Happy Christmas! Two chapters in one week! Thank you all for reading. I'm looking forward to your reviews!
A quick two and a half hour flight to Sydney the next morning and the Smackdown roster gets to enjoy a day of sight seeing. They visit the zoo where they get a private tour of the behind the scenes areas. The girls even take pictures holding koalas. Then they stop at the aquarium before Ravyn, AJ, Dolph and JJ end their evening with a stop at Madame Tussaud's wax museum.
For the first time all tour they actually get to sleep in on Tuesday morning. Getting to wake up at their leisure Ravyn rolls over and snuggles herself into AJ's side. She can feel him smile contently as she runs a hand from his belly button up to his chest. Warm sunlight streams into the room keeping them from falling back asleep. They lay together for a few more minutes before Ravyn groans and rolls out of bed. She stretches and wanders to the bathroom where she turns on the shower.
She steps into the warm water, letting it soak her sore bruised body. She looks down at her wrist to see a deep purple and yellow bruise glaring back at her. The rest of her body has a collection of less impressive contusions. The jingle of the shower curtain hooks on the metal rod snap her out of her observation. AJ's arms wrap around her waist from behind. His chest presses against her back. She leans against him as his hands travel all over her pale flesh. He nips at her collarbone hungrily, making her shudder with his gentle touch.
A moan escapes her as he bends her over under the hot stream of water. His hands grip her hips determinedly as they have their way with each other. Jumbled words, cascading water and whimpers of pleasure fill the steamy bathroom. A few minutes later they step out of the shower into the spacious bathroom. AJ swipes his hand across the fog coated mirror to reveal their faces staring back at them. AJ winces when he sees the black eye his girlfriend is sporting.
"I don't remember that looking so bad last night," he says sympathetically.
She leans into the mirror to get a better look at herself. "Yeah, bruises take a few days to show up on me. This is probably from Corbin's rogue forearm on Sunday," she shrugs. "Do you have media today?"
He nods, "I've got a signing for a few hours when we get to the building. And I may or may not have a match tonight. That will depend on what they cut out of the show."
She chuckles, almost hoping that the mixed tag is one of the matches that gets cut from the card. They get dressed and grab their gear bags on the way down to the awaiting busses. The Smackdown Live roster splits up upon arrival to the arena. Many superstars are featured in the huge meet and greet at the arenas attached convention hall. Ravyn drops her bag in the women's locker room and sets out to get the layout of the backstage area. Catering provides her with a cold bottle of water and some fresh fruit to snack on as she wanders the halls. Passers by shoot her odd looks, which confuse her at first, until she remembers the black eye and bruises.
Mark Carrano sees her and waves her over. After a quick chat he lets her know that they're pulling the mixed tag from the show. Both women look a little too rough to be on international television. Although she wants to protest she knows that he's making the right call. She makes another lap of the backstage area before going to check the updated card. She sees that Dolph and Corbin are scheduled for a match that AJ will do commentary on. She's relieved that the boys hadn't been cut from the show just because the girls were. That relief is short lived as the sound of footsteps behind her in the empty room make the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Her feeling of dread is soon confirmed by Corey's voice.
"So how long do I have to wait for you to ditch that hillbilly and come crawling back to me?" He pauses for a moment and smirks when she turns around to face him. "That always was my favorite. You on your knees crawling back to me. Begging me to fuck you."
She huffs in disgust at him, "What do you want Corey?"
He steps closer to her, their bodies almost touching, "You underneath me, trembling, just like before. We were so good together."
"Never going to happen asshole," she spits defiantly. "We were absolutely terrible for each other."
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small silver object. "You WILL come back to me," he dangles a flash drive in front of her face. "Or I'll release everything you and I have ever done."
"You piece of shit," she bubbles with rage.
He laughs wickedly, "Maybe instead of arguing about this you just let me and Corbin show you what you're missing. We'll make sure you forget all about AJ Styles." She grabs for the flash drive, but he jerks it out of her reach just a second too quickly. "Nice try Babe. But I'm keeping this close to me. It's the only copy in existence, I'd bet someone would pay a lot of money for it. I'd give it up if you want to earn it though."
"You are literally the most disgusting person on the entire planet," she shoves her way past him, blinded by anger and tears.
Ravyn rushes through the backstage area to where the monitors are showing the live feed from the show. JJ is watching intently so she knows that Dolph's match is already underway. She catches a glimpse of AJ at the commentary table next to JBL.
Panting, out of breath and looking like she's had a generally rough day Ravyn asks, "Did I miss it?"
"Nope, bell just rang a bit ago," JJ assures her.
Ravyn's eyes drop to the toe of her boot, "I ran into Corey earlier..."
JJ groans taking one eye off of the monitor to look at her best friend, "What did that ass hat do now?"
Ravyn swallows hard, "He's got a flash drive. With EVERYTHING on it. He's trying to use it to blackmail me into hooking up with him and Corbin."
"What?!" JJ whips her head around giving her full attention to her best friend. "That sick fuck!"
"Yep," Ravyn nods. "He wants me to leave AJ and be with him again. And now he's threatening to release all of our videos..."
J shakes her head in disbelief and turns back to the monitor as Zack Ryder walks up to watch with them, "He really needs to be put in his place. Too bad he can't wrestle anymore so the boys can just hit him with some stiff shots in the ring."
The girls watch as Dolph and Corbin lock up in the middle of the ring after a double down. Corbin muscles Dolph into the corner where they look to be calling a spot. Corbin throws a knee to Dolph's midsection as if to emphasize a point. He gives a snarled grin to the camera, lifts Dolph's head by the hair and leans in to say something else to him. Dolph pushes free from his grip. A moment of hesitation and rage crosses his face. He clenches his fist and hammers Corbin with a potato as he battles out of the corner.
"Speaking of stiffski," Ravyn almost whispers.
"Holy shit... Did he just hit him for real?" JJ gasps.
Ravyn shakes her head in disbelief, "No way.."
"Yeah, he definitely did," Zack confirms.
"That's not good," JJ says as the camera shows a close up shot of Dolph absolutely fuming. "He looks pissed..."
"Did Corbin stiff him first?" Ravyn wonders.
"Didn't look like it. It came after a lockup," Zack tells them. "I think he said something to Zigs."
JJ sighs, "Oh that's really not good..."
Ravyn nods, "He looks super pissed. I hope they wrap this up soon or else Dolph might kill him."
"I just hope Corbin doesn't start stiffing him back..." JJ can't tear her eyes away from the match on the monitor. "What the fuck is Corbin doing now?"
Corbin rolls out of the ring to get in AJ's face. After yelling back and forth at each other briefly Corbin stalks off and throws the time keeper out of his seat. He grabs the steel chair and rolls back into the ring shooting another cocky glare at AJ.
"Oh shit. Is this the finish?" Ravyn asks. "I didn't think we were using chairs on TV!"
"If this shitface injures Dolph before Mania..." JJ trails off angrily.
The ref calls for the bell when he sees Corbin holding the chair menacingly. The announcer claims Dolph as the winner by disqualification.
"Get out of the ring you douche," Ravyn whispers angrily.
JJ shifts from foot to foot nervously, "Damnit. I wish I was out there."
The girls sigh with relief as they watch Corbin roll out after a quick stare down with Dolph. Corbin leaves the arena up the side of the ramp avoiding gorilla completely. The show cuts to commercial and Dolph comes back up the ramp followed by AJ a minute later.
"What happened out there?" AJ asks as he comes through the curtain from gorilla.
Dolph runs a hand through his hair angrily, "Corbin.. Corbin said that he took the photo and that it is definitely J... Along with some other crude comments about her."
"But..." Ravyn stammers. "But it's not her through."
"I know," Dolph assures her. "But I just see him causing more problems. So I popped him one."
JJ grins, "Yeah you did. It looked great."
"Well," Ravyn shrugs. "Can't say he didn't deserve it."
The group disbands and gets on one of the early busses back to their hotel in Sydney. Once they're showered and settled in for the night Ravyn breaks the news about the flash drive to AJ. Fighting back tears she informs him that there is still a lot of content that hasn't been released.
"How much more can there be?!" AJ's voice is almost angry.
Embarrassed she suddenly finds the ugly hotel carpet very interesting, "A lot."
"I can't believe you let him do this to you," he scolds her. She can't even find words to respond to him. "This could cost you your entire career."
"You think I don't realize that!?" A tear falls to her cheek as she tries not to be angry with AJ. "Getting out of that relationship was the best decision I've ever made. And somehow it's still haunting me!"
"Because..." Ravyn cuts him off.
"Don't even fucking say it," she growls in a raised voice. "Do you really think that I don't know how big of a mistake I've made? I have to live with it every single day! I'm well aware of how fucking stupid I was!"
Both of their heads snap in the direction of the doorway as a loud knock interrupts their argument. AJ looks at her questioningly. She only shrugs as she attempts to wipe the tears from her face. He walks to the door and looks through the peephole. He grumbles audibly and opens the door. Three uniformed Sydney Police Officers are standing there in front of him.
"Is everything ok in here sir?" The first officer asks carefully. "We got a call about some yelling, maybe an argument going on in this room?"