Her first day back on the tour and Emma already felt like she hadn't been away. On the flight through from Tampa, she was apprehensive, facing her colleagues for the first time since her assault was going to be tiring. However, once she got there, she found everyone was respectful enough to let her get on with her job.
Since getting back to Tampa, she'd seen Ted and Cody on a frequent basis with both of them popping in to see her whenever they were home. Randy would phone as much as possible but from what she understood, he and John were trying to keep things quiet for Liz's sake, so he wasn't able to visit Tampa easily. The only time she'd seen him was a couple of weeks ago when he had an unexpected trip to see John. He didn't tell her what was going on but she could see how tired he was.
She hoped they weren't having another disagreement, because although she told John nearly a year ago, she didn't think they would work out, she'd reconsidered. The pair made a loving couple who would give up anything for each other. Randy already giving up his wife after realizing he would never love her like he did John.
Emma sat back at her desk and took in the mountain of paperwork she'd already acquired over the course of the day and sighed. Unfortunately, with a number of the different reports she would put together for the McMahons overlooked while she was off, she now needed to complete one covering the last four months. She started sifting through the documents trying to put them in some kind of order so it would be easier to refer to when she was writing the report.
"Come in," she said as there was a knock on the door.
She heard the door open but didn't look up to see who it was since she was already engrossed in the documents in front of her. It looked like there were some shenanigans when she was off and she knew she would have a hard time reining them back in and bringing about some order. Emma didn't mind people having fun but when reported to management she knew it had gone too far.
"Are you stopping soon Em, it's eleven. We've got a table booked remember," Ted said, letting Emma know who entered the room.
"In a sec, I just want to find a document," she replied not looking up. "Then I'll be able to pack this lot up."
She continued sifting through the papers and pulled out the one she needed just as Cody draped his body over her desk, pulling his top up to reveal his stomach.
"For your feasting pleasure," Cody said, batting his eyelids at Emma.
"Cody, you're gay, I know you're gay, therefore your body does not do a damn thing for me," she said smirking at his playful demeanor.
Emma got up and put the documents she retrieved into a plastic wallet and then boxed up all the others documents ready for transporting to the hotel. She didn't want them going with the equipment, as there was a chance the paperwork would end up in a worse state than they currently were.
"Good job, I was actually posing for Teddy," Cody continued their conversation. "He has a fantasy about me and a desk."
"Codes," both Emma and Ted said at the same time. Ted had turned pink at Cody's comment while Emma had turned her green. She loved her boys dearly but didn't need to know the details.
"Okay, before he goes into more detail, let's get out of here. Where's John and Randy?"
"Randy needed to speak with John about something so he said we can meet them there," Ted explained.
Emma grabbed her jacket and the box of paperwork and headed for the door. Ted and Cody quickly blocked her way, not letting her out of the office.
"What?" she asked.
"That is not going with you to the hotel," Cody said, pointing to the box. "We talked about this; no working through the night and sleeping in the car on the way to the next venue."
"I'm not going to be working. I just don't want this going with the equipment; it took me hours to get it to this level of order. I don't want to start again because it's been tossed about in a truck," she explained. "If you don't believe, you can take it to your room and then I can get it back from Codes tomorrow when we get to Bloomington."
Cody and Ted looked at one another having a silent conversation trying to decide if they believe her. Ted shrugged and Cody took hold of the box, carrying it out to the car and putting it in the boot with their bags.
"Bloomington; tomorrow; not a moment before," he tried to say with a stern tone.
Emma rolled her eyes smiling at Cody's attempt at demanding. The sweet young man, with a near childlike personality, had yet to master the art of control. Maybe that was why Ted topped in their relationship. A fact she wished she didn't know and could erase the moment she found out, especially considering she saw it firsthand, when she walked in on them early one morning in her pool when they crashed at hers due to consuming too much alcohol.
A few minutes later and they pulled up outside the bar they were eating at and made their way in. There was restaurant section to the bar where they were able to get a table for five. The three of them ordered drinks for everyone, including John and Randy who had yet to arrive. They thought it would be better to wait until the others arrived before ordering food in case it got cold.
"So do you two know what's going on with John and Randy?" Emma asked trying to find out any information. She didn't want to say anything that might upset one of them.
"No, we've been wondering ourselves. They've been keeping themselves to themselves from the moment we got to Puerto Rico," Ted explained as he perused the menu seeing what he wanted to order.
"Yeah, we've barely seen them. They travel together, sleep together, and eat together. They're even working together again now. There's been three days this month when they weren't together; and that was because John had to go back to Tampa so couldn't work," Cody finished Ted's explanation. "The rest of his free time, he's been going back to St Louis. Randy was beside himself when John wasn't there."
Emma listened to what Ted and Cody told her and was shocked at the couple's distance from the rest of the locker room. She was more shocked to hear John had missed shows to go back to Tampa; it wasn't like him at all. The fans always came first. Whatever was going on was big and she felt as the Tour Manager she needed to know. She made a mental note to catch up with both John and Randy as the boss and not their friend. It wasn't right for them to alienate themselves from people. If reports hit the papers then it would look like they were egotistical assholes, which neither man were. Sure Randy had been cocky when he was younger but he'd grown out of that phase.
Just as she was about to ask the boys another question, she saw John and Randy making their way over to the table. She noticed how Randy had hold of John's hand lightly and led him over, John staying a step or two behind. She'd never seen them this way; usually it was John taking the lead.
"Hey, sorry we're late; we got caught in traffic, some kind of accident which is causing this side of the city to gridlock. They reckon it could be like it for a couple of hours," Randy said as way of an apology.
He squeezed Emma's shoulder on the way to his seat and again Emma noticed how he still held John's hand. Even when John leant in for a hug, the hold stayed in place, and John wasn't attempting to break it.
John took a seat next to Randy and still didn't let go of Randy's hand, even as the younger of the two shifted so his chair was closer to John. Emma noticed Randy move their adjoined hands so they rested on John's leg and only then did he let go, but it simply to move his hand to John's thigh.
Emma worried even more as she saw how the couple had become and she was concerned things had taken a nasty turn. They appeared loving on the outside, smiling and kissing, not concerned with who may see them; but Emma saw things from a different perspective. John was acting scared. When they'd first entered he was two steps behind Randy, and from what she'd understood from Ted and Cody he was being cut off from the rest of the locker room. With the constant contact as well, it couldn't help but remind her of Josh's possessive nature.
The four men sat talking as the thoughts went through her head and she couldn't shift them. She excused herself to the bathroom after they ordered their food and she splashed herself in the face with some water. This was crazy, Randy wouldn't do anything to John, it wasn't in his nature, but then it didn't appear as though it was with Josh to begin with. Maybe she wasn't the best judge of character.
She stayed there a couple more minutes trying to recompose her thoughts so she wasn't thinking on the situation when she returned, when there was a knock on the door.
"Em?" she heard called. It was Randy, she couldn't believe her heart was racing; she was almost scared about what he was going to do. "Em, are you in here?"
"I'm here," she called back; worried he might do something if she didn't answer. "Are you alone?"
"Um," she said looking around, wishing she could say no, but there was no one in there with her and even before she had a chance to answer, Randy had entered the room and locked the door.
"Are you okay? You're sweating," Randy said, checking her forehead to see if she had a temperature.
She looked at Randy, no longer knowing how to react to him. How she become like this in just fifteen minutes? She tried to tell herself Randy wasn't a bully and he would never hurt either John or her, or anyone for that matter, but the seed already cemented in her mind. She stepped back from him. She felt herself shrink in front of him, cowering.
"Em, are you okay?" he said coming over to her again but she put her hands up to hide protect herself from any blows he may land. "Whoa, Em, I was just checking on you; I'm not going to hurt you. No one is. That bastard's in jail and will be for a long time. I promise."
"What are you doing to John?" she blurted out, still cowering from him.
"Wha-" Randy tried to say, unable to complete his sentence. "Why would you think I'm doing anything to Johnny?"
"The way he's acting, people told me you've been keeping him from them, alienating him," she said, trembling as she spoke.
Randy took a step back from her and Emma glanced up at the tall figure, registering the shock that was on his face. She was confused when she saw tears forming in his eyes. The sight before her somehow broke through the fear she was feeling and she realized his tears had started falling. She watched as she backed up and hit the wall before sinking down. She knew there was no way this man was doing anything to his partner and she realized she had projected her own situation onto Randy and John. She wiped her face and gathered her senses, making her way over to Randy.
"I'm sorry, no one thinks that. It's just me, my fucked up mind," she said trying to calm him as she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry, I know you'd never hurt anyone, unless you're in the ring of course."
She hoped she could calm him with her offbeat joke but she didn't even get a smirk.
"You're the kindest man I know Randy. People might think you don't have a conscience but they don't know you. You put everyone else before yourself," she said as he took some deep breaths trying to steady his breathing. "I'm sorry for saying it Randy; I didn't want to believe it, but… I guess I was seeing things that weren't there because I wanted to stop it happening to someone else."
"I don't blame you; I was shocked," Randy said looking in her in the eye with a serious expression. "If you ever feel like someone is going through what you have been through, you do exactly what you did tonight. Confront them and get to the truth of the matter, even if you have to involve the police."
Emma nodded at him, breathing a sigh of relief that Randy wasn't holding a grudge against her. He kissed her forehead and she felt a tear roll from his cheek onto her skin. He pulled away and went over to the basin to freshen up.
"What is going on with you and John?" she asked him, the resolve he spoke of strong in her voice.
"I can't tell you the details, it's for John to tell people when he's ready," Randy said trying to reassure Emma that he wasn't abusing his partner. "John's the one who's shutting himself off. I'm doing everything I can to keep people around him. That's why we didn't come with you. I had to persuade him."
Randy finished making himself presently. Emma even offered to lend him some concealer, which he thought was funny, but she could see him considering the option for a moment. The pair made their way back out to the table just in time for the food to arrive.
"What were you guys having a quickie?" Cody joked.
"Cody, do you remember the conversation we had in the office at the arena… well the same applies here," Emma joked as she saw John shift in his seat, leaning into Randy's touch as he ran his hand across his shoulders.
"You were quiet tonight, Johnny," Randy commented as they entered their hotel room. He was hoping to get John to talk about everything. Ever since the night he flew to Tampa and John lost his chance at becoming a father, John would only talk wrestling. He became animated as soon as he stepped in front of a camera, either in the ring or backstage, but behind the scenes, he was a shell. Therefore, every night Randy attempted to get him to talk, but he never would.
"Tired I guess," he mumbled as he went straight in the bedroom.
Randy leant against the door and took in a deep breath. It had been a long night, and he could sense it was just going to keep going. He was jolted out of his thoughts as John took his hand and led him to a chair.
"What can I do Johnny?" Randy asked trying not to let his tired state show.
"Make love to me; make me feel," John said sounding robotic.
This too was becoming a nightly ritual. John would come at Randy; there was no build up, no pleasure giving, just the act itself. John would lather his fingers in lube and prepare himself before releasing Randy's shaft from its confines, but only enough that John could get at him.
Every night was the same, John would lower himself onto Randy and ride himself through to completion, the only sounds Randy would hear was the swear word he would groan as he came.
Sometimes the tightening of his muscles would cause Randy to cum as well but more times than not, John would pull off and leave Randy in a state. On occasion, Randy would be imagining his Johnny, the Johnny he fell in love with, back with him and thrusting into him and he would need to sort himself out in the shower but normally, he would deflate shortly after John pulled off him.
"If you don't want too," John snapped pulling away from Randy.
Randy shook the cobwebs from his head and grabbed John, stopping him from moving away.
"I'm sorry, I was lost in my thoughts," Randy said sincerely. "I'll make love to you, Johnny. Come lie down with me in the bed, I'll make love to you all night."
Randy desperately wanted to take his time with John; wake him up from his detached state. Make him realize they were making love now, hell they weren't even fucking. Randy could barely classify it as sex.
"No," John said pushing Randy into the chair. "Here in the chair."
John went straight for Randy's pants, unbuckling the belt and unzipping him. Randy heard him grumble when he saw his boxers, but Randy couldn't bring himself to go commando anymore. Once John pulled Randy's cock out, he stood up and lowered his own pants. Randy sat forward and gently placed his hands on John's hips.
"Want me to prep you, Johnny?" Randy asked, trying once more to free his lover from his own desperation. John shook his head, stepping out from Randy's hold and moved his lubed fingers to his hole and pushed in, pressing in and out without so much as a moan seeping from his lips.
Randy looked down at his still flaccid cock and tried to will it to life, but it didn't do any good. He knew from previous attempts not to stroke himself hard after John caught him, storming off and locking himself in the bathroom. There was only one thing that would help him. He closed his eyes and pictured John slamming into him at his hotel room earlier in the year when he'd flown to Tampa for his birthday. John was so worked up that day that he pushed Randy over the edge not once but twice in the same session, just so he could get his own release.
He looked down again at his cock and let go of a breath he was holding when he saw his hard cock standing proud. That day in Tampa would always be his secret weapon for moments like this. John turned on the spot, wrapped a hand lightly around Randy's shaft, and lubed him up. He made no effort to let Randy enjoy the feel and before Randy knew it, John's hand was gone and he was lowering himself down onto his shaft.
Randy's heart bled for John. He wanted to stop this but it was too late. If he tried to end it, in this instant or before tomorrow night, John's fragile being would shatter. Randy now knew he should never have made love to him on the beach. If he hadn't then maybe John would be in a better place. Instead, John just wanted to feel anything and Randy was feeling like nothing but a dirty whore.
7