Into The Deep End - A Roman Reigns Story

50

"Sash."

Joe's deep voice garnered both women's attention. The mother of two turned to find her boyfriend stepping through the front door. "Baby," she breathed.

Moving purposefully towards the two women, he said to Sasha in a low, flat voice, "Get inside. I'll handle this." His face was eerily expressionless, focused on Andrea. Sasha turned back to the other woman, noting how her demeanor softened at the sight of her ex-boyfriend. "Are you sure?" she asked Joe. She didn't want to leave him alone with this bitch, not for one second.

"Positive." He hadn't taken his eyes off Andrea. "Give us a minute alone. Please?"

He took Sasha's hand and gently caressed the back of it with his thumb, a silent assurance that he was okay. If he said he was okay, Sasha thought resignedly, then she had to take his word for it. She stroked his arm encouragingly, and casting a final menacing glower at the other woman, she turned her back, squaring her shoulders, and disappeared inside the house.

Once Sasha was gone and the two of them were left alone, Andrea's smile widened. "Hi," she said to Joe, tucking her hair behind her ear as she scanned his features. "It's been a long time. You look good."

His expression didn't change. "Give me one reason I shouldn't pick up the fuckin' phone right now and call the police," he demanded, cutting right to the chase. "I know I told your lyin' ass to stay the hell away from me. Did you forget something here? Ask Trinity; she's the one who cleared out your shit."

Andrea took a deep breath. She had expected this reaction. "I'm not looking for a fight. I was in the area and I thought I'd stop by. I remembered you usually have today and tomorrow as your days off. I tried to contact you a couple of times, but it was obvious you'd changed your phone number and your email. I just wanted to check on you, see how you've been doing."

"Why? So you could pick on the bones of what you thought was left of me?" Joe sneered. "Sorry to disappoint. I'm doing good now. It took me a long while, but I am. I got out of the gutter you left me in and I made it back on my own two feet."

"I'm glad to see that."

"Are you?"

Andrea sighed. "We may have ended things badly but it doesn't mean I don't care about you, Joe."

"If you cared about me you would never have done what you did. Never," the Samoan retorted coldly, chills sweeping over him as that fateful day swam before his eyes; her lying in that hospital bed shedding those phony-ass crocodile tears; the rage that consumed him when she confessed the truth; He could still hear the smash of the vase he'd thrown across the hospital room...He'd never felt the kind of emotion he'd felt that day and he never wanted to again. But now here she was, the living embodiment of those horrifying memories, still lying to his face three years later. Hadn't she done enough?

"Joe, you don't know how sorry I am for hurting you," she was saying. "It's been three years, but I still think about it every single day. Back then I was in a bad place in my life, and I didn't know what was wrong with me until about six months after we broke up. I was diagnosed with depression. Apparently, I've had it for a while, and that was why I was the way I was; why I was so angry and upset and I did the things I did. But I'm getting better. I moved to Virginia and got a job as a receptionist at a local magazine. The chiropractor thing didn't work out, so I took a different career path." She smiled. "I see you're doing well, too. You're on TV now, wrestling. You wanted this so bad, and I'm glad you made it. I'm proud of you."

Liar. She'd never wanted him to be a wrestler. That was what started this whole mess in the first place. Shaking his head, Joe wasn't surprised by the performance she was putting on. He'd seen it many times before. "Look. I'm sorry about your depression, I really am. But that gave you no right to do what you did to me. It was cold and calculated and premeditated and it went on for weeks behind my back. Even worse, you got me involved and you lied to my face over and over. We were together for years and not once did I lie to you. I never claimed to be the best boyfriend, but I did my best. Yet, it didn't stop you from preying on my hopes and dreams and using it to destroy our relationship and our future together. So forgive me if I don't seem thrilled about anything you have to say."