Dominos
Chapter 29
Disclaimer: I own Courtney. And none of this actually happened, it's all made up by me.
A/N: Hello loves! I appreciate the reviews from Emmettluver2010, maketimetotime, Sonib89, Chi1078, DenyingTheTruth, and my anonymous reviewer. I apologize for the delay in the update. I've come across a little writer's block, but I promise I'm pushing through. I'm also spending a decent amount of time working on my new obsession...my Dean Ambrose story Wasted. Anyways, I promise I'm not giving up on this one...I'm still gonna be working on it...it may just take a little time between updates...at least until I get through the writer's block lol I love you guys! XoXoXo
"So, how are you feeling, sweetheart?" Stu asked, as he and Courtney sat on the couch, finally alone, as Paul and Stephanie had finally left the house.
She smiled at him. "I feel relieved. I'm happy that I don't have anything to hide from you anymore. I'm just a little…or a lot…afraid that you're not gonna want this once everything that I told you finally sinks in."
Stu pulled her onto his lap, his arms around her body. "Court, I absolutely adore you. You're my entire world. And I haven't known you for very long, but I want to be with you...more than anything else. I have no doubts about it. Knowing your past doesn't change anything for me. I said that I love you, and I promise that I meant it. I want you to be all mine," he told her.
Courtney smiled. "Are you sure about that?" she asked. "I've got a lot of excuses for you to leave. I would never blame you for it," she told him.
"I'm still not going anywhere. You can give me a list of excuses to leave, but I'm serious. I'm not going anywhere. I promise you that," he told her. "I'm here. I'm staying."
"Okay." Stu pressed a kiss to her cheek. Courtney turned and straddled him.
"So, I hope you know that I also meant what I said. I love you, Stu. Very much so. You're special to me. I want you. I don't want to share you either. I just want you all to myself," she told him, her eyes locked on his.
Stu involuntarily smiled. He was all too happy to hear what she had to say. He had been crazy about her. He was in love with her. And she admitted that it was mutual. "Really?" he asked her, wanting confirmation that his ears were not deceiving him.
Courtney nodded. "Really."
"That makes me very happy."
"I know it does. And I'm sorry that I made it so difficult. But I do love you, Stu. You're the first person who has ever made me feel this way. You were there for me, even when I pushed you away. I feel safe with you."
"You should. I'll always protect you and take care of you. No matter what," Stu insisted.
"I hope so."
"I'll show you." He pulled her in for a kiss. "I hope you'll continue to let me take you out and spend time with you," he told her. "Because I really enjoy that."
"I love spending time with you. It's all I ever want to do."
"Maybe one of these days you'll allow me to call you my girlfriend."
Courtney raised an eyebrow at those words. "Oh really? Is that really what you want?" she asked, smirking.
He nodded. "Very much so."
"Well, maybe, you'll get what you want. I mean, you're pretty good looking. I doubt I could say no to you," Courtney said with a teasing grin.
"Oh really?"
She bit her lip playfully and nodded.
Stu smirked. He pushed her hair behind her ear. "I hope you know that I really will do whatever I can to help you. Anything."
"I know you will. I just don't want you to feel like you're stuck with me because I have a bunch of issues. If you want to leave, you can," she assured him.
"I know I can. But I don't want to. I want you…baggage and all. I promise you…I'm really not going anywhere."
"You're a good guy, Stu. I want you. No one else."
"Well, for you, I really do try. I just want to make you happy. That's really all I want to do," he told her.
"You're doing an amazing job. You make me really happy."
He leaned in and kissed her. "Good. I hope you know that that's not going to be changing while I'm around. And I plan on being around for a long time."
"I like the sound of that, handsome," Courtney said, pressing her forehead against his.
"How could you not tell me you had a daughter?!" Stephanie asked Paul, understandably very upset with her husband, once they had returned to their condo. They lived in Connecticut full time, but with a good amount of their business being located in Florida, they felt it would be necessary to have a residence there, too. Their three daughters were back home, being watched by their grandmother, Linda McMahon.
"I was afraid of how you'd react. I'm sorry. Besides, Courtney can barely stand me anyway," he told her.
"You still should have told me. I'm your wife. This affects me, too," she insisted. "She might not be my child, but she's my stepdaughter."
"I know. You're right. I should've told you."
"I accused that poor girl of sleeping with her father. How sick is that? Not to mention, she's been through fucking hell. Only to have me up her ass trying to figure out what she was doing here. You make me look like an asshole, Paul," she scolded him. "And more important than looking like one, you made me feel like I'm one."
"I know. I'm sorry, Steph," he continued apologizing.
"No. We're supposed to be a team. You've lied to me. You've hidden things from me…really important things. And let's not even start with what happened to your daughter, who you chose to walk out on. You're not the person that I thought you were. Ten years. We've been married for ten goddamn years. And it turns out you'll lie to me about major things? You went behind my back to find this girl. I would have helped you. You think I would have a problem with having a stepdaughter? I don't. Not at all. In fact, I would love to be a part of her life. But I do have a huge problem with what you did."
"I know. I don't blame you for being mad at me. I fucked up, Steph. And I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for lying to you. I'm sorry for what I did to Courtney. I don't know what else I can say. Nothing will change the situation."
Stephanie shook her head. "No, it won't. And right now, I just need some time to cool off and think," she said, before walking off into their bedroom and slamming the door behind herself.
Paul sat on the couch, hunched over with his head in his hands. He knew that he had really messed things up with his wife. He should have been honest with her, but it was a sensitive situation. He had only told Shawn about it…and that was only because he needed Shawn's help. He was well aware that his wife should have been on that shortlist. Not to mention, what his daughter had been through still hadn't completely sunk in yet. That made him feel even worse. If it wasn't for what he did, she would have never had to go through any of that. The fact that he failed her in such a big way completely broke his heart.
There was a lot of making up that he had to do. To his wife. To his daughter. He was glad that for the first time, Courtney gave him some hope that things might get better between them. Paul really wanted to have a relationship with his daughter. He knew that he had messed up pretty badly, but he wanted to do whatever he could to try to make it as right as he could. He would do anything to take care of her now.
Stephanie sat on her bed and cried into her hands. After all of that time together, the fact that Paul could so easily lie to her about something so important…it broke her heart. Then, hearing Courtney's story…that just made her disgusted with Paul. She couldn't believe that he would turn his back on his child so easily. And the poor girl went through so much that no one should ever have to experience. But his actions caused her to have very few options at such a young age. The thought of having a stepdaughter that had to be a stripper, among other things, and was…mistreated so terribly…it made her sick to her stomach. And as harsh as it may seem, she completely blamed Paul for everything she had been through. If he had at least been a part of Courtney's life, like he should have been in the first place, none of that would have happened.
She didn't know what to do. She was furious with her husband. It wasn't like she was going to leave him, but right now, she just wanted some time away from him to think about things and figure out how she was going to proceed. Because right now, she was sure that if she didn't get away from him, she might actually slap him.
