Who Do You Love - Dean Ambrose

Heat Of The Moment

"Duck."

With a massive knot of oh shit in my throat it was hard to form words but I still spat one out,

"Wh-what?"

But as the sledgehammer arced through the air in my direction, Stephanie's command turned into a bark.

"Duck."

Given the woman was still trying to kill me, it seemed strange that she thought I would do anything she asked. Even stranger however was the fact that I did it. Without hesitation. I instantly squatted down.

"Oof – ,"

The second I did there was a dull thud behind me and an incoherent, guttural sound. Around me the crowd reacted to something loudly as ten thousand people abruptly went wild. What was that? Why were they shouting? I flinched as I waited for the blow that never came and instead nearly found myself toppling over as the ramp shuddered violently under my heels. It felt like an elephant had fallen down onto it and when I tentatively looked round, I realized one had. Well, okay, maybe not actually but pretty damn close to it.

Bray Wyatt was laid out.

For a moment or two I simply stayed there staring, watching the big round chest heave up and down and expecting the eyes to spring open at any minute. It was a little bit like waiting for the serial killer to wake up during the climax-before-the-climax in a cheap horror film. But he didn't. He simply lay there unmoving, with a fast-forming bruise in the space between his eyes.

What the hell?

But the facts were pretty damn clear. Stephanie had hit her employee with a sledgehammer. She had hit him with a sledgehammer in order to save me. My head spun back again and I stared in astonishment at my wide-eyed but very satisfied stepmother. Seeing my gaze she dropped her heavy weapon and extended her hand to me,

"Lauren? Are you alright?"

I took it in a daze and let her help me upright, nodding shakily,

"I – I'm okay."

A split second later she had me gripped in a tight hug and I stood uncertainly, not convinced I wasn't dreaming as I tried to work out whether to return it or not.

"Thank god," she whispered and she actually sounded teary, "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

"Um, it's – uh – it's fine, I guess, Steph,"

"No Lauren, no it's not."

Holding me suddenly away from her at arm's length, she looked at me and the sincerity made me catch my breath. Even when I had thought the two of us were buddies, I had never seen her look so real. There was something desperate and vulnerable about her and although I had sworn to never again trust her, I knew in an instant that this time it was true. Which left an important question,

"W-why?"

"I need you to trust me again."

Well that was simple and as my poor head spun from the night's unending turns, I slowly nodded back at her and offered up a sigh,