face your demons // finn bálor

Chapter 19

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The next day, DVA bus station in Davenport, Iowa

We ended up taking a bus from the airport to Colby's hometown. The closest airport that we had access to was in Illinois.

There really isn't much in this state, hence the lack of public airports. People usually make the short drive to the next state over for everything.

Travel inconvenience aside, I'm about to see my dog. I couldn't care less about anything else right now.

I set my bag on the sidewalk and instantly run to the little ball of fur. He's attached to a leash, with Colby's mom, Holly, on the other end. I haven't seen that woman in YEARS. She lets go of the leash, and Kevin runs straight into my arms.

"Hey, buddy! Oh my god, you still remember me!" I say, between licks on the face.

"I say the same thing every week. Hey, mama." Colby kisses his mom on the cheek before throwing his bags into the trunk.

"Kitty. You look beautiful as ever." I hear her say as she picks up the other end of the leash from the ground. I get up and hug her, awkwardly.

"Same to you, Holly. Good to see you."

---x---

"Sometimes I wish you kids would have just gotten married. Started a family. Stayed here." Holly says from the driver's seat.

I don't know how the conversation got here. I have been pretty focused on giving Kevin some long-overdue love since I got into the car.

"Ma, can we not do this? Right now?"

She sighs, a little over-dramatically. "Oh, honey. I'm sorry. I just can't help it. You two were so good together. Too bad you had to go and ruin it. Then you had that whole incident with that Zahra girl..."

"Mom."

Well, at least he didn't shit on my name after we broke up. She knows the truth. But who the hell is Zahra?

---x---

"You're coming out for brunch tomorrow. right honey?"

"Yeah, mom. I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Get some rest! Don't forget to feed the dog!" I hear her say, just before Colby shuts the car door and rolls his eyes.

"I'm sorry for that. You know how she is."

I grab my bag and set Kevin down on the grass. He bolts to the front door.

I'm surprised Colby still has this house. It looks a bit different, which is weird considering I spent 4 years of my life here.

The three of us head inside. To my surprise, everything looks pretty much the same. It's a lot more messy than I remember, but most of the furniture is still the same, just rearranged.

I pick up one of the picture frames on the table in the hall. It's dated 2010, and shows me, hoisted on Colby's shoulders outside of the FCW training center. I can't believe he still has this.

"You remember that? That was after my tryout for WWE."

Yes, I remember. How could I forget? We drove all the way to Tampa, nonstop. He was exhausted before the tryout, but still nailed it and ended up signing that night. I had some custom t-shirts made for that trip, which we were both wearing in the picture.

"Tyler Black for WWE." I read, out loud.

\\

"Man, this day just keeps getting better!" Colby spins me around in his arms, sending my hair into the wind.

"I'm proud of you, baby. You're finally going to live the dream."

He sets me down and the two of us look back up, in awe, at the training center, that's now only lit up by a couple of street lights.

A few moments pass. I look back up at him, only to see him staring at me.

"What is it?"

"I wanna marry you someday."

"Wh-" I start, but he falls to a knee. "Colby, what are y-"

"Katherine Elise Grant," He pulls a little box out from the pocket of his shorts, "Will you marry me?"

//

Yep, that's the part of our relationship that no one else knew about. Even until now. And I said yes. We hid it from everyone. Thank God we never actually did get married.

"Those shirts were awesome." Were. I threw mine in the trash.

I get hit with a wave of emotion again, and know that I can't stay here.

"I think I'm going to book a room for the night." I blurt out.

"What? No, don't leave. You can stay here, it will be okay."

"Colby, I can't." I start to break down in front of him, which is the last thing I wanted to do today.

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