Who Do You Love - Dean Ambrose

Chapter 21:The Semi-Calm Before The Storm

I was pulled along the corridors in a daydream – or else a living nightmare, I wasn't sure which – with Dean not slowing his furious pace until we once again passed through their locker room door.

The second we were in, Seth slammed and locked it as a sign to the world.

Do Not Disturb.

The three of them looked murderous, almost red-eyed with fury and the tension was thick enough to have been cut by a knife. They were pre-match Shield. All twitchy and antsy, like bandits before a bank heist or a wolf pack before a kill.

"God damn Hunter man," Seth spat out hotly, waving exaggerated hands in the air,

"We just got played," Roman grumbled back at him.

I heard but felt none of it.

I couldn't.

I was numb.

Despite having held my hand in the corridors, once we had arrived Dean had quickly let it go, preferring instead to wrathfully pace the locker room and not wanting to have to drag me along. Unlike his brothers he was almost mute with anger and I didn't even blame him since – frankly – so was I. His fingers were jerking around angrily on his collar bone, tapping out a rhythm that only he could know and his face twitched in and out of hate-filled expressions as the blue eyes fizzled.

I'd rarely seen him so mad.

In response to it – and shock and the whole thing really – I sank down onto one of the benches with a thud, landing a little more heavily than I had banked on and blowing out a dazed sounding, mildly startled oof.

I felt completely and utterly responsible.

How could I have done otherwise when the culprit was my dad?

My father.

The man I had given my trust to and – if I was honest – a part of my heart as well. Business was business and I got how much that meant to him but he had set out to physically punish my boyfriend and no matter how he saw it, that was not okay. In fact, it felt a little like I no longer knew him and as the thought rippled over me, I sucked a shaky breath in.

Ugh.

"I – I'm sorry," I mumbled in the silence, watching as three separate faces swung in.

"What for?" Dean blinked,

"My dad," I shrugged, "I'm sorry."

I honestly didn't know what else I could say.

In response to it however, Dean huffed a weary breath out and crossed the space towards me before dropping down into a crouch.

"Not your fuckin' fault alright Lauren, y'hear me?

"Yeah but – ,"

"No," Dean grunted, "No buts."

Reaching over he hooked my chin with a finger and then very gently drew my head up. His eyes were still shining with unbridled fury and the line of his brow was drawn in tight, but within the expression there was support and vague sympathy and it made me feel better.