It had been almost a week, and Stephanie had never felt more alone in her life. Hunter was still rehabbing, and as far as she was concerned, it could stay that way. They hadn't spoke since the morning that he had smacked her. She was seriously contemplating divorce, the bad thing about that though was her own insecurities. She wanted to be free of Hunter, but she was terrified of being alone. Chris had been avoiding her, and the only time that they spoke was when they were trading verbal assaults on-stage. She watched him closely, trying to find a reason why behind his eyes, but there was none. All she could see was coldness.
The night of Summerslam posed as a challenge, she watched the match between Chris and Rhyno carefully, interfering when the spots called. Her surprise was genuine when he grabbed her by the hair and kissed her. She momentarily forgot that she was supposed to hate this man-the same man that was kissing her with such expertise that is caused her stomach to tense and her thighs quiver. He released her and looked into her eyes, she swore she saw something, but wasn't sure as to what it was. She wiped her mouth and tried to act as disgusted as she could. The match was now over and Stephanie was even more confused than ever.
Chris sighed as another spasm of pain racked his sore body. The match was certainly not what everyone was expecting. Chris botched so many spots that he quit frankly was embarrassed. He would have liked to have been able to blame it on HER, just her presence there made him nervous, like he used to get when his father would come to one of his hockey games. He flopped over in the bed and thought about her, and why he had chosen to avoid her. Vince McMahon had seen her leaving his room. Granted, Vince and his daughter were not getting along as of late, but he was still her father and did not want to see her name get drug through the mud. So he gave Chris two choices, either stay away from Stephanie outside of the ring, or he could lose his job in the WWF. He opted to stay away from her, although at the time he did not know how hard that would be. Watching her tonight, standing there, trying her best not to let on that she was hurt, and confused, his heart truly did go out to her, and for the first time he started thinking perhaps he should have told Vince McMahon to go fuck himself.
When he kissed her tonight, he automatically felt her body respond in a way that he, up until then had only dreamed about. He wished that he could have told her something, anything to try and ease her pain, but he couldn't, there, at that time. It was late, and he couldn't sleep, his ribs ached and his mind raced, raced with thoughts of her. He rolled over on his side and sighed and winced as he threw the covers back and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He dressed in a pair of gym shorts and a white T-shirt. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, he looked like shit. Hell, he even felt like shit, but this had to be done. Stephanie was innocent in this, he owed her an explanation. He put on his socks and opened the door. He peered outside and decided that the coast was clear and scurried to her door. He knocked lightly several times, then waited.
Stephanie hadn't been able to sleep, so she had decided that a nice hot bath would soothe her nerves and relax her mind. She had just stepped into the tub when the knocking started. Sighing she slipped her robe on and walked over to the door cautiously. It was nearly 2am, the only person who would be knocking this late in her mind would be Hunter, and she was in no mood for him. She stood on her tiptoes to look out the peephole, and pulled back like she had been burned. He was the absolute LAST person she would believe to be knocking. Frowning she opened the door a crack and looked outside at him. His face was unshaven and carried several red splotches from his match earlier.
"Can I come in?" He asked quietly, looking up and down the hall. She sighed and stood back, motioning for him to come in. He slipped in quietly and shut the door behind him, she walked away from him and over to the bed. "I didn't wake you did I?"
"No, I couldn't sleep." She answered quietly, unable to hide the raw emotion in her voice any longer. "Why are you here Chris?"
"I'm here because I owe you an explanation for my actions of late. I didn't want things to turn out like this." He began and she cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"You don't owe me a thing Chris, it's not as if we were dating." She sat down on the bed and for the first time turned her eyes up toward his.
"Steph, don't be like this, please?" He walked closer to her and sat down next to her. He grabbed her hand and continued. "Vince came to me, he saw you leaving my room that morning. He said that if I didn't stay away from you that I would be without a job."
She looked up at him and had to suppress a huge grin. He hadn't changed his mind about her after all. "Believe it or not, this isn't the first time that it's happened." His eyes lit up with a mixture of pity and anger.
"Were you allowed to have any friends?" His heart sank as she shook her head.
"Not really, and if I did, they were ones that he had picked out." He pulled her closer and into a hug. He squeezed her tight and kissed the side of her head.
"He didn't choose me, Steph." He pulled away slowly and looked into her watery blue eyes. She was a woman who had a bad childhood, one that would without a doubt haunt her.
"If he finds out you could lose your job." He put his finger against her lip and her eyes got wide as he slowly moved toward her, kissing her for the second time that night. The only difference was that this kiss was gentle, not demanding.
"I could always go to work for the ECW." He said with a grin after pulling away. She blushed and arched an eyebrow.
"What makes you think that they would hire you?" Her tone teasing, her eyes were sparkling again for the first time in over a week. "What would you bring to the company?"
He chuckled, amused and brushed his lips over her gently. "I didn't hurt you out there tonight did I?" She shook her head and smiled. "I'm sorry, I just saw you and something came over me, it's like, temporary insanity and I had to taste your lips again. I know it wasn't the greatest kiss.." She cut him off by putting her lips over his once again.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a big mouth and you talk too much?" She whispered as she pulled away several seconds later.
"Ah, all the better to kiss you with my dear." He grinned at her and hugged her again. "So, are you going to invite me to stay the night?"
"If you stay the night I won't be able to promise that you'll still have a job in the WWF." He shrugged and she continued, "Nor will I be able to promise that things will ever be the same between us, right now, we can stop this, and it will never go any further, but if you stay.." She looked down and a deep red blush came to her cheeks.
He leaned closer to her and breathed in her scent, and then moved closer still so that his lips hovered right by her ear. "I couldn't stop now if I wanted to, I've done nothing but think of you this last week." He kissed her neck and ran his hand down her arm, causing Goosebumps to appear on her flesh.
"I'm glad, I've been thinking about you all week as well." He lowered her to the bed, his mouth covering hers. Neither of them cared about their lives or her family for the rest of the night. They were too wrapped up in each other's kisses and caresses to care for anything else.
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