Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the WWE or its superstars. The only thing I own is my original character. This is a complete work of fiction.
Fanning the Flames
Chapter 29
Raven
First thing in the morning, a pounding rang out on the door. I groaned. I wasn't exactly sure what time it was but I knew it was too early for me to be functional. Dean and I's all night binge drink fest hadn't left us with much time to sleep.
"Rise and shine, Kids!"I heard Roman call out with a no nonsense tone in his voice.
"Nooooo," I whined, rolling over to bury my face in a pillow.
"Dean?" he asked.
"Fuck off!" he mumbled. I heard the adjoining door open. Light beamed through the threshold and into our room making both of us groan on displeasure.
"Jesus what happened in here?" Seth gasped. "It's a god damn mess in here!"
"I almost don't even want to know what went on," Roman whispered back.
"Fair enough. Guys! We gotta hit the gym!" he chirped enthusiastically. Seth was a morning person. No matter how little sleep he got he still seemed so energetic. Even on a good day, I was nowhere near Seth on the morning enthusiasm spectrum.
"Go without us!" I grumbled.
"We aren't going without you guys. We are a team. We work out together!" he said loudly. Each word pierced through my skull with a throbbing pain.
"Shhhhh! You are so loud, Romey!"I groaned.
"Seriously, dude!" Dean agreed from his bed.
"I'm going to shout until you two are up and moving!" Seth threatened, seizing an opportunity to exploit our hangovers. "GET. OUT. OF. BED. NOW!"
"I'm up, I'm up!" I said quickly as I slowly sat up.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Rave, but you look awful," Seth said softly.
"I feel awful!" I opened my eyes to look around at the room. Dean and our were in our respective beds, fully clothed with last nights damp clothing. Food wrappers, cups, and the empty tequila bottle were strewn across the floor.
"What the hell did you do last night?!"he asked. Dean began to laugh.
"We had some damn fun! That's what!"
"And what is that supposed to mean?!" Seth snapped.
"You wouldn't know anything about fun! Not anymore!" he teased.
"Don't listen to him, Seth," Roman mumbled, trying not to laugh. He handed Dean and I both some aspirin.
"I'm not. I'm just not some college aged frat boy!"
"He's not a frat boy!" I snapped. "I doubt a frat would even let Dean in!"Ambrose smiled and flipped me off. I pretended to catch it and pantimimed placing it in my imaginary pocket.
"I'm just glad I found a worthy partner in crime! You two have been incredibly lame lately," he said glumlylooking at the tag champs seriously.
"Right. Why concentrate on being athletes when we can binge drink and party!"Seth snapped.
"I don't know, it was pretty fun!" I chimed in. Seth glared at me.
"You feel like crap today and yet you still think these shenanigans are fine?"
"It was worth it! We are all here in the WWE living out our dreams. But what fun is all of this if we can't stop enjoy it once in awhile?"
"I guess we just disagree about this," he said coolly.
"I guess so."
"Can we all get a damn move on! We've got to hit the gym!" Roman said again, growing a bit irritated with the delay.
"Fine, let's go," I groaned.
"Get ready! We're leaving in ten!" Roman instructed as he closed the adjoining door.
"Guess we better get moving!"
"Yeah, wouldn't want Seth to lose his shit again!" he remarked with agitation.
"He just gets a little worked up sometimes."
"Thanks for backing me up with him," Dean said seriously. " I know you didn't have to."
"You're welcome. He shouldn't be on your case about stuff like that unless it effects your work. Thought you could use a little back up, besides, I like to party a little here and there too. I would have felt wrong to not chime in. Why should you be the only one getting reprimanded when we both did it? I know how to kick back and party."
"Oh, I remember you out dancing with Kaitlyn and Layla."
"It was quite a night."
"I know. I gave you a screaming orgasm!" He said cheekily referring to the drink he'd purchased me.
"I recall, perv!" I giggled hitting him in the arm. " Now go get dressed or I'm calling in the Samoan for reinforcements!"
"Alright, 't get those lace undies of yours in a bunch!" I was never going to live down stripping down to my skivves in front of Dean Ambrose.
We quickly got ready and we drug our sorry asses to the gym...hangovers and all.
"Hey Dean, will you hand us some of those weight lifting belts?" I asked sweetly.
"Sure thing." He turned to grab a few off of the hook behind him. He handed Seth a blue, Roman a green one, and then smiled at me. "Raven gets the red one."
"Why does she get the red one?" Seth asked confused. My eyes widened in shock.
"Because it perfectly matches her thong!"he announced amused. I felt my cheeks flush with red.
"How do you know what color her underwear are?"Seth asked a bit peeved.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it..."he said cryptically as he walked away. Seth snapped his head my direction. I shrugged.
"Let's get lifting!" I suggested, trying to get his attention off of Dean and my underwear. He nodded and followed me over to a weight bench.
We probably lifted for ten minutes before Seth wanted a water break.
"So uh...you and Dean seemed real chummy this morning."
"We're just getting along. No big deal," I insisted.
"Please tell me you didn't sleep with him last night."
"I didn't sleep with him!"I promised. He looked at me skeptically. "Seriously! I didn't!"
"How does he know about your underwear!?"
"Dude, we were sharing a room. He accidentaly caught a glimpse!" I fibbed. I wasn't even sure why I lied. Maybe it was because I thought the lie sounded better than volunarily stripping in front of Dean to hot tub.
"I guess that makes sense...just do yourself a favor and don't go down that road with him."
"Why?"
"Because Dean is Dean! He is selfish and doesn't take anything seriously!"
"Thanks for the concern, Seth. But I don't sleep with my teams. That's my personal policy," I said coolly before walking away from him.
We arrived back at the hotel after a day full of media events. We were all a bit tired but I figured that now was as good of a time as any to talk to all of the boys together about my little meeting with Stephanie and Hunter. I paced in Seth and Roman's room.
"Hey guys? Can I talk to you guys for a minute? It's kind of important."
"Sure, Rave," Seth said sitting down on the edge of the bed. Dean and Roman both took a seat as well. I had their full attention.
"You aren't pregnant are ya?" Dean teased. I dropped my jaw.
"No, you asshole!"I giggled.
"Dean, will you let her talk?" Seth snapped. I took a deep breath.
"I'm sure you all have noticed that I've been a little distracted the last few days..."
"Yeah..." Seth said nervously.
"I wanted to talk to you about what has been going on. So here it goes! Monday night, I had a pretty important meeting. I feel like I should talk to you about what transpired. It's only fair for me to disclose it to my team."
"Oh my god! You're leaving us for another team, aren't you?" The two tone haired superstar asked with panic in his voice.
"No, nothing like that! I'm not going anywhere!" I promised.
"Good!" Seth chirped with relief. "We were all just beginning to really gel as a team. I'd hate for it to be ending."
"Who was this meeting with exactly?" Roman asked curiously, with one of his masculine eyebrows raised.
"It was actually with Stephanie and Hunter."
"Wow. That really does seem like a big deal. What did they want?"
"Did they come to you or did you go to them?" Dean asked before I could answer Roman. I sighed and fidgeted with a strand of my hair nervously.
"First of all, they approached me. They asked me to come by Stephanie's office on Monday during the show. I had no idea what it was about. Honestly, I thought I was getting in trouble or something. When I got there instead of being reprimanded, they actually had a bit of a business proposal for all four of us."
"Then why didn't they invite us to this little meeting?" Ambrose fired off again. He was really not thrilled about this and wasn't even trying to hide it.
"They assumed that I was making the decisions for the team like I often did in my other teams. I told them that this wasn't the case, that I needed to bring this decision to the group before I could give them an answer."
"On Thursday...when you found out about it Monday..."
"Look Dean, I was thinking about where my head was at with the decision first. Now, I'm bringing it to a group decision."
"Fair enough. What's the proposition?"
"Stephanie and Hunter wanted to know if we wanted to join forces with them. They aren't happy with the overall way that the company is operating right now. They want to change it. They think we are one of the bright spots in the company and that is why they are interested in us in the first place. They need some hot, young, muscle and they want us to be it. You three are champions. They have a guy they want to push for the big gold. They are hand picking champions!"
"So they want some fucking corporate stooges?" he snapped.
"Don't think of it like that! This could be a huge opportunity for all of us!" Seth said scolding Dean's reluctance.
"What is in this situation for us then? We would be doing their dirty work. I'd at least like to know what it's all for!"
"Obviously they are interested in keeping you champions and therefore want you to win. They are willing to give you leniency, easier matches, let us pick opponents sometimes, prime time slots on the card...the list goes on. It's just a matter of whether we want to do their dirty work. I thought about it and I would support you guys either way."
"Do you think this is a good idea?" Roman asked softly. He was the newest in the wrestling business and seemed a little unsure.
"Honestly, yeah. I mean, it will open up a lot of opportunities. Also if we say no we may go from the top of the list to the shit list!" I said with a giggle. " Who knows what they'd do to us."
"I think we all know what we need to do here," Seth said confidently. We all looked at him intently.
"And that is?" Roman asked.
"We join forces with them. See where it takes us." I looked at the three guys nervously.
"So do we all agree?" I asked softly, hoping for no more conflict in the matter. "We already know Seth is in. Roman?"
"I'm in."
"Okay...Dean?" He was quiet a moment, his face expressionless, giving us few clues as to what was running through his mind. He carefully ran a hand through his hair.
"I have my doubts but fuck it. If thats what you want to do, let's do it," he said firmly looking me dead in the eyes. It dawned on me that I was leading the way here for these guys. I hoped we were doing the right thing. The Shield was in a precarious position as a young stable. We hadn't exactly been making any friends with our behavior. We needed some allies, some assistance in getting to where we wanted to be, on top. Unfortunately, decisions like this would make you or break you. I hoped I wasn't sending the Shield faction to an early grave...
"Great. Glad we've got that settled. I 'll let them know what we decided," I announced unenthusiastically.
"Rave? Just out of curiousity, who exactly did the boss want to make champion?" Seth asked curiously.
"Honestly, your guess is as good as mine!"
I just want to thank you for taking the time to check out this story. It's been getting a lot of views and it means so much to me that you guys seem to be liking it so far. I have been having so much fun writing it. I hope you all will keep on reading to see what Raven gets herself into and see more of the Shield's shenanigans! Feel free to leave me some more reviews and feedback!
