Chapter 34

For some reason, Phil couldn't sleep after the show and laid in bed staring up at the ceiling of his luxury bus. Coralie was still working taking the ring setup down and wouldn't be done for a couple hours. Adrenaline pumped through every vein of his body from the segment he had with Mark, though Phil would've rather ripped the man's head from his shoulders. No matter how hard he tried, Phil couldn't forget or let what the Deadman did to his sister go, wanting revenge for what happened to her. He felt like a crappy big brother for not defending his sister's honor, even though she specifically asked him not to. How could he let Mark get away with hurting Anisa? He warned Mark not to hurt her when they decided to get married, against it wholeheartedly. However, it was Anisa's life and decision, so Phil supported her choice in a husband like a good brother, standing beside Mark in their small Vegas wedding. As cheap as it felt, Phil would never forget how beautiful his sister looked in a simple white lace white dress that went to her knees, short sleeved and had a keyhole cut in the back. Since they didn't have parents or a father to walk Anisa down the aisle, Phil did it and felt like a proud daddy giving his daughter away. 2 years apart or not, it didn't change how Phil felt that day and nothing would take that memory of how she looked away.

His cell phone beeping jolted Phil out of his deep thoughts about the past and hazel eyes slid over to the nightstand, seeing the screen light up. It was probably Coralie telling him the crew was running behind schedule taking the setup down. Sighing, Phil reached over and grabbed the cell phone, swiping his finger across the screen. His eyebrows rose slightly at the text message from an unknown number and his finger pressed on it, opening the text. It was a video. Phil sat up in bed, tilting his head slightly and felt fear grip his insides instantly. Who the hell would send him a video? Unless it was Coralie trying to be cheeky and spice up their sex life. The fear turned to excitement at that possibility and Phil pressed the play button, watching the screen tentatively. He was half right in his assumption of the video involving Coralie, but she wasn't alone in it.

It was exactly one minute long full of Coralie and Luke Harper moments, revealing what she'd apparently kept from him. Luke had touched her intimately a few times and Coralie hadn't pushed him away, the video black and white so it was hard to tell what her reaction was. One thing Phil knew about Coralie was she didn't put up with anything. If she didn't like something happening, she voiced her opinion and fought back. With Luke Harper, that didn't happen and he felt sick to his stomach when Luke actually kissed her. The video ended abruptly and Phil could only sit there on his bed staring at his phone, hardly believing what he just watched. Coralie had cheated on him with LUKE HARPER of all people?! Gritting his teeth to the point of gnashing, Phil glanced at the clock and knew Coralie would be coming to the bus at any time, not able to face her right now. Jumping up, Phil slipped his shoes on, snatched his black hooded sweatshirt and rushed to the front of the bus where his driver sat waiting to leave.

"I'm going out for a while."

Phil didn't bother waiting for his driver's response and hopped off the bus into the cool air of Philadelphia, closing his eyes to try fighting back the pain threatening to consume his heart. He brought his phone with him so Coralie couldn't look at it and find the video, not wanting to chance it being deleted. To be on the safe side, Phil locked the message so even if it tried being deleted, it wouldn't budge. Phil didn't know what to do or think about this newfound information, knowing going to their circle of friends was out of the question. Randy was busy with Ryanne trying to have a baby and the Shield had their own women to deal with. Anisa had enough on her plate with Mark being back on the road and she was good friends with Coralie. Right now, Phil needed an unbiased opinion about this video and suddenly the perfect person popped in his mind.

"Please answer." He whispered into the night, walking away from the bus as if it would give him more privacy.

"Hello?" A soft sleepy voice resonated into the phone after 5 rings.

Phil mentally cursed, not meaning to wake his friend up. "Hey it's me."

Just the sound of his sad broken voice jolted the caller out of their sleep haze. "What's wrong?"

"Look, I know it's late, but…I need you to come get me. I need to talk and taking the bus isn't an option. I'm at the arena, can you come pick me up?" He hated asking this, but Phil couldn't be anywhere near Coralie until he figured out what this video was about.

"I'll be there in 10."

Exactly 10 minutes later, a black Cobalt pulled up beside Phil with tinted windows and he looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody spotted them. Then he slipped into the passenger seat and shut the door, turning hurt hazel eyes on none other than April Jeanette Mendez. She was the conniving WWE Diva AJ Lee, but behind the scenes she was one of Phil's closest friends on the roster. Coralie knew about their friendship and was fine with it, though Phil maintained a distance from April out of respect to his girlfriend. That all flew out the window though now that he found out Coralie was screwing around with Luke Harper.

"What happened?" April asked, wearing black skinny jeans and a pink hooded sweatshirt, her hair pulled back in a messy bun.

"Drive." Phil mumbled, leaning back against the seat and kept his cell phone handy in case anyone decided to call. Coralie would wonder where he was, but Phil wasn't answering any calls from her right now.

They couldn't leave the city, so April drove through Philadelphia and waited patiently for Phil to talk to her. He had to do it on his own time and she wouldn't push him to do it. If they had to drive around for the rest of the night until she had to drive to the next area for Smackdown!, that's what she'd do. A little sleep deprivation was worth it to help a friend and it was nothing coffee couldn't take care of. April could sleep when she was dead.

"Pull over here." Phil spotted a park he frequented since he spent a lot of time wrestling in Philadelphia throughout his Independent days.

April did as requested and kept the car running so they wouldn't freeze outside. "Come on Punk, we've known each other for a while and you can talk to me about anything…" She blinked when Phil snapped his hand out to give her his cell phone, the screen already unlocked with a video ready to play. "What is this?"

"Watch it."

Frowning, April had a feeling whatever this video entailed was the reason for Phil's dark mood and she pressed the play button, watching Luke Harper and…Coralie together. April covered her mouth with her hand, dark eyes widening almost to the point of falling out of her skull. What the HELL? After the video ended, April felt as ill as Phil looked and she handed his cell phone back to him, shaking her head in disbelief. How could Coralie hurt him like that? April thought their relationship was concrete and nothing could ever split them up. Apparently she was dead wrong in that assumption.

"Well?" Phil practically barked, seeing the perplexed look on April's face and wasn't surprised. "What do you think?"

"I – I um…" What in the world was she supposed to say after watching Phil's girlfriend cheat on him with a hairy beast like Luke Harper?! "I – well…"

Phil scrubbed a hand down his face in frustration. "April, I called you to try to figure this shit out, so give me something more than 'um, well…'!"

"What the fuck do you want me to say after watching that, Phillip?" April shot back flippantly, folding her arms in front of her chest in defense. "Am I supposed to be happy about some bitch you've been with for god knows how long ripping your heart out?!"

"No, but you can give me SOMETHING!" Phil growled, suddenly needing fresh air and opened the passenger door, slamming it shut. He was surprised the window didn't shatter.

April unbuckled and jumped out of the car after him, stopping him from walking away. "Phil, stop!" She ordered, grabbing his upper arm and gasped when he whipped around to tower over her small 5'2 frame.

"WHAT?" He roared, not caring who heard him at this point and grabbed both of her upper arms, yanking her flush against his body. "I thought you would have answers for me!"

"You have to talk to Coralie." April ignored her sore arms since Phil had a vise grip on them, her eyes focused solely on his face staring in his eyes. "Something's not right about this and you damn well know it."

Why did it feel good having April this close to him? Never once did he think of April as anything more than a coworker and friend. He remembered first meeting April down in FCW, which was later changed to NXT. She looked so fragile; he thought wrestling was the last thing she should be doing, but April was a lot stronger than she looked. Looks were definitely deceiving. She wrestled for a small New Jersey-based promotion called Women Superstars Uncensored and Phil had caught one of the shows. From the moment he saw her, Phil could see the fire in her eyes and passion for the wrestling business that no other woman had, at least in his opinion. Shortly after that, April left WSU and signed a developmental contract with the WWE in 2009, staying there until 2011. Phil had gone down to check out the new talent whenever he had free time and helped April with her training, which is where their friendship stemmed from.

"Phil, did you hear what I said?" April demanded, gripping the sweatshirt he wore and tried shaking him with her small hands, but all he could do was stare intensely down at her. "Punk…"

Realizing he was hurting her, Phil released April's arms and stepped back, gripping his nearly shaved head in his hands. She hadn't relinquished her hold on his sweatshirt and moved her arms to wrap them around his waist, trying to give him some kind of comfort. Phil's arms swung around her in response, burying his face in her black hair and closed his eyes to will the tears away. He couldn't cry in another woman's arms, it wasn't right and not fair to April.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you." She murmured after standing there on the sidewalk with him a while, both of them losing track of time.

"Not your fault." He mumbled, the scent of her hair willing the anger in his body to slowly diminish until only pain and heartache remained, consuming his broken heart. "Goddamn, what am I going to do?"

April pulled back to look up at him and cupped his face in her hands, forcing his eyes to lock with hers. "Stay with me tonight." She didn't know why she offered or what would happen, but there was no way Phil could sleep in the same bed as Coralie tonight. "I have two beds in my room and you need some sleep." The dark bags under his eyes were becoming worse and April didn't want Phil running himself ragged.

"I don't know if that's a good idea…"

"Do you really want to go back to your bus with her there?" April shot back, already taking his hand leading him back to her rental vehicle. "Come on, you're taking a shower too since I know you haven't yet."

"Was waiting for Coralie…" Phil grunted, shutting the door and buckled up as April sped off back to the hotel instead of his bus. "I need to tell my driver we're not leaving tonight."

The rest of the drive was made in silence with soft music flowing through the speakers. She pulled into the parking lot and cut the ignition, looking over at Phil half-expecting him to have her drive him back to his bus. Phil looked back at her and took his cell phone out, dialing the number to his driver.

"Phil, are you alright?" Keith demanded, spotting Coralie heading toward the bus and swallowed hard.

"Fine Keith, we're not leaving tonight. Go get a room, put it on my tab and I'll see you sometime tomorrow. I'll be riding with someone else to the arena, so just go to the next hotel." Phil instructed, leaning his head back against the seat and felt April grab his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to let him know he wasn't alone.

"Of course sir, anything else?"

"Yes, don't tell Coralie where I am. Just tell her you haven't seen me." He hung up before Keith could respond and shut his cell phone off, knowing they had plenty of time to get to the Smackdown! taping. "Mind if I ride with you tomorrow to the taping?"

April shook her head, cracking a small smile. "Not at all. It's been a while since we've hung out properly and sometime from Coralie might clear your head a bit about that video. We'll figure out what's going on, Phil. I promise."

"I hope so."

Phil heaved a sigh and yawned loudly, the adrenaline from the night's events wearing off fast. They got out of the car together and April wrapped an arm around his waist while his arm went around her shoulders. It was purely platonic to them, but to onlookers it looked like they were a happy tired couple. Unbeknownst to Phil and April, someone was smoking on their balcony on the lower floor and spotted them both entering the hotel together.

Anisa had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating and wondered why her brother was with April Mendez instead of Coralie. If her brother was another conniving dick that took pleasure hurting women like Mark and Jon, Anisa wouldn't hesitate to castrate him. However, something told her a bigger problem had arisen and she planned on finding out when she met up with her brother the following day at Smackdown! Finishing her cigarette, Anisa called it a night and flicked the butt over the balcony, walking back into her room shutting the sliding door behind her. She was out before her head hit the pillow, mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted.