Disclaimer: I don't own anybody or anything related to the WWE. I only own my OC.
After some highly fun days with Wade in Tampa, we had to get on the road once again. The flight to Atlanta for Hell in a Cell was a pretty quick and uneventful one. I couldn't believe that tomorrow was the big day, the day I was going to win my first WWE title in a Tables, ladders, and chairs match no less. I was excited yet terrified at the same time. Not only was I up against the biggest challenge of my wrestling career thus far, but I was facing the John and Eve situation as well. It was overwhelming but I guess that means I'm in for quite a weekend.
As Wade and I wheeled our suitcases to our respective rooms, his voice broke my deep level of concentration.
"I'm starving! Want to go grab some dinner with me?" He asked.
"I would love to, but I can't!"
"Why the bloody hell not? If you say John Cena, I'm going to beat his ass!" Wade threatened lightheartedly.
"It's not John!" I laughed. "It's one of the other men in my life!" Wade looked at me seriously.
"What man?"
"Relax, I just have dinner with my favorite ex-husband tonight!" His body immediately exhaled and released tension.
"Oh, I forgot you guys were due for another ex's dinner."
"Yeah, we almost forgot all about it since we've seen so much of each now that he's been general manager, but he proposed a meal tonight."
"You do know that you are the worst divorced couple I've ever seen!" He teased.
"Doesn't every divorced person wish things ended amicably and that they could still be close with their ex?" I shot back.
"I don't know, I haven't hastily been married or gotten married at all for that matter," He answered with a satisfied smirk. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Well believe me, what Steve and I have going is fantastic. You'll see if you ever get married…and are unfortunate enough to get divorced!" He chuckled.
"I'll just take your word for it… I guess I'll see you later then, Nicolette."
"Bye Wade!" I said as I began to unlock my room door.
I threw all my luggage in the corner and grabbed my makeup bag out of my purse. I quickly rushed to the bathroom to touch up my hair and makeup after the plane ride. Somehow I always looked haggard after a flight no matter how long the duration. Once I was satisfied with my appearance, I shuffled out the door and climbed into my rental car to head to the restaurant Steve picked. I wasn't surprised when I pulled up at a steakhouse. I headed inside, Steve had already been seated.
"Hey honey!"
"Hey Nic darlin'."
"Sorry I'm a few minutes late! I got a caught up talking with Wade at the hotel!" I apologized.
"Oh, the ol' ball and chain!" he mused.
"Oh please! You act like he's my husband or something," I scoffed.
"He might as well be! You guys are going to die old and grey living together at this rate!" he teased. "Just like an old married couple."
"You are full of it Steve!" I giggled.
"No, I'm not you guys practically are married and you know it. You have just about as much sex as married couples do!"
"We do not have sex!" I said shocked.
"Exactly!" he said with a giant, pleased grin plastered on his face.
"Well that wasn't the case in our marriage!" I shot back.
"You're damn right! We had a damn good marriage while it lasted."
"Not to mention a damn good divorce!" I added. He smiled.
"And a great divorce," he agreed. We placed our orders and then he dove right back into conversation. "So you ready for tomorrow?"
"As ready as I can be for a match like this. I've never been in a match of this proportion," I said with a shrug.
"Well what have you been doing to prepare?"
"I actually used my time off last week to go out to Vegas. I rented an old warehouse, stocked it with a ring and weapons. Trained like hell. It was so exhausting."
"Who trained with you?" he asked. "I know you can't train like that all by yourself."
"Well…"
"I know it wasn't Cena or Barrett…," he warned. He knew I may fib otherwise.
"It's my Down Low friend. He volunteered so I took him out with me…" I said tentatively.
"Are you ever going to tell me which one of those idiots in the locker room he is?" he said a bit testy.
"Eventually…I guess."
"I have a proposition for you, Nic."
"I'm listening…"
"If I guess him correctly, you have to tell me it's him."
"Fine, but you only get one guess."
"That's completely fine. I'm quite sure I already know who the bastard is anyways," he said confidently.
"Oh you think so, do ya? Who is it then, smartass."
"It's obvious! CM Punk!" Steve spat. Oh shit! I internally panicked for a second. "Am I right or am I right?
"Nope, you uh…you were wrong!" I fibbed. He looked at me a moment.
"Nicolette Hope Sparks! You are a lying sack of shit!" He shot out.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!"
"We were married! Do you honestly think I don't know when you are lying to me?"
"Okay, fine! It is CM Punk!"
"I knew it!"
"How the hell did you know that, Steve? We were so careful in making sure nobody saw us together or anything," I asked, a little flabbergasted.
"It was easy, I saw the way you looked at each other in the ring the other night on Raw. Not to mention the way your face lit up a little when that mug of his hit's the tv monitors."
"Wow, didn't realize it was so obvious. Who else do you think knows?" I asked, suddenly worried.
"Nobody knows darlin'…well maybe Wade. I mean, I noticed it because I know you well. How Wade hasn't caught on, I have no idea. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it."
"Okay, good."
"Just so you know, I don't trust that Punk bastard. I do however like him better than that thing you are dating now. At least Punk I can respect."
"I'm not dating him. We are just friends."
"Uh huh, do I look dumb darlin'? You guys got some weird chemistry thing happening. It's becoming obvious that you have a type."
"Loudmouth bastards without tact?" I joked.
"Close enough!" He chuckled. "So tomorrow night should be interesting. Your secret buddy versus boyfriend…."
"It should be a good match. It'll be hard to watch them beat the living hell out of each other, but whatever happens, happens. Who ever wins…well it wont change anything with my relationship with either of them."
"Whatever you say darlin'," he said with a chuckle. "You know you are playing with fire here. Those men are mortal enemies. Something is going to happen and shits gonna blow up. I just hope you are ready. Punk may be fine with you dating Cena but I doubt Cena is going to be fine with all your rendezvous with Punky boy," Steve warned.
"You know, I hadn't really thought that far ahead," I admitted. "I mean, we'd been so good at hiding our friendship and everything, I hadn't thought of the possibility of getting caught…"
"Well no matter what you do now it's going to be a mess. You've been hiding it so long. You might as well just say nothing and ride it out. I could be wrong. You could get away with this without getting busted," he said with a shrug.
My phone vibrated. I looked at the message, it was from Punk.
"Hey, I need to talk to you about something. Can you come to my room tonight?"
"I'll be over after dinner with the rattlesnake! Is everything okay?"
"Everything's great. See you soon!"
I slipped my phone back into my purse and looked back at Steve. He was shooting me a look.
"What?" I asked slightly irritated.
"For somebody who is only a friend, you sure light up when he texts you," he said knowingly.
"Oh shut up!" I shot back.
We ate our food while engaged in conversation and soon the dinner was over. We went separate ways and I headed back to the hotel.
I carefully made my way to Punk's room, being sure not to be seen. I knocked and he quickly opened the door.
"Took you long enough," he teased.
"Well I was prioritizing, my ex hubby came first!" he dramatically clutched his chest.
"Ouch!"
"You know I'm kidding…well mostly."
"You better be, because I'm the best in the world!" He belted out. I laughed.
"So what is so important that you needed me to come over to talk?" I asked very curiously.
"I made the call you suggested that I make…"
"And?" I asked excitedly.
"He's here in Atlanta! He is my new representation. Officially," he said rather proudly
"That is amazing! I knew it would work out!" I said giving him a hug.
"Well I definitely owe you one for coming up with the idea in the first place."
"That isn't necessary. You have already done so much for me with the TLC match training," I insisted.
"Fine. If you insist," he conceded. "So when I was talking with Paul he brought up an intriguing proposition."
"What does he want you to do?" I asked skeptically.
"Well the proposition wasn't for me, it's for you…He'd like to represent you too, if you would like him to."
"Me? Wow. I don't know. John would be furious. You know the hatred between Heyman and John."
"John seems a little controlling, Nicki. You can't sacrifice your career for him. You have such talent and drive to be here, I'd hate to see it go to waste because of Cena," he said pretty seriously. I smiled a little.
"I know…I just…" I sighed. "You know what, I'll think about it. I don't want to make any hasty decisions here."
"Alright, fair enough. I just know Paul might be exactly what you need to break out of the shadow of John Cena."
"You may be right. I'll sleep on it and give Paul a call tomorrow about it."
"Sounds good. So how was dinner with the rattlesnake?" He asked changing the subject.
"Pretty good except well…he knows," I said slowly.
"Wait, knows what?"
"Steve knows that you are the guy that I've been hanging out with. I wasn't going to tell him but he guessed it was you. I don't know how he knew for sure. He promised he wouldn't tell anybody but still, I thought you should know that he knows," I said nervously, hoping he wouldn't be upset. He wasn't. Punk broke out into throaty laughter.
"Oh, is that all?" he said after he caught his breath.
"Well yeah!"
"You just sounded so serious, I thought it was something horrible."
"I thought you may be upset or something!" I said calmly.
"I've already told you Nicki, I'm not ashamed of being your friend. I love being your friend and being in your life. We have a lot of fun together. The only reason we hide it is John. In fact, I'd love it if the world knew we were friends."
"Touché. I promise it won't always be like this. Once I figure out how to go about this, I'll take action, I promise."
"Lucky for you, I'm patient. By the way, thanks for removing the big obstacle for tomorrow, I really appreciate it," he said with a sly grin, referring to the Big Show's suspension via me drugging him.
"Whatever do you mean?" I said coyly.
"You've got a devil streak in you, Sparks, I like it…a lot," he said smoothly with a smirk. I smiled a mischievous grin in return.
"You haven't seen anything yet."
Thank you all so much for reading! You guys are awesome! I'm thinking this story will last until chapter 50. So keep reading and see what happens to Nicolette!