Chapter 21

WrestleMania arrived in what felt like the blink of an eye. Over the past 3 weeks, Emery had given herself to Mark in every way possible. Some nights were full of wild, crazy sex and others he actually slowed things down. Regardless, she was either in his room or him in hers. Randy and Paul stayed with her whenever he couldn't stay with her, though Mark had come back to Sedona with her on their days off. She had asked him if he wanted to go to Texas and give them some space, but all he told her was he didn't need it. Truth be told, she didn't either. Emery could feel herself starting to fall for Mark, hard. She knew he didn't feel the same way about her and never would – it was just sex between them along with friendship. He'd gotten a couple of other comic books made, entitled Volumes 2 & 3 and they were currently in safekeeping at her home along with her other comics.

The matches were all lit, but when Emery discovered what number Mark and Batista were on the card, she knew it wouldn't set well with the Deadman. Considering it was for the world championship, Vince should've put it as one of the final matches on the card that night. She sat in front of the monitor with Cheryl, Randy and Paul, all of them chewing their thumbnails as the Deadman made his entrance on the grandest stage of them all. Both decided it would be best not to say anything about their friends with benefits clause, so nobody knew Emery was currently sleeping with Mark.

Not even her boys or Cheryl.

Watching him wrestle and the way he moved sent her heart racing, sky blues not leaving the monitor for a second. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when Mark suddenly jumped script, tombstoning David in the center of the ring instead of doing a reversal like she'd written. When he pinned Batista and won the title, Emery felt Cheryl's eyes boring into her and she returned the intense stare, both of them not believing what just happened.

Emery was angry…irrationally angry. How could he do that?! She understood why he didn't want to hand his legacy over to David, but to jump script the way he had was uncalled for! Did WrestleMania really mean that much to him? He just spat in her face and didn't even realize it because he didn't know the truth! Groaning, Emery put her head in her hands, leaving her hair down for the evening and had dressed up because it was required dress for the show. So, she had on a black leather skirt and a pale blue halter top, both materials clinging to her curves and she had two-inch knee-high boots to go with it. People had given her compliments all evening about how she looked, but Emery didn't care. All she could do was replay what happened in her head during the title match and knew she couldn't blow up at Mark without revealing her secret.

Mark strolled into the ballroom for the WrestleMania afterparty a little late, but… he had to ice down. He and David hadn't taken it easy on each other, which was the way he usually preferred it, but it had been… fueled on hatred from both men. Wearing black slacks and a button-up shirt, his hair was pulled back and had on some shiny shoes he was pretty sure an assistant had bought for him. He ignored the looks he got, exchanged fist bumps with those who hadn't been onboard with the line the lead writer had tried to pass off as a good deal and headed for the drinks. Needing one, Mark knew Vince would try tearing him a new one.

After getting over the initial shock of Mark jumping script, it was time to party and Cheryl informed Emery she was under dressed for the after party. All the employees were required to attend it. Against her better judgment, she allowed Cheryl to find her something in wardrobe since Emery didn't travel with an evening gown. She hadn't attended the Hall of Fame ceremony the previous night, instead staying in her hotel room vegging with Mark and having mind-blowing sex. Currently, she stood off to the side talking to someone, wearing a simple light blue chiffon gown. It was strapless and had a sweetheart necklace with silver flowered accents on the top and waist, lacing up the back. Her long black hair was pinned to the side, thanks to the hair stylist at the arena, and tons of spiral curls bunched up on her shoulder.

Luckily, it was the shoulder with the love bite mark that Mark had frequently attacked. He was determined to leave his mark on her. Her contacts were in, clear gloss, black liner and light blue shadow along with foundation completed her makeup. No jewelry because the dress had enough on it. She nodded at something Vince whispered in her ear and nodded to him, assuring him quietly that the scripts would be changed immediately for Raw and Smackdown! since Mark was the champion now. Cheryl was right beside her for moral support and had to be since she was the proxy. Cheryl spotted Taker first and nudged Emery, which in turn got Vince's attention. She whistled softly when Vince immediately headed to 'politely greet' his new, impromptu champion.

"I honestly don't know why Vince was so surprised, everyone knew Taker was going to do it." She mused, popping her cocktail shrimp in her mouth. "The man wasn't wrong either, and here comes cock bite now." Cock bite being David. He looked like he had seen better days, though he had put forth some effort to dress up and pretend he hadn't just been humiliated.

A lot of people congratulated Mark on a job well done with the match while David sulked in the corner. Emery allowed Mark to soak up his victory while she ate some shrimp with Cheryl, both making snide remarks about how David looked. Why did he even show up if he was trying to bring the mood down?

"Good match tonight, David." Cheryl couldn't resist, hiding her smile by eating some more shrimp and felt her eyes light up at the sight of Randy walking in. "Excuse me." She walked over to him, leaving Emery to fend for herself against the animal.

Emery could've killed her.

David had to do a doubletake, blinking and felt his brown eyes widen at the sight of the beauty in front of him, "Emery?" He whistled slowly, giving her a thorough onceover. "Damn, you clean up nice, woman!"

"Thanks." Emery felt disgusted with his eyes devouring her and excused herself to walk across the room, not wanting to be near him right now.

David had already lost quite a bit tonight. He had lost his title. He had lost his career vaulting moment. His pride. And now… now she was pricking it by walking away from him without even bothering to wait until she was completely out of sight before rolling her eyes. Hiding a snarl, he reached out and pulled her back, instantly guiding Emery back onto the dance floor, where she wasn't likely to make a scene.

"You can spend a minute or two with me, can't you?" He smiled down at her.

Well, that was interesting.

Mark took a slow sip from his glass, the whiskey a welcome burn running down his throat. As if he wouldn't have noticed her the minute he had walked in. Emery was gorgeous in that gown, he knew it would only enhance her gorgeous blue eyes. She also looked uncomfortable and pissed, so he should rescue her.

"I don't want to dance with you, David." Emery didn't have a problem making a scene, pulling away from him, or trying to. His arm was tight around her waist, preventing her from moving away and she began struggling against him. "David, I'm serious, let go of me right now…"

"Or what?" He rumbled in her ear, digging his fingers in her side.

Emery winced, sore from a bout she'd had with Mark the previous night and shoved away from him. "Don't you dare try to grab my ass again!"

"There a problem here?" Randy demanded, leaving Cheryl to go to Emery's rescue and sized David up, his own blues iced over. "I believe the lady told you to let her go, Batista. Take a walk. NOW."

Snarling, David stalked off the dance floor and right out of the ballroom, pissed beyond belief.

"Randy, thank you so much!" Emery tossed her arms around him and kissed his cheek, trembling a little from that altercation. "Go be with Cheri, I'll talk to you later."

Nodding, Randy swept Cheryl back on the dance floor and watched Emery made a beeline for the bathroom, hoping his friend would be alright.

Mark had watched everything go down from his place at the table with Vince right by his side. He would admit, he had been very tempted to go rescue Emery, but he hadn't. Instead, he had watched her humiliate David even further, followed by Randy coming in to play knight in shining armor. Vince had read him the riot act before finally conceding that he shouldn't have even agreed to the line.

"No shit?" He muttered, green eyes following Emery's dash to the bathroom.

After taking a couple minutes to calm down, Emery finally stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed some more shrimp with cocktail sauce, not seeing David anywhere in sight. Good. She looked up at another man approaching her from her right and beamed brightly, her eyes lighting up at the sight of him. They had been good friends up until he'd been drafted to Raw and hardly spoke afterwards. He was Randy's best friend and had been introduced through him to her.

"If it isn't the infamous John Cena."

He grinned, blue eyes glittering and wore a crisp blue pinstriped suit with a dress shirt beneath, accepting the friendly hug from Emery. "Wow, you look…stunning." He complimented, kissing her cheek and held her at arm's length, nodding his approval. "Randy and I told you you're smoking hot. Glad you finally took our advice to show the goods, girl."

"Cheryl's doing, trust me. I'm still into the t-shirts and jeans." Emery had missed him and her heart had broken when he was drafted to Raw. "I saw your match tonight. It was good."

"Hell, nothing compared to the Deadman and Batista. Speaking of, I saw what happened and if Randy didn't step in, I was on my way. Are you okay?"

Emery nodded, placing a hand on his arm. "Thank you."

"If not, she will be." Mark cut in, stepping up to join their little… cluster. She knew more men than she did women, what the hell was up with that? From what he had seen, she only seemed to spend time with Cheryl and that was only because she now worked with the woman. "Why was David manhandling you?"

That was what he was curious about.

What'd she done to piss that bitch off?

"He tried to force me to dance with him. Apparently, his ego is a little wrecked after what you did tonight." Emery smiled sweetly, looking up at Mark briefly before turning her attention back to John. "Luckily Randy was there to save me. My brother in arms and all." She put up the fist and laughed when John bumped it, hugging him again. "Go on, I've taken up enough of your time, champ." She watched John walk off, sighing wistfully and turned her attention fully on Mark, still somewhat upset with him for jumping script…HER script. "So, how are YOU tonight, Deadman? How does it feel being champion again?"

There was a hint of something in her tone, something that just wasn't quite right. Since Mark couldn't peg it for what it was, he didn't say anything on it. Instead, he shrugged, staring down at her intently.

"Fine, I guess. It's just a bonus." He loved holding gold, there was no doubt about it, but he had sidestepped it many times in order to put over someone else or for the sake of company and storylines. His legacy, his streak; that was what he had been determined to protect and mission accomplished. "I am pretty sure Vince and those boneheaded writers will think twice when it comes WrestleMania time next year about what they're going to have me do."

Boneheaded writers? That had been HER idea, even if it wasn't a good one, it was still hers and he'd completely destroyed it! The irrational anger was back as Emery grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiter walking past them, downing it in one long swallow. Her blood was boiling, this was a huge blow to her pride and Vince probably wouldn't take her word as gospel anymore because of him.

"Right." She set the flute down on the table and cleared her throat, needing to back on track. "Well what's done is done, I suppose. Oh, I won't be staying with you tonight as planned. Because of your…impromptu script change, I have to pull an all-nighter with Cheri and change the script for Smackdown! and every other one leading up to Backlash." That was their next pay-per-view event, where Mark would go up against Batista in a rematch for the world title, but he didn't know that yet. "Sorry champ, duty calls."

Smacking his chest none too gently, she stormed away from him and grabbed another flute of champagne to down it, needing to take the edge off somehow. Cheryl was having the time of her life on the dance floor with Randy, so Emery didn't bother pulling her away from that. Deciding to just send her a quick text to pretend to come up to her room whenever she left the afterparty.

All he could do was watch as she stormed out of there like someone had lit a fire under her backside, wondering what the hell he had done to piss her off. Yeah, she was an assistant, or writer, or whatever it was she did, but Cheryl didn't look like she would have an early night, not if the way she was smiling as Randy whispered sweet nothings in her ear on the dance floor. So she would have a bit of a heavy workload for a day or two, that wasn't on him. Mark had told everyone exactly what he would do. He would set that asinine script on fire and do what he had threatened to do. Break it and Batista. Given his history of being fairly true to his word, he would have figured they would've made some backup lines or something for this outcome. Apparently not.

"Whatever." He muttered, rolling his eyes and went back for another drink.

"Randy…" Cheryl warned in a purr, enjoying being in his arms and became lost in his gorgeous ocean blues. "I-I really need to go to Em's room and…oh god…" Any thought of trying to leave him flew out the window the moment his mouth sealed to her neck. "Your room or mine?"

"Whichever is closer so I can get you out of that dress and in my bed." Randy growled in her ear, not believing he hadn't noticed how beautiful Cheryl was until tonight. They had gone out together with friends, as friends, but tonight he wanted more. He wanted to go to the next level, hoping Emery didn't mind her proxy being kidnapped for the evening.

"Let's find out." Taking his hand, they walked out of the ballroom together with her tucked against his side. Being Emery's proxy…had its perks because she didn't have to go to the woman's room, only say she had if someone inquired.

Watching Cheryl leave with Orton was enough for him to determine Emery had probably just used her boss as an excuse to vacate. That or Cheryl was an asshole who had heaped a giant workload on his poor Queen. After making his excuses to his friends, who had swamped him to congratulate him on his win, Mark vacated. He made his way to the hotel, more to the point, the room Emery was in and hesitated at the door. What was her deal? Batista coming onto her the way he had, manhandling her… that'd do it. Mark made a mental note to break Batista's fingers the next time they ran into each other.

Only HE got to manhandle Emery.