*A few months later*

I had just gotten home from yet another double shift at the hospital. It was ridiculously tiring and hard to make plans to do anything when I could be asked to work doubles, holidays, and my 'normal' days off. I laid my badge and keys onto the counter and turned on the kitchen light. I couldn't be too upset though, all the doubles had led to me having enough money to buy myself a new car and my own house. It was small, but it was mine. I was so thankful for my job, even though I was unable to do much of anything else besides work due to staff shortages. I yawned as I stretched and kicked off my shoes. I just wanted to go to bed. I was lost in my own thoughts.

"Boo!"

I screamed and grabbed my chest in surprise as I saw his face, laughing at me for actually "getting me" for once.

"Not funny." I said as I playfully smacked his chest and gave him a hug.

"Another double?" he asked.

I nodded.

"I figured, you didn't answer my call or texts."

"Yeah, that's 3 this week. I'm so tired." I said running my hands over my eyes.

"Aub, seriously. Why stay? They treat you like shit and we never see each other because of our schedules. Come on the road, take Vince up on his job offer."

In all honesty, I had been thinking about Vince's offer a lot lately. There was a knock at my door and I slowly trudged towards the door, feeling zombie like due to exhaustion. I opened the door to find Jeff at the door.

"Hey Bree." He said hugging me.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned.

"Just came to say hi… Is that a crime?" he smirked at me.

"Hey Aub…"

Jeff's eyes rose as he stared at me. "Who's that?"

Before I could answer, Adam walked into the room and stared at Jeff. Adam walked towards us and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Hey Hardy."

Jeff looked confused. "What's he doing here?" he directed to me.

I took a deep breath, there wasn't any sense to lie or down play it now. My secret, low-key relationship was out now. I bit my lip, "We're dating."

"Oh really?" he snorted. "Well, I'll see you." He said as he turned to leave.

I looked at Adam and quickly followed Jeff.

He was storming towards his car, ignoring my calls, so I quicken my pace.

"Jeff!" I screamed as I reached him.

He stared at me. His eyes looked cold as he stared through me.

"Talk to me!" I screamed.

"I didn't mean to disrupt. Go back to your boyfriend…"

"That's not fair."

"Well, it doesn't matter to me what you do anyway. Just remember, I see how he is when we're on the road." He said as he nudged his way into the car and pulled off.

I walked back into the house, feeling upset, but knowing I hadn't done anything wrong. Adam looked at me.

"Didn't go well?" he asked.

"That's an understatement."

"Sorry." He said kissing my cheek.

I attempted to get ahold of Jeff for 2 weeks. He refused to answer my phone calls, texts, and every time I went to his house, he wasn't home. Shannon told me he wasn't getting involved in it and to give it time. Truth is, I didn't do anything wrong. Jeff and I had shared one 30-second-long kiss in the 9th grade and NOTHING since. It's not like I cheated on him or led him on. Jeff was my best friend and the fact that he was so mad at me, hurt me.

"If he doesn't want to talk, I don't know why you keep calling him. He will get over it…" Adam's voice echoed in my brain as I held my cell phone in my hand idly dialing Jeff's number once again. I knew Adam was right, but part of me was deeply upset by Jeff's lack of involvement in my life since he discovered the relationship between Adam and I.

"Aub, seriously, you just got to leave him alone. When he's done sulking, he'll call you." He said as he touched my shoulder.

I watched him as he walked around the kitchen gathering his cell phone, jacket, and duffle bag. He looked up at me and smiled. "Are you ready to go?" he asked me softly.

I smiled and swung my purse over my shoulder as I followed him out the door. I turned to look into my living room once more before closing and locking the door.

I'd talked to Vince, quit my job at the hospital, and was now on my way to the show in Dallas with Adam. Vince as promised had offered me a job instantly and the Dallas show would be my first day as a WWE medical staff employee. My mind was racing with all the excitement and fear of my new job running wild in my head. Part of me loved the fly by the seat of my pants lifestyle which Jeff and Matt had been experiencing. Half of me feared the freedom from structure and "normalcy". We finally arrived at the arena and Adam held my hand as I stood frozen in the parking lot.

He smiled at me. I loved that smile. I followed him into the arena. As we walked towards the medical office, he greeted and introduced me to staff and superstars alike. I loved how Adam referred to me as his girlfriend. I felt like I was sixteen years old, but I loved that corny schoolgirl feeling it gave me.

Matt approached me with a huge grin on his face. He reached out his arms to me and embraced me tightly. "Ohhhh, look who finally decided to join us on the road!" he laughed as he held me. "I missed you, Bree."

"I missed you too Matty." I said softly. Part of me now was scanning the room for Jeff. The Hardy brothers were like salt and pepper shakers: always close by. I didn't see him. I think Matt sensed I was looking for his younger brother and softly whispered. "He's not here yet."

I bit my lip. I felt deflated. "Does he know about me being here?"

"Of course, he does." Matt hesitated.

I looked at him, I felt the tears beginning to line my eye lids.

"Bree, he's hurt. He's mad about you and Copeland. He's mad that you'd come on the road with Copeland but not us. He feels like you backstabbed him."

I bit my lower lip as I stared at Matt. I had to think of my words carefully, trying not to break down in tears, but I really wanted to. Adam saw my face from across the room and he now was shuffling towards us looking concerned. "And how do you feel about it?" I asked fighting the tears.

Matt smiled. "I love you regardless and whatever makes you happy, makes me happy. Hey, I am just glad you're here."

I felt Adam's arm wrap around me protectively. "You, ok?"

I nodded my head as I smiled at him. I turned to Matt, "I'll see you later?"

It was more a question than a statement but he nodded and smiled as I walked away with Adam.

"What was that about?" Adam asked as we walked towards the office. His arm wrapped over my shoulder, and his other managing both of our duffle bags. I loved his chivalrous manner he had about him. His father left at a young age and his mom raised him to be a gentleman always.

"Jeff… of course. What else?" I tried to smile.

Adam shrugged his shoulders. "Screw him Aub. He's not being a good friend to you so I don't understand why you are so concerned."

"He's always been there for me and I love him like a brother. I feel like I am being punished for doing something wrong and I didn't." I could feel the tears being to trickle from my eyes. I hated being emotional, especially in front of Adam. It made me feel vulnerable. Adam placed the duffle bags onto the ground and pulled me into a hug. I began sobbing into his shirt. Half mad at myself for crying in the first place, and more so for losing total control of it. I could feel his hands on my back running up and down my spine in an attempt to calm me. I felt safe when he held me. Maybe it was because of his size compared to mine that felt like a brick wall holding me.

"Aub." He called as I continued to bury my head into his well chiseled chest. "Hey." His voice had a slight laugh to it as he tried to nudge me face from his chest. "Look at me…"

I lifted my head slowly. I could feel the redness of my eyes and cheeks as I attempted to rub the tears from my face. I looked at him feeling ashamed.

He looked at me as he nudged his finger under my chin in an attempt to lock eyes with his. "Jeff will come around. I hate seeing you like this." He spoke.

I looked at him for a minute. He smiled at me and had that

He pulled me into a passionate kiss. That type where the girl's foot always pops into the air type of kiss. I tangled my fingers into his long, wavy blonde hair as he physically lifted me from the ground.

Our passionate moment was interrupted by a loud sound. It startled both of us. The source of the bang, a steel door leading outside, had been kicked opened. As we looked around for the source of the sound, I noticed the door slowly coming to a close. I looked at Adam with pleading eyes and turned towards the door. I pushed the door opened and found myself in the parking lot of the arena. I looked around knowing that Jeff was out here somewhere.

I spun to see Jeff siting on a piece of metal smoking a cigarette. He looked so mad. So unrecognizable to me.

"Jeff…"

He hung his head sadly at the ground. "So, you quit your job to work here for HIM but not for Shan, Shane, Matt, or me?"

"It's not like that!" I screamed.

The cigarette hung from his lips as he glared at me. "Then why wouldn't you work for Vince when he first asked you?"

"Because I had a job!" I screamed at Jeff.

"Well, good luck to you both." He said as he flicked his cigarette and walked back into the building, leaving me more confused than before.

Chapter 6+

After Jeff stormed back into the building, I was left in the parking lot in a jumble of emotions. That annoying to describe emotion where you aren't sure if you want to break down in hysterics or inflict bodily harm to the person who made you feel that way in in the first place. I placed my hands over my eyes and tried not to cry. I never was a big crier in general, but I would not allow myself to cry over this. I hadn't done anything to deserve this treatment from my life-long best friend. I felt like the girl in 'The Scarlett Letter' and it wasn't even deserved. I looked up to the sky and noticed the stars were beginning to appear like glitter on the darkness of the sky. For the first time ever I felt angry towards Jeff. Before now, I had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Hell, I even tried to put myself in his place and give myself insight to his behavior. I'd given the situation more attention in the past few weeks than anything else. Attempting to figure out where Jeff was coming from, why he felt anger towards me, etc. I had mentally exhausted myself trying to get inside his head. As the anger boiled and pumped inside of my veins, I thought back to the interaction between us only moments ago. My mind was racing and in the play back I thought of how it would have played out differently if I would have hauled off and slapped him or scratched his eyes out with my fingernails. My evil thoughts were interrupted when a hand touched my shoulder. My body jumped from the surprise and I cautiously turned around to face Adam.

"Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you." He said in his soft, calm voice.

My heart was still racing from his touch and my anger from the Jeff situation. I looked at him and couldn't muster any words. I reached my arms towards him and embraced him tightly. My actions surprised him, that much was obvious, and he took a second to embrace me back.

"Aub? What's wrong?" he asked with concern as he embraced me tightly.

When Adam held me, I felt safe. Untouchable even. The same way I used to feel when Jeff would hug me back home in Cameron.

I pulled away from him, just far enough to look into his eyes. I touched his jaw with my hand as I continued to look into his eyes. "I just don't understand him."

Over the next 3 weeks, I worked at all of the shows. Matt had been around but not as close as we used to be. There was a wall there, a wall named Jeff no doubt. Matt would joke with me but not like it used to be. He looked guilty for the distance so I knew it wasn't completely his doing.

"So how are you Bree?" he asked nervously.

"I'm fine. How are you?" I replied quickly. It sounded like he was fishing for information and to be quite honest, I was angry with him, as much as Jeff, for how he'd treated me.

Matt bit his lip. "Does it need to be awkward?"

"I don't know? Does it?"

Matt shook his head no. He smiled. "Sorry Bree, you grew up on me. It's hard not to see you as the little girl with braids and a band aid on her knee." He said as he left the medical office and went towards the dressing rooms.

I felt minorly bad for my attitude towards Matt, but I was tired of being treated like dirt just because my 'friends' didn't like my boyfriend. Neither had ever given me a reason why, but their reactions screamed it. I didn't care anymore. Adam had never given me a reason to doubt or mistrust him or his feelings for me. Maybe before we got together, he was a one-night stand type of guy on the road. I never asked him, I didn't care about what he did before me.

I was watching the show on the television in the office. Jeff and Matt were in the ring with Adam and Jay. It was a ladder match which caused me some anxiety just from a medical staff's position. Regular matches have enough bodily risk as it is, but add height and weapons; it's just a recipe for disaster. Exciting, yes, but dangerous. Not to mention, Adam was less than thrilled about how the Hardy brothers had been treating me, so he wasn't the most professionally minded individual to be having a ladder match with them. I watched the match cringing the whole time. Their bodies falling from the top of the ladder and crashing onto the mat, and a lot of times, they all looked like they were hitting each other a little too realistically.

The match ended with Matt and Jeff being the winners and I knew I could expect Adam and Jay in my office soon enough. After all his matches, Adam always comes to my office and hangs out with me. This is my main reason for knowing he's not up to anything behind my back. I heard shouting from the hallway. I quickly ran to the door and saw what I already expected to see: Adam, Jay, Jeff, and Matt.

"You got a problem with me?" Adam screamed at Jeff.

Matt and Jay stood back and watched the situation.

Jeff sneered at Adam and rolled his eyes.

"Punk!" Adam screamed as he shoved Jeff backwards.

Jeff started laughing as be regained his footing. Jay was trying to nudge Adam towards the office, while Matt was attempting to get Jeff to leave the vicinity.

I stood in the hallway watching, I was pretty sure that none of the boys had noticed me.

"You have no idea what you put Aubree through! For months she's been upset about you and you don't even care! Is it because she chose me? Or because you're mad you weren't man enough to tell her you had a crush on her since high school?" Adam yelled.

"I don't have a crush on Bree!" Jeff screamed. "Don't talk to me about her! You only have known her a few months, I've known her years!" he yelled inching closer to Adam's angry face.

"So you do have a problem with me?" Adam yelled pushing Jeff backwards once again.

"You know I do!" Jeff screamed slamming his chest into Adam.

The two were nearly nose to nose and looking like an eruption could occur at any moment. I walked towards them. "Stop!" I screamed.

Jay and Matt were attempting to break it up, but me being my stupid self, jumped right between them.

**Boom**

I felt my face burning and a surge of pain filled my cheek. I felt myself fall onto the floor and instinctively, my hands went up to cover my face as I sobbed. I heard all of them yelling and I felt Adam next to me.

"Look what you did! You piece of trash!" Adam yelled.

"Bree! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" Jeff screamed as he tried to get close to me.

I felt Adam pull me closer to his body and block me from Jeff.

"Get him out of here!" Jay screamed as he stood above me.

I managed to understand what had happened. I ran between Adam and Jeff and Jeff had accidently punched me. I caught a glimpse of Jeff's face: pure terror as Matt drug him away.

I held my face with both of my hands. It felt like fire. My head was pounding so hard I felt like I could vomit. Adam was screaming at one of the other medics for an ice bag as I sat on the folding chair.

"This is ridiculous!" Adam snapped as he kneeled in front of me. "Here, love," he said softening his tone as he removed my hand from my face. The sting of the ice hurt more than the burning feeling. I winced in pain. I could tell by Adam's face, that my face looked bad.

"Jay!" Adam yelled unnecessarily considering Jay was standing right next to me.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Stay with Aubree please?" he asked but it sounded more like a command.

Jay's eyebrow rose. "Sure, but…"

"Don't worry about it…"

I knew what this was about. "Adam! No!" I yelled as I jumped up to my feet. "Don't!" The sudden movement made my sick feeling intensify. I felt light headed instantly and felt like my legs could give out on me.

"Aub, sit." He said as he guided me back onto the chair.

"It was an accident. I know he wouldn't hit me on purpose!" I shouted.

"Aubree, he hit you. Regardless of if he meant it or not." Jay spoke.

I shot him a dirty look. One eye completely swollen shut and all. This is not the type of opinion I needed in Adam's head right now. Yes, my face hurt like hell and I was very close to seeing stars, but I know in my heart of hearts that Jeff never meant to hurt me. The look of pure terror on his face proved that to me. He swung on Adam, and I being an idiot jumped in between two huge, grown men. What did I expect? Apparently, I didn't expect a nice welt on my cheek and a sealed left eye. Adam looked like he was going to find Jeff and string him up from a tree, and then have all the guys hit him like a piñata. I grasped Adam's hand.

"Please don't." I begged softly.

He patted my hand and nodded. "I won't do anything, just because you asked me. Otherwise…"

I smiled knowing how badly he wanted to go see Jeff. "Thank you."

Adam and Jay insisted on taking me to the ER for a checkup. I knew my cheek bone was broken without needing an x-ray. The doctor came to us and said what I already knew: it's broken, there's nothing they can do, and it'll reset itself. Adam hated when I was right, I tended to enjoy it. Since the incident, my phone had been ringing off the hook. Between Jeff, Matt, Vince McMahon, and others I knew my battery would die long before I could get it onto the charger. Once we left the hospital, Adam was on the phone with the airline making arrangements for the three of us to go home since there was a three-day break from shows and appearances.

"Jay, you're going to home?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, I need to go see my mom every so often." He smiled as I laughed about him being a 'good son' knowing how close both Jay and Adam were with their moms.

"Yeah, hello. I need 2 tickets to Cameron, North Carolina and one to Toronto." Adam said.

I smiled. Jay laughed. "Someone's getting company."

Adam looked at me with embarrassment in his face. "Is that ok?" He quickly asked.

I nodded my head. I thought it was sweet actually. Jay laughed at the both of us. We arrived at the airport and said bye to Jay.

"Take care of her," he laughed as he 'one arm' hugged Adam. He turned to me. "Feel better sweetheart. Remember lots of ice, lots of rest, no sweating or screaming." He said the last part with a perverted smirk.

"Shut up!" I laughed as I slugged him on the upper part of his arm.

"Slugger, watch her Adam. She's violent." He laughed.

"Bye Jay." I said as I hugged him.

After Jay walked towards his gate, Adam and I were alone. He reached for my hand and held it tightly.

"Sorry I couldn't get an earlier flight." He said softly after we'd sat down on the uncomfortable plastic seats.

"It's ok; we only have to wait an hour." I laughed. "And that's better than a layover in Charlotte."

"You ok?" he asked.

"I got socked in the face by my best friend and now my face looks like Barney the dinosaur. I'm fantastic." I said sarcastically. "I'm just tired and sore.

Adam smiled. "You look amazing. Purple and all."

Once we arrived at my house, Adam carried our bags to the bedroom. I slept most of the way on the plane and had been fighting to keep my eyes opened on the ride home. For three days, we avoided the world and never ventured out of the house. We lived off of take out and on-demand movies. I hadn't answered any calls or returned any texts the whole time I was home. I didn't want to talk to anyone about the fight or my face. I didn't want to talk to Jeff especially. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of my mirror attempting with no great success to cover up the huge black, blue, and purple bruise on my cheek. It looked terrible and no amount of cover up would help. I sighed as I looked at my reflection. We were leaving tomorrow morning and my face still looked swollen and nasty. Adam walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist as he nuzzled my neck. I smiled as he ran his hands up and down my body. He started kissing the nape of my neck softly. I heard him giggle slightly as he began unzipping my hoodie. His hands traced my sides as he continued kissing my neck. His breathing changed slightly as his hands rested on my hips. I turned to face him.

"Aub, I love you." He said placing his hands on both sides of my neck.

His blue green eyes were magnetic as I stared at him. I always knew my parents, family and friends loved me, however Adam made me feel loved in a way I'd never experienced before in my life. Hearing people describe the feeling of being in love as 'butterflies in their stomachs' always sounded odd for me, but looking into his eyes made me feel this feeling so perfectly for the first time ever. His touch gave me goosebumps and sent chills down my spine.