Saraya says it on twitter. Ricardo's inclined to believe it- that Paige is injured, which comes at an awful time, when everyone is scrambling to get a foothold in the company. He thinks he should feel more empathy towards her, but it's hard to get past the numb feeling her betrayal- Alberto's betrayal- had brought in him in the last few months. Still, when he finds himself in his car later that night, driving towards Alberto's house, he's not that surprised.
Even less so to find that the security code on the gate is still the same. Sofia greets him with a tired smile, hugging him with everything in her, before guiding him hesitantly towards what used to be his room. Paige is laying there, still as etherally beautiful as ever, but it doesn't touch him the same way anymore. He doesn't crave her like he used to, her attractiveness tarnished now by the knowledge that Alberto has had the same experiences with her that Ricardo has. Now when he closes his eyes, it's Alicia's lips he envisions, her dark eyes following his as he leans in for a kiss. It's not as intense as his old feelings for Paige, not as breathtaking, but he assumes with time, with patience, with more time, they'll get there.
Shaking his head, he watches his ex-fiancee sleep for awhile, thinking about life and all of its insanities before kneeling down next to the bed. The angle is odd, it hurts his legs, but not as much as staring into her face is hurting his soul. He wants to yell at her, push her until she falls out of bed and wakes up, scared and unable to defend herself like he felt when he realized his best friend had destroyed his world yet again. But he has no energy for the rage, no strength for the fight. So he stays quiet and waits until she stirs, drawn, as ever by his presence. She finally wakes up and yawns, wiping at her eyes, before realizing she's not alone.
Fear bleeds out of her in waves until finally he has to speak. "I'm not here to hurt you," he says, filing this moment, the fact he even needs to say it, away in the 'insanity' file. She gapes at him for a moment longer before he pulls himself up and sits next to her. "I suppose you've heard I'm going to England shortly."
She nods, her voice deep with sleep. "I told mum to take good care of you while you're over there." Her hand reaches out gingerly towards him, grazing his hand, touching the finger that had healed improperly when he'd broken it repeatedly and didn't go get it checked out. "No more of this if I can help it."
His gaze is dark and searching as she quickly retracts her hand, realizing what she'd just said. "I can take care of myself," he says simply.
"And if you can't, Alicia can, right?" she offers lowly.
"She's good to me," he says, staring down at his hands. "We're what each other needs right now."
Paige swallows. Nods brokenly. "I'm glad she's... she's there for you. I've never wanted you to be alone, Ricardo."
He chuckles brokenly and exhales. "Right. Well, it looks like neither one of us are anymore." His gaze is fixed when he turns once more towards her, a kind of dark forewarning about him. "But remember, Alberto cares most about numero uno. When he tires of you, and there's a high chance that he will, it won't last for much longer past that. So have an extingency plan, if you have any sense." She's speechless, tears in her eyes as he gets up and walks to the door. Once there, he turns to look at her. "I hope you're healthy and back in the ring as soon as possible."
In thirty seconds, he had said both the most damning thing and the nicest thing a wrestler could possibly ever say to another. As he walks out of the house, she collapses back against the pillows and buries her face in her arms, ignoring the sharp pain teasing along her shoulder and neck.
-x
There's more red tape to get together before the trip to England and Ricardo exhales roughly, blowing some hair out of his eyes, when Alicia returns home from the week's tapings, draping herself over him lazily. "Hello," she says quietly, kissing his cheek when he turns towards her, smiling.
"Hola," he whispers, collecting the scattered papers and putting them to the side so he can focus on her. She hadn't wrestled so she doesn't have much to tell him, but they sit side by side as she relays the few bits of interesting backstage gossip, and whatever else that he might still be interested in after the few years he'd been out of the company. "...so Maryse snuck Heath into the arena," she giggles, running her fingers along his palm. "Mike thinks she has a thing for him." Alicia shrugs. "Heath seems nice enough, I'm more worried for him than her if something comes of it."
Ricardo tries to picture Maryse and Heath together and fails, but, when he looks at the woman currently teasing his fingers, washing away the remenants of Paige's touch, he thinks he gets it. Love comes from the weirdest places... but that's usually the ones that end up the most right.
At least he hopes so.
