"And then John got so drunk he just jumped in the pool," Melina Perez burst out laughing.

The WWE's RAW brand had just finished a house show in Salisbury, Maryland and afterwards, Memphis had been invited out to a nearby bar and grill to have a late dinner with some of the Divas. Melina, Maryse Ouellette, Victoria "Alicia Fox" Crawford, and Nattie Neidhart had come out and Memphis had been excited to share a little girl time with her peers. She had remembered the cold and lonely days filled with isolation when she had first come to the company. Things had changed considerably and now she felt like one of the gang. The women were nice and a lot of fun to hang out with and above all, supportive. Memphis had lacked that friendship and connection in her real life as well so it was kind of nice. After their meal, they had ordered a few rounds of drinks.

"Tell me he kept his clothes on," Maryse, giggled in her thick accent as she raised an eyebrow as she stirred another Martini.

"Girl, of course he did," Victoria chimed in. "Melina would have killed his ass if he had gotten naked."

"What can I say? That's my man. Don't need any desperate little hussies out there getting any ideas once they take a look at my baby's goods…and trust me, it only gets better once you get past the abs," the Latina beauty licked her lips.

The girls already giddy and now slightly tipsy laughed out loud again. It had been a great way to unwind after a long night.

"Ladies, it has been awesome and thank you so much for the invite but I am tired and Punk is waiting for me. I better call it a night," Memphis smiled.

She paid her portion of the tab and left a generous tip, walking outside to hail a cab back to the hotel. Nattie volunteered to ride with her as she was anxious to get back to her own boyfriend TJ "Tyson Kidd" Wilson. The women enjoyed friendly chatter during the short ride and promised to get together for shopping in the next city. Memphis was in a great mood as she rode the elevator to the third floor. Using her key card, she opened the door and slipped in the room, hoping her man wasn't already asleep. Sure enough Punk was draped in a towel and his skin and dark hair was still damp from his recent shower. He was sitting at the desk messing around on his laptop.

"Hey," he didn't bother looking up.

"Hey," she grinned, placing a kiss on his forehead before kicking off her shoes and collapsing on their bed. "What are you doing?"

"Fucking around on Twitter," he took a sip of Diet Pepsi. "How was your night?"

"Wonderful," she smiled. "The girls are great. I'm glad everything is cool now. It's kind of nice to have that relationship with the people I work with."

"Yeah…"

"We stayed out later than we meant to. I probably should have texted you. Anyway, I'm beat. I'm gonna head to bed. We're leaving for Jersey after check-out, right?"

"Yep."

Memphis playfully rolled her eyes.

"You really seem to be in to that computer. Tortuing your followers with your dry and over sarcastic sense of humor and making fun of them for asking for retweets for their birthdays all of a sudden trumps hanging out with your girlfriend. What's up with that?"

Phil shrugged.

"These silly people practically beg for it and I like to be a dick. It's basically a win win situation."

She smiled as she stood and slowly unbuttoned and removed her jacket. She loosened the top few buttons on her blouse as she sauntered over to him and gently turned his seat away from the desk. Memphis straddled him, facing him, placing wet kisses on his neck.

"I missed you," she purred between nips. "Did you miss me too?"

"Maybe," he played hard ball.

She grinned as she felt his manhood coming to life through the terrycloth material of the hotel issued towel.

"Mmmm, certainly feels like you missed me."

She leaned back and removed her top, leaving her in jeans and a just a lacy black bra. Smirking mischeviously, she grabbed her boyfriend's hands and placed both palms on her breasts. He reciprocated by squeezing them, rolling the sensitive nippeles with his thumb. She moaned and tossed her head back, loving the feeling that he was giving her, knowing that more pleasure was on the way. Pulling his face close, she snaked her tongue in his mouth with urgency, wanting to feel and taste all of him.

"Memphis," he pulled away after a few seconds.

She gave him a confused look.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

He chuckled but she could tell he did not find the situation funny. Neither did she. He used his arm to wipe his mouth.

"I, um, I'm gonna get dressed for bed," he stood.

Stunned, she followed him over to where their luggage had been placed.

"Punk, what was that?"

"What was what?" he asked casually.

"Um, let's see we were in the middle of making out and things were about to get hot and heavy and you just totally blew me off. What gives?"

"I'm not in the mood anymore," he shrugged.

"What? Why?"

He walked over to the sink and began trimming his beard. Memphis followed.

"Some men find it attractive when their women go out and tie on a few. Think it makes them look sexy," he said before turning to face her. "I think it just makes them look drunk."

"What are you saying?" she narrowed her eyebrows. "Do you think I'm wasted?"

"I can taste it on you," he replied.

"Well, then you could have told me to brush my teeth. Your reaction kind of hurt my feelings."

"Not my problem."

Phil Brooks was known for his sarcasm and dry wit. Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was joking or not and Memphis searched for a hint of a smile but found none.

"Are you being serious right now?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, I am."

She shook her head in disbelief.

"I cannot believe you just said that to me."

"Dollface, you should know by now that I don't hold my tongue for anyone."

"And I don't expect you to but it would be nice if you could show some common courtesy to your girlfriend."

Something had been different about Phil ever since they had left Missouri the week before. Memphis couldn't put her finger on it but there was definietly a change of some sort. He wasn't being distant, just different. Still it bothered her.

"Courtesy, huh?"

She was tired of the fact that he was not looking her so she pulled his arm so that they were finally eye to eye.

"Look at me. Talk to me."

"You could have caused me to cut my throat…or worse, mess up my beard."

"Punk, I'm not joking right now."

He sighed.

"You've been going out a lot…"

"Is that what this is about?"

"Let me finish. I don't mind that. You seem happier and I want you to be happy. I think it's a good thing you have friends now or whatever but the whole drinking all the time…I'm not down with that and you know that. It's not me and I don't push my beliefs on other people but if we're gonna be in a serious relationship, I don't know how comfortable I am with my girl going out and being sloshed all the time."

"Punk, look at me. I am not drunk. I had two cocktails and a shot with the girls and I'm fine. I probably shouldn't be behind the wheel right now but that's why we cabbed it there. But I'm okay."

"Alright."

"Obviously it's not. You can't just say the things you said and expect me to just let it go. I don't like being accused of things I didn't do and you're making out like I'm some lush who goes out and gets bombed every chance she gets and we both know that's not true."

"That's not what I said. Don't put words in my mouth."

"Well, do you want to clarify what you mean? Because I would love to know."

He looked her in the eye.

"You know how I feel about you, Memphis. I care about you a lot. Whatever this is we have…I really dig it. But some of the things you've been doing lately are making me have doubts."

"Doubts, huh?"

"Yeah."

"And just what have I been doing that is so bad?"

"I didn't say it was bad or wrong, it just differs from the things that I do and the things that I want."

"Like?" she folded her bare arms.

"Like the people you've been hanging out with."

"Oh so now you all of a sudden have something against Melina and Nattie and Victoria and Maryse?"

"No. I don't even really know those broads."

"Then what are you talking about or should I ask who?"

"Memphis…"

"Is this about Randy Orton? Because sometimes I feel like you're still weirded out by the fact that I forgave him. I know you don't like him and that's fine. That's between you guys and I don't care about that. What I do care about is you and me and how things are between us. So I have a few drinks sometimes and I squashed a beef with some guy at work to keep the peace. You act like Randy and I hang out all the time and we're best friends."

"You two seem to be pretty chummy lately and I'll be honest with you. I don't like it."

"Define chummy. Randy and I are cool and that's where it ends. We don't hang out, we don't have a personal relationship and even if we did, I wouldn't see the harm in it considering that you and I are together and we have trust or least I thought we did."

"Trust, huh? Then why didn't you tell me about that night in the airport?"

"What?"

"The night the storms canceled all the flights and you were stuck in D.C."

"I…how did you know about that?"

"The pictures are all over the Internet. That's what fans do, Memphis. They beg you for photos then they post them all over the web right before they sell them for ten bucks on Ebay."

"Okay. Randy Orton and I were stuck in an airport, we ended up at a Starbucks together, we talked like civilized human beings then we waited at the same gate together. Some fans recognized us and yes we took pictures. I didn't tell you because it wasn't a big deal and honestly I forgot about it."

"Did you forget about the bar in Kansas City?"

Memphis bit her lip.

"What are you spying on me now?"

"No. I thought you might have grabbed a bite to eat in the hotel so I went looking for you after my meeting and I saw you with him."

"Why didn't you come up to us?"

"Didn't want to interrupt."

"Oh for fuck's sake. What is that supposed to mean? It wasn't a date. We weren't hiding. I went to get food and he was already there and we ended up talking and had some drinks. Now you sit here and throw trust in my face, that's a two way street. I care about you so much and you're an awesome guy and we have a great relationship but I don't want to be with a guy who is going to get jealous and overreact every time I talk to another guy. That's not fair."

"You think I'm overreacting?"

"Yeah, I do."

"You don't know me," he said as he washed, dried his face and walked away.

"What?" Memphis chased after him.

"The drinking, you newfound friendship with Randal? It creates doubt for me, Memphis. Doubt fucks everything. I thought we had something. I want us to have something but doubt will make that foundation crumble."

His tone was simple and direct and it stung her feelings as much as she hated to admit it.

"I'm with you, Punk. I want to be with you. Randy has nothing to do with us and you have to trust that. You have to know that this is all a misunderstanding. I would never cheat on you or do something behind your back. I don't want you to doubt me and it hurts me that you do."

"Yeah? Well, you're not the only one that has a hard time trusting people."

"Talk to me," she whispered.

"The whole thing with Orton…it just drives me crazy. I know the kind of guy he is. I was in a serious relationship with Maria Kanellis. Things didn't work out, we ended it, it sucked, we both got over it. But I really cared about her and your bud, Randal ended up sleeping with her right under my nose. He was drunk, she was too but she caught feelings for him and we all know that he only cares about himself. We were broken up and he did it just to use her and get at me and at the same time get what he wanted because that's how he treats people. The bastard doesn't give a hot fuck."

"I had no idea," Memphis swallowed hard.

"And if you think I take the Straight Edge thing too far, that's just me. My dad was an alcoholic, Memphis. He didn't hit me or my brother, he didn't beat up on my mom. It's nothing like that but I had a childhood witnessing stupid, ridiculous bullshit along with my mother popping prescription pills all the time. I started hanging out with an older crowd and uh, they turned out to be just as stupid and ridiculous sometimes. It taught me an important lesson earlier on. I'm not about the partying and the drinking. I don't think getting wasted until you black out or waking up next to people you don't remember going to bed with is fun."

She could hear the emotion in his voice and suddenly it all made sense. He was really bothered but at least he was being honest with her.

"Punk, I'm sorry. I, I didn't know about your parents and I do respect your lifestyle and your choices. The whole Randy thing? I didn't know he slept with Maria. Hearing it doesn't surprise me but people do change. People don't always give you the benefit of the doubt just like they don't give it to him…"

"Don't talk to me about change and Randy Orton and don't you dare compre me to him. That's the same prick that tormented you for months. That's the tool that used Maria. I am nothing like him and I never will be. I don't have dirty, unprotected sex with money grubbing skanks who eventually file paternity suits against me either. I respect you, Memphis and I'm in love with you. I guess that means me sucking up my pride and accepting the decisions you make even if I don't always agree with them or understand them. That's going to be hard for me to get used to."

With that, he walked away and begin straightening up his bags. Memphis walked up behind him, sliding her arms up and down his bare arms as she placed kisses on his back.

"I'm sorry," she whispered over and over again. "I'm so sorry."

Phil closed his eyes and tried not to react but he eventually turned and she fell into his open arms.

"Do you love me?" he cupped her face and looked into her eyes.

"Punk…"

"Do you love me?" he repeated.

She slowly nodded.

"Yes," she answered softly.

He pulled her in and she buried her face into his chest. He was a good man and she cared about him and he obviously cared about her. They had something special that she cherished and did not want to lose. Phil Brooks was a complex man, tough but sensitive, strong but scared, flawed but beautiful. And he was a man struggling to live in the present and live for the future despite the many demons that haunted him from the past. Much like, in fact just like Randy Orton.