Chapter 8

Maya woke up around ten in the morning and for once she didn't dream of Jeremy. It didn't stop her from cleaning up Dean's leftover take out from the night before. Dean still slept on the couch.

Boxers and all, sprawled out with an arm over his face and snoring slightly. She looked down at him, his leather jacket, boots, and shirt hung over a nearby chair where he had discarded them as they got ready for bed. Picking up the takeout container on the coffee table, Maya headed for the kitchen trash.

At least with cleaning it meant that she could get lost in her thoughts. The one thing that came to mind was how peaceful Dean looked when he was asleep. He wasn't being the asshole like he had the night before when he caveman carried her off the stage.

Prepping coffee in the coffee maker, Maya began to look for something to cook, like pancakes and waffles again. At least then she could eat something again. Having lost the weight that she was, she started noticing that she had been slowly gaining weight the more often she ate, as long as it wasn't huge meals.

She had started hearing Dean move around, at which point he had left and gone to the master bedroom without much of a word. She had started the frying pan, assuming he would want pancakes while she got the waffle maker out.

Something hard and heavy landed on the counter after she had poured some batter in the skillet.

"What the hell is this?" Dean demanded.

She spied her photo album and she told him as such. "That's my photo album. Pictures of me and my fiance Jeremy. I'm sure you've already seen them. Why?"

"Why were you trying to hide this from me?" He pressed closer, him looming again.

She shook her head. "Why would I hide something personal from you? I don't know. When you first started going through my stuff I figured you would spite me and destroy it or something."

Maya watched the pancake, watching for the bubbles.

And then Dean did something that he had not done since they started sharing the same space. "What was he like? What sort of job did he do?"

It was the tone he used. No longer harsh like asphalt, but smooth like granite. Smooth and cool, calm. When she looked at Dean, he was flipping through pictures.

"After he had gotten out of the army, honorably discharged might I add, we worked for Jeremy's father. We went to work with his dad at the family's diner, on the west side of the city. It was like a 50s diner, like a Sonics or Hardees. I waitressed there and he did the cooking. But because of his military, he was able to afford that black Harley."

Using the spatula, she motioned to one of the pictures he was looking at. Dean had stopped at a page where she and Jeremy, who looked like a proper biker, sat atop the large old thing.

"When he wasn't deployed, he'd train at Irish Whip, and then again when he was a civilian. But he loved that bike as much as me."

She flipped the pancake. Then Maya got the waffle maker ready for her waffles. Dean flipped through a few of the pages of the photo album. Every once in a while he would glance at her and then hum as if seeing something he wasn't expecting. But then again, she had a normal life before becoming homeless.

"What happened?" Dean asked.

"We were having a night ride after a shift, we liked going to a nature walk outside of the city and it started to rain. And then someone hit us from behind." She got quiet and he dropped the subject by closing the album. He left it on the counter though.

Dean, being Dean, went into the other room and switched on the television, all while obviously started picking up his stuff.

As Maya came out with his three large pancakes on a plate, syrup and all, she stops at the coffee table and looks at him. He was sitting down, flipping through the various sports packages and then when he finally looks at her, she drew in a long breath.

"If I promise to not try to run away, which you know I won't, we can switch places. You can have your bed and I'll take the couch." She said as she put the plate down in front of him.

He didn't say anything. He couldn't, because there was a knock on the door. Growling, grumbling and being a bit of a monster about it, he dug his key out of his jeans pocket and opened the door.

"Morning," Roman said.

"Where in the hell were you last night?"

Maya figured it was better that she got back into the kitchen because of the look of Dean's face. Roman, still big and intimidating as the last time she had seen him, stood with arms crossed. His shirt seemed to be a little screwed up. He had a leather jacket in his hand, one that looked vaguely familiar.

"So?" Dean asked the other man.

"I had some issues, okay. My girl was…"

"I thought you broke up with her."

"Well, we're trying again."

Maya finished getting her waffles ready. Though she looked at the mostly filled dish of batter and started to turn to ask Roman a question, only to find Roman standing at the kitchen entryway.

"Jeez, wait until I'm not handling food." She pressed a hand to her chest before putting down the spatula. "Do you want pancakes, Mr. Reigns?" She asked.

"Roman," he corrected. "Sure, I could always go for food." He smiled at her. "How are you doing, Maya? I heard you had an exciting night last night."

"It started off great," she said as she poured some batter into the skillet. "I was actually having fun. And then he had to go ruin it for me." She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, indicating to Dean.

"He didn't need to be rubbing you all over him." Dean bit back as apparently stabbed at his pancakes.

"Maybe I like that about a man." She countered his counter.

Really, what was with him? Was he really that jealous or something? She was content to think that, anyway.

"Hey, I'll let you in on a bit of a secret." Roman leaned next to the counter, keeping his voice low. "His wife was inappropriately groped when they went into Rollins' Rockers the first time. I had to pry him off the guy."

She flipped the pancake. "Really?"

"Look, I may be stepping over the boundary here, I have my own issues at the moment but I know, in Dean's own warped way, he likes you."

She took a deep breath. "Has he always been insane?"

"Only to those he cares about."

Maya shook her head and finished up with Roman's pancakes. By the time she was finished, her waffles were more or less cooled but she did make it up with plenty of butter and syrup. She stood at the table while both men occupied the couch and watched a replay of a baseball game she had seen before. Reds lost that one.

By the time they had all finished their late breakfast Roman announced that she was expected down in the casino, Rockers part.

"Then you'll be stepping in for a server girl in the club tonight. She called out sick. Seth alerted me this morning. He'll be waiting in the Casino." Roman said.

"What about you?" Dean asked as Maya grabbed their empty plates.

"Sleeping until tonight's shift." Roman then let out a large yawn. "I would suggest that you get some sleep between the split shifts today. Eat something and drink a lot of coffee. Seth went to meet up with his mom about something but he'll be around later."

"What should I be wearing for the Casino?" Maya asked.

"Black shorts, the black vest thing. Pull your hair back and make sure the top button is done up." Dean said.

So she did. After she left the kitchen with her photo album, she put it on the bed instead of under it and kissed the last picture of Jeremy again. What she went through the night before with him, she went into the bathroom with her clothes and locked the door behind her. Maya only took a few extra minutes to make sure that her hair was in the right place and then went about making sure she wasn't showing too much skin. Rockers Casino obviously had a different dress code than what she wore for the women's night at Rollins' Rockers.

By the time she and Dean had left, Roman was already gone to do his own thing. The trip was just another repeat of how they got to Rollins' Rockers, only it was just the two of them. While she hadn't really spent any time in the Casino itself, it looked a lot like all the other big name brand casinos on the Strip. Dean took her through the middle of it and saw someone that made her smile.

Sitting at one of the few dozen Blackjack tables, surrounded by some older women who looked like they were more suited at the Pelagio and a nursing home, was Finn Balor.

"Hello, Ladies. Finn, you seem to be popular." Maya said.

"Well, Mariah here is really beating my hand at the moment. Hit or pass, Ladies?" Finn asked the four older women in front of him.

"Hit me, young man." The oldest of the bunch said, swiping at the table with her cards in hand.

"She only wants him to spank her." Her friend said.

Dean looked either amused, grossed out or hit it well with a scowl. "Where's Vega, Balor?"

"Near the bar with her hubby." Finn smiled at Maya. "Good to see you're working again. I'll give you my jacket later, Maya."

Red hot face, she did smile back at him. The ladies snickered amongst themselves before Dean ushered her away.

"Can't wait to get my jacket." She said.

"Shut up."

Maya laughed at his bitterness.

Zelina Vega was a Latina woman who Dean had met on several occasions. She was a hard worker, a stern-looking school teacher type woman if someone pissed her off. But she smiled when Dean brought Maya up to the bar where they processed drinks and food orders.

"Zelina, this is Maya Gilbert, she's working part-time today. Think you can show her around?"

"Thank you, I've been wondering when we got another server girl for the card tables." She smiled at the man that approached, wearing a black shirt under a tattered blue denim vest and black jeans. "Hola, Mi Amor." She said and kissed the guy. "This is Maya Gilbert, Aleister. She's working with me. Maya, my husband Aleister Black."

Maya didn't blink but seemed to know not to offer her hand. "Hi, Mr. Black."

He didn't say anything. Like Paul Bunyan from the night before, he had a look about him that spoke "I will kill you if you try anything" yet he still nodded at her.

"I'm shadowing, making sure she doesn't get in trouble," Dean said, smirking at Maya when she spun around to look at him. He smiled at her just for good measure.

"Jerk," Maya grumbled.

"He can be, can't he? I've only worked with him when we had a stalker problem with one of the other serving girls." Zelina said. "Okay, come on. I'll show you have to work on the floor. And please, Dean, stay out of our way."

Aleister nodded his head to the side, his light eyes looking at Dean. Taking the hint, Dean stepped away as Zelina took Maya through the motions.

"Warning, Lesnar is coming here," Aleister said as he stood with arms crossed against one of the large white pillars in the hall.

"Yean? When?"

He shrugged. "I alerted Seth, though. That's why I'm here. And them."

A lot more Shield guards were posted around the area. Most dressed like Dean and Aleister, but there were a few dressed like businessmen, sitting at slots. The watches gave them away. Then there was the brown-haired woman, Bayley, who was dressed like Maya, serving tray and all talking to one of the fancier dressed suited men with the watch.

"Think he's coming to look for your girl?" Aleister asked.

"She's not my girl."

"That's not what Braun said."

Even if he wanted to rebuff the other guy, the front doors opened and in walked the man that had tried so hard to get someone to beat him up at the gym. With him, his walking Mouthpiece who waddled along next to him.

"Oh for fuck sake," Dean said as he turned his shoulder slightly.

He grabbed his phone and pulled up Seth's number. The guy picked up on the third ring.

"Rollins, we have a problem," Dean said, glancing at Black who had started off towards where Lesnar and his walking mouthpiece was.

"What's the problem?"

"Asshat and shit talker both are here."

"Who?"

Dean groaned. "Lesnar and his walking mouthpiece, the dude that talks for him, Heyman. They are here in the Casino."

"For fuck sakes."

No kidding, Dean thought as he turned to look at Zelina and Maya. They were walking in the other direction, Zelina holding a tray of drinks and talking to Maya. Maya didn't see what was going on towards the front of the casino.

Shawn Michaels was talking to Lesnar and Heyman. Leaning against one of the pillars in the main hall, still on the phone with Seth, Dean watched the two men. They were dressed as if they were doing press releases, not that Dean knew much about the UFC stuff that Lesnar was apart of. White undershirts, black overcoats, polished shoes, the works. They didn't really stand out in the upper echelons like the other clients that came to the casino, mostly to ogle at the women's asses.

Making sure that Lesnar didn't see him, but keeping a good line of sight on both him and Maya, Dean watched from the pillar. Other guys with watches were there, obviously having been called in by Seth.

"Don't think about showing up. We don't need them to know you run Rockers." Dean grumbled into the phone.

"Do you see Maya?"

"With Zelina at the moment. She's learning the ropes on a different side of the casino."

Dean watched as Lesnar and Heyman walked towards the Blackjack table where Finn had just cleared away from the older ladies who had left. He watched another server girl approach with complimentary drinks and an offer for appetizers.

"Beer." The man said, who then reached up and groped the woman's backside.

She sidestepped the touched, said she would be back and left, glancing at Aleister and Dean along the way. She was a single mother trying to give her autistic son a better chance at life after running into AJ Styles, who talked to Seth about a job at Rockers. She didn't need someone like Lesnar groping her ass.

He nodded at her, as a way of saying everything was okay. He would make sure that she was taken care of.

Codename Ricochet walked up. "Want me to tail her?"

The caramel skinned bald guy with a full sleeve tattoo was a recent hire but one that could give anyone a run for their money. Someone who Dean liked and respected thanks to his flippy dippy shit and MMA style that he and Black seemed to both have.

"Yeah, make sure everyone knows the rules about not groping the waitresses."

Ricochet nodded and left after Danica, the server.

Hanging up with Seth so that Dean could fully focus on Lesnar was hard to do. The guy seemed to get angry with Finn, who wasn't all smiles for once. The card counter in Finn knew not to count cards in his favor, so that Lesnar wouldn't have a mental breakdown. There was that one time Lesnar had been banned from another high roller casino for losing too much.

"There she is. Sweet ass." Lesnar said in a not so quiet tone as he leaned into Heyman.

A quick glance over his shoulder, Dean saw Maya approaching with a tray. Zelina was following and they were talking about something. Apparently, Danica asked Maya to take the beer to Lesnar, probably for fear of being groped again.

"Here's your beer, sir," Maya said in a sweet tone. "Hi, Finn."

"So, you two know each other?" Lesnar asked as she sat the beer down in front of him.

"Sure we do. He's my flavor right now." She smiled at Finn again.

"Flavor? What would you want with him? My client, Brock Lesnar, is a very capable man of his standards." Heyman said.

"I'm sure he is, but I like exotic things, foreign affairs if you will. Do you want anything, Mr. Heyman?" She looked at the bald man as she held the serving plate like a shield in front of her.

"No, I'm on the clock. Thanks anyway."

Instead of turning around and walking, Maya backed up, preventing Lesnar any chance of making a grab for her. Dean smiled at that. She had the smarts, knew what to do when it was important.

"I want your number," Lesnar called out, to which Maya turned to look over her shoulder at him.

"You'll have to take a number. I have two men wanting me, I don't think I can juggle a third. Besides, I don't think I can handle you. I barely have a grasp of the first one who's watching you like a hawk."

She left Lesnar looking around as if trying to figure out who she was talking about. He, of course, didn't see Dean watching from the safety of the pillar.

Dean called Seth back.

"Yeah, just want to let you know, Lesnar knows Maya works here."

It was going to get a lot worse for him if Lesnar went down to the bar later that night. Dean made sure to let Seth know this as he hung up and continued to shadow Lesnar for as long as Maya was still working with Zelina.

I'm really busy this week and won't be able to update some of my stories because I'm helping my friend move at the moment. But I still want to keep up what I have going on.