"Mox!" Cody called.
"Yeah?" Jon asked.
"Roman's outside in the parking lot. He wants to see you," Cody said.
"Why didn't you let him inside?" Jon asked.
"He refused," Cody shrugged. "He says he needs to speak to you. It's important. He looked serious. You better go talk to him."

Jon nodded and went down the hallway. Roman had never appeared at AEW before so it had to be important. If it could have waited, Roman would have just texted Jon and asked him to reach out whenever he felt like it. Jon opened the door and flashed a toothy smile at Roman.

"Have you finally decided to jump ships?" Jon asked.
"You know I'll never do that," Roman answered.
"A man can try," Jon smirked. "So what brings you here?"
"You need to call Bryony," Roman said.

Jon's smile dropped by the mention of his four year younger little sister. They didn't have much contact. She had called him a month ago. She had sounded desperate but he was sure she was just acting out. He had promised to call her but he never did.

"Jon, please," she pleaded. "I need your help."
"I can't talk right now. I'll call you back," he said.
"When?" She asked.
"As soon as I can. Probably tomorrow," he answered.

"You promised to call her back," Roman said.
"Yeah, I know. I've been busy," Jon furrowed his brows. "Wait, how do you even know that? I haven't told you."
"She's in my house," Roman said.
"What the fuck is my sister doing in your house?" Jon bared his teeth in anger. "Are you fucking her? You're fucking her, aren't you? Typical her to whore herself out to the first available man."
"Hey!" Roman yelled.

Jon stopped talking. He hadn't seen Roman that mad before.

"She called me at 3 AM because her own fucking brother promised to call her back but never did. You're a fucking asshole, Mox. She needed your help and you couldn't fucking bother to listen. She had no one else to call. In one final desperate attempt, she reached out to me of all people," Roman said.

Roman took a deep breath and stared at Jon. Jon shrugged in return. He and his sister had never been close.

"Why though?" Jon asked.
"Do you even care?" Roman asked.
"Sure," Jon said. "What could be so wrong that she would call you? Did she break a nail or something and needed big old Roman to blow on it. She always had a thing for you. We both know that."
"Gee, I don't know what could be so fucking important," Roman sneered. "Maybe the fact that her boyfriend beat the shit out of her and locked her up in the basement. I had to kick in the door to get her out of there. Luckily the idiot forgot she had her phone on her when he threw her down there. Who knows how long he would have left her there? He wasn't home when I arrived. It was probably for the best because I would have fucking killed him."

Jon swallowed hard. He might not be close to his sister but she didn't deserve that fate.

"So she's been with you for a month now?" Jon asked.
"I watched her blossom over the last month," Roman sighed. "It's a shame you don't care enough to see the woman she's become. She's an amazing person."

Roman pulled his car key out of his pocket and clicked it. The car beeped as it unlocked. He walked the few steps back to it, opened the door and looked over at Jon again.

"You know," Roman sighed again. "Maybe it's a good thing you jumped ships to AEW because I honestly don't think I would be able to stand seeing your face almost everyday at this point. I hope you wake up before it's too late. There's only so many times a person will try to build a bond with you before they finally give up. She's about to give up."

Roman got into his car and drove away. He put his head phones in his ears and called Bryony.

"Hello?" She asked.

As soon as he heard her voice, he could picture her sitting on his couch all curled up under a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book. Her piercing blue eyes caught up in reading word after word. Often she didn't notice him staring at her when she was lost in a book. He would just sit there and soak in the strawberry blonde, curly haired woman's beauty.

"I went to see Jon," he said.

There was a small pause and then a sigh.

"Why?" She asked.
"It was the right thing to do. He needed to know," he said.
"He never called me back," she said.
"I chewed him out for it. I told him you're at my place," he said.
"Did you tell him...?" She started.
"That we're together?" He finished with a little chuckle. "No, I didn't feel like getting castrated tonight."

She chuckled on her end too. It was just one of those things that had happened after he broke her out of the basement and helped her out of her ex boyfriend's house. They hadn't planned for it. It just came natural.

"So how is he?" She asked.

She was trying to disguise it but he could hear she was crying.

"Don't cry, my flower," he said.
"I'm not," she said.
"Don't lie either," he said.
"Fine," she choked back a sob. "I'm fucking crying, alright?"
"It's okay," he said.
"Why doesn't he love me?" She asked.

So many things he could try to say but they would all be lies. He refused to lie to her no matter how much the truth hurt. Jon didn't love her. He never had. He was 4 years old when she arrived to the world. They were just too different, and no bond between the siblings had ever been formed.

"I don't know," he said.
"It hurts," she mumbled.
"I know, my flower," he said. "This isn't on you, Bryony. I know how hard you tried. I watched him ignore thousand of calls from you over the years. He never could be bothered for some reason. But you know what? Fuck him! Don't waste anymore tears on him. He's not worth it. I'll be home soon. How about we cuddle up together with whatever horror movie you want to give me nightmares tonight?"

He could picture her smile. She loved horror movies and he had watched his fair share of them with her. They always freaked him out but he loved that feeling. She would always put her arms around him and shield him from the gore on the screen, and he would lie there in her arms with a smile on his face. The entire world felt right when they were together.