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Rhea glanced at the bedside clock on her nightstand, stubbornly sniffling back another wave of tears that fell down her cheeks. The time read 11:38pm and she was curled up on top of the covers watching an old sitcom on the television at a low volume as she let her emotions out.
The match went horribly. The only thing that brought her some solace was the fact that Liv cheated yet again which proved to everyone in the arena that she can’t beat her clean. Her disqualification win brought her another chance at the title she never lost. That felt good but otherwise….Rhea was getting tired of fighting the same battle with the same person who had taken her old family away from her.
She was a strong woman but it was almost getting to a point to say enough was enough. No matter how hard she tried, she still came up short. She still lost, lost again, because of involvement from people she once trusted. It was like everywhere she had glanced in the locker room, she would wonder who would be next to kick or tackle her to the ground in a betrayal she’d never see coming. She was always looking over her shoulder. She had thought that getting Dom away from the match would help conquer that feeling — the fear of being stabbed in the back that made her keep Damian closer than ever — but no.
It was a difficult realization to come to when Rhea figured out how many guarded walls she’d have to keep up around her heart no matter how hard she didn’t always want to be portrayed as only the too strong, too powerful, too unloveable one in the ring. She would have to be that way even if she didn’t want to be. It was the way she’d have to live and not get hurt.
Rhea’s heart would have to be stuck in a cage.
The thought makes her ache inside as a fresh wave of pain rushes through her. She closes her eyes and turns her face into the pillow, squinting as hard as she could until she feels the sting behind her lids.
With a clouded mind and faint sound of a laughing track coming from the television, Rhea drowns out the world with her overthinking and tears. She thinks for a split second that she should check her phone that she left at the bottom of her bag, just to see if Damian had already gone to sleep, but she didn’t want to open the window of opportunity to get distracted with social media.
She didn’t want to see what people were saying about her. She didn’t want to talk to people. She wanted to be alone. She kept telling herself that being alone is how she stayed the safest, both emotionally and physically.
So, she stayed curled into herself and continued suffering. That’s how her night would be spent.
Don’t leave yet.
I’m coming down. These steps are no joke.
He had waited a few minutes after sending the last text, focusing instead on getting back to the locker rooms as soon as possible. It was harder than usual to navigate through the crowd and long corridors that led to backstage through the dimmed lighting of the arena and Jey didn’t want to waste time in racing to get to Rhea after watching her lose her match. She had gotten her world turned upside down yet again and he may have been in the nosebleeds watching, but he knew how devastated she must’ve been walking to the back.
It had been almost two months since Summerslam which meant it had been almost two months since him and Rhea had begun getting close. He’s always thought the world of her but now getting to see her upclose, see her name pop up every few hours on his phone with a text or call when they’re separated, or keep one of her hoodies in his car just because it’s getting close to winter or his own selfish personal favorite — seeing how comfortable she is now in asking to drive with him when Damian is busy rather than take her own car back to hotels — Rhea had become special to him. To see her smile, laugh, and begin to trust him — she had quickly become one of his favorite people in his life.
Being around her makes something in his chest flutter and causes his heart to beat rapidly in his chest just at the thought of her. He had taken pride in his ability to make her crack through her armor over a year ago when she didn’t want to think of him over Dominik but to have her now after the pain her family had put her through — it made Jey more eager and affectionate in wanting to show Rhea what she truly deserved all this time. A man who wanted to show her the love she deserved, who would be the one to run after her chase down the enemy when she didn’t want to.
Simple as that. It was that easy to keep falling for her and he was falling fast.
Jey was slightly out of breath and panting when he finally got back to production, phone in hand as he glanced around.
Where are you?
I wanna find you. I wanna talk to you. Please?
Trying one last time, Jey ran a hand through his curls after a glance through the curtain that led to the backstage locker-rooms. He knew where her room was but he didn’t want to overstep without her word. Despite every instinct in him telling him to go after her and make sure she was okay.
Don’t shut me out. I wanna be there for you.
The message delivers with no response.
“Jey?”
He turns on a swift heel to find Damian walking toward him from the opposite side of the curtain at the equipment entrance. He looks visibly upset and stressed, feeling too much to even change out of his gear from his match earlier in the night. It wasn’t a good sign.
Where is she? dies on Jey’s tongue as Damian beats him to speaking first. He sets his hands out to stop him from moving, “I’ve been looking for you, man. I know you saw the match and what happened, but I can’t let you go back there.”
“What?” Jey shakes his head, “Why? Is she okay?”
”She’s beat up about the loss,” Damian rubs his hands roughly over his face, “She told me she just wants to be alone and not see anybody. She wants to leave on her own terms and head back to the hotel.”
“I—“ Jey doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t wanna fight her word but he hates the thought of her being alone. On the other hand, how could he not listen to her best friend if she told him to stay away? “You saw her?”
The other man nodded, “This loss seems worse than Summerslam. I feel horrible.”
If it could, Jey’s heart would physically break at hearing those words. He remembers when Rhea admitted in a press video that she had cried after the judgement day had broken up. She was proud of how open she was with her emotions to admit to everyone and he was just as proud of her then. If this was bad, as bad as Damian said it was, he could imagine how broken she truly felt.
“I—“ He tried to speak but found his voice dry as the words tried to form. He had so much to say but all he wanted was to see the woman who was hurting and didn’t want to see him which felt wrong to ask for. “I wanted to check up on her too but I’ll wait. I’ll call later.”
Damian must’ve seen the faraway look in his eyes as he tensed and stepped backward, diverting his eyes away from the corridor that would lead him to locker room because all he could do was nod and agree. Jey focused on looking anywhere and everywhere else.
“Respecting her wishes is all we could do right now. They…” He said the word through gritted teeth, “They took away her confidence and made her look foolish. They took away her belt and now they won’t stop until they make her look weaker than them. If she asks us for something, I think we should do it even if it hurts.”
Jey nods sharply once, then tries again but knows it comes off as shaky and withdrawn.
“Of course.”
He walks away toward the equipment entrance and doesn’t look back, mind fully occupied with Rhea. Aside from feeling like he might explode if he doesn’t talk to her by the end of the night to try and make her feel better, he had to do something. What had he become since him and Rhea had gotten close and she had let him into her life when she needed him most to fight against the people that wrong her time and time again?
A better planner for the future.
Rhea awoke to the sound of knocking on her hotel door, blinking heavily as she tried to reorient herself. The television was still on as she looked around, the flashing colors making her wince, and it didn’t take long to realize all of her lights were on as well. It was no surprise people thought she was still awake.
She looks to the clock beside her, 12:23am.
She hears another firm knock, wondering who would be at her door at this hour. Wouldn’t hotel staff wait until the morning to reach her if something was wrong? Sitting up slowly to bring her legs over the side of the bed, Rhea shivers from the sudden cold of the room hitting her skin.
She reaches for her sweater at the foot of the bed before standing, pulling it over her head as she walks toward the door. She hoped she didn’t look too much like a mess, taking a moment to brush her front pieces through her fingers before placing the strands behind her ears and rubbing her face roughly. Her eyes and nose burned when she did so, not realizing how sensitive her skin was after crying herself to sleep till then.
Reaching for the door, body full of dread in having to talk to people at this hour, she twists the knob to barely crack it open just enough to hear the voice on the other side.
“Hello?”
Hiding behind the door, she clears her throat to try and rid her voice of the scratch and rasp she could hear when she spoke. If she heard how she sounded, the other person must’ve heard it too. They would be judging her and it’s the last thing she wants and—wait.
She knows….she had taken a deep breath to settle the uneasiness in her stomach and was immediately hit with the smell of cologne. She knew that smell. She knew who it belonged to.
“Hi.” The other voice spoke softly, and as if a switch had gone on in her body, she found herself relaxing and deflating at the sound of Jey’s voice. It was Jey.
“I’m looking for Rhea, I was hoping you’d know where I’d find her.”
Jey was forever the tease and she huffed a dry laugh in reaction. She feels sudden tears rush to her eyes as she revealed herself in the small crack of the door. Despite the emotion rushing through her again, she tries to give him a smile. It wasn’t hard as she thought it would be.
She can’t speak just yet and he must know this because spoke up again, his face lighting up at the sight of her. “There you are. I’ve been wanting to see you all night, you know.”
“Jey…”
Rhea feels something in her chest crack open, a gap in the cages surrounding her heart to let him in after the terrible night she’s had. It was the reason why she told Damian to keep him away. She didn’t want to face him when all she’d want to do was lean on him and give into the affection he always tries to give her once and for all. She had to get through this herself. She wouldn’t bring anyone else into her mess but god, he was making it difficult if one look at him made her want to feel his embrace.
She looks at him then as she tries to blink back tears from falling, seeing that he’d changed into a matching black sweatshirt and pants. He looked ready to go to sleep with no product in his hair, having fully changed out of his gear or any clue that he was working, and he was here in front of her.
“I’m not lying,” Jey told her, a hand reaching to hold the door from moving under her shaky grip on the knob. “Have you checked your phone?”
She shook her head, “Haven’t looked at it since I was getting ready for the match.”
“Rhea.” His voice held the same gentle warning she had tried to give him just a moment ago — as if he knew what she meant by saying that. She wouldn’t be surprised, he knew her well by now.
“I didn’t want to see what people were saying about me. Didn’t want to face the fact that I failed again and have nobody—“ She was fighting a losing battle in not wanting Jey to see her cry. She could feel the tears pool at the corners of her eyes as she tried to wipe them with the back of her sleeve, “I don’t know what to do anymore.”
Rhea didn’t want to confront why the words were pouring out of her so easily with Jey here, but once she finished speaking, she had crumbled all over again. She covered her face with both trembling hands and let go of the door, trying to sniffle back her tears as they kept coming. She hadn’t expected to feel a pair of arms wrap so strongly or so fast around her as soon as she moved back, but it made her more emotional as Jey wasted no time in pushing the door open to hug her to his chest.
She melted in his hold, not bothering to hide a shiver at the warmth he was giving her. He closed the door behind him with a gentle kick, adjusting his posture so she could nuzzle into his neck as his arms wrapped firmly around her waist. They stood there together as her breathing slowed and caught on gentle gasps as his hand rubbed up and down her back to her neck to cradle her head.
Rhea hadn’t known how badly she needed this, needed him, until that moment. Until she felt the world slip away at the feeling of his touch.
“You’re okay, I got you.” He leaned his head on top of hers, talking low to not disrupt their bubble of affection. “I’m not going anywhere.”
A small part of her wants to move so his shirt won’t get dirty by her tears but she doesn’t want to do anything but hold him. She doesn’t want to move away from the temporary safety he’s giving her right now, stained shirt or not. She hoped he wouldn’t mind — and if his motion of pulling her closer was any indication, he didn’t mind at all.
When she feels her tears come to a stop and slow, she carefully retracts her arm to reach up and wipe away her tear stains from her cheeks. It’s a little difficult but she manages to wriggle her arm to wipe her face and then rest her hand against his chest. Rhea settles against him, unmoving.
He takes a deep breath when he notices this, and it’s enough to calm her down again. Being in his arms was much more comfortable and soothing than being curled up in bed alone.
“Thank you for coming to see me.“ Rhea whispered, loosening her grip on him to give him a little space even if it was the last thing she wanted. “I needed this.”
“Needed what?” He questioned.
“Needed a hug.” She replied, “Needed you.”
She could feel him smile against the top of her head as his hands moved to run down her arms a few times, signaling her to tighten her grip on him. Rhea holds her breath at the feeling of him pressing a kiss against her forehead, “I would’ve came earlier if you saw your phone and answered my texts. If I knew you wanted to see me.”
“It was too much for me to handle,” She told him, closing her tired eyes and pulling slightly away to lean her head on his shoulder. “I didn’t want you to see me like how I was. I was a mess and thought the best way to handle it was being alone which was wrong cause I’ve been crying on and off for the past two hours in thinking I’m fighting a battle I can’t win no matter how hard I try and—“
“Take a breath for me, will you?” He cut her rambling off with a hand cupping her cheek, rubbing a thumb back and forth against her skin. “There you go….” She listens to him, sighing and taking a breath — “None of that is true and I’ll spend no matter how long I need to in order to convince you. You’re not alone. You have Damian. You have me, you’ve always known that. They’re playing dirty to get to you and it’s awful but I can’t stand to see you talk so bad about yourself when I see the complete opposite.”
Rhea closes her eyes, letting the words she truly wanted to say free. “What do you see?”
“I see a woman who just wants to make things right after all the pain she’s been through. You haven’t been involved in anything since you came back, focused on Liv and Dominik who have hurt you more than anyone else ever has. You’re not fighting to get him back, you just want the title back in a fair match that they won’t give you. I see a woman that against all odds, is strong and capable of doing anything she wants because she believes in herself. I see you—“ He trails off purposefully, pulling back to hold her face with both hands which forces them to lock eyes for the first time all night. She sees nothing but admiration in his gaze, “I see you in front of me letting me hold you and wonder how anyone would want to hurt you for loving people so much.”
Rhea exhales softly, knowing deep down that her heart was on her sleeve for him.
“You’re just saying that.” She tells him, shaking her head lightly as she fights his praise off with the last bit of stubbornness she had left in her.
The realization hits her — She loved him. She loves Jey.
“I told you earlier that I’ll spend as long as I need to be here to convince you otherwise, I don’t need to be anywhere but here.” Jey assured, “It’s one of my faults, too.”
“What is?”
“Loving too hard.” He rubs his finger gently under her eyes, soothing her skin. Following the motion gives him something to look at other than her eyes, a peak of shyness passing through. “It’s my weakness, too. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, especially not with me. It’s what makes us strong, Rhea. It’s why—“ He paused, exhaling a short breath he had tried to hold, “It’s why I fell for you in the first place.”
Rhea doesn’t say anything until she could hug him again. Wrapping both of her arms tightly around his back and tucking her head into the space between his shoulder and neck, she takes a deep breath and lets herself take in the moment with him. He had let go of her when she moved with arms stood at his sides as she got comfortable against him, not holding her until she stopped adjusting her embrace.
“Stay with me, tonight?” She smiles, her first genuine smile of the night, at the feeling of him wrapping her up in his warmth all over again. “I’d really like it if you’d stay.”
Rhea hopes it’s enough of a message to get across without saying she loves him yet. She needs a bit more time to come to terms with her feelings because they’re that strong. She hopes being honest with wanting his affection is enough for him right now.
“Of course.” He replied, “I gotta move though, baby. I left my bag in the car.”
She doesn’t even think he knew he called her that because he didn’t even flinch or question his word. He said it so easily as if it slid off his tongue naturally and Rhea was gone. She could feel her cheeks heat in a blush at the nickname as she tried to hide for a second longer, gripping the back of his sweater on instinct.
He knew she’d want him to stay. He knew he was what she needed to be happy again.
She wonders if she’ll confess to him by the end of the night or in the morning if he kept calling her that. Would it be too early? She didn’t know. She’s never felt like this before.
When she finally lets go of him, Rhea gets surprised again with the softest kiss to her forehead before Jey pulls away. She missed having him close already, but hides her displeasure with a digging her hands into her pockets.
“Be quick. It’s cold out there.”
Jey smiled, and in that moment she knew that he knew how much she cared for him. How much she loved him but couldn’t say it yet.
“I’ll be back.”
If she could feel a goodbye thumb caress on her hip through a shirt and thick sweater, she could only imagine how heavenly it would feel to be cuddled up to Jey and fall asleep in his arms after a rough day for the first time. How safe it would be to be with someone who truly loved her for who she was.
She couldn’t wait.