ATM: The Bonehead and the Brain – The Black Heart Diaries
After her movie with John Cena and the Rock becomes a Hollywood hit Sasha Banks pitches a web series called the Black Heart Diaries and offers Bayley the lead role based on her diary.
Chapter Two – The Fords House
The Fords' House, Orlando, Florida, 3pm
Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford were asleep on the couch in the living room after playing a video game tournament online for the past 3 hours. Bianca Belair was picking up all the litter boxes from all the food they'd eaten, not to mention the clothes that had been discarded after they got back from the gym. She was horrified by their lack of basic housekeeping which seemed to have materialised out of nowhere. A week ago Dawkins and Ford would never have been so messy but ever since Seth Rollins moved in the Ford household had become a college dormitory. Now Shawn Michaels was coming over to speak to Seth and Belair didn't want the DX founder to think she couldn't keep a house, a house that was a lot easier to keep before Seth moved in. Seth wasn't messy at all, he was a lot like her. He was organised, tidy and helpful but the Street Profits were messy, haphazard and being a burden to her right now and she had to put a stop to it.
"Hey!" Montez cried out as Belair pulled him off of the couch.
"What the Hell?!" Angelo cried out as Bianca hit him across the head brutally waking him up. "Do you know how sensitive my head is?"
"You're sleeping in the afternoon, don't you see how messy this place is since you guys started messing around down here? What has gotten into you two?" Bianca asked perplexed and Montez smiled at her.
"Relax my baby, we're just adjusting to our new environment," Montez said and Bianca furrowed her brow at him.
"Your new environment? What are you talking about?" Bianca asked and she threw a discarded white t shirt at him. "Put that in the wash basket and quit being such a pig. HBK is coming over here in a minute to see Seth and I can't have him think we live like this!"
"The shirt's not even dirty I was just putting it on to see if it still fit," Montez explained.
"Brother you better slim down, you've been eating like a pig lately," Bianca admonished her husband.
"The shirt is too tight but its not because I've been overeating; its because I've been bulking up," Montez said flexing his muscles.
Belair observed her husband's upper body and there was a marked difference.
"Seth's only been living with us for a week and I've already piled on ten pounds of muscle. I love that dude!" Montez said and Belair nodded with appreciation as she paid attention to her husband's most improved physique.
"Okay I was wrong you guys are doing something good but can you please keep the house tidy?
A clean house is a blessed house and I want the blessings of God to stay with us and not run out of here because of all these empty burrito boxes," Belair explained.
"That's why we're so relaxed though," Dawkins said and Belair frowned at him. "We have the blessings of God with us; we have the Prayer Warrior Seth Rollins in our home and as long as he's here, we'll have God in our corner forever!"
"So we can eat like pigs, play online video games for hours and sleep like babies in the middle of the day and still be good with God," Montez added.
"What the Hell are you guys talking about?" Belair asked confused.
"Seth Rollins is an intercessor, that means he prays to God on our behalf. He can ask God just to overlook all of this and God will be like "Cool," Its just like Noah, Abraham and Moses. They prayed for the people even though they were messing up real bad and God spared their lives," Dawkins said incorrectly.
"That's not what happened; God destroyed the Earth, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the people of Israel died in the wilderness and never made it into the Promised Land. The only guys that made it out were Joshua and Caleb!" Belair reminded them.
"Right and I'm Joshua," Montez added.
"And I'm Caleb," Dawkins said. "You're the noisy woman who got leprosy for criticizing her brother instead of banging her tambourine and praising God like a good Christian woman. Where's your tambourine Bianca, where's your praise? All this nagging is gonna get you in trouble with your brother Moses, aka, Seth Rollins, our intercessor our Prayer Warrior who turns our messings into blessings,"
"I am not Miriam," Bianca Belair said offended. "Miriam was racist, she didn't like Moses marrying a black woman,"
"Uh-huh and you don't like Charlotte Flair hanging out with us, why? Because she's white!" Angelo said in disapproval.
"I will not live in a world where the beautiful and talented Charlotte Flair is not welcome in this house. Get your leprous behind outta here and go get your tambourine Miriam!" Montez admonished his wife.
"Stop calling me Miriam I am not racist. Charlotte Flair is welcome in this house but ain't nobody gonna wanna be in this house if you two don't stop turning it into a dump. Don't let me tell you again!" Bianca said and she left the Street Profits to go and join Seth at the gym but the Prayer Warrior had already come back and was about to head upstairs to his bedroom. When she opened the door Shawn Michaels was standing there with a smile and they embraced.
"Belair how nice to see you," Shawn said to her and she welcomed him in.
"Sorry I lost track of the time I gotta go to the gym. Make yourself at home the boys will get you something to drink," Belair said.
Seth followed her through the back door of the house and cut her off before she headed to the Performance Center.
"Oh," she said surprised to see him. "I thought you were still at the gym?"
"I was its 3pm you said you were gonna be there but you never showed up," Seth said and Bianca sighed.
"I'm sorry I was tidying up the house," Bianca explained.
"Why?" Seth asked her giving her his water bottle. She always broke out into a sweat whenever they were alone together. It was amusing to Seth that even when married he still had the ability to make strong women feel weak in the knees.
"Because those two dudes are making a mess and I don't want to live in a messy house," Belair explained before taking a swig of Seth's water. "So I guess I'm going to have to work out by myself since you're already back and Montez won't get off the couch,"
"Did you notice how good he looks?" Seth asked him and Bianca smiled amorously.
"I did, why do you think I'm sweating? Because of you? Please." Bianca said putting Seth down and giving him back his water bottle. "I may give you a glance every now and then but don't get it twisted honey I only have eyes for one man and that's my husband, but I appreciate you tryin a see if you still got it,"
"I still got it," Seth said confidently finishing his water.
"I could never get him to build muscle like that. I guess he just needed to have you around to encourage him. I've not been doing a good job of that lately, now he thinks I'm a racist character from the Book of Exodus called Miriam," Belair said.
"Why because you don't like Charlotte Flair and your husband does?" Seth said shaking his head. "Your husband misinterpreted that chapter. God didn't give Miriam leprosy because she was racist, He gave her leprosy because she criticised her leader. Moses was chosen by God to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and Miriam tried to influence him. She put herself in position that made Moses look like he couldn't make decisions about his own love life. She was wrong and God punished her for it,"
"So it didn't have anything to do with the fact that Moses married a black woman?" Bianca Belair said and Seth shook his head.
"No, the woman he chose to marry was his choice and God didn't have a problem with the choice he made. Sometimes you gotta do what's right for you and not let your family or cultural values determine who you decide to go to bed with at night. You know what I mean?" Seth said and Bianca nodded.
"Yeah so I'm not Miriam because I don't have a problem with interracial relationships. I'm not with Montez because he's from the same racial background as I am but that's not always the case. If Charlotte Flair finds black men attractive I don't have a problem with that, I just have a problem with Charlotte Flair because she's Charlotte Flair, period," Bianca said and Seth nodded. He knew that in a few weeks Bianca would be singing a different tune and she would have a huge problem with Charlotte Flair. Period.
For now Seth kept that very private information given to him by Trish "The Truth" Stratus to himself. Once God had revealed that secret to Belair he would be there to support her through one of the most painful periods in her marital life.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Bianca asked Seth who had stopped talking for awhile being deep in thought.
"I'm just thinking about how awesome it must have been when your husband realised that I'm the best thing that ever happened to his sex life," Seth said and Belair blushed and headed off to the gym leaving Seth smiling.
"I hate you Seth Rollins!" Bianca yelled from down the road as Seth continued to tease her about her unspoken crush on him. It was all in good fun and it gave Seth something to do while he was ignoring his own wife whose new movie was climbing the box office charts.
His phone was popping with notifications from all various media outlets singing the praises of Sasha Banks, saying that she was the breakout star of 2023. "Sasha Banks is a revelation", said the Los Angeles Times. "The brightest star on the Hollywood horizon has arrived!" said the Hollywood Reporter. There were also several articles about how Sasha Banks was destined to be an actress and follow in the footsteps of John Cena and The Rock. Seth had no problem with that; he was happy for his wife's success. It wasn't her newly re-invented persona that was eating away at him, it was the fact that she hadn't called him in a week after the dons of Hollywood started praising her. She was clearly doing fine with Roman and Dean, John and Dwayne and as long as she was happy and the baby was healthy and secure, nothing else mattered. Not even him.
"Is that how you really feel Seth?" Shawn Michaels asked Seth Rollins as they sat quietly together by the pool at the Fords' house.
As the Street Profits resumed their online tournament the two wrestlers now Christians discussed Seth's marriage. Seth told HBK exactly how he felt about Sasha being in Hollywood and Shawn listened closely and let Seth speak uninterrupted. Seth had just told him that Sasha in effect was better off without him and HBK had a hard time believing that. As far as Shawn was concerned this was just all a trick by the enemy to weaken Seth's resistance to temptation which was easier now more than ever before because his armour bearer had been taken away from him. Alexa the Great made Seth impenetrable to Satan's attacks, now that Lil' Miss Bliss had been re-assigned to Hunter and the DX family, Seth had no-one to run interference on his behalf and he was rushing the field unprotected and his mind was getting cloudy.
"Why didn't she call me Shawn? She's nailing it in Hollywood right now and I find out about it via social media. I would have loved to have shared that moment with her but instead Roman and Dean got to share that moment with her because she's mad at me for kissing Bayley. I don't know what else I can do to convince her that the kiss didn't mean anything and that it was strategic to get Bayley out of hot water with Remi and RJ Orton," Seth said.
"That's not what this is about," Shawn said gently. "The spiritual implications of what you did are totally lost on Sasha because you kissed another woman, the woman she has been in a battle with for the majority of the year. She thinks you went back on your word when you promised to love her and only her. So now Sasha's gone back to her old ways; she's gone back to being the Boss, to having men at her beck and call, to being the center of attention," Shawn leaned forward with a smile and Seth wondered what he was smiling for, "You wanna know what the good news is Rollins?"
"I would love to hear some good news right now Shawn," Seth said gently, this fight with Sasha was really taking a toll on him.
"The good news is that this version of Sasha Banks is the version you love. She's on top of the world and everyone has to look up at her and if you're not on her level she'll walk right passed you, right into her limousine with her entourage by her side and expensive designer sneakers on her feet. When she walks people turn and stare because they respect the swagger, the confidence, the effortless charm of being the Boss that everybody wants to work for. That's the Sasha Banks you love and she's more like that now than she was ever before thanks to this new movie career of hers," Shawn explained.
Seth nodded, "You're right, I do love that version of my wife. So what are you saying that I shouldn't have a problem with her not calling me to celebrate her success in Hollywood?" he asked thoughtfully.
"Would the old Sasha Banks have called you to celebrate her success?" Shawn asked Seth and the Shield member shook his head.
"No, I would have called her," Seth replied and he looked down at his phone. "I just can't,"
"Why?" Shawn asked Seth concerned as Sasha's husband furrowed his brow.
"Because she doesn't get it, she doesn't understand my assignment. If God tells me to do one more thing that she doesn't understand it will be the same thing all over again," Seth said. "If I call her she'll just tell me that I was wrong,"
"So be wrong," Shawn said. "Let her be right or at least let her think that she's right. Marriage isn't about winning battles Seth, marriage is about letting your spouse think that they're right even when they're not. You need Sasha to go to bed thinking that you're on her side, right now she thinks you're on Bayley's side. You have got to show her loyalty, that's the only thing a Boss understands,"
Seth sighed, what Shawn was saying made total sense. Seth was on her side but he was in Bayley's corner. He really believed that his actions brought Bayley one step closer to a total turnaround and he was right to do what he did. But that didn't matter right now, all that mattered was that Sasha knew he still wanted to be with her.
"Okay, I'll call her now," Seth said and Shawn smiled.
"At a boy Seth, call me after if you wanna talk. I think you'll be on the phone for awhile," Shawn said and he kissed Seth on the forehead fondly before joining the Street Profits on the couch for a game of whatever it was they were playing.
Seth dialled Sasha's number and waited for her face to pop up on the screen. When Sasha's face appeared her face was already made up like she was heading for a photo shoot: just like a Boss.
"What do you want Seth?" Sasha said fixing her hair like she was in front of the bathroom mirror.
"I just wanted to call and say congratulations on your movie being such a great success. You did it, you lit Hollywood on fire and I'm proud of you baby," Seth told her honestly.
"What took you so long Seth? The reviews came out last week why am I only hearing from you now?Is Bayley there with you?" Sasha said angrily.
"Please let's not fight I don't wanna fight I wanna make up with you. I mean you look so good I've never been so turned on while being cussed out," Seth replied and Sasha laughed much to Seth's delight.
"I'm so glad you called Seth, it really turns me on to know that I still turn you on. Next time don't wait so long to tell me you're hot for me, the Boss has needs and I expect every single one of my needs to be met, especially by you. We're a team and there is no room for hatred in our team," Sasha said.
"So you still love me?" Seth asked swooning, Shawn was right calling Sasha was the right thing to do.
Sasha propped up her phone and laid back on her bed with her legs crossed.
"Do you still love me?" she asked him sweetly and Seth nodded, his body hardening at the sight of his barely dressed wife on her bed in her bedroom nightwear which comprised of a red pyjama shirt and sparkling champagne coloured panties.
"I still love you," Seth replied nodding.
"So you love me, how is that better than being here with me right now?" Sasha said. "I'm pregnant, I'm sexy, what's missing from this picture? What is the one thing missing from a sexy pregnant woman?"
"The man who got her pregnant," Seth replied and Sasha applauded him.
"That is correct! So when are you gonna get here? You gotta tell me now because I've got a meeting with some executives later on today," Sasha said.
"How's my body?" Seth said making sure Sasha could see his upper body up close.
"You look better than you did the last time we were together. Have you been doing extra lifts?" Sasha asked him impressed.
"I'm living at the Fords' house and I'm showing Montez Ford how to build more muscle. I must have put on a few more stacks of muscle in the process. Bianca could not be happier even though she can barely look me in the eye when I'm walking around the house," Seth said and Sasha nodded.
"I love Bianca and Montez their love is so pure. Is Bliss out of the picture now?" Sasha asked.
"Yeah she's been re-assigned to Hunter I don't have my Maid of Armour anymore, however I do have some news about Bianca Belair," Seth said.
"Is she pregnant too?" Sasha asked hopefully.
"No but she's got a Gift from God," Seth said and Sasha's face darkened.
"A Gift from God, you mean like how God gave you a Gift and Alexa a Gift?" Sasha said disappointed. "How come she gets a Gift and I don't?"
"Its good Sasha, she's been given the Gift of Trust, it means that she can keep and reveal secrets to protect the DX roster and family. She knows stuff that no-one could ever possibly know and we'll have the knowledge to use against our enemies. That means you too babe, aren't you happy for her? This is going to make things better for all of us!" Seth said enthusiastically.
"So God gives you another woman with a badass Gift, what the Hell do I have that I can use to help you in this spiritual battle we're all allegedly fighting?" Sasha said emotionally. She felt left out and Seth remembered what Shawn said about Sasha not having any spiritual understanding and not to dwell on it.
"You're having my baby," he said lovingly. "and that's the greatest gift of all,"
Sasha teared up and smiled, her face was suddenly bright and cheerful. Seth had said the right thing at the right time and he was reaping the benefits of Shawn's wise counsel, "I can't wait to have your baby Seth. You make me so happy," she said adoringly.
"Wow that's the best thing I've heard all day, I don't think I can spend another second away from you," Seth said wiping tears away from his face.
"So you're coming to L.A?" Sasha asked him hopefully.
"I gotta check with Hunter and Shawn but I think it should be okay. I'll call you later to let you know when I'm coming," Seth said.
"I can't wait," Sasha said and her face softened along with her voice. "You're so loyal to me. I'm so glad you finally came to your senses instead of following that b*** Bayley around like a stray dog. I'm glad the Boss and Architect are back together again but the next time we fight and yes there will be a next time baby, don't wait so long to do the right thing or else there won't be a next time let alone a Face Time, do you feel me?"
Seth looked at his wife enraged, "Do I feel you?" he repeated in revulsion. "Consider this my first and final warning to you Sasha, do not ever talk to me like that again, I am your freakin, husband!"
Sasha chuckled blithely dismissing Seth's indignation, "You're so cute when you're angry. See you on the West Side b***,"
Sasha pressed her well painted red lips against her phone to Seth's face and Seth adhered to his most primary urge and he kissed his screen back in response. As furious as he was with her tone and overall disrespect, she still turned him on and the inevitability of having sex with his wife was more satisfying to him than fighting with her. Even a virtual kiss was exciting, having her real lips pressed against his was a powerful motivator for restoring the broken parts of their marriage which were far less enjoyable though much more important.
He smiled at her cocky, self-assured face before she ended the call: her face reminded him a lot of his own cocky, self-assured face when things were going his way back when they were just friends breaking into the industry together. It's what made her disrespectful behaviour so forgivable and the fact that he was Christian now certainly helped him from going off on her too hard.
He pocketed his cell-phone and went to his bedroom to pack some of his stuff. He called to Shawn on the way back down.
"Shawn is it okay if I go to LA for the weekend? I made up with Sasha and we wanna spend the weekend together," Seth said.
"You can go but on one condition: bring Sasha back with you," Shawn said.
"You want me to tell Sasha to leave LA? She's gonna say I'm getting in the way of her movie career," Seth said.
"You're her husband Seth and you need her here. Hollywood will follow her wherever she goes, you're assignment is here. She needs to fall in line and be with you when you need her. You come first," Shawn reiterated.
"But I thought you said I should show her loyalty, isn't that what I'm doing by meeting her half way by going to LA?" Seth said.
"Yes and now she has to respond to your humble gesture by coming back with you. You're the head of your household. In real life you're the Boss Seth, not her. I won't let you go if you can't guarantee me you'll bring her back with you," Shawn said and Seth sighed. All he wanted to do was make love to Sasha, all this husband and wife stuff was making things way too complicated.
"Okay I'll bring her back, now can I go?" Seth asked.
"I'll see you on Monday," Shawn replied.
"And can you take my wife with you?" Montez Ford said.
"You want me to take Bianca Belair away for the weekend?" Seth said.
"I wouldn't want you to go out to LA on your own," Montez said.
The idea of seeing the look on Bianca's face as Seth flew her across the country without her husband was enough for Seth to do it.
"I can't wait to tell her the good news, that her beloved and most cherished husband Montez Ford want her out of the house," Seth said.
"Break it to her gently Seth," Montez said as Seth took his travel bag and jumped in the car to get Bianca and tell her that she was going to be his travel buddy on his trip to LA to reunite with his outrageously disrespectful, yet irresistible hot and sexy pregnant wife.
"Looks like it's just the three of us this weekend boys, I hope you like the Bible because I've got an online seminar about Jesus with both your names written on it," Shawn said cheerfully.
"I love Jesus!" Angelo Dawkins replied.
"Great so do I!" Shawn said and they hi fived to the Lord while Montez answered his cell-phone.
"Hello my baby, " he said to his wife. "yes I did say it was okay for you to go with Seth to LA, no you can't come back here to finish cleaning the house. Bianca Belair as the head of this household I am telling you not to come back to this house! Bye-bye!" Montez Ford said and he hung up on his wife. "My wife is very upset, what is it about Seth that makes her so nervous? He's a cool dude and he's the only thing keeping us from getting into trouble with God, I say the more time she spends with him the better,"
"And the more time Bianca spends out of this house the better," Angelo Dawkins said and Shawn smiled at the friendly mocking of Belair's discomfort at being alone with Seth Rollins. She would have to get used to it now that Alexa Bliss was on re-assignment to Hunter, as unlikely as it seemed, EST was about to spend more time out of her own house while Seth tried to get the Boss back in his.