Chapter 6
Maya left the store with more clothes than she ever had in her life at one time. She hadn't expected to have fashion tips from a man either.
"The red makes it look like your hair is auburn." Neville had mentioned when she picked up a red top. "Melissa would approve."
"Who is Melissa? If you don't mind me asking." Maya looked at the broad shouldered man before going back to her browsing.
"My wife, she was my wife. She died in an automobile accident some time back."
"I'm sorry. I lost a fiance the same way about a year and half ago." She said.
Neville made a humming sound but otherwise stayed quiet. Maybe she had bothered him with that question, so she decided not to bring it up again.
Dean had left the store earlier. Neville stuck around and Seth did, too, only he was busy with a series of business calls. By the end of the shopping trip, Neville helped Maya carry six bags of various clothing types out to Seth's Lambo.
Dean stomped out a cigarette. "Finally, I thought you guys would never leave."
"I thought you quit smoking." Seth said as he looked the guy over.
"Yeah well not everyone's perfect." Dean looked at Maya. "Get enough bras and undies, Mouse?"
"Like you'll ever find out." She responded.
"While you're staying with me, yeah I will."
"Seth, is there another place I can stay where I'll be safe?" Maya asked her soon-to-be employer.
"Not right now. I'm staying with Roman until my place is fixed up from renovations. Dean's not all that bad if you look beyond his shitty personality."
"It took me a while to get used to it," Neville said.
Neville said he'd be at Irish Whip to meet up with Finn, a man that worked for Seth apparently. Dean at least ate his tongue and didn't speak as they left. Neville drove his own car, a nice little compact silver speedster thing. Though they did manage to stop off to get Maya something to eat before going to the gym.
The drive was longish, but where they were headed was on the other side of Las Vegas. Irish Whip was a place Maya knew well because Jeremy went there when he wasn't on deployment. It was just the same Maya remembered it around a year and half a go.
Seth parked in front of Irish Whip, where the face of a flaming redhead man greeted them on the front wall.
"So you know Sheamus O'Shaunessy?" Maya asked offhandedly.
"Our bartender Cesaro is Sheamus' friend. He gives us a discount membership because I helped keep this place out of the red." Seth said.
Neville parked nearby and got out with an athletic bag. He nodded at Maya before walking through the electric front door.
Dean pushed Maya to the gym's door, which slid open for them.
Memories of walking into this place, smelling the manly smell of men working out, hit Mya in the face and chest. She stopped just inside the door, only to have Dean put his hands on her shoulders and steer her forward.
"Oy, I was wondering when you'd show up." The large white skinned redhead man stepped out from behind the counter. "Roman has been waiting for ya. Best not let him wait anymore."
"Hello to you, too, Sheamus," Neville said.
"Ah, sorry about that, Nevs. How is ya doing?"
Mya saw the barest of smiles from Neville. "Could be better, but we'll see how things go." He nodded at Maya and then headed towards the men's locker room.
"Oh, didn't see you there. Who are you, little one?" Sheamus asked as he looked at her.
"Oh, she's my little mouse. Maya Gilbert, Sheamus O'Shaunessy." Dean said, his front really close to her back.
She stepped to the side, but she didn't want to seem rude. "It's nice to meet you again, Mr. Shaunessy."
"Have we met before?"
"My fiance came here when he wasn't on deployment."
"A lot of the army folks come here. I might not originally be from here but I respect the military enough to give them a discount."
She smiled, but Dean grabbed her wrist and tugged her in a certain direction. Maya found herself in the middle of a large room with lots and lots of gym equipment, the kind that muscle-bound men were working on. Men with large arms, tight abs and one man that seemed to be lifting more weights than anyone else in the place. Of course, he looked like a mountain lumberjack with that beard and long hair pulled back in a ponytail.
The other bouncer, Roman Reigns, was stacking some dumbbells when Seth and Dean stuck behind Dean but he grabbed her elbow and pulled her around to be on his side.
"Hey, man. Can you watch the Mouse while I get changed?" Dean asked.
The man racked the weights and stood up. He and Dean were about the same height, but Roman was larger in muscle than Dean. Already sweating and bare-chested, Maya looked away when he reached for a towel near her hip.
"Yeah, sure," Roman said.
Maya stepped away from the weight station, just to put some space between the large man and herself.
"I heard Diane Rollins gave you some money for some clothes. Did you get everything you need?" Roman asked as he wiped off his chest.
"Yes," she rubbed her arm. "Um, they wanted me to wear normal clothes, considering Dean tossed out almost all my belongings."
Her voice faltered when she saw Neville walking next to a slightly taller bearded man. This man was beautiful. Just plain beautiful. She straightened out Dean's shirt when Neville and this beautiful man approached her and Roman.
"Maya, I want you to meet my friend, Finn Balor. Finn, this is Seth's new server girl, Maya Gilbert." Neville said.
"Nice to meet you," the man said in an equally sexy and beautiful Irish accent. "How are you, Maya?"
"I'm okay," she smiled regardless of how dry her mouth had gotten while trying not to focus on the fact that he was shirtless.
"Have you eaten, Maya?" Neville asked.
"Oh, uh, yeah. We stopped on the way here to pick something up. I ate in the car." She answered.
"Neville mentioned that you've been hard up lately. Is there anything you need? I'd be happy to help." Finn reached out and rubbed Maya's arm.
"Oh, no. I, uh, have to pay Seth and his mother back. He's given me a job, which is more than what I have had in the last year or so. But thank you." She smiled at him.
"Then how about a date?"
The man was really tempting, with that smile and those eyes, to say the least, he had a beauty about him that was almost otherworldly. Beguiling and playful. Everything Dean apparently was not.
As tempting as this man was, Maya shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm not, well I would rather worry about the job I haven't started first. But if you wait a little while, maybe a month, then we'll see."
"Sensible," Neville said with a nod of his head.
"Someone has to be." Roman spoke up. "If I remember right, you picked Seth's pocket…"
Her mood fell into her beat up shoes. Maya looked at her feet and rubbed the back of her hand as she knew the handsome man was looking more at her then than before.
"He caught you?" Finn asked.
"Dean did. But I didn't more than a hundred. Just enough for some food and get my clothes washed. That way I could impress the temp agency that refused to help me get a job."
"When I first came to American, I was sure I'd get at least a modeling job. Not that Chippendale dancing for women is worse, actually it's better." She looked at Finn. "If not for Seth, I wouldn't have a job. I wouldn't have met you."
Maya bit her lip to hide her smile. That man knew all the right things to say.
"How about you piss off Dean more, Finn?" Neville looked off at a spot in the gym. "His face is almost as red as Sheamus' beard."
"Why would he be mad?" Maya tried to look but Finn caught her chin and turned her back towards him.
"Has Dean staked his claim?" Finn asked.
"What? No," she tried to pull away from him.
"Then make this look believable." He went from touching her chin to touching her arm, rubbing it slightly as he drew her closer to him.
Maya continued to look at Finn while he talked about anything and everything. Neville purposefully turned away from what Finn was doing, making conversations with Roman who seemed to understand what was going on. So, biting the bullet, Maya pretended to act like she was interested in what Finn was saying, smiling at him.
"So, as you can see…" Finn started.
"Maya," Dean nearly growled out as he stomped up to them.
"Hi, Dean. Finn was just telling me an interesting story." She patted Finn's hand that was resting on her upper arm.
"I told you to watch her, Rome," Dean said as he pulled her away from Finn's grasp.
"There's nothing wrong with talking to someone," Roman replied.
Dean wrapped an arm around Maya's shoulders, pulling her away from the group further. Maybe Finn was right, Neville as well. Dean was trying to keep her away from Finn, but why? He'd never made any sort of advancements towards her before.
"How about that date, Maya?" Finn asked, but she caught the wink he sent her way.
"No," Dean cut in before she could speak. "Not going to happen."
"Can you be any more obvious, Dean?" Neville asked.
"What?"
"Jealousy doesn't suit you, Dean."
Seth approached the group. "Okay, let's get this workout going."
"Go over there and sit. Don't you dare move from that seat." Dean told her as he moved her towards a row of chairs near the front desk and the one-way windows that looked out at the parking lot.
Maya remembered those chairs. If Jeremy wasn't finished with his workout when Maya came to pick him up, she would sit there with a book or something and wait for him. This time around she had nothing to preoccupy her attention if watching large muscled men in various states of undress was something to ogle at. Maya watched the men, especially the ones with the bulging muscles and all, work out.
Dean, though not as muscled as Seth or Roman, he possessed a strength that equaled that of Jeremy. Dean's back flexed where his muscles moved under his pale flesh. His workout shorts worked their way down his hips. He'd have to pull on them to keep them in place. She would look away when Dean would look in her direction, usually to find someone else to watch, like Neville or Finn.
"Are you seriously that jealous?" Seth asked Dean who had stopped to look at his mouse.
"Shut up, Seth," Dean remarked.
"From what I saw, yes he's jealous," Roman said as he prepped his heavyweights.
"I'm not fucking jealous." Dean snapped at his friends.
Maya sat in her spot and hadn't moved. He would catch her watching someone, usually, it was Finn or Neville, but she'd look his way once in a while. Maya didn't move from that row of chairs as the men continued their workout.
"Jealous?" Seth asked. "That's the third glare you've given Neville and Finn since we've gotten here."
"More so at Finn than anything else," Roman remarked.
"I'm not jealous!" He yelled. Everyone, even Maya, looked at him. In response to Finn's amused ass grin, he flipped the Irishman off for it.
A slow smile spread across Roman's face as he looked past Dean. "Yes, Maya?"
She stood with her hands clasped in front of her. "I wanted to let Master Dean know I'm just going to the restroom. I didn't want him tearing the place up while I was gone."
"Fine, go." He waved her off.
"Yes, sir."
"I'll mark your ass with fifty shades of black and blue if you keep that up." He threatened her.
"Nice remark from the man who is more interested in my underwear." She responded which Seth choked on a snort.
Dean growled then headed for an unused heavy bag. If he wasn't careful he may have to scare the woman to keep her at arm's length.
His muscles were sore five, ten, fifteen minutes of swinging at the heavy bag. Every hit, a jab, an uppercut or a wide swing, cut into the chaos which resided in his head. The chaos of Rollin's Rockers, flashes of hazel brown eyes, Renee's laugh; it all came crashing back to the little mouse.
One jab, a low punch, another jab. Dean gritted his teeth as he batted away at each chaotic thought and feeling upon hearing Maya's giggle. Dean turned to the left and saw Maya and Finn. Maya obviously had come from her restroom break. Finn was sitting next to her in a chair talking about something that made her smile and laugh.
"Cards? You're a dealer at the Casino?" She asked as she pushed her hair away from her face but it came back. Finn pushed the hair behind her ear for her.
All the more reason to keep swinging at the heavy bag.
"Dean," Neville said from behind him.
"What?" He snapped at the Englishman.
"Trouble."
That one word had Dean catching the heavy bag and he turned around. Standing at the front of the gym was a prizefighter- Brock Lesnar- with his balding personal assistant. The assistant resembled a blobfish in a suit. An angry blob fish with a crackling voice that was arguing with Sheamus.
"I'm telling ya, I'm not closing for no one, fella. I have a gym to run." Sheamus said.
Grabbing a towel, Dean followed Seth and Roman towards the large Irishman who needed the help. Brock Lesnar was close to decking Sheamus.
"Look, this is Brock Lesnar you're turning down." That isn't the smartest thing to do." Blob Fish said.
"Hey, Shey," Seth said as he wiped his face and shoulders. "Everything okay?"
"Not really," Sheamus responded, still staring at the large men.
"Look, just having Brock Lesnar here will do you some good. If he's seen at your place, you'll have more clients coming in. Just close it down so that he can get a work out in."
Sheamus looked at Seth. Dean knew that Sheamus visually owned the gym but Seth owned it quietly. Though Seth didn't say much on how to run the place, in this case, Sheamus had a reason to turn to Seth. Dean couldn't fault the guy.
"What? You don't want a prizefighter here to bring in more clientele? A man of his status could raise your popularity a thousand fold if..." Dean stopped listening as the pale blonde man's attention followed someone.
This Brock Lesnar asshole was watching his Maya Mouse.
Maya was walking back from the restrooms oblivious to what was going on nearby. She had her attention drawn to Finn as he greeted her back over by the chairs.
Dean stepped in front of Lesnar, blocking his sight of the dark-haired woman.
"Got a problem?" Lesnar asked his tone low but near growling.
"Nah, unless it deals with what's mind," Dean said, edging closer to Lesnar. "So back the fuck off."
"I'm not closing my gym just for one fella," Sheamus said, bringing Lesnar's attention back. "You can train here but I'm not closing it for you."
"No one is going to bother me. I'm famous, you know. UFC and other places you've probably never heard of would love to hear how the infamous Irish Whip refused to let me train in peace." Lesnar sneered at the group.
"Shouldn't you let your mouthpiece speak for you?" Dean asked. He crossed his arms and returned the glare Lesnar giving him. "Or ya chicken shit?"
Fat man grabbed Lesnar's arm before the muscled man could pull back for a punch. "You have that squash match against Orton's new guy you have to get ready for."
"Eric Young won't last long." Lesnar laughed, loud and high the pompous ass.
Maya and others were watching them now. Lesnar grinned at her but she turned to Finn, who tapped her on her shoulder and said something in her ear. Dean caught Neville's pointed look while the two intruding men headed towards the male locker room.
"Dean, take Maya out and do something. I'm calling in a few Shield guys here, just to make sure nothing happens." Seth then nodded at Neville.
Neville nodded back and headed for the same locker room.
"I'm going to stick here and keep an eye on him. I don't want or need a fight going on in the one gym that I like." Roman said.
"Yeah, do that. I'll grab my shit and tell the mouse I'm taking her out somewhere." Dean said as he followed Neville into the locker room.
There was one thing to say about the locker room, it was well furnished and it was divided by a wall of lockers that separated two halves of the room. And Dean could hear everything the rat bastard and the asshole talking.
"I want to fuck her, that little brown haired whore out there," Lesnar said.
Neville shook his head at Dean, who had been close to breaking a hole through the wall to get to the asshole on the other side of the partition.
"Can we talk about Triple H? Look, Brock, the man is all about this place. We can't push too hard or they'll be on to us." Lesnar's lackey said.
The man in question laughed. "I heard you the first time, Paul. I don't care, I just want to fuck that nice little woman. I have she has a tight little ass..."
"That woman is nothing. This is all business."
"Shut up. I bet she'll scream like all the others. She reminds me of Lexi Moran, that mousy accountant they let me fuck a few times. All crying and shit. I wonder if this woman will be the same."
Neville grabbed Dean's arm. Neville motioned him to be quiet but it was hard to do. It was hard not to walk around the bank of lockers and nail the asshole for talking shit about Maya.
Grabbing his shit, Dean didn't bother to change. He left the locker room still without a shirt. He caught Finn chatting with Maya when he got back out to the main area of the gym. Seth, Roman, and Sheamus were still talking in a group at the front of the gym.
"Come on, Maya," Dean said as he approached her. "We're leaving."
She looked at him. "Oh, uh, sure. I guess I'll be seeing you later, Finn." She turned and smiled at the Irishman.
"No doubt about it, Maya." Finn ran his hand over her shoulder, probably just to piss Dean off further.
Dean saw Lesnar come out of the locker room, so he grabbed Maya's elbow and dragged her off towards the other exit door of the gym. He flung it open hit the electric keyring button to Seth's Lambo.
"Come on, stop. What's wrong with you?" Maya fought to pry his hand off of her.
"Get in the car, Mouse."
"No, tell me what's going on." She pulled her arm free. "What's going on? What's Brock Lesnar doing at Irish Whip?"
Dean grabbed her upper arm this time. "How do you know him?"
"I may be homeless but Lesnar is a highly paid UFC fighter. I saw him in the street on some night a televised fight happened."
His nose wrinkled.
Maya raised her hands and slapped them down on her thighs and then her back pockets. "The Paparazzi are easy to pick. Many are more worried about the pictures to feel their wallets missing."
He ran a hand over his head. "Get in the car, Maya. Just get in the damn car."
"Fine." She opened the passenger side door. "How is Seth getting home without a car?"
"He'll come by my place with Roman. Buckle up." Then he slammed the door shut.
He was just leaving when a black SUV pulled into the parking lot. There were a few guys that looked tough enough, each having a smartwatch on their wrist, something that Seth made sure that the Shield Corp used when doing their security stuff. At least Seth would have backup if Lesnar was to act up.
Still attempting to write this to the end. I like where it is going. Hope you do too. Be back in a week hopefully.