*You guys have every right to hate me, I'm so sorry.*
“Have you talked to him?” Leslie asked as she laid down next to Riley. Riley sighed.
“No, I keep trying to call him, but he rejects my calls.”
Leslie sighed, softly, “Welcome to the club.”
“Well you did bust his lip…” Riley muttered, looking up at the ceiling.
“He called me a bitch, I definitely had the right to fucking punch him.” Leslie pointed out, “I miss talking shit about Roman with him though. Dean may be a jerk, but he's so adorable when he wants to be.”
Riley laughed, softly, “Only you would want to forgive him for calling you a bitch, just so you could talk shit to him.”
“Do you think he's going to show up on Wednesday?” Leslie asked.
Riley sighed, she was debuting on Wednesday, only two days away. Dean was suppose to be taking the first flight to Florida immediately after raw tonight, but she wasn't so sure if he was actually going to. She knew her dad was really mad at Dean, but she also knew how Dean was. Dean would probably show up to the show just to piss off her dad more.
Although it felt more natural training with her dad, she actually liked the little attitude that Dean put into training. She loved when he got upset because it just brought out a different side of her during training. Dean had his doubts, which made her try ten times harder, just to prove him wrong. She was hoping that he would get in touch with her, so he could help her out with some last minute things as soon as he got in on Wednesday.
“I have no clue, but I need to have one more training session with him before my match.” Riley said, reaching for her phone. She was hoping that he would answer her messages at least because she needed to know if he was going to make it. She had high hopes in him making it because he promised he would be there for the big day. She had been working so hard for this day and she wouldn't have gotten this far without Dean.
“Dad doesn't know how to put his foot down with me, which is why he didn't take the offer to train me and ended up telling the performance center to assign me one.” Riley added, “Dean may be an asshole, but that's the kind of trainer that I need.”
Riley looked down at her phone when she felt it vibrate.
To: Riley
You should really stop calling me. We wouldn't want Papa Punk coming after me, would we?
“Is that him?” Leslie asked.
“I want to ask him if he's coming, but I'm scared that he'll tell me he won't because of what happened with dad.” Riley told her.
“He better show up, he promised he would be there for your big day.” Leslie said, “He made a commitment and he better not break it because of dad.”
Riley sighed as she typed out her message, “You're right.”
To: Dean
Are you coming to the show Wednesday?
Almost immediately Riley got a reply.
To: Riley
Do you really want to witness your dad kicking my ass?
To: Dean
You promised me you would be here. I need a final training session with you to be one hundred percent confident in myself. Please...I don't care what my dad says...you promised me
To: Riley
Sorry, baby, you aren't worth getting my ass kicked for. It's happened to me too many times to count.
To: Dean
You need to be here and I don't care if I have to drive up to Virginia and drag your ass down here.
“I think that last one was a little rough...a little mean don't you think.” Leslie muttered, glancing at her friend’s phone.
“I'm not letting him miss this.”
To: Riley
I'd like to see you try, Riley.
To: Riley
I promised I would be there before your dad told me to stay the fuck away from you. Maybe it's best for everyone if I stay away from you for now.
“Tell him you'll tell Brie about Nikki.” Leslie muttered as she shoved a handful of popcorn in her mouth.
“That's not going to work.” Riley told her, “He has stood up to Brie multiple times, this isn't going to be different.”
“Trust me. Brie will take this like a stab in the back from Dean, and no matter how much Dean doesn't want to talk to her right now, she's one of his best friends.” Leslie said, “He will definitely not want to ruin that.”
Riley sighed as she typed out the text.
To: Dean
We wouldn't want Brie to find out about Nikki, would we?
Dean chuckled, softly as he read the message. He was obviously going to show up in Florida, but he loved messing with Riley. He wouldn't miss her big day for anything, not even because Phil told him to stay away. He knew that there was a high chance that Phil would punch him in the face, which is something that he was clearly expecting.
Les is calling
Dean laughed as he answered the call and brought the phone to his ear, “What is it, Leslie? I thought you punching me in the face was your way of telling me that you're done with my shit.”
Leslie rolled her eyes, “You called me a bitch, you asshole. You definitely deserved that busted lip.”
Riley gave her a look, which caused Leslie to sigh, “I'm not calling because of that. Dean, Riley really needs you Wednesday night, so please just forget about everything Phil told you and just show up.”
“So you're not calling to apologize for hitting me?” He asked, seriously. He loved messing with Leslie, just as much as he loved messing with Riley.
“I'm being serious right now, Dean.”
“So am I, Les.” He told her, “Now, whether I show up or not, is my choice, and if I chose to show up then Romes and Seth are coming with me.”
Leslie rolled her eyes, “I don't care who you bring with you as long as you're here. This is something that you promised you would be at, so you better show up.”
“Whatever, Les.” He sighed, “I'll see how I feel after the show tonight.”
Dean hung up before she could even start arguing with him again. He hated that-that was all they did nowadays, especially when it had to do with Nikki. Nikki was just a friend that happened to be fulfilling his needs at the moment. It wasn’t always like that, but Nikki had offered, and at the time, he had been arguing with both Leslie and Riley. He hasn’t regretted his decision to occasionally sleep with her, so he was okay at the moment.
He needed to meet up with Nikki before heading down to Florida. It was obvious that he wasn't going to miss Riley's debut. If he was going to head down there then he definitely needed to release some stress. He knew that everyone was going to be down his throat, especially Phil.
He wasn't doing this for anyone else, but Riley. He cared a lot about her, and him sleeping around wasn't going to change that. Nikki was just a stress reliever that he needed with everything that was going on.
He hoped that everyone would be on their best behavior, for Riley's sake as well as his own.
~*~
“Okay, so I may have made a big mistake.” Seth muttered as he walked into the performance center behind Dean.
Dean rolled his eyes as he fixed his bag on his shoulder, “What'd you do?”
“Well, Romes-”
“I thought you weren't going to show up.” Leslie immediately called out when she saw him. Dean ignored her as he threw his bag down.
“Where's Papa Punk?” Dean asked, unzipping his sweatshirt. He certainly didn't want to deal with Phil right now. Roman avoided coming here to not come in contact Phil.
Phil was one scary man, and he had a lot of shit against everyone. Dean certainly didn't want to witness Phil's wrath. He knew what that was like. Phil would call out every single one of their mistakes, and to Phil, the list was endless.
“We wouldn't want you to get your ass kicked, would we?” Leslie asked, rolling her eyes. Riley gave her a look from her stretching position.
“Then why are you here?” Dean asked, not looking at her. He took off his shirt, clearly just wanting to get this over with.
“Can we just get this over with?” Riley asked with a sigh as she stood up. Leslie rolled her eyes causing Riley to give her a look, “You better not be the reason that he leaves because you were mad he didn't want to show in the first place.”
Leslie sighed as she sat down on the bench.
Riley watched as Dean stepped into the ring.
“Starting off with your bump warm ups.” Dean told her. Riley sighed. She didn't want to complain, but she hasn't done bump warm ups in a long time. Dean knew it was necessary, but he knew that Riley had it done. Riley wasn't going to complain because she was just glad that Dean showed up.
Riley leaned against the ropes, waiting for Dean to start.
“You know the last time we did this, I ended up with a hurt neck.” Riley muttered, rolling her eyes. Dean looked over at her.
“That was almost five months ago.” He said, “When did you remember that?”
Leslie immediately looked up from her phone, “I've been telling her a little bit.”
Dean looked over at her, “I thought that we weren't going to tell her anything. This is the second time that she told me, you told her something like this.”
Leslie rolled her eyes. She clearly wanted to protect her best friend, but she also wanted to rat her out. Riley knew what she was doing and she wasn't doing anything to change it.
“Come on, Dean, that was almost a month ago. A lot changes in that time, you would know.” Leslie told him.
“Yeah, obviously, you didn't hear what the doctor told us now did you?”
Leslie glared at him as she crossed her arms, “We obviously can't keep her away from everything now can we?”
“Okay, Les stop arguing with this one,” Seth said, pointing at Dean, “And you, instead of trying to start shit with Les, start training with Ri because we have to be out of here in two hours.”
Dean turned back towards Riley, “Come on, start.”
Riley stared at him. She was clearly scared because she didn't like when Dean was training when he was mad. It was the time that he would push her the most -- which is probably what she needed, especially today. She didn't want to end up extremely sore. She knew that it would certainly affect her in her match.
Pushing her thoughts back, she pushed herself off the ropes and ran towards Dean.
~*~
“You're going to do fine, nothing to worry about.” Dean told her. Riley sighed as she placed her arm in his hand. Dean immediately started wrapping the white tape around her wrist and hand.
“Maybe if I had more adrenaline going through me, my anxiety wouldn't be so bad.” She muttered. Dean glanced up from her hand and gave her a small smirk.
“I thought you hated my pre-match routine.” He said, finishing up her left hand.
“Yeah because I don't want to be all sweaty before my match even starts.” She told him, “I do need it to get rid of the nerves though, so I guess I'll have to sacrifice myself.”
Dean laughed, “Don't be so dramatic, Ri. It's not too bad, it brings up your adrenaline and it keeps you prepared for your match.”
Dean didn't want to be as friendly with Riley because he didn't want her to think that they were good. Phil was at a meeting, but he was definitely going to be here any minute now, and Dean didn't want to get his butt kicked. Phil was the farthest thing from an understanding man. Phil didn't want Dean around Riley and that was that, no excuses for them to be together was going to change his mind.
Seth came down the hallway, pretty quickly, searching for Dean.
“Romes is pissed, and he is literally on a manhunt for you.” Seth said as soon as he reached them. Dean rolled his eyes.
“I don't have time for his jealous ass right now.” Dean told him, clearly not caring.
“What's he jealous about?” Riley asked, softly as she stretched out her arms.
“Nothing, let's just start this thing.” Dean muttered. Seth clearly hoped for Dean's sake that Roman didn't find him. They didn't need anyone to end up fighting, not today, especially not here. If Vince found out that they had a fight backstage, he would kill them both. If they both knew what was best for them, they would save this fight until they got back to the hotel.
“Feel better now?” Dean asked, taking a sip of his water bottle. Riley nodded, clearly out of breath. She would always watch Dean prepare for his matches and he always seemed to start himself off before his match. She didn't know how she felt about going out there with energy already going through.
“Wait are you seriously going out to your dad's entrance music?” Seth asked looking at the paper.
“Yep, Vince said that he wanted me to kind of be in my dad's shadow until he actually returns.” She answered, before taking a sip from her water bottle, “They kind of wanted me to already have a name created for myself under my dad.”
Dean rolled his eyes, “That's no fun, you should be able to create your own name with your pure talent. You seriously shouldn't just be known as that asshole’s daughter.”
Riley glares at him, “Dean…”
“It's great to know you think so great of me, Good.”
Dean immediately felt a hard slap on his back causing him to cringe slightly.
“We all know what my daughter is capable of, she more than capable of creating name for herself. Unlike you, however, she would actually like to stay on the boss’ good side.” Phil added, wrapping his arm around Riley's shoulders.
Seth immediately gave Dean a look when he saw that Dean was about to argue back. Dean didn't need two people after him, especially not today. He needed to stay on everyone's good side because he was here for Riley, and he wasn't going to ruin that for her.
Phil looked down at his daughter, “Why are you already a little sweaty?”
“Dean helped me with some pre-match workout.”
Phil ignored what she said as he pulled a black marker from his pocket, “You have to be fully Punk’d out.”
Riley sent him a small smile as he started drawing the big ‘X’ on the back of both her hands.
Seth sent Dean a look as he saw him step closer to Riley. He was clearly hoping that Dean wouldn't do anything to piss Phil off, especially not today.
“Good luck out there, I'll be watching.” Dean told her with a small smile. Phil gave Dean a look to back off, but Dean simply pulled Riley into a hug. Riley’s arms slowly made their way around Dean, clearly confused. It was a little obvious that he had done it only to piss Phil off.
“Don't you have somewhere to be, Good?” Phil asked after a couple seconds.
“Actually I do.” Dean pulled away from Riley, sending a smirk in Phil’s direction, “I'll see you at the family dinner after, Papa Punk.”
Seth immediately grabbed Dean's arm, pulling him down the hall before he did something that would piss Phil off more.
Phil let out a frustrated sigh, “The amount of hatred that I have for that man.”
Riley ignored her dad's comment as she pulled her t-shirt over her ring gear.
“Five minutes.”
Riley looked up at her dad. She was clearly still extremely nervous.
“Any wise words before I go out there?”
Phil smiled, “Just remember to take your bumps and to not actually hurt anyone.”
Riley sent him a playful glare, “Well, that didn't make me more nervous at all.”
Phil placed his hands on her shoulders as a serious look took his face, “I'm really proud of you, kid. Whether you win or lose, I'll still be proud of you for trying.”
Riley smiled, wrapping her arms around her dad’s waist.
“Y-You're mom would be proud too.” Riley stiffened slightly at the shakiness in her dad's voice, “I wish I could have been better to you and your mother, but your mother did perfectly fine without me.”
“Dad…”
Riley used to hate when her dad would ignore that he wasn't around often when she was a child. He was gone for three hundred days a year, injured twice in those ten years. By the time that her mom had been diagnosed, he was gone almost everyday of that year. The occasional times that he would show up, he would always end up fighting with her mom. Her mom would always worry more about him than her own personal health, which always pissed Riley off. The worst had to have been when she found out that he had been cheating on her mom since before she got diagnosed.
She wanted to hate her dad so much after her mom died, and she did for a while. She then tried to actually talk to him, reform their relationship, which couldn't happen because he was on the road so long. Her dad had become one of the top guys while her mom was in the hospital, and he has been ever since. Her mother was always very supportive of her dad, even if he wasn't around. She would always try to defend Phil in order to not let her daughter have a bad image of her father.
Now, she hates when he would mention not being there when she was younger because it was in the past. She wasn't going to forget all the stuff that her dad had put her mother through, but she didn't want her dad blaming himself either. If her mom was here, she would have probably forgiven Phil in a heartbeat because she wasn't the type to hold grudges. Riley was the opposite of her mother, but she learned to move on, especially now that she only had her dad.
She pulled away to look up at her dad, “You've been doing perfectly fine with me.”
He sent her a small smile before pressing a kiss to her forehead, “Thanks, sweetheart.”
She let out a small sigh, “She would be proud of you too, dad. I wouldn't be here without you. I wouldn't have started wrestling if I didn't see the amount of passion that you put into it.”
“I thought you started wrestling because of Dean?” Phil questioned.
“Yes, he was one of the reasons, but I wanted to wrestle because I wanted to be close to you in a way. That's why I continued to do it after mom died because I knew it was the only way to stay connected to you and make her proud.” She told him.
“You will always be my daughter, Riley, and we would have definitely be close, even if you didn't start wrestling.”
Riley looked up at him with slightly teary eyes, “I know that now.”
Riley hated talking about her mom, but it was different with her dad. Her dad would always try to ignore the cancer that had taken her life, and focus on the good things that she did. He put her life before cancer over her life with cancer.
“No crying now, kid.” He told her.
“I'm not a kid anymore. I turn eighteen in five months.” She pointed out which only caused him to laugh, “You just call me kid, so you don't feel old.”
“I'm not even that old, I'm turning thirty-eight this year.” Riley sent him a look, “Oh come on, I have a seventeen year old, and technically a nineteen year old.”
“Yeah, and you're going to be a grandpa before you even hit thirty-eight.”
“Don't even remind me…” He sighed, “You're right, I am getting old.”
Riley looked over at the techie, who was giving her the signal to get ready.
She sighed, “This is it.”
Phil kissed her forehead, “You're going to do great out there, Riley.”
Riley sent her dad a small smile as she pulled away from him. She could already hear the beginning of Cult of Personality blasting through the arena. Cheers could be heard as well, but she didn't think that was for her. The only reason they were probably cheering is because it seemed as if CM Punk was about to walk down the ramp.
She slowly walked towards the curtain, the sounds only becoming more intense. She took in a deep breath before walking out into her debut match.
“So, quick question.” Dean looked away from the TV screen and towards Seth, “I know that you didn't want Riley to remember what went down between you guys because of Phil and all that, but is that just it or is there another reason?”
Dean sighed, “Do you really have to ask this right now?”
Dean turned his attention back to the TV screen, where Riley had just taken a cross-body. Seth rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed with his friend.
“It's a serious question, Dean.”
“Why do you wanna know? So you can purse Riley once you've seen that I've finally given up on her?” Dean asked, rolling his eyes.
“What the hell, man? I thought we got over this.” Seth said, “I already told you that I don't have a thing for her.”
“Yeah, well that doesn't mean that she doesn't have a thing for you.” Dean muttered as he stared at the TV, intently. Riley had some good spots throughout the almost ten minute match, but her opponent had the upper hand at the moment.
“You must have some serious issues if you think that Riley has a thing for me.” He gave Dean a disgusted look, “She has told me on multiple occasions that she thinks of me as an older brother.”
“Can you seriously let me watch her match in peace?” Dean asked, not looking away from the TV.
Dean watched as Riley climbed the turnbuckles, her back to the ring. The local competitor already sitting on the top turnbuckle with her legs tucked behind the ropes. He knew that she was going to try the superplex from the tip rope that he had helped her perfect.
When she gone to practice her match with the local competitor, the girl had said that she wasn't going to trust Riley doing a superplex. Dean had taken the girl's place in the ring and showed the girl how to take the superplex without hurting herself. He wasn't going to let the girl not take the superplex because it's suppose to be Riley's signature.
Dean smiled, slightly as he watched her hit the superplex. It looked like she was going for a pin, but she immediately hooked her opponent into her father's submission hold, the Anaconda Vice.
*obviously picture Phil as a girl lol, but I thought this was pretty amazing*
“Oh shit.” Seth muttered, forgetting that he was talking to Dean, “Did you teach her that?”
Dean shook his head, “No, Phil did. I just helped her perfect it.”
Seth rolled his eyes, “Now can you answer my question?”
Seth wanted to understand why Dean had stopped trying to pursue Riley. He had remembered how dead set Dean was to get Riley to remember a lot about their relationship. Dean wanted to make Riley fall in love with him again, but clearly that all changed.
Dean sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, “I don't know, man. I just don't feel like it's right.”
“What's not-”
Seth was cut off by the locker room door slamming open.
“You son of a bitch.”
Seth immediately stood up, stepping in front of Dean when he saw Roman making his way towards Dean. Dean stood up as well, clearly trying to stay as far away from Roman as possible.
Dean raised his hands in surrender, “I didn't do anything, man.”
“Really? So you and my girlfriend didn't almost kiss?” Roman asked, sarcastically. Dean knew that Roman was beyond pissed off. Seth had said to Dean earlier that he had told Joe about Dean helping Leslie with her nightmares and sometimes sleeping in the same bed as her.
Dean sent Seth a look, “You told me that you told him about the other things.”
“What else did you guys almost do?!” Roman basically yelled causing Dean to flinch back slightly. Dean and Leslie hadn't really done anything wrong. It wasn't as if they were having sex. They were just sometimes sleeping in the same bed because it helped with her nightmares.
“Look, Romes, Leslie has been having really bad nightmares. She would always wake up screaming, so I would just get into bed with her to help her sleep.”
Seth face-palmed. Dean had clearly made it seem like he jumped into bed with Leslie as in like having sex with Leslie.
“Wait, so you think that it's okay for my best friend to be in the same bed as my girlfriend?”
Dean sighed. He clearly didn't like that Roman kept referring to Leslie as his gift rend after everything that has happened. Dean had become very protective over Leslie, even if she was a pain in the butt sometimes. Leslie didn't deserve half the shit that Roman was doing to her.
“Is she only your girlfriend when it's convenient for you?” Dean asked. Seth sent Dean a look. He clearly knew that Dean wasn't going to step down from Roman, no matter how mad Roman would get. Seth did care however because Roman was a big dude that could probably snap Dean in half. Dean wasn't a small dude, but he was nowhere near Roman's size.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Roman asked, glaring at Dean.
“I'm talking about how you're all of a sudden so worried about your ‘girlfriend’.” Dean answered, glaring back at him, “I want you to tell me how many times you have visited Leslie in the past two months that you've known she's pregnant.”
Roman opened his mouth to say something, but Dean immediately cut him off, “I'll tell you, it was the weekend of the accident. You left for a day that week then you came back for another day before you left. That was the last time I've seen you visit her because she has practically been by my side the whole time as a friend.”
Roman snorted, “She hates you, why would she go to you as a friend?”
“Maybe because her asshole of a boyfriend didn't know how to step up and be a man about her pregnancy. Maybe because she doesn't like the idea of being all alone with the pregnancy while her boyfriend travels the world and doesn't even leave one call to ask how she's doing.”
Dean didn't hold back, knowing that Seth would probably scold him for it after. Seth was clearly getting a headache watching these two argue. He finally knew how Roman felt being in the middle when Dean and himself were fighting.
“You seriously want to talk about stepping up and being a man, huh?” Roman rolled his eyes, “Why don't you step up and tell Riley that you're in love with her? Or are you not man enough to do that?”
Dean glared at Roman, “I don't love Riley and I have never loved Riley. She was the one that was in love with me.”
“What, are you not man enough to admit your feelings to some girl?” Roman asked, rhetorically, “You're almost thirty years old and you can't even fucking tell a girl that you love her. She's seventeen for fucks sake and she was perfectly clear about her feelings.”
“And how are you going to tell me how to feel, huh?” Dean asked, “What are you going tell me next? That I'm going to marry her and have kids with her? Too bad that's never going to happen because I'm never going to love her.”
Dean suddenly looked away from Roman when he saw a small blonde, leaning against the doorframe. Riley stared at Dean, not being able to stop the small tears that gathered in her eyes.
“Riley…”
Riley pushed herself off the doorframe and turned on her heel, walking away from the locker room. Dean pushed past Seth and roughly pushed into Roman's shoulder before running after her.
“Riley!” He yelled after her. Riley continued to walk down the hallway, trying to get as far away from him as possible. He finally caught up to her when she slipped into door that led to the stairs. When he entered the stairway, he saw her sitting on the top step. Her hands were shaking as she stared at the step below her feet.
“Look, I'm sorr-”
“Don't apologize, just stop.” Riley snapped, her voice extremely shaky.
“Riley-”
“I said stop, Dean, just shut up!” Riley yelled, her voice echoing off the walls. Dean stood there, silently for a second. Riley's sobs slowly became louder, only causing Dean to worry. He had no clue what was causing her to act so odd.
“I'm sorry about what I said, but I need you to tell me what's wrong with you.” He told her, taking a seat next to her.
“What's wrong is that you're here apologizing for nothing.” She said, running a shaky hands down her face. She was clearly debating on whether or not to tell him. Leslie kept pushing her about it, but Riley had wanted to do it on her own terms. After what she heard and saw tonight, she knew that it was time to tell him.
This was the end of it, Dean wasn't even going to fall in love with her, he said it himself.
“There's something you should know…”
Well um how long has it been? I am so freaking disappointed in myself for taking so damn long to write such a shitty chapter. I apologize to all of you for taking so long. To the people that have been patiently waiting and sticking by my book, thank you.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter 😊
(PS next chapter shouldn't take as long because I already know what I'm doing. It might be a short chapter though. Also, there are only a couple more chapters left in the book 😢)
Love you guys,
DianaUnstableAmbrose ❤💋