*Warning this is another trigger chapter please proceed with caution.

Chapter 36

Melanie's eyes jolted open as she gasped for air, her head was spinning and her chest heaved up and down. She went to sit up and froze midway realizing that something heavy was weighing her down. Her body went rigid. It couldn't be….she couldn't be back there again…not with him.

He groaned and tightened his hold around her waist pulling her back further into his chest and nuzzling his nose into the base of her neck. She forced herself to look down at the arms that were wrapped around her like a vice grip. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief as soon as she laid eyes on Roman's tattooed arm. She laid her head back down on the pillow and immediately leaned back further into his embrace.

"What's wrong Mel?" he asked groggily against her neck.

"Nothing, I'm fine go back to sleep Le" she said as she closed her eyes tight and took slow and steady breathes to calm her heart from beating so erratically.

He sighed and sat up leaning his back against the head board as he pulled her up and laid her head against his chest. Holding her head in place with his hand his fingers tangled themselves in her thick curly hair.

"You are not fine, I felt you jerk awake and I could hear your labored breathing what's wrong, did you have a bad dream? Were you having an anxiety attack?" he asked as he gently stroked the side of her face and patiently waited for an answer.

She wrapped her hands tighter around his waist making sure not to squeeze to tightly along his bruised side and pulled her knees up so that they were resting against his thighs. She closed her eyes; the details of Evelyn attacking him and Joelle were at the forefront of her mind. How could she be so cruel, so selfish, so outright uncaring, Joelle was her daughter for fucks sake and instead of that being the most important thing to her, this woman acted like that was nothing but an afterthought. She remembered the bruises that Roman had shown her on his side, his shoulders and the bruises and cuts that littered his face. Melanie exhaled the breath she didn't realize she was holding, vaguely aware that Roman was still waiting for a response. She looked up into his eyes and pursed her lips together, he had opened himself up to her in a way that she knew was difficult, he reveled what happened between him and Evelyn because Melanie had asked him to, because she told him they could get through it together, even though he was scared that it would dredge up bad memories for her he still told her anyway because she had insisted. She realized now he had been right but then again so was she. As much as she didn't want to talk about what had woken her up she knew she had to. She couldn't keep it bottled up forever. She needed to trust him in the same way that she had asked him to trust her.

She unconsciously clenched and unclenched his shirt in her fist. "It wasn't an anxiety attack…..it was a nightmare."

Roman nodded against her head he would usually ask her if she wanted to talk about it but tonight he decided to take a new approach. "What was it about?"

He felt her begin to shake, so he quickly lifted her from her position beside him and placed her in his lap. At the angle her body was sitting her head fit perfectly under his chin. He kissed the top of her head and wrapped an arm around her from the front while he ran the other hand along her back in a soothing motion.

Melanie sucked in a deep breath it was now or never.

"I had been living with Walker for about a month and everything seemed to be going okay. We had our typical arguments about him being too possessive and controlling but nothing out of the ordinary for us. This particular day he called me from work and said his best friend Bryant and his girlfriend were coming over for dinner. No big deal they had been over before so I didn't think anything of it." she said as she scratched her chin.

"Everything during dinner was okay with the exception of how Bryant kept looking at me, it wasn't just a glance or two it was like he was staring at me, it was creeping me out and left me feeling uneasy but I didn't say anything because I didn't want things to get uncomfortable so I just ignored it plus Walker was there so I knew nothing would happen." She cleared her throat and paused seemingly gathering her thoughts before continuing on.

"From the minute Bryant and his girlfriend arrived him and Walker had been drinking alternating between beer and hard liquor, Bryant more so than Walker but It didn't register to me immediately exactly how much they had consumed until we were all chatting in the living room after dinner and I saw his girlfriend lean over and whisper something in his ear and try to take the drink out of his hand. He snapped at her and told her that he knew what his limit was and that she better remember her place, which isn't to tell him what to do but rather to do as she is told. It took me by surprise because I have never seen him act like that before and the way that he spoke to her was so cold and disrespectful, it completely caught me off guard. After their tense exchange I excused myself to go and grab desert from the kitchen. I heard him mumble something about heading to the restroom, again I didn't think anything of it he had been in the house before and he was Walker's best friend so why would I question his motives."

She swallowed thickly and wiped a tear away that had begun to run down her cheek. She felt Roman stiffen underneath her but she knew she was too far in to back out now. She ran her hand through her hair pulling it to the side that was facing away from his chest exposing her side profile to him as she talked.

"I hadn't even made it completely into the kitchen before he grabbed me from behind, spun me around and pushed my back against the countertop. He took his hand and grabbed my hair and kissed me, for a split second I froze I didn't know what to do. It was like I was watching what was happening from outside my body, but then I felt him trying to stick his tongue in my mouth and my flight or fight response kicked in. I clamped my lips together and shoved him away from me just far enough to turn my head away from him. I asked him to stop I pleaded with him to leave me alone that Walker was my boyfriend his best friend but he wasn't listening to reason. I didn't even hear Walker walk into the kitchen I just felt Bryant being forcefully removed from me and watched as Walker threw him on the ground, screaming at him to get out, Bryant scrambled from the ground and hurried out the door screaming for his girlfriend to follow him."

The tears were openly streaming down Melanie's face and she made no attempt to hide them. She knew it would be a waist as there would just be more as she continued.

"It all happened so fast after that, I took a step towards Walker who was staring at me with a blank expression , I reached out to touch his arm and he….he uh…he backhanded me." she took her top lip in between her teeth to keep the whimper from escaping . "Suffice to say I was stunned, we had argued before, we yelled and we screamed but this was the first time he had ever physically hurt me. I remember stumbling backwards from the force of the blow before crumpling to the ground after his second hit which was a punch to my face. I stayed crouching on the ground in total shock but that shock was replaced with pain as he reeled back and kicked me in the side, I still don't know how many times he kicked me but what I do know is that encounter was the first of many cracked ribs."

She sniffled but still continued "After he had enough of kicking me he pulled me up by my hair and screamed at me that the whole thing was my fault, that if I didn't dress like such a whore that Bryant wouldn't have come on to me. He said that he saw the way I was giving Bryant the eye throughout dinner so of course he would think that I was open to his advances." A sob slipped past Melanie's lips as Roman shifted pulling her further into his arms as he cradled her while she cried into his t-shirt.

Roman tried to keep his body as relaxed as possible but as he replayed what Melanie told him he couldn't help the rage that was building up inside of him. He suspected she had been abused, he knew it in his heart to be true but to hear it from Melanie broke his already broken heart even further, The only thing that kept him from destroying everything in his path was his determination to be a rock for Melanie just as she had been a rock for him. So he held her tightly and soothed her the best he could. It seemed to work since somewhere along the way Melanie's sobs subsided into small whimpers and she fell asleep in in Romans arms. He listened as her breathing evened out. She mumbled a few times in her sleep but he could not make out the words. He just hoped she wouldn't have another nightmare.

He closed his own eyes and got lost deep in his own thoughts. This is what he was trying to prevent. He didn't want to tell her what happened but he knew it couldn't be avoided, she was going to see his face eventually and when she did she was bound to have questions, he just didn't want his answers to affect her so strongly. He didn't want to lie to her which is why he hadn't text her at all on Saturday outside of that 1 vague text message and why he never responded to her text on Sunday that she sent him while she was at the airport, he thought he was buying himself some time but in all reality he was delaying the inevitable. He had sent her a vague text message telling her he was changing his flight but he never told her the reason why, another one of his stalling tactics, but it was because Jo was a wreck. She clung to him like a baby Koala, and cried every time he was out of her site for more than 3 minutes. There was no way that he could leave at his scheduled time when she was in that state of mind so he had no choice but to change his flight so that he could stay longer with his daughter. Luckily he was able to calm some of her nerves by telling her that she would be coming to Raw with his family. That and because she was off of school on a week-long break she would be staying with him as he travelled. He only had one interview to do and that was on Tuesday morning before their house show in California, they would be in his cousins DJ's neck of the woods so he was sure that DJ would love to spend time with Jo while he did his interview, hell worse come to worse he would just bring Jo with him. He would ask Melanie to keep an eye on her but after what Evelyn had said right before she walked out of the door Joelle was now very hesitant and withdrawn every time Melanie's name was brought up.

He sighed, and for the millionth time over the past 24 hours he grated his teeth. That was the one thing he had kept from Melanie, Evelyn's parting words to Jo right before she walked out of the door. He closed his eyes and shook that thought from his head. No, he refused to give Evelyn any more time than she deserved. He would make it right between Jo and Melanie himself, when the time came he would just ask Melanie to be patient and give her time to come back around. He kissed Melanie on top of her head before closing his eyes and willing for sleep to take over him, and soon enough that is exactly what happened.

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Melanie awoke to her ringtone blasting at what she felt was an ungodly volume. She slowly raised her head from Roman's chest revelations from last night yet again crashing all around her as her mind replayed the sequence of events from last night. She groggily shook them from her mind and groaned knowing that they would have to deal with the aftermath at some point, but that point wasn't going to be in the next 30 seconds so she reached over to grab her phone checking the caller ID to make sure she yelled at the right person for waking her up this damn early. She went to remove herself from Roman's lap as soon as she had her phone in her hand but he grunted and placed her right back in her previous position.

"Don't be such a caveman" she muttered with a small smile. To which he grunted again before lazily opening his eyes and watching her answer her phone.

"Yea Sash"

"Are you by yourself in the room?

"No Leati is here"

"He told you what happened?"

"Uh huh"

Sasha was silent on her end of the phone before tentatively asking

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm fi-"

"Don't lie to me." Sasha said softly making Melanie stop mid-sentence sighing in defeat as she looked down at her hand that was twisting the edge of Roman's shirt in-between her finger tips.

"I've been better" she whispered into the phone

"Esta es la razón por la que Ro se atrevía a decirle que no estaba seguro de si traería cosas de su pasado de las que no quería hablar, y él no quería que tuviera que revivirlo si Podría ser evitado. Seth y yo estuvimos de acuerdo con él, pero también le animamos a decirte la verdad, que necesitabas saber y que necesitabas saber de él, además no es como si hubiera podido evitarte por mucho tiempo, así que iba a Tengo que decirle eventualmente. Sólo le dijimos que estarías enojado si no te dijera antes que tarde" (This is why Ro was hesitant to tell you, he wasn't sure if it would bring up things from your past that you didn't want to talk about, and he didn't want to make you have to relive any of it if it could be avoided. Seth and I both agreed with him but we also encouraged him to tell you the truth, you needed to know and you needed to find out from him, besides it's not like he would have been able to avoid you for long so he was going to have to tell you eventually. We just told him you would be pissed if he didn't tell you sooner rather than later.)

Melanie gave a small smile, Sasha knew her so well.

"Mel le contaste a Roman sobre todo lo que pasó contigo y Walker" (Mel did you tell Roman about anything that happened with you and Walker) Sasha asked saying Walker's name in a whisper.

Melanie leaned into Roman's chest laying her cheek flush against him "No tuve mucho de una elección que tuve un sueño sobre la primera vez que me lastimó y sacudió despierto" (I didn't have much of a choice I had a dream about the first time he hurt me and jolted awake.)

She looked up at Roman who was looking at her with his eyebrow arched in curiosity. She heard rustling in the background before Sasha spoke through the phone again

"How did he take it?"

"Bueno, en realidad, me abrazó y me dejó llorar hasta que me quedé dormido en sus brazos." (Well actually, he held me and let me cry it out until I fell asleep in his arms.) She said as started to shift on his lap in another attempt to sit on the bed but it was thwarted by Roman who hooked his hands under her knees and grabbed her around the waist again setting her back in her original position on his lap.

"What did I tell you about manhandling me" she said through her laughter

"Umm maam what the hell is going on over there, why are you giggling, and you want to define this manhandling that is going on?"

Melanie felt like lightening the mood so she decided to have a little fun "Do I ask you what you and Seth are doing in your private time? Let me answer that for you no! So don't ask me about what Leati and I are doing" she said as she covered her mouth holding in her laugh as Roman lightly chuckled.

"That's it I'm coming down there right now!" Sasha said as she disconnected the call allowing Melanie to let out the cackle she was holding in.

"She is coming down here isn't she" Roman asked with a smile

"You know it" she said as she snuggled into his chest

Roman took a strand of her hair and began to twirl it around his fingers

"Is it safe to assume that Spanish is one of languages you are fluent in?"

"Yup" she said as she made sure to pop the p at the end.

He chuckled but watched as the smile slowly dropped from her face as she looked up and inspected his face.

"Make sure you put some ice on your face today okay, you want to make sure the swelling stays down, right now you have very minimal swelling but if you don't stay on it you could blow up like a puffer fish" she mumbled."

He nodded his fury reigniting knowing that she was speaking from experience and not because of in ring bruising but bruises by the man who was blessed enough to be able to call her his using her as his own personal punching bag. He had to abandon his thoughts as Melanie's soft voice timidly called out to him.

"Le?"

"Yeah baby?"

"Can I ask you something?" she said as she turned her head to look at him.

"You can ask me anything" he said as she caressed her cheek with his knuckles.

"Do you feel any…differently" she whispered "about me now that you know for certain that I was in an abusive relationship?"

Roman placed his hands on her shoulders and moved them up to cup her face lifting it gently and slowly to look her in the eye, once he was confident he had her full attention he answered her question without a hint of hesitation or remorse.

"Not at all."

A/N

Happy Sunday my Lovelies!

AmbroseReignsCenaRollinsOrton - I agree 100%

Madjai6 - Oh she is horrible, the thing is there are actually people out here who are like that they cant put their personal feelings aside and in the end the kids always end up paying the price for their selfishness. You know how to act like an adult even though your sons dad pisses you off just like you said that's not your sons problem. and LOL this one will be the last one this week, the next update will be next Sunday or Monday.

Ctina - Jo was woken up by the noise she didn't know what was going on until she went downstairs. The police were notified that comes up in another chapter. I got alot going on in these chapters lol

KiaraKitty08 - Oh she is nuttier than a fruit cake. In a perfect world she wouldn't...but le sigh we all know this isn't a perfect world

swthrt890 - no need to fret I have another update for you right now :) and ahhhhhh yes! I love it when I read comments like addicting it makes me feel good! I'm glad you are enjoying reading this fic!

Not-that-kinda-gurl - I agree! and yes he is he is being put through the ringer but he has our girl Melanie to help get him through.

Thank you to all of the new follows and favorites. Don't forget to comment! Talk to you all next week!

XOXO

Really241