Disclaimer: The characters in my stories are completely made up characters and have temporally been given borrowed names for the sole purpose of satisfying the qualifications for posting on this fanfiction site. These stories are fiction and should be perceived as such. They in no way reflect the lives, beliefs or views of any persons living or dead and any similarities are coincidental. I am not affiliated with any company or professional wrestler in any way. No disrespect or copyright infringement intended. And if any of my favs happen upon my stories, I hope your not offended because this is not about you, it is about feedback on my story ideas. :) I love and respect what you do and I thank you for all the joy and entertainment over the years.


(Remember this is fiction. Some character facts will not be accurate) Thanks so much for the reviews guys. Please keep them coming. They really inspire me to keep going with the story. :)


Chapter 4

The next week, after exhausting my personal time, I returned to work. Living in the 'bad' part of town had given me comfort and ironically, I felt that cloak of security fall away the moment I stepped over the border. I felt exposed, vulnerable. My eyes darted to every dark corner as I walked swiftly down the black toward the diner. Oh, how I wished I could find work inside my little safe haven where the new friends I had met could watch over me. It was strange. People I barely knew felt more like family than those I had known forever. I missed them the moment I walked out of the building.

I tried to distract myself by thinking about the block party the trash fire gang, or so I began to refer to them threw. We stood outside after dark, snacking on pot luck, listening to a local soft rock station and warming ourselves around the fire. I belonged to a community and it's a wonderful feeling to be part of something.

The walk was uneventful and I reached my job safely. The first thing everyone noticed when I walked in was the long gash in my face.

"Oh my god Keri!" Nancy, my coworker, another waitress exclaimed. "What happened?" Nancy was a decade older than me. We had been hired on the same day and she was the only person I could consider a friend besides the cook Ralph.

"that's going to put a dent in your tips." Ralph stated with a point from his lucky spatula.

"Your duct tapes burning." Nancy responded over her shoulder.

"son of a bitch. That's twice today." Ralph pulled away the old spatula and headed to the drawer for his favorite 'tool'.

"man you really took a beating." Nancy chomped on her gum as she looked me over.

"I'm fine." I never gave them too much information about my life.

"I hope you left the sorry jerk."

"Yup."

They'd both seen Will come and occupy a booth long after his meal was finished. Glaring his buggy eyes at me the entire time.

"There's something wrong with that man." Nancy had told me a few times. She never dwelled on any of the bruises I came to work with. I was always thankful to her for that. And that day was no different. We went on with our lives as if nothing had happened. But the customers would not be as gracious. Every table I went up to stared at me like I was freak. A week had only made the gash look worse. It was swollen and puffy. I was scared cover it with makeup, fearing I may cause an infection.

Some asked me about it but I changed the subject asking them if they wanted drinks or deserts depending on how long it took them to get the nerve to ask about it, but despite my grotesque appearance my tips were still pretty good, but I knew they gave it out of pity. Or maybe it was to make up for their whispers and snickering. I really wished I could put a bag over my head.

I pulled a double that day along with my coworkers. The evening shift wasn't very busy and the no account owner hadn't scheduled anyone to work. It was a mistake he made often and sometimes I believed he did it on purpose because he would threaten our jobs if we refused to stay. I didn't care. I wanted to make the extra money. I was honestly excited. It would be the first time I would get to decide where my extra money went. Or any of my money for that matter. Will usually took every dime to pay for his drugs or whatever else he wanted.

During the slow times, I let myself fantasize as I cleaned tables and restocked napkin holders. I could see my little apartment transformed into a palace. I was going to buy new furniture and paint the bathroom. I was going to get organizers for the closet. I didn't need anything too fancy. I didn't need a lot. Just walking into a place, all my own. Living in peace was paradise enough for me.

If only my job could remain a peaceful environment.

"I warned you about your boyfriend hanging out in here." Tony, the owner of the diner snapped at me. Just as I had feared, Will came strutting in the diner that evening. He glared at me as he sat in a booth in Nancy's section.

"He's not my boyfriend." I told Tony. "And I told him not to hang around too many times."

"Well, I think you're goinig to have to tell him again."

"I think you need to ban him, Tony." Nancy told him as she poured our boss another cup of coffee.

"It's not my problem. She needs to handle her own issues."

"Like anyone can control what another person does. Keri can't keep him from being a stalker any more than you can keep your son from taking money out of the till."

Tony blew a hot breath out of his nose and snapped his newspaper.

"Just ignore him, sweetie." Nancy told me. But I wasn't sure if she meant Will or Tony after she rolled her eyes at the boss.

I was glad I didn't have to wait on Will. He didn't say anything to me that day. He just sat in the booth and stared at my every move. It made me very nervous. I couldn't keep my hands from shaking and I couldn't stop glancing his way. It was as if I needed to know his exact position constantly. He stayed long. Like he always did.

"Can I get you anything else?" Nancy asked him with a rude tone after an hour.

"No." Will said not taking his eyes off of me. Nancy looked back in the direction he was looking.

"Well, you can't stay unless you order something else." Nancy insisted. "The owner doesn't like you just hanging around.

"I'll stay as long as I damn well please." He snapped rudely and his cold eyes fell on me as if I had put her up to it. "Just fill my cup." Nancy did so and shrugged her shoulders at me as she walked back to the counter. She set down the carafe she had been carrying and stood against the counter with her arms folded. "That man just can't take a hint, can he?" she said to me.

"No." I said simply.

"You got a big problem with that one."

"I know."

"If I was you I would press charges for what he did to your face, before it heals." she walked off leaving me with my thoughts. I knew if I did that Will would be more furious and apt to do something more. On the other hand it would enable me to get a restraining order on him.

Will did not leave the restaurant despite the numerous times he was asked to.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Nancy pressed Tony.

"As long as he's buying there's nothing I can do."

"Oh you're so full of shit, Tony."

"You're on thin ice, Nancy."

"Oh am I? Go ahead? Who else are you going to get to come in and make your biscuits at four a.m.?"

Will was still hanging around the last hour of my shift. I knew he was waiting for me to leave. He could have easily stood outside and waited, but he wanted to intimidate me. Will was the type who liked to play games with me. He wanted to inflict pain mentally as well as physically. I started to have trouble doing my job. My hands began to tremble and I was scared. Terrified that he would kill me this time.

He was also high and he was ten times meaner under the influence. I guessed he was sneaking a line in the bathroom which was the only thing he left the table for. I knew he would go again and I planned to hang out until he did. I knew he wouldn't be able to go forever without a hit. That's when I planned make my exit. I would run all the way to my block if I had to. I was still confident that Will would not cross that line. He may have been a big man when it came to hitting me but he was a coward when it came to other men or dangerous situations for that matter.

"You got a customer." Nancy told me and nodded in his direction. I smiled. I don't know how long Roman was sitting at that table by the window, but I was glad to see him. The site of him brought an instant smile to my face even though I had just met him.

I caught a glimpse of Will's face as he watched me walk towards Roman. Now he was the one who appeared nervous.

"well, here you are again." I kidded with Roman when I walked up to the table. "Are you following me?" He smiled and nodded to say yes with a meek blush. I wasn't convinced he wasn't kidding. I don't know if he had followed me that morning or if he'd just walked by and noticed me through the window. Or maybe the whole thing was just a coincidence.

"What can I get you? " he pointed at the menu and I wrote down his order. "Tea?" He nodded and stretched his hands apart, showing he wanted a huge glass.

"You have got to be kidding me?" Ralph, a big round man with a southern draw stood like a statue, holding the burger plate in his hand.

"What's the matter with you?" Nancy took the order and handed it me.

"Do you know who that is?"

"You know him?" I grabbed a bottle of ketchup from the group Nancy was filling at the bar.

"Know him? That's Roman freakin' Reigns."

Nancy and I exchanged a 'he's gone mad' glance.

"Come on? Wrestling? He's a huge star. You have to have heard of him."

"Oh, Ralph. He probably just looks like him."

"He's on RAW. Or he was."

"The only raw I know about is this burger. Geeze Ralph, the things still kicking. Put it back on the grill." I handed the plate back to Ralph and he went back to his work, but he couldn't keep his attention on it. I had never watched wrestling and it was all a foreign language to me.

"Now it's charcoal." I said as the burger turned black.

"I'm telling you, that guy is huge."

"So don't' you think you should serve him your best bacon burger." Nancy laughed. We had never seen Ralph so – teen aged fan – crazy.

"Wresting – TV. It's on every week."

"Oh, you mean that fake fighting stuff." Nancy chomped on her gum. She was really having fun picking at Ralph and I almost forgot that Will was still there.

"It's not fake." Ralph defended.

"Ralph, why would someone with that kind of publicity be in here?" I sighed, finally getting an edible burger to serve to Roman.

"No that's him. No one has seen him in a couple years. He just disappeared off the face of the Earth, but I know that is him. Oh, wait until I go home and tell my Grandma. She loved him."

I stared at Roman. I wondered if Ralph was right, but if he was so big, why would he be living in the same building as me? Surely, he could afford better. But I didn't tell Ralph he was my neighbor. If he was some kind of celebrity, I didn't want to invade his privacy.

Ralph on the other hand was a huge wrestling fan. He ate, drank and slept the sport. After he had cooked Roman's hamburger he took off into the back room where our lockers where located.

"Here you go." I sat down the burger and refilled his glass with the picture I had in my other hand. The man sure could drink down a glass of sweet tea. "And I got a piece of apple pie that I know you'll love." I whispered. It was the last piece in the diner and I had no plans to write it on his bill. Tony had gone to his office anyway.

Roman held his lips in a seductively sweet way that I knew meant that he loved apple pie then he gave me a smile and a wink. I only had a fifteen minutes left to my shift by then and Will kept glancing at the clock, then giving me that eerie grin of his every time I dared check his location.

I washed down the counter, refilled the salt and pepper shakers, then slowly returned them to the tables. Will didn't stop his torment, but I couldn't focus on that. Roman seemed to be looking my way every time I gazed his and I adored the way he looked at me. I saw more in his eyes than I ever saw in Will's. His gaze was gentle. His smile so soft. I don't think any man had ever looked at me the way he was that day. I saw kindness, admiration and perhaps a bit of longing. It was as if he had waited to see me all day. As if he'd come to that diner only because he couldn't take another minute of waiting.

Ralph returned and made his way to where Roman was sitting. He had a magazine in his hand. I rolled my eyes and felt a bit embarrassed for my coworker. It was possible that Ralph was mistaken. Then again my neighbor did bare the same name – first name – I had yet to learn his last.

Ralph walked up to Roman with the innocence and nervousness of a child who was meeting his hero and to my surprise, Roman smiled and signed the magazine with permanent marker Ralph handed him. Ralph returned with a big smile on his face and plopped the magazine down on the counter "See." he said triumphantly.

I gazed at the photo. It was a picture of Roman taken of him in a fighting stance. He had an intimidating expression on his face. There was no doubt in my mind that they were the same person. How many people could have those eyes? I couldn't believe it. So much did not make sense to me. I looked at the scribbling on the page.

Ralph,

Thanks for the burger. The best in town.

Roman Reigns.

Maybe that is why Will was so intimidated by him. I was sure he knew who he was. I knew for a fact that he and his friends had attended a few wrestling events.

"Hey, don't tell too many people Ralph." I lowered my tone. "He might be hiding for a reason."

"Yeah, I get it." Ralph couldn't stop smiling. "I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get this signed. Who knows if I'll ever see him in the ring again? I wanted to ask him why he left the show, but it seems too personal. Do you think it's too personal?"

"Probably." I agreed.

"Yeah it is." Nancy added as dropped an arm full of mustard bottles on the counter. "If he wanted to the world to know don't ya think it would have been in one of your magazines?"

"You're right."

"Of course I am. Now, get on with your job. I'm not going to stay late and help ya clean that grill just because you're as star struck as some silly little girl." Nancy began to fill up the bottles from a gallon jug. I sat down and helped, screwing the lids and wiping off the bottles as she filled them with a funnel. "You don't have to wait. You're job's done. You should get out of here before Tony makes you work the night shift."

"I'll wait until he's done."

"Oh, you're afraid I won't save your tips for ya now?"

I laughed and gave her a nudge. "He doesn't speak." I explained in a whisper. "It'll be easier for me to know what he wants."

"I have a feeling you've met him before."

"Once or twice." But I wasn't going to give any more details. I never gave many details of my life and I wasn't going to start then.

"Well, waiting might be a good idea." Nancy nodded at Will who had just took another bathroom break. "I'd feel better if this wrestler guy walked out of here with ya. You could use a body guard."

"It's nice to know he's a professional ass kicker."

Both of them looked at me with dropped jaws.

"Oh, come on. Everyone lets one slip time to time." I had never cursed. Ever. At work. Out loud and I guess they had noticed.