"I'm sorry officer," AJ says quietly.
"We heard a woman in the room with you, is she available?" The officer asks calmly.
"Of course," AJ tells them. "Babe, can you come to the door?"
Ravyn comes around the side of the bed and into view of the policemen for the first time. She can see the looks on their faces change to ones of actual concern. She does her best to try and convince them that AJ didn't beat the shit out of her. But they're not having any of it. They both try to explain that they're professional wrestlers and they get beat up for a living. Onlookers start to gather in the hallway as the situation only seems to get worse.
"We're going to have to ask you to come down to the station, sir," one of the officers tells AJ.
"Seriously?" AJ asks frustrated.
"Yes sir," the officer confirms firmly. "Your girlfriend is covered in bruises and we heard the two of you arguing through the door. Spending the night apart will probably do the two of you some good."
"Babe, call Shane," AJ's voice fills with concern.
Ravyn nods and immediately starts calling Shane's cell phone. The police lead AJ away, at least sparing him the humiliation of being handcuffed. It takes a few minutes before Shane finally answers. Desperation pours from Ravyn's mouth as she explains the situation to her boss. He tells her to hang tight and says he'll be there in a few minutes to pick her up so they can go get AJ together. She requests that he bring proof of her getting beaten up so that they have something to show the authorities.
She paces the room feverishly before heading to the lobby of the hotel. Fans and reporters alike are swarming the area after word of a WWE superstar getting picked up by the police spreads like wildfire. Shane pulls into the drop off zone a few minutes later and she quickly jumps into the passenger seat. The two of them exchange nervous looks, but dare not speak on the ride to the precinct. Shane parks the car and they head inside. He spends almost an hour trying to convince the police chief that AJ isn't a womanizer and that Ravyn's wounds are from her actual job. He has to go as far as showing some matches from the tour to finally get through to him.
AJ is lead from the holding cell and given back his belongings. Ravyn rushes to hug him tightly. He returns the hug, but she can tell that he's understandably upset. Shane thanks the police chief for being merciful. As the three of them prepare to leave the station two familiar faces come through the front door with a significant police escort. They're both still wearing pajamas. JJ frantically follows behind two officers who are struggling to keep her distanced from a handcuffed Dolph.
Ravyn can't believe her eyes, "J...? What the hell are you guys doing here?!"
"These cops came pounding on our door... They think that Dolph is hitting me because of the bruises! They won't listen to me when I say they're from work," the redhead rambles in a panic. "Wait... What are you doing here?"
Ravyn looks at her best friend, a realization crossing her mind, "Cops came for us too. They dragged AJ down here because someone said we were arguing. And then when they saw me they assumed he was hitting me too. Same scenario."
"I'll get this taken care of," Shane assures them as he starts walking back to the chief's office. "I've got Sunday's match on my phone."
"Why the fuck is this happening?" JJ groans.
Ravyn shakes her head, "I have no idea. But you'd better believe that 'WWE Superstars arrested for domestic violence' is going to be trending worldwide on Twitter as soon as America wakes up."
"I think we can probably guess why this is happening. Or more importantly WHO is making this happen," AJ folds his arms across his chest angrily.
JJ paces back and forth trying to see where the cops have taken Dolph, "Do you really think that even Corey would stoop this low? I mean.. No offense, I guess it makes sense for you guys. But me and dolph?"
"I think that we both know that this isn't close to the lowest Corey would go," Ravyn reasons. "He's probably using you to get to me."
Rage overtakes the redhead, "I'm going to kill him. He's fucking with four people's careers all because he wants to get laid. Please tell me I can kill him?"
AJ looks around the lobby of the precinct nervously, "Maybe here and now isn't the best place to be rationalizing his death. I only just escaped being arrested."
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault," the guilt overtakes Ravyn.
"No, it's his fault," JJ tries to tell her. "You did nothing wrong."
Shane comes around a corner with a very cranky looking Dolph. JJ rushes straight into his arms as soon as he's close to the group.
"Oh thank god. Are you okay?" JJ asks worriedly.
Dolph hugs her tightly and plants a light kiss on her forehead, "No, there is nothing okay about this. What the hell is going on?"
"We've got a theory, but nothing concrete," AJ admits.
"Uh huh," Dolph says knowingly. "And does this theory involve everyone's least favorite scumbag?"
All Ravyn can do is nod her head sadly. Moments later Shane joins them and offers the band of miscreants a ride back to the hotel. AJ is quiet once they get back to their room. Sensing his displeasure with the situation she stays out of his way and gives him some space. When they crawl into bed he turns and faces the wall instead of leaving himself open for snuggling like he normally does. His coldness stings. Silent tears drip onto her pillow until she falls asleep.
They have a short flight to Melbourne early the next morning. AJ is quiet the whole flight and bus ride to the hotel. They check into their room for a couple hours of downtime before they need to leave for the arena. Ravyn sits on the desk chair on the opposite side of the room as AJ, desperately wanting for everything to just be ok. She can tell that he's still upset so she browses Twitter to see what the damage is.
"Ugh, Twitter is a fucking disaster," she groans.
"Of course it is," AJ snaps back. "The world can't get enough of your drama."
His snarky tone hurts. "Is everything okay?" She asks carefully.
"No, everything is NOT okay," he replies harshly. "It's like every freakin thing we do there's another roadblock. I'm sick of it. We can't just enjoy anything. Drama freakin follows you. And now I'm wrapped up in it. I almost got arrested last night! And the whole world thinks I'm a woman beater now!"
"I'm so sorry," she stammers trying to hold herself together.
"Do you just attract drama like a freakin magnet?" He ignores her attempt to apologize. "What's next? How much worse is this going to get?"
A lump rises in her throat as a flood of word vomit escapes, "I hope you don't seriously think that I enjoy all this. I want nothing more than to be able to enjoy being us without all this bullshit."
"But some how some way every week is another episode in the never ending soap opera that is your life," he says with enough resentment to really hurt her. "I don't want my life to be a constant struggle. I'm a freakin adult, I'm over the stupid high school drama!"
She bites her lip, not wanting to say anything and make it worse. The tension rises as AJ starts messing with his luggage. She can feel him getting ready to walk out the door. She stands up and grabs the handles of her bags, stalking to the door of the room she spits, "Don't bother, I'll leave."
She doesn't even look back as she escapes into the hall, positive that seeing him will make her cry. One arm loops through the handle of her gear bag so she can access her phone as she walks. A quick text to Tyler and she's at his door. He lets her in, watching her internal struggle as she tries to decide if she wants to tell him what's going on. She props her bags up against the wall and just looks at him with watery eyes.
He pulls her into his arms just letting her cry. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," he consoles her.
They spend their time before bus call just sitting together and watching some TV. She appreciates everything that he is to her. A tolerant and understanding best friend. They have to split up as the buses load. She boards the heel bus and sees AJ already in one of the back seats pressed up against the window with his headphones in. She decides to sit as far away as possible and plants herself a row from the front. She puts her headphones in, but doesn't turn any music on. She just doesn't want to be bothered. Gallows and Anderson board shortly after her.
"Uh oh," Gallows whispers loudly to Karl. "I think the Royal Hoots are fighting."
Karl steps up into the aisle and groans, "Aww shit. Trouble in Hootville."