Chapter 9

After sleeping for 12 hours straight, Rajani finally woke up sometime in the late afternoon the following day. She glanced over at the clock and couldn't believe it read four PM. She was more tired than she thought that was for damn sure. Yawning loudly, Rajani pulled herself up from the bed and padded into the bathroom, needing to do her business before deciding a shower was in order. It definitely woke her up. She dressed in just a pair of black cotton shorts with a white and black tank top, pulling her hair back in a braid that went to the middle of her back. She ordered something to eat, starved and then got to work on the small folder that Stephanie gave her. It wouldn't take her long; Rajani decided she would have to go hunting for a Laundromat since the hotel they were currently at didn't provide that type of service.

Information was a valuable asset and, even though it was from a friend, it was still expensive. Over a decade of friendship or not, Taker rarely gave out anything for free, not even to him. In this case, he had demanded a favor that he could call in at any time. Kane added that to his list of favors he owed to Taker. The information had been something he could have figured out on his own, but came with the confirmation of Taker knowing it personally. Rajani hadn't quit, she was just sticking to the hotels.

After a quick bite to eat and getting 90% of the work completed, Rajani changed into a pair of blue jeans that had a maroon flower design embroidered on the right thigh. Her top was off the shoulder maroon and had flowing see-through sleeves. She grabbed a bag full of laundry and headed out along with her laptop, wearing her favorite pair of tennis shoes she always brought with her on the road.

"I hate laundry." She grunted, stepping on the elevator and then decided to opt for the stairs, heading toward the parking garage.

John had been told, by Vince McMahon no less, that he was to take the week off until Raw to get his head on straight. He still followed the circuit though, just in case. In case meaning: he was called back to work and in case he seen Kane out in the street. All bets were off then. Since he had this time off, John figured catching up on his laundry would be a great idea, since he was wearing his last pair of clean boxers and a pair of shorts he had worn the day before.

"Fuck!" He grunted out, not watching where he was going.

Peering around the double stacked baskets in his arms, John suddenly ran into someone. The basket of Rajani's clothes went flying as they sprawled out everywhere. Rajani also ended up on her rear again. Remembering briefly when she'd run into Kane at the arena, Rajani hoped he hadn't run into her this time. It felt like a brick wall just slammed right into her back, so knowing her luck, it was someone from the company. When she looked up, after clearing the cobwebs, Rajani wondered if fate was out to really screw with her as she locked eyes with John.

"Watch it!" She growled, not amused that he hadn't been paying attention to where and what he was doing.

"This is the universe having a laugh at my expense." John muttered when he seen who he had knocked over, his own laundry safe and sound in his arms. Sighing, he set the baskets down and began picking up her clothes. "Sorry Rajani." He apologized, wondering how many times this week he was going to say those words. John quickly stuffed what looked like a black pair of panties into the bag, knowing she would not appreciate him ogling her panties at the moment.

"Of course it would be you." Rajani grunted and stood up from the dirty parking garage, dusting herself off the best she could.

Rajani had gone an entire day without seeing John and it had been one of the most peaceful times of her life. Of course, she also slept halfway through it. She noticed John was going to do his laundry as well, wondering what kind of message the universe was sending them, besides having a laugh at his expense.

"I think that's everything." She picked up her basket again and walked away from him toward her car.

John cocked his head to the side, watching her walk away and his attention was pulled from her, gently swaying hips, to the pair of white panties that were clinging to just over her ass and partly on her shirt. Contemplating what to do, he followed her, managing to balance his baskets in one arm. Watching as the panties did a half fold down, over her ass, John reached out and swiped them away.

"Uh, you forgot these…"

Turning around, Rajani's dark eyes shot open at the sight of John holding her white lace panties, immediately snatching them away from him.

"Thanks..." Her voice was laced with malice and Rajani tried not gritting her teeth, but it was incredibly hard.

The man had just touched her panties for Christ sakes!

With a reddened face, Rajani shoved the panties back into her basket, avoiding eye contact with John. He had caught that undercurrent of malice and wondered idly if he should be worried. John could have just let her walk around with the garment attached to her ass looking like a retard, but he hadn't. He hadn't even ogled her for more than a few seconds; didn't that earn him any brownie points?

"You're, uh, welcome." John said finally, knowing she probably didn't mean the polite gesture with 'thanks', but...he'd take it.

Rajani went to say something when the door to the hotel opened, her eyes widening at the sight of Taker stepping out. "You know, I think we need to discuss this further." She took John's arm and looped it through hers, thankfully their baskets hiding who they were for the most part, at least face wise. "Just keep walking and do what I say." She ordered in a whisper.

Knowing if John saw Taker there, he would end up attacking, no questions asked. Taker had punched him in the mouth. Stephanie had informed Rajani of the events that happened after she both called them five year old children and told them to stop fighting.

"So laundry day, eh? Me too."

Rajani practically shoved him toward her car, going as fast as she could, given the circumstances. It would be the understatement of the year to say that John was totally lost. Either she was bipolar or…John tried to turn his head, only to find her demanding his attention.

"What the hell, Raja?" He demanded in an undertone, wondering who she had seen to make her change from 'bye' to 'let's roll'. His blue eyes narrowed when he realized she was now trying to get him to put his laundry in her car. "Are you-" John nearly dropped both baskets when she stomped on his foot, more surprised than anything.

"Oops sorry! I didn't see your foot there." Even though he had HUGE feet, they were almost impossible to miss, but Rajani had to do something to keep his attention on her. "Now come on, we don't have time." She took one of his baskets and shoved it in the back of her car along with hers; noticing Taker had walked over to his Titan and was ready to fire it up. "John, if you don't stop screwing around, we'll never get this done!" This wasn't good, John's attention wasn't on her anymore and Rajani had to do something...anything. "Fuck it."

Suddenly, Rajani grabbed his face none too gently and pressed her lips against his, knowing she had his undivided attention now. Kissing John Cena wasn't a smart thing to do, but Rajani was desperate and knew she would ultimately regret this. But if it meant keeping John from getting into another fist fight with one of the Superstars, she would do whatever necessary...within reason.

John's poor brain did try to stay on the 'what the hell?' track, but this woman, the woman he had been hounding for awhile now to no success, was kissing him. His brain finally just shut the hell up with the 'what is she doing? She hates me' bit and focused on the moment. He recovered from being startled rather quickly and took over the kiss, turning so her back was against the car, his massive body bent over hers as his lips unfroze. What started out as just a simple distracting kiss exploded into something so raw, powerful and indescribable, it stole Rajani's breath away. Every nerve-end of her body suddenly sparked, ignited and it all lead up to explode into an amazing inferno that enveloped her entire body. From the top of her head, to the tips of her toes, Rajani felt desire course through every inch of her due to this man's lips on hers.

It was so wrong to feel what she currently did, but Rajani couldn't help it. She'd had a secret crush on this man ever since she came into the company and knew it was forbidden. Maybe that's why it was so enticing, Rajani had pushed him away and declined him so many times she'd lost track. All because any contact with him was forbidden...and she'd never been more attracted to a man in her entire life. When neither of them could breathe, Rajani released her grip on John's jersey, not even realizing she'd taken hold of it in two huge fistfuls and broke the kiss. Her lips were swollen and somehow, in the middle of that heated moment, John had taken her braid out so her hair was now over her shoulders and down her back in raven waves.

John kept his eyes closed for a moment longer, rolling his forehead against hers. He didn't remember taking her hair out, but…he had fantasized about it enough to not be surprised that he had. He had been right; it was thick and heavy, silken to the touch. After a moment, John pulled away and opened his eyes, knowing they were probably darker than normal, but that couldn't be helped. All he could do was stare down into her slightly flushed face, taking in the way her own eyes had darkened and her swollen lips. Mentally jolting herself back to reality, Rajani looked over John's shoulder and sighed with relief that Taker had left. Her plan to distract John had worked like a charm. But now she had a bigger problem to deal with and she knew it.

"Sorry about that." Rajani cleared her throat, trying to get her voice to stop shaking due to the aftershocks of that intense kiss. "You're uh...You're a very hard man to distract, you know that?" She didn't dare touch her swollen lips in front of him, not wanting to give him anymore ammunition than what she just did.

That instantly snapped him out of the after kiss haze he was experiencing. "Distract me?" He repeated, arching an eyebrow down at her. That had to be the most ego deflating thing John ever heard. "And just what was it you were distracting me from, hmm?"

John bent down so they were face to face, watching her eyes dart to his lips and fought back a smirk, trying to not let anger overtake him. When she opened her mouth but didn't say anything, he kissed her. Distraction? He was going to show her the meaning of distraction. Rajani reacted instinctively and pushed her hands against his chest, shoving him back as hard as she could, which wasn't far, but it did break the kiss.

"No." This could not happen, what the hell had Rajani been thinking using kissing as a distraction tool? Especially with John Cena of all people? "Someone walked out and I didn't want you getting into another scuffle. So I...I did the only thing I could think of since stomping on your foot wasn't good enough apparently." Rajani said in a rush.

Trying to slow her racing heart, Rajani attempted to duck under John's arm, only for him to block her in. If he didn't step back and give her space, Rajani would have to take drastic measures to force him and she really didn't want to stoop to that level. Because he now no longer trusted her on any level at all, John took the precaution of making sure she couldn't knee him in the jewels. He did this by pressing his body quite firmly against hers, his legs entangling with hers.

"So your immediate answer is to kiss me?" John demanded, all signs of arousal gone and replaced with something cold, his tone pure ice. "To keep me from getting into a fight...you throw yourself at me? What are you, a prostitute?"

There was the asshole Rajani had grown to despise over the past 6 months. Rajani's dark eyes flared, not believing he just called her a prostitute! "I did NOT throw myself at you by ANY means, Cena. It was a kiss to distract you, don't read too much into it. Now if you don't mind, I was on my way to do laundry before you nearly plowed me over because you're too wrapped up in yourself to actually watch where the hell you're going." When he didn't move away from her, Rajani suddenly took her hand and, with the heel of it, plowed it full force into his nose, forcing him to stumble back several feet away from her. "You're so ungrateful, if anything you should be thanking me because, had I not distracted you, you would've ended up in jail more than likely. Arrogant prick!"

"Sounds like a hooker to me." John taunted, sounding a bit nasally as he checked to make sure his nose wasn't broken, not believing what a self-righteous bitch she was being. "You hooked yourself out on that kiss to keep me from jail time? I'm not your pimp, Raja, I don't need your 'get out of jail free' services."

In the back of his mind, John knew this was a line that there would be no coming back from, but damn if he could stop himself. Well, one thing he had going for him, he hadn't smacked her. Not that he wasn't tempted, especially now.

"Believe me, you would have to be the last man on the planet before I'd be your hooker, asshole." Rajani replied coolly, the heated moment with him completely forgotten and she regretted kissing him. "Don't worry, I won't be offering my services to you again, ever."

Opening the car door, Rajani proceeded to toss both of his baskets right at him, one clocking him right in the face, knocking him on his ass. Smirking viciously, she stepped into her car, locked the doors and started it up before peeling out of there. Leaving him there with his clothes strewn all over the pavement, Rajani floored it to the nearest Laundromat, berating herself for what she did with John.

"That went well, didn't it, idiot?"

Of all the people to witness THAT, Kane was the last one John would have wanted. "Piss off, Jacobs." He growled warningly, shoving the dirty clothes off of himself, the tips of his ears burning.

Clucking his tongue, Kane stepped out from behind his truck, leaning against the hood. "That was the most painful thing I've seen all year, Cena."

"Seriously, you need to step off." John was pushing himself to his feet, knowing that the only thing that could make this night worse would be either Taker showing up or Rajani coming back.

If she did, it would probably be to run him over.