Chapter 42

If Seth was surprised to be kissed by Lilianna, he didn't show it and wrapped an arm tightly around her waist to press her against his side. He made sure it wasn't her injured side where the broken ribs were. Her lips were soft as rose petals and the sparks ignited through his body couldn't be ignored either. Why did she kiss him though? The script and plan wasn't for her to come out here to kiss him in front of Roman, not that he was complaining because that wasn't the case. Even if it was a little peck, she still pressed her lips against his and Seth wondered if she felt the sparks as much as he did.

Roman looked ready to explode and Seth could swear smoke was coming out of his ears, making him smirk wickedly. It was the perfect payback after what he did to Lilianna the previous night. Suddenly, Shane McMahon's music blasted throughout the arena as he made his way to the ring, a microphone in hand with a smile on his face. Seth made his way back into the ring, holding the rope open for his new business partner and had to admit, the way the black skirt she had on molded to her backside perfectly. This woman was toned in all the right ways, the right places…and Seth had to stop ogling her before it was noticeable.

"Now obviously, there's a lot of animosity between the two of you. And believe me, this is a match that is WrestleMania main event written ALL over it." Shane looked between the two competitors, not caring his tie wasn't completely straight because looks never mattered to him. "But we're not gonna be waiting for WrestleMania. At WWE's next pay-per-view event entitled Money in the Bank, it's going to be Roman Reigns defending the WWE World Heavyweight championship against Seth Rollins!"

Seth was ecstatic and shouted a 'thank you' at Shane McMahon, shaking his hand somewhat harshly due to his excitement. Lilianna couldn't wipe the smile off her face, even if she tried. Seth always had an excitement about him and she used to refer to him as puppy when he was in the Shield. Now, he was the Architect and had crafted, honed, his skills and built his career the way he wanted. Shane McMahon's music hit again to end the segment as Seth kept talking smack to Roman while the big man stood there, nodding his head and tried not to completely lose his temper. Just to stick it to Roman a little more, Lilianna pressed a soft kiss to Seth's beard covered cheek and slid the back of her fingers down his neck, winking in her ex-fiancé's direction.

"See you at Money in the Bank, Reigns." She cackled, leaving the ring with Seth once again holding the rope open for her and helped her down the steel ring steps.

All Roman could do was watch them saunter up the aisle together and felt his blood boil at the site of Seth's hands anywhere on Lilianna.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Both Jecina and Gabriella were waiting for Lilianna to step through the curtain, simultaneously shouting the same question on their minds.

Seth chuckled, then accepted a hug from Jecina and kissed the top of her head. "Good to see you again, Jeci. Been too long."

"Yeah, it has. Welcome back." Jecina never had a problem with Seth, not even through the whole Liliya fiasco because it wasn't his fault the woman had lost her mind and wound up in a mental institution. "Now if you'll excuse us…" She looped her arm through Lilianna's while Gabriella took her other arm, the women refusing to let her get away from them.

"We have some girl talk to catch up on." Gabriella finished with a grin, all three women walking out of gorilla position and down the hallway.

Lilianna had A LOT of explaining to do.

"Okay, okay I get the picture, you two." Lilianna winced from her broken ribs and had to sit down, so they went to catering to take one of the back tables away from everyone.

"No, I really don't think you do."

"Not even close."

"Not even a little bit."

"Not even a smidge."

Lilianna sighed heavily at her perplexed friends and knew she owed them an explanation. Granted, she was a grown woman and, if she truly wanted to, she could tell them all to shove this up their backside. However, Jecina and Gabriella were her sisters, her family, and she wouldn't keep any secrets from them, even though her contact with Seth had been kept clandestine.

"Hold that thought, we need something to drink. Don't you move." Jecina ordered, standing from the table and went to the table to grab some cups of water.

Just then, The Club and AJ Styles walked into catering and AJ made a beeline for Lilianna, a frown forming on Jecina's face. It was obvious AJ had been blindsided by this sudden turn of events like them. She nodded when Lilianna held her hand up in a one minute gesture and walked out of catering with AJ to talk to him privately. The Club approached the table to grab some food, nodding at Jecina with gentle smiles and she returned it, hoping AJ wasn't too hard on Lilianna.

"Okay so…what the hell is goin' on, Lilianna?" AJ didn't mean to sound frustrated, but some warning this was going down would've been nice. "I mean, you were part of The Club last night and now…you're Seth Rollins' business partner. I'm just tryin' to figure out how they transitioned so quickly…" He wasn't upset, just genuinely confused and felt he deserved an explanation like the girls.

He did because AJ had been nothing short of great to her, especially since she'd been tossed into The Club without a second thought, thanks to Stephanie. "Do you want the long or short version?" She asked, not wanting to take up a lot of his time if he didn't have it to give.

AJ sighed, noticing the grimace on her face and frowned at her hand pressed against her side. "Ribs again?" At her nod, he decided they had to sit down to have this conversation and guided her to his dressing room. "You can go talk to the gals in a few, after you tell me what's goin' on."

"Okay."

"Hey, what's going on here?" Seth jogged up to them, stopping AJ from carting Lilianna away and gently touched her arm. "Everything okay, Lila?"

Lilianna smiled up at Seth softly and nodded, seeing the concern in his dark chocolate eyes. "Yeah, AJ just wants to talk to me privately for a minute. I need to tell him what's going on since he was kinda blindsided tonight."

"Sorry for stealing her away, man, but…Roman had it coming."

AJ waved Seth off dismissively with a knowing smile. "Yeah he did, can't deny that. I won't keep her long and bring her back to her when we're done, man." He reached his hand out. "AJ Styles, by the way. We haven't met officially yet."

Seth shook his hand. "I remember you from the Indy's. Though people called me Tyler Black back then."

"No shit?" AJ gaped, not believing he didn't recognize who Seth Rollins actually was. Seth had one of his first matches against AJ, both when they were a lot younger. AJ shook his head, chuckling. "Man, I remember you. I thought you looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on why. Now I know. Good to see you again, man."

"Likewise. How do you like it here in the WWE?"

"Man, everyone's been great and super welcome." AJ was extremely humble for this opportunity and never took anything for granted.

"Good, we're like one big family around here…mostly." Seth couldn't wait to kick Roman's head off his shoulders for what he'd done to Lilianna. "I won't keep you two. Take your time, and don't let her stand too long cause of the ribs."

Lilianna rolled her eyes at this two, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Are you two done with the bromance yet or should I leave you alone?"

They both laughed at her, apologizing. Seth walked off to head to his locker room, already knowing if Lilianna needed him, if the talk went sour, she knew how to get ahold of him. AJ pushed open his locker room door open a few minutes later and sat her down in a steel folding chair, offering a bottled water since she looked a little out of breath. Broken ribs were not fun, he'd been there more times than he cared to count in his career.

"Okay, tell me how this all came about."

"Seth and I have been friends for a while, even when he had a falling out with Roman and Dean. I never stopped being his friend or cut off contact with him. Roman doesn't know it and I didn't tell him because I knew he wouldn't condone it. He would've told me to stop." Lilianna took a sip of water, chewing her bottom lip to try to get her thoughts in order. "To make a long story short, I had no idea he was returning last night and, after what Roman did to me, he came up to the hospital to see me. He stayed with me all night and we talked. He came up with the idea for me to be his on-screen business partner, to stick it to Roman, and…I admit, I really wanted to do it. I enjoyed being in The Club, for the most part, but…it feels right working with Seth. So we went to Stephanie and Shane, had a meeting with them when we arrived earlier today and they approved of the change. The fans and everyone knows about me and Roman being together, so it just adds more fuel to the fire between him and Seth."

AJ nodded in understanding, refusing to be another dickhead because it was obvious this woman had her fair share of them in her life. "Okay, that's all I wanted to know. It's cool. I'll miss you, but I understand you gotta do what you gotta do and, with the draft comin' up, nobody knows what's gonna happen." Something told him she'd end up wherever Seth did since they would still be fresh on the scene as business partners.

"I would've told you had I known Stephanie or Shane hadn't, AJ. I know it looks kinda unprofessional on my part and I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to disrespect you or The Club…" Lilianna frowned when AJ pressed a finger to her lips, his soft blues telling her there were no hard feelings between them.

"I know you have your share of friends in the company, but I'm here for you, if you ever need me. I don't wanna lose you as a friend. Think we can manage that?" AJ grinned boyishly, watching her shake her head in response with a smile of her own.

This had gone a lot better than she thought it would. "Yeah. I don't mind being friends with you, AJ. Thank you. It means a lot to me that you're being understanding about all of this." She reached over to squeeze his hand. "And I'm sorry for being such a bitch to you in the beginning."

"No reason to apologize, I get it. You were heartbroken and didn't wanna be bothered. I felt the same way when I got a divorce from my ex-wife. That's why I'm tellin' you, if you need someone to talk to about that kinda stuff, I'm a good listener, or so I've been told." Another boyish grin flashed at her and it made her chortle softly. "You really should smile more. You're a beautiful woman, Lilianna."

"You can call me Lili."

They stood up and embraced in a purely friendly way with Lilianna kissing his cheek. AJ kissed the top of her head and guided her out of his dressing room to take her back to catering, instead of Seth. She still had to talk to the girls about what happened and AJ had a feeling that would be a longer conversation than with him. He was fine with it. Baby steps since they really didn't know each other that way. He meant what he said, he was here for her as a friend and would get over his small crush on her.

"Everything okay?" Jecina asked hesitantly, looking up at Lilianna and AJ, breathing a sigh of relief at her friend affirming everything was fine. "Good. Now scram, Styles, it's girl talk."

AJ bowed at the women with a laugh and winked at Lilianna before joining his boys at the table they'd occupied to let them know what was discussed by their former Club member.

"He really is a great guy." Lilianna leaned back against her chair to get as comfortable as she could and took another sip of water. "I thought all the good guys in the world were gone…"

"What about Seth?" Gabriella inquired, raising a brow at the sheepish expression on Lilianna's face. "What's going on between you two?"

"No, more importantly, how did you go from working with The Club and AJ Styles to Seth Rollins in less than 24 hours?"

Lilianna knew this would probably sting Jecina a bit, but…keeping the truth from her friends wasn't an option. "I have a confession to make. Seth and I never stopped communicating with each other or talking, even after his falling out with Ambrose and asshole. I kept talking to him because he was my friend and I knew he was going through a rough time. Everyone had turned on him after he became champion and, even I admit, his attitude wasn't the greatest, but…I couldn't just abandon him."

"Okay, so you've kept in contact with him…all this time?" Jecina blinked, not expecting to hear that and took a sip of her coffee, needing a caffeine boost. "I'm guessing that was even when you were with asshole too, right?"

Lilianna nodded, clearing her throat. "Yeah. Like I said, I couldn't abandon Seth and he never once treated me badly or snapped at me. He wasn't exactly pleasant all the time and, when the shit with Roman and his mother started getting more intense, I confided in Seth a lot. We didn't talk on the phone often because I didn't want Roman to know I was communicating with a man he despised. I knew Roman wouldn't go for it and would force me to stop, or try to. So I kept it to myself and did it secretively. When Seth got injured, it broke my heart and I was one of the only people in the company to text him on a daily basis to check on him and make sure he was doing all right."

Catering was filling up and Jecina knew this wasn't the place to continue this conversation. "Come on, let's find somewhere more private to talk." She suggested, rising from the table and helped Lilianna up from her chair to head down the hallway. They found an empty dressing room and Gabriella locked the door, making sure nobody else was in the attached bathroom before they all settled in. "Lili, I'm gonna ask you something and I want you to be completely honest with me, no matter what."

Gabriella raised a brow, having kept quiet while listening to Lilianna's explanation and waited with bated breath for Jecina's question, wondering if the woman was thinking the same thing she was.

"Are you…Do you have feelings for Seth Rollins?"

Lilianna remained quiet for a full minute, mulling the question over in her mind and came to one undeniable conclusion.

"Yes. And it doesn't matter because I will never give my heart to another wrestler as long as I live."