Seth

“Rollins.” I gave my last name to the front desk while Cesaro checked in with the other attendant.

The woman punched my name in the system and ran my card while I leaned my elbow against the tall granite counter, watching as people hung around the lobby. It was around 8 in the morning and kids were already waiting outside the hotel but security did a pretty good job of not letting them in. I never knew how they found out where we stayed but Birmingham was the last show of my week and after a 4 hour drive from Mobile, I wasn’t in the mood to deal with much.

“I texted Mark that we just got in.” Cesaro spoke up, looking at me then back at his phone.

“You should’ve waited another hour. I wanted to take a nap before heading in.” I returned, rubbing my eyes.

“Here’s your key, Mr. Rollins. You’ll be room 623. 6th floor.” The front desk woman handed me the key card, returning my ID and my credit card.

“Thanks.” I said, putting everything in my pocket before stepping aside to make away for someone else to check in. “I’ma give Sarah a call before she kills me for ignoring her all week.”

He laughed and nodded his head. “I think Ellie would hunt me down if I ignored her as much as you do your girlfriend man.”

I laughed, finding Sarah’s name in my phone, clearing my throat before hitting the call button. After ringing a few times, I heard her soft voice coming from the other end.

“Hey babe.”

“Hey! You got to the hotel?” She answered, sounding more awake.

“Yup. You just wake up?” I replied, holding the phone between my shoulder and my ear while I shoved my license and my card back into my wallet. “Whatchya got planned for the day?”

“Yeah, I was up all night working on a project for the garden. Your mom and I are going to Lowes for some flowers to plant in the front after I get back from the gym. How was the drive?”

I don’t know when we’d agreed on her moving in, but over the course of 2 months she’d all but taken over my house. Mom seemed to get along with her, I don’t know how happy she was about all her projects, but it kept them both busy and she was there to supervise her not doing anything stupid like painting it pink.

“Exhausting.” I answered. “Cesaro abandoned me to sleep the whole time. It took everything in me to stay awake.”

She giggled on the phone and her voice made me smile. “I could think of a few ways I would’ve made it more fun.”

“Oh yeah?” I replied, my lips curving into a smirk.

I could hear her breath to answer but I froze when I heard a loud cheer from the crowd outside and the sight of rose gold hair caught my eyes, entering the hotel lobby through the revolving doors. I knew that messy bun from anywhere.

Dressed in black workout shorts, a parkway drive band tank top, and all black converse, Hazel walked in through the door. She didn’t pay any mind as she lifted her oversized ray bans on top of her head, balancing a large ice pack on her shoulder and talking on her phone while she pushed the button on the elevator.

It took everything in me not to walk over to her, but after she went in, I watched the numbers on the elevator go up and come to a stop on the 6th floor.

“Babe? Hello! Babe?” I heard on the phone.

What the hell was she doing here? Smackdown wasn’t even coming through Alabama this time around.

“Don’t even think about it.” Cesaro broke my concentration.

“Seth!” Sarah yelled over the phone.

“Shit. I’m sorry babe.” I replied. “I gotta call you back.”

I hung up before she got the chance to answer. I knew I was going to get an earful later but I couldn’t think about her at that moment. I couldn’t think about anything really. My mind kept replaying the time she was in the room next to mine, sick as a dog. In that tiny little room, I’d had the most fun I’d had in months at that point. All we needed was music, daytime tv, and each other. Things were a lot more simple then.

“What do you think she’s doing here?” I asked him, unable to rip my eyes away from the elevator.

“It’s Birmingham, probably a follow up for her shoulder.” He answered, putting his cards into his wallet before grabbing his things to stand next to me.

Of course. The rehab center was down here. It was the only thing I even associated with Birmingham. He was right, unless she had another injury, she was likely just popping in for a follow up on her shoulder.

“She’s on my floor.” I managed to get out, watching the numbers on the elevator start to descend back to the lobby.

“And?” He said bluntly. “She wants nothing to do with you. You’ve said it yourself a million times. The only thing you’d be doing is ruining her day and yours.”

He was right again. She wanted nothing to do with me. Rightfully so, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t change.

I sighed out a breath, nodding my head in agreement.

“Okay, good.” He nodded, satisfied that he’d gotten through to me. “Let’s drop our things off and meet back up in 10?”

“Fine.” I nodded, walking with him to the elevator.

He pushed the button to the 2nd floor, while I pushed the button for the 6th, leaning back against the wall while he got out on his floor before the doors closed, opening again on mine.

“611, 613, 615, 617.”

I followed the numbers on the doors down the hallway, rounding a corner when I stopped short again to see her. 619 was the number on the door I was standing in front of. Mentally counting the rest of them, mine was the one right next to the one she was standing in front of.

Holy shit.

Still balancing the phone between her shoulder and her ear. Her ice pack was on the ground next to her feet while she dug through her bag.

“She’ll be there… I know… don’t even think about it, it’s on me… no…. you guys deserve it… alright Holly.”

Holly? Holly, as in my mom Holly?

“I’ll see if I can make it before you guys leave… yup… shit. I can’t find the keycard for the life of me. I gotta go. I’ll talk to ya later… bye.”

She hung up the phone and went to text something then set it down next to the ice pack to dig deeper in her bag. Letting out a heavy exhale, she placed her hands on her hips as she looked around annoyed before her eyes landed on me.

“Jesus fuck.” She mumbled, grabbing her stuff off the floor.

“Uh, hey.” I managed to find my voice enough to speak up. “Havin’ trouble getting in?”

She stared at me in silence for a minute, the same way she did last time I approached her, and I thoroughly hated myself all over again. I could physically see how much more my presence had irritated her as she looked me up and down.

Placing the ice pack on her shoulder again, she went to walk past me but I stepped in front of her. Silent, for a moment, I stared at her, pleading for any sign of anything, but I got none.

“Are we ever going to talk about it?” I let out a defeated sigh, letting my hands fall to my sides. “Please. Just – just say something. Anything.” I begged.

I needed for Hazel to speak to me. Not in the ring. Not when adrenaline was running high in the middle of a match. Not when her mutt was hanging around. Just face to face. I needed to hear her to talk to me.

She looked up at me then let her eyes fall to the floor, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

“Move.” She replied, but I refused and she crossed her arms to look up at me. “What is it you want me to say Seth? What are you trying to accomplish here? I have literally no words to say to you. We’re not friends. We’re not even technically co-workers. We’re nothing and I have nothing to say to you. So thank you for apologizing before Summerslam but please. If you ever see me in a hallway or run into me at a show, just keep it moving just like you would any other stranger. Now, please move.”

I stepped aside, unable to breath. My heart felt like it had literally been torn from my chest. I ached physically.

Her eyes looked into mine, and I just like the last few times, I could see that she meant every word. I was dead to her. I knew I had fucked up, but hearing her say that we were nothing, tore me apart.

 

Hazel

I had to hold my ground. It was what was best. My match with Charlotte was about putting everything behind me, but that didn’t mean forgiving. It meant moving on. That meant leaving Seth in the past as well.

I lowered my eyes away from him, taking a deep breath and walking down the hallway, stepping into the elevator. I leaned back against it and . In a way, this had been harder than the day I’d ended things. That day left a lot of things up to question. This didn’t. Was Seth ever going to be nothing to me? No. As much as he’d hurt me and as mad as I was at him, that man held a very special place in my heart and I hated myself for it.

Betrayal never comes from your enemies, it’s always from the ones closest to you. The ones who hold you close and creep into the deepest parts of your soul. They could’ve, and did, pull out their entire arsenal to get me to let go of that belt, but I never once thought that it’d the man I called my soulmate  delivering the fatal blow.

That wouldn’t happen again. Ever. Seth was good at manipulation. That’s why he was called the Architect. Only this time, I wasn’t interested in playing his game.

… No matter how shattered he looked.
—

I shut the door behind me, setting my bag down next to the door as I walked further inside, I noticed my lights were on. A smile spread across my lips and I walked further in to see Holly packing away some food into bowls.

She looked up from her task, a wide smile on her lips as she came around the island, meeting me halfway into a tight hug. I spoke with her often and she hung out with my mom all the time, even stayed at my place when she was in town, but it had been months since I’d seen her.

“I thought I’d missed you two!” I said, pulling away.

“We pushed our flights until the morning.” She answered, smiling big as she brushed my hair back, taking a good look at me. “It’s been WAY too long! Would you look at you, your Momma was telling me you were all skin and bone but I said it didn’t look to bad on tv, it turns out she’s completely right! You ain’t been starving yourself have you?”

I laughed, taking off my hoodie and setting it down on the counter. “Please. You have no idea how much I need to eat to even maintain this weight.”

“Well either way, I made you some homemade buffalo mac & cheese, and packed it away.”

“Oh come on, you’re here for your vacation. You didn’t have to do all that.”

“You hush now, it’s my pleasure. Why don’t you take a shower, I’ll throw in your laundry and we can have some dinner before you call it a night.” She said, picking up my bag from the ground and walking over to the laundry room.

I smiled, watching her start to separate my whites and colors. My relationship with Holly could’ve gone south with everything that had happened with her son but it didn’t. In fact after a few apologies from her, we stopped bringing him up all together, which helped immensely. She stayed at my place when she’d come visit my mom and the two of them would always clean and take care of the yard before going away on one of their many world tours together. I couldn’t of asked for anything more.

***For early access to posts, please check out my Patreon. ***