The Heart Wants What It Wants (Completed)

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Recap

"Val?"

The sound of Matt's voice caught the couple by surprise, jarring them from their lip lock.

"I thought you had a boyfriend?" Matt asked, looking to her for an explanation.
Joe protectively wrapped his arm around Val and passionately kissed her on the lips once more.

"She does."

Matt gave Joe a sideways look of confusion, and then turned to Val.

"Now, I get it," he said before walking off.

Val looked at Joe and then over at the bar where Matt had seated himself. She started to walk over to confront him, but Joe kept his grip tight on her hand, stopping her from leaving.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I need to talk to him."

"No, you don't. If he's gonna put it out there, then let him."

"But Joe, I don't want him to-"

"Val," he said, interrupting her and then sighing with frustration. "If he's gonna put it out there, then let him. It's time, alright? Besides, I'm sure someone in here's already snapped the pic. Let's just be us. Let's just have some fun, OK?"

Val nodded and took in her own deep breath.

"OK," she said with a relenting smile.

***

When Val awakened the next morning, her head was pounding and she was completely naked. Joe was still asleep, his snoring slow and melodic and his hair splayed over his pillow. The last thing she remembered was having her whole body kissed from head to toe-some places more than others, and some great and acrobatic sex with a Samoan wild man. She was so thankful that Joey had given her the night off along with the main roster, because she was going to need every second of it to recuperate and prepare for SummerSlam on tomorrow.

She retrieved her cell phone from the nightstand to check for missed calls and messages. Mom. Lexy. Matt, 8:53?

Last night at 40/40, Matt had come across to her as miffed by Joe's revelation of their relationship to him. What he could possibly want with her was beyond her scope of understanding. He too had been given the day off, so it couldn't have been anything work-related.

She glanced back at Joe before opening the message that had come in just under an hour ago.

You should've told me u and Joe were together. U could've saved me some embarrassment. Anyway I asked Kelly to put me w/a diff trainer. No hard feelings.

Val instantly felt guilty for hiding the truth from Matt and also felt that she owed him more than just an apology in a text message. She texted him back and eased out of bed, so she wouldn't wake Joe.

Can u meet me downstairs to talk?

Moments later, her phone vibrated. She opened the message and read silently, "ten minutes."

Nodding to herself, Val dressed and glanced up at Joe once more. He was still asleep, rhythmically snoring. The temptation to climb back into bed and snuggle against his warm body almost made her cancel the last-minute meeting with Matt. She shook the thought, making a ninja-like exit from Joe's room and heading for her own room.

Once inside, Val brushed her teeth and washed her face. With just a minute to spare, she left and made her way down to the lobby where she found Matt already waiting for her.