They sat in the car lot, discussing the cars that they'd test driven so far, her male counterparts on the roster weighing in with their personal opinions, as well as Kaitlyn and Natalya. Mariah bit her lower lip as she fixed her eyes again on the 2013 Camaro, the superman blue one.
"Mama.. You already has a Camaro.. Gets the Eclipse!" Stella chattered as Heath snickered and then said "Mama's not good with a stick, hon." getting a dirty look from his friend Mariah who said stiffly, "Am too, just don't drive 'em much.. When you have a kid, Slater, you tell me if you'd rather have a vehicle in which you have at least one free hand, just in case you need to grab 'em real fast."
"Like the time Jed try to runned us offa the roads?" Stella asked with wide eyes as Mariah sighed and muttered quietly, "Yeah, Volt." as she again kicked herself for ever meeting Jed, getting involved with him and letting him into her little girl's life.
She tried to ignore the glances of concern she was getting from her guy friends and her female friends, and quickly changed the subject as she said "Actually, I kinda like the Mustang."
"The 5.0?"
"No, idget, the Cobra." Mariah said as Heath snickered and Jack Swagger pointed out, "Yeah, but it's a convertible, Ri."
"Damn it, Swagger, I already knew that."
From behind them, Dean spoke up, making the collective group (all save Mariah, of course, and Stella) roll their eyes as he said with a smirk, "I'm kinda with ya on the Camaro."
"And it bloody matters again, why?" Wade asked as he glared at the male, challenging him openly. He knew that Stella seemed to be drawn to the man, but he was sort of hoping she'd get attached to him just as easily.. He was trying, this time..
Mariah looked at Dean, gave a smallish smirk and then said "Why do you want me to get the Eclipse, Stella?"
"Cause it dark purple.. It the color of Poppa's fireworks sometimes."
Mariah groaned as she asked, "So... What about the red truck?"
"Mama, it too tall!"
"I know.. That's why Mama likes it." Mariah smirked as Stella groaned and muttered, "You girl.. You 'posed to drive car, dang it." before falling silent and tugging on Dean's pants leg. She pointed to the black Nissan 350 Z across the lot and said "That one pretty."
Wade's gaze followed as did Dean's and Wade chuckled as he bent to pick Stella up, okay, so it was a possessive move on his part, but he wasn't just going to fade back and let Dean win this, either. This was a competition, to the British male, and it was one that was important enough to him that he wanted to win. "Ask your mum if we can test drive it." he suggested with a wry smirk as Mariah looked from Stella, who was begging with her eyes, and Wade, who was grinning boyishly.
"You don't fly like a bat outta hell, Barrett. I mean it.. And fasten her in." Mariah relented after a few moments thought.
For some reason, her kid felt safest with two of the more unpredictable men on the roster, she had to wonder why.. So, she had all day to sort of try and see why her little girl felt safest with the two of them, and figure some things out on her own, as to where who could and could not be trusted, were concerned.
No, she wasn't considering dating either man, really.. She wasn't looking for anyone, in all honesty. She just wanted to sort of see them the way her daughter saw them. Because she was curious, that was all.
As Wade fastened Stella in, she smiled at him brightly and then said "I wikes you.. But I also wikes some of the other guys, sir." honestly. Wade studied her a moment and grinning said "And I appreciate your honesty, Stella. Let's see if I can't make you like me more... May I tell you a secret?"
"Mhmms.. I won't tell nobody."
"I like your mum.. Hell, I've liked her a bloody long time now, really."
Back in the car lot, Miz grumbled to himself as he muttered, "That bastard.." smirked to himself a little.. He was curious now, of course, because quite a few of the guys had made it known they all intended to go for the Phenom's daughter, and that they'd like to sort of step up and be Stella's 'dad' too. This was including himself, of course, and he and Wade, well, they'd been sort of arguing about Wade's actual intentions, because Miz only remembered the first time Mariah was on the roster, how Wade liked flirting with her, bragging about their one brief one night stand.
"Yeah.. Figures the asshole would try and capitalize on their one night judgement lapse." he muttered to himself as he called Mariah over and said "Range Rover.. It's not a truck, it's not a muscle car, but.. It's actually pretty dependable, and they're pretty safe, statistically."
He smirked a little to himself. Mariah looked in the window, then said "It's kinda biggish though.."
"Yeah, but Stella has a whole backseat for her dolls and you have more room for your luggage, the stuff you have to have with Stell being on the road with you. I know, it looks like a crackerjack box on wheels, but hey.. It's got room."
She smiled at Miz and said "I like it. Remember the row, we're definitely gonna come back to it." as they walked between the rows of cars, hybrids, trucks and SUVS.
Dean approached the jacked up truck, a smirk on his face as he shot a look behind him at Mariah, only to growl when he saw Mike Mizanin and Zack Ryder, the idiots of 3MB all talking to her.
Tyson Kidd walked over and said casually, a slightly menacing voice, "Don't know why you're here, Ambrose, but I'm pretty damn sure you're only doing this to get into Taker's head.. At least that's what my Nattie tells me she thinks, and she's pretty damn smart."
"That a threat, Kidd?"
"Hell no, Ambrose.. If you fuck with those two just to get to Taker? It's a promise.. I will find a way to kick your ass.. I grew up with Ri, Nattie's my girl and she's like a sister to Ri, so if you screw with them? You screw with their extended family, my man."
"You wouldn't understand this ya Canadian dipshit, but maybe there's not some 'sick' reason I'm here. Not all about the mindgames."
"Why the hell are you here even?" Jack Swagger asked from behind them, a curious look that was slightly menacing in his eyes as he studied Dean carefully, then added, "Because we all know, Ambrose.. You only do something if there's somethin in it for you."
"Let's just say I knew her a long time ago, leave it at that, got it?" Dean grumbled angrily as he shoved the two men, walked off to look at a yellow car he'd seen that he thought Mariah might like.
"They wouldn't fuckin get it, not in a million fuckin years..because nobody knows about the on again and off again thing we had going on when we were in CZW." he grumbled to himself.. Then again, in her defense, he'd treated her probably worse than Jed had, and he'd sort of always been obsessed with getting her back, proving her wrong about him, proving that their time together had meant something..
Mariah watched Dean looking at the truck, muttered to herself, "That guy looks too damn much like Jon." as she shook her head, got back to talking to Kaitlyn and Natalya about the pros and cons of the cars they'd test driven, just to kill time.
Wade smiled to himself as Stella asked him question after question about where he came from, about how long he knew her mommy, and why he liked her so much.. After answering them all, he pulled into a drive through window and turned to Stella asking, "Betting you're a strawberry ice cream girl?"
Stella gasped, her hand going to her mouth, her eyes going wide as she nodded her head excitedly, then asked, "How'd ya know, sir?"
"Your mum.. She eats it by the pint. Doesn't know I know that though."
"Mama gonna be mad cause I eated ice cream."
"Well, she'll just have to be mad at me, hmm." Wade muttered as he got their ice cream, drove them back to the lot. Mariah groaned as she saw Stella getting out, a strawberry ice cream in hand and she gave Wade a look. She'd have gotten upset but she smiled instead. She hadn't seen Stella laughing that much in a while, really, so she couldn't really say anything.
With a quiet smirk, Dean walked over and bent to the ice cream faced little girl as he asked, "Hey.. I was thinkin.. Ya wanna try and drive that Eclipse again?"
She begged her mom and Mariah studied him a moment, then said "Do not haul ass with her, okay? She scares easier than she seems to act like."
"Would ya fuckin relax, Ria?" Dean asked, the name he used to call her when they'd been on again, off again, volatile together during CZW coming out easily.
She studied him a moment, biting her lower lip intently as Stella tugged her sleeve and said "Mama, I be alright.. He won't hurt me.. Like Wade won't hurt me."
"Okay, Stel, but don't be a pain." Mariah said as Dean picked up the little girl, carried her to the Eclipse, smirked as he fastened her in and said "So.. Ya like this car, huh?"
"Mhmm. Can I asks ya somethin?"
"Yeah, Volt."
"Do ya like my mommy or somethin? You always lookin at her or tryna make her mad and usually when people does that, they likes someone."
"Actually, yeah.. And we kinda were together before.. Just don't think ya ma remembers. Don't blame her for tryin to forget, either."
"She remember, I thinks, cause sometimes, I sees her lookin at you."
"Ya do, huh?"
"Yeah."
Stella thought for a moment.. So both Wade AND Dean liked her mommy, hmm.. And she liked them both.. But she wondered if they really meant it too. She couldn't afford to be wrong, this not only affected her, but also, her mommy, who'd been through an awful lot.
A/N: Holy crap on a cracker! I'm so happy, so many reviews already, and I've only really just started this one! I love you guys soooooo freakin much, you're all amazing! I'm so glad you like this, I was worried it'd be a little too out there or something, but..
That said, I need to ask you guys something.. Who do you see with Mariah/Stella? I'm not even sure who she'd go with, I only have basic bare things figured out about her personality, actually.. I do know she's kinda like a country/biker/tomboy type and she doesn't take anyone's crap.. So yeah, that's all I do know for now.
Suggestions, ladies?
The chapter above.. I got inspired while watching Miz Tv for tonight. And yeah, while I'm not eve's biggest fan, judging by what the line up is as of late? I'd take her back over this crap with AJ and the Bellas. I realize that it all probably would never go down this way, but what the hell, right? It's my imagination, lol. Blame my overactive imagination..
Roman's not up for a pairing in this one, btw, just in case I actually pick up writing my roman x oc story later. But yeah, That's about it.
Thanks so much for all the reviews, I hope you guys are liking the story so far.