Chapter 12

"Now then, miss, what can I get for you this evening?"

"Steak, medium rare, with a baked potato, extra sour cream and steamed vegetables."

"Soup or salad?"

"Salad – French dressing."

"Very well, and you sir?"

Jon took a deep breath before rattling off his order. He had three favorite meals here, a combination of an entrée and then everything else, and tonight he was in the mood for Jon Combo #2. He cocked an eyebrow when Delilah gave him a look. "What? I'm a growing boy, doll."In all the right places too, he mentally added. "You feeling any better?"

Delilah didn't look as buzzed, though with that bourbon, it wouldn't be hard for her to get back to that point. Providing dinner went all right, Jon had zero intentions of taking her straight home. He had done some seriously shady things to get her here to this point, so they were going to enjoy themselves, even if it killed them.

"Mmm, I am now that I have bourbon." Delilah chortled, taking another sip of it and smiled across the way at Jon. "The company isn't half bad either."

The amount of food he ordered didn't surprise her any. Jon was 6'5 and had bulked up quite a bit since his life-threatening, potentially career-ending, injury with his torn triceps. It was all over the internet and world; everybody knew about it unless they were either sleeping under a rock or weren't wrestling fans.

"So, besides coming here for the delicious food, do you gamble a lot?"

"By Vegas standards, no, I'm very modest, but I like to play a few games here and there." Jon was aware a lot of gambling was sheer luck, which was all well and fine if one didn't have an addiction and bet more than they could afford. He preferred games where there was at least some skill involved. "And there are shows too." He added after a moment, taking a sip of his water instead of his tea. "Magic shows, comedy, concerts, sometimes sporting events, if you like boxing. I have VIP season holder tickets to everything if you ever want to check it out. Don't really use it all that much." That made the VIP seem like a waste, but there was once upon a time Jon had come a LOT, back when everything was 'new' to him here.

"Makes me wonder how the hell you managed to find the time to do anything with that hectic WWE schedule." Granted, they had days off, but they were few and far between, usually only once or twice a week, unless they were overseas tours or a lot of media for the pay-per-view events. It was very strenuous and took a toll on the body physically, mentally, and emotionally. "It's no wonder a lot of others, besides you, want out of that place and I'm glad you got out and did everything by the book." Otherwise, they would have forced him to wait 90 days before he could start wrestling again for other companies. Jon had done the right thing, waited out his contract and didn't ask for an early release, biding his time. "I have to admit; I've never seen you happier and I can see the life is back in your eyes again."

WWE drained the life out of a person and, luckily, Jon didn't let that happen.

"That's messed up, isn't it, when you think about it?" Jon retorted, stirring his very liquored up tea with the straw, eyes on her from across the table. He had given her space and moved back to his proper position. "The WWE was IT, we all wanted to wind up there, but…it's such a fucking joke. Maybe back in the day, what we grew up on, shit would have been different, but today? No, it's…just a giant rat trap. I'm glad I'm out of it, I'm glad – and don't hate me for saying it, doll – that you and Sami never actually made it big there." Which was not on them, just WWE. "You would've been miserable."

Delilah smiled and reached over to take his hand to give it a gentle squeeze. "No offense taken." She murmured, agreeing with everything he said. "Back in the day, people could reach for the brass ring and get away with a lot more than they can nowadays. When Vince decided to make his product PG-rated, to direct it towards kids, he essentially put the nail in his company's coffin. Wrestling has never been generated toward the kids. It's always been teenagers and up that it has resonated with. But because Vince's wife decided to go for the Senate or whatever the fuck in Connecticut, they had to make the WWE more…family-friendly and it's completely fucked the product to hell. It will never be the way it was unless they drop the PG bullshit and go back to the way things were." Then she thought about it and shook her head. "Actually no, it will never be the way it used to be unless Triple H takes over. Because unlike Vince, he knows what the fuck he's doing and knows what the fans want. That's why NXT is so much BETTER than the main roster – it's sad when your developmental stars are BETTER than your main roster stars, don't you think?"

"Not really, doll, most of the main roster are either larger boys," Even with all the changes, one thing had remained the same. Vince McMahon still had a preferred 'look' for his main eventers, big and brawny, even though it had been proven time and time again that meant jack. "Or company men through and through." Some of them were legitimately loyal to the WWE or they were just happy idiots loyal because they had 'made it'. "Daddy H knows what he's doing, but he'll back down when push comes to shove." Usually, the shoving came from Vince himself and Jon could NOT wait until the old man finally stepped down and let the married couple properly take over.

"Looks like they'll have to wait until the old man bites the dust then. Either way, I'm glad Sami and I got out of there when we did. I wouldn't have had it any other way and I've thoroughly enjoyed my career post-WWE." Delilah meant that with every fiber of her being and took a long pull from her bourbon, her eyes widening at the appetizers that were set in front of them. "Did you order these?" Jon nodded and she immediately went for the shrimp cocktail, swiping one from the fancy crystal bowl it came in with the cocktail sauce in the center. "My god, this is SO good!" She couldn't remember the last time she went out to dinner like this and had food this amazing. "You're spoiling me, Moxley."

Jon Combo #2, which included a huge steak, medium well done, with appetizers first. Shrimp, loaded potato bites, fried mushrooms, and he never remembered what this last one was unless he was staring at the name. "Come on, Del, how many times are you going to let me do this?" He joked, knowing she didn't like the mushrooms due to that night at Madonna's Bar and pulled them away from her, popping one into his mouth. "I gotta take advantage, doll."

He was right. How many times would she allow this to happen? Delilah had to keep him at arm's length, and she thought about telling him why, but would that make a difference? Would he understand her logic? Or would he think she was stupid for not going after what she wanted because of her family?

"Well tonight is all you get, so you better make it count, Good." She winked at him, holding her drink up before draining the tumbler and the waiter asked if she wanted another. "Actually, with dinner, I'd like to try a Long Island Iced Tea."

"Very well, miss. And you, good sir, would you like another?"

"Still working on this one." He wasn't sucking it down because one of them had to be the DD.

Delilah had NO idea how right she was, about him needing to make this count and, so far, Jon had gone to some insane lengths to get this one night. Damn right he'd make it count! Jon slid the appetizers around, offering her everything except the mushrooms and watched as she eyed each of them before finally picking up one of the potato bites.

"You got any other tats?" He still couldn't believe he had missed the dragon wings.

These potato bites were incredible, especially slathered in sour cream, which they came with. "Yeah, I do." She watched his brow raise and, since they were in VIP, nobody else was around them. "Do you want to see them?"

Standing, feeling more secure and brave, Delilah moved to stand in front of him and lifted her shirt enough to pull her jeans down just a little. On each side of her hips, in the middle of each section, were dragon claws. So, she had the wings on the back and the claws in the front.

"These hurt a lot more than my back." His finger slid across the left one and she shivered, slowly stepping back. "You ever think about getting some ink? Maybe Mox across your ass?"

He wanted her to come back just so he could trace those dragon claws with his tongue. Those tattoos were insanely hot and he was surprised Delilah had even shown them to him. "I will get RIGHT on that, doll." Jon didn't have any tattoos and he never had a concrete reason as to why not. He figured he had messed his body up enough, why hide those scars with pictures? Maybe one day he would think about getting inked. "Tell you what, you get MOXLEY MONSTER on your ass in big bold letters, and I'll getDel'sDelight on mine." He began snickering when she snorted on that sour cream laden potato bite, shaking his head. "No, not funny?"

"That'll be a cold, ICY day in hell before that happens, Moxley." Delilah grunted, having snorted some of the sour cream up her nose, which did NOT feel the best. She blew her nose into the napkin and groaned, flipping Jon off at the mock disgust he shot her way. "Some warning next time before I start eating before you say some shit like that, please and thank you." Shaking her head, she set the rest of the potato bite down and moved onto the spinach artichoke dip with the chips. "I'm going to be too full for my steak, you ass."

"Hey, I'm not the one cramming everything in sight, doll." Well, Jon was, but doing it a bit more slowly, giving his stomach time to process when he was getting anywhere near full. "Besides, it's not like you can't take it to go. They have these neat temperature holding containers, so the food doesn't go bad." Actually, maybe that was the reason he had gone VIP, for the weird little perks like that. Poor boy had come a long, long way. "Ah look, dinner." And her Long Island Iced Tea along with it.

Somehow, someway, she had finished her entire meal, her steak done to perfection. It wasn't just any steak either. It was filet mignon and absolutely melted in her mouth. They ate in companionable silence and she had taken her time with the Long Island iced tea because holy cow that was a STRONG drink! It really wasn't as weak as it sounded, Jon had been right. Delilah had only gotten through a quarter of it and, even with the meal, had a really nice buzz going on. She wasn't to the point of being full-on drunk yet, but she was going in that direction very quickly.

"If they ask me for dessert, I'm going to explode. I can't eat another bite." Drinking, on the other hand, was a different story.

"You sure?" Jon was teasing because if she tried cramming any more food, he bet it would come right back up Exorcist style, what with her drinking and all. He had finished his own tea and ordered a second, not that he was drinking much of it, he had been focusing on the water. "I don't know, Del, they have a chocolate cheesecake that is pretty orgasmic." He wasn't touching it, he'd also explode. Propping his elbow on the table and resting his chin on his fist, Jon studied her thoughtfully. She was a lot more relaxed now, smiling even, and he had to wonder how much more alcohol he would have to feed her before she let her hair down, figuratively speaking. "Let down your hair, doll." He suggested, his gritty voice dropping low.

Jon also wanted the hair down to be literal, he loved the silver and how ethereal it looked.

That voice sent a shiver right down the middle of her spine and Delilah sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, that flush back in her cheeks and neck. He was flirting with her again and she was allowing it to happen, her hand reaching up to take the clip out of it. It was a big clip, she hadn't bothered with a hair tie and the silver tresses flowed down her back and over her shoulders in waves.

"It's a lot of maintenance, but…it goes with my character and I love the color of it."

It was much better than the straight brown she'd been born with. Who the hell wanted their hair to be the same color as manure anyway? Her brows were the color of her natural hair, but it went well with the silver, so she didn't dye them. Sliding her fingers through her hair, she fluffed it out a little more to get the slight kinks out of it and tucked it behind her ear.

"How does it look now? To your satisfaction, Moxley?"

"Mmm, yes ma'am…" He drawled huskily, glad she couldn't see below this table because his jeans were not hiding the bulge he sported.

Getting wood over something as simple as a woman letting down her hair, it would have confused and annoyed him with anyone except her. Delilah was something else. A rare breed entirely and he wanted her to always let her hair down for him, in all ways, and only him. That was new and Jon took a quick second of introspection before shelving it for now.

"A toast, Delilah," He picked up his tea, watching as she did the same. "To you, to AEW, and to both of our new beginnings."

"It's going to be one HELL of a ride." She was more than ready for it, the golden specks in her eyes glittering as she clinked her glass with his before they both took a drink. "I never thanked you, Jon. It was because of you I decided to take the AEW offer. I was scared to do it because it's new and fresh, but not all new things are necessarily good. Zero risk, zero reward, though." Delilah held her drink up again, waiting for him to do the same thing. "So, a special toast to you for helping me figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my career and what road I wanted to take." When it came to the wrestling business, in her eyes, nobody was smarter about it than Jonathan Good, Jon Moxley, whatever one wanted to call him. They clinked their glasses again, another swig down and Delilah had to stop, feeling slightly lightheaded from how strong that damn drink was. "So, what's next on your agenda now that we've eaten, and I let my hair down for you?"

He wanted to show her Vegas through his eyes and something told her this meal was just the beginning of an unforgettable night.