Who Do You Love - Dean Ambrose

Chapter 40: Into the Lion's Den

Despite having been to Connecticut a bunch of times to stay with my father before everything had gone bad, I had never made the drive down the road a few minutes to visit the headquarters of the crazy world in which we worked.

Kelly blinked up,

"Holy shit this is amazing."

In absolute honesty I couldn't disagree as I shaded my eyes towards the towering cube structure and the bright reflective windows that were bouncing back the sun. It was set behind a tiny little patch of greenery and putting the neighboring buildings to shame, with the logo glaring down from an imposing black backdrop and also on the flag that was billowing in the breeze.

I swallowed uncertainly,

"Oh god, I can't do this."

"Yes you can, you're not backing out now."

But the swirl of emotions was fast taking over me, because I couldn't believe we were really stood there, when not eight hours earlier we had been sat in the kitchen, idly discussing the direction of life. Back then my plan had seemed wildly exciting and almost foolproof but now it seemed doomed. Nor did it help that we were close to where Hunter lived and so where we had spent time doing family things and had made happy memories that seemed like cruel pranks now.

Had he ever really loved me, or had he always phoned it in?

Luckily we had established that Hunter was at the taping and with Stephanie too thanks to the promotion for the show and since there was always a lot to get ready, there was little chance that the two of them would be at the office at all. Even so, my heart still pumped pretty crazily and my palms grew sweaty beneath the weight of my idea.

I was going to swan in and demand to see the boss man.

Clearly I was mad, I had to be, right?

Kelly blew a sigh out from somewhere beside me and firmly grabbed my sleeve with her remaining free hand, the other of which was balancing her child on her hipbone as he gurgled and chatted and tried to jam a spit-covered rice cake in.

"Come on Laurie, it's now or never."

"Um, never actually does kind of work for me right now."

I wasn't kidding either –

My knees were shaking badly as she pulled me towards the glass doors in an actual tow, like I was a poorly behaved child being hauled to the dentist who had a bad tooth but didn't want to have it seen. In reality it probably wasn't the greatest of entrances and so I tried to corral my wobbly pins and pull myself up a little bit higher as we walked up the steps and braced ourselves.

"Ready Laurie?"

Kelly was looking at me, like she actually expected me to respond either way and I raised a brow in total confusion and then shook my head back and forth rapidly.

"No."

"Well that's a shame."

"Why?"

In response to my question my best friend threw me a smug little look and then swung in without halting for even a second and passed straight through the big revolving doors, leaving me stranded on the bright steps behind her and looking like an idiot.