Ravyn spends the day hiding from just about everyone. She comes out for Breezango's match, but her friends can all tell that something is bothering her. She's silent on the drive to the hotel in Knoxville. They arrive shortly after 2 AM and check into their rooms. Knowing that AJ had left Greensboro after them she hangs back to ask the receptionist to hold a key on the off chance that he decides to let go of whatever drama he's holding on to. She gets to her room and crawls between the covers, angry at herself for being this upset by someone who isn't even her boyfriend. The buzz of her phone on the nightstand startles her. A text from Tyler pops up on the screen after she unlocks the device.
"You know I'm here if you need to talk right?"
"Thanks dude," she shoots back, but doesn't engage further.
The city lights dance across the walls and ceiling as she lays awake staring into the empty hotel room. The clock on the nightstand reads 3:37 when she hears the door to her room open up. Light from the hallway floods into the room and quickly disappears, followed only by the light from AJ's cell phone. He kicks off his shoes and tosses his shirt onto the floor nearby. The light from his phone illuminates the path to the bed. He crawls into bed next to Ravyn and lets out an exhausted sigh. She starts to say something but he shushes her, saying that they can talk in the morning. His arms pull her close against his body and within minutes they're both asleep.
AJ's alarm sounds at 9 AM. He groans and slaps at the phone to silence it. Ravyn rolls over to face him and buries her head in his chest.
"I can't stay long," he whispers, not ready to embrace the morning. "I have a signing at noon."
She nods, "Are you still mad at me?"
"I'm not exactly happy," he admits. "But if you say nothing happened I'm going to believe you."
"I promise you," she looks into his eyes. "Nothing happened."
He kisses her forehead. "I need to eat.. And workout before this appearance," he begrudgingly throws his legs over the side of the bed.
"I'll see you at the arena," she confirms. "Or, more accurately, in Augusta. We're doing Ride Along tonight."
"Are you flying home before the U.K. tour" he wonders.
"Haven't decided yet," she shrugs. "I've got everything I need to go with me. I may just drive to Atlanta a day early."
"Let me know when you figure that out," he runs a hand through his hair and stands up. She can't help but smile as she watches him put his shirt on. He can feel her eyes on him so he smirks and finishes putting it on as slowly as possible.
Flustered by his display she whines, "You, are such a tease."
He shoves his feet into his sneakers and walks back to the side of the bed. Leaning down he whispers into her ear huskily, "It's only teasing if I don't intend to follow through." He quickly kisses her and vacates the room, leaving her wanting so much more.
Two hours later Ravyn slides into the back seat of Breezango's rental car. Tyler drives them to the gym where Ravyn spends an hour doing her physical therapy routine while the boys lift weights. She manages to sneak a short leg workout in while the boys finish up their routine. They head to the arena in their TapOut gear knowing that they're going to do a bit of ring work before the show.
Tyler runs a bunch of drills with Ravyn and JJ to warm up. Then, he and JJ run through some basic spots while Ravyn plays referee. They finish with JJ getting a quick roll up pin on Tyler. The three of them head to the back to get cleaned up before the show begins.
Breezango open the show with a tag match against the Usos. They end up losing when Dango gets pinned by Jey after Jimmy lays Tyler out on the outside. The Usos celebrate with the fans at ringside while Ravyn helps the boys to the back. Once they're through gorilla the boys hook a left and head back to their locker room. Ravyn goes down the opposite hallway past catering. She grabs a cold bottle of watch from the bucket of ice and cracks the seal. She raises the bottle to her lips and takes a long drink while she continues towards the women's locker room.
As she walks past an intersecting hallway a hand reaches out to grab her arm. A squeak of fright escapes her lips as she's yanked into the other hallway and through a solid door leading to a large storage closet. The door closes behind her and she turns around to see AJ seething with anger.
"You said you didn't fuck them," him swearing throws her off more than the daggers he's glaring at her.
"I didn't!" She exclaims. "Where is this even coming from?!"
His body is almost quaking with rage, "I came in today to find Fandango in the locker room bragging about bedding you. Then sharing pictures of you in your freaking underwear with the whole locker room."
Her face falls, "Are you fucking ribbing me?"
"No, I am not freaking ribbing you," he insists. "I saw it and heard it myself."
"I'm going to kill him," she growls mostly to herself.
He continues his tirade, "I thought what we had going was a good thing. But if you want to bang other guys just let me know and we can end this now."
"For someone who isn't even my boyfriend you sure care an awful lot about who I am or am not fucking.. and spoiler, it's only you!" She can feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "You really think I would risk losing this? I've kept this secret from literally everyone. Even my best friend! I don't know what you think we had going on. But to me, this was an exclusive relationship. I haven't even thought about hooking up with anyone but you." She bites her lip trying to fight back the tears she knows are coming. "If you want to end this because some guy needs to tell stories to get himself over with the boys then so be it." By the end of that sentence tears are streaming down her cheeks.
"Is that what you think I want?" His tone is softer, less angry now. "The last thing I want is for this to be over. But I do want to know that this is an exclusive thing."
She sniffles, "I have never cheated on anyone. And even if I didn't think that this was an exclusive thing I wouldn't have slept with anyone else anyways. That's not the kind of person that I am."
He sighs, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have jumped down your throat like that. I just don't want to think about you being with anyone else." He pulls her into his muscular arms. She buries her face in his chest trying to regain her composure. "If you don't have to go home before we fly to Ireland you should come spend a night at my place."
She pushes away to look him in the eye skeptically, "Really?"
"Yeah," he nods. "It would be nice to spend some time together without any obligations."
Swallowing hard she musters the courage to ask, "Is this your way of saying we're doing the boyfriend girlfriend thing?"
"I guess we could call it that." He smirks. " I'm not ready to go telling everyone in the locker room. But I'm warming up to that idea."
"I'm in no rush to tell anyone," she agrees. "I just want to enjoy what we've got here."
He kisses her head, "So you'll come home with me to Gainesville after the Augusta show?"
She nods excitedly, a grin slowly creeping across her face, "I'll drop the boys at the airport and tell them I'm going to Atlanta instead of flying home."
"Devious," he smirks. "Have fun doing Ride Along. I'll leave a key for you at the hotel desk." He gives her a quick kiss before sneaking out of the closet door.
She hangs out in the room a bit longer to keep their secret alive a bit longer. She dabs the corner of her shirt against her face trying to clean up her smudged makeup before shooting Dango a text telling him to meet her near catering. She slips out the door and heads back towards the smell of delicious hot food. Dango appears from across the room and strides across the floor to her.
"What's up?" He asks, already knowing what her answer will be.
"So.. Were you telling the locker room that we're sleeping together?" She begins.
He blushes, "I knew I should have texted you first. Sorry. Some of the guys were talking in the locker room and your name came up." She crosses her arms impatiently. "Someone mentioned that..."
"Who?" She demands before even knowing what he's going to say.
"Corbin," he sighs. "Corbin was telling people that he was planning to hook up with you. Because you're easy."
"Eww," she makes a disgusted face. "He's repulsive.
"I didn't think you'd be ok with him talking about you like that," Dango rationalizes. "So I told him you were taken."
"And you showed them pictures of me in my underwear?" She probes.
He opens his phone and shows her the picture in question. It's from the morning after the Friendsgiving party. When she had paused in the doorway of her room to flip him off he had snapped a quick picture. From the angle it was taken at it looks like she wearing only underwear and no bra. She admires the picture. Messy hair, smudged makeup and looking smoking hot.
She snorts, "That's actually a really good picture of me."
"Yeah it's pretty hot." He cracks the tiniest of smiles, "Sorry I didn't let you know sooner."
"No worries dude," she smiles. "You should totally post that on Instagram."
"Really?" He asks in disbelief. "Are you sure?"
She shrugs with a grin, "Fuck it. Do it! My ring gear is just as revealing as that."
"I'll put it up after the show." He tells her.
"Cool," she nods. "Don't forget we have Ride Along tonight."
He pauses on his way out of catering, "Dibs on driving."