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Fanning The Flames

Chapter 38

Raven

After such a stressful few days, what I really needed was a fun night out. Luckily, the roster scored a free night on the road due to a house show booking being cancelled. Their loss was our gain. A completely free evening on the road was rare and couldn't go to waste. The possibilities were endless...well almost. Layla had a brilliant idea to have a girls night out. It had been a long time since we'd all gotten a chance to hit the town.

I slipped into one of my slinkiest dresses and headed for the door.

"Where are you going dressed like that?" Seth asked nosily.

"Off to meet the girls! We have a free night and I don't intend on wasting it."

"Sounds like a good time," he mumbled. I looked around to see all the boys kind of moping about.

"Well if you boys get bored, swing by and have a drink. You guys work hard and deserve a little fun."

"We might just take you up on that," Dean called out. I laughed and headed out the door.

Together with Kaitlyn and Layla, the trio of trouble walked into the bar club type place. The place was already in full swing. People were dancing, music was playing, and even games of pool and darts were in play. I could barely contain my excitement. It had been so long since we'd had a chance to do this and it was exhilarating.

"First Round is my treat. Try to grab a table some where and I'll meet you," Layla volunteered. Kaitlyn spotted a table in the corner and we hurried of to grab it. Soon our British buddy returned with three tequila sunrises.

"Thanks! Just what the doctor ordered!" I joked.

"Well drink up. We aren't the only WWE employees here tonight!" she replied. My stomach knotted up.

"Please tell me it's handy Randy!" Kaitlyn squealed.

"Please tell it's not," I groaned.

"Well, one of you is right," she giggled. "Don't worry he's here with some friends. I'm sure he wont bother you."

"I sure hope not. It's bad enough I have to work close with him all week, I definitively don't want to deal with him on my night off."

"Don't worry, we'll chase him off!" Kaitlyn announced.

"I'm going to hold you to that!" I warned.

"I say we chug these bitches, stop thinking about Randy, and get our asses out on that dance floor!" Layla said holding her drink up in the air.

"I'm in!"

"Me too," I agreed with a laugh. I raised my glass to theirs. We clinked glasses and the drinks went down the hatch.

Glistening with a teeny amount of sweat, we returned to our table for a little break.

"Man, I'm so glad we did this. I'm having so much fun," Kailtyn said with a big grin.

"I agree. But damn, I am fucking thirsty," I declared as I slammed the remainder of my drink.

"Me too. What does a girl have to do to get another drink around here!?" Layla whined. In some freak coincidence, a bartender happened to be coming over with a tray of drinks.

"Here you go ladies!" he said settling one glass down in front of each of us.

"Oh uh. We didn't order these. I think you may be mistaken," she said politely in her accent. I felt my blood run cold as I realized that they may very well be from Randy and Company.

"Actually, I know you didn't buy them. Some gentlemen bought these for you. Hope you enjoy!"

"Awesome!" Layla cheered, picking up her glass. She didn't care where the hell they came from.

"Wait! Two questions: first, which guys sent them and second, what are they?" I asked curiously.

"Well, the guys at your...three o'clock...and the drinks are Screaming Orgasms." We all broke out into laughter, remembering the last time we'd received this beverage. I was still with Team Hell No back then, which felt like a million years ago now. Dean had been the sender that night, finding himself to be quite the jokester. Sure enough, I looked around the bar to see my Shield boys with shit eating grins across their faces. I was filled with relief instantly. I raised my glass in a cheers motion with the girls. The boys did the same. I had a feeling that this night was about to get a lot more interesting...things always got more eventful when the Shield was involved.

I slammed my drink and headed over to the devious looking trio...I was surprised it was indeed a trio. Roman tended to skip out on our drinking outings, usually choosing to call his fiance instead. Evidently, he made an exception tonight.

"Well here looks like some trouble!"

"Us? You are the trouble maker, missy!" Seth shot back.

"Well I...whatever. Fair enough! Thanks for the drinks. We were so parched!"

"Glad we could uh...quench your thirst..." Dean shot back cheekily. I felt my cheeks redden slightly...perhaps it was the alcohol.

"As a proper thank you, let me buy you gentleman a drink," I offered.

"Stone, we aren't going to let you buy!" he replied shaking his head.

"Why not?"

"Because chicks don't buy dudes drinks!"

"Of course they do. Besides, I believe I owe you guys a few screaming orgasms!" I replied a bit too loudly. The guys at the next table looked over with shock on their faces. The Shield erupted into laughter.

"Better watch out, you're going to accumulate a lot of admirers saying shit like that" he joked.

"Very funny. Now people think I'm either a prostitute or a bar skank!"

"Anybody have any penicillin?!" he called out. I whacked him in the arm.

"If anybody is infected around here it's probably you!" I teased.

"She has a point," Seth agreed.

"Fuck you guys!" he chuckled before chugging some of his drink.

"Oh Dean, know should have known better than to make STD jokes," Roman chided.

"Why do I hang out with you guys again?"

"Because you love us, thats why!" I replied with a laugh.

After some shenanigans with the boys, I rejoined the girls on the dance floor. Once again I got lost in the beat of the music.

Eventually, I began to grow a little tired. I looked around to see what the guys were up to. Seth and Dean were playing pool against some dudes in the corner. They seemed on edge as one of their opponents positioned their cue and carefully hit the cue ball. Dean angrily dropped his stick as the other team high fived. He began talking feverishly to Seth, who in turn shook his head and walked away. I left the dance floor to intercept him at the table.

"Hey, what's up with Dean? He seems a little pissed off."

"Oh, he's fine. Just getting beat at pool. They keep playing for money...you know, the usual men's pissing contest, which is fine. I just don't want to lose money a third time tonight," he said with a chuckle. "We're down a hundred. I don't feel like losing any more."

"So basically, he's not going to let up until he wins back his money?"

"Exactly. You know him. He's always so competitive. It doesn't help that he is a little drunk at the moment. Dean is always all in when he drinks."

"Well, don't you worry, Seth. I'll take care of it!" I declared as I marched off.

"Be careful!" he shouted after me. He was always such a worry wort. I knew just what this situation called for. He just had to trust me.

I stopped at the bar and ordered a few tequila shots before carrying them over to Dean.

"Hey Titty Master, drink up!" I demanded handing him two shots. He smiled a big goofy grin. Apparently forgetting that women don't buy men drinks.

"Sure thing, sweetheart." We clicked our shot glasses together and shot them back. We repeated it again with the other glasses.

"So what are you guys playing?" I asked as I twirled my hair between my fingers all ditsy. Dean looked at me carefully, sussing out the situation.

"Pool," one of the guys answered. He had a douchey goatee and a bedazzled shirt. Upon laying eyes on my cleavage. He perked up a tad and became a lot more friendly.

"Oh...how do you play exactly? You seem to be really good at it!" I asked a little flirty. Playing dumb was so easy and men like Douche goatee ate it up. He was quick to explain the rules to me in a dumbed down fashion. Lucky for me, Dean picked up on my intentional dumb blonde routine and saw what I was trying to do. He was trying his best to suppress an amused grin." I wanna try it. Deany, can I be your partner?"

"Oh I don't know...we were playing for money, Raven. We don't want to hog the table," he said pretending to deter me.

"Aww! You're no fun," I pouted.

"Well, uh...Raven, if you are willing to put up some cash, we'll play ya." I looked to Dean for approval. He nodded slightly.

"Can we do it? How much do I need to wager?"

"$100?" he suggested.

"That's too much. You just learned how to play!" Dean insisted. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a $100 bill to show them I was serious.

"I'm in! I don't know if its me or the tequila but I'm feeling good about this!" I said with a giggle.

"All right!" Goatee cheered as he high fived his teammate. The teams split to opposite sides of the table. He leaned in close to me.

"You know what you're doing?" He asked softly in my ear.

"Oh yeah. I'm going to make these jabroni's my bitch!" I whispered back. He laughed heartily.

"Alright."

Our opponents did the initial break since they were running the table. They quickly established themselves as stripes.

"Your turn," Goatee chimed cockily. I smiled and picked up the pool cue. I approached the table.

"Here, Sweetheart, let me show you how to hit it." He came behind me pressing his body against mine. A shiver went down my spine as we slowly bent over the table. He positioned the cue in my hands. "Put your hands like this...then slowly strike the cue ball." The ball hit the intended target but didn't go in.

"That was a good first try," our opponent said with a grin. He thought he had this in the bag.

We cycled through everybody until it was my turn once again. This time I was going to show them what really could do. I bent over the table and positioned my stick. I forcefully struck the cue ball. It collided with two balls, first sending one into the right corner pocket and then ricocheted into a second ball, that flew into the middle left one.

"How was that?" I asked with an innocent smirk. The shocked expressions on my opponent's faces brought me a flurry of joy.

"Looks like you have some beginner's luck!" Dean remarked.

"Yeah...some luck..." Goatee mumbled. It was just occurring to him that I suckered him into this.

We kept playing and balls were quickly diminishing. Finally, we were all out of solid balls. All we had left to hit was the 8 Ball to finish the game.

"Alright, Stone, don't let me down now!" Dean cheered.

"No pressure then?" I joked as I positioned my cue. "Alright, gentlemen...I'm going to go ahead and call he left corner pocket."

I pulled the cue back and hit the cue ball directly. It soared right into the 8 ball sending it into the corner pocket.

"Yes!" Dean called out. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up. I dropped the pool cue onto the floor and hugged him back as he began to spun me around in celebratory circles. We were both laughing wildly as our opponents angrily threw our money onto the table and walked away. He lowered me down so my feet were back on solid ground. I still stood close to him as Dean took our winnings into his hands.

"We did good, Dean."

"You are quite a con woman. I can honestly say that I'm impressed."

"Well I am quite impressive in many areas. I don't know why you always seem so surprised," I joked.

"Well, Ms. Impressive, I say we go buy ourselves some celebration drinks!"

"Good idea. Annihilating jabroni's makes me thirsty." He instinctively put his hand on my lower back and guided me to the bar. While he was conversing with the bartender, I looked around curiously at the rest of the establishment. That's when my eyes fell upon the Viper in the flesh for the first time tonight. I quickly whipped back around to face the bar.

"What's wrong?" Ambrose asked a little confused

"Randy is here."

"What!? Where is he?"

"Like uh...five O'clock." Dean turned his head casually.

"He's slowly making his way over here...so if you want to avoid a confrontation we should probably relocate. But if you want to stay right here, I'm okay with that too. I wont let him mess with you, Stone."

"I know. Uh... Layla and Seth are over in the back playing darts. Let's just go back there. We're having a fun night, I don't want to ruin it with a Randy encounter."

"Sounds good." Dean handed me a drink and then put an arm around my shoulders. He pulled me close and led me safely to the back to our friends. I watched Randy turn back around to rejoin his friends. Crisis averted.

Roman looked positively miserable sitting by himself at the table, beer in hand. I broke away from the group at the dart board to approach him. It was hard to see him so down. I wrapped my tan arms around his left bicep.

"Hey Romey," I said softly.

"Hey Ray. Having a good time?"

"I am but I'd be having an even better time if you were having fun too."

"I'm having plenty of fun," he insisted.

"Bullshit. You look like you are at a funeral."

"I'm content."

"First of all, I don't believe you for a second. Secondly, content isn't good enough. I need to put a smile across that pretty face of yours! Come on...come dance with me!" I asked with a pout. A smile finally crossed his lips.

"Alright. Just don't make fun of me. I'm not a great dancer."

"Don't you worry about that," I assured him as I grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor. The beat was fast but we jumped in right away. Our bodies close together and in compete rhythm. A few songs passed before Roman completely relaxed. Of course, up next, a slow song came across the speakers changing the mood.

"Wanna keep dancing?" He asked, coyly offering me his hand. I took it.

"I do."

"Good." He used my hand to pull me closer. My body against his, I placed my hands on either side of his neck. His big hands found my waist. We swayed to the music truly content.

"So, are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" I asked looking into his bright eyes. I could see how conflicted he was. He wasn't sure if he should tell me but I could tell that he wanted too. "You know that whatever you tell me is just between us. I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'll be okay, Ray. I just...I'm going through some stuff."

"Maybe I can help you. Sometimes talking about it helps," I volunteered.

"I don't think you can help me with this one, but thanks for the offer," he said with an amused chuckle.

"Well I can't bare to see you down, Rome."

"I just don't want my personal life to interfere with work. We are doing so much with the Authority, I want to just focus on that. We can't really afford to be distracted right now."

"That might be true. Look, if you want to keep it to yourself, you can. That is your right after all. Just know that I can keep your secrets. Then you don't have to be on your own with whatever you are dealing with."

"I know...I just...she left me," he said in a hoarse whisper.

"What!? Galina left you?"

"Yeah. She just couldn't do it anymore. I can't blame her. Me being on the road has been tough on her and our daughter."

"I'm so sorry, Romey."

"Thank you...on another note, know of any apartments for rent back in Tampa?"

"Not off of the top of my head. But I do know of a room for rent..."

"Really? Where would that be?"

"My house. I've got an extra bedroom."

"I couldn't possibly impose on you like that."

"It wouldn't be an imposition. Honestly, we already know we get along great from being on the road with each other constantly and it would be nice to have a little company at a the house."

"Really?"

"Really. If you want it, it's yours." A big smile crossed his face.

"Thank you, Ray. You don't know what this means to me."

"It's no big deal," I assured him. He gave me a little squeeze and I rested my head on his chest. Out of the corner of my eye I once again caught the stare of Randy. He looked generally peeved at my closeness with the Samoan. He shook his head and headed towards the club exit. He wasn't even going to try to approach me now. It was nice to have a night without incident...but I couldn't say it would stay that way at work. Randy was used to getting his way and this probably wasn't going to go over well...

Sorry for the long delay! My life has been hectic! I hope the slightly longer chapter helps make up for it!

I really want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to check out this story. It's been getting a lot of views and it means so much to me that you guys seem to be liking it so far. I have been having so much fun writing it. I hope you all will keep on reading to see what Raven gets herself into and see more of the Shield's shenanigans! Feel free to leave me some more reviews and feedback!