Chapter 34

"You know, part of this is your fault too."

"Not now, Cheryl." Mark grunted, wondering why she wasn't up Orton's backside, or working, or anything except bothering him in his dressing room where he was shadow boxing, trying to get his head in the game. It was hard.

Emery was currently occupying all available mental space.

"If you would've just taken your line like a man, none of this would've happened."

"Does Orton know you're pregnant?"

"What the hell, Calaway?" She gaped at him, her eyes narrowing. "Make it right with her."

It wasn't a surprise Randy was at her house with flowers, alongside Paul, when Emery arrived later the next day. She hugged them, but her heart wasn't in it and didn't take the flowers, stepping inside her freshly cleaned house. Immediately, she took her entire stash of Jack Daniels and tossed it in the trash can, refusing to drink a drop of whiskey again. Then she whipped out her Alienware laptop, missing it over the past few days and started looking up real estate companies to sell her house. Looking for something away from Sedona was on the agenda until Sunday. World of Warcraft and everything else would have to wait. Randy and Paul made meals, tried to talk to her, but she just nodded or shook her head, not wanting to discuss what happened. She wasn't drinking herself into a stupor or eating multiple packs of Twinkies, her mind focused on one thing and that was getting the hell out of this cursed house and starting her life over.

By the time Sunday morning rolled around, Emery dreaded it, wishing the days hadn't flown by as fast as they did. Randy was allowed to attend Backlash, even though his suspension wasn't up for a few more days. Vince wanted to have a meeting with him to discuss the next road his career would go. So together, all three boarded the plane headed for Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout her days off, Emery had focused on cleaning her house because the maid service Randy hired didn't do a thorough job. If she wanted to sell her house for the price she wanted, it had to be immaculate.

The boys helped and now her house looked like a show house, all of her things packed away neatly in boxes stacked in the corner of her bedroom. Emery hadn't found a place to live yet, but she was hopeful and if not, her parents said she could stay with them until she was back on her feet. No job meant no income and no way to pay bills, after all. TNA was tempting, but Emery wanted out of the wrestling business completely after everything that happened.

Walking inside the Philips Arena, she hugged Randy and let Paul escort her to Mark's dressing room, her hair braided over her shoulder. She had on skinny blue jeans and a black off the shoulder top, the material sealing to every curve of her body. Knocking, she waited for the 'come in' and stepped inside, hugging Paul before sending him on his way.

He was in just tights and boots, bare from the waist up with his damp, touched up, freshly dyed black hair spilled down around his shoulders. "Hey." Mark greeted, turning to face her and had to pick his jaw up off the floor.

Where the HELL were those shirts when she was working here? She was always in something dorky and childish. Now… his emerald green eyes roamed those curves the blouse basically draped over, coming down over her lush hips those skinny jeans only emphasizing.

"You look… nice." Gorgeous. Ravishing. Fuckable. All better compliments, but Mark didn't want to make things more awkward between them.

The glasses were gone too. Vince wanted her to look the part and, honestly, she wouldn't put it past Batista to try snatching them off her face. Emery opted for contacts since this would be the one and only time the WWE fans saw her…besides the fiasco that had gone down on Smackdown!. Emery had to learn how to breathe again at the sight of him, keeping her eyes locked on his instead of devouring him visually. He was quite the specimen, chiseled out of stone and looked ready to fight for his very life.

What the hell had she been thinking when she wrote that ridiculous WrestleMania ending?

"Thanks, you too." That was an understatement, more like delectable, scrumptious, delicious…they weren't together, she had to keep reminding herself of that heartbreaking fact.

Mark didn't think he looked any different from usual; he was a pretty straightforward and simple in his attire, but… he wasn't passing down a compliment from a beautiful woman. How he had never seen past those glasses and gamer t-shirts in the past was beyond him. There had always been a beautiful woman beneath those things and his stupid ass hadn't seen it until she donned an outfit that had made her stunning by societal norms. He was such a bastard.

"Ready for tonight?" He grunted, clearing his throat and turned away from her, before he did something like snatch her up for a kiss and wind up with her knee lodged in his balls.

"No." Emery wouldn't lie to him, learning her lesson and he would be able to tell if she was anyway. "I feel nauseous because I don't want to do this. I don't want to go out in front of all those people."

She'd been tempted to break the small contract with Vince and not come, but after thinking it through, Mark had been right before. They had to face this head-on tonight and she would be gone afterwards. Her redeye was already planned to leave at 11 PM and she'd be back in Sedona before long. Just a few more hours and Mark would never have to see her again.

"I'll…try to stay out of your way out there." Sitting in a metal folding chair in the corner, Emery kept her head down while fiddling with her freshly painted black nails.

Anywhere except the gorgeous man in front of her.

"You're fine, I know you will."

Cheryl's words came back to him about making it right, but just how was he supposed to do that? Mark cursed that woman, internally, and then whipped out his cell phone. He sent a simple text to Randy Orton: Hope YOUR kid's brain cells aren't stunted from the smoke. He waited long enough to get a WTF before shutting off his cell for the night. Let those two sort it out and mind their own damn business.

Sure enough, 5 minutes later, Emery's cell phone went off and her eyeballs nearly popped out of her head at him screaming Cheryl was pregnant in her ear. "WHAT?!" Her exclamation made Mark jump, her voice shrill and hopped up from her chair. "Oh my god…Randy, you…DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT PROTECTION IS?!"

"OF COURSE I FUCKIN' DO, BUT WE WERE DRUNK AND-"

"I DON'T CARE! You ALWAYS wrap that shit! Oh man…you're gonna be a Daddy…" Emery had mixed feelings about this, hearing how panicked Randy was and knew she had to reach for a little white semi-lie. "Just calm down, you're going to be a great father. And you're ready for this." Truth and lie all wrapped in one.

"No, no I'm fucking not! Don't you lie to me, Em!" Randy was going to have a panic attack, smoking cigarette after cigarette. "I'm a fucking grown ass man who spends all his free time playing World of Warcraft, smoking pot and GETTING MY GIRLFRIEND OF LESS THAN A FEW MONTHS PREGNANT!"

Mark could hear Orton freaking out and smirked, keeping his back to Emery so she couldn't see him laughing. That would teach those dicks to mind their own business.

"RANDALL KEITH ORTON, YOU BETTER NOT BE SMOKING THAT SHIT ANYMORE AFTER YOU GOT SUSPENDED!" Emery shrieked, beginning to pace back and forth in the dressing room while Randy continued losing his figurative mind over the phone. Both of them yelling and screaming wasn't going to solve anything, so Emery had to be the one to calm down. "Listen to me right now, you are going to be a father. You need to get that through your head. WoW and pot and all the other bullshit you do needs to end. You have a responsibility to that baby and you WILL keep your job here or I will kick your ass all the way to a pot smoking anonymous club, like AA, and MAKE you quit. You can do this. And it's not like you can't ever play games or WoW again, but now you'll have a baby in one arm whenever you have a controller in your hand or a laptop on your lap."

"Emery… shut up, you're not helping. I TRAVEL all the time, and so does Cheryl! We're only… we're only dating and how is this going to work, huh? Us both on the road, she gets custody because we're not married and I am going to fucking hurl. You can tell Calaway he's a fucking son of a bitch and I'm going to punt his ugly head off his fat neck when I get back!"

"Wait what?" Emery blinked when the line went dead and slowly slid her eyes over to where Mark had his back turned. She could see his shoulders shaking and narrowed icy blues on him, feeling her jaw tighten. "YOU TOLD HIM ABOUT CHERYL'S PREGNANCY!" It wasn't a question, she was flat out accusing him and scowled at his roaring laughter moments later. "What the hell is WRONG with you, Calaway?! Do you realize what you just did?! That was something Cheryl should've told him herself! You're a prick!"

"She's known for 2 weeks, darlin'." He said with a snigger. "And every female in this building knows about it." How did anyone think he had known? Women gossiped. "She's had plenty of time."

Mark was tired of Cheryl's mouth in relation to him and Emery, also annoyed with Randy constantly blowing up his cell. Why that idiot thought they were friends… was beyond him. He knew it was all because of their connection to Emery, but besties they were not.

"I just helped."

"Helped? You HELPED? You helped them by texting Randy what you did?!" Randy had informed her of the lovely text message and Emery was tempted to shove Mark's phone up his backside. "That's not funny, stop laughing." The sheer amusement glittering in his eyes made her own eyes twinkle, despite being upset on behalf of her best friend. "You are so…wrong and you need to apologize to them." Poor Randy, he had a meeting with Vince in a couple minutes and the man had smoked at least half a dozen cigarettes since finding out about Cheryl's pregnancy. "You're such an asshole. There was no reason for you to do that to them."

"No trust me, darlin', there is."

Mark wouldn't tell her about them being dickheads. About Cheryl coming and yelling at him, about the million texts messages a day he got from Randy. And Paul now that he thought about it; he'd have to figure out a way to stop that chaos, without laying hands on the younger man.

"It'd be easier for me to quit laughing if you weren't trying to keep yourself from smiling, Queenie. Admit it, it's funny."

"I admit nothing, Deadman. My lips are sealed."

Emery did the mock zipping lips motion with her fingers, tossing the invisible key over her shoulder and felt her heart do a leap at being called Queenie. It felt great to be called that again. Cheryl was going to kill Mark for dropping the bomb on Randy via text message. Hell hath no fury like a pregnant woman scorned. Now that the ice was broken between them, Emery felt a little more comfortable being stuck with Mark again in his dressing room. She didn't dare leave unless he went with her because of David lurking around. Matthew had put his resignation in and was on his way to TNA after the kidnapping went down. Personally, Emery thought he was a coward and knew karma would bite him in the backside one day for what he did to her. After tonight, the mind games were over anyway and there would be no more videos. Her phone ringing again made Emery sigh as she picked it up and saw who it was.

"My realtor." Was her explanation for Mark before answering the call on the third ring and began discussing possible locations on where she wanted to move.

Mark would openly admit that he was nosy and listened to her conversation. She had a realtor, which told him she was looking to buy, sell or a combination of the two. That was a little sad because she had taken great pride in her house. It became apparent, quickly, that she was selling. He supposed he understood why, because of what happened with David. Mark also imagined he had also contributed to the painful memories there and sighed, turning away to resume gearing up.

The crowd thundered and the tension permeating the air was thick. Emery stayed by Mark's side while they walked down the hallway, feeling him take her hand and she didn't push him away. She needed all the strength she could get right now, keeping her head high and eyes straight ahead. That was until they arrived at gorilla position and David stood there, looking cocky and arrogant. Mark squeezed her hand, letting her know he was there and did her best not to look in David's direction, just waiting for the entrances to happen.

"I can do this. I can do this. I can do this." She kept whispering under her breath and closed her eyes, suddenly snapping them open to look up at Mark. "Promise me something." Emery didn't care if he was trying to get into character, tears swimming in her eyes she tried desperately not to let fall.

"Depends on what it is," He wasn't about to commit himself to agreeing to something, only for it to bite him on the backside afterwards. They had danced to that tune too many times.

"I'm thinking of putting Deadman's Whore on your forehead next, geek." David taunted, twirling another black sharpie between his fingers.

"Ignore him." Mark put his body between her and David, shielding her from view. "What do you want me to promise, Emery?" He reached out to wipe away the single tear that fell down her cheek.

"Promise me you'll be safe. Don't take unnecessary risks out there. Promise me we walk back here together when it's all said and done."

Emery reached up to touch his face, speaking softly to where only he could hear. She didn't want him going to the hospital because of Batista. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she loved him and it showed in her eyes, not masking anything from him. It didn't matter if they were together or not, Emery didn't want him to get hurt and she knew how angry he was for what Batista did to her, the amount of humiliation she went through. The last thing she wanted was him getting hurt because of revenge on her behalf. It wasn't worth it.

Looking past her, staring at Batista, Mark remained quiet for a moment before finally turning his attention back to Emery. "I can't promise that, darlin'." He said softly. "I can't promise it because I can't tell you what he's going to do." He could say sure, but in the end, whatever David pulled out there would be a deciding factor in how this went down. "I can try, that's the best I can tell you, Emery." Mark was still going to beat that asshole down though, because of what he had done.

It was a bit hypocritical of him, sure, given everything he had done to her, but there it was.

Love made people stupid.

Emery had nothing more to say and just nodded solemnly, looking away to wipe a few more tears away. No makeup meant she didn't have to worry about anything smearing. Emery knew she was making her entrance separate from both of them because of the mystique of Undertaker's character.