Chapter 25

"I'm coming to the Slammy Awards."

"Really, bro? You sure that's a good idea?"

"Look man, I'm not missing out on being there for my fans if they announce me as Superstar of the Year." Roman had already packed up, wanting to be back on the road sooner than Sunday for the TLC pay-per-view event.

Dean smirked, knowing that was merely an excuse from his buddy to come back on the road earlier than planned. "So that means you'll be at Smackdown! too?" He stroked his chin thoughtfully, pale blues narrowed. "Are you gonna talk to Nyla?"

"Maybe. I haven't decided yet. I'm still working out the details with that shit." Truth be told, Roman hadn't stopped texting Nyla, always making sure to send her one in the morning, afternoon and several at night, all friendly. She still had no idea who it was that was texting her, which he found mildly amusing. "I don't know how she's gonna react when she discovers it's been me that's been texting her over the Thanksgiving break."

"Yeah…so am I with trying to get Macaria in-company and away from the Virago."

Currently, Macaria was taking a nap after they'd made love most of the morning. Dean had to coax her into it because of his throat, but he was perfectly fine besides having a raspy voice. There was absolutely nothing wrong with any other parts of his body, especially his dick. He did enjoy seducing her though and she had insisted they stay at his place in Vegas, since it was a little ways from the strips. About 15 minutes from the airport, which suited him perfectly, but they also didn't have to deal with the countless noise Vegas had. Her apartment was a studio and smack dab in the middle of the strip; Dean didn't know how she tolerated that and, when he asked how much she was being paid for this job with Aya, he was sickened by the small amount.

"The only one who can hire her is the Authority and you know that, man."

The Authority hated him, so that wouldn't work out or end well if he tried putting a 'good word' in for her. "I'll figure it out. I just need a little more time." Dean understood where Roman was coming from since he was in the same boat, both trying to help the women in their lives. "Listen, Maca is stirring, so I'll see you on Monday."

"See you then, bro."

Thanksgiving was spent cooking up a storm and using his kitchen for the first time. Macaria insisted on making a meal for them and had gone to the grocery store to get everything she needed while Dean rested. Even though it wasn't exactly ON Thanksgiving she made the turkey dinner, Dean didn't care it was a day later. A lot of people didn't have Thanksgiving ON the holiday these days. He watched her in the doorway of his kitchen in her cute cotton shorts and tank top, her hair piled up on top of her head to keep it out of the food. Dean had to admit, he enjoyed having her here and she looked delicious in his kitchen, cooking for him.

Honestly, Dean had lived in shabby apartments like she currently did, knowing the exact building she had described to him. It was on the bad side of the city and he didn't like that; it wasn't safe and secure like his house. He was coming to the realization this wasn't just sex between them, and it had never been. It wasn't just having a good time and fun on the road…what he had with Macaria went deeper than he could've imagined. It was way too soon to ask her to move in with him, but…that didn't mean he couldn't bring her here on their days off. Maybe she would start leaving stuff here too and eventually, they'd discuss her moving in.

"Smells good, babe." He rasped out, now standing behind her with his hands caressing her sides and watched her cut up vegetables. "You know, I'm not a very domesticated person, but I could get used to this…"

"I'm sure you could," Macaria remarked with a chuckle, finishing the carrots and then set the knife down to turn to look up into his pale blues. "You should be relaxing…"

"Yeah – yeah, I know." Dean rolled his eyes, wishing she wouldn't worry so much about him and softly kissed her. "I can't let you do this all alone. Give me something to do to help out…" Football was on, but the Cincinnati Bengals weren't playing, so he didn't feel like watching.

Sighing resignedly, Macaria reached over to grab the russet potatoes and handed them over, along with a peeler. "Get to work then, Deano." She patted his cheek gently before turning to continue cutting up vegetables.

Dean loved it when she used that nickname for him and chuckled, kissing the side of her bare neck. "Yes, my queen." He even bowed mockingly at her and sat down at the kitchen table with the garbage can in front of him, peeling the potatoes.

"Ugh, don't call me that."

"Princess?"

"No, just stick with babe or darlin'. I'm fine with those."

"All right, darlin'." Dean clicked his tongue with a smirk and continued on his task. "Roman called me this morning. And he's making his return on Raw instead of at the pay-per-view."

That made her stop cutting as Macaria's head turned to look at Dean. "Why would he do that?"

"He said he wants to be there in case he wins the Superstar of the Year, but I know that's a coverup. This is about Nyla. He wants to get her away from the Authority and thinks, if he's around, they won't fuck with her nearly as much as they have been." Seth did everything in his power to avoid a fight with Roman ever since he betrayed his brothers and took a steel chair to their backs.

"Yeah…he's been texting her nonstop since you gave him her number, right?"

"Yeah." Dean nodded, glad Macaria hadn't been upset with him for getting into her phone to find it for his friend.

If anything, she was relieved because she had planned on giving it to Roman once he returned to the road. Dean had simply beat her to the punch. It just made him fall for Macaria harder since they seemed to always be on the same page. Besides accusing her of sleeping with him for her job – Dean had more than made up for that mistake and Macaria could only hope they stayed on the right track with each other. It also scared her because of how intense her feelings for him developed. What would happen once this article was over with and she was stuck in Vegas while he was on the road constantly? She didn't see a relationship building between them, how could it when they would barely see each other? Dean was on the road 300+ days out of the year and he only got these 5 day stretches a couple times a year, other than that he lived on the road.

Macaria decided to simply enjoy her time with Dean for as long as it would last, not wanting to think about the unknown future.

"You know Ambrose is fucking your photographer, right?"

Aya rose her head up from Seth's chest to look into his dark eyes. "I know they're sharing rooms together, but I don't think she would defy my wishes. And even if she is, who cares? She can have him. I have you."

That didn't sit well with Seth, especially after the encounter with Macaria in catering. He couldn't get it out of his head how she had talked down to him and embarrassed him in front of several coworkers. Someone who didn't even work for the company made him look like a joke! He had taken his frustration and aggression out on Aya's willing body, after flying her home with him to Davenport, Iowa. She complained about how plain it was, all the cornfields and kept bragging about her home in Las Vegas. How interesting Ambrose's journalist lived in the exact same city as him – Seth didn't know if that was coincidence or not.

"So it doesn't bother you she defied you? She's your employee, right? Shouldn't you reprimand her or fire her?"

Aya was chomping at the bit to let that little bitch go, but she couldn't until after the article was finished. Being blackmailed did not feel good at all and Aya didn't like being powerless against her own employee. "Wish I could, but the article is already halfway done and it'd be a pain in the ass to find a different photographer. I hate admitting it, but…she knows what she's doing behind the camera. The pictures she's taken are truly spectacular…" She sighed, laying her head back on his chest and felt Seth's fingers glide through her platinum blonde tresses.

"Spectacular, huh?" The gears in Seth's head began turning and, after Aya was fast asleep, he slid from the bed to make an important phone call. "Hey Steph, I wanna talk to you about something…"

When Monday rolled around, Dean hadn't been lying and planned on sending a clear message to Bray Wyatt for their match at TLC. It was weird how they stopped at the local hospital and he'd asked Macaria to wait in the car while he made arrangements. She had no idea what he had planned, but whatever it was, Bray Wyatt wouldn't see it coming. He sauntered out of the hospital about 20 minutes later and they were on their way to the arena, not speaking about why he had to stop at the hospital. Pulling into a parking spot, Dean cut the ignition and stepped out, shades covering his eyes against the sun. It would be gone in another hour, thanks to daylight savings time.

"Hey, Ambrose!"

Grinning at that deep voice, Dean knew exactly who it was and greeted his best friend with a warm embrace. "Welcome back, big dog." He stood just an inch taller than Roman, but to the untrained eye, they looked to be the same height. "Glad you finally made it back to go to war with me."

"Yeah, good to be back, man." Roman had been going stir crazy at home while recovering from his surgery. "Stomach's all healed up and I already went through the testing with the doctors. I'm cleared."

"You gonna be on the show at all tonight?"

"Probably not. Stephanie saw me in the hallway and immediately went in the opposite direction." Roman chuckled ruefully, tempted to wrap his hands around the blackmailing bitch's throat and throttle her until she turned blue. "Mind sharing a dressing room with me tonight?"

"Not at all, bro." Dean had missed his traveling buddy and finally turned to where Macaria stood, her camera already out. "Woman…"

"Come on, it'll look great for the article to take a picture with your best friend and in-ring comrade." Macaria gestured with her hand for them to get closer together and Dean obliged her, though he stuck his tongue out at the last second. "That's still a decent picture. Hi, I'm Macaria, but most call me Maca or Caria. No Mac, please."

"Wasn't gonna call you a computer, honey." Roman assured her, shaking her hand with a smile and could tell Dean had a thing for the photographer. There was definite chemistry between them and he hoped Dean found a way to get her a job with WWE or else, come WrestleMania, he would be miserable. "Nice to put a name with a face, finally."

"All right, Fabio, let's get inside and settled in. I have a message to send to Wyatt tonight and I need to prepare for it, go over it with some stagehands." Dean rubbed his hands together, watching Roman's thick black brow rise and proceeded to quietly explain what he had in mind.

Roman had to admit, that was slick and it would definitely stick in Bray Wyatt's crawl. Macaria overheard it as well, following them inside and shook her head, hoping this didn't backfire to where Dean left in another ambulance. His voice was back to normal, mostly, which was both a good and sad thing since the raspiness was sexy. Not that his voice wasn't already gritty and raspy, but it had a certain growl to it after what Bray did to him.

Unbeknownst it to the group, a pair of amber eyes watched them walk down the hallway toward Dean's dressing room. Nyla couldn't believe it. Roman Reigns was back. It'd been so long since she last saw him and she knew he was probably here for the Slammy Awards. They would be picked strictly by the WWE Universe in voting, so there was a very good chance he won at least one award. Was he healed up though? Would he be making his return soon? Nyla both hoped and dreaded it happening because that meant she'd have to start writing shoddy storylines for him again. Sighing, she continued to her office and began her work for the evening, hoping Seth and the Authority left her alone.

Just as they rounded the corner, Dean stopped alongside Roman with Macaria behind them. It was Aya and she was in tears, rushing past them with a smug Stephanie standing in the hallway. Macaria frowned, not sure why her boss was in tears, but whatever was said by Stephanie couldn't be good. She felt a ball form in the pit of her stomach, slowly turning her attention back to Stephanie through the gap between Dean and Roman's arms.

"Welcome back, Roman." Stephanie's voice dripped with disdain, not looking forward to dealing with the Samoan again.

"Thanks, Steph, good to be back." Roman didn't smile and folded his arms in front of his chest, wondering what the hell she wanted. Why was she standing just outside of Dean's dressing room?

Dean was wondering that himself. "What's up with Miss Landsbury?" He inquired, cutting right to the chase and tried to ignore the sick feeling developing in his stomach.

Stephanie's blue eyes gleamed wickedly. "I fired her."

Macaria slammed her eyes shut, her heart dropping to the pit of her stomach.

"What about the article?"

"Oh, we'll still be doing it, but with a different journalist." Stephanie informed her employee, loving the agony filling Dean's eyes. "You see, it's not very professional for freelancers to involve themselves with our wrestlers, especially the FUTURE of this company." Seth would continue his 'relationship' with Nyla and fully focus on her now that the journalist was no longer a distraction. "Which brings me to…"

"Me." Macaria finished for her, slowly looking up into the gleaming blues of Stephanie McMahon and swallowed hard. "I'm fired too, I take it?"

Dean opened his mouth to protest, but Stephanie was too quick for him. "That depends, Macaria, do you want to be fired?"

"I'm sorry?"

Stephanie smiled a little more softly and stepped up to her, forcing Dean and Roman to stand aside. "I have an offer for you, if you're interested in working for the global phenomenon our company has grown into."

Blinking, Macaria felt her jaw drop and looked at Dean, who had a skeptical expression on his face, before moving her eyes back to Stephanie. "What's the catch, Miss McMahon? I mean, I know you're not fond of Dean and Roman, and I've been working closely with Dean for the article…" Maybe the woman was just screwing with her.

Stephanie draped an arm around Macaria's shoulders, looking positively devilish and knew she had the woman right where she wanted her. "Why don't we go to my office and talk about this privately, hmm?"

"Maca…" Dean didn't like this, stopping her by grabbing her upper arm and gritted his teeth at Stephanie's arched brow. "Don't go." He hated asking it of her, but he also had a very bad feeling about this meeting.

"Dean, honestly, are you really going to ask her to turn down the offer of a lifetime with the WWE? Isn't this where YOU'VE always wanted to end up with your career?" Stephanie pointed out, not removing her arm from Macaria's shoulders and could tell this was tearing the woman apart on the inside.

Her career meant a great deal to her and, now that Aya was fired, this was her opportunity to have a dream job, to stay with Dean and travel with him. "It's okay. I'll be fine, Dean." She extricated his hand from her upper arm and walked away with Stephanie, hoping she was making the right decision by doing this.

Dean could only watch her leave with the devil and looked at Roman, who had a worried expression on his face at this sudden turn of events.

Seth watched all of this with luminous dark eyes, rubbing his hands together and walked away in the opposite direction, a wicked laughter flowing out of his mouth.