Chapter 41
"Broken ribs SUCK."
Seth bit back a chuckle, nodding in agreement. "I concur. I've had quite a few of them since I started this gig. You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah…just can't believe that asshole actually speared me." Lilianna grumbled, leaning against Seth and held onto her side while he slowly walked with her to the car.
Broken ribs or not, Lilianna had work to do and she could still do her valeting job injured. The men wrestled injured all the time in this business; she would be no different. Seth stayed the night with her in the hospital, after Jecina had called to check and see if Lilianna needed her there. He had been the one to answer the phone, said his quick hellos and assured he had everything under control. Jecina sounded surprised to hear Seth's voice, but she didn't say anything because Lilianna had ended the call rather quickly. It was amusing and when he asked her why she hadn't wanted to talk to Jecina more, she replied with blaming him. It made him laugh. Gabriella had been the next one to text, not call, and Lilianna informed her everything was fine, not wanting to put a damper on the woman's celebration since she just won the Women's title.
"You and me both, but don't worry, we have a plan to deal with it." Seth reminded her, keeping his arm around her waist gingerly, but was ready to catch her incase she dropped. "I could've wheeled you out here, you know."
"What? You don't like walking with me, Rollins?"
Seth shook his head. "Of course I do, but I'm worried about you walking right now because of your ribs." His tone was full of concern, frowning when she had to stop to suck in a sharp breath. "Lila…"
"I'm fine. We're almost here and then I can relax on the drive to Raw."
It was about a 3 hour drive, depending on traffic, which to them was a hop, skip and jump. Seth did not mind driving and helped Lilianna into the passenger seat, being as gentle with her as he could. He lowered her seat back to where she could lay down to take pressure off her ribs. There was nothing to be done about broken ribs, no tape or anything would help besides putting pressure on them. Lilianna had on a simple dark blue tank top and black cotton shorts with flip-flops, refusing not to be comfortable in the car.
"Don't bother with the seatbelt."
"Safety first, though…" Seth stopped her from trying to clip it on, shaking his head.
"Lila, you have broken ribs and, if we get pulled over, I'll pay your ticket, okay? You don't need a goddamn seatbelt pressing against your stomach and ribs." Seth argued sternly, arching a dark black brow and dared her to try to defy him.
Sighing exasperatedly, Lilianna tossed her hands up in the air as much as she could, without twinging her ribs, and laid back without the seatbelt on. "Whatever you say, Doctor Rollins." His smirk actually made her weak in the knees and Lilianna found herself enjoying his company more than she cared to admit.
"Good, now lay back and chill out." He kissed her forehead and shut the passenger door before walking around to slip behind the wheel, firing up the engine. It was a Nissan Rogue, nice and roomy with tinted windows to shield any direct sunlight. "Here, I snagged a pillow from the room for you." He helped her sit up to plant it behind her and Lilianna settled back down. "Want a blanket? Snagged one of those too."
"You thief." Lilianna giggled, her golden brown orbs twinkling with amusement and snuggled back against the pillow while Seth covered her up with a blanket. He wasn't lying. "Mmm thank you…"
Seth smiled, his heart warming at the sound of her relaxed form and pulled out of the parking spot, heading out on the highway toward Baltimore, Maryland.
He was not surprised when she actually passed out not even 20 minutes into the trip and turned on some alternative rock.
To say Gabriella was annoyed when she woke up the following morning would've been an understatement. No, she wasn't annoyed. She was PISSED. Last night was supposed to be the best night of her life, thus far, and instead she wound up spending it alone with a broken heart and spirit. All because of a man who couldn't even admit or come out saying he was dating her! No, they weren't dating, they were fuck buddies and nothing more! More like she was his sex slave, if Gabriella was being really honest with herself. That just angered her further, made her grit her teeth while stalking around her hotel room.
No text messages. No phone calls. Nothing – no kind of communication from the dickhead!
She was surprised he'd had time to text her last night and told her he couldn't make it for their celebration, which he coaxed out of her. Gabriella shook her head, throwing her belongings in her bag and didn't care if things broke at this rate. She just wanted out of this hotel, out of this town and to get on the road, having a lot to think about. Scowling, Gabriella pushed black shades over her eyes, grabbed her bag, purse and keycard before heading out, keys to her rental in hand.
On her way, naturally, she ran into none other than Alexa.
"Well, well, good morning there, champ!" Alexa greeted happily, having a coffee in hand and immediately, the smile drained from her face. "What's wrong, Gabs?" Hell, if she won the Women's title, she would've been all smiles.
"Nothing, I gotta go." Gabriella muttered, not in the mood to talk about what happened and sighed when Alexa stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "Lexi, I really have to go…"
"Okay fine, we'll go together then and you can tell me what the fuck is going on. We're riding to Raw together, deal with it." Alexa would not take no for an answer, already knowing something was wrong with her friend and planned on finding out what it was.
Knowing she wouldn't get out of this, Gabriella followed Alexa down to the hotel lobby, turned their keycards in and checked out, before heading out to Alexa's rental. Gabriella was ordered to call the rental car company to come pick her car up since she wouldn't need it to drive to Baltimore. Slipping in the passenger seat, Gabriella continued sipping her coffee and stared out the window, waiting for Alexa to start bombarding her with questions.
A half an hour of pure silence was all Alexa could take. "All right Gabs, I gave you time to decompress and calm down. Now you're gonna tell me what happened last night. Because you should be happy and glowing after winning your first Women's championship and instead, you got this sour, pissed off look on your face that does NOT match your personality at all."
Gabriella couldn't help crack a smile at Alexa's blunt nature and rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. "I'm an idiot, that's what happened last night. I…wasn't tired, it was an excuse not to go out with you and Baron and everyone because of…you know who." Speaking his name was forbidden; it was one of the stipulations Gabriella gave Alexa before revealing who her lover was.
"Why would you cancel on us for him? I mean, if you wanted to get your freak on, I get that, but…it sounds like that's not what happened. So what DID happen?"
Gabriella told her about the dressing room incident and how he'd basically manipulated her into spending the night with him, instead of her friends. People who actually gave a damn about her and didn't use her. The more she talked about it, the angrier she became as Gabriella moved her eyes to stare out the window.
"Then, right after I canceled with you guys, after getting back to the hotel, he fucking texted me and said he couldn't make it and to have fun with my friends. Are you for real right now? You tell me not to hang out with my friends because you want to have a celebration with me and then CANCEL on me after I cancel on them?!" Gabriella was shocked her phone wasn't smashed from throwing it as many times as she did, though the case was slightly cracked on the side. She didn't care and would get a new one on her days off. "So I spent last night alone. Completely alone. Heartbroken and pissed off and I'm stupid. I'm a stupid woman for having HIM for a fuck buddy!"
Alexa hated agreeing with her friend about this, but she couldn't deny that fact. It sounded like HE was manipulative and only wanted Gabriella when the timing was convenient for him. "Gabs, you know I love you, right? You know I'm always here for you and I'm always gonna be straight with you. That's not gonna change now, so I don't want you getting pissed at me for what I'm about to say."
"I already know what you're going to say. I'm telling Baron after the draft happens. Lexi, I'm not gonna tell him how I feel, only for us to be separated if he winds up on a different show than me. I will not set myself up for heartbreak that way. I don't know what I'm gonna do about HIM, but I already have a plan when it comes to Baron." Gabriella informed the blonde and leaned back in the chair, drawing her knees up to her chest. "And I don't even know if Baron feels the same way about me."
"Won't know until you tell him." Alexa already knew how Baron felt about Gabriella and vise versa, but she had been sworn to secrecy by both of them not to say anything to the other.
It was killing her not to open her mouth and get these fools together, honestly.
"Come on, precious, we gotta get moving."
"I know, just give me a second."
Jecina had texted Lilianna to check on her and didn't get a response. She tried calling her, but only received her voicemail. Either she was already on the road with Seth Rollins or she was still in the hospital sleeping. Frowning, Jecina pushed it out of her mind for the time being, hoping Lilianna was in good hands with Seth and packed up the rest of her things. Jon was extremely sore from the pay-per-view last night, but there was no rest for him until Wednesday on their days off. He'd had thumbtacks embedded in his elbows, forearms, a few in his chest and a lot in his backside. Luckily, none of them were too deep that required stitches. It was no surprise when they arrived back at the hotel and Jon immediately passed out, exhausted in every way possible from the Asylum match.
"Okay, I think I'm ready to go. How are you feeling?"
"Right as rain, nothing to concern your pretty little head about, Jina." Jon assured her, walking over to place his hands on her waist to pull her closer to him, his lips brushing hers. "You better swap fingers before we get to Raw, unless you want people knowing about our engagement."
The emerald ring was on her left ring finger currently. She had changed it as soon as they were within the confines of their hotel room, just like she promised. "Are you sure this doesn't bother you? Me wearing the ring on my right hand instead of my left, where it should be?"
"It won't be forever, just temporary. I'm cool with it, stop worrying." He kissed her forehead and took her hand, lacing their fingers together after removing the emerald ring to slide on her right ring finger for her. "I know you belong to me, regardless of what finger that ring is on. The important fact is you wear it, though when we're actually married, I expect it to stay on the finger it belongs on."
"Deal."
They walked out of their hotel room and headed down to get in their rental, beginning the drive to Raw. "I still haven't heard from Lilianna. I really hope she's okay with Seth…"
"She's with Seth?" Jon must've missed that bit of information, but then again, he wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind the previous night. "I know he returned, but I didn't know him and Lilianna were…close…" Was that the term to use?
"Hell, from the sounds of it, she was thrilled to have him in her hospital room keeping her company and taking care of her. It makes no sense to me." Lilianna had a lot of explaining to do when they hung out the next time. "I just hope she's okay and still not stuck in the hospital alone."
"She'll call you when she can, Jina. Maybe they're doing tests on her and shit."
"Yeah, maybe…"
The reception Seth received upon making his return to Raw was warm and welcoming. He wore all black coming out on that stage, black dress pants, buttoned-up shirt and jacket, the top few buttons undone. He left his hair down, wet, a HINT of blonde at the tips on the right side. Seth was doing his best to get rid of the blonde completely, wanting his natural hair back after bleaching the hell out of it for a number of years. It was his way of standing out, but now that he was a top Superstar in WWE, it was time to turn it natural again. He stepped in the ring, grabbed the microphone and the fans immediately began chanting thunderously 'WELCOME BACK' at the top of their lungs. It was crystal clear and Seth drank it all in while still managing to play the heel at the same time.
However, Roman interrupted him after he went on a rant about how the fans were responsible for what happened to his knee. Once again, playing the heel to perfection. Nobody could do the way he could and Seth knew it. He tossed his jacket off, eyeballing the big man and dared him to come in the ring to fight. Just as Roman did, Seth jumped out and began laughing, shaking his finger at Roman. No, they wouldn't fight now – it would be on HIS terms since he busted his ass for 6 months to return in the first place. Roman was stalking in the ring like a pissed off bull, wanting to jump out and destroy Seth, but all he did was stand there glowering down at the man who attacked him the previous night.
"You know Roman, you really should be careful what you do in that ring and OUT of it." There was a pun in there and only Roman figured out what it was, his eyes turning stormy instantly. That just made Seth smirk more. "Because you see, last night, after I planted your head in that mat and stole your celebration away, I went to see someone. Oh yeah, and it's someone you're VERY familiar with. Someone I KNOW who will help me dethrone your ass once and for all and help me reclaim the title I NEVER LOST!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Roman demanded, staring holes through Seth and felt his eyes narrow, eyebrows dropping to his nose, as very familiar music blared through the speakers.
It was none other than Stephanie McMahon. "Wait a minute, Seth, hold on. I think we need to do this introduction the right way, don't you?" She waited for him to nod and smiled wickedly. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Seth Rollins' new business partner, LILIANNA!"
Roman's jaw was on the mat and could only watch as his former fiancée sauntered out to the ring, walked around it and planted a passionate kiss on Seth's lips.