't.»
Punch.
«Touch.»
Punch.
«Her.»
Punch.
«Ever.»
Punch.
«Again.»
«DEAN! Stop it, please! You're gonna kill him! Stop!» Lydia screamed, the tears had started to run down her cheeks; she wasn't certainly feeling sorry about Callum: after everything he did to her, he deserved this and even more, but she was afraid of the entire situation and she was scared by the fact that Dean was completely losing his mind.
She was afraid she couldn't stop him.
She reached him and grabbed him by an arm with all the strength she had.
«Hadn't I told ya to go back inside, Lydia? Why in the fuckin' hell ya never listen to what I fucking say to ya?» Dean hissed with shortness of breath, glaring at her «If ya stay here, ya'll end up hurting yourself. Go away.»
Lydia shook her head and was able to insert herself in between Callum and Dean who, even if he was staring at her with a frightful rage, let Callum's hair go. Call curled up to himself, rattling. Lydia stared at Dean from below, enormous eyes, pale face, shining tears on her red cheeks.
«That's enough, Dean. Please. Let's go away together… you avenged, you avenged me. He will never ever touch me again.Never again.»
«Yeah, because when he will be dead he will not have a chance to.» Jon answered, his mortally stern tone made her tremble.
«No. No, no, no…» Lydia raised both her hand and rested them on his biceps, which, under her thin fingers, seemed now to be more stretched and hard than ever «You don't have to do it, Jon. He's not worth it. Please, please… let's go back home. Take me home.» she had whispered those last words against his chest, because, despite the cold and scary glance he was giving to her, Lydia had found the courage to cling to him and make him realize she was there, she was safe.
And she wouldn't allow him to become a killer.
Jon remained silent for what seemed like centuries and centuries, but, in the end, his strong arms wrapped around her waist and he got up, dragging her along. Lydia slowly raised her face, until her eyes could lock with Dean Ambrose's ones, which were still blinded by anger and hate; but, they softened a bit when they locked with hers. He raised one hand and lightly touched her cheek, then he blinked and, without saying a single word, he just nodded.
«Thank you…» Lydia whispered «Let's go.»
She started to push him away, before he could have another temper tantrum and threw himself again on Callum.
She thought they were finally out of danger, that it was finally over, but what she hadn't considered was that Callum seemed to want not to give up.
«Not… not so fast…» That death rattle made her blood freeze in her vein «I already told you, you little cunt, if I can't have you back… NO ONE WILL HAVE YOU!»
Dean Ambrose widened his eyes and Lydia spun around: Callum, finding the strength who knows where inside himself, was able to return on his feet and was brandishing a shining knife in his right hand.
The scene lasted less than thirty seconds, but Lydia lived in slow-motion. Callum shot toward them, capitalizing on his last strength, and tried to hit Lydia with a stab right into her hip, but Dean was quicker and pushed her aside, removing her from its trajectory; as Lydia ungracefully fell on the ground, Callum continued his motion and the blade inserted itself in the left hip of Dean Ambrose, who growled in pain.
The rest happened so fast Lydia couldn't understand how everything had been possible.
Someone shouted – and just then Lydia realized it was Roman Reigns.
He and Seth Rollins came out from nowhere, but their intervention was more heaven-sent than a manna from heaven.
Roman ran toward Dean and Callum and, as the first one pushed away the second one, being able also to remove the blade from his flesh, Roman Reigns hit Callum with a devastating Spear, which definitely knock him out.
Dean crumpled on one knee, pressing his hand on the wound, which was already bleeding.
«Oh my God…» Lydia whispered, her eyes widened, her heart which beat so fast to make her completely deaf.
It was all her fault.
She wanted to get up, but she found out she had twisted her ankle in the falling and she couldn't move. When someone firmly grabbed her by the shoulders, Lydia screamed and squirmed.
«NO! NO! LET ME GO! DON'T TOUCH ME!»
Who had grabbed her, trailed her toward himself effortlessly and Lydia found herself tightened between a pair of strong arms and a warm chest. The scent of vanilla and chocolate, even if mixed up with sweat and smoke, was definitely familiar.
«Shhh… it's okay, Lydia. It's me. It's Seth, calm down, sweetheart.»
Lydia opened again her eyes and stopped to flail, snap-raising her face: it was him.
«Seth…» she whined, with feeble voice, strongly tightening her trembling fingers on his amplified biceps «Dean! He…»
«He's back there with Roman. He's fine, relax.»
«No! He… he's wounded! C-Callum had… I need to go to him…» she was about to get up again, but her ankle gave her a terrible shock, which didn't allow her to move «Dammit!»
«Lydia, what's wrong?» Seth answered anxious, sustaining her, even if they both were still on the floor.
«The… the ankle… I think…. I think it's broken… I…. I can't….»
Before she could even finish the sentence, Seth had picked her up bridal-style, getting up and tightening her strongly to himself.
«I got you.»
Lydia clung to his shoulders, but then she spun her head around, immediately going to search for Dean, who was now standing on his feet again: he was so mad his figure seemed enormous, in the darkness; his shoulders were shaking and his arms, in the dim light of a lamppost, seemed to be the quadruple than how they normally were; he was breathing in stops and starts and his chest raised and lowered very quickly. Roman was telling something to him, but from where she was, Lydia couldn't hear what. Then, when Roman rested one hand on his shoulder and Dean violently pushed him away, to slowly and heavily walk closer to Callum's body, who, after the Spear, was groveled against a wall and had collapsed there, unarmed, Lydia understood she had to do something.
Dean Ambrose was totally out of control.
Lydia flailed in Seth Rollins' grip.
«No, Lydia, don't move, you…» Colby tried to protest, but she continued to wriggle.
«Put me down, Seth, I have to go to him… I have to stop him…»
«But you're hurt, Lydia!»
«I don't care: PUT ME DOWN!»
Disgruntled, Seth came as close as he could to Dean, then he delicately put her down, sustaining her until she literally threw herself toward Dean. Her ankle hurt really bad, but she didn't care in that moment.
She had to stop him or Dean would have killed Callum, she was sure about it.
"Cause if I see his fuckin' face, I'm sure I'm gonna kill him."
Lydia limped toward Dean Ambrose, who was closer and closer to Callum's lifeless body.
"I wouldn't let you do that… I'd stop you."
Her sight was blurred by tears, the dark outline of the alley disappeared into misshapen shades.
"Ya'll turn me into a killer, Lydia."
Dean stopped in front of Callum, the anger which shook him from head to toes, a red blot on his white shirt.
"I would never let it happen. Everything is going to be okay, Jon… trust me."
Dean was about to attack and finish that motherfucker, but, with one last effort, Lydia threw himself toward him.
«JON!» she yelled his name and Dean stopped, like someone had suddenly hit him. He turned around just in time to see Lydia crumbling dead-weight toward him: everything else was waived; Dean jerked forward and grabbed her before she could fall to the ground. Lydia clung to his arms and held tight to him, sobbing and crying against his chest.
«Please, please… stop, stop… stop… don't… I don't want you to turn yourself into a killer, I don't want… you… you deserve better than this… please…» she confusingly whispered, tightening to him with all her strength, as if she wanted to block him.
Jon remained silent: it was in a trance of ire and hate so intense that he still wondered how in the fucking hell could he stop himself. He wanted to kill Callum, to tear all his teeth off and break every, single bone. It would have been a unique satisfaction to hear the crack of every single part of his skeleton breaking under the violent punch-up he was intentioned to give him. He believed nothing could have stopped him until he would have seen rivers of blood flowing on the asphalt and his own nails dirty of the flesh he would have brutally ripped him off.
Roman Reigns had tried to make him reason, to tell him that was enough, that Callum would have never again lay one, single finger on Lydia, because he and Seth had called the police, to have him arrested. But jail would have been too little for him.
Callum had tried to take Lydia away from Dean, he had beat her up… he had tried to kill her.
No, that disgusting, sleazy son of a fucking bitch deserved to die, for what he had done to her.
Only then justice would be done.
So, Dean had pushed Roman away, fully intending to personally take the life away from he who had ruined Lydia's one… but then, her voice had screamed his name and it had been just like a breath of fresh air after a long imprisonment under water.
She had been able to stop him.
Jon couldn't explain how or why, but as soon as he had heard her voice and had seen her running toward him, he had felt himself being depleted of every sensation and thought.
And the only thing which had mattered had been her.
Only her.
«Please… please…» Lydia continued to whisper.
Dean tightened her against himself and pushed her face against his chest, one hand pressed behind her head.
«That's enough, Lydia.» he said sternly.
She raised her face and looked at him: Jon had a distant and unfathomable expression.
«I'm sorry…. I'm so sorry, Jon… It's all my fault, I shouldn't have asked you… I shouldn't…»
«Don't, Lydia. Do not say another word. It's okay. Ya okay. Ya here with me. No-one else is gonna hurt ya again. No-one.» Jon whispered, slowly caressing her face with lost gaze, as if he wasn't able to focus on her «We're going home, I promise. But stop crying.» now his tone had softened.
Lydia frantically nodded and Dean got up, delicately grabbing her by the elbows and pulling her up. She leaned against him, who wrapped her waist with one arm. Her hand, almost accidentally, brushed against his bloody shirt and she felt his palm get wet.
«You're wounded, we should take you to the hospital…. We shou-»
«I'm fine.» he sternly interrupted her «Let's go home.» he repeated, as if he wanted her to understand he couldn't hold his anger much longer.
«Wait… wait a moment.» Dean looked at her puzzled, the ire still latent in his blue eyes «There's one last thing I need to do…»
«No. We're going home. Now.» he said harshly, tightening more the arm around her waist.
Lydia rested one hand on his chest.
«It will take just a second, please.»
«Ya should stop begging me, I'm not a God.» Dean loosened his grip, glaring at her, gingerly and furiously.
«Be right back, promise. Wait me here.»
As Seth and Roman flanked Dean with puzzled expression, Lydia crouched next to Callum and shook him.
«Callum? Callum, are you still alive?»
Callum opened one swollen eye and on his bleeding face appeared a tired grin.
«I just hope you'll have what you deserve, you little cunt. That's it.» he spitted with cruelty «They had warned me… COUGH!» Callum hacked, spitting other blood «…that everyone around you dies. You're damned, Lydia… fucking damned…»
Lydia widened her eyes and tightened her hand into a trembling fist, as new tears starting to shoal into her eyes; she swallowed a big lump, while Callum closed his eyes and his head milled toward a shoulder.
No. He couldn't pass out. He had to answer to one question, just one question. She needed to know.
Lydia shook him again.
«Callum? Callum! What's happened to my parents?!» she asked, an hint of desperation in her voice «What's happened to my parents?» she violently shook him, but he didn't reopen his eyes «CALLUM! WHAT'S HAPPENED TO MY PARENTS?! CALLUM! CALLUM!»
She started to hit him with weak slaps on the chest, until someone lifted her up and took her in his arms, tightening her to his chest.
«YOU HAVE TO TELL ME! YOU MUST TELL ME!» Lydia kept screaming; the tears had now completely overflowed her face, the sobs shook her from head to toes.
«Shhh… calm down, Lydia. It's over now. It's over. I'm here with ya, ya don't need to worry 'bout anything, I promise. I'll take care of ya, from now on.» Dean Ambrose's voice was a soft and distant whisper, which made her just understand he was the one who picked her up.
Lydia burst out into a long, desperate crying, encircling his neck with her arms and hiding her face against his shoulder.
«Better go. Police's coming.» Roman's voice was likewise distant.
«Wait, I found…» even Seth's one was nothing more than an incomprehensible slur to her ears.
And, as the sound of sirens filled the night, they quickly walked away from the local.
Jon, despite his wound, despite his anger, never let Lydia go and kept her tightened to himself as if she was the most important and most precious thing he had ever had in his entire life.
In that very moment, as they were coming back home, Jon realized he would have never let her go.
Lydia was his, now.
He would have protected her and no-one would have ever hurt her.
No-one would have ever take her away from him.
Never again.
So...? (:
PS. Can we talk about the "new" Dean? My ovaries explode everytime he's one the screen. Dean + white, tight tank top + leather jacket + jeans + violence = pure Jon Moxley style. I'm in love with that man, seriously and tremendously. (Sorry, sometimes my fangirlish side take the upper hand LOL)