Masked//Roman Reigns Love Story

Chapter Two

"Who? Joe?" I tried to play dumb, "I wasn't looking at him."

Colby took a sip of his beer to mask his impending laughter. He shook his head at me and gave a knowing look. "You weren't very subtle."

I nodded my head and tried to shake off my embarrassment. Colby smiled at me and I smiled back, hoping that my face didn't look too flushed. I tapped my fingers against the bar counter to fill the awkward silence that had fallen over us.

"He's single if you didn't know."

I was almost happy to hear it but I couldn't help but scold myself for getting my hopes up. His being single wouldn't mean anything for us anyways, I made sure of it. He knew I was there but wouldn't look in my direction. It was like I didn't exist. But what was I expecting really? Joe was just doing to me what I'd done to him.

"I don't want him." It'd been a lie.

"So who do you want? Do you have a crush on anyone yet?"

"I'm just focused on my career right now. I'm too hyper-focused on not screwing up my job to notice anything else going on in the world, as bad as that sounds."

"No, I get it. The Shield's coming up on our one-year anniversary and I'm just now feeling like I'm finding my footing. What we do is a hard job and it takes time to adjust so don't be too hard on yourself, okay? If you ever need anything, any advice, you want to train, or you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here. The only way you survive in this company is with the help of each other."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me."

I spent the next thirty minutes talking to Colby. He was dangerously easy to be around and have a conversation with. He was a good listener and had a unique sense of comedic timing. Colby opened up to me about how tumultuous his time in the wrestling business had been but felt that everything was worth it because of the position he was in now. We bonded over wrestling in shitty warehouses and getting paid in cold hotdogs and hard pretzels.

Later on in the night, I ended up downstairs with a pool stick in hand, studying which shot to take next. Jon challenged me to what quickly became a competitive game of pool, and I'd be damned if I lost. My grandmother had a pool table in her basement that I practiced on whenever I could. Pool was my comfort spot and I wasn't going to let anyone embarrass me on the table.

I had three solid balls left in play and Jon was left with four stripes. Everyone who had gathered to watch teased Jon, who was supposedly a god in pool, for being minutes away from taking his first major loss. Of course he shooed them off, still confident that things could turn in his favor.

Bending down to take my next shot, I found myself getting distracted by Josh, Jon's twin brother, and Joe arguing over something. I couldn't make out what they were saying over the noise of everyone else surrounding me but the looks on their faces were far from pleasant. Focusing back on the game, I let out a deep breath. Just as I was pulling the stick back to prepare the hit, I jumped at the sound of a glass breaking. The white ball slid to the side and into the upper left corner pocket. My first scratch of the night.

Everyone looked around the room to see what had happened and I noticed Joe was missing.

"Fuck me," I thought aloud, shaking my head. Joe always found a way to distract me, even when he wasn't trying.

Jon looked pleased with what just happened and was zoned into setting up his next shot. Just as he went for it Colby yelled in his ear, forcing the white ball to roll into the right middle pocket. Jon was visibly frustrated as he turned to look at Colby.

"Just thought I'd even the playing field," Colby grinned, backing away quickly before sending a wink my way. I grinned back.

"You think you're cute, huh? Right after I beat Maria in this game, I'm coming after you. That's a promise," he somewhat joked.

Jon didn't beat me. I managed to take care of my solids and put the 8-ball in the corner pocket before Jon got all his striped balls off the table. I admit he was good, just not better than me. Trinity was the first to congratulate me for being the first person to beat him in a long time. I wasn't used to being the center of attention but I tried to bask in it as everyone mocked Jon and celebrated me.

After the intense game of pool I went searching upstairs for a bathroom since the downstairs one was occupied. I managed to find one without too much effort and quickly took care of myself. Turning around the corner to head back downstairs, I paused when my phone started buzzing.

Mom

I watched the phone go off before the call finally ended. I tried to remember the last time I'd answered her call or was even tempted to entertain her.

I shoved my phone into my back pocket with a sigh. I started off downstairs again before colliding with a solid frame. I didn't have to look at his face to know who it was, his tattoo gave him away. I felt my eyes widen and the air get a little thinner. I hadn't been this close to him in years. I tried to prepare myself for this moment, I knew it was coming, but I froze. The heavy scent of alcohol didn't even bother me like it should have. There was so much I wanted to stay, so much I should have said, but nothing was coming out.

He was frozen too. It wasn't so easy for him to ignore me anymore when I was right in front of his face.

"I'm sorry," I finally managed.

"Yeah, me too," he mumbled before shoving past me to leave me in the stairwell alone.