Chapter 13

"So, I think we should go out tonight."

Zelia looked up from her plate of uneaten food and looked at Valisa, raising a brow. This was the first time they actually had a moment alone to talk in a week. Valisa spent a lot of her time with Joe these days and Zelia was left to be alone in her hotel rooms. Some nights she'd order a movie and others she'd simply go to bed after a hard night's work tearing down the WWE setup. She didn't mind Valisa spending her time with Joe because something serious was developing between them and they legitimately liked each other. At least, that's what Zelia assumed.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Zelia replied finally, running a hand through her black hair and recalled the last time she went out somewhere with Valisa. "No Joe tonight?"

Valisa smiled as soon as his name was mentioned and shook her head. "No, unfortunately not. He's having a boy's night with Colbs and Jon. Apparently, they've been feeling neglected, so they're all going out to a strip joint."

Zelia's eyes widened when she heard that. "What? And you're okay with that?"

Valisa shrugged. "Joe and I haven't established what we are yet. We're dating right now, but that's all it is. And of course fucking." She smirked wickedly. "We're simply seeing where things go and he asked my permission. What am I gonna say, no? I'm not going to be a controlling bitch like his ex-girlfriend was. If he wants to go to a strip joint with the guys, then that's what he's gonna do."

"You are a very brave woman." Zelia sighed, chomping on a carrot stick and felt sick at the thought of Jon being at a strip club.

"What's going on with you, Zel?" Valisa demanded, seeing her friend had barely touched the food on her plate and frowned. "Something's going on and keeping it bottled up inside is only going to make things worse. How about we go outside and you spill your guts to me?"

Zelia knew better than to argue because that tone of voice implied there was zero room for argument. "Fine, I need some air anyway." They tossed their plates away and headed outside of the arena, both hopping up on one of the equipment trunks.

"Now spill." Valisa ordered, hating to see the dark circles under her friend's eyes and could already feel her anger sparking. "Does it have to do with Jon?"

The flood gates suddenly opened as Zelia nodded, burying her face in her hands crying her heart out. She couldn't help it. Every time she thought about what happened between her and Jon, she completely crumbled. All she wanted was him, but not just for a quick screw or a one night stand. She wanted all of Jonathan Good or none at all, including his adorable ticks and even his bad smoking habit he passed along to her. Valisa pulled her into a tight embrace and all Zelia could do was cry, feeling Valisa's fingers run through her hair.

"What happened, sweetie?" Valisa asked softly, wanting to maim Jon for causing her friend this much pain. "Talk to me. Let it out."

Zelia pulled back once the crying subsided and kept her eyes lowered to the ground, swinging her legs back and forth so the heel of her tennis shoes bounced off the trunk. "Remember when we went out for New Year's Eve to that club?" She waited for Valisa to nod before continuing. "We were dancing together and then Joe snagged you away."

Valisa groaned at that memory, nodding. "Yeah, apparently he refused to allow me to go without a New Year's Eve kiss. We left the club almost straightaway. So what happened?" She was clueless about Jon being there obviously.

"Jon was there. He's the one who took your place dancing with me and it felt so incredible being in his arms. We danced for a little while and he asked me to leave with him. I thought he meant leave the club altogether, but he had other plans in mind. So instead, he shoved me into a dark corner and…" Zelia trailed off, closing her eyes tightly shut as a wave of shame rushed over her. "I let him fuck me in the club, Vali. I BEGGED him to fuck me like some common whore. And he did. After we finished, I could literally FEEL the resentment and anger coming from him and he proved me right by taunting me about running away from him again. Then he said to go run away back to my married lover and give him my sloppy seconds. I told him go fuck himself and bolted out of the club in tears. It was so horrible…" She broke down in tears again, not able to keep them at bay.

Valisa was LIVID and it showed in her ocean blue eyes that were now a dark stormy blue. "That son of a bitch!" She hissed, holding Zelia close again and shook her head in disbelief, wanting to rip his balls from his body. "Is there anything else?"

"I wish there wasn't." Zelia sniffled, wiping her tears away and just gave up because they just flowed harder. "When I arrived back at the hotel that night, I ran into Glen and Mark. I didn't want to tell Glen about what happened because I knew he'd blow a gasket and kill Jon. Mark followed me up to my room and offered to let me talk to him and I did. He's a lot easier to talk to since I'm not as close to him as I am with Glen. I told him everything, even about my past with Jon in HWA. He let me cry on him and we ended up falling asleep in the same bed together, but nothing else happened. Then, those assholes broke my trust by coming up with a plan to 'teach' Jon a lesson by sparring with him in the ring. You know how Mark is. He likes proving to the rookies that they can't hack it in the ring, but they have NO idea what kind of competitor Jon is or what he's been through in the Indy's. So naturally, Jon yanks me into a dressing room and demands to know why I sent my lovers after him." Shaking her head, Zelia could feel her own anger rising. "I had no idea what he meant by that and told him I was done defending myself against his accusations. Then I saw Mark and Glen walking through the curtain laughing, obviously coming back from the ring and I…I snapped. I walked up to them, slapped the taste out of Mark's mouth and told both of them to stay the hell away from me and Jon. I haven't spoken to either one of them since then and that was a week ago."

"WOW, so THAT'S why Glen has been walking around for the past week looking lost and depressed." Valisa had wondered what was going on with Glen and tried asking him about it, but he just brushed her off. "Man, you must've really did a number on him because he's really down in the dumps."

"Serves him right." Zelia hopped off the equipment trunk and wiped her tears away. "What happens between me and Jon is nobody's business and I will deal with it my way. Because now, thanks to that sparring session with Mark, Jon thinks I'm fucking him AND Glen." She snorted in disgust, feeling sick to her stomach.

"WHAT?" Valisa gaped, blue eyes widening. "Are you fucking serious? Why would he think you were fucking either one of them to begin with? They are married, is he insane?"

Zelia shrugged, wishing she could have a cigarette, but she didn't want to smoke in front of Valisa. "No clue. He won't tell me how he came to that conclusion and I'm done trying to figure it out. He can think what he wants, I have to let him go and move on with my life. He's obviously not who I thought he was and being in love with him all these years was a HUGE waste of time." She looked down at her watch, seeing the time. "I gotta get inside, don't be late or Ben will have your ass in the sling."

Valisa nodded, watching Zelia walk off and cracked her knuckles, pursing her lips together. Oh she wouldn't be late, not at all. But there was one stop she was making on her way to the ring. Jonathan Good had some SERIOUS explaining to do and if he didn't spill the truth to Valisa, she would make him regret it. Heading straight for the Shield locker room, Valisa squared her shoulders and knocked on the door, staring back at Joe when he answered.

"Hey beautiful, what are you doing here?" Joe greeted with a smile, though it immediately vanished at the amount of anger swirling through her blue eyes. "Oh shit, what happened?"

Valisa didn't answer him, her eyes landing on Jon, who was busy taping his hands up for their match that night. Instead, that same anger she'd felt earlier with Zelia came back tenfold and Valisa found her fist plowing right into Jon's nose, sending him flying backwards in the steel chair he sat on. She didn't stop there either, ignoring both Joe and Colby's shocked faces as they watched the scene unfold before them.

"What the FUCK, lady?!" Jon roared, holding his nose that sputtered blood and rolled away from the chair, his back on fire from the impact of the steel against it. Wasn't the first time he felt steel against his back and it wouldn't be the last, but it was definitely unexpected. "What the hell is your problem?! Bro, control your woman right now!"

"Don't even THINK about touching me right now, Joseph." Valisa warned in a hiss, clenching her fists at her sides and felt satisfaction at the blood pouring out of Jon's nose. "That's for being a complete and total DICKHEAD to my best friend, you asshole!"

Joe knew Jon would end up hurting Valisa if he didn't step in and did just that, staring hardening down at his friend. "Leave her alone, man." Valisa would not lash out like that without some kind of reason and Joe planned on finding out, holding his hand up. "I'll talk to her. Just back off."

"You do that." He snarled angrily, storming past Joe and Colby out the door, heading down to the trainer to get his nose checked out. If it was broken, he would snap Valisa's neck without thinking twice. "Fucking bitch."

"Colbs, go make sure he doesn't kill anyone." Joe ordered, his eyes never leaving Valisa and watched as the man took off out the door, giving them privacy. "What the hell was that about?"

All of the anger drained from Valisa's body and was replaced with heartbreak for her best friend. "Zelia." Neither of them realized the door was left wide open as Joe pulled her into his arms and Valisa buried her face in his chest. "H-He's hurting her badly and there's nothing I can do about it. It's not right…"

Joe sighed heavily and guided her over to another steel folding chair, sitting down with her sitting across his lap. "What happened?" He asked again, his voice a low rumble.

"Jon thinks Zelia is fucking married men and she's not! She's not fucking anyone on the roster! That woman was a freaking MOUSE when she came into this company because she felt so lost after losing her job with the HWA. She didn't talk to hardly anyone for months and I'm the one who had to get her out of her shell. Glen helped too since I've been good friends with him for years." She owed Glen a sock to the face as well for his plan with Mark to try teaching Jon a lesson. "Glen is like a brother to her, so where the fuck Jon got the idea that she's fucking him is bullshit. Its pure bullshit and I won't have anyone spreading rumors about my best friend. It's not happening. I'll kill for Zelia and I know she'd do the same for me if the roles were reversed and it was you doing this to me."

Honestly, Jon hadn't really talked to him about what was going on with Zelia because the man tended to keep things to himself. "So he thinks she's fucking Glen Jacobs and…Mark Calaway?" He wanted to make sure he understood everything Valisa said and heaved a sigh when she nodded. "There's gotta be a reason. Somebody must've told him something or he overheard someone talking about Glen and Zelia."

"You need to find out from him. He'll talk to you. Because until we get to the bottom of what's going on in his head, there's no way of knowing how exactly he came to these conclusions. They are all bullshit assumptions and they need to be put to rest immediately." Valisa stated, wiping her tears away and couldn't believe she just broke down to Joe like this. "Sorry about your vest." He was already in his Shield tactical vest and cargo pants.

Joe waved her off and kissed the top of her head, trying to calm her down. "You've got one hell of a right hook on you." He complimented with a small chuckle and took her bruised hand, knowing she put her full force behind that shot to Jon's nose. "You need to go to the trainer and get it checked out."

"I'll be fine…" Valisa pulled it away from him and groaned when Joe shook his head, having a feeling she didn't have a choice in the matter.

"You either go willingly…" He trailed off, his hot breath caking on her ear. "Or I won't play doctor for you later on."

Valisa closed her eyes, shivering. "I thought you were going out with the boys tonight?" She raised a brow at his devious smirk. "What?"

"We were, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how idiotic it would be for me to start a new relationship off by going to a strip joint. Colbs feels the same way because Kaitlyn was NOT happy to hear where we were planning on going. So we were gonna go to a bar and have a few beers, shoot the breeze and maybe a couple rounds of pool. Though now, the night might be cancelled due to your outburst, my feisty woman." Joe took her hand again and began brushing his lips across her bruised knuckles, his grey eyes silently pleading with her to get it checked out.

Valisa melted at the look in his eyes and knew she couldn't deny him anything. "A new relationship huh?" When he nodded, she kissed him softly. "I like the sound of that. And I'll only go get my hand checked out if you come with me."

"Deal." Joe lifted her in his arms and carried her out of the dressing room, loving the sound of her laughter since he refused to let her walk.

Cold calculating blue eyes watched them walk away, neither of them noticing the man standing outside of the Shield's dressing room. He'd heard every word spoken, including the altercation between Jonathan Good and Valisa. How very interesting indeed. So Jon thought Zelia was sleeping with the Brothers of Destruction…how even MORE interesting. Deciding to put his own spin on this, he whipped his cell phone out and dialed a number, walking away chuckling evilly.

Zelia wouldn't know what hit her.