May 21, 2013

"Why exactly do you need to get up so early every day," Celeste grumbles as my alarm blares.

"Because I run the life of a very busy man," I grumble, turning the alarm off.

"Why do I have to suffer?"

"Because for some strange reason you love me."

"Are you going to get up?"

"I'm thinking about it."

"What exactly does Randy have to do that requires you to be up at five am?"

"Not Randy today," I murmur pulling myself from the bed. "Alanna."

"What?"

"My niece. She wakes up every day at five thirty. Always has. We have a very special morning ritual to keep up," I grin pulling on a pair of jeans. "Want some coffee?"

"Yes, please," she calls burying herself under her blankets again as I pull out a set of keys from my bag.

Unlocking the RV I let myself in and move to the kitchenette and begin to work.

"Aunt JJ," a small voice squeaks as my niece hurls herself against my leg.

"What's up Buttercup?"

"I've missed you," she smiles as I use my knee to hoist her up and set her on the counter beside me.

"I've missed you more," I grin handing her a doughnut.

"How much?"

"A million trillion billion times," I say poking her softly with each word before kissing her forehead. "Now eat your doughnut before your mom gets up and takes it away. Remember, you get caught with that, we never met."

"I don't have my drink," she pouts.

"What drink is that?"

"The special drink you always make me."

"Oh, you mean this drink," I ask pulling a coffee cup out of the microwave.

"Yay," she smiles sipping from the cup.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find apple cider in May?"

"Nope," she giggles sipping from the cup and nibbling on her doughnut.

"I thought I smelled the coffee fairy," my sister-in-law sighs wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Did I ever tell you you're my favorite sister-in-law?"

"I would hope so. Nathan isn't married and Becca doesn't count. Unless there is more of Bob's kids running around that I'm not aware of," I smirk filling the travel mugs from the coffee pot.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Act like he hasn't done everything in his power to make it up to you."

"I'm not having this conversation right now."

"Of course. It is a touchy subject so JJ isn't going to talk about it."

"JJ is in a good mood and would like to stay that way. Bob will always be a raw wound to me. And you pouring salt in that wound is not going to make it any better."

"Neither is ignoring it. I love you but I am not Randy. I will call you on your shit."

"Wouldn't want it any other way," I sigh replacing the lids on the mugs.

"Lanna, are you eating a doughnut?"

"No," she answers around a mouthful of doughnut. "And I never met Aunt JJ."

"Really JJ."

"Really," I smirk starting a new pot of coffee. Gathering the mugs in my arms I turn to leave. "Tell Randy he has nothing all day until the show tonight. Enjoy. I'll be with friends."

"Later, Gator," I smile, kissing my niece's forehead. "Later, Sis."

"You know Randy is going to freak when he notices that much of his favorite coffee missing."

"Did I mention that I made reservations for you two at the best restaurant I could find on Thursday, cleared Randy's schedule completely, and planned a girl's day at the zoo followed by a slumber party with just me and my gorgeous niece."

"Just had all that in your back pocket ready to go, huh?"

"Come to battle prepared," I wink as she opens the door for me. "See you tonight."

XXX

"Just let me in, Jon," I hear Celeste growl as the elevator doors slide open.

"Nope. We have a schedule to keep. No time for smoochie time this morning."

"I'm on the same schedule as you, jackass. Just let me see my boyfriend."

"He has things to do."

"If JJ was with you he wouldn't be this much of a pain in the ass," Colby's voice laughs as I round the corner to find Celeste's standoff in the hallway. She glares at the taller man as he stands shirtless in the doorway, his forearms resting on the doorframe.

"Well have no fear, I have arrived. And I brought coffee," I grin holding up the travel mugs. Celeste takes Jon's momentary attention on me to slip into the room.

"You know for someone who lives on keeping a schedule you just put yourself back at least forty-five minutes," Jon smirks taking the offered mug I hold out to him.

"Young love," I shrug. "Who am I to get in the way of that? Besides, I am a free woman today. Randy is with his family and doesn't need me."

"Aren't you his family," he whispers theatrically.

"He sees me every day. He's sick of me," I wink. "Now," I whisper as I bring my arms around him to hand off the other two mugs to the couple in the room, "I have forty-five minutes to kill and absolutely nothing to do."

"I need a shower."

"Leste, you're finished in our bathroom aren't you," I ask over his shoulder.

"Yeah," she answers cautiously.

"Well would you look at that," I whisper turning back to Jon. "Looks like it's my turn. I could use someone to wash my back."

"I may just have to help with that," he smirks as I turn to walk away.

"You do that."

XXX

"You are a hot water hog," Jon grumbles moving around me to stand under the showerhead rinsing out the shampoo in his hair.

"I'm like less than half the size of you. How do I hog anything," I smirk as I watch him lather his chest.

"It's a talent all women seem to possess. I think they start training you ladies at puberty to take over the world. Get my back," he asks turning his back to me.

"If women were really taking over the world there would just be a whole planet at war every twenty-eight days," I smirk. "Where did you get this scar," the words leave my mouth before I can really think as I trace the white lines along his back.

"Indy match. Barb wire. Took them like ten minutes to cut us free from it we were so wrapped up in it. What about yours," he asks turning off the water.

"I knew he was gonna ask that." "My what," I play dumb, stepping out shower without turning my back to him.

"You've forget I've seen you from behind quite a few times," he smirks following me. "No need to be shy about it now."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I stammer wrapping a towel around myself.

"That's not going to cover them," he smirks at my squirming. "Don't tell me. It's not that big of a deal. I just figured scars like that had a story."

"It hurts to like hell think about," I whisper.

"Sometimes you have to hurt to heal," he sighs turning away to pull his clothes on.

"Just tell him. After the stories he's told you about his family he is the most likely to understand," my brain reasons. "My mother went a little off the deep end," I begin wetting my lips. "Took a baseball bat to every window of the house she could reach. The drunk she married took exception. I didn't know any of this when I came home from school. I just walked in to a mess and my bags packed by the front door. The drunk staggered in while I was searching for Mom. He told me I could stay and take over my mother's job of fucking him or I could fuck him once and then I could get out of his house. Either way he was going to get to fuck me. Said I was too innocent to be let out into this fucked up world. He needed to give me some scarring to toughen me up," I pick up my hairbrush and pull it through my wet hair to distract myself from the story flowing from me. "I just ran. He was fast for a drunk. He caught me in the living room. Threw me on the couch. I managed get enough space between us to try to make my escape through the broken window behind the couch. He had grabbed my leg and I turned to kick at him with my free leg. I should have just kept pulling myself forward," I spit bitterly. "When I turned I sliced my own leg on the glass horizontally which gave him the idea to finish what my own stupidness had started. He flipped me completely and slammed the leg against the jagged glass before shoving me out." I turn so he could see the two scars that form a disjointed seven along the side and back of my left thigh.

"You guys almost done," Colby's voice floats through the door.

"Yeah," I answer when Jon doesn't. "Just a second." Turning back to Jon I find him studying me quietly. "Now you know. It wasn't as great a story as you were expecting, I take it," I joke weakly pulling on my sports bra and shirt over my head.

His arms are around my waist as I pull on my jeans, his lips pressing lightly against my shoulder before disappearing.

"Everything ok," Celeste asks from the open door staring at the room door.

"Everything is great," I smile.

"Breakfast," Colby asks wrapping his arms around Celeste's waist.

"Sure. You two go ahead. I have to finish packing and then I'll be down."

"We can wait if you want," Celeste suggests gently. "Or just me."

"I'm fine, I promise. I'll be five minutes tops."

XXX

You want to talk about hogging space?

I look over at the recipient of the text as he sprawls across the backseat. His head against the window and his legs resting beside mine. Jon looks down at his phone momentarily before stretching his legs out and resting them on my lap.

You usually don't mind my body pressed against yours.

You're usually not smashing me. You are way too long to be laying like that.

Not the first time a woman told me I was too long.

"You two are sitting beside one another. Open your mouth and speak to one another," Celeste sighs.

"I'm playing Candy Crush."

"I'm reading news."

"Now I know they're lying. Jon doesn't read," Colby smirks through the rearview mirror. Jon kicks the back of the driver seat lightly.

What happened afterwards?

I cock my eyebrow at him.

He glances to the front seat as the couple there resume their conversation before flipping his position. Folding his long legs he lays his head on my lap, looking up at me. "What happened with you and your mom after the drunk?"

"Mom went to the morgue," I reply softly allowing one hand to drift through his hair. "He had bludgeoned her to death with a paving stone from the garden path before I came home. She was actually laying under the bushes that I walked by on the way into the house. I went to the hospital. Got treated for blood loss, patched up, and shipped off to the Ortons.

"And the drunk?"

"Last I heard he got twelve years for attempted manslaughter. That was fifteen years ago."

"Attempted manslaughter," he asks reaching up to play with a loose curl that escaped my scrunchie.

"Me. There wasn't enough evidence against him to charge him with my mother's death. The detective that spoke with me said the neighbors reported her with the bat so there way of knowing if her death was caused by self-defense. There was nothing they could do about her. She was just gone."

A single tear slips out before I can stop it. He reaches over wiping it away with his thumb. "Don't do that," he whispers closing his eyes. "Not while you're with me."

"Whatever you say. You want to grab dinner tonight?"

"Late match. Early meet and greet," he sighs. "I think I'm going to have to be up before even you tomorrow. Thursday?"

"Plans," I smile. "Some other night."

"Yeah," he sighs nuzzling against my stomach. Shortly after he's snoring.

"Someone is content," Colby smiles back at me through the rear view.

"Jealous," I tease, sticking out my tongue at him.

"Nope," he smiles, returning the tongue, "I'm quite content myself."

"Good to hear," Celeste smiles, reaching over to intertwine their hands.

"Yeah, good to hear," I smile, ignoring the sudden pain in my chest.

XXX

"You know you can just join us for dinner," Sam smiles across at me as we sit at my hotel room table. I look up from my laptop.

"This is his family time."

"You're family."

"He can see me anytime he wants while he has me on the road with him. Alanna has me Thursday and you have dragged me through every clothing store in this town today in your quest to get me out of jeans and t-shirts. I've had my family time. He needs his time with you guys."

"That's just an excuse you use so you can sulk."

"I don't sulk. I'm an Orton. We brood," I smile.

"Whatever you want to call it."

"I am genuinely just giving you some family time. No excuses. Just love for my family. Go enjoy your husband for the short time you're gonna have him."

"I knew what I was marrying."

I return to my work on the laptop. My phone chimes with a text message and I fight the urge to pick it up.

"Randy," she asks eyeing me closely.

I tilt the phone towards me to read the screen. Jon. "Nope," I smile.

"Someone I know?"

"Friend I made while I've been on the road," I reply, my eyes glued to the screen in front of me.

"Another assistant," she smiles leaning forward.

"Nope."

"Stephen?"

I glance up at her before returning to the laptop. "She would know about him." "Nope. We are done. Last month.

"Want to talk about it?"

"It's been a month. I'm over it."

"Over it? After a month?"

"Yep."

"Who is it?"

"What are you talking about now?"

"The guy you're banging like a drum?"

"Banging like a drum," I smirk cocking an eyebrow. "That sounds like a Randy phrase."

"He did ask me to ask you about it."

"Tell him I don't need him in my sex life."

"Already have," she smiles. "He said he already knew, he just wanted some confirmation."

"Don't know what to tell him then," I chuckle as Alanna climbs in my lap.

"You have a drum," she asks innocently.

"No, Baby girl."

"So what are you going to do tonight," Sam asks after a moment of silence.

"Work. Get some dinner. Go to bed. Start the process all over tomorrow."

"You're boring on the road," she smirks.

"Randy prefers it that way."

"Rick tried to come by the house last week," she states flatly.

My hands halt over the keyboard at that sentence. "Really," I ask hoping to sound casual.

"I met him at the guard shack."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," she sighs, glancing over at her daughter. "He claimed he wanted to apologize for the… How did he put it? Oh, yeah. He wanted to apologize for the 'ugliness' that went down between the two of you. I told him the ugliness was between the two of you. I also told him to stay the hell away from my family."

All the air leaves my lungs as I stare at my sister-in-law. "Wh-What? Why," I stammer.

"You are not a violent person. There is only two things that you would fight so hard for that you would resort to stabbing a man. It was either to save yourself which is a possibility; you were roughed up pretty good. I've seen you worse though. So that leaves us. Me and Lanna. Something went down and I have a feeling you were fighting to protect us. Not that you will ever admit what really happen. You'll just continue to be the martyr."

"I don't know what you want me to say," I reply slowly.

"Nothing," she sighs standing. "Please reconsider joining us tonight."

"I'll be fine," I smile tightly hugging her waist.

"Lanna, tell Aunt JJ bye."

XXX

"Another," I call as the bartender makes his rounds down the bar.

"Last one," he declares roughly, replacing the empty tumbler with a new one full of whiskey. "I'm cutting you off."

"Whatever," I mumble before swallowing the burning liquid.

"I'm serious," he calls as he turns to attend to someone on the opposite end of the bar.

"Fine," I growl slapping my money down and rising off the barstool unsteadily. Making my way slowly to the elevator bank leaning heavily on the walls occasionally I pass a few disapproving faces. I just smile back sweetly.

"Floor, honey?"

I turn to face the little old lady who spoke as I enter the elevator who smiles back. "Ummm…Eleven."

"Boy troubles," she asks as the elevator starts to move.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"In my day that was the number one cause for young ladies to drink."

"I don't have a boy at this particular moment," I smile grasping the railing behind me tightly as my head spins.

"Maybe that's the trouble," she smiles as the doors slide open on her floor.

"Maybe," I smile as the doors close.

I knock heavily on the door hoping my nerve holds up. I have never approached the guys, I've always let the guys approach me.

"Hey," Jon smiles swinging the door open. "What are you doing here?"

"I…uh…I just wanted…umm…Oh, fuck it," I stammer before pressing myself against him, my lips searching for his.

"Babe," he smiles around my mouth, "I really do have to get up ridiculously early."

"I'll be quick," I murmur against his lips, kicking off my shoes.

"You're drunk."

"Should make it easy for you then," I smirk backing away slowly as I yank my shirt over my head.

"You don't want to do that," he grins reaching for me as I unhook my bra.

"But I really do." My jeans hit the floor.

"No, you don't," he smile tightly, grabbing my biceps as I stumble. "Just stop for a second."

"No," I breathe capturing his mouth again, my hands drift between us to toy with the waistband of his boxers before sliding in.

"You are testing my self-control," he growls.

"Good," I smile, molding against his body.

"Not for me," another voice chuckles.

I stop, my eyes wide.

"I tried to tell you," Jon pants, reaching out to tug the blanket off the bed and wrapping it around me.

"Half assed," the voice comments. I peek over my shoulder at the second bed in room. "Hello JJ," Colby waves.

Suddenly my stomach roils shoving its contents to my throat. Shoving Jon out of my way I stumble to the bathroom making it over the toilet just in time.

"Hey," Colby speaks up from somewhere behind me.

I pull the blanket tighter around myself as I feel another round of sickness shoot through me. I wave him off as I retch again. My hair is suddenly pulled back from my face. "Hey," Colby sighs, rubbing a hand down my back, "don't do that to yourself. We all do things while drunk that we regret in the morning."

"Comforting and he holds your hair while you puke. I have to tell Celeste she didn't do good, she did great," I croak as he wraps a hair tie around my hair.

"You good," he asks.

I open my mouth to answer but quickly realize it isn't me he is talking to when Jon answers. "Yeah. Thanks man."

Colby squeezes my shoulder lightly before he is gone.

"Sorry Babe. I needed a couple minutes to compose myself."

"My fault," I croak, flushing away most of my dinner and the liquor I consumed.

"In a way," he smiles settling onto the floor across from me. "Water," he offers a bottle.

"Thank you. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," he smiles as I rinse my mouth out. "Anything in particular bring on this drunk?"

"If you bring me my clothes I'll get out of here."

"You've got me wide awake now, might as well talk to me."

"Please bring me my clothes," I try again. "I'm embarrassed enough as it is."

"Talk to me."

"Can you really concentrate with me naked over here," I snarl trying a different approach.

Reaching over he rifles through a pile of clothes in the floor before tossing a t-shirt my way. I catch it instinctively before recognizing it as the one he was wearing earlier. "My clothes."

"Compromise."

Growling in frustration I pull the shirt over my head before allowing the blanket to fall.

"So," he sighs.

"It was nothing too exciting," I start pulling myself off the floor.

"Enlighten me," he stares up at me.

"I was lonely, ok. I had a lot on my mind and I was alone. I thought I could forget about that for a while if I got enough to drink."

"That obvious worked well," he smirks.

"Add it to the list of stupid ideas I've had," I snap picking up a bottle of mouthwash. He nods at my questioning look and I rinse my mouth a second time with the minty concoction.

"Come on," he sighs joining me on his feet pulling me towards the door.

"Just bring me my clothes please," I whine trying to stop him.

"No," he grins wrapping his arms around my waist. "Just come on."

"Jon," I start before his lips crushing mine stops me.

"Come to bed," he whispers pulling me along.

"I'm not having sex with Colby in the room," I growl.

"Appreciated," Colby calls.

"Shut it Two-tone. I'm not asking for sex. Just that you come to bed with me."

Crawling under the sheet he holds it open for me. I hesitate at the edge of the bed.

"For Christ sake, JJ. I'm not going to do anything. Just get into bed."

I slide under the sheet settling on my side facing him.

"I don't bite," he grumbles wrapping an arm around my back pulling me closer.

"Yes, you do," I watch him smile as I rest my head on his chest.

"You like it."

"Shut up," Colby shouts burrowing his head under a pillow.

I lay listening to Jon's heartbeat as his hand slides up and down my side soothing.

"So does this thing between us make it on that list," Jon whispers.

"What?"

"The list of stupid ideas you've had. Does that include agreeing to us?"

I ponder the question for a few quiet minutes before shaking my head in the negative. "I don't think so. You?"

"Nope," he sighs, his arm tightening around me momentarily before relaxing.

XXX

The alarm blaring sends sharp spikes through my skull. "Fuck," I groan slapping blindly in the direction on the noise. Finally giving up the blind search I open my eyes against the sunlit room to search for the offending contraption. I find the alarm pushed as far from me as the cord would allow. "Funny," I growl at the empty room, silencing the alarm. I find my clothes folded neatly on the dresser, my cell on top, and a sheet of paper sticking out from between. I ignore the throbbing in my head the movement is causing. Pulling my jeans from the pile, I pull them on as I unfold the note.

Celeste is bringing your stuff from your room. She has your room key so just stay put. She should be by around 8. I glance at the clock. 7:45. Talk to you when you get up. J.

I'm up. You're evil for the alarm clock. I will have my revenge once my head stops throbbing. The message is sent to both the occupants of the room.

"Good morning sleepy head," Celeste calls cheerily as she enters the room.

"Ugh," I grab my skull as her voice reverberates through. "I hate all my friends. You are uncaring bastards."

"You know you loves us," she smiles tossing a small pill bottle my way.

"You, maybe," I return her smile, popping the Tylenol. "Jon, not so much. I'm out of friends after that."

"Colby," she throws out as I turn to the bag on the bed. "By the way, I heard about your excursion into stripping for my boyfriend last night."

"Oh God," I groan covering my face. "I'm sorry about that. I was drunk and forgot he shared a room with Jon."

She waves off the apology. "He didn't see anything."

"He was very caring while I was puking though, from what I remember. He held my hair and everything," I smirk. "You should keep that one."

"Awwwww," she smiles.

"Let me make myself somewhat presentable and then we will go. Your boyfriend is a horrible tipper by the way."

Her laughter follows me into the bathroom.