"Jayme…Adam's here to see you" Katrina sang as she entered the room and pulled the curtains open "The dogs could do with a walk as well"

"Not a chance" I groaned pulling the covers over my head trying to block the light out that had come blaring into the room.

"Come on Jay he seems really upset…think of all the times he's been there for you the past couple of months" She pulled the covers from over me earning a scowl in return from me.

"I don't want to see him Katrina"

"Jayme…he is your best friend!" She snapped "Now get up…I'll tell him you'll be down in a minute" I had no chance to answer as she had left the room already. I sat up with a groan and began getting dressed, why couldn't she just keep her beak out? I thought to myself as I slipped on a pair of trainers and made my way down the stairs. "Adam I'm really worried about her you know" I heard my aunts voice whisper from the kitchen, I stood still for a moment listening in "She went straight to bed after you dropped her off home last night I've not seen her like that in a while….I know Gavin's been around…I'm not stupid…She thinks I don't know but people around here talk"

"She'll be fine" I heard Adam answer.

"I'm glad she has you" she whispered back, I scoffed at that sentence and continued my way down the stairs and began putting the leads on the dogs completely ignoring Adam as he came into the hallway and said hi.

"Make sure she eats something" Katrina whispered to him obviously thinking I couldn't hear a word.

"Come on let's go" I sniffed opening the front door without looking at him, my eyes were already filled with tears at the mere sound of his voice, I was scared that if I looked at him I wouldn't be able to hold what little resolve I had left together. We walked in silence for what felt like an eternity. "Sorry Adam…was there something you wanted?" I snapped suddenly even surprising myself with the sharpness of my voice.

"Just to apologise" He uttered like a schoolboy who had just been shouted at by a teacher.

"Ok" I replied with a shrug "Is that it? Because if it is I need to go"

"Please Jay…"

"NO ADAM!" I spun on my heel to face him, he had been a step behind me the whole time "I'm done being walked all over by people…You don't get to treat me like this"

"I know…I'm an arse"

"That's an understatement" I snapped.

"Come on Jay just listen to me"

"There's nothing you can say that will make this better Adam…you behaved the way you did, got into my head and then said it didn't mean anything"

"I didn't mean it like that"

"How else can you mean that?" I asked my rage bubbling as I spoke.

"I don't know…but please just come to mine for breakfast and we will talk"

"I'm not hungry" I mumbled.

"I'm not taking no for answer…you can be as angry as you like at me but there's no way I'm letting you go today without eating something" His face was serious; he had looked so sorry and down the whole conversation but now his face had turned serious, and I knew there was no point in arguing with him. I called the dogs, and we made our way to the house.

I sat at the breakfast bar in Adams' kitchen all the dogs together for the first time and playing happily away in the living room and on the balcony that looked out over the woodland. I took a sip of the coffee Adam had handed me and continued to watch the dogs refusing to be the first to talk.

"Eggs on toast, ok?" He eventually asked breaking the silence between us, I nodded in response. I continued sipping my coffee and watching the dogs, every few moments I snuck a look at Adam out of the corner of my eye as he cooked, I bit my lip and blinked away the tears. How was we going to be friends if I couldn't even look at him? "I know I have a lot of explaining to do" he said placing two plates on the breakfast bar and taking a seat next to me.

"Yeah" I breathed as I absent mindedly played with my eggs.

"The past few months of knowing you and building this friendship have been amazing and I've come to care for you so much…more than I know is appropriate for someone who is in a relationship with someone else" He explained "But I don't care how inappropriate it is nothing will ever change that in me…I want you in my life too much" he looked me dead in the eye as he spoke "We've had a couple of moments now where I've crossed the line of friendship and that was wrong of me and for that I'm sorry…I shouldn't have played with your feelings like that" He grabbed my hands in his, this stunning green eyes bore in to mine pleading with me to forgive him "We are friends and that is all it can ever be"

"I just don't understand why you would kiss me and touch me like that if you didn't mean it" I told him remembering every moment of how it felt as we kissed, our hands all over each other's bodies. Adam shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Like I said I've never made any secret of the fact I find you attractive" He answered "I clearly need to learn to control that" He laughed a little scratching his beard "There's 20 years between us Jay you don't want an old guy like me".

"YOU were the one guy in the world who I thought could never…and would never hurt me and you did…I don't care that you don't want more than friendship with me Adam I care that you made me feel different and that I could trust you and then you threw it away in seconds…that's the problem here…I'm not secretly harbouring feelings for you or anything" I lectured, I was telling the truth up until the very final part, I did now have feelings for Adam but there was nothing I could do he had chosen Beth on more than one occasion making himself and his true feelings for me perfectly clear.

"It kills me to know I've hurt you like that Jay…I swore to myself I would always protect you from feeling like that…I guess I just didn't realise that maybe it was me you needed protecting from in the end" He still hadn't broken eye contact with me and I could have sworn his eyes flickered to my lips a couple of times "Now please can we be friends because I miss you"

"I miss you to" I smiled ever so slightly biting my bottom lip.

"Well shit you're not about to make this easy for me, are you?" He laughed putting his hand on the back of my head and kissing the top of my head.

"And you're not about to stop confusing me are you?" I retorted wrapping my arms around his neck giving him a hug.

"Doubt it" He chuckled "But everything I've said today is true" He said pulling back slightly to look me in the eye our faces not for the first-time inches apart "I can't imagine my life now without you in it" He said resting his forehead against mine.

"I don't even want to imagine my life without you in it" I admitted. "When do you leave for Raw?" I asked changing the subject as I sat back and began to eat my breakfast.

"I start a week on Monday, but I fly out to Tampa on Friday to prepare, why don't you take a couple of days off work and come with?" He asked "You could see how things work before you make any concrete decisions"

"Ok" I agreed with a smile.

Are you free?

Jayme x

I text Isabelle as I left Adams house with the dogs, he had wanted to spend the day together but I had refused telling him I had plans with Isabelle which wasn't entirely true, I didn't but I had to see her and tell her about everything that had happened between me and Adam when I had met him after work.

Gossip?

Isabelle x

Yes

Jayme x

Lunch, one hour, I'll meet you outside our office

Isabelle x

Sure enough an hour later me an Isabelle were sat in an Italian restaurant eating breadsticks whilst we waited for our food.

"So come on I'm on the edge of my seat here?" She laughed having put emphasis on the word, Isabelle knew exactly who Adam was and what he had done for a living, she had 3 brothers who were all mad on wrestling so had no choice but to watch it growing up.

"Ok" I said nibbling a breadstick "So he took me to the gym…." I began.

"The gym…" She interrupted horror and confusion written on her face.

"Yes…it's kind of become our thing over the past couple months, he's been showing me how to wrestle I guess" I shrugged.

"So you two…were sweaty and in close contact…and that's your thing" She mulled this over for a second playing with a breadstick in her hand "And you're telling me…" She thought for a moment "You've never slept with him" she pointed the breadstick at me, I grabbed it breaking it in half.

"No…I haven't" I snapped "Anyway…" I continued "He gave me a pair of wrestling boots…Thanks" I said as the waitress brought our food over to the table, Lasagne for me and pasta for Isabelle I finished telling her everything as we wait, from Paul offering me a contract to Adam saying the kiss didn't mean anything.

"Don't believe it" Isabelle shook her head "That guy has feelings for you I know it" She stated "In fact I'd go as far to say he's probably in love with you"

"We spoke today" I told her completely ignoring her last ridiculous comment about him being in love with me, Isabelle moved closer to catch every word. "Nothing like that" I shook my head "He said he was sorry he'd crossed the line of friendship and that he's made no secret that he's attracted to me but that's all it is and that we can't be any more than friends I said everything so fast I wasn't sure she had caught everything as she sat silently for a moment after I had finished.

"Did he say it can't be anymore more than that or he doesn't want it to be any more than just friends" She asked.

"I can't remember…does it matter?" I asked.

"Yeah…if it can't be more than that then there's something stopping him…if he doesn't want it to be any more than that then that's him clearly saying he has no feelings for you" She explained.

"You're reading far too much into this" I told her with a small shake of my head.

"Be careful" Katrina said pulling me in to a hug "Adam looks after her please" she told him with a stern look. Usually, she would melt with Adam he could do no wrong in her eyes but this was the first time I was going away since moving to Asheville, she was incredibly protective of me and whilst sometimes it was frustrating I couldn't help but enjoy having a motherly figure around.

"Of course," He smiled. John stepped towards me and gave pulled me in to a hug and whispering in my ear.

"Be careful" although he had the same words for me that my aunt had they had a very different meaning, Katrina meant look out for criminals, don't hurt myself whereas my uncle was very much talking about Adam. Ever since he had seen me upset over Adam, he had taken a very subtle but obvious dislike towards him, he had been completely against me going away to Tampa with Adam for a few days.