Chapter 49

Somehow, Anisa ended up traveling with Jon from Smackdown! to East Rutherford, New Jersey, both of them sharing a room instead of getting separate ones. Little did she know Jon made sure she'd be stuck with him for the duration of WrestleMania week and weekend. One way or another, he would get through to Anisa and make her see the truth. That included making her drive with him to the IZOD Center for WrestleMania Axxess, where thousands of fans were waiting to meet the Superstars and Divas. They would part ways for the duration of the signings and then Jon planned on taking Anisa back to the hotel for more alone time together. He was her only ride considering Mia was stuck at the hotel on bed rest, Coralie was busy setting up the WrestleMania set at MetLife Stadium, Ryanne was too sick from her pregnancy and Krystal was training with Michael since this would be her first WrestleMania. So unless she hitched a ride with someone else, highly unlikely, Anisa was stuck being with Jon.

Jon would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about Axxess and WrestleMania, having the window cracked halfway with a lit cigarette between his fingers while Anisa drove. What if he stunk the joint out? Ever since he first found professional wrestling on his small television in the small apartment he lived with his mother in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jon was hooked like an addict to heroine. It was an escape from the crappy childhood he endured and at age 16 he began conquering his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. 10 years later, -Jon had recently turned 26 in December- he never thought in a million years he'd be wrestling at the biggest event in professional wrestling history. Granted, they called it 'sports-entertainment', but to Jon it would always be dubbed professional wrestling. He was a professional wrestler – not an entertainer, no matter what the bosses claimed.

Glancing over at Jon, Anisa suddenly pulled over on the side of the road and put the vehicle in park, watching Jon's head snap around to stare at her wide-eyed. "What's wrong?" She demanded, feeling the apprehension oozing from every pore of his body.

"What do you care? We're only fuck buddies, remember?" Jon shot back gruffly, taking another drag from his cigarette and held it in as long as he could. Or tried to, until Anisa smacked him upside the head forcing the smoke to release from his mouth and nose. "What the fuck?!"

"You are so full of shit!" Anisa exclaimed, midnight eyes narrowing to slits and merely glared at him knowingly. "And yes, we are only fuck buddies, but you're more jittery than usual. So what gives?" Showing concern for him wasn't a smart move, but Anisa was human and did have a heart.

"I'm fine, drive." Jon tried again, growling when she smacked him a second time and shot a deadly scowl in her direction.

Anisa rolled her eyes, waving him off dismissively. "Please, take that curled lip somewhere else. You don't scare me, Dr. Feel Good." She immediately looked away from Jon as soon as the nickname slipped out of her mouth, cursing herself mentally. What the hell was she doing?!

Another chip in her armor, Jon thought, when he heard the nickname and he couldn't stop a small smile curving his mouth. "Nice to know you still care about me." He couldn't stop baiting her if he tried, enjoying messing with her to see what made Anisa tick.

"Just shut up!" Anisa snapped, annoyed and stared straight ahead, pursing her lips tightly together. "You gonna tell me what's bothering you or not?"

Jon knew she wouldn't budge the vehicle and he would either have to come clean about his nerves for WrestleMania or walk the rest of the way to the IZOD Center. It was too cold to do that, even though the sun shined brightly outside. He could hear the worry in her tone hidden behind annoyance and Jon decided it wouldn't kill him to confide in her. Anisa had done it enough ever since the night outside of the arena back in February when all of this began. Hard to believe it'd only been a little over a month and so much had happened since then. That was the life of a WWE Superstar though – unpredictable at every turn.

"My nerves are a little on edge about Mania." Jon confessed after a few minutes of silence between them, his eyes turning to stare out the window.

That confused Anisa because this wasn't Jon's first rodeo and he'd been in the professional wrestling business a long time. "Why?" She had to ask, turning her head to look at him the same time Jon did, their eyes locking again. "There's no reason for you to be nervous."

"The hell there isn't!" Jon crowed, arching a brow at her and knew Anisa would understand what it was like performing in front of the WWE fans because she'd never been in the ring. "I've never wrestled in front of a huge crowd like this. There's gonna be around 80,000+ people I have to perform against along with Colby and Joe on Sunday. I've never…I mean I've been wrestling a while and – you see, wrestling in front of that many people compared to like 15,000 is a lot of pressure. I'm good at what I do, but…this is the biggest event in pro-wrestling. It don't get any bigger than this."

He was adorable when his words became jumbled and the rambling started. "So you're afraid of sucking in front of 80,000+ fans? Since when are you afraid of anything?" Anisa smirked, reaching over to take Jon's free hand in hers and squeezed it. "You have nothing to worry about, Jon."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because this is where you're meant to be. Everything you've gone through and suffered has lead you to this moment. When you step into MetLife Stadium and walk through the 80,000+ fans during your entrance, it's your time to shine. You've got all the tools and you know what it takes to put on a 5 star performance. You proved that last year at TLC and that was your first match – Colby and Joe's too. And you guys tore the house down and made fans start believing in all of you." Anisa released his hand to cup Jon's face in her hand, caressing his cheek with her thumb. "I believe in you."

Her words went directly to his heart and Jon reached his hand up to cover hers, lacing their fingers together. She'd been so cold toward him lately because of his marriage situation, but in this moment Anisa had warmed him from the inside out with her heartfelt words. Anisa meant every single thing she said and it showed in her eyes, never once breaking eye contact with him. If she believed in him so strongly being a wrestler, than some part of her had to love him. Keeping eye contact, he flicked his cigarette out of the cracked window and suddenly brought her mouth to his and kissed her, pouring every ounce of feeling into it. Anisa could only melt against him, the kiss taking her breath away and sending electric volts throughout her body combined with an overwhelming warmth. It was so intense, Anisa felt tears sting her eyes under the closed lids and kissed him back with equal amount of passion, not pulling back until Jon broke the kiss.

"Why the tears?" He whispered against her trembling lips, pressing his forehead to hers while swiping them away with his thumbs.

"I don't know…" Anisa sounded helpless and defeated, finally lowering her gaze from his pulling away to place her hands on the steering wheel. "W-We have to get to Axxess." Putting the vehicle in drive, she headed back on the road and the rest of the trip was made in silence.


It was pandemonium. Nothing Mark couldn't handle though. He was used to this, not believing this was his 21st WrestleMania. He'd missed only 2 in his career, which is why he wasn't going on 23-0 instead of 21-0. Phil didn't stand a chance against him on the grandest stage of them all. He smirked at the thought of being able to pummel Phil and Anisa would have no choice except to watch from the back. The boy was in for a night of pure hell and if Mark had his way, Phil would not walk out of MetLife Stadium of his own volition. While waiting for the rest of Axxess to be setup, Mark's eyes glanced at the entrance and zeroed in on his ex-wife with…Dean Ambrose. Another rookie. Not only was she screwing around with Bray Wyatt, but now Dean Ambrose as well? That didn't set well with him at all considering they were members of the biggest factions currently in WWE. He would have to put a stop to it and would wait for the perfect opportunity.

A few hours later, Mark finally got a break from signing and meeting fans, standing to stretch his legs. He headed to the back for a cup of much needed coffee and stopped, spotting Anisa walking into a room labeled employees only. This was the only chance he'd get Anisa alone and Mark couldn't pass it up, heading in the direction of the backroom. Michelle was currently at a local spa getting the royal treatment, so Mark could do what he wanted without her lurking around. Tapping on the door, Mark heard Anisa's voice flow through it to enter and he smirked, twisting the knob walking inside, the door closing behind him. There she was at a computer looking up something and the scent of flowers hit him in the face, the same scent that attracted him to her from the beginning.

"So when did you decide to start whorin' yourself out to the rookies?"

Anisa heard that low southern accented voice and whipped around in the chair she sat in, not expecting Mark to be the one to walk in the room. She was looking up some information for Rick regarding WrestleMania in his email and had to retrieve more pictures for the Superstars since everyone was running low. Basically, she was errand woman at Axxess and anything the Superstars or Divas needed, they came to her. She didn't mind for the most part, but dealing with her ex-husband was definitely a task Anisa didn't want.

"It's none of your business what I do with my personal life, Calaway." She tried keeping the anger out of her voice and failed, standing up from the chair folding her arms in front of her chest. "I'm busy doing my job, you should be doing the same thing."

"See that's where you're wrong, darlin'," Mark paused, stepping closer to her with glowing emerald eyes full of evil intentions. "EVERYTHIN' you do is my business, includin' who. Fuckin' rookies doesn't look good for your reputation."

Didn't he understand divorce meant they were no longer joined together? They could live their lives separately and do their best to avoid speaking? No, apparently not. Mark always had a problem with being berated and his possessiveness had reached an all-time low. Where the hell was his bimbo wife when she was needed to handle her husband?

"No, that's where YOU'RE wrong, asshole. I'm not yours anymore, get it through that thick-skulled redneck head of yours. I can fuck whoever I want, when I want and how I want. And my reputation was ruined the moment I said 'I Do' to a lying, cheating mother fucker like you." Anisa smiled coldly, keeping her voice cool and calm, knowing that would irk Mark to no end because he was purposely baiting her.

Her frosty demeanor definitely got under Mark's skin because she wasn't falling for his game. "Nissy, if anythin' bein' married to me HELPED your stupid ass, which is why you still have a job with the WWE. If it wasn't for me, you'd be nobody." Mark stated, beginning to back her up against the wall of the room by the computers and placed both of his forearms on either side of her head, acid burning in his eyes. "And if those rookies can have a piece of you, then one more romp with me won't hurt."

He still owed her for the little stunt she pulled at the arena kicking him twice in the genitals and embarrassing him in front of everyone. Not to mention destroying his friendship with Glen. Whenever Mark promised a punishment, he always kept his word and things would be no different with his smarmy ex-wife. It was time she was taught to respect her superiors and used her mouth for something for more than spewing insults. Anisa swallowed hard at his words and knew what was coming next, the obvious intentions in his eyes. She had to get away from Mark, knowing there was no way to overpower him. Without thinking twice about it, the moment Mark's mouth lowered to capture her mouth Anisa brought her knee up and nailed him between the legs as hard as she could. It was a good thing she wore dress pants instead of a skirt that day. A vicious roar resonated throughout the room as Anisa ducked under Mark's arm while he cupped his lower region, hightailing it out of there as fast as she could. Not watching where she was going, Anisa slammed right into a solid muscular chest and felt arms grab her upper arms, looking up into the bewildered bright blues of Bray.

"ANISA!"

What the hell was going on? Bray could feel Anisa trembling against him like a leaf and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hearing growling coming from the room she fled from. "Stay here." He ordered quietly, not wanting to attract attention to them and peeked in the room, eyes wide at the sight of Undertaker curled up in a fetal position on the floor with a crimson face. "Did you…?"

Anisa nodded, trying to learn how to breathe again because slamming into Bray had knocked the wind temporarily out of her. Bray smirked, admiring the honey blonde for standing up to the Deadman and shut the door, muffling the cussing and snarling a little more. She was still shaking, so Bray went back to her and wrapped his arms around her body, hugging Anisa close. Whatever happened between her and Calaway had scared the daylights out of her.

"Are you alright?" He asked in her ear once the shaking stopped and pulled back to look in her eyes. "Did he hurt you?"

"No…" Anisa didn't want to hurt Bray any more than she already had and extricated from his arms, wrapping hers around her body tightly. "I-I'm fine. Thank you for…whatever." Turning, she quickly hurried away from him to continue doing her job after stopping at the bathroom to clean herself up a little.

Bray could only watch her go, noting the confliction in her body posture and eyes, heading back to his signing table for NXT trying not to let it bother him.