Chapter 4
Thanks to Randy's loud mouth ranting and raving about what happened with his ex-girlfriend, word spread quickly around the locker room. Glen and Bryan wanted to maim him, but naturally Randy refused to keep his mouth shut. He had the handprint shaped bruise on his face to prove what happened, so there was no denying it. Luckily though, nobody mentioned it or questioned Zelia what happened, everyone focusing on their work. Even Valisa didn't ask about it because she knew it would only upset Zelia, which wouldn't be good for doing their job.
During their backstage segment with Paul Heyman, he mentioned something about Zelia being attacked by Randy Orton. Jon's head snapped up, bluish grey eyes clouding over with barely contained rage, his jaw tightening. Paul and Colby didn't seem to notice thankfully, but Joe caught it and placed a hand on Jon's shoulder, trying to get him to calm down. What did he mean Zelia was attacked by Randy Orton? Jon wanted to kill him and stood up when Paul announced they were ready to film the segment. He cracked his knuckles and neck, squared his shoulders and looked directly into the camera, eyes full of fire.
During the show, Zelia made herself scarce in Glen and Bryan's locker room with Valisa, needing to rest as much as possible. Her upper arms were sore from being grabbed and overworked, but Zelia pushed through it expertly. Glen made sure to remind the girls to lock the door behind them and Zelia did not argue, for once agreeing with his suggestion. They already had food and drinks, having grabbed them on their last break and piled them in the locker room. Thankfully, there was a couch in the dressing room, so both girls piled on it laying opposite and sprawled out while watching the show.
Halfway through, a soft knock sounded at the door, causing both girls to look at each other. It wasn't Glen's secret knock he came up with Bryan, so they were hesitant to answer it. When they heard Stephanie McMahon-Levesque's voice echo through it, Valisa stood up and wondered what the princess wanted, unlocking the door to open it.
"Hey Steph, what's up?" Valisa greeted with a smile, chewing on a piece of gum.
"Hey Val, I need to talk to Zelia." Stephanie smiled back, keeping a professional tone to her voice. "It's about what happened with Randy."
"I'm not signing anything." Zelia called back, not moving from the couch and chomped on a Snickers candy bar, her favorite.
"Actually, he's filing a charge against you." Stephanie informed her, stepping into the room past Valisa and handed over the document. "You struck him and he said he didn't provoke you."
"The hell he didn't!" Zelia rarely lost her temper, but this was a new low for Randy Orton. "I walked out of the women's bathroom and slammed into him accidentally. Personally, I think he was there waiting for me. He's a creeper. Then he wanted an apology and I refused to give him one, so he pinned me against the wall and wouldn't let me go back to work. Then he taunted me by trying to make me kiss his cheek as an 'apology' so I slapped the taste out of his mouth. It was self-defense and I can always file an assault charge, which I'm sure is what's in your hand, right?"
Valisa gaped, ocean blues wide because she hadn't known what Randy Orton did, only that it was some form of an attack. "He put his hands on her, Stephanie. That's assault and she defended herself."
Stephanie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and didn't know any of this newfound information because Randy had made it sound like Zelia provoked him. Not the other way around. "I should've known. Alright. I'll be having a talk with Randy and I want both of you to try to stay away from each other. If he tries talking to you again, come directly to me, Zelia. We're cracking down on assault and sexual harassment around here and he could lose his job if he touches you again."
That would be a blessing, Zelia thought, and already knew she'd go to Glen and Bryan before Stephanie. She didn't like the bosses or respect them, especially Stephanie's husband, Paul. He thought the world shined out of his ass just as much as Randy did and refused to put new blood over, always hogging the spotlight for himself. Because she loved her job, Zelia kept those thoughts to herself, simply smiling and nodding at Stephanie.
"Good, thank you for telling me what happened. Sorry to bother you with this and I'm glad you got checked out by Larry too. That was wise of you." Stephanie walked out and Valisa closed the door behind her, shaking her head.
"She really has changed since taking over." Valisa muttered, walking back over to take her spot on the couch again. "Are you really okay?"
"I'm fine, stop talking about it." Zelia grunted, not in the mood to think about Randy Orton as she downed half her water bottle, trying to calm her boiling blood. "The Shield segment is next, I think."
The Shield closed the show out in one big fight that involved Team Hell No, Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, –Nick Nemeth was his real name- Big Show, –Paul Wight- Sheamus, -Stephen Farrelly- and John Cena. The show ended with all these men piled in the ring beating the hell out of each other. Zelia smiled in spite of everything that happened, her eyes following Jon's every move on the monitor. Valisa was busy ogling Joe, wondering if he'd ever consider going out with her or at least spending the night in her bed.
Vince McMahon decided to save the backstage segment with the Shield and Paul Heyman for another Raw, which nobody minded. Jon arrived backstage, feeling triumphant since they pulled off another successful in-ring segment. As much as he wanted to celebrate, he couldn't get what Paul Heyman said out of his mind about Zelia. He had to check on her, even if she didn't want to see him right now.
"Jon, where are you going?" Joe asked, catching up to his friend and clamped his hand on the man's shoulder stopping him.
"I have to make sure she's alright." Jon growled, shrugging Joe's hand off his shoulder and continued on his way down the hallway.
Joe followed him, having a feeling Valisa would be with Zelia and couldn't wait to see her again. "Do you know where she is?"
"I heard something about Glen Jacobs carting her off to the trainer's room. So I'll start with him and hopefully get some info on where she's at." Jon explained, picking up into a jog to get to the dressing room faster.
"She's not here." Glen said as soon as Jon and Joe arrived, quirking a brow at both of them. "Why do you wanna find her?"
"It's a long story and I don't have time to get into it." Jon was frustrated, scrubbing a hand down his face. "Just…just tell me if she's okay. I heard something about Randy Orton attacking her and you took her to the trainer's room. Did he hurt her?"
How the hell did the rookie know Zelia? Word traveled fast around the locker room and Glen hated it, deciding to put Jon's worry to rest. "She's fine, just got a little shook up. And if I were you, I wouldn't bother her tonight. Let her do her job, you can talk to her some other time." His tone implied that was an order, not a request.
"Hey Big Red, can I-" Valisa's words faltered as soon as her eyes landed on Joe, swallowing hard. "Oh, sorry…"
Joe raised a brow, wondering what the hell Valisa was doing in Glen Jacobs' dressing room. She said she didn't have a boyfriend, had she lied to him? Was she screwing Glen? Joe was never one to jump to conclusions and wouldn't start now, simply smiling back at her.
"Is everything okay?"
Glen nodded, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, they were just askin' about Zelia. Apparently, Orton needs a lesson in keepin' his damn mouth shut."
Valisa scowled briefly, not liking the sound of that and slowly turned ocean blues on Jon. The worry in his eyes touched her and Valisa wanted to help him somehow, someway. She couldn't betray Zelia though, not wanting to jeopardize her friendship in any way. Still, Valisa truly believed Zelia needed a small nudge to get her to talk to Jon instead of constantly dodging him like she'd been doing. Looking up at Glen, she could see the questions swirling around the big man's head and knew Zelia hadn't told him about her past with Jon. It wasn't her place to tell him and she knew Zelia would come clean eventually, possibly on their drive to Bridgeport later that night.
"Walk me down to gorilla position?" She looped her arm through Jon's, flashing a heart stopping smile and winked over her shoulder at a perplexed Glen, walking down the hallway with both Shield members.
Jon had no idea what thoughts flowed through this woman's mind, but was intrigued nonetheless. "What's this about?" He asked, keeping his voice down while Joe moved to walk on the other side of Valisa.
"Zelia would kill me for doing this, but…I'm tired of seeing her moping around and avoiding you. Yes, she told me everything, Jon. Nice to meet you, by the way." Valisa chortled, the smile never leaving her face. "She thinks you hate her and that she betrayed you because she left without telling you back in 2006."
Jon nodded, surprisingly feeling comfortable enough to talk to Valisa about his past with Zelia. "I just wanna know why she left. I never found out and nobody would talk. I don't hate her, I can't believe she thinks that. So that's why she's been avoiding me, huh?"
"Yes and it's getting to the point where she's hardly getting any sleep." Now the smile vanished from Valisa's face and a worried frown took over. "I'm afraid she's gonna end up falling asleep at the wheel one night and wrecking her car. She's been leaving after we take the set down and, instead of going back to the hotel in town, she leaves to go to the next one. I didn't realize she was doing it until today and figured she'd just left super early after getting a few hours of sleep after work. Tonight, Glen is riding with her just to make sure she's alright and he even volunteered to drive so she could get some sleep. This has to stop and she needs to talk to you."
"What do you want me to do about it?" Jon shot back, his frustration taking over briefly. "I can't force her to talk to me if she doesn't want to."
"I know." Valisa assured him, stopping just outside of the gorilla position. "That's why I'm interfering. We're going Christmas shopping in Bridgeport tomorrow afternoon sometime before the Smackdown! taping. I planned on talking to Joe about having a 'surprise' run-in with the two of you wherever we're shopping at, but now that I have you here maybe you can come up with something better."
Was this woman a mind reader? Jon had planned Joe to talk to Valisa and try to weasel information out of her on Zelia's whereabouts. They planned on going wherever the women were and surprising them. Now here Valisa was plotting the exact same plan he had in mind and it boggled him to say the least. Joe liked Valisa even more and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, letting her know he was on board with the plan.
"You actually want to help me?" Jon pulled away from Valisa, turning to fully face her. "You don't know me."
"True, but I do know Zelia and I hate seeing her in pain. I can also tell when someone isn't trustworthy and a bad person. Randy Orton is, you are not." She touched his shoulder with soft friendly ocean blues. "I can see the pain in your eyes too, you've missed her."
Jon cleared his throat, lowering his eyes from hers and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I just want answers." He muttered, blinking when Valisa smacked his shoulder. "Hey! What's that for?"
"Trying to bullshit me." Valisa smirked, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Care to try again?"
"No…" Jon rubbed his shoulder, not believing how much that actually hurt. "You've got a mean slap, lady."
"Just use my name or call me Vali." She requested, her eyes never leaving his. "You miss Zelia, admit it."
Jon growled, hating being scolded and shot Joe a glare when he began chuckling. "Can it." He ordered, tearing a hand through his still damp hair. "Fine, I miss her. That stays between us though, understand?"
Valisa grinned, nodding. "You got it. I won't say a word. Now I know she wants to go to the Yankee Candle store in Bridgeport. I looked it up and there is one. I think that'll be the best place to have this 'surprise' meeting. Or do you want to meet somewhere else?"
Jon thought about it for a second, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah that'll work, she won't be able to get away from me easily with all that glass around. I appreciate your help with this, Valisa."
"Not a problem, you seem like a good guy and from how she talked about the past, you two were close. It'd be nice for her to have fresh people to hang out with besides me, Big Red and D-Bry." Occasionally, when they needed a girl's night out Brianna and Nicole would tag along, but it didn't happen often enough.
"I just hope she doesn't mind we're about to go to war with Team Hell No." Joe stated, having stayed quiet up until now, his voice a low rumble from deep in his chest.
"Nah, not unless you're assholes and try to really hurt them." Valisa assured him, feeling Joe's grey eyes pierce her deeply and reluctantly tore her gaze from them to look back at Jon. "Give me your number and I'll text you when we're on our way to Yankee Candle. If I were you, since Bridgeport is less than 2 hours from here, I would leave tonight like she is. I would, but I hate driving at night."
"You can travel with us if you want." Joe blurted out before he could stop himself and cleared his throat. "We planned on leaving anyway."
Valisa raised a brow, wondering if she should take Joe up on his offer and chewed her bottom lip. "That's tempting, we could talk more about the plan." That was her excuse to spend more time with Joe and Valisa would stick to it like glue. "Do you mind, Jon?"
Jon saw Joe's pleading eyes and knew he couldn't deny his friend anything, shaking his head. "Not at all, maybe you'll have a better music selection than this idiot." He joked, looking at the curtain and knew Valisa had to get to work. "What time do you get off?"
"Around 2 or 3, depending. Sometimes we have issues with the set being taken down." Valisa handed over her keycard to Joe, trusting him a little more than Jon at the moment. "Grab my things out of my room at the hotel and just pick me up here. It's pointless to make an unnecessary trip and all of my things are packed up already. Thanks guys." Winking, Valisa slipped through the curtain and headed down the ramp, waving off Benjamin when he merely glared at her.
Joe looked down at the keycard and then back up at Jon, swallowing hard. "We better get moving. You think Colby will mind her tagging along?"
"No, he's traveling with a couple of the other guys."
Both men headed down the hallway toward their locker room to pick up their things before driving to the hotel, knowing tomorrow would be very interesting.