Voices in My Head

“Where’s Orton?”

Ana spoke into her two-way as her eyes were scanning the buzzing crowd around her, searching for the tall frame of her resident problem child.

“Seen him at Catering a while ago, want me to go check?”

Brad’s voice crackled over the small radio as she rolled her eyes and turned on her heels, pushing her way past some of her colleagues in search for today’s catering area with a dark scowl on her face.

“I’m already on my way. He has another thing coming to him.”

She grumbled before clipping the two-way back onto her belt.

It had been 6 weeks since her and The Viper had run into each other for the first time and to say that things had been easy would have been an understatement. For the most time, they had little to no contact and those were Ana’s favourite days.
But whenever they were running on a tight schedule or running orders had been changed around by management, she could have bet her right arm that Randy would do everything in his power to have her lose her cool at him. Preferably when some of the other athletes were around them as he had noticed how entertaining their little bouts had become for their bystanders.

Allen Jones almost ran into her as she was about to enter catering, and the hasty look he threw over his shoulder accompanied by the small smile tugging on the corner of his lips made her moan out loudly. AJ chuckled and patted her shoulder in encouragement as he continued on his way. She would have almost bought his sincere feelings had he not busted out laughing the second he had turned the next corner.

Ana’s frustration level was increasing when her eyes focused in on Randy. His blue eyes were meeting her halfway, one of his famous smirks plastered across his face. It was obvious that he was in mid conversation with some of his peers but neither of them broke eye contact as she took a few deep breaths and made her way across the room towards the table he was sitting at.
She could feel the heat rolling off of her with every step she took. She needed to divert this energy or she would pull him out of this room by his ear like the naughty boy he was.

“What’s he done now to have you march in here like you’re on the warpath?”

Kevin stood up from his chair and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, ultimately stopping her in her tracks.

“Same as every time I have to come looking for him: his big ego is making it impossible to have things running smoothly around here. Because in Orton World, everything is running after his bloody whistle.”

He pulled her into a mock headlock and pushed her down into a chair next across from the one he had sat moments before. She knew that she was on a mission, but maybe this stop was good to take a breather and not rip Randy’s head off once she got to him.

“You know that he’s pushing your buttons on purpose, yeah? He gets fights rescheduled with Stephanie last minute if he hasn’t been able to get a rise out of you for a while because he knows that you’re running a tight ship.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth pulled into an “o” shape, similar to that of a fish.

“You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

She shifted in her seat to look past the big man across from her and to eye Randy again. She wouldn’t put it passed him.

“You haven’t worked with the WWE long enough yet, but schedules and timelines are what makes this organization tick. Have you never noticed that it’s only his fights that happen to get moved around and no one else’s?”

Ana settled back into the chair and looked into Kevin Steen’s aka Kevin Owens’ face, a deep sigh leaving her lungs. His admission was too crazy to be untrue but it also meant, that Randy had played her from day one for his own, sick amusement.

“Sooooo,…what are you going to do? Go all Riot on his ass?”

There was something close to excitement in his eyes, but using her nickname caught her off guard and she raised a brow in question.

“Oh, sorry. Orton hasn’t used your actual name since your 2nd run-in. It…kinda grew on me, too .”

Ana was about to deck him, but his boyish smile and chuckle had her reconsider. Looking at her watch, she shrugged and stood up from her spot and dusted herself off.

“Well, I guess Orton is a grown man and can look after his own schedule from now on, right Mr. Steen? Do pass on my regards should he ask you where I went, because I can already feel his eyes boring into the side of my skull. I owe you one!”

She leaned across the table and pressed a kiss on his cheek before leaving him with a smile.

“Tick, tock Orton, time is money!”

She hollered over her shoulder as she left the room, hearing commotion in her wake. If her intuition served her right, it was most likely Randy not exactly happy about his carefully setup plan not working out the way it was meant to.
Grabbing her two-way from the belt of her jeans, she instructed the guys at gorilla position that Orton was most likely going to be late as she hadn’t been able to locate him.

“Two can play this game, handsome.”

She murmured to herself, popping a piece of gum into her mouth and humming Shinsuke’s walk-on song: that guy and his broken English had somehow grown on her.

A large hand closed over her shoulder and she pivoted around ready to land a punch at whoever was manhandling her, but Randy was too quick and dodged the impact out of reflex.

“What the fuck is your problem!”

He pushed her back, shoulder first, into the nearest wall. His face was anger torn and as much as she tried to ignore it: it looked really hot!

“My problem? What’s your problem? A little Canadian birdie told me that some of the schedule fuck-ups have everything to do with you…so don’t try and play innocent Randal.”

He hated it when people used his full name; it was condescending and made him feel like a small kid again.

“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear backstage Ana. Maybe he was just tired of your constant bitching and obviously found a smart way to defuse the situation.”

The tension between the two of them was at a new high and the grip his hand still had on her left shoulder was growing almost painful as he continued to stare her down. She always stood tall with her 5 ft 8in but Randy still towered over her and it this very moment, in a badly lit backstage corridor, she was intimidated.

“You know how sexy you are when you get angry over being called by your full name? Almost makes me forgot that I really want to knee you in the balls right now.”

Her voice was so low that he almost didn’t catch it over the busy background noises of an almost sold out arena. Almost. His hot breath was beating against the side of her face as he studied her labored breathing: she was trying hard to stay cool. He released his grip on her shoulder, only to have his fingers catch some of her brunette, long hair.

“I always assumed that there was a violent story behind this nickname of yours, Riot. If you need a release for all that…anger of yours, I’d be more than happy to spar in a ring with you. I can see this fire in your eyes…”

Without warning, she did exactly what she had said she might: she kneed him in the groin and pushed him away from her, building herself up to feel bigger than the man currently crouching in front of her, his hands grabbing his balls.

“Lesson 1: don’t ever put your hands on me again unless you have permission to do so. Lesson 2: I know your ego is inflated as can be, but try to learn the difference between a girl flirting with you and sarcasm.”

She put her head to the side and looked at him with a soft yet regretful smile as he fell backwards to lean against the wall, his face torn in pain and breathing heavily to deal with the pain. His eyes caught hers and they looked at each other for a moment or two, seizing each other up.

Her two-way beeped and caused her to raise her arm to look at her watch.

“Look at the time, looks like you’re up in 2 minutes Mr. Orton! I mean…I’d be happy to inform someone that you’re indisposed if you-“

A dark chuckle vibrated through his chest, the back of his head coming to a rest against the wall, eyes still looing her straight in the eye.

“I underestimated you Ana. Something I won’t be doing again in future.”

It was meant as a warning. And that’s exactly what she took it as before blowing him a kiss and leaving for her usual position near gorilla position.