Chapter 35

"Phillip, this is the last time I'm calling you! Where are you? What's going on? Your driver has no idea where you are and you're starting to freak me out! Call me back, ass!"

Coralie pressed the end button on her smart phone harshly and tossed it on the sofa, looking out the window for the umpteenth time to see if her boyfriend was anywhere to be found. It wasn't like Phil to disappear and cut contact with her. What if something happened to him? Luke had been relentless lately with finding Coralie alone so he could corner her. The last encounter had been a forced kiss by Luke that left her mouth bruised to the point Coralie had to use makeup to cover them up. She knew it was stupid to keep this from Phil and her coworkers, but turning him in wasn't an option. There was enough stress in the company with WrestleMania looming over their heads, so the last thing Coralie wanted to do was cause Paul and Stephanie another problem to deal with. She would find a way to handle this situation with Luke on her own, not wanting Phil involved either. He had to focus on his upcoming battle with his ex-brother-in-law and fight for his sister's honor. The bruising had diminished into a light yellow, so minimal foundation covered it up and Phil hadn't noticed them thankfully. Come to think of it, nobody had. A knock at the bus doors jolted Coralie out of her deep thoughts as she turned around, her heart dropping to the depths of her stomach at the sight of Anisa instead of Phil.

"Phil?" Anisa called out, climbing the stairs and turned the corner, stopping at the sight of Coralie. "Oh, hey Cora. Is my brother here?" This was a tad awkward.

Anisa didn't even know where her brother was? Now Coralie was officially in panic mode, though she didn't show it. "No. I thought he might've been with you." She sounded exhausted, running on zero sleep and dark bruises surrounded her eyes, proving Coralie had no rest and she'd been crying.

"No." There was no way she could tell Coralie about spotting Phil and April together the previous night, not until she talked to her brother. "You haven't heard from him at all?" What the hell was going on?

"Nope, not a fucking peep and if he hasn't spoken to you either, something must've happened to him." What if Luke did something to him? He had threatened Coralie several times in their encounters about hurting her precious boyfriend if she didn't cooperate with him. "Oh god…"

Lying wasn't in Anisa's nature, but in this case she had to make an exception. "When was the last time you heard from him?" She asked, sitting down at the small table after retrieving a small cup of coffee Coralie made.

"Last night, but it was only through text. You know how we are. We text each other constantly and we were actually sexting." Coralie bit her bottom lip when Anisa snorted her coffee, groaning as the liquid burned her nostrils.

"Fuck!"

That got a small chuckle out of Coralie. "Sorry Nisa." She handed over a paper towel and looked out the window again, heaving a sigh. "I just want him to call me and let me know he's safe."

"Why wouldn't he be safe?" The question was muffled, but clear enough while Anisa tried getting her nose to stop bursting into flames.

Coralie immediately regretted using that word and didn't look at Anisa, keeping her gaze on the window. "Safe – you know – not maimed, well, alright, good, busy, something along those lines." Even she didn't believe what came out of her mouth. That was horrible.

Anisa didn't buy it either, but decided not to press Coralie for more information, setting the paper towel down on the table. "Everything alright between you two?" She had to ask, watching Coralie's head snap to the side to stare at her wide-eyed.

"Of course! Why wouldn't it be?" Coralie demanded, raising a slow brow and folded her arms in front of her chest, giving Anisa her full undivided attention. "Do you know something, Anisa?"

Phil owed her big time for this. "No, I was just asking since you two went from sexting each other last night to him disappearing off the face of the earth. He won't return any of my phone calls or text messages either." She knew Coralie had blown her brother's phone up and god only knows what he'd been doing with April while making his girlfriend worry sick about him all night.

"He better have one HELL of a reason why he's cut both of us off or else I'm killing him."

Glancing up at the clock on the wall, Anisa frowned when the time struck 11 AM and they hadn't left to go to the next town for Smackdown! yet. "He better hurry up or I'll have to rent a car to get to work tonight." Depending on traffic, it would take just under 2 hours to get to Hershey, Pennsylvania from Philadelphia for the taping.

"I might have to tag along with you." Coralie muttered, knowing she had to be at the arena by 3 PM at the latest to start building the ring and set. Phil knew this and yet he was nowhere to be found. "This is such horseshit."

At a quarter to noon, Phil finally made his appearance and walked on the bus, using the back entrance of the hotel so nobody would spot him. He stopped at the sight of his girlfriend and sister talking quietly amongst themselves, frowning. Did Anisa know about Coralie cheating on him with Luke Harper? No, if she knew the truth Anisa would've already beaten the hell out of Coralie since she was extremely protective of him just as much as he was with her. They were all each other had besides Chez and their circle of family back in Chicago.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Coralie clobbered him with a hug and Phil held his hands up, not embracing her back right away. "I was so worried about you." She whispered heartfelt, tightening her arms on his neck and Phil finally broke down, wrapping his arms around her closing his eyes painfully shut.

Anisa saw the agonized expression on her brother's face and stayed where she was, keeping her mouth shut. Something told her Phil would talk to her about whatever was bothering him when he was ready. She'd already planned on traveling with him to Smackdown! because of what was going on between her and Jon. They couldn't talk with Coralie in the same vicinity though.

"Why didn't you call either of us back? Even a simple text letting us know you were still alive would've been enough." Coralie chastised once the tense embrace with Phil ended, leaf green eyes meeting cold hazel.

"Sorry, had a meeting this morning and my phone died." Phil lied, brushing past Coralie to pull his t-shirt off since it smelled of April's perfume and not caring if he was believed or not. "Sis, go tell Keith we can head to Hershey now."

"Sure…" Anisa was thankful to have an excuse to get away from the thick tension between her brother and Coralie.

Coralie couldn't ignore the tension between them either, turning to stare at Phil incredulously. "What is going on with you?" He always asked her to inform the driver when they were supposed to leave.

"Nothing. Something going on with YOU?" Phil shot back tersely, staring at the woman he thought loved him and would never betray their relationship.

Blinking, Coralie didn't know how to respond to that and lowered her gaze from his, hurt quickly replacing her anger. Did he know about Luke? No, that was impossible, but it was obvious something else was bothering him. Just the way he carried himself and the cold shoulder he gave her twisted Coralie's stomach in knots. She was exhausted and didn't have the strength to fight about this, just thankful he was alive.

"I-I think I'm gonna take a rental to the show. Give you some space and time to relax." Coralie fought back tears when all Phil did was shrug in response, starting the small shower on the bus.

"Do what you want." He stepped into the shower and slammed the door shut, ending their conversation.

Coralie swallowed hard and turned, leaving the bus with her luggage in hand as tears began cascading down her face. She had no idea how she was supposed to get to Hershey and grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket, googling a local cab service. The bus took off moments later and left the hotel parking lot, leaving Coralie behind to find her own way while Anisa stared out the window, waiting for her brother to finish showering. Anisa would never be able to get the image of tears streaming down Coralie's cheeks out of her head as long as she lived.

"Phillip Jack Brooks, what the fuck is your problem?"

He had stepped out of the shower only for his sister to jump down his throat, fully expecting it. "Let me get dressed and I'll explain." Phil walked back to his room and shut the door, leaving Anisa standing there perplexed and angry.

10 minutes later, he walked out and Anisa sat at the table staring out the window. "So explain to me what's going on between you and April Mendez." She couldn't look at Phil, not after what she witnessed the night before.

That caught Phil off guard. "What do you mean?" He didn't bother taking a seat and wore a pair of jeans with no shirt, not in the mood to wear one. If Phil could, he'd run around the world naked and free, but that wasn't an option since he wasn't a nudist.

Anisa glared at him, pursing her lips tightly together. "Don't give me that shit! I saw you last night, Phillip! I saw you and April walk into the hotel together while smoking on my balcony. And you looked awfully fucking cozy together, so cut the innocent shit!" She snapped, ready to pounce on her brother and beat the tar out of him for hurting Coralie.

"You don't know the whole story and you don't know what you saw, so before you rip me a new asshole, shut your mouth and let me explain." Phil growled back, both siblings at a stand-off since Anisa stood up from the table to size him up. "Sit back down, you need to watch something."

Deciding to give Phil the benefit of the doubt, Anisa did as he commanded and took his phone when he handed it over to her, pressing the play button on the video. For 5 minutes straight, she sat there and watched Coralie and Luke Harper encounters, including a kiss that sent shockwaves through her body. What the HELL? She knew about a few encounters Coralie had with Luke Harper, but definitely none of these! Even after the video finished, Anisa just stared at the phone with her mouth dropped open and jumped when Phil snatched it away from her.

"Now you know."

"Wait…" Anisa held her hand up, standing from the table to get a coffee refill. "Phil, you already know Luke Harper has been stalking Coralie and you're going to actually believe she wants HIM instead of you? That kiss…I admit, that was shocking, but…there has to be an explanation…" Did her brother have a sudden case of amnesia or did he simply forget about Coralie being cornered a month ago in Oklahoma City?

"What explanation could there be to explain THAT?" Phil barked, tossing his phone on the table so he didn't break it as it skidded across the smooth surface landing on the floor. "You're actually sitting there telling me to give her a chance to explain how she cheated on me with that hairy asshole?!

"She's not cheating on you…"

"YES SHE IS!" Phil exploded, sick and tired of his sister trying to make excuses for Coralie's actions against him. "You wanna know why you saw me walking into the hotel last night with April? You really wanna know? Because she's a close friend of mine and she's the one I called when I had my heart ripped out of my fucking chest last night after watching that goddamn video! We went for a drive and she calmed me down by talking to me about it instead of berating me for hurting my cheating girlfriend! So until I have SOLID proof she didn't cheat on me, I don't wanna hear a fucking thing about giving her a chance or talking to her about it!"

Anisa couldn't remember the last time she saw Phil so irate to the point of physically trembling from head to toe, his fists tightened at his sides with ghostly white knuckles. "I'm sorry, bro." She whispered, lowering her gaze to the table and decided she was staying out of this situation between her brother and Coralie. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"I'm going to lay down since I didn't get shit for sleep last night." Phil didn't bother consoling his sister right now, too brokenhearted and angry to care, slamming his bedroom door shut behind him.

"Well – well, how the hell have you been?"

"I know, I know I'm sorry for not keeping in contact, Mel."

"Uh huh, you say that now." Melanie Rich countered with a smirk, leaning back in her leather black chair while staring out at the New York City skyline. "So what can I do for you, Mia darling?"

Mia took a deep breath and explained everything to Melanie regarding Jon's situation, not leaving anything out. She tried remembering as much as she could since the more details Melanie had, the more sufficient her help would be. Melanie listened quietly, not interrupting Mia and tapped her pen on the armrest of her chair, pursing her lips together. It sounded like whoever this Trina Michaels was, she was slick and had managed to slip through the cracks of the justice system. That did not sit well with Melanie at all.

"My friend is in love with him and this is ruining their relationship. If there's anything you can do for Jon, I'd really appreciate it, Mel."

"I want you to give him my number and have him call me. I need copies of all the divorce papers he's sent this woman over the past 2 years." Melanie jotted down some notes, already planning on doing a background check on Trina Michaels. "You said she's a porn star, right?"

Mia made a face, nodding. "Yeah, it was a drunken marriage and technically, isn't it illegal for chapels to marry drunk people?"

"Not in Vegas, unfortunately. You can get away with anything in that godforsaken city. Don't worry, Jon is in good hands with me, Mia. And you owe me one drink for this when you're back in town with the WWE." Melanie smirked at Mia's giggle, both of them meeting in law school, but Mia had a change of heart halfway through and decided instead to pursue wrestling. "Maybe set me up with a hot wrestler too."

Both girls laughed and Mia promised to look into it for Melanie, knowing the woman had zero luck finding love in New York City.