Chapter 28

By the time Monday morning rolled around, Vallea had cleaned herself up and the bruises around her eyes were nearly gone. It was nothing makeup couldn't cover up. She was ready to get back to work, refusing to quit her job just because her ex-boyfriend couldn't keep his dick in his pants. Breakups happened every day and, even though it would suck having to work in the same company as Jon, she would do it with a smile on her face. The company relied on her for merchandise and, as long as the numbers kept crunching positively, she would have a job for a long time to come. With her hair swept back in a neat French braid, makeup on her face, black dress pants, and a light blue long-sleeved top, Vallea walked into catering to grab some coffee before heading to her office to get started on her work.

"So, we heard that you're single again."

Of all the bitches to deal with on Monday, the Bella's were definitely the worst. Jon was hungover. He had drank in the safety of his apartment, knowing better than to go out and get toasted in public. There was a chance, with his mood coupled with alcohol, he would either shoot off at the mouth or he would wind up committing another murder.

"Go. To. Hell."

"Poor Vallea, when we let her know…"

He cracked his knuckles.

"You know," Nikki sauntered up to him, ignoring his cracking knuckles, and slid her finger down his chest. "If you would've just manned up and told her how you really feel, you wouldn't be in this situation right now. Just a little food for thought for you, Looney Tunes." She cackled, blinking when he lunged forward and Brie pulled her back just in the nick of time.

"Time to go." Brie SHOVED her sister down the hall away from Jon, swallowing hard and couldn't believe the audacity of her sister.

Nikki had officially lost her mind!

Jon and Bryan, her husband, were good friends from the Independents and had several matches together. Bryan went to Jon for advice on several occasions, especially when Jon made it to the main roster. They confided in each other, even when Jon was in the Shield and Bryan was doing his own thing with Kane – their team was Team Hell No. The Shield and Team Hell No had EPIC matches that had actually put tag-team wrestling back on the map in WWE.

If Bryan found out what her and Nikki did, he wouldn't be happy at all.

Well, now he knew for a fact which harpies had helped along his own damnation. Vallea was never going to forgive him because she assumed he didn't want her, he didn't love her, and he had dipped his dick in some blonde chick he had never met. Jon had made his bed, now he had to lie in it, he got that. He just didn't need the Bella's egging him on and putting more fuel on the fire. Jon was going to be having a chat with Bryan about keeping his wife away if he didn't want to become a widower.

A month had passed since the events of that day and word spread around quickly Vallea and the Lunatic Fringe were over. Vallea sank herself into her work, hardly coming out of her office, and made sure every single person would be ready for WrestleMania this year. Currently, there were boxes upon boxes stacked all around her office, and she opened each one to see what was there. A checklist was in front of her to tick off the ones they received and ones that were still set to arrive. They would all be loaded up on the truck to be taken from show to show to promote WrestleMania. There were certain boxes that would be saved for WrestleMania Axxess, since it had its own store, along with the actual WrestleMania pay-per-view extravaganza. A knock sounded at her door and Vallea didn't bother looking up, lifting a box to sit on the floor before opening another one.

"Whoever it is, you're gonna have to hold on a minute, okay?" She called over her shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief when she found Daniel Bryan's merchandise and ticked his name off the list. "What can I do for…you?" It was Seth Rollins.

"I'm supposed to check in about the new shirt and grab one."

So he could start wearing the damn thing and advertise. This job was not just wrestling in a ring. It was doing media circuits. Charity events. Wrestlers had to help promote the brand as well as their own own. It was a lot, actually, and people tended to crash and burn when they realized wrestling was not just wrestling. He leaned in the doorway, folding his arms over his bare chest. He and Finn Balor had been working out together and the tank he had been wearing was now in a laundry bin somewhere, soaked with sweat.

Sweet Jesus, save me, she thought, immediately averting her eyes from his sweaty, muscular body and mentally counting backward from 10. Why did seeing this man get her hot and bothered? Seth had an insane body and here was a reason people, especially fangirls, referred to him as CrossFit Jesus. "Okay, let me find yours, give me a minute."

Didn't she just see his merchandise an hour ago? His name was already ticked off the list and several Superstars had come in to grab one of the shirts to start promoting them. It took her five minutes and Vallea could smell his scent wafting in the air, filling her office.

"Finally…" She muttered, pulling down the box and squealing out when they began toppling on her. Seth reacted instinctively and yanked her out of harm's way, the boxes crashing to the floor where she should've been standing. "S-Shit…"

"You need help doing this." His dark eyes roamed the boxes that took up quite a bit of office space, both vertically and horizontally. "Ask Stephanie for a temporary assistant." There were a lot of Superstars and each one looked like they had quite a bit of merchandise in these boxes. He let Vallea go, watching as she straightened herself out. After a moment, he began lifting boxes easily. "Where do you want them?" And not piled on each other, she was going to wind up dead via t-shirts.

"Mr. Rollins, you don't have to…" He shot her a look and she smiled sheepishly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "The boxes won't be in here forever. They're all being put on trucks sometime tonight and I have to go through each of them to make sure everyone has their merchandise. Stephanie isn't going to hire someone for me…" Why would she? This wasn't the WWE's responsibility, it was hers and Vallea would do it to the best of her ability. "I'm sure you have better things to do than help me, so take your shirt and go do it."

"She has a bunch of interns, she'd send you one to help out. If you get hurt in the arena, the WWE will have to foot the bill because you're in the building they're responsible for." Colby pointed out, not trying to sound like a jackass, he was being truthful. "And it wouldn't look good if you died under all this merch." Considering the WWE had just gone through the murder situation with her old boss and that Indies wrestler and somehow managed to come out none the worse for wear. "And I don't have anywhere to be for at least an hour."

Vallea smiled softly at him, seeing he really did want to help her. Who was she to deny him? "All right, Mr. Rollins, if you could put each of the top boxes on the floor for me, I'd appreciate it."

Caving wasn't that bad and she enjoyed watching him work that toned body of his. He wasn't as big as Jon, but he still had a chiseled-out-of-stone body. Vallea was careful not to be caught ogling and helped him with the boxes, leaving the heavier ones to him.

"Okay, that should do it." She announced 20 minutes later and turned to face Seth, grabbing up her checklist again. "Thank you for your help."

"Not a problem,"

For him, the boxes hadn't been that heavy, but the repetition had given him another workout and he was fairly certain she had checked him out at least once. Colby had, admittedly, eyed her ass a few times, hopefully discreetly. She was Jon's ex and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Jon would probably break every bone in his body if he knew about the thoughts in Colby's mind. It wasn't a secret that the two had split, the Bella twins, Nikki in particular, had made sure to spread that word everywhere and to everyone. Bryan had come down on his wife for the gossip, but it had been a bit too late.

"You can call me Seth, if you want."

"You sure about that? I don't want to ruffle your feathers or anything."

They both chuckled and she reached up to brush some hair off her neck that had gotten loose from her French braid. Vallea had started using the style a lot more, it worked for her and kept her long hair under control. It was time for a trim soon, maybe the stylist in WWE could do something with it if they weren't busy with the other Superstars.

"I think your shirt turned out really well." She held it out to him, letting him spread it out to take a good, hard look, and could see the smile form on his bearded face. "I'm going to assume you like it then, Seth?"

"Yeah, this is perfect. You were right about the flames really standing out and making it pop." He remembered that chat from a month or so ago.

A lot had changed in a month. She was single. He was less of a douche. Jon was still insane, so maybe not much had changed. Colby draped it over his shoulder, not about to put it on until he had grabbed a shower. No point in getting the shirt all reeked in his sweat and stench just yet.

"Thanks, Vallea. If you need any more heavy lifting or rescuing from a mountain of boxes, just holler, okay?"

"I'll keep you in mind for sure. I'm glad you like the shirt. Thanks again for your…help…" The smile deteriorated on Vallea's face as she spotted the individual standing in the doorway and knew the reason he was there.

Same as Seth was. Every Superstar had to start sporting their new WrestleMania gear in March to hopefully sell their merchandise like hotcakes come the actual show. Jon stood in the doorway; they hadn't seen or spoken to each other since the day outside of her condo where she told him to leave and never come back. Vallea had devoted most of her time to her office since then, working and getting everything ready for the biggest event of the year, not wanting to disappoint either company. Professional, she had to remain professional and had to check their personal issues at the door.

"Mr. Ambrose, please come in and I'll get your shirt."

Jon had been there long enough to hear that they weren't pissy with each other and Colby had apparently been flexing his muscles Vallea's way. He nodded curtly at the other man, watching as Colby hesitated.

Colby was hesitating because…well, just because. He glanced back at Vallea, who nodded at him and he flashed her a smile. "Seriously, holler." He winked before heading out, not closing the door behind him because fuck Jon.

She looked delicious. She probably wasn't falling asleep with a bottle of something strong with a burn every night either. Jon hadn't felt much remorse about killing those two, but her thinking he had fucked around on him was shredding him, tearing him apart. He was definitely going to hell.

Vallea nodded at Seth, acknowledging she heard him, and tried not to let Jon's presence affect her. He always did and probably always would. She opened one box and then another, finally finding his merchandise on the third one, pulling out the design he chose. It really was a beautiful design and she silently hoped it did sell well for him, even though he cheated on her.

"Here you go." She walked over to him with the t-shirt in hand and made the mistake of looking up into his pale blues, feeling her heart start thundering in her chest. Damn it, she thought, mentally chastising herself for being so weak and could not pull her gaze away from his. She missed him so much, this past month without him had been hell on earth, but she had to stay strong and keep moving forward with her life. "I – um…I hope you like it…"

"It looks great."

His eyes hadn't even moved from her face, he was sure the shirt looked great. He took it, careful not to touch her. She had made where she stood quite clear and he wasn't going to drag either of them through any more hell. Vallea was out from Ryan's thumb, she was on a good career path and she seemed to be doing just fine without him. No point in mucking it up.

"Your face is red." She looked like she had been sweating, actually.

Colby had too.

He didn't like those thoughts.

"Yeah well, look around." Vallea gestured with her hand, finally pulling her gaze from his, and wished her heart rate would return to normal. "I've been busy with WrestleMania coming up. Nearly got smashed by some boxes, which is why Seth was in here helping me." He saved her from being crushed, actually, since some of the boxes weighed over 50 pounds or more. Vallea was strong; she wouldn't be a mountain climber if she wasn't, but even that would've sent her to the hospital or possibly killed her, depending on how many boxes would've landed on her. "Heavy boxes equals a little bit of sweat."

She had a thing for needing to be saved. Colby had saved her. Jon could already see that relationship forming and crushing down the visions that flickered through his mind. He opened his mouth to offer to help her, but what came out was basically verbal diarrhea. "It's Seth now? No more Mr. Rollins?" WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK? His hand convulsed, nearly coming up to facepalm himself for that. "Sorry, none of my business…"

Vallea could SEE the jealousy boiling in his eyes and FEEL the animosity oozing out of his pores. "He said I could call him Seth, so that's what I'm going to do." Her brow slowly raised, not understanding what the problem was. "I only called him that because he requested it and was a jackass at the time. People change. It's not a big deal." He was right; it was none of his business because he was too busy sticking his 'business' in other women.

What Vallea did with her life was no longer his concern.

"Right."

Jon took the shirt and held it tightly in his fist. She wasn't his concern anymore. He wanted to rip the weaves right off the Bella twins heads for their vindictive bullshit. Overall, he wasn't a bad guy, right? Ryan had gotten what he deserved. The only thing Jon figured was he was being repaid karmic vengeance for Nicky. People changed. She knew him fairly better than anyone, but she believed he had cheated; she believed she hadn't been enough. The woman was insane and his perfect match.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Oh, I mailed your things to your place, so you should have boxes waiting for you whenever you make it back home."

Since they were no longer together, she took her two days off a week to go back to Vegas and did her thing, having meetings with the company too, mostly Dorian. He was a really nice guy and treated her well, always asking if she needed anything. Unlike Ryan, he didn't want to bog her down with too much work and she appreciated that.

"Just thought I'd let you know, so yeah…" This wasn't awkward at all.

"Yeah…that shit was probably stolen by now." Because it was Vegas and the apartment complex didn't have the security thing, or a damn person to take packages. He didn't know his neighbors that well, so…he tried to remember what he had left at her place. "If you let me know when you'll be home, I'll have a courier bring your things directly to you." He wasn't a scumbag contrary to popular opinion. "See you, Val." If he couldn't remember, then it must have not been that important.

"No, it's not stolen because I had your landlord bring the stuff in for you. I called ahead of time and she assured me the boxes would be brought into your place." Vallea paid the landlord a little bit extra to ensure nothing was taken or tampered with, even though it wasn't anything too important. Clothes, toiletries, things of that nature he'd left at her place. "I'll be back there on Wednesday and Thursday, so if you want to send it then, I'll be home to grab it. See you." Turning away from him, Vallea began going through boxes again, opening up another one to see it was Alexa Bliss's merchandise, and checked her name off the list.

Well, that was illegal as hell and Jon was mildly annoyed as he left her there. The landlord had no business in his unit and couldn't enter without giving him so many hours of notice. The fact that the crazy broad had gone in there on Vallea's say-so ground his ass because the landlord was creepy. He was going to have security cameras installed, just in case. He didn't like the idea of anyone being in his one safe place from this shitty world.

It was either leaving his stuff outside for people to steal or enlisting help from his landlord to make sure the boxes were put in his apartment safely. It was a catch-22 situation, honestly. He's lucky she didn't burn any of his items, which had crossed her mind a time or two. Vallea was trying to do the right thing for her cheating ex. Sighing, she pushed Jon out of her mind, not wanting to think about him since he invaded her dreams on more than one occasion.

Some of the dreams were good, but a lot of them left her hot, bothered, and scared. There was one where he actually let her fall off that mountain to her death and she could still hear the echo of his laughter in her ears. Shaking herself mentally, Vallea kept going through boxes and finally finished just after midnight, feeling exhausted. Every Superstar presently in the company had gotten a shirt to wear for the show and Stephanie had been very happy with the results and designs. Trudging out of her office, once the final box was taken out to be loaded onto the truck, Vallea was ready for a shower and bed.

Well, she HAD said she kind of wished he had never been there to save her, so that was her own words coming back to bite her in the backside in those dreams. Jon drank himself to sleep, it kept the nightmares away. The first night he had dreamed that it was her up on that scaffold, he had shoved her into the vat of acid, it had woken him up vomiting his guts out. Bring in the whiskey. And there was a lot of working out, it helped tire him out and kept him busy.

If he could wipe her from his mind, he would've.