Voices in My Head

As they rounded the last corner, Ana and Stephanie saw Shane and Brad outside the office, joined by a few other wrestlers and two security guys. Giving Ana’s hand a slight squeeze, Steph cleared her throat and signaled her brother to come over so that she could explain what was going on. Ana timidly walked towards Brad, who instantly hugged her close to him for a few seconds before they stood across from the still locked door.

It was quiet, no sounds coming from the room since she had arrived. Looking around, she did a mental rundown of the people present and stepped to the side looking at all of them.

“Don’t you all have somewhere better to be? There’s nothing to see here, go get ready for you match or grab food or whatever it is you usually do.”

Her words were stern and most people dispersed, not wanting her on their asses. But AJ hung back a little before strolling over to her, looking apprehensive.

“Is everything OK? He was going mental in there for a while and I still don’t know why he got locked in. If there is anyth-“

She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft smile.

“I am sure that whatever the issue is will be worked out. Stephanie said she needed to talk to him privately and that is all I am able to say right now.”

His eyes narrowed a little bit but he nodded lightly, before turning and walking off towards the locker rooms. She sighed a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding as he disappeared around the nearest corner.

Brad was about to speak up as Stephanie and Shane walked over to them, a smile on the woman’s face as she reached out her hand.

“Can you please give me the keys Brad, I think I need to have a talk with Randy.”

Shane stood behind her and couldn’t see the wink she gave to both Brad and Ana, but Brad willingly handed over the keys and gave her a small nod. Shane didn’t look happy but stepped back to allow his sister to walk towards the door, stopping near the security guards and talking to the two burley men who listened eagerly and nodded, following her to the door.

Knocking on the door softly, Steph stopped and looked at her feet, mustering her all to be calm and collected.

“Randy? It’s Steph. I am coming in now and I want you to listen to what I have to say. I have people out here able contain you should you think of storming out on me.”

There was no response from within the room and Ana started chewing the inside of her cheek. Him going from raging bull to dead silence wasn’t a good sign, and she hoped that he’d be smart enough not to do anything stupid once that door was being opened.
Watching with baited breath as Stephanie unlocked and opened the door carefully, Ana almost expected Randy to shoot out passed her but nothing happened. Steph slipped into the room, the key still inside the lock, and shut the door.

Shane walked over to Ana and Brad as soon as the door had shut, his features confused and his body in an uneasy stance.

“What the hell happened to him Ana? He fucking tripped from one moment to the next, he went from laughing with John to raging bull within seconds. I know that you have at least an idea of what is going on and whatever my sister just tried to sell me is a load of bullshit.”

Her eyes were still focused on the door across from them. She felt like she owed him somewhat of an explanation but decided to bite her tongue as they could hear Randy’s raised voice from inside the office, without actually hearing what was being said.

“She’ll be fine. She’s just giving him a little warning about something and all will be good, trust me.”

Her voice sounded weak, almost like her throat was about to give out on her. Watching her closely, Shane couldn’t help but prod.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with Stone Sour coming out tonight, would it?”

Her eyes flew immediately up to his, a silent demand to not indulge the matter further.

“I fucking knew it! Your wanna-be boyfriend feels threatened by the guy he knows you fucked turning up tonight after you didn’t let him in your pants yet. I warned him not to lose his shit over you because you had a certain history, no matter how long ago it was! Do you have any idea what it means to a wrestler if he is out of balance like this on a day where he has a match?”

Shane got louder and Brad stepped in front of Ana to build a barrier between the two but Ana still kept her eyes on the man she had thought was a friend. Instead she understood that he had judged her from the beginning, with whatever he had snapped up about her past.

“No disrespect Mr. McMahon, but you have no idea what you’re talking about, so why don’t you let your sister sort this one out so we can all continue and make sure tonight runs smoothly.”

Shane seemed taken back by Brad’s words and it almost looked like he was about to give him shit as the door behind him opened and Steph’s face appeared.

“Ana, could you come in here for a second?”

Quickly rounding her friend, she made her way to the door and slipped inside, before Stephanie closed edit again, leaving the two men standing outside.

“I don’t like this.”

Shane huffed, grabbing his phone to check his notifications. Brad rubbed his hands over his face and looked at the time.

“I think you don’t give Ana enough credit and that you’ve made up your mind about her without knowing the full story. I gotta go, I have a job to do.”

Walking off in a fast pace, he could feel his boss’ stares bored into the back of his head until he rounded the next corner.

+++

Stephanie shut the door behind Ana quietly and leaned back against it, watching the woman timidly walk into the middle of the room and stopping a few feet from Randy. She knew that there were feelings between these two, otherwise Orton would have never acted out the way he apparently had earlier.

“Why did you ignore my calls?”

She almost whispered, her eyes glued to Randy’s shoes. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but she needed to hear his voice in order to judge how he felt right now.

“Because I knew what you were going to say. You cannot ask me to just shake that man’s hand knowing what he did to you. I know that you’re under the impression that time heals all wounds and that you’re apparently OK with what happened back then, but that doesn’t mean that I have to be.”

She huffed and shook her head at his words, which made him clench his jaw.

“This has nothing to do with you Orton. I didn’t want to tell you what had happened back then because I knew exactly how you would react and I didn’t want you to. And I was right.”

“Of course I react this way Ana! Any sane fucking man would react this same exact way when they hear that the girl they’re falling for has this kind of history! I don’t give a shit if a man is drunk or high or all of the above, there is no excuse for forcing yourself on a woman without her fucking consent, no matter who they are!”

Ana appreciated where he was coming from and of course he was right but it didn’t help their current situation.

“How about you sit this one out Randy. I don’t want to see you get into a fight with any celebrity guests visiting us with the amount of cameras and people that will be around for it. Neither you nor the company need this kind of publicity.”

Steph suggested as she pushed herself off the door and walked herself behind the desk, sitting down on the chair.

“You’re more worried about bad publicity than a fucking rapist roaming your halls when-“

“That is not what I am trying to say and you know it! There are only 5 people who know what exactly happened: Ana, you, Brad, myself and the man in question himself. Ana chose to not go public back then and she still doesn’t want this part of her past to be common knowledge. What do you think will happen if you punch this guy out with all the people around and cameras? The media will try and backtrack, try to find out the reason as to why this happened. They will snoop into your history and then Corey’s. Your connection: Ana. She will be dragged into the center of attention until they find out what exactly happened. This will not just put bad light on him, but it will drag her name into the dirt. You know how the media works and how fans of his worldwide will react Randy, please try and see reason in this.”

Ana sighed and walked closer to him, placing her hands on top of the arms that he held crossed against his chest: he was packed with raw emotion. She loved that he was so protective over her, but he simply needed to respect her enough to see that she really didn’t want to tear this wound open again. Especially not in public.

She could feel his eyes on her on her and she lifted her gaze to meet his. There was so many emotions swimming in his eyes but his face stayed straight, angry.

“Alright, I’ll sit this one out. But under the condition that he’ll be nowhere near her. I don’t give a fuck if he’s a ‘new man’ and has changed or whatever…if I am out, so is she.”

Steph looked across to Ana and could see the eager nod from the other woman.

“Alright, this is a compromise I can work with. Thank you. Ana, you’re off for the remainder of the night. Stay with Randy in his locker room, maybe you two can work on this with the extra time you have.”

Both Ana and Randy nodded, and he finally relaxed his stance and his hands gripped her hips to pull her closer to him.

“I don’t like this one bit, but you’re right when you say I should respect your wishes. Guess I’ll be having some extra pent up anger once I hit that ring later tonight.”

She smiled up at him before pressing her face against his chest. She had never felt this protected before.

“Thank you.”