Dread


"I should go." AJ said quietly, sitting up in bed as Punk looked at her, "I should never have come here." She realised. If she hadn't come, none of this would have happened and she would have only had a kiss to worry about telling her fiancé, not this… not what they had just done.

"Figured that was coming." Punk nodded to himself. He knew she'd have regrets, but mostly just because of guilt. He knew she wanted this, he heard how badly she wanted it. She just needed to figure out what she wanted.

"I came here to… to just see if you were ok." AJ spoke to herself, making her way around the bedroom to pick up items of clothing scattered around.

"I'm great now." Punk smiled cockily as she looked over at him, unimpressed, "What?" He propped himself up on her elbows.

"This is not me. I would never…" She shook her head, trying desperately not to get upset, but that was just how disgusted she was with herself and her actions, and even more so because she had enjoyed every bit of the last few hours.

"April." Punk sighed.

"No, don't." AJ shook her head, getting herself together and putting her clothes on, "I need you to just give me some space-"

"You came here." Punk reminded her, "I don't know if it's denial or if you're just trying really hard to be a good person, cause you don't wanna hurt his feelings, but your head is not with him. I don't think your heart is either. Nobody who is in love does this. True love, anyway." He nodded as she looked at him.

"Please don't tell anyone." She shook her head.

"Who the hell am I gonna tell?" Punk questioned.

"Your brother, who is dating or… whatever it is they're doing with my best friend, who I also work with." AJ said.

"I'm not gonna say anything." He assured her, watching her put her coat on, "But you gotta figure some things out. When you do, you can come find me." He nodded to her as she looked behind over her shoulder at him.

It was ridiculous that even in her state of guilt, she wanted to rip her clothes back off and climb back on top of him as he lay there looking at her. She thought she was confused before but now… she didn't even know where her head was at. She just knew this man had come into her life and tipped it upside down.

Punk watched as she headed out of his bedroom, collapsing back down on his back. He felt like he had a clearer idea of where her head was at. It wasn't just a physical desire they had, there was passion and connection there, more than he'd ever had with anyone else. But he knew it wasn't that easy for her.

AJ walked out of the bedroom, closing the door over and pausing when she saw Dean standing at the doorway, just getting home from work, looking across at her.

"Dean." AJ panicked a little as Dean smiled a little.

"You're digging yourself quite the hole, huh?" Dean nodded as AJ sighed, quickly walking past him and leaving the apartment as he wandered through the hall, opening up his brother's bedroom door as Punk looked over, lying in bed.

"Is that what time it is?" Punk raised his eyebrows, not realising it was so late.

"I met your friend on the way out." Dean said, looking at the messy bedroom, a few condom wrappers on the floor, sheets creased and messy, "Having ourselves an affair, are we?" Dean asked, unimpressed.

"I'm not having any affair." Punk shook his head.

"C'mon, man. If you liked this girl you'd find it in you to not make things so difficult for her-"

"Why am I getting the blame for this?" Punk sat up angrily, "She came to the apartment. I didn't go looking for her, she came looking for me. It's not my problem she's not in love with her fiancé anymore. She needs to figure that out on her own." Punk said as Dean sighed.

"You're gonna get your ass beat, aren't you?" Dean groaned.

"No, I could take him." Punk scoffed, "He's the realtor who got mom to sign the house over by the way."

"Seriously?" Dean questioned.

"Yeah. Told him we'll sue if he doesn't get it sorted." Punk said.

"So he pisses you off, tries to sell our house and then you fuck his fiancé?" Dean looked at Punk who rolled his eyes, "Is that even?"

"What's going on with me and April has nothing to do with what he did with the house." Punk assured him.

"Is she gonna tell him?" Dean asked, "I mean… she didn't tell him about the kiss so-"

"I don't know." Punk shook his head, "She's confused, I get that. You think you got it all figured out with someone and then-"

"Then you arrive and cause trouble." Dean nodded as Punk sighed to himself, "Just be careful. This… This could get really ugly." He worried.

"It seems easy enough in my head." Punk said.

"What's in your head? She leaves her fiancé and comes running to you?" Dean asked as Punk thought about the likeliness of that scenario.

"I don't know, the ball is in her court." Punk shrugged.


AJ sat on the shower floor, sobbing into the early hours of the morning, never feeling so ashamed in all her life. No matter what excuse she tried to tell herself, none were good enough to justify what she had just done.

Jason was in bed when she got home and she immediately just headed to the shower. She realised she'd be heading to work on no hours sleep, but that's what she felt she deserved. She couldn't imagine a scenario where she told Jason what had just happened, but lying to him about something like that, she knew she wouldn't be able to handle that.

What bothered her the most was that the shame and the guilt somehow wasn't powerful enough to cast away her feelings for Punk. The night was incredible. She could still feel his hands on her and the way they just fit together, the way their bodies moved and the way he handled her was something she'd just never felt before. She knew that was an indication that her relationship with Jason wasn't perfect, and perhaps it was not headed down the aisle like she thought.

She got out of the shower and put on her work uniform, looking over at Jason who was waking up. Her stomach immediately began to do summersaults.

"Morning." Jason noticed her.

"Hey." AJ said quietly.

"You weren't here when I got home." Jason said, "Where did you go?" He wondered.

"I uh… I went to Renee's." AJ nodded. She'd come clean eventually, but not right now, not this soon where her head wasn't fit for explaining everything.

"Well I sorted that idiot's house." Jason shook his head, "It's off the market now, I just need to print off some documents to give back to his mom." He said as AJ nodded.

"Good. I'm glad you sorted it." AJ said briefly.

"You ok?" He asked her as she just nodded, "You seem like something is bothering you." He said.

"No, I'm ok." AJ nodded, "I just need to get to work. Gonna be another busy day." She smiled to him as he nodded.

"I hope you know what I did with that woman's house wasn't intentional, right?" Jason looked over at her, "I didn't see she had dementia and took that as my opportunity to get the house… I really just thought she was maybe in a home because she had no family left or… I don't know." He said.

"I know you wouldn't do that deliberately." AJ assured him, "And you've fixed it now so… that's what matters."

"Yeah." Jason sighed, "If you ask me, though… it's ridiculous having a house like that sitting with no one using it. A family could really benefit from a house like that."

"It's their house." AJ said, "It's not your place to say what they should do with it." She shook her head as Jason just grumbled, "When will you be home tonight? I was wondering if we could talk." She nodded.

"I shouldn't be late. Five or six." He told her, "Why? What's there to talk about?" He wondered.

"I really need to go or else I'll be late." AJ said, "I'll see you tonight." She nodded to him, grabbing her bag and heading for the door.

"Hey, I don't get a kiss goodbye?" Jason laughed a little as AJ looked over at him.

"Sorry, of course." AJ shook her head, walking over to the bedside, leaning over and giving him a quick kiss.

"Have a good day." He told her as she nodded, quickly leaving the bedroom and rushing out of the house. She had never been so desperate to get to work and bury her mind desperately into something else.


AJ did her best to avoid Renee all day. She was a horrible liar, especially to her best friend, and she knew it would end up coming out so she did all she could to avoid her.

She was sitting outside on her lunch break, eating a sandwich, thoughts racing through her head when she saw him. He was dressed in his work gear, holding his helmet, walking towards her as she sighed.

"Before you get all hot…" Punk approached her, "I only came here to give you this. It must have fell out your purse when you were leaving." He handed her wallet to her as she sighed with relief.

"Thought I'd lost it." AJ said, taking it from him, "I had to ask my attending to buy me lunch." She shook her head as he smiled a little.

"Why are you sitting out here yourself?" He asked her.

"I'm trying to avoid Renee." AJ nodded, "She'll pull it out of me and… Dean already knows so I'm just paranoid that he's told her."

"Dean isn't like that. He's not a gossip." Punk assured her, "You should talk to your friend." He suggested.

"I just want to tell him first, before anyone else." AJ nodded.

"You're gonna tell him?" He asked.

"I can't live with this. Knowing what I did and pretending it's fine." She shook her head, "He does not deserve that." She said as Punk looked at her. He could see she was upset and distressed, and of course he did feel partly to blame.

"I'm sorry this has gotten so… messy." He nodded.

"It's my fault." AJ shook her head, "I just… I don't know what will happen. I don't know how he'll react." She said.

"Would it be so bad if… you guys realised that it wasn't meant to be?" Punk wondered as she looked at him, "Would you really wanna fight to save the relationship anyway?"

"I've been with him for two years. I've known you for… two minutes." AJ shook her head angrily, "I love him and… I don't deserve him." She said, "Not after this."

"Well if there's anything I can do." Punk said. He was a little surprised that she hadn't gotten the wake up call he thought she'd get after the passionate night they spent together. It was very obvious she was physically and emotionally attracted to him, and vice versa. To him, it seemed pretty obvious where this was going, but then again, he wasn't so sure.

"I think you've done enough." She whispered, looking up at him as he looked back at her. It was like she was mad for falling for him, and that didn't make him feel particularly good.

"Ok." He nodded, accepting she had things to deal with, walking away as AJ watched him.

She put half her sandwich back in the packaging, running her hands over her face and sighing with dread. She had no idea how it had come to this.