Blazing Trails

Chapter 48

"This is beautiful." Le said.

"This place means a lot to me, it . . ."

"You're here! You haven't been here in forever and now you're back in Orl . . . well hello." Annabelle ranted, stopping short when she saw Le.

"I'm back to stay." I told her.

"No shit! After you had me go to freaking Pensacola all those times!"

"I have another reason to be here long term now."

"So I see, hello, nice to meet you, I'm Annabelle. I'm her best friend and you'll be sharing her with me a lot." she said, holding out her hand.

"Leati, but everyone calls me Joe. As long as it's you, I don't mind sharing." Le laughed, shaking her hand.

"So you're the man occupying all of my girl's time." Annabelle said.

"And you're the woman taking her away from me for a week." he countered.

"I think I'm gonna like you Joe."

"Likewise."

"We'll have to sit down and compare notes."

"Give me a time and place."

"Alright you two, what do you have for me, Anna?"

Le was nice enough to just follow me all day while I went through a few meetings. A few people freaked out when they saw him, then they realized who I am in another life and freaked out even more. We signed a few autographs before getting down to business.

At the offices for the construction company, there were a lot more freak outs then at the gallery meetings. Most of the guys here know who I am so they know who Le is. The guys here are pretty cool but when they saw "Roman Reigns" they lost their shit and it was hilarious.

"Knock it off you knuckleheads, we've gotta go." I told them.

"Come on Ari, when you gonna get us . . ."

"I emailed them to Trina this morning you lugs." I said, hitting one of my men, Brady, on the arm.

"No shit!" he said.

"Here they are, I was just waiting for her to get here. Nice to see you again, ma'am." the woman in question said, walking down with a bunch of papers.

"You're the best, boss woman."

"You guys got tickets for both nights because I don't know what brand I'll be chosen for. Neither does this lug."

"The Shield, you're a part of The freaking Shield, Ari." Blake said.

"The only female ever invited." Le said.

"That double spear a few weeks ago was a work of art."

"Thanks, Blake, we've gotta go."

The next three weeks were hectic; between the shakeup, Le meeting my family, my sister's birthday and the wedding trip I was exhausted. So when Le picked me up from the airport on Sunday after we got back from Anna's week, I just passed out in the car. He has a copy of my apartment key now and I'm guessing he took me upstairs because when I opened my eyes I was in bed, I could smell food and I was starving.

"Something smells really good." I said, padding into the kitchen barefoot.

"I decided it was about time that I cooked for you since you're always cooking for us." he said, standing in front of my stove shirtless.

"Well, it sure is nice." I replied, wrapping my arms around his waist and kissing his back.

"How was your trip? I didn't want to call you too much so that you could have a good time with your girls."

"Your texts were very sweet, it was nice getting them from you every morning and night. It was weird not speaking to you every day, I missed you, amor." I muttered, kissing his back again.

"I missed you too, now go sit down. It's almost done."

"What are you making me?" I asked.

"French toast and bacon."

"Oh God, I'm gonna have to hit the gym twice a day for the next two weeks. We ate so much trash this week but we had so much damn fun."

"I bet all of the pics and videos were hilarious. How's Annabelle feeling?"

"She can't wait to get married, she says. I'm just really happy she had a great weekend, it was the best."

"You ready for this week?"

"Yeah, I think they're putting me in a feud with Sasha Banks now, so we'll see what happens."

"They're setting you up for a title run, Summer Slam is in two and a half months."

"I know, I can only hope that . . . wait, Paul is calling. This can't be good." I muttered when the phone started ringing.

I sat and listened to him and I felt my heart drop. My reaction was confused but relieved all at once. Trevor plead guilty to the Domestic Violence charges and got 15 months in jail without me having to testify. A weight that I didn't know I was carrying was lifted off of my shoulders and I felt like I could breathe again.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Le asked when I hung up.

"I don't have to go to court, Trevor plead guilty. 15 months, it's over." I told him, feeling the tears well up.

"That is amazing, that's really good news. You're gonna be fine." he said, walking around the counter to kiss me.

"I just, I didn't think that it would be this easy. I figured he would drag this out, plead not guilty and turn this into a spectacle. It's over Le." I sighed, feeling it come from the deepest part of me.

"It's over babe and you won't have to deal with any of this again." he said, kissing my head before going back to the stove.

"You gotta go home right?"

"I promised Jojo I would take her to school, come with me."

"I can't babe, not this time. I still gotta wash and take care of my things before flying out at the crack of dawn tomorrow. I'll meet you in Texas, right?"

"It was worth a try and yeah, I'll meet you in Texas." he said, shooting me a smile.

After having breakfast for dinner Le and I just lounged around watching tv for a while. When he left I hit the gym on the first level, knowing that I've gotta get back to it with everything that we ate while on the mini vacation.

While I was walking back upstairs the concierge stopped me to hand me an envelope that had been left at the desk for me. I didn't think much of it and dropped it on the counter as soon as I walked in. My shower was calling for me and I was much too eager to answer it. When everything was all washed and I smelled like a normal human being I grabbed the envelope and my heart stopped for a second time today

Arianna,

You might think that you won but this is far from over. You ruined my career, you ruined me and that will not go unpunished. I gave you a chance to fix things and you threw that aside like the spoiled brat that you are. Now, I might be in jail but I can promise you that I won't be here for the full 15 months and don't you ever forget that I'm not alone. I have friends on the outside who are more than willing to do me a few favors. I warned you what would happen if you didn't leave him and you decided to test me. I'll be seeing you soon.

Trevor