Cody and I sat in the backseat of Ted's rental like two scolded children. At least we didn't have to act like we hated each other in front of him now.
"So, let me get this straight," Ted was having a hard time understanding that the two of us didn't despise the mere presence of each other, "your boyfriend, Garrett, is actually Cody?" Ted glanced at me in the rear-view mirror.
"Yes." I said, leaning in to Cody's side. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
"It's my middle name, Ted."
"So, the two of you live together too?"
"Yes." We said in unison.
"All those rumors about the ringrats...they were all Emery?"
"Yeah. Why do you think I kept telling you to shut up? I'd heard the rumors myself. I figured if they kept on, no one would ever suspect me and Em were together."
"Wait, wait, wait...how long have you two been together?" Ted asked.
"Nearly two and half years." I said quietly as Cody stroked my shoulder.
"What?" Ted stomped on the breaks and pulled into some random parking lot. He jerked the car into park and got out. He started to pace beside the still running car. I sighed.
"I guess we should get out and try to talk to him."
"Yeah, I guess we should." Cody agreed. I opened the door and slid out with him right behind me. I walked over and laid a hand on Ted's arm.
"Teddy?" He spun around to face me.
"What the hell, Emery? I thought you and I were friends. How could you could you keep something this big from me?"
"Ted, you have to understand..." He grabbed my upper arms, shaking me slightly.
"Understand what? That I'm not important enough to tell that my two best friend have been fuckin' around for years?" He was in my face, yelling at me. Cody stepped up and shoved Ted back a step or two with a hand on his chest.
"Ted, man, back off. Let her go." Ted's head snapped towards Cody. He let go of my arm and grabbed the front of Cody's t-shirt in both fists.
"And you," Ted snarled and slammed Cody into the side of the car, "how the fuck could you say the shit you've said to her, do the shit you've done to her, if you claim that you care about her?" Cody dropped his arms, not fighting back.
"I do love her, man. It's just..." Ted slammed him again.
"That's bullshit! I've never said or done shit like that to Rebecca and never would." Again, Cody's back came in contact with the car.
"Teddy, please stop. It's not his fault." I tried to wrap my hands around his arm. "Please Teddy." I had never seen him act this way. He was so angry. I was actually scared. Ted finally looked away from Cody to me. His hands dropped away from Cody's shirt as he saw the tears streaming down my face and my probably scared look.
"Emery. Oh Jesus Em, I'm sorry." He stepped back a few steps at the same time that Cody noticed that I was crying.
"Princess?" I turned and buried my face in Cody's chest, wrapping my arms around him. His arms instantly came around me, comforting me. I knew that had to shock Ted. Normally, when I was upset, He was the one that I ran to.
"Did he hurt you?" I asked quietly. Cody rubbed my back softy.
"No, I'm okay." He pressed his cheek against the top of my head. "We're okay." He rubbed my back for a few minutes till the tears finally subsided. I kept my cheek laying against his chest, over his heart.
"It was my idea for Cody to act that way towards me." I said, finally speaking to Ted. "It was easier for me to resist treating him like my boyfriend around everyone if he was a total asshole to me. If he treated me like you did, then I would have been all over him and given everything away. I couldn't risk losing my job and not seeing either of you everyday."
"Why would you lose your job?" Ted asked. He hadn't bothered to step back up to where Cody and I were standing, still leaning against the side of the car. I guess he thought I was afraid of him now.
"Don't you remember the clause in everyone's contract when they joined the company? Talent isn't supposed to have any kind of 'relationship' with 'back office'." Cody told him. "We're talent and Emery's considered back office. She could get fired for this and I could get suspended." He rubbed my back softly. "I don't give a shit about the suspension but I don't want Em to lose her job."
"We could also get sued for breach of contract. You know how Mr. McMahon is. He wouldn't understand that we love each other." I sighed. "We didn't risk telling anyone cause we were afraid it would get out. Not that you or Fallon or Randy would tell anyone but just in case..." I said.
"Does anyone know about you two?"
"Mom, Dad, Dustin and Dakota." Cody said, referring to his parents (yes, the fabulous Dusty Rhodes), his brother (yep, Goldust knew) and his niece, Dustin's daughter. "The only reason they know is because when we first moved into the house, they thought I was there alone." I could remember my shock when I opened the door that day. We thought it was the pizza guy. Nope, not hardly. They were just as surprised as Cody and I were. At least I had put on one of Cody's button up shirts on at the time.
"So, Dustin knows?" Ted asked.
"Yeah. Haven't you ever noticed how nice he is to her when we see him?"
"Yeah, but he's nice to everyone."
"I know, but he's extra nice to Emery. He adores her." I looked up at Cody.
"He does?" I asked. Dustin and I had become friends and I totally loved Dakota, but I didn't know he 'adored' me. Cody kissed my forehead.
"You know he does. He considers you part of our family." I just smiled.
"What about your parents Em?" Ted asked. I shook my head.
"No, they don't know. My mom is a major gossip. Everyone in Virginia would know about it before I could even get out of the state." Fallon and I had grown up in a small town outside of Richmond, Virginia. Our parents were none to happy when we moved away. I leaned back from Cody and straightened his shirt. I rubbed at the small wet spot that I made. "Oh Code, I'm sorry." He looked down at the spot. He smiled.
"It's okay Emmy. It'll dry." I started to argue but he cupped my cheek and kissed me softly. "Stop worrying about it princess. It's fine."
"Okay." I kissed him back.
"This is too weird. I don't know if I can take you two being nice to each other, much less loving and affectionate." Ted said, shaking his head. I stepped away from Cody and hugged Ted. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight. "I'm sorry I yelled at you Em."
"It's okay. But I need you to promise me something, Teddy."
"What's that?"
"You have to keep this secret. Nobody can know. Not even Fallon and Randy. Please Teddy. I don't want Cody to get in trouble." Ted smiled.
"I promise. I won't tell anyone."
"Really?" I asked, smiling at him.
"Yeah, really. I don't want either of you to get in trouble. You are my two best friends. I won't let either of you lose your jobs." I hugged him tightly.
"I love you, Teddy." Cody clapped him on the shoulder.
"Thanks man."
Within an hour, Ted was over his mad and started with the joking. At one point, I nodded off with my head in Cody's lap. I came awake with the feel of him softly running his fingers through my hair. I was just about to open my eyes when I heard Ted's voice.
"You really love her don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. You don't know how much it kills me to say those things to her like I do. I can't stand pretending to hate her when all I want to do is be able to hold her hand in front of people or give her a kiss goodbye when I leave the room. I hate that it's like this. That's what she wants me to do and I'll do anything to make her happy but I think she deserves to be treated better than this." At that, I let them know I was awake.
"Don't say that Cody." I sat up. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me." I kissed him. "You treat me better then I could ever ask for. I wouldn't trade my time with you for anything." I kissed him again.
"Good to know, princess." Cody grinned at me and kissed my forehead.
"Hey! What about our time together?" Ted said, teasingly.
"As much as I love you Teddy...I hate to break it to you but I sorta love Cody more." I saw him fake a pout in the rear-view mirror. "Plus, I don't think Rebecca would like me to spend time with you the way Cody and I spend some of our time together." I saw understanding pass over Ted's face. He nodded in agreement.
"Good point."
We were all sitting in the locker room a couple of days later when Erin, Stephanie's assistant came in and told us that she wanted to see us. Randy Fallon, Ted and Cody got up to leave. I just kept working on our flights. I said 'bye' as they started to walk out.
"Oh Emery?" Erin said. I looked up. "Steph wants to see you too." I looked at her confused. She just shrugged. I grabbed my notebook and a pen out of my bag. Stephanie probably just needed me to take notes on something. I caught up to them just as they were going into the office. Cody sent me a glare.
"Hurry the hell up Harper. We don't have all damn day." He held the door open for me, contradicting his attitude. He let me walk in first and stepped up behind me, pressing himself against me. No one noticed. "You feel good like this, princess." Cody whispered low enough that he couldn't be heard over everyone else. Then 'work Cody' made a return. "You gonna move some time today, Harper?"
"Shut up, Rhodes." I stepped to one side of the room, away from the warmth of Cody, where I wished I could stay, and hopped up to sit on top of the table there. Everyone quickly found seats and looked at Stephanie expectantly as she sat behind her temporary desk.
"Thanks for coming guys. Okay, as you know, we have the current storyline working that Fallon gets attached to one of you. Randy and I were talking and he told me about Emery's idea of it being him." She looked directly at me. "I like the Stockholm Syndrome idea. And since Randy is the 'leader' he was the perfect choice. Good job." I looked down at my notebook as I mumbled a 'thanks'. I hadn't been prepared to be praised by Stephanie McMahon. It was kinda nice. "So we came up with a scene. This is going to be the beginning of Fallon becoming attached to Randy." As she started to shuffle some papers on her desk, I ventured a glance at Cody. He was watching me. He shot me a quick grin. I looked back down at my notebook as the smile spread across my face. Cody was proud of me. That felt better than any praise from Stephanie.
I looked back up as she said my name. "Emery, would you hand one of these to everyone?" I sat my notebook down and took the papers from her. They were mini-scripts for the cut scene they were going to film. "We rented out a boutique for the day to film this." I gave Cody his script last. His smile held a promise of a private congratulations later. I grinned back at the same time that I realized had an extra script in my hand.
"Ms. McMahon, I have an extra one." I told her and started to hand it back to her. She shook her head.
"That's your copy, Emery." I just nodded and went back to my seat. That must have meant that I had to get Ted or Cody ready for part of the scene. I glanced around the room as everyone flipped through the script. About the same time, a worried look came over Fallon and Randy faces as a wicked grin came over Ted's. I saw the blood drain out of Cody's face as he jumped out of his seat.
"What the hell Steph? I'm not doing that! No way. I don't want to do a damn scene with her. That's not in her job description."
"Cody…" Stephanie tried to cut in.
"There's no way in hell I'd ever look at her twice if she passed me on the street. I can barely tolerate her and she works here. Why would I want to pretend to make out with her?" He paused to flip through the script. "No, I'm sorry, why would I want to pretend to have sex with her? I mean look at her." He looked directly at me. "Would you want to?" This time, I felt all the blood in my head rush to my feet. Was Cody saying what I think he was saying? He knew I was totally NOT up for being on camera. I didn't want that spotlight. Please God, don't let that be what he's talking about. I grabbed my script and flipped through it till…fuck me, I saw my name. I was gonna play the shop girl that Cody was going to seduce out of her shirt (literally) for Randy to give to Fallon.
"Ms. McMahon, there has to be some kind of a mistake." I said with pleading in my eyes.
"You're damn right there's a mistake." Cody muttered.
"That's enough Cody!" She said and looked back at me. "There's no mistake Emery. I wanted to reward you for your idea. I thought this would be perfect." She smiled sweetly at me. "All you have to do is slightly flirt with him and fake some naughty giggles. You'll do fine."
"But…" She cut me off.
"You five will need to be in LA and at the store tomorrow by 3pm. Better go book a flight." With that, she dismissed us.
Cody didn't wait for anyone else on the way back to the locker room. When the rest of us got back, he was sitting in the corner absorbed in something on his phone. Just as I cleared the door, my phone buzzed. I knew before I looked, it was Cody.
C - 'Sorry. I tried Em. Maybe it won't be so bad.'
Me - 'I hope not. Thanks anyway. 3 U.'
C - 'U2'
I set down my phone and brought up the site on my laptop for flights. "Do you want me to see if I can get us all a flight together?" Randy, Fallon and Ted all said 'yes'. Cody didn't answer but I knew what his answer would have been anyway. I finally found us a flight leaving from Houston, where we currently were, at midnight. That meant, after the show, we'd have to go straight to the airport.
Cody and Ted finished before Randy did. He and Fallon had a small scene to shoot to lead up to the scene we were doing tomorrow. So, we went ahead and drove our rental to the airport.
"Maybe this won't be so bad." Ted spoke up from the backseat. Cody turned to look at him. Yeah, the boys let me drive for a change.
"What's not gonna be bad about it? Em doesn't want to be on camera, at all. And then how the hell are we gonna be able to 'fake' having sex in that backroom?" I laid a hand on Cody's knee.
"Code, it'll be fine." I said quietly. He turned back to me.
"How am I gonna keep my body in check when you start to make those little noises…."
"Awe, hell! I don't want to hear that guys." Ted covered his ears. I laughed and rubbed Cody's knee softly.
"We'll figure it out sugar."
I thought, when I booked our flights that I had put Cody, Randy and Fallon together but when we checked in I had actually put Randy and Fallon, together, by themselves and I had ended up between Ted and Cody. Not that it really bothered me but both of us had to pretend that it did.
I woke up a few hours later from the gentle nudge I was getting. "Wake up, princess. We're about to land." Cody whispered softly against my temple. I had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Damn, even in my sleep, I wanted to be with Cody.
That little nap on the plane was all the sleep I got. I tossed and turned, not being able to sleep at all. I was dreading the next afternoon which came all too quickly for me. The five of us walked into the boutique as one of the RAW crews was setting up some additional lights and getting the cameras prepared. I could feel myself starting to get a little nervous. I felt a hand caress my lower back and then felt Cody nudge his way past me. I looked at him just a second before a young lady that I recognized as one of the wardrobe girls from work, Jessica, walked up to me.
"Emery, we're ready for you."
"Ready for me? I have to change?" I looked down at my nice black dress pants and dark blue pull over shirt. I thought I looked fine. Jessica smiled at me.
"Yeah. Stephanie had a specific outfit she wanted you in. How are you with wearing heels?" I shrugged as she lead me to the backroom where Cody and I were going to shoot our 'scene'.
"I'm okay. Why?" She held up a pair of black 3-inch heels. She also held up a slip of black cloth and a shimmery green top. "What's that?" She smiled.
"Your costume."
Twenty minutes later, I stepped out of the back. Jessica had done my hair and updated my makeup. She had made me put on the short black skin tight mini-skirt that hit me WAY above mid-thigh and a fitted Emerald top that hung off both my shoulders.
"So boys," Jessica announced, getting everyone's attention, "what do you think?" She made me spin in place. Randy, Ted and even Cody were just staring at me. I started to feel self-conscious so I looked down at my feet and smoothed down the invisible wrinkles in the skirt. "Well?" Jessica prompted.
"Wow." Was all Ted could said. He walked over and made me spin in place again. He just smiled. "You look crazy hot Em." I blushed, noticing that Cody was still staring at me.
Randy and Fallon walked over, giving the same kind of complements. Randy turned and glared at Cody, making him walk over. "Try and say something nice." I heard him mutter to him.
"You don't' look too bad, Harper." He said.
"Thanks, I guess." Ted stepped away to take a phone call, probably from Rebecca and Randy followed Fallon to hair and makeup, leaving Cody and I alone for a moment. He leaned in.
"Ted's right, you do look smokin' hot." I smiled softly.
"Thanks Code." He took my hand in his, below the rack of clothed we were standing by, where no one could see, linking our fingers.
"I don't want you to change the way you dress cause I liked it before. But I do think you should keep those shoes. I want to see you in nothing but them later on." He smirked. I smiled again. Before I could have my comeback for that, the director called out for us to get in our places. Okay. I took a deep breath. Let the fun begin.
The first shot of the scene was of Legacy walking in with a reluctant Fallon trailing behind them. Cody and Ted forced the few customers in the store out. Randy locked the door and turned the sign to 'Closed'.
The next shot was of Cody and Ted coming across me putting something away. I was bent over at the waist and the camera was focused on my butt. All I could think was thank God that Fallon had been making me go to the gym with her extra in the last few months.
The rest of the scenes went on with out anymore of me. I stood nervously, off camera. I was so worried about Cody's and my scene coming up. The first part that I did wasn't too bad. All I had to say was a surprised, 'Oh!' when Ted said, 'Hey!' and 'Okay. What choice do I have?' when Randy said that they were taking over the store. I was brought out of my daydream by the director's voice.
"Okay. Good job guys. Let's set up for the next scene." He looked down at the script in his hand. "I'm gonna need Mr. Orton, Mr. DiBiase and Mr. Rhodes again and also Ms. Harper. Five minutes." Shit. I didn't know if I could do this. Hopefully, I could do what Cody and Ted had told me, just pretend that the cameras and all the extra people weren't there. Cody also told me to act like normal. He wasn't going to be 'work Cody'. He was going to be himself and treat me like he did when we were alone, just with a bit of the Legacy attitude. He said that I should react to him like I would normally. Not work normally, home normally.
I walked over to the rack that I was supposed to be putting clothes on. Again, my back was towards the camera. I started playing around with the clothes as the director called action. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Randy and Ted play their parts as Ted fought Cody over who got to come talk to me. I took a deep breath as Cody started to walk over to me. He had that smirk that I knew so well. I tried not to smile. I knew our dialogue wouldn't be heard so God knows what he was about to say. I started to relax a little as he stopped behind me.
"So have I told you how amazing your ass looks in that skirt?" He said quietly. I turned around slowly, like I was supposed to and smiled a genuine smile.
"Not today sugar." He smiled back. He ran a finger down the side of my arm, stopping at my wrist.
"All I can think about is how we're supposed to fake it in the back." He fingered the edge of my sleeve as he talked. "But right now, I want you so bad I can taste it, Em." I tilted my head slightly to the side like I was listening to his proposal. I ran my hand down his chest.
"Damn it, Cody. Don't say things like that." He took hold of my wrist, stopping me.
"Why? Does it turn you on?" He stroked the inside of my wrist with his thumb. I nodded. That was his cue in the script to lead me to the back. If the camera wasn't on us, I'm pretty sure we would have run back there. We walked into the little room and as soon as Cody shut the door, I attacked him. I pressed him back against the door. His mouth was like fire against mine. He pulled away to kiss down the side of my throat. "We need to give them the shirt, princess." He whispered. I nodded and stepped back.
"I need help with the zipper." I gave him my back. I swept my hair over my shoulder. He started laying kisses across my bare shoulders as he slowly started sliding the zipper down. He gripped the bottom of the shirt. I lifted my arms so he could pull it over my head. He spun me around and jerked me against his body. "Can you feel how bad I want you, Em?" He asked, backing us up to the door.
"Yes, Cody. Let's be quick." I snuck my hand up the back of his shirt knowing the camera might see that.
"Ready?" He asked. I nodded. He dropped his head to kiss at my neck as he pulled open the door.
What the camera saw was Ted standing outside the door with that Legacy smirk on his face. The door opened just a bit and Cody's arm popped out holding the shirt. The camera couldn't see anything but shadows but it did pick up my naughty (real) giggle. Then the door slammed shut.
As soon as the door shut, Cody locked it. We stepped apart as he yanked his shirt over his head and fished through his wallet till he found the condom he was looking for. He grinned at me. I backed up till my butt came up against the work table. I grabbed the bottom of my skirt and worked it up above my hips. Because of its tightness, it stayed. I leaned back and hopped up to sit on the table. I shot Cody a wicked smile and crooked my finger at him.
He was in front of me in a second. He placed his hands on my knees, stroking softly. He pushed them apart enough so that he could step in between them. He cupped the back of them and used them to pull me against his very ready body. I wrapped my hands around the side of his neck and pulled him to kiss me. I slid my hands down his chest to start to undo his belt and then his pants. I slipped my hands inside and shoved both them and his boxers to the floor.
Cody's hands were far from idle. He had already worked my panties down off my hips. He moved so that I could get them off completely. He took that time to roll on the condom. In the next instant, he moved back between my thighs, yanked my hips to the edge of the edge of the table and drove into me. I had to bite my lip to keep the scream of pleasure from escaping.
"I know Em. Me too." He whispered by my ear. "We gotta be quick." I nodded. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and leaned back on my other hand, angling my body towards his as he started to move. My head fell back of its own accord as Cody leaned in, flattening his hand near my own on the table and kissed down the front of my neck.
We were trying our damnedest to be quiet but I knew the sound guy picked up a few of the moans, groans and sighs we let escape. I brushed it off. Just better for the supposed illusion.
I bit my lip again, nearly drawing blood this time, as my release blasted through me. Cody buried his face against the side of throat, smothering his groan of pleasure as he found his own. He lifted his head and I kissed him softly.
"That was so incredibly hot." I said, kissing him again as he smiled at me.
"Yeah, princess. That was amazing."
Just moments after Cody got his clothes back on and got rid of the evidence, Ted pounded on the door, signaling to us that our scene was over. Ted yelled through the door, 'Rhodes! Come on! We gotta go.' Cody leaned in and kissed me quickly. He whispered 'I love you' and walked out of the room for the last effect of our scene. He walked out, again, with that Legacy smirk, leading the audience to believe that he just nailed the shop girl.
I changed back into my clothes quickly and waited for someone to tell me I could come out. A minute or two later, Jessica came in and told me that shooting was done. I snuck out, still wearing the heels, Jessica was none the wiser. I walked over to where Fallon, Randy, Ted and Cody were standing over the director's shoulder. They were watching some of the playbacks from what we had just shot.
I walked up in time to see them jumping back to a shot of the door where Cody and I were hold up. You could hear some obvious noises coming from the room. Fallon shot a look at me. I ignored it. It jumped back to Randy, Fallon and Ted standing outside of the dressing room. Fallon was now wearing the shirt I started out in. They talked about how much better Fal looked. Randy then told Ted to get Cody, they were ready to leave.
It jumped back to the room in time to hear me tell Cody how hot it was. Randy glared at Cody when he called me princess. That meant he knew about the rumors. He kept glaring at him as we finished watching the rest of the scene.
Fallon got called away for a second, leaving me standing there with the boys. Randy got in Cody's face. "Don't you ever use that name again around Emery. I don't even want you to pretend that she would be one of your conquests." Randy was pissed on my behalf, thinking that Cody was treating me like one of his imaginary one night stands. Cody laughed at him and sneered at me.
"Please Orton. Like she would even qualify." Cody said and walked off. Randy and Ted followed after him right when Fallon came back. She hooked her arm through mine as we headed out behind them.
"So, what exactly happened in that closet, Em?" I fought the blush that was trying to work its way up my neck.
"What are you talking about? I was in there with Rhodes for God's sake. Eww!" I asked, trying to fake her out.
"That sounded kinda real in there Emery." I just smiled at her as I stepped away from her and shrugged.
"I guess I'm just that amazing of an actress."
I would really appreciate if you keep the reviews coming. Please take a couple of seconds and let me know how I'm doing. Just a tip, the more reviews I get the quicker I'll post the next chapter. Thanks! =^.^=