**Okay people, I know it's been a hot minute, or three, since I've worked on this story. I'm SLOWLY getting back into the swing of things, so HOPEFULLY I'll have more chapters for you coming up. Please be patient with me - writer's block really messed with me for a while, but hopefully it's gone now. Love you all and to those who stuck by me through this, double love to you!**

Chapter 26

Meet at our usual spot – I have news.

"I have to meet up with Gabi and Lili when we get to town." Jecina informed her man, smiling over at him. "Girl talk."

That was all Jon needed to hear, doing an 'okay' gestured with his hand. "I'll get in a workout while you're having your chick chat." His dissention with Dean would continue tonight on the show in another tag team match, which would be their rematch for the tag titles.

After a near 4-hour drive, Jon and Jecina arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, for Smackdown! and parted ways almost instantly. Jon watched Jecina jog off down the sidewalk to go meet with her friends and shook his head, wondering what could've been so important she couldn't take two seconds to kiss him goodbye. Since when did he care about something that trivial? Jon lit up a cigarette as he took a walk to clear his head, finding a gym in the process to get a workout in. He just hoped Jecina was all right and he hadn't scared her with his declarations of love the previous night.

Jecina looked completely frustrated and dejected, walking into the coffee shop the girls agreed to meet at. She ordered a shot of Espresso along with a coffee, needing the extra boost since she didn't sleep well after Jon made love to her. His words refused to leave her head and she didn't know what to do about them. She knew she loved him, but the trust issue was still a huge factor for her and he was already planning on finding them a place to live together. What was she going to do?

Ten minutes later, Gabriella walked in with a sour expression on her face and Lilianna was downright annoyed. The women were having issues they all had to talk through and vent, hoping each of them could help the other. Hell, Lilianna just wanted to kill Stephanie, Shane and Vince outright for putting her with AJ Styles and the Club, of all people. Knowing Roman was gearing up to feud with AJ, she felt nauseous having to be around that Samoan piece of shit after what he put her through the past 2 years. Gabriella felt vulnerable and lost, not sure what to do about her lover since tying, or in this case cuffing, him didn't work. He didn't answer a single question she had for him and it was frustrating, to say the least. All she wanted to know was what he wanted from her; what did he want out of this relationship. He'd been vague with his answers and wound up getting what he wanted from her in the end, which was sex.

"I'm a coward."

"Makes two of us."

"What the hell happened with you two last night?"

"You don't want to know." Both Jecina and Gabriella answered at the same time, lowering their eyes to their coffee.

Lilianna didn't like the sound of that, swallowing down her own anger at the direction her career had just taken. "Well, at least the bosses aren't trying to purposely fuck up your character and career by putting you with jackasses like AJ Styles and the Club."

Frowning, Jecina honestly felt terrible for Lilianna because of everything Roman put her through. She remembered with the Lilies were on fire in the Diva division and had destroyed everybody in their path. The amount of fire and passion they both had for the business was hard to come by. It reminded Jecina of how Jon felt for professional wrestling – same with Dean. Now with the rosters splitting up, everybody's worlds had been turned upside down and, until the draft happened, it was a horrible waiting game.

"I know this can't be easy for you, Lili…"

"No, you think? I just lost the love of my life because of his stupid fucking mother and now I have to deal with these stupid assholes, who haven't properly paid their dues in the company in the first place!" Lilianna did not care how big of a bitch she sounded.

She hated her life was right now and, if her friends couldn't understand, they could go screw themselves. That was just her attitude and it wasn't changing anytime soon. Instead of judging her, the girls banded together and both were on either side of Lilianna, their arms wrapping tightly around her.

"What are we gonna do if we're separated in this draft?" Gabriella suddenly asked, frowning at the girls who had kept her grounded since her main roster debut. "How are we gonna keep each other sane being on different shows?"

Jecina frowned, not wanting to think about that possibility because, honestly, having her friends was the only reason she kept sane these days. These trust issues she had with Jon, and the man didn't even know about them, was weighing heavily on her. On her mind and heart, especially. She shook her head, pressing her forehead to the side of Lilianna's head and shut her eyes, trying to will the tears to stay in her eyes.

"I'll probably kill everyone on the roster if you two aren't there to stop me." Lilianna half-joked, trying to inject some humor in her tone, but all that came out was sadness. "Okay, enough of this sappy shit. Both of you sit down and tell me what the hell happened last night." It was an order.

"I told you, I'm a coward."

"And why is that?" Lilianna sipped her coffee, raising a brow at the guilty look on Jecina's face. "You didn't tell Jon how you were feeling about moving in, did you?"

Jecina shook her head, lowering it and heaved a sigh. "I was going to. I planned on sitting him down and having a talk, especially after what happened earlier in the car on the way to the arena."

"Wait, what do you what happened?" Gabriella was confused, looking between her two friends and folded her arms in front of her chest. "What did I miss now?"

"Jon and I…we had a fight on the way to the arena yesterday. I…I called Dean to help me…"

"In order to find me." Lilianna piped in, urging Jecina to continue.

"Right. After the fiasco at the dress shop, Lili went home to talk to Roman and called the wedding off. Then she got in her car and drove and called me, saying she was on the side of the road and couldn't move. She was upset and…I don't know Pensacola that well. Jon doesn't either, but Dean does, so I called him to help me find her." Jecina hadn't had time to tell Gabriella any of this and her eyeballs were wide as saucers currently, staring at them both like a regular fish out of water.

Gabriella knew the wedding was off. Who didn't? It was the main gossip going around the locker room, some good and some bad. Roman and Lilianna had their friends, their groups, so they were getting both support and ridicule from both ends and sides. Gabriella silently wished Lilianna would make things right with Roman, but…then again, she wasn't the type to give out relationship advice when she was too busy being someone's fuck buddy. Someone she couldn't even talk to, even if handcuffed! No, she had no room to judge anyone and, if Lilianna felt deep in her heart marrying Roman wasn't the right thing to do, she supported her friend wholeheartedly.

"I know I haven't had a chance to say it, but I'm really sorry about what happened between you and Roman, Lili."

Lilianna shrugged, taking a large bite out of her fattening donut. "It is what it is." She muttered, once she swallowed the bite and took a long pull from her coffee to wash it down. "I thought he was the one, but…I was wrong and I'm kicking myself in the ass for not realizing exactly what kind of man I was with." First Randy had left her at the altar and now Roman with his mommy knows best issues…Lilianna was better off alone at this rate.

"I'm starting to wonder if what's going on between me and…the guy I'm currently with is worth it."

"Didn't you do the handcuff idea?" Jecina was thankful for the change of subject and she could tell Lilianna was too.

Gabriella cleared her throat, nodding. "It didn't work. He completely turned everything around on me and said we'll come out soon. I don't even know what that means. He wouldn't answer any of my questions and we just wound up fucking with him handcuffed to the bed. I'm so weak!" She grumbled, burying her face in her hands.

"Yeah because his dick can't be THAT good to let him manipulate you with sex."

"Lilianna!" Jecina gaped at her friend's bluntness, knowing that couldn't be easy for Gabriella to hear. "Gabi…"

"No, she's right." Gabriella scrubbed a hand down her face in frustration. "She's absolutely right. I'm letting him manipulate me with sex and that's not who I am." What the hell was she doing with her life? Was being on the main roster really worth it?

Lilianna wasn't apologizing for what she said because the truth hurt. Just like she told Jecina when she confessed to how she felt about Jon as far as their trust issues went. "She knows I would never steer her wrong or bullshit her. Same with you, Jeci. You need to tell Jon how you really feel before something horrible happens. Or you guys are gonna wind up fighting again and it's gonna spill out in a very bad way…and you know I'm right. Roman and I didn't communicate, don't make the same mistakes I did with him."

Deep down, Jecina agreed with her best friend, but she had no idea how to bring any of this up to Jon. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. "He said…on our next days off, he wants to go house hunting. He wants to move in together as soon as possible." She didn't even want to TOUCH the possibility of having a baby with him. That was far into the future, if they even had one anymore.

"If that's the case, you need to come clean to him." Gabriella agreed, reiterating what Lilianna said and grabbed Jecina's hand, squeezing it encouragingly. "If Jon loves you as much as you believe, as much as he claims, he'll understand how you feel and you two will work through your trust issues. I don't blame you for how you feel." She knew all about what happened between the twin brothers and Jecina and was just as shocked Jecina had chosen Moxley instead of Ambrose.

"And if we don't?"

"Then you're not meant to be, obviously." Just like her and Roman weren't meant to be or Randy, for that matter. Lilianna wished she could comfort Jecina further with this situation, but honestly, she was dealing with her own heartache and pain. "Fuck, I gotta get going. I'm supposed to meet Styles and the mongrels for a meeting to discuss what's gonna happen going forward on television. Stephanie and Hunter are gonna be there. Oh the fucking joys."

"Yeah, I should get going too. Time for a workout to get my mind off things and possibly figure out what my next move with…" Gabriella almost spilled the name and snapped her mouth shut, standing from the table. "Will you be alright, Jeci?"

Jecina nodded, understanding her friends had their own agendas and knew Jon would be finishing up his workout soon. "We'll talk soon." She hugged Gabriella, already knowing Lilianna didn't want to be touched and watched them leave, finishing up her coffee before exiting as well.

"AJ…"

"Listen man, we gotta talk."

AJ looked at his two brothers from Japan, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, still not believing the WWE put them back together on the main roster. It was amazing to be reunited with two men he knew inside and out. They had such a blast in Japan in the Bullet Club and now…now they were in the biggest wrestling organization on planet Earth.

"Let me guess, about our newest member?" AJ smirked at the bald headed man both nodding their heads simultaneously.

"It's not that…"

"We don't like her…"

"But she just…"

"She's not in a good mood and…"

"We don't want her bringing our group down."

"You understand, right man?"

Honestly, AJ had similar worries as well when Stephanie announced, in front of the entire locker room, Lilianna would be joining their group. He also could tell she was professional and would do her job to the best of her ability. Maybe talking to her for a minute when she arrived wasn't a bad idea. He could see the worry in his brothers' eyes and stood up from the table, shaking their hands.

"Okay – okay, I'll talk to her. She should be here any minute…"

"I'm here now, actually." Her cold voice sounded from behind all three men, making the bald headed ones immediately flinch. "Don't worry, I don't plan on bringing the group down." She snorted, rolling her eyes and planted her hands on her hips.

AJ blew out a breath, knowing their discussion wasn't supposed to be overheard by her. "Lilianna…"

"Save your breath, Styles. I already know what you're going to say and I don't really care. I'm gonna do my job and be a professional. I suggest you do the same. I'm not your friend, I'm only your coworker and that's it, you got it? All three of you can fuck off otherwise, once we're out of that ring and behind that curtain. If you can't handle those terms, I will tell Stephanie to stick this idea up her ass." Lilianna was not in the mood for games and didn't appreciate these assholes talking behind her back, folding her arms in front of her chest.

Luke and Karl both shared worried looks with each other, not believing their leader was just verbally castrated by this woman. They understood where she was coming from, considering her relationship had been basically an open book throughout the locker room. Everybody knew she'd been with Roman Reigns for the past 2 years and they had been set to get married in mere months. Luke and Karl were fairly new to the roster, so was AJ, so they were a little out of the loop as far as locker room gossip went.

"As long as you stay professional, we won't have a problem." AJ nodded stiffly, deciding since she didn't want to be friendly, he wouldn't be either.

They were coworkers and nothing more – fine. If that's the way she wanted it, so be it. AJ would not bend over backwards for a man-hater, no matter how beautiful she was. And Lilianna was extremely gorgeous, especially with the blue hair she now sported. It used to be a burnt orange and now it was a deep blue that went with the Club perfectly. He wondered if she'd dyed her hair and knew about the brand extension before it was even announced, immediately dismissing that. No, she'd been just as shocked and perplexed as the rest of them when Stephanie announced to everyone about the brand extension.

Speaking of Stephanie, she had arrived and could feel the tension thick in the air between the Club members. "Gentleman, and lady…" She smiled, trying to ease it a little. "Let's sit down and get started."