The Rivals

||Anita||
I watched in horror as Quinn was being carried away. I felt so useless as I tried to get away from Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. I screamed for Paul to help her, but he just stood there, staring at me with a pained expression.
“Paul, please!” I begged, but then Eve slapped her talons over my mouth as they both held me back, keeping me from helping my friend. I kicked and struggled and twisted and pulled, but they just sunk their nails deeper into my arms. As Quinn and Chris got out of sight I completely lost it. I had just found a great friend in Quinn, and there was no way I was going to let that sick bastard have his way with her.
I used Barbra and Eve for support as I flipped backwards and hit them both with a boot to the face. They looked unconscious as I leapt back to my feet. But just for good measure I gave them both a sharp kick to the skull. I started to run to where I’d seen Quinn get snatched when I felt another pair of arms grab me. I struggled but…
I knew these arms, they had held me for all these years, lifted me and comforted me. I pulled away and turned to see Paul, looking like he’d just seen his whole family murdered or something. I felt angry tears form in the corner of my eyes as I shoved him,
“Why didn’t you help her?!” I demanded. “Why didn’t you help me?!” I felt tears roll down my face. I felt so betrayed as Paul stood there, stone faced. “Why?!” I screeched.
“I couldn’t.” He said simply. “Ani, please.”
“No, don’t you ever call me that again.” I snapped. Then I turned and ran off in the direction I’d seen Quinn and Chris go. I ran to the locker room door to see Eve and Barbra helping Chris up, I quickly hid as they slithered away in the other direction. I took a deep breath as I opened the door and walked into the locker room.
As I looked inside the room I didn’t see anything but Cody. God he must hate me so much. His nose was purple and swollen, probably broken, and he had a split lip. But what was killing me was that he refused to look at me. Quinn was talking to Phil about something, but I didn’t even hear them. Cody looked so defeated, so broken that I wanted to cry. I looked over at Quinn.
“Do you guys mind if I talk to Cody really quick?” I asked. Phil looked like he was going to say something, but Quinn just shoved him outside, signaling that I had five minutes. I went over and sat down next to him. I winced when I saw his nose up close and reached out to him, but he flinched and I pulled my hand back.
“Won’t Paul get mad at you?” He snapped. I let out a long sigh.
“No, because I kicked Paul out last night, after you left.” I said. Cody chuckled meanly.
“Once you were done fucking him?” He snapped.
“No. I made sure that didn’t happen. He actually just sort of waltzed in, and after today…” I bit my lip. Remembering Paul just standing there when I needed him. “I know he doesn’t care about me. Maybe he did in the beginning, but not anymore.” Cody looked over at me.
“And you expect to take you, just like that?!” He growled. “You broke me into a thousand little pieces Ani.” I smiled; he had called me Ani… “Besides, you don’t want a guy like me. Barbie and Eve will probably rip me away from you too.” He looked like he was about to cry. I reached out and touched his arm, he didn’t flinch this time.
“I know about the drugs Cody.” I said simply. He looked at me, terrified.
“Look, I can explain-” He started, I held up my hand he stopped.
“You don’t need to. Because I know you Cody, you don’t do shit like that. I assume you’re covering for someone.” He nodded.
“Who told you?” He asked.
“Paul, he told me that I should take him back because you were a junkie, but like I said, I know you Cody and you’re not like that. A bit of an asshole at times, sure, a complete douche bag, yes.” Cody smiled and I couldn’t help but smile with him. “But you don’t do drugs; you’re too smart for that.”
“Thank you Ani.” He said.
“For what?”
“Understanding.” We both just looked at each other for a moment. I’d forgotten how beautiful Cody’s eyes were when he was smiling; it was like looking into the sky on a beautiful summer day. They just, they make you feel like no matter what, everything will be okay.
“So,” I said, breaking up our little moment. “Why did you come up to my room?” He flushed and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I-I wanted to know if what happened between us was just a moment or…” He looked into my eyes and I felt heat snake up to my cheeks. “More than that.” He finished.
“Cody I…” I looked into his beautiful eyes. “Do you want it to be more than a moment?” I asked. He smiled broadly.
“Why else would I ask you?” He teased.
“Good.” I said, and kissed the tip of his nose. He blushed again. “Because so do I.” We both were bright red when we heard a knock on the door. I sighed and hopped up to see Quinn and Phil. Quinn smiled at me.
“So are you two friends again?” She asked. I looked back at Cody, who smiled at me.
“Yeah.” I said with a huge grin.
“Good, because we’ve got some serious work to do.” Phil growled. I could tell he was upset about Quinn, I was too, but we had to all calm down. Of course, my telling him this probably didn’t help because he looked like his head was about to explode.
“The first thing we need to do is get out of here.” Cody suggested. “If they’ve got dirt on Johnny then he’s probably got snoops all over the place.
“I agree.” I said, “Let’s go back to the hotel or somewhere where we can all talk without being overheard.” Quinn and Phil nodded and we all slipped into Phil’s rental and got back to the hotel without much trouble. We all piled into Quinn and Phil’s room and sat down.
“Okay, so what the hell are we going to do?” Quinn asked.
“It’s simple. We need someone to infiltrate and find out what they have on Ace.” Phil said. “Anita, are you and Paul..?” I shook my head. I never wanted to see Paul ever again. “Alright, then Cody will have to do it.”
“What?!” Quinn, Cody and I all asked simultaneously.
“There’s no way they’ll take me back.” Cody said.
“Yes they will, they need you.” Phil explained. “If you act like you need to get Anita back and will do anything, you’ll be right back on their good side, they don’t think this kind of thing through.” Cody looked shocked, but then nodded.
“Okay.” He said quietly. “So I’ll go up to them tomorrow at breakfast or something. I don’t think they saw me attack Chris, and I’m sure I can make up something about gaining your guy’s trust if they did.”
“Sounds good. Do you two have another match tomorrow?” Phil asked. I nodded.
“Victorious Secret versus Truth and Kofi.” I said.
“Victorious Secret..?” Cody asked grinning. I shrugged.
“Creative came up with it.” I said. Cody started laughing and in spite of everything, we all laughed along with him.
“They’ll probably have me sabotage your match, so be careful.” Cody warned, become serious again all too soon. Quinn and I nodded. “Well, I’m going to turn in. I don’t think Raw ends for another hour, so we shouldn’t have any problems if we stayed walled in.
“I’ll come with you.” I said. He looked at me questioningly for a moment, but I smiled. “You can never be too careful, who knows? I might save your ass.” Cody just started laughing again as we walked out of Phil and Quinn’s room. Before I shut the door I looked back at Quinn and Phil and smiled, giving a small wave before slipping the door shut. As Cody walked me to my room we were both quiet, I didn’t know what to say to him and I was pretty sure he was in the same boat. As we got to my room and leaned against the door and looked at him.
“So….” He said.
“So…” I replied. He looked at me for a long time before wrapping his arms tightly around me.
“No matter what I have to do to you tomorrow, I want you to know that I care about you.” He whispered. I choked up. I knew that Eve and Barbra would make him do something twisted and sick. I looked up at him for a moment.
“I know.”
“Can we…talk inside? I don’t want anyone to see us.” he said. I grinned.
“What, are you ashamed of me?” He shook his head.
“We can’t be too careful. I’m not going to let the plan fall apart because of me.” I opened the door to my room and we stepped inside. The minute the door shut Cody grabbed my and kissed me so passionately it made my head spin. He pulled back and smiled at me. “I’ve wanted to do that since the second I met you.” He whispered. I smiled and hugged him.
“So, before this can go anywhere, we need to have a little story time.” I said. Cody sighed and sat down on the bed. I plopped down next to him. “Why do you think Eve and Barbra will take you back?”
“Because they need me.” He answered simply. “I’m a champion, so I have more pull with executives. They have Chris and Paul, who aren’t exactly big wigs-”
“Paul…works for them?”
“Actually…they work more for him than anything else.”
“What?” I asked, on the verge of tears. Cody nodded.
“It’s a long and not to pretty story, but who do you think gave Barbra this idea that Paul loved her? He’s been leading her…and you…on for years.”
“But why?” I asked. I felt like my whole world had been flipped upside down.
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Paul.” I let out a long sigh and ran my hands through my hair. None of this made any sense. Cody just waited for me as I choked back the tears. “Ani, it’s okay to cry.” I shook my head, splattering him with tears.
“No it’s not.” I whimpered. Cody just wrapped me in his arms and held me tightly to him while I let it all out. All my stress, anger about Paul, sadness about my family, I let it all out in Cody’s arms. Finally I pulled away and looked at him. “I’m sorry.” I said, wiping at my eyes.
“Ani, it’s fine.” He insisted, running his fingers through my hair. I looked at him, his beautiful blue eyes, his loving smile. I thought about how much I’d hated him when he was trying to break Paul and I up. That’s when I realized.
“You were trying to protect me.” I whispered.
“What?” He asked.
“When you were trying to break Paul and I up. I thought you were just being a dick, but you… you were trying to protect me.” Cody blushed, scratching the back of his head.
“You caught me.” He said nervously.
“Cody.” He looked back up at me and I gently pressed my lips to his. His eyes were wide as I pulled back and his face was even redder. “Thank you.” I said simply.
“Ani…I…” Then he grabbed me and pressed our lips back together, leaning me backwards on the bed and pulling me closer to him. He quickly slipped off his shirt and I felt my heart speed up as he started to run his hand under my dress. I was about to kiss him again when I saw my clock. Raw was ending! He had to get out of here!
“Cody!” I said, shooting up and accidently head butting him putting us both in a fair amount of pain.
“Jesus, you could have just said stop-” He grumbled.
“It’s not that, Raw is almost over! Eve and Barbra will be back any minute!” His eyes got huge.
“Shit.” He muttered. He looked back at me and kissed me again. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He promised. I leapt up and ran to the door, I was about to open it when I heard a knock.
“Ani.” I knew Paul’s voice anywhere. My heart was thudding painfully as Cody slipped his shirt back on. He saw my expression and stared at me.
“What?”
“Hide!” I whispered. I shoved him into my closet and told him not to make a sound and I would get rid of Paul as soon as I could. I made sure he was locked in before I walked over to the door and glared at Paul.
“What do you want?” I snarled.
“I want to explain myself.” He said. “Can I come in?”
“No.” I said bluntly. I tried to shut the door, but he held it open with ease.
“Ani-”
“Don’t you dare ‘Ani’ me. I never want to see you again.
“What lies did Runnels tell you now?” He snapped.
“I’m not speaking to him either. Now if you excuse me.” And I slammed the door in his face.
“Ani. I’m not leaving until you talk to me.” He said.
“Well then you’ve got a long night ahead of you.” I snapped, and locked the deadbolt. I let out a long sigh as I walked over to the closet and let Cody out, signaling for him to be quiet. This was a disaster. If Eve and Barbra decided to go to Cody’s room and saw he wasn’t there… Fuck. We were in some serious trouble. I pulled Cody into the bathroom and turned on the water, hoping it would drown us out.
“What are we going to do?” Cody whispered, frantic as I was.
“I don’t know, maybe I should text Quinn, she might be able to get him away from the door and…”
“And what? Someone is going to see me come out of here.” He said, panicked. “This is all my fault, if I didn’t want to fu-”
“Let me stop you right there.” I said. “I’ll try to get him to leave, you text Quinn.” I answered.
“And if that doesn’t work?” I sighed.
“Then you better hope Paul instantly becomes blind.”