Chapter 50

Halfway through Raw, after her match to build her match up for Battleground, which would be a Women's tag match with her having a mystery partner against Dana Brooke and Charlotte. Nobody knew who her tag partner was and she was keeping it secret, or rather the company was. She was a very good friend of Gabriella's and, when she found out who her mystery partner at Battleground would be, Gabriella couldn't help smiling.

After the match was over, Gabriella went back to her dressing room to change and leave for the night. It wasn't meant to be. She walked in and was confronted by her lover, someone she hadn't seen in weeks. He texted her a few times a day to ask how she was doing and she had asked him for some time to mull things over. Time was up, apparently, or else he wouldn't be standing in her dressing room, waiting on her.

"I don't wanna do this anymore." He spoke first, having made his mind up and stepped up to her, fingering her chin between his fingers. "I don't wanna force you to be with me if you don't want to. I know I crossed a line with us the last time we were together…"

Gabriella didn't know what made her do it, but she pressed a finger to his lips and shook her head. "No. You're not apologizing for doing what I simply asked you to do. And…I know I've been distant lately, but I'm trying to work shit out in my head and I seem to be making it worse."

"Anything I can do to help?"

His hand slid down her arms and Gabriella didn't pull away, deciding if Baron could screw around with ring rats, then she should be able to do whatever she wanted. They weren't meant to be together and she was tired of being heartbroken over her best friend. Gabriella had a man right in front of her who wanted her, who she wasn't afraid of and that was more than she could ask for.

"Yeah, there is." Turning, she undid her wrestling top and then slid out of her bottoms, feeling him come up behind her. "You can make me yours again…"

He didn't have to be told twice and undid his pants, having missed her pussy more than he cared to admit. "Fuck, Gabriella…" Just as he slid home inside of her, where he belonged, the door was suddenly pushed open and their heads both snapped up at who it was.

It was none other than Baron Corbin.

"Gabriella, STOP!"

She had tried running out of the arena, to try avoiding another confrontation with Baron, and it didn't work. He was hot on her trail, having spotted her coming out of her dressing room, after her lover had disappeared. Coward! All she wanted to do was go back to the hotel, drown her sorrows in some wine in a hot bubble bath and call it a night. Baron wasn't making this easy for her, however, and she had no idea what else to say to him.

"I don't want to fight with you again…"

"Then don't fight with me. Talk to me, you know, like we used to do." Baron ran in front of her, forcing her to stop and stared down at her with perplexed dark eyes. "I miss my best friend, Gabi." He was trying really hard not to judge her on WHO she'd been spending her time with lately.

Damn him! Why did he have to look at her with those dark puppy dog eyes and make her insides melt?! Her heart also broke at his words because she missed him too. Her fiery red hair was up in a messy bun on top of her head due to how hot it was outside and she had to wonder how the hell he withstood a skull cap on his head.

"I miss you too."

"You miss me, but you can't even look at me." Baron muttered, noticing she was avoiding eye contact with him and again, he didn't understand why. "Never mind, I'll see you around…"

"Baron, goddamn it!" Gabriella tossed her hands in the air, her bag flying in the air before landing on the pavement harshly. Luckily, she didn't have any unbreakable belongings, not even the WWE Women's title. "This isn't easy for me!"

"And you think it's easy for me? My best friend hates me because I had sex! And then did the same damn thing I did with one of the BOSSES of this company!" That made her cheeks flush crimson and he folded his arms in front of his chest crossly. "How the fuck did you get involved with Shane McMahon, of all people, Gabriella?"

"No! That's not the reason and I don't hate you!" Gabriella could feel the words bubble up inside of her and blinked as tears rushed down her face. "I…" How was she supposed to tell him how she'd met Shane and wound up in his bed the same damn night?!

Baron waited her out, not saying a word and could see she was clamming up again. "Why did you come to my room that night? What did you wanna talk about that was so important it couldn't wait until the mornin'? Why did you choose THAT night to come talk to me?"

"Because I was…" Gabriella shut her eyes, dropping her head and knew she had to be brave, to find it inside of her to tell him how she felt. "Look, Shane and I weren't together – together because of his divorce. We just…started screwing around with each other and it escalated."

"I don't give a fuck about Shane McMahon! That's not what I fuckin' asked you!" Baron shot back, towering over her and could see the fear in her eyes, knowing she was hiding something from him. Something important. He could FEEL and taste it, sense it. "Why did you come to my room that night?"

"BECAUSE I WAS GONNA TELL YOU HOW I FEEL ABOUT YOU! I WAS GONNA TELL YOU I LOVE YOU!" Gabriella shrieked, the emotions overwhelming her and her body began trembling, not believing those words just came out of her mouth. "I was…ready that night to tell you…"

Baron felt like he'd just been sucker punched in the stomach several times, all the air driven out of his lungs for a few seconds. Did he hear her right? She loved him and had come to his room to tell him how she felt? Only to catch him with another woman and watched as he made out with her and then guided her into his hotel room for sex. Baron actually slapped his face, facepalming and could not believe Gabriella hadn't come to him sooner with this. Had he known how she truly felt about him, there was no way he would've had to resort to using ring rats to get his sexual needs satisfied.

"You love me." He reiterated her words, stepping closer to her and gently ran a finger down the tear trail on her cheek.

Gabriella swallowed hard, nodding and slowly looked up until watery sky blues locked on calm, warm dark brown. "Yeah, I…have for a while." That was an understatement. "No, that's a lie." She was tired of the lies and placed her hands on his t-shirt covered chest. "I've loved you since the day I met you, Baron. When you walked into my training class at the performance center, something about you drew me in and then we started talking and became best friends. I fell in love with my best friend and…I was a coward all this time because I was afraid you didn't feel the same way about me. I still don't know if you do…"

"And what about your lover? What about Shane McMahon?"

Gabriella shrugged, honestly not caring because she felt the biggest weight lift from her shoulders. "Something tells me he only brought me up here from NXT because he wanted to fuck me. But I don't care. I don't care about any of that. You know the truth and now you need to tell me if you feel the same way or if I'm just making a fool out of myself."

"Are you done with him?"

"That depends on you. I won't stop fucking him if you don't want me because at least he does." Gabriella reached up to caress his face with the back of her hand and felt his hand wrap around her wrist, feeling her breath hitch in her throat.

"You're such an idiot. You're a fuckin' idiot, Gabi." Baron chuckled, ignoring her protests to try getting away from him and wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her tight against him. "You really don't see it, do you? You haven't seen it this whole time and I've been too stupid not to simply tell you how I feel." He sighed heavily, not believing how much time they had lost with each other because of their stubbornness and fear. "You ARE done with Shane McMahon because you belong to me now. I love you too." His head dipped, capturing her mouth in a searing kiss and felt her body melt against him completely.

The idiots had finally admitted how they felt for each other and nothing else mattered at that moment, not even the upcoming draft.

Draft day.

Jecina barely slept and currently had her third cup of coffee while Jon drove the hour to Worchester, Massachusetts from Providence, Rhode Island. Silence reigned between them because each was deep in their own thoughts. Jon didn't have a clue what would happen if this didn't go their way and Jecina felt sick over it, suddenly tossing the coffee out the window. She didn't care about littering at the moment and leaned her head against the closed window, shutting her eyes.

Would she have the strength to do what needed to be done?

Would she be able to walk away from Jon, if he ended up on a different show than her?

They had a house together now, were engaged to be married…and she planned on walking away from it all, if they were separated in the company. There was no alternative, not to her. If her heart was being broken, it would be on HER terms, not because Jon couldn't keep his dick in his pants. That was her biggest fear was him cheating on her again and hurting her the way he had over 2 years ago. Feeling him grab her hand, Jecina didn't pull away and laced their fingers together, saying another prayer above things would work out in their favor.

After stopping at the hotel to freshen up, it was time to head to the arena for the draft. Moxley was in his jeans and beater, refusing to dress up. He was one of the few individuals that didn't have to follow the dress code. It was in his contract, a stipulation he would not budge on and Vince had agreed simply because he saw dollar signs with another set of twins on his show. Jecina, on the other hand, had on black dress pants and a pale blue sleeveless halter top with her hair pulled back in a neat bun. Hopefully, her makeup hid the dark circles that adorned her eyes from lack of sleep the past week. Even on their days off, insomnia had reared its ugly head and Jecina was suffering from it.

"You ready for this?" Jon asked, smacking his gum with black shades over his eyes, looking up at the arena while holding her hand.

"No."

Jecina already had her plane ticket ready to go, in case she had to make a quick exit. Walking into the arena, they kissed each other before going their separate ways. The show would kick off with the first draft picks and Jecina wished this night was over with already. There was no way she'd be able to eat, not until the draft was completely over with. To keep herself occupied and her mind off the draft, which wouldn't start for a couple hours, Jecina did what she did best and that was cook.

Before long, Smackdown! Live began and Stephanie walked out onto the top stage with Mick Foley at her side. They looked ready to rock and roll while the commentators spoke about the possibility of who would be their very first draft pick. Raw had won the coin toss backstage earlier, so that was why Stephanie got to choose first.

"Let's get down to business, shall we? We are all here for one reason and one reason only and that's the DRAFT!" Stephanie had a fire in her voice tonight, an excitement and smiled at her General Manager.

Jecina watched the monitor with bated breath, clasping her hands together and waited.

"We would like to pick…SETH ROLLINS!"

"Along with his business partner – Lilianna!" Mick added with a thumbs up, making Stephanie nod.

"No…" Jecina felt her heart plummet in her stomach because that meant one of her best friends was now on a different show and schedule than her. "Shit…"

They showed a video montage of the two together, along with Seth prior to his comeback, and then the floor went to Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan.

Shane got right down to it, not wasting time. "Our first draft pick for Smackdown! Live is…" He did a drum roll and allowed Daniel Bryan to do the official announcement.

"The CURRENT and FUTURE WWE World Heavyweight champion, DEAN AMBROSE!"

Jecina shook her head, gripping what she could of her hair and covered her mouth with her hand, knowing exactly what that meant. If Dean was on Smackdown! Live, than that meant… "It's happening…" She whispered, not hearing her door thrust open or feel Lilianna's arms wrap tightly around her.

"I'm so, so sorry, Jeci…" Lilianna was crying for her friend, not believing what the company just did and knew there was no way the brothers would be on the same roster. "W-What are you gonna do?"

Pulling back from Lilianna, Jecina looked at the monitor and, sure enough, they announced Jon Moxley would be on Raw permanently. Taking the emerald engagement ring off, she handed it to her best friend, who she trusted more than anything and touched her face gently. The tears were flowing between the two of them as Lilianna looked down at the ring in her hand, her heart shattering for Jecina.

"I can't…" Her voice cracked as Jecina reached for the remote to turn the rest of the draft off. "I can't face him…and tell him the truth. I haven't been able to…and I don't think I can now. I need you to tell him, Lili. Please. I know I'm taking the coward's way out, but…I love him too much and I know he'll beg me to stay and promise me he'll never hurt me again. And I'll be too weak to resist him. I'll fall for it and I'll believe we can conquer anything, when in reality, this has destroyed us."

Lilianna cursed, not expecting Jecina to put this in her lap, but she wouldn't let her friend down. "You're not losing me. Don't you forget that, wench. We are family, no matter what or where I am, you got that?" She hugged Jecina tightly again, feeling her nod and pulled back, pocketing the ring. "Go on, get out of here and take a few days to yourself. I'll take care of everything here."

"Thanks, I owe you."

"No, just consider this payback for all the times you've been there for me through the Randy and Roman bullshit."

Nodding, Jecina grabbed her purse and keys to the rental before taking off out of the arena, not looking back.