Chapter 15

After browsing more stores in downtown Pensacola, the sun set on the horizon and night fell. The girls had a great time with each other; laughing, crying, bitching about the men in their lives and anything else that came to mind. It was around 10 PM when Jecina finally decided to part ways to go back to the hotel to face Jon. Lilianna went to face the music with Roman at their home, ready to hash out all their problems and tell him the wedding was off. Gabriella took a redeye flight to Tampa to spend the last few days at home to contemplate what to do about Baron and her secret lover. Each woman had their own agenda and issues to take care of, but throughout the day each gave the other strength to do what needed to be done.

Taking a deep breath, Jecina slid her keycard into the slot of the hotel suite she shared with Jon and pushed it open, not surprised to find the room pitch black. Somehow, she knew Jon was here and felt her heart break a little more, wishing he would talk to her about what was bothering him. She dropped the keys on the small table near the table and kicked her sandals off, padding further into the room. The small silhouette of smoke and orange dot was the only light in the room, the window curtains drawn. Sinking down on the edge of the bed, Jecina kept her back to his prone body lying in bed and shut her eyes, lowering her head.

"Didn't think you'd come back tonight." His rough raspy voice broke the silence between them, the tension thickening with each passing second neither spoke.

"Why wouldn't I?" She retorted softly, rubbing the back of her neck to try easing some of the stiffness. "Just because I'm mad at you doesn't mean I'll run away. I'm not that type of person, Jon."

Ouch, that stung a bit. Jon supposed he deserved it after what he'd put her through 2 years ago. Jecina could read him like a book and he hated it sometimes because he wasn't ready to talk to her about what was on his mind. Not yet. However, he had a feeling if he didn't come clean, the rest of their time off in Pensacola would be ruined. Taking another long drag from his cigarette, Jon set the rest of it in the ashtray and sat upright in the bed, seeing her shadowy silhouette through the darkness. Even in darkness, she was beautiful as ever and there was no mistaking those curves or the way she massaged her neck. Taking a chance, Jon moved up toward the bed slowly, giving Jecina plenty of time to stand and stopped right behind her. His hand replaced hers on her neck and a smile curved his lips as she melted back against him, her head lulling forward to give him further access.

"Mmm, that feels good…" She breathed, voice barely above a whisper and felt Jon's free arm wrap around her waist to pull her against him tighter, the massage never ceasing. "I'm still mad at you…"

He smirked, not expecting anything less and buried his nose in her hair to breathe in her scent. "I know."

"Then why won't you tell me what's going on with you? I thought…we didn't keep secrets from each other anymore." Jecina tried not to let her voice crack, but this man stirred intense emotions inside of her and it'd been that way since day one. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. I love you…"

Groaning at her sweet words, Jon could feel his resolve shattering and gritted his teeth, stroking her stomach with his fingers. "Jina…" He practically growled, moving his face to bury in the side of her neck. "I trust you…"

"Then tell me what's going on." Her head turned along with her body until pleading emerald green met intense electric blues. Through the darkness, they could see each other clearly. "Did Dean say something to you? Because you didn't start acting like this until after we left the dress shop yesterday…" Jecina cupped his face and shifted completely around to straddle his lap, keeping him pinned in place.

It would be tedious to blame Dean for his attitude. She didn't need to know what that cocksucker said or the fact it bothered him a lot more than Jon ever cared to admit. "There's a reason I asked you about our anniversary. I wanted to…fuck." He was never good with words or real life, not like his ruthless character in WWE. "I wanted to ask you something on that specific day because being with the same broad for 2 years is a milestone for me."

"Go on."

"It's fucking pointless to live in two separate states. We're usually in Chicago, but…it's so damn loud, even as high up as we are in the penthouse. I just…" Jon had to blurt it out before he lost his nerve and scrubbed a hand down his face. "We should move in together. Having our shit in two separate places makes no sense because we travel so damn much. And I hate being away from you. We always spend our days off together either in Chicago or Cincinnati. It doesn't make sense to pay for two places when we can pay for one living together. So, move in with me."

Emerald eyes shot open at the words coming out of Jon's mouth. He wanted to move in together? How long had he thought about this? It had to be a while because he'd planned on asking her to move in with him during their 2-year anniversary. Jecina felt her heartrate pick up drastically and swallowed hard, not sure how to feel about this sudden turn of events. Was she ready for this next step with him? Granted, they'd been together for 2 years and it was great, for the most part. What if they did this and everything fell apart? And why couldn't they stay in Chicago where she was comfortable? It was better than Cincinnati, in her opinion.

"Wow okay…" Jecina extracted herself from his arms, needing a little space and stood up from the bed to take her hair down from the clip it'd been in all day. "Sorry, I didn't…I mean…I didn't expect you to say something like that. I just need a minute…"

Or several days, months, years…This was a huge step for both and Jon was ready to take it, so why wasn't she? Any other normal woman would've jumped for joy at hearing the love of their life wanted to move in with them and take that next step. Jecina had a lot of reservations though, most of which she couldn't share with Jon for fear of losing him. They had a strong relationship, but it was also nice to have breaks from each other whenever they needed time to themselves to decompress. Then there was the whole trust issue between them, at least on Jecina's side. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fully trust Jon after what he did to her 2 years ago. How he only had sex with her in the threesome to get back at Dean for having a better childhood than him. It was all about jealousy and she STILL chose him in the end, not Dean. Her heart wanted Jon even as her mind screamed to give herself completely to Dean and Jecina followed her heart. She meant what she said to Dean about being able to live without him, but not Jon. It was obvious he had trust issues with her as well since he kept things bottled up inside until she had to pry it out of him.

"You don't want to." Jon didn't bother hiding the hurt and disdain in his voice or questioning what was going through Jecina's mind. "I get it…"

"Would you just PLEASE give me a minute or two to think about this?! My god, you're so impatient! This is a lot for me to digest and I just need a MINUTE TO THINK!" Jecina snapped, something she rarely did and tossed her hands up in the air, whipping around to face him with acidic eyes. "Stop putting words into my damn mouth! I never said I didn't want to!"

Jon couldn't remember the last time Jecina lost her temper like this and slowly stood from the bed, procuring a cigarette from his pack to light it up. "Then what's holding you back? Why the hesitation?" He demanded irritably, walking over to pull the curtain back to stare out the window at the falling rain outside. "Be honest, Jina, go ahead. I'm a big boy, I can take it."

This was what it would be like to live together. If this is what their future looked like, Jecina wasn't sure she wanted to be part of it. She wasn't sure it was worth fighting for anymore. Love wasn't enough sometimes. Look what was happening between Lilianna and Roman. Sometimes it was better to cut ties and end a relationship instead of trying to make something work that simply couldn't. But Jecina didn't give up what she held most dear easily and her love for Jon never wavered. Her trust did, though and without complete trust, could a relationship actually survive? Now she was contradicting herself! Either she wanted to be with Jon completely or it was time to let him go, so he could find someone who WOULD give him what she knew he needed – something she couldn't right now.

"I love you, Jon." Jecina could feel the tension turn to chilling ice in the air between them and felt the tears build in her eyes. "But moving in together…I don't think it's a good idea. You're right, we've been together 2 years and any normal couple wouldn't think twice about taking this step. But that's not us." She turned around to face him, seeing his forearm pressed against the window while he continued smoking. "You even said you hate Chicago and wouldn't live there permanently. And I don't want to move to Cincinnati. I don't like it there; Chicago fits me better and I love my penthouse. So, we can either keep things the way they are or…"

"Call it quits." Jon finished for her, his voice a raspy monotone. "This isn't my first rodeo with a woman, Jina. I'm a rough man to deal with, brash and arrogant. I'm volatile and sometimes even violent. I admit all of my flaws openly because I know they're there and there's no changing them. What you see is what you fucking get with me. So, if you wanna call it off right here and now, you better tell me. I won't be with a woman who doesn't want me."

Tears slid down her cheeks freely as Jecina took a few steps toward him, shaking her head. "No! That's not what I'm saying! Damn it, I don't know what I want! All I know is I love you and I don't want to lose you. I don't want to let you go. Our relationship isn't perfect and we both have issues to work on, but we can do that. I just really think moving in together isn't in the cards for us right now. Let's just hold off on it and…"

"How long?" Jon turned his head to stare hardening at her, hating to see the tears streaming down her face. "Postponing the inevitable isn't smart either. I told you before I'm not good for you. You didn't fucking listen to me and now look where we're at."

"Just give me a little more time." Jecina reached out to touch his arm and kept moving forward even at his slight flinch. "Why fix something that's not broken? We're happy with the way things are, right? So, what if we both have our own separate places?"

Jon couldn't believe he was about to bring this subject up, but since they were hashing everything out, he figured it might as well be addressed. "What if I wanna marry your precious ass one day? What about kids and shit like that? Married couples don't live apart, Jina. Eventually, we'll have to move in together if we wanna continue this. So, like I said, postponing the inevitable isn't smart." He stepped back, finishing his cigarette and opened the sliding glass door to flick it out into the rainy night.

Marriage…kids…Jecina suddenly couldn't breathe and felt her chest tighten, needing to sit down before she collapsed. "I – I don't know…I didn't think…I mean…" She was having a panic attack and began breathing erratically, suddenly feeling like she was on fire. Not in a good way either.

"Jecina…JECINA!" Jon shouted after her as she fled out of the room, the door banging against the wall the last sound he heard followed by it clicking shut. "FUCK!"

Barefoot, Jecina raced as fast as she could down the hallway of their floor and didn't bother taking the elevator, tossing open the door to the back stairs. She had to get out of here. Jon had thrown too much at her too fast and she couldn't handle it. Keeping the truth from him was hard enough, but now he was talking about marriage and kids. Since when was Jon Moxley a 'marriage and kids' kind of guy? Tears flew behind her as Jecina arrived at the lobby floor and didn't waste a second, pushing open the door to the parking garage.

Only to slam into what felt like a brick wall.

"Cina?" Dean blinked, not expecting to have a small body crash into him full force and was shocked to see it was Jecina. "Whoa, are you okay?"

She slowly looked up and locked bloodshot teary emerald on pale sky blue. "Dean? Oh Dean…" Burying her face in her hands, Jecina began to cry since he was identical to his twin brother and felt his arms wrap around her waist to pull her back into a standing position.

"What's going on? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Dean fired off the questions one right after the other, vowing if Jon laid a hand on the woman he loved, he would destroy his twin. "Talk to me, Cina…"

Jecina remembered the last time she fled like this from a man and it was the one currently standing in front of her. He'd surprised her by coming to catering during a show and kissed the daylights out of her one night after her first date with Jon. Now she was fleeing from Jon for entirely different reasons, but couldn't help feeling déjà vu.

"Did Moxley…?"

"No, he didn't hurt me. I…just needed some air." Jecina was horrible at lying and lowered her eyes from Dean, pulling away from him. "Sorry for running into you. I gotta go…"

Dean stopped her, grabbing her upper arm gently but firmly and turned her back to face him. "You're not alright, far from it. You told me you gave me another chance at friendship. Last I checked, friends tell each other things, like what's bothering them. Or is it that you don't trust me?"

There was no reason not to trust Dean. He never lied and used her the way Jon had. Granted, he hurt her feelings with what he said recently after Liliya's incarceration at the mental institution, but he was only being honest about how he felt. Unlike his twin brother.

"It's not that I don't trust you, Dean. You know I do, but this is between me and your brother, who you don't care for. I don't think I should tell you what's going on between us, no offense. I just need to be alone right now. Have a good night." Jecina planned on getting another hotel room for the night since she still had her wallet on her and contemplating what to do about her future with Jon alone.

Watching her rush off, Dean narrowed his eyes and stroked his scruff thoughtfully, wondering what could've happened between Jecina and Moxley, a slow devious smirk curving his lips.