Renascence

~Sequel to Nascence~

Chapter 1

Before long, six years had passed by.

Teralyn was now a journalist for the New York Times, which is where her internship was out of. She had graduated with honors, received her degree and moved out of her one bedroom house to go into the city itself, getting a small penthouse. She made more than enough money to afford it and had made some smart investments as well. The most prestigious newspaper in the entire state of New York.

Her 25^th birthday had just passed and she was promoted within the company, feeling as if she was on top of the world. For the most part, Teralyn did, but she no longer trusted men and refused to date, swearing all of them off. Her hair was now cut short, still long enough to pull back in a small tail, but that was about it. Her main focus was work, being the absolute best journalist and consuming herself in it because her personal life was in shambles.

Taker was a scumbag and admitted it freely. He had thought he could maybe settle down with Teralyn after he had banked his retirement, the first time he had ever thought about that with a woman, but…no. Women were only good for what was between their legs and he knew better than anyone that they would all sell it for one thing or another. Claudia. Ericka. Teralyn…she had sold it all right; he had learned she had been a favored dancer at that club, easily pocketing a few grand every weekend.

Well, live and let learn.

He had settled some business down in Texas, handled some affairs in California and now he was back in New York. Obviously, not as a college student, Taker was in the actual city, having made a bit of a splash in the underworld as it were. The Undertaker was becoming a bit of a brand at this point, it was almost ridiculous. Naturally, he knew his ex was here as a journalist. She had risen in a male dominated industry in record time, surpassing levels most people never even REACHED throughout years of being in journalism.

All between the legs, more than likely screwing her way to the top. Oh well, Taker wished her no harm and how she got through her life was her business. As long as she kept her nose out of his, all would be fine.

No, every single opportunity she had gotten, she rightfully earned and busted her backside more than anyone else. Teralyn had something to prove being in a male dominated industry and she was doing it with flying colors. Currently, she was investigating the seedier parts of New York City and doing interviews with people directly linked to the under belly of the city. Drug dealers, prostitution, addicts, etc. That was her new story her boss wanted her to investigate and when she heard the name ‘Undertaker’, a twinge formed in her heart. He was back in the city or else his name wouldn’t be floating around. Every interview she’d had thus far had his name come out of their mouth.

So naturally, when she showed her boss the results of her interviews and investigation, he sent her to the man himself. Fate must’ve really despised her because she didn’t want anything to do with her ex-boyfriend. There was no way in hell she could tell her boss about her personal experience with the drug dealing monster she used to be in love with. Scrubbing a hand down her face, Teralyn had no idea how she was going to pull this off without talking to the man himself in person. No, there had to be a way around it and Teralyn would find it, like always.

Word got to him eventually that she was talking to people and those people started disappearing, each and every one of them leaving the city. What the hell had happened to people when a journalist was literally getting practically all this information? No self-respecting criminal just opened up and gave an interview. Taker pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering if Teralyn was really that stupid to come hunting him down. He snorted, wondering how that’d play out, given she had a past with him. There were always two sides to every story and the prized pet journalist was a royal idiot, working for a company of royal idiots, if they thought they were getting past the crackheads. All basic replicas of what Ericka could have been if he hadn’t intervened and sobered her up.

“What’re you going to do if she does come?”

“Be disappointed, I actually thought she was smarter than that.”

There was no way in hell she was going to Mark or tracking him down. There were ways to find information out without hearing directly from the horse’s mouth and she was taking a roundabout way to do her job. Her boss seemed to be fine with it, as long as she got results. She was incredibly smart and actually had an interview with one of The Ministry’s former members, Dennis Knight, also known as Mideon. He had the scoop on what Undertaker was up to and the types of drugs he sold, basically all the information she needed to do her article.

She could’ve been a complete bitch and released his name to the world, but…Teralyn wasn’t like that. She paid Dennis well – or rather the company did – before sending him on his way. Dennis also left the city that very same day, wishing her well and warned her to be careful snooping into Undertaker’s business. It wasn’t as if she was turning him into the authorities or anything – Teralyn wouldn’t do that, but people were interested in hearing about the seedier, dangerous side of New York City. It was her job to produce those types of articles and she would make sure this one was tasteful, respectful, but also truthful.

The woman had a gold-plated pussy because, in the real world, little girls did not bust their ass for a few years as an intern, only to get promoted at age 23. Assignments should have, by rights, gone to someone more well-known and more knowledgeable on what they were doing. Teralyn was just asking and people were talking; he was disappointed because she wasn’t even working for any of it, it was literally being given to her. It was BORING. Hell, Taker hadn’t given strippers enough credit, they were apparently honing their lifetime hustling skills on those poles and with those lap dances.

He was also thinking about packing up to leave because honestly, this was just stupid. If she was able to get the information that easily and she was going to publish it, Taker wasn’t sticking around for the FBI to come hunting. And they would. His business transcended state lines and that was a federal crime. There was no way he’d go to prison just because his ex was crazy. Maybe he’d just put a hit out on her because he doubted Teralyn would talk to him.

He’d be STUPID to go talk to her. Right? Right.

“Wow…so many people are going to pin this right on me. I bet Austin is jumping for joy right now, I’m surprised he hasn’t gone in and volunteered to be interviewed.” Taker was reading the new article, wondering how crazy a person had to be to go seek out drug users in the seedier parts of New York City to ask about someone, who had covered up a murder on their behalf.

Pretty crazy. Taker lit a cigarette, propping his bare feet up on the table, enjoying his brand new penthouse that was not in any name associated with him. He had been cutting down on staff because obviously, Teralyn had this uncanny ability to just get her story without anyone thinking twice about spilling their guts. He was becoming paranoid and he wasn’t even a user.

Kane, his most loyal, most trusted, snorted and refilled both their coffee cups. Simone was out of the city for now while everything went on because she was pregnant with their second kid and he wasn’t risking his wife or babies. No. They’d be taken care of if something happened to him for sure. “You’re going to go talk to her, aren’t you?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I haven’t decided if I’m going to kill or kiss her. Either one is a strong, strong possibility.”

“Both?”

“Maybe.”

~!~

The article turned out pretty well, if she did say so herself. Mark’s name was not mentioned once, only his ‘street’ name. Only drug dealers and users would know of him. Not even the Ministry was mentioned, she was careful in how she worded everything. This was her job, however, and she had to do it to the best of her ability. This was what she went to school for, journalism, and sometimes, it could get dangerous. Her boss had asked if she was all right with doing this subject and she assured him she could.

Not a lot of people in the company wanted to take on jobs like this, but apparently, Teralyn was stupid and crazy enough to do it. Being stupid and crazy had gotten her a promotion and she was well-respected throughout her company. Her internship was two years long and then she’d gotten a job straight into the same company she interned for. It was luck-based, lady luck had smiled down on her and hopefully, she would continue to do so. Sipping her coffee, Teralyn opened her laptop and started typing some random thoughts going on in her head, ideas on what she could do for her next article to pitch to her boss.

Even young girls who apparently got their dream job right out the gate had to sit in a cubicle and he was studying her thoughtfully over the top of it.

“Who are you?”

That would be some woman in the cubicle beside Teralyn and he grinned warmly. “Mark Calaway, ma’am.”

Oh yeah, Teralyn’s head snapped up and his smile turned to her. He was there, in the flesh, the man she had been writing about. Trying to be discreet wasn’t happening since people weren’t completely stupid. She could have probably gotten away with not being harassed by him if she had left out the ‘Undertaker’ moniker, but…Teralyn hadn’t and people knew him by it, along with what he did.

“Hey there, darlin’, long time no see.”

“Oh, you know Tera?”

“Yes ma’am, we went to school together, dated a little bit.” That charming smile was back as he stepped around, aware Teralyn was sitting there like she didn’t know what to do. He had come in black dress slacks and a gray button up, long sleeved shirt, hiding his tattoos, including his neck. “You gonna get up, girl, and say hello to me?” His Texas accent was also out in force, something he had kept buried for years.

SNAP OUT OF IT!! “Y-Yeah, sorry, hi…”

What the HELL was he doing here at her JOB? Had Mark completely lost his ever loving mind?! Teralyn managed to smile back at him, nodding at Cynthia to let her know it was all right. Standing from her chair, Teralyn wore a pair of black dress pants and a light blue blouse that was short sleeved because it was hotter than Hades outside. Beginning of July, summer was in full swing and bloom and the humidity was no joke either. Christ, why was she thinking about the weather now?!

“Cyn, I’m gonna take my break. Let Daniel know for me?”

“Sure, no problem, sweetie. You two have fun now.”

No, this was not a social visit and Teralyn could tell it wasn’t as she lead the way out of the office, doing everything in her power to remain calm. “There’s, um, a sitting area over here we can use to talk.” She informed him calmly, congratulating herself on keeping the stammer out of her voice.

This damn sure was a social visit. If Teralyn was half as smart as she touted herself as, talented, then she had known this visit was coming. She could not put his name out there and not expect him to sit back and watch. No…Taker wasn’t that kind of man and if she had ever followed up on some of those people, she’d learn they had gone missing. Not surprising, people on the streets did ALL the time. It wasn’t anything worth reporting, to be honest, since it was just that common.

“You look gorgeous as ever, Teralyn,” A lot more modest than the last time he had seen her, shaking her money makers at him. “You okay, darlin’? You’re pale.”

“I’m fine and thank you.”

He looked completely different and better. How was that possible? The years had been incredibly good to this man. No longer did he sport the black hair and long goatee. No, now his hair was a deep auburn red, same with his goatee…actually, he looked completely different than he had six years ago.

“You look different…in a good way.” Teralyn folded her hands in her lap, keeping her voice neutral and soft, wondering when he was going to stop beating around the bush with this visit.

“Well, we’re in the 2000’s now, darlin’, figured it was time to update the look with the new millennium.” Taker winked at her, his tone teasing and soft, knowing well she was nervous and trying to figure out when he was going to spring everything on her.

Well, Taker wasn’t because he had also grown up a bit. He was pushing thirty years old and a bit more refined in some things he did. A bit more deadly as well. Hence all those snitches finding their backsides out in the ocean or something along with her would-be rapist. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out where she had gotten the new information from and Dennis would eventually find out the long arm of the Undertaker had no limits. It would reach out and touch somebody, whenever and wherever.

“So,” He leaned back in the couch he was sitting on since she had taken the chair, folding one leg over the other and just stared at her. “How’s the promotion? You’ve been makin’ waves with them articles.”

There it is, the real reason why he’s here. What else did I expect? “It’s a little overwhelming, I admit, but I’m handling it one article at a time. My boss can be pushy at times, but all bosses are like that.” She had also grown up considerably, not quick to jump the gun like before and Teralyn could also protect herself.

Self-defense classes and she owned a gun, which she had a license to carry with her everywhere she went. It was currently strapped to her bra, a discreet bra holster, so if someone tried attacking her, she could have it out in three seconds flat or less. Shooting ranges were fun she had quickly discovered because mace and crowbars, tire irons, they didn’t cut the mustard in this world, not anymore. Living in New York City required some kind of lethal protection, just in case.

“I’m the youngest person to be promoted in my company too, so that’s an accomplishment, I guess.” Some things about Teralyn would never change and that was how humble and modest she was. “What about you? I heard you moved out of state for a while, but now you’re back. Miss New York that badly?”

Chapter 2

Well, he sure as hell wasn’t here to kiss and make up, or whatever else, closure maybe. Taker had left her alone and that was that, knowing he would have probably set that club on fire if she had kept working there. Undoubtedly, she was probably assuming he was cheating with ‘Joonie’ or whatever her stage name had been, with how he had acted. He really didn’t care anymore. Now that he knew what Teralyn was really about, herself obviously, he respected that. Screwing a powerful drug dealer while stripping on the side, she had her bases covered for sure.

“Not particularly, no, but I had some business to come wrap up. Interestin’ how I come back and all of a sudden, there’s articles out there…weird coincidence, huh, darlin’?”

Only one article was about him, so what the hell is he trying to get at here? What does he want from me?

Mark could bang whoever he wanted now. They weren’t together and hadn’t been in six years. For all she knew, he had a wife or several of them. That thought left a bitter taste in her mouth and that pit was back in her stomach, though she remained cool, calm and collected on the outside.

“It actually is, believe it or not. My boss has been wanting to expose the underground of the city for a while now and asked me to go do some investigating and research into the under belly. So I did and Undertaker popped up every single time. I told my boss and he gave me the assignment to pursue Undertaker, find out his story, etc. I thought he was out of his mind, so I did it my way and he accepted it for what it was.” His real name wasn’t mentioned once and neither was any of The Ministry members, so as long as Mark kept a low profile within the city, this would blow over shortly since there were A LOT of drug dealers here. “Thought it turned out pretty good and I’m proud of my work.” There was just a hint of pride in her voice when Teralyn said those words, her eyes still unable to meet his. Looking at this man, this monster, hurt her too much and it was taking all of her resolve not to completely fall apart right now.

It was hilarious, and kind of sad, how he was a monster because he had gone to a strip club and gotten a lap dance. Never the dealing, definitely not when he had covered up a murder she had committed, but the day he waltzed into her workplace, things were done. “You weren’t investigatin’ anything fun then, Teralyn.” And she wasn’t. She was investigating what she was comfortable with because in New York City, drugs were not that big of a deal. Teralyn should’ve been out investigating the mob or something bigger. “Drugs are small time, it’s the sex traffickin’ where everything is these days.”

“I’m aware of that, but whatever my boss tells me to do, I do it. We all can’t have fun with our jobs, after all. I’m sure eventually, he’ll steer me in that direction.” And I don’t need YOU of all people here telling me how to do my fucking job, asshole!

It took her a while to come to terms with the fact he was a monster for more than just cheating on her. He was a dangerous, deadly drug dealer and she was wrong to ever get involved with someone like that. At the time, Teralyn had been young and stupid – hell, she was still young, but her guard was up and it was the reason she hadn’t been with anyone since Mark. Teralyn had trust issues after being cheated on twice. Mark could think whatever he wanted, she didn’t care anymore and would continue doing her job, regardless of how he felt about it. She could give a damn how he felt, honestly.

He hadn’t cheated on her any more than she had cheated on him. Taker had slapped her backside, a stripper’s backside, and groped her. Teralyn had been selling her body to other men for money. Hell, she could have been giving out private dances for all he knew! Taker had treated this woman like GOLD, regardless of what he did to earn his money, regardless of what she had been doing behind his back. He had COVERED up a MURDER she had committed and he could see in her eyes how she thought of him, as nothing more than a monster. That was fine. He was after all.

“Goddamn, I wish my job was fun, better than bein’ a teacher’s aide though. Less paperwork.” He joked, finally leaning forward after planting his feet on the ground, elbows on his knees as he looked at her. “Noticed you left out a few details there, darlin’, why’s that?”

He was still a teacher’s aide? She was under the assumption he’d gotten his master’s degree in teaching, so he should’ve been an actual teacher these days. Unless that was just a coverup…and Teralyn immediately stopped that train of thought, finally looking up at him fully. They weren’t being coy anymore, it seemed, though he kept up the façade with this accent he had going on. Since when did he have a southern accent anyway?

“I owed you one.”

Against her better judgment and despite how she felt for this man, Teralyn did not want to see him go to prison. She didn’t want to see him in trouble and he had helped her out with that rapist all those years ago. It was the least she could do because she could be behind bars right now for murder. He protected her, so she returned the favor.

“I figured you’d be a teacher by now with your master’s degree. Or did you not get it?”

No, he WAS formerly a teacher’s aide, that’s what he had done in college. Taker had been majoring in history, which made it so he could get a license to teach that course and mythology, of course, but he saw no reason. Things were changing worldwide, including the business he was in, and it was safer to move around and not put down roots. Especially after ‘Undertaker’ hit the newsstands. He was just waiting for Steve Austin and his idiot cult of jocks to come out of the woodwork, it’d happen. Apparently, his old employees had, just because she had asked.

“Nah, I got it, just ain’t settled down long enough to seek gainful employment with it. Imagine me, teachin’ history? Mind you, there was an openin’ down in Texas, not far from my hometown, but…” Taker had a bit of a problem with some dealers from the borders and he hadn’t wanted bloodshed that close to home, hence his trip here.

Teralyn doubted Steve Austin was even in the area anymore. Last she heard, he had moved back to Texas to get away from everything, including his daughter, who wanted nothing to do with him. Simone was warped in the head by Glenn Jacobs and her father couldn’t take it, so he scampered out of the city about two years ago and nobody had heard from him since. He was literally the only one who had any kind of ‘threat’ towards Mark, but that had been diminished greatly when he was fired from the college, after an investigation was done regarding how he treated students and colleagues. Steve Austin had a drinking problem, on top of an anger issue and that was more than enough to justify firing him.

Mark knew all of this, so if he was worried about the bald headed bastard coming after him, he was the stupid one. As far as Dennis went, he had been the one to contact Daniel, her boss, and Daniel had set up a meeting with them to discuss Undertaker. Most of what the article said was what Dennis told her because a lot of the people she tried interviewing refused. People were legitimately terrified of the Undertaker and rightfully so, he was a dangerous, deadly entity in this world.

“Maybe teaching isn’t for you then.” It was truthful enough; all Mark was focused on was building his drug business and making as much money as he could to buy those private islands or whatever the hell he wanted. “Probably isn’t up your alley, but at least you got a master’s out of it, so that shows you’re a smart man and you have an education. You’ll figure out what to do, I’m sure.”

Honestly, he had never given a flying fig about the degree. It had provided him with a legitimate cover and that was it. Also, Taker hadn’t had to show off his privates to pay for it, doubly better, and his eyes flashed maliciously as he took in her conservative clothing. Teralyn honestly was the living stereotype. All modest and humble on the top, but nothing except a slut underneath; he had never gone for that type since her. Taker wanted a woman who was the same inside and out, and if that was a slut through and through, at least he knew beforehand.

“No, teachin’ is for me, most people don’t realize it until it’s too late.” Ericka was a prime example and Ericka was now dead because her dumb ass had come back to New York BEFORE he had left, only to fall right back into that lifestyle. One thing he could say about Teralyn, she was smart and had done what she needed to, then gotten out. “So, what’s your next big piece?” Since Teralyn was a hotshot, probably the youngest woman in history actually to rise this quickly, and she wasn’t even at the top yet.

“Well then, I hope you find a suitable position to use your degree in, Mark.” That was none of his business and she wasn’t taking the bait, crossing one leg over the other. “And I don’t really know yet. I have some ideas in my head, but nothing I can tell you, no offense. Can’t divulge ALL of my secrets now, can I?”

She was the same woman inside and out; the stripping was long behind her and she didn’t regret doing it because it paid her tuition off as well as afforded her a beautiful one bedroom penthouse suite in the city. This job supplied her the funds to keep her comfortable lifestyle going and it was all done on HER merits. So what if she had to flash some tits and ass in the past? It didn’t matter because she was a successful woman in a world where men dominated, including her field. Teralyn saw that flash of maliciousness in his eyes and didn’t let it bother her because she refused to be intimidated by her ex. That’s all he was to her, or so she tried convincing herself.

“Sounds like you’re dismissin’ me, girl.” He drawled, amusement lacing his tone as he stood up, extending a hand to her. Teralyn didn’t want to touch him, but she couldn’t be rude either since it’d look really bad on her, being unprofessional and all. So when she slid her hand reluctantly into his, he firmly gripped it, mindful not to hurt her and helped her to her feet. “I’m supposin’ you’re not inclined to let me treat you to lunch?” Taker already knew the answer, the mirth plain in his green eyes while staring down at her intently.

Once again, Teralyn was full of surprises and shrugged, refusing to turn down a meal. “Why wouldn’t I? If you want to treat me to lunch, I have no problem with that.” This was her way of showing Mark she was not scared of him, a slight amusement entering her own ocean blues. “Just let me text my boss and Cyn really quick to let them know I’m stepping out for a longer lunch.”

Hell, she was a journalist and didn’t have a 9 to 5 job like others did, so there was some leeway. Releasing his hand, she pulled her cell phone out and sent the text messages before slipping it back into her pocket, her wallet in the other. It was dangerous carrying around a purse in New York City, definitely put a bullseye on a woman for sure.

“Lead the way, Mark.”

They would be going to a small bistro right down the street, not that Taker would deign to sit on the outside patio. He liked New York City, in small doses, but he wasn’t stupid enough to park his backside at a table outside on a busy street. He wasn’t exactly someone to get lost in a crowd, not with his size. Well, maybe not here since New York was home to all sorts. He eyed her cell phone, technology had come a long way since the 90’s and he idly wondered if anyone used pagers anymore, inwardly snorting. Like a gentleman, he held open doors and kept his hand on the small of her back.

“In here.” He said once they had reached their destination, pulling open the door.

It was a quiet, intimate setting and something told Teralyn he was well known here. They were shown to a table in a back room, with just a few other tables that had no patrons at the moment. Later on that night, it would be packed because this was New York City. All restaurants, bistros and bars were always packed. The city never slept and it became more alive, more dangerous, at night than during the day.

“Thank you.” She murmured to the waiter, taking the menu from the young man and sipped her glass of water already provided.

They each ordered their beverage and for her it was lemonade while Mark decided to go with a beer. Teralyn didn’t drink much these days, unless she was in the confines of her penthouse, where she knew it was safe and even then, she only drank wine. There was a hidden agenda here, she could smell it and feel it down to her bones, because Mark didn’t just ask her out to lunch out of the kindness of his heart. She wasn’t even stupid enough to buy that.

“Hmm, salads look good here and so do the chicken wraps.”

In fact, Taker owned a part of the place. Just a small percentage, but enough to afford him some extra cash that was through legal channels and his own private room whenever he happened to come in town. Most people didn’t mess with the main owner, knowing that the man and his wife had protection in their pocket, so to speak. Since he didn’t want her to know any of that, Taker allowed them to be seated in the general area before browsing the menu handed to him.

“Taco salad sounds about right.” He set the menu down since he always ordered the same thing and leaned back in his seat, studying her thoughtfully.

“I think I’ll get the chicken wraps. They look good.” Teralyn decided, setting her own menu down and sipped more of her water, keeping her elbows off the table.

She knew what proper table manners were since she’d been raised mostly right. Her mother and her were finally in a better place in life, once Teralyn graduated and started her career. They had an understanding, but nothing more than that. She felt Mark’s eyes on her, but didn’t really know what to say after all this time.

Keep it casual, don’t get heavy, it’s not worth it. The waiter came back a few minutes later and took their orders before heading off, after refilling their water glasses. “Hard to believe I’ve lived here for two years and never knew about this place. Must be one of New York City’s hidden gems.” Unless the food sucked, then no.

Chapter 3

The food was decent, certain things were delicious, and some things were out of the microwave, which was food he avoided. If she had ordered something gross or he knew was terrible, he probably would…have let it continue because honestly, they weren’t even friends anymore. Taker was just curious about whether or not she would even accept his offer for lunch and she had.

“Mmm, it’s okay, nothin’ amazing.” He conceded, reaching for a cigarette and offered the pack to her. “About time to quit, smokin’ laws go into effect this year.” The public ban.

No, they weren’t, but she was curious why he would invite her out for lunch in the first place. Mark wasn’t showing his hand and Teralyn wasn’t showing hers either. They could keep going back and forth with this awkward, casual talk, that was fine by her.

“Yeah, that’d be a good idea for your health, if anything.” Teralyn did not like smoking, though when she was with him, she understood people had vises. Everyone had one. Hers was chocolate eclairs while watching a movie on a Saturday night since she didn’t have any kind of personal or social life.

Awkward for her, maybe, but Taker was perfectly relaxed, smoking his cigarette calmly without a care in the world. Curiosity was one of his big motivators, he got bored a little too easily these days and since Teralyn had decided to insert herself back into his life via her article and nosing around…well, she had been the one to hold that door wide open and he had waltzed in. If she were an ethical journalist, she would have turned that article down because she knew him, intimately at that. There was a conflict of interest here.

“So, besides movin’ to the big city and internin’ your way up the ladder, what’s new, Teralyn? You used to never shut up.”

That made her snort derisively, rolling her eyes in response and shrugged, folding her arms in front of her chest. “Nothing much, really. Work, work, and more work. That’s basically what my life is. I work, I go home, eat, sleep, maybe watch a movie, get up and do it all over again. Oh, and pay bills. Can’t forget about those.” There was a reason she was at the top of her game, climbing rapidly in the company and asserting herself as a successful woman in this world. Nobody worked harder than she did. “Six years can change a person – even one night can change a person.” The night she revealed to him she was the very same stripper he was about to fuck in that club in that private VIP room had changed her forever. It was the same night she quit, the very next week starting her internship she had applied for and that was what set her on her path to success. “I turn the question to you – what’s new with you?” Surely he had someone in his life, the man was too damn sexy and handsome not to have his fair share of women in the world. Don’t go down that road, Teralyn. Focus on staying casual.

“Mmm, same old, same old.”

Taker had not been about to fuck the stripper; he had OFFERED to do it, mostly because ‘Jonie’ had needed to be taught a lesson about turning down a client. If he would have known then what he knew now, he would have slapped her senselessly. Taking money from OTHER men, but refusing to take his just because she had the privilege of knowing who he was while he hadn’t. If that hadn’t been a setup he had no idea what was. The woman had set him up to fail. Made sense, Teralyn had accused him of not trusting her, of being afraid of his reactions, so by setting him up that way, she had a reason to leave him without a word.

Well played. “Got married, didn’t like it, got annulled, apparently that’s a thing in Vegas.”

The name was Juna, though she’d left that identity behind six years ago and never looked back. “Ah, yeah I don’t doubt it.”

Christ, he’d been married and divorced already…then again, it was six years and that was a long time. Her trust issues with men prevented her from getting close to anyone and Teralyn decided that for herself. She was better off alone, where she couldn’t hurt anyone and they couldn’t hurt her. It was how she decided to live her life and honestly, Teralyn didn’t even find sex appealing anymore. In her eyes, sex was evil and she would never let it manipulate her life again like it had when she was nineteen.

“Sorry it didn’t work out for you.”

She only had herself to blame. Teralyn could have been honest about her job and circumvented the entire thing. Couldn’t tell the guy who had made her murder victim go away she was stripping…that was insane. Taker had walked the mostly straight and narrow, emphasis on mostly, with her and the one night he didn’t…talk about being bitch slapped with karma, epically.

“Don’t be, she was a showgirl.” Honest about her ambitions to do more than shake her assets on a Vegas stage and honestly, he had needed her for a deal in that hotel. She worked there, had access…it had been a convenience thing. “She wanted to stay there and I didn’t.”

Talk about feeling like she was bulldozed in the stomach! Mark had married a showgirl from Vegas? Did she hear that right? Somehow, someway, Teralyn managed to keep the same expression on her face and controlled her emotions, nodding to acknowledge him.

“Don’t blame you there. I would never live in Vegas. New York City is bad enough with the noise and bustle.”

Vegas – the city that never sleeps. It probably would’ve fit him better with what he did for a living. Taking a large swig of her lemonade, Teralyn was no longer hungry, her appetite gone and hated she had played this game in the first place. Now, she had to sit here and endure this, keep it casual, when all she wanted to do was run out of here far away from this man. When Mark asked if she’d ever married, she managed to laugh.

“Oh yeah, sure, had them lining up outside of my house. No, never got married and never will.” Teralyn didn’t even have a pet because she wasn’t fond of animals. Essentially, she was a workaholic devoted to her job and that was it – that was all she had going for her in her life. The thought of getting married, having kids…it was long gone and it would never happen. “I’m assuming no kids since you got the marriage annulled?”

Taker had married a woman where he knew exactly what he was getting. Someone who shook her ass and tits for money with no surprises. Granted, he hadn’t planned on staying married to her, hadn’t even sexed her up… he just NEEDED her keycards and ID card. He was so glad he hadn’t been in the middle of a drink when she asked that, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Hell. No. I got dogs, that’s it. I’m an Uncle, however, that’s about as close to kids as I ever wanna get.” When she raised HER eyebrow, he flashed a genuine smile. “Glenn and Simone got married, they’re on baby number two. She flayed his ass up and down after she found out he’d been at that club and now…he’s…different.” Still a bastard, still evil, but family oriented. It was weird.

Glenn had knocked Simone up, which was probably the only way she stayed with the cheating bastard. That wasn’t her business and Teralyn really didn’t know what to say. That night watching Glenn at the club had really changed her whole outlook about the man and it wasn’t changing anytime soon.

“Sounds like they’re happy.” That was about the only nice thing she’d be able to say regarding Glenn Jacobs and Simone. There was no animosity towards Simone, but any woman who stayed with a man that cheated on them, at a strip club no less, deserved what they got. Now she was knocked up with baby number two and married, Glenn had her locked down for life. “Uncle Mark…has a certain ring to it, I suppose.” More like Uncle Undertaker, but there was no way in hell she was saying that out loud. Where is our damn food, so I can eat and get the hell out of here already!

Judgy had no idea, honestly didn’t. What had started up as a game, sort of revenge – nobody liked being called ugly – had ended up into this twisted love story and Simone now had Kane by his short and curlies, which she tended too very lovingly. “You really are havin’ a hard time doin’ this, aren’t you?”

Taker had no idea she had trust issues from the club. The way he figured it, she had trust issues all along because no matter how much he had tried building her up, she hadn’t bought it, hadn’t believed, and the damage had been done before him. Honestly, what kind of woman sold her assets and then got pissed when her man showed up at the club? The hypocritical kind.

Teralyn was never going to properly grow up and enjoy being an adult, her success, her life, until she learned to stop being so miserable, depressed and using excuses. It was almost depressing him, seeing her like this. And she had a lot of potential. For a normal life, not one her Mommy had groomed her for. No, Mommy had screwed her up and then Teralyn had screwed herself up more with weird ideals and standards she held other people too. Never mind she wasn’t meeting them herself. Taker had asked her to move in, he was mentally facepalming himself for putting in the effort on a woman who had never been obtainable. Not for someone like him anyway.

“I got it,” He was tossing bills onto the table. “Go on, little Persephone.”

Maybe she was wrong for not telling him about her night job, but honestly, what business was it of his? Teralyn wasn’t cheating on him! She was doing a job to support herself the best way she knew how, while looking for something better in the process. Didn’t Mark remember her financial issues she was having? No, apparently not. It wasn’t his responsibility to pull her ass out of that fire, so she had to do what she had to do. He had gone to the strip club of his own volition and god knows how many times he’d done that in the past to her!

The moment he pulled her on his lap and began fondling her, touching her breasts and ass, while not knowing who she truly was, it was over. Teralyn was not screwed up about men at all, she knew her worth and twice she had her heart broken. TWICE! She had given Mark everything, all of her, every piece of her, and he turned out to be just as big of a scumbag as Scott. And SHE was the hypocrite because she had standards for herself? He could go fuck himself because HE was just as big of a hypocrite as she was! Hell, he’d gone off and married a goddamn dancer, a showgirl, in Vegas! Mark had NO right judging her for anything she’d done when lord only knew all the atrocities he had under his belt!

She was on the verge of asking ‘doing what’, but Mark had cut her off and tossed the bills on the table, calling her Little Persephone. What the hell? What was that supposed to mean? Teralyn hadn’t said anything mean or derogative towards him, yet he was dismissing her and the food hadn’t even arrived yet. That was fine, this was a mistake and Teralyn knew better than to even entertain the thought they could coexist over a meal, at the very least.

“See you around, Hades.”

She tossed her OWN bills on the table, refusing to let him pay for her meal or anything, and headed out, feeling so full of anger and resentment, she wasn’t sure what to do with it. The gym was an option, that was the one thing she kept on whenever she had some downtime. In her job, it didn’t come often, but when it did, she did hit the gym at least a couple times a week to keep in shape.

“Why are you crying?” Cynthia asked worriedly once her friend and fellow coworker walked back inside the office, immediately stepping out of her cubicle. “Did that man that was here hurt you?”

In more ways than one. “No. Do you mind if I take off for the rest of the day?”

“Yeah sure, I was on my way out anyway to do an interview with someone.”

“Okay, have a nice weekend, Cyn.” Grabbing her car keys from the drawer in her desk, Teralyn walked out of the building and slid behind the wheel, angrily wiping her tears away. Chocolate eclairs and movies were on the agenda tonight…along with loading her gun, just in case.

He had leaned back, accepting the beer he was brought when their food arrived, passing over all the money. That waitress got a lovely tip and he had ate, enjoying his beer. Unfortunately, his darling Persephone thought she had earned everything and she hadn’t. There was no doubt Teralyn was bright, he knew damn well she was, but she had never questioned anything when it came to herself. Unless it pertained to men. That was her mistake. Always with blaming men. Taker doubted she had learned that lesson yet, to start taking some of that blame onto herself. So, like the patient man he was, he was still here, ready to help her learn a lesson.

Maybe this time, she’d actually learn it.

Merit had not gotten her very far in life. Poor girl. Fortunately for her, Taker had come home to give his darlin’ Teralyn a real chance.

Also, he had gotten bored. Boredom was bad.

There was never any reason to question anything pertaining to her career. She had gone to school for four years and had gotten an internship she applied for. Professor Moody had been the one to tell her about it, pointing out it couldn’t hurt to apply. It was while she was stripping and she was searching for a better job, something that would help her further her career choice instead of stripping her clothes off for strange men for money. Unfortunately, it took some time for the internship to come around and in the meantime, she had acquired a lot of money within the three months she stripped. Enough to pay off her tuition for the year, along with rent for the apartment. The internship was paid and she continued her schooling while doing it, giving up everything else like the newspaper with Jason and Professor Moody’s editing for his book.

Little did she know this was all planned by her very masterful and devious former love of her life.

Chapter 4

She had trusted Moody, when she knew he was in Taker’s pocket. Again, poor, ignorant girl. Did he come clean and let her know her world was mostly, like 80%, thanks to him and his meticulous crafting? Taker had ditched the old teacher’s aide look when he had retired to his penthouse. Conveniently enough, it was right across from hers, an infamously terrible New York road that he hated navigating because that many lanes of traffic was just crazy. Also, who didn’t allow for making right turns on red? New York City sucked.

To be fair, when Taker had found out that she had started working the strip club, he realized why. He had cost her that coffee house job…because she had turned him down for a date, thanks to it conflicting with work. He was SUCH a shit, but at the time, Taker hadn’t anticipated falling for her. HE had fallen for someone he honestly thought was naïve and ignorant how the real world worked…and he was still falling.

“I need to get her back,” He rumbled to himself, leaning nude against the tinted windows, a glass of whiskey in hand. “Or kill her.” One or the other.

Taker could try to kill her, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight and would more than likely take him with her. Teralyn had a gun for a reason, another in her penthouse under her bed. No kids, so she could leave it where she could get to it quickly. Teralyn also had no idea her ex lived right across from her, across the streets that were lined with traffic on a daily and nightly basis. It wasn’t just a hop, skip and jump to get from one building to the other, that wasn’t how New York City worked. Just because she was so used to living here, Teralyn had grown accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the city, the noise and everything.

Sitting on her couch, in a pair of panties and a tank top, she had a plate of chocolate eclairs in front of her unthawing from the freezer with a glass of blackberry wine. After getting home, she had herself a good, long cry in the shower, letting the turmoil and heartache out all over again, wondering when the wounds would start healing. Six years…wasn’t that enough time to forget about him and move on? No, it wasn’t and seeing him today reopened the wounds, especially after hearing he had married a damn showgirl in Vegas.

Ignorant thinking she’d take anyone down with her, as if it were that easy. Taker knew about her peashooter, getting a license to carry in New York City was interesting. It had specific laws that were not a part of the state in general and people were subject to approval via different boards and departments. Obviously, one could get guns illegally, but that wasn’t the point. Teralyn was a good girl, a law abiding citizen, who thought too highly of herself and what she was capable of.

Her wounds weren’t going to heal anytime soon. Little girl did not realize what he already was coming to the realization of. She needed closure. She needed a serious, adult to adult conversation, without accusations or putting the blame in one corner. If Teralyn wanted to mend her broken heart and move on from this shell of a life, she needed to face him head-on and have a conversation.

Not after being called Little Persephone – that was not happening anytime soon. What a cold bastard to call her something like that in the first place! To make reference to what they talked about their first night meeting, when she looked like a gothic whore, thanks to Claudia.

Fucking asshole!

Teralyn munched on another éclair, flipping through channels and settled on a show she didn’t really recognize, just put it on for background noise at this point. And yes, she was a law abiding citizen, for the most part, and had licenses for both guns she owned. If someone came into her penthouse uninvited, they would be shot. She did not care and had gone to the shooting range to practice at least once or twice a week at first. Now it was maybe once or twice a month since she’d gotten the hang of it and her targets weren’t half bad. They were good enough to kill an intruder, that was for damn sure.

What Teralyn also didn’t know was Claudia had been the one to find out about her stripper job. She went right to Taker, carrying one wig, the platinum blonde one, and a hot pink number that looked like something only a stripper would wear. Taker had immediately gone to the strip club and talked to Gary, finding out from him it was indeed his girlfriend that worked there.

Gary had no idea why Taker wanted the information, thinking he wanted to make Juna another seller within the club. Taker didn’t elaborate on anything either and left it at that, deciding to teach his woman a lesson she’d never forget instead of confronting her about the job. It had backfired on him because he didn’t expect her to quit the same night, due to the internship that was also his doing, thanks to Moody putting it in her ear.

In mythology class, when he had been substituting for Moody as a teacher, Teralyn had stated that the story of Persephone and Hades was an obsessive rape story. She wasn’t wrong. There was a VERSION that went that way. There was also a version where Persephone loved Hades. Then there was the more common version where Persephone had eaten food of the Underworld, six pomegranate seeds and that was what had gotten her six months with her husband, six months with her mother. Taker had meant no offense at all by calling her that, it fit them. She was his Persephone, her ignorance was making her life worse, and he was Hades, pining for her throughout those lonely six months away.

Metaphorically speaking.

In their case, it had been six years instead of months.

Nothing had backfired on him because quite frankly, he could have snatched her up at any time over these last years. Taker could have simply plucked her up. He had LET her walk out of his life. He had LET her think he was surrendering. Even when things didn’t go his way, he managed to turn them around. Except for one thing and it was the simple fact that he had LET Teralyn keep his stupid heart. Taker had hoped she’d grow up emotionally from that nineteen year old girl, who had had issues connecting properly, adulting properly, when it came to relationships. She had been overboard or aloof, having issues finding the balance. What he had been doing these past six years was letting her grow up, watching and waiting.

What was going to backfire was he wasn’t sure she had. If anything, Taker was pretty sure she was going to be emotionally stunted for the rest of her life. Her mother had taught her how to use her body to get ahead and not how to navigate matters of the heart.

When Teralyn next went to work, she’d find a single red rose with a black velvet ribbon, elegant cursive reading: Persephone along with a small jewelry box. Inside, six jeweled pomegranate seeds.

“Who in the world is Persephone and what are those? Are those…”

“Pomegranate seeds.”

Teralyn gently glided her fingertips over them because they were beautiful and so was the rose, the ribbon…even the cursive writing. What the hell was she supposed to do with this? What was Mark trying to do? Damn it, there went another stab of pain in her heart and she had to fight it back, closing the lid to the container with the pomegranate seeds. They were jeweled, beautiful, and she wouldn’t throw them away or get rid of them.

“Did that guy from Friday send you this?” Cynthia waited for her friend to nod and smiled, raising a brow at the confused expression on Teralyn’s face. “Those pomegranate seeds look pretty pricey. He must really like you.”

Teralyn didn’t know what to think or believe anymore, knowing she had to put this all out of her mind for the time being and get to work. Emotional stuff had to be checked at the door, though she did make sure to put the red rose in a small vase, not wanting it to die. Every time she looked at it throughout the day, Mark popped in her head and miraculously, she managed to get some work done. Daniel had given her a new assignment and luckily, it had nothing to do with Undertaker or drugs. She was only too happy to accept it, not really having a choice, and got to work with researching.

~!~

Taker, on the other hand, was deep into the drug business. New drugs to be exact. Cocaine had been the drug of choice during the 80’s and it had started tapering off in the 90’s, finally basically becoming a niche drug. People wanted new drugs, so heroin and meth were becoming popular. Now, he was a dealer, he pushed product, but heroin and meth?

“Ain’t happenin’.” He rumbled, folding his arms over his massive chest. Taker had chiseled his body over these last six years, his taste in clothing had remained mostly the same. Light blue jeans and an open vest, showing off his ink and the chain around his neck, a red bandana around his head. “I’m not selling this shit, dead buyers don’t make me any fucking money.” Honestly, this garbage was WORST than cocaine or ecstasy, acid and LSD.

“Big bad Undertaker won’t sell meth, you too fuckin’ good for us now?”

A second later, one of his many suppliers was eating the chain. “Son…the only reason you make any bank is because I allow it…” He snorted, using his boot to kick this idiot in the ribs since he was now down cradling his bleeding mouth. “Don’t mistake business sense for charity, bitch, I don’t deal…meth…or,” Taker was crouching down now, brushing his nose with a thoughtful look. “Heroin, and if I find out you’re sellin’ that shit, this little chat of ours…we’re gonna have it again, understand me, boy?”

“Y-yes…”

“Good.”

The man scampered out of there with piss running down his leg, surprised he made it out of there alive after mouthing off to the Deadman. That was what they called him these days on the streets was the Deadman instead of the Undertaker. Undertaker was still well-known and after that article, it was now Deadman. It worked better that way and it was a nickname Taker was fond of.

Kane was there, of course, shaking his head at the audacity of these assholes to try something like that with them. Didn’t they know with a snap of Taker’s fingers, they’d be dead? Because Kane would more than happily snap their necks for them and toss them some place they’d never be found. “What a fuckin’ coward, you sure you don’t want me ending Heyman and being done with it, man? He could squeal on you to the other suppliers.”

“No, Heyman’s a coward, but at the end of the day, he’s smart. He knows if he crosses me or snitches me out, he’ll be the next motherfucker found on the bridge.”

The last snitch they had ferreted out, the poor bastard…Kane had taken a page out of one of Taker’s history textbooks and drawn and quartered the man. His head had been on the center of the Brooklyn bridge, arms and legs at either end and either side of those ends. It had been a lovely little statement that the drug underworld had taken notice of really quick. Sadly, people now thought that there was some weird English killer out there, reenacting old-time murder styles.

Kane had LOVED it, the weirdo.

Personally, Kane thought Taker was being stupid allowing Teralyn to not only write that article, even though he manipulated it greatly, but to let her live. After what that woman had done…there was no way he’d allow a woman to get away with half the garbage Taker allowed Teralyn to. Not even Simone. She would be dead by now because he wouldn’t allow his heart to be trampled on constantly by a tramp. Simone was his precious angel, who obeyed and worshipped the ground he walked on…and truthfully, Kane did the same thing with her. Taker and Teralyn, on the other hand…Kane really hoped the boss figured out what to do with her soon or else he may have to handle things on his own to protect their business.

“I gotta get going before Simone has my ass. Call if you need anything else. Bradshaw is around too and Farooq will be back in town tomorrow.” They were currently doing some Dennis hunting.

With Kane, Taker was playing a dangerous game because if the man thought, for one second, that Teralyn might open her mouth and reveal EVERYTHING…he’d kill her. Flat out. He wouldn’t let ANYONE, not even Taker, put his family at risk. That was the reason they were down in Tennessee and he was up here. He’d be back with them soon, promising to stay only for a few months and he was in touch with his wife constantly.

As it was, Taker was monitoring the situation closely and he was considering sending Kane home here within a few weeks instead of months. With a filled wallet because Kane was only doing this now to ensure his family NEVER went without, for generations. He was thinking long term. Taker…well, he was just playing games and making bank, he didn’t have the same things at risk that Kane did because his own heart had been stolen a long time ago by an immature little girl and he was going out of his way to either get it back, get hers in trade, or bury someone.

Chapter 5

When a full week passed by, after receiving the jeweled pomegranates and rose, with no other word from Mark, or gifts from him, Teralyn was able to think logically and rationally, getting back into the swing of things again. Mark showing up had completely turned her world upside down and that rose and seeds…she still had no idea what they were supposed to mean. Obviously, the seeds were in reference to Hades and Persephone, where Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds in order to remain in the Underworld for six months out of a year. And now Mark had called her Persephone – twice. She didn’t know how to feel about that and tried putting it out of her mind, focusing on her next article.

Currently, she was at the gym, getting an early morning workout in since sleep evaded her. She was on the treadmill, building her cardio with a Walkman clipped to her dark blue shorts and a headset attached, blasting music. Teralyn didn’t like showing her body off all that much anymore, since her stripper days, and had on a matching tank top instead of a sports bra, her hair pulled back in a small ponytail with a bandana wrapped around her head to hold in the sweat. It was Saturday, one of her two days off, so she was starting the morning with a workout and then planned on dusting her penthouse from top to bottom. It hadn’t been done in months and she was sorely neglecting the TLC it needed.

“Teralyn Monroe?” It was said right after she had gotten off the treadmill, removing her Walkman from her sweaty head.

Jon Moxley stood there, staring at her quizzically. He had been one of Austin’s golden jocks, along with his college girlfriend, Renee Young. Damn that seemed like a whole lifetime ago, things did not always turn out the way they were supposed to and last he heard, Austin was a drunk, rambling down in Texas somewhere. He had been working on his own physique since college, gone was the curly mop top he had sported. Jon had grown up and his features were more refined, the baby look long gone.

It took her a minute to place him because Teralyn hadn’t seen him in so long, her eyes slowly widening in both disbelief and shock. “Oh my god…Moxley, is that you?” Talk about a huge blast from the past!

“In the flesh.”

What in the world was he doing in New York City? Last she heard, he’d gone back to Ohio, after dropping out of school, to pursue a different career. She had no idea if he was still with Renee since her and Renee stopped talking after she started dating Mark. Teralyn would admit only to herself the man looked good, the years had been kind to him for sure.

“I can see that.” She chuckled, wiping the sweat from her forehead and tried to get over the initial shock of his appearance.

He had that effect on people these days. Jon had taken up various jobs doing a lot of physical work, something to keep him active and trim, nothing boring. Dear god, life after college was so…he didn’t know the word. But coming and going as one pleased wasn’t usually how adulting worked.

“Damn girl, you look…all grown up,” Jon flashed her a wide grin, his blue eyes sparkling. “Oh, and congrats on that newspaper article. I thought I recognized your name then.” The subject matter had also been hilarious.

“Thank you.” Teralyn really wished she wasn’t sweating bullets right now while talking to her former classmate, feeling a little embarrassed by her appearance. “It was my first solo article.” Two years it took to finally publish her own work, from beginning to end, with no help, only in the editing department. She had thoroughly edited it herself, but there was an editing department for a reason. “Yeah, I work at the New York Times, been there two years now. Actually, five years since I did an internship through them and was hired on right after graduation.” Teralyn didn’t sense any immediate danger from him, remembering hanging out a few times with Renee while they were in college. That was before she started defecting to The Ministry and becoming ‘one of them’. “So, what’re you doing in New York City? I heard you went back home to Ohio, so that’s why I’m surprised to see you here now. Unless that rumor was a lie and you’ve been here all along.” That would make sense too.

“I know,” Jon laughed, about the New York Times thing, grinning when she gave him a quizzical look. “When I saw your name, I ah…I snooped a little. That’s a pretty big deal, isn’t it? Being so young and hired in?” Without any field experience or anything, that was probably some kind of record and she flushed, modest as ever. “I did go back to Ohio, remembered why I left it really quick and came on back. Thought about Vegas, something about living out in the desert sounded appealing, but…” He shrugged, blowing out a breath while chewing on some tobacco. “It’s more pricey than New York, you know?”

Vegas…that twinge in her heart was back, reminding her of what Mark told her about marrying that dancer. Teralyn hated how much that bothered her, even though he had gotten the damn thing annulled. “Is it really? I guess everything out west is more expensive. I honestly didn’t think any state could be as expensive as New York, but…guess I was wrong on that assumption.” She flashed him a friendly smile, pushing her heartache and pain away for the time being. “How long you been in the city?” Did he live around here because, if so, they’d been close by. This gym was just down the block from her penthouse and she had been coming here for the past five years on a regular basis.

“Only got back a year or so ago.”

Jon did not live anywhere close to the gym, just worked close to it, so it was easy to use. This part of the city was expensive and there was no way he could afford it. He lived in a, well…it wasn’t a slum, but it wasn’t the nicest of the New York City boroughs either.

“You’d be surprised at how expensive some places are, especially when compared to here. Hawaii is the worst.” A shame because Hawaii was beautiful. He stepped away from her, giving Teralyn some space because she was a hot, sweaty mess and looked like she needed to stand in front of an air conditioning vent. Maybe he did too. “It was awesome seeing you, Teralyn. We should hang out some time and catch up.”

Was he still with Renee Young? That wasn’t her business and if he wanted to hang out as just friends, that would be fine with her. “Yeah, absolutely. Let me uh, give you my number. Do you have a cell phone?” Some people did and some didn’t. She wasn’t surprised when he whipped his out and gave him her number, texting it to him. “Send me one back, then I’ll save you in my contacts and just let me know when you’re free.”

Truthfully, Teralyn didn’t have a lot of friends these days besides at work and even then, they were just coworkers to her. She had sort of isolated herself from people and focused on her schooling and career, putting her all into it. Teralyn wasn’t even sure she knew how to have fun anymore and that was downright depressing.

“I really need a shower.”

His cell phone was not as fancy as hers. Jon was wondering if hers was a perk of her job. She had to have cushioned benefits and perks, right? Working for the New York Times and all. He had heard a rumor that Teralyn had been a call girl or something back in the day, working out of some club, only for everything to fall apart. Since they had basically stopped hanging due to their respective social circles, Jon wasn’t sure how much of that was true and how much was false rumors.

“Yeah, you do, you smell.” He teased, reaching out to playfully pat her upper arm. “I’ll text you later. I don’t know what your hours are or anything, so feel free to ignore them if you want, doll.”

Teralyn laughed with a nod. “Got it, I won’t ignore you. That’d be pretty rude of me now, wouldn’t it?” Winking, she grabbed her bag and headed off to the women’s locker room to get that shower in.

Jon Moxley. That was interesting how he’d been in New York City for a year. It wasn’t surprising they hadn’t run into each other until now because the city was gigantic. Teralyn had no idea rumors had swirled around campus regarding her career as a stripper. After she broke things off with Mark, Teralyn secluded herself, focused solely on her studies and internship, and stayed the hell out of trouble. Lathering her hair up, Teralyn scrubbed herself from head to toe and enjoyed the cool sprays flowing over her heated body. She had started the shower out with hot sprays and then turned them down to almost cold, cooling herself off. It was hotter than hell outside being smack dab in the middle of July.

Plenty of rumors, indeed. Nobody was quite sure how they had started, but when they had, there was a lot of speculation. Everyone had always thought it was scandalous a freshman dating a teacher’s aide, one who actually had taught her class a time or two. Then finding out Teralyn had been working as some kind of sex worker…it had been good gossip for about…a month, because something else had come along and gotten mouths running. Jon finished up his own workout, his mind focusing on the brief conversation he had just had with the auburn haired beauty, smiling slightly.

Walking out in blue jean capris and a plain white tank top, Teralyn waved at Jon on her way out the gym exit, heading home. Even though it was only down the street, walking in this heat was damn near suicide. She drove home, parked her car, and went up to her penthouse, thankful for the AC blasting over her as soon as she stepped through the door. Setting her keys on the table, she walked into the kitchen to grab a protein shake out of the fridge and stopped, looking at the pomegranate jeweled seeds and rose in the middle of her kitchen table. The jewels were surrounding the rose, she didn’t know what else to do with them, so she decided to make it a table topper of sorts. After downing her protein shake, she pulled out the cleaning supplies, turned on some music and got to work on her penthouse, starting with the living room.

Taker had a very productive day. Very, very productive. He had learned some new information, sent out some feelers to find that piece of missing garbage, and then curb stomped another person until their brains were…mushy. That was dead on arrival and definitely not available to be an organ donor. One thing about him that had changed was Taker had learned how to cook and discovered he rather enjoyed it. Not that he did it very often, cooking was a long production when done this way, but…it had been something he had taken up when Moody suggested he ‘get a goddamn hobby outside of drugs and strippers’.

You should let me cook for you, Persephone. Did she even use this email anymore?

A lot of junk mail came into her email, so Teralyn ALMOST deleted the message until she saw the subject line. Hope you still use this email, darlin’. Teralyn hadn’t received an email from Mark in six long years and it was no surprise he had changed his. She hadn’t. There was no reason to. She hadn’t blocked him or anything, having a feeling Mark wouldn’t contact her after discovering her secret. How did he still remember her email address after all this time?

Glancing at the rose and pomegranates, Teralyn shut her eyes and took a deep breath, beginning to type back to him. The last meal we tried to have together didn’t end very well, Hades. You sure that’s a good idea? Did she thank him for the gifts or leave it at that? Also, thank you for the rose and pomegranate seeds, they’re beautiful. “I still don’t know what they’re supposed to mean…” She murmured to herself, pushing the send button before she could stop herself and leaned back against the couch. Her penthouse was spotless, smelled great and she’d just gotten out of the shower after cleaning for nearly four hours.

He remembered it because even back in the 90’s, there had been the option to save contacts. Taker had never changed his email because it was literally the only one he used for things that weren’t related to his business and he had never really gotten an online thing going for the illegal stuff because technology was both stupid and smart. Being tracked through email was a real thing, not happening. Teralyn would figure out the meaning, she was a former mythology student and knew there were variations of the myth. When she allowed herself to embrace who she had been and come out of this mistrustful shell, she’d probably understand it.

You’re welcome and this time, I’m cooking. Not on a grill either, Taker was surprised she had responded, eyeing the laptop before turning back to his massive stove.

The seeds were symbolic with the six months out of the year deal Hades struck with Demeter, in order to keep Persephone in his life somehow, someway. So did that mean Mark wanted to keep her in his life in some sort of fashion forever? I didn’t… Teralyn stopped typing and deleted it, wondering if Mark would even take no for an answer at this point. Was it wrong for him to want to cook for her?

Why would you want to spend time with your ex that probably cheated on you? He’s a monster, remember? A monster that you still love and pine for because you’re an idiot. Go ahead, have dinner with him, fuck him and then see what happens. Let him break your heart all over again. Teralyn truly hated the voice in her head, the spitefulness seeping through, but one glance at the seeds and rose made her heart overpower her brain and that voice. Okay, give me the time and place and I’ll be there. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? “I’m following my heart and there’s a reason he’s back in my life. Call it curiosity.”

Chapter 6

This was the version of the story Taker preferred. Not the one where Hades was a rapist bastard, but where his wife genuinely wanted to be with him and the mother had been completely against it, so they had struck a bargain. In a way, Teralyn was Persephone. She hadn’t wanted to follow the path her mother had laid out for her, with maintaining her body because she would need it to get ahead in life, the competitions for cheerleading and dance notwithstanding. Taker had been Hades, simply wanting her with him. Teralyn had eventually followed her mother’s advice to an extent, but hid it from him…and he had just totally gone off the story itself and mentally slapped himself. The fact that she had said yes was surprising, Taker honestly hadn’t expected it.

Whenever, I don’t have a set schedule. Whereas she might since Teralyn was actually hired into the Times. Next Friday or Saturday good for you?

Teralyn, it’s Jon. What’re you doing tomorrow? That was text on her cell since he actually had her number.

“Of course, you don’t.” Drug dealers and lords – Mark had to be a drug lord by now – had all the time in the world to do whatever they wanted, after all. They didn’t need a regular job like normal people to make their way in life. Go ahead, keep judging him because at least you have an actual job, right? And it’s LEGAL unlike his. Are you really sure it’s a good idea to try this again with him, after what you both put each other through. Six years…it’d been six long years since she left him at that strip club and tried to forget about him while dealing with a shattered heart. It was kind of ironic how it was six months for Persephone and Hades they had to go without seeing each other every year, but for her and Mark, it’d been six years. “God, I hope I’m doing the right thing by doing this.” Either day is fine with me. Friday I have to work, so if you want me sooner than 6 or 7 PM, you might wanna just make it for Saturday since it’s one of my days off.

Now to deal with Jon. Truthfully, Teralyn wasn’t sure if this was a good idea to hang out with one of her former friends. Last she checked, Jon wasn’t particularly fond of her since she’d been dating Mark. What changed? Are you going to tell Mark about this little rendezvous or keep it a secret?

She wasn’t back together with Mark, so whoever she hung out with and whatever she did wasn’t his business. It wasn’t like Teralyn wanted to hop on Jon’s dick. They were old friends and she did say she wouldn’t mind hanging out with him sometime. She just didn’t expect it to be this soon.

I was planning on vegging out at home, but if you’ve got a better idea in mind, I’m all for it. She sent to Jon, setting her phone and laptop down on the coffee table before pouring herself a glass of much needed wine.

Teralyn could judge him all she wanted. Taker was upfront with what he did with her when she had come out and asked about it. He had told her the truth instead of lying to her about it. Also, he knew some things she didn’t and would’ve have been tickled pink to know she was still judging him all these years later when he had been nothing except cordial to her.

Seven is fine, just means you won’t get to see my song and dance routine while I’m cooking.

Ever been rock climbing? You seemed pretty fit and active when we ran into each other and I need a buddy. Six years was a long time to be thinking along the lines of ‘what changed?’. People did, life went on and everyone else was busy growing up around her.

Rock climbing? Teralyn blinked at the screen, wondering if Jon was out of his mind. No, she hadn’t done that before, but…why did it sound exciting? A rock climbing buddy, eh? Why not? It would get her out of the penthouse and doing something that was most definitely a workout. Teralyn wasn’t out of shape and she didn’t sense any danger from Jon, though she did remember what happened with Adam Page all those years ago. Sure, I’ll join you. Where at and what time tomorrow?

Then, she turned her attention to the computer screen, taking a long swig of her wine and decided Saturday was better. Plan for Saturday. If you still want the time to be 7, that’s fine too. Also, where do you plan on cooking for me because I’ll need an address on where to go, Hades.

Rock climbing was a thing of his, something Jon had gotten into after college, actually. It was one of the reasons why he had gone to Las Vegas, to see the Red Rocks, visit the canyons, and it was still too expensive for him to live permanently there. He honestly hadn’t thought it would be more than New York City, but…apparently, being an oasis town in the desert with all that gambling and sex had made the cost of living insanely high.

The Cliffs on 44^th. It was an indoor rock climbing gym. Jon kept meaning to go out and find natural places to climb, but…he was a bit of a procrastinator. Around 1 sound okay?

Hades, she had called him Hades, Taker smirked slightly as he poured his wine into his glass, something that would complement the meal. Finally, he sent her an address.

Yeah, I’ve heard of that place before. Never been there, so this will be interesting. See you tomorrow, partner.

Teralyn really hoped she wasn’t getting over her head by doing this, jotting down the address on a piece of notebook paper Mark sent her. She had no idea where this was located, so GPS would be her friend and savior. It was very easy to get lost in New York City, no matter how long one lived there.

~!~

“Jon!” Teralyn called out the following day, wearing a pair of tight black biker shorts and a tank top, since it was blistering outside.

Over one hundred degrees, not including the heat index. Mark hadn’t messaged her after the address bit last night, but she had talked to Jon a little longer. Her hair was pulled back in a tight tail and she had black fingerless gloves on, just to be on the safe side. He waved her over and she smiled, making her way over to him. Jon was also in workout clothes for this and she sighed a breath of silent relief she wore the proper attire.

“Sorry I’m late, traffic was such a bitch!”

“It’s New York City, doll, it’s always a bitch.”

Jon had a car and kept it mostly in storage because in New York City, it was legitimately easier and somewhat cheaper at times to get around via public transport, taxi or just by riding a bike. His tone conveyed amusement and in agreement with her, that was one thing he hated about this city. The traffic was unlike anything else, anywhere else, and he had been to several major cities. New York City was a world all its own.

“You ready? You know anything at all about this or should I walk you through it?” Jon was being serious, glad she had come, but also aware it might be something new for her too.

“Never done this before, so I’m clueless on what to do besides grabbing the pegs as you climb up.” Other than that, Teralyn was lost and Jon nodded, going over the rules and everything with her. Then, they were strapped into their safety gear and harnesses, which felt weird to be in, to say the least. “Okay, you’ll probably beat me to the top, but I’ll try my best to keep up with you.” Jon assured her to go at her own pace and once they were ready, side by side, with enough space between for safety reasons, Teralyn grabbed onto the first peg and began making her way up the fake rock wall.

Definite pegs, Jon had picked this place because it was affordable and he had already paid for their time and equipment. This was a LOT different from actual rock climbing, but it was also one of the best, safest ways to start learning the basics. Renee had done this with him…once. That hadn’t ended well now that he thought about it, frowning slightly as he moved easily from peg to peg. He was also going slow, making sure he stayed in time with Teralyn. He hadn’t been wrong, Teralyn was quick at picking this up and was soon moving quickly up the rock wall.

Once at the top, he grinned at her, his blue eyes sparkling. “Nothing to it!” This was just one of many ‘rock walls’ Cliff’s offered.

She was breathing a little heavy, but had a smile on her face and felt alive for the first time in six years. Doing something other than working out, working or hanging out at home, feeling sorry for herself. Slowly but surely, Teralyn was starting to feel like herself again by doing something as simple as hanging out with an old friend and trying something new. Rock climbing was very invigorating and she asked Jon if he wanted to do it again, more than up to the challenge. They wound up climbing three more walls, all different, each time more exhilarating than the next. The last wall made her fall and she squealed out before realizing the harness caught her, making her fly against it a few feet down from where Jon was. He yelled down at her not to give up and she didn’t, refusing to quit, and scaled that wall the rest of the way.

Jon was laughing once she got to the top, straddling it since nobody else was using this wall at the moment and just took a moment to breathe with her. Teralyn had a sparkle in her eyes, roses in her cheeks and she looked genuinely happy. That was good. She had seemed a bit surprised and uncomfortable for a moment or two when they had run into each other at the gym, but now he didn’t sense that any longer.

“There’s a uh, smoothie bar, across the street,” While busy, it wasn’t hard to cross either, thanks to the crosswalks and sheer foot traffic that came through, forcing cars to stop anyway. “Want to go grab one with me? I need to rehydrate.” Healthy AND delicious, and when Jon had heard the term ‘smoothie bar’ the first time, he had scoffed and made a comment that wasn’t nice. He had changed his mind very quickly after having one of those delicious concoctions.

“Smoothie bar, eh?” Teralyn wiped some sweat from her forehead, nodding because she needed a refreshment and something to eat. “Hope they sell food there too.” She grinned at his nod and they both took a few more minutes before climbing back down, or rather flying down in the harness. After getting out of the safety gear and harnesses, Jon guided her out of The Cliffs and off they went to the smoothie bar, which was thankfully indoors with air-conditioning. “Christ, it’s scorching out there.” Teralyn grunted, standing in line with him to get their smoothies and food. “Oooh, they have pomegranate. I think I’ll try that one.” Was it because of Mark or because she liked stuff with pomegranate in it?

Probably both.

Food, regular juices and drinks, smoothies, it was a healthy place. Something Jon had originally called a yuppie joint because it was…not for people like him. Yet, here he was, standing in line and planned on sitting somewhere inside because the air conditioning was a gift from god himself with a beautiful woman.

“I’m doing the mango peach and a chicken salad.” Jon was starving and had every intention of ordering extra chicken, maybe a whole one. He wasn’t the size of Taker, but could still pack it away with the best of them. “So, what’d you think about rock climbing, doll? Honestly?”

Doll? Since when did Jon call her doll or any kind of term of endearment? He had done it at the gym before they parted and Teralyn hadn’t thought anything of it…until now. Something told her Jon wasn’t with Renee anymore if he was going around calling women doll or any other term. “It was fun. I’d definitely do it again sometime. Great workout too.” She meant it, deciding a chicken wrap sounded really good and they were made fresh here, apparently. After their orders were taken and they had everything in hand, Jon guided them to a nearby table to sit down. “And I don’t know about you, Moxley, but I’m famished.”

Term of endearment for a beautiful woman. Sweetheart was one he used too, but that was for someone he was on better grounds with. “Me too, I had an early breakfast after my bike ride, but that was hours ago.” Jon had these weird spurts. Sometimes he would go months being really lazy, other times…he was a health buff. It was bizarre, but it was him. “I really want to go upstate and visit the waterfalls and shit, spend a weekend just climbing the area. There used to be a lake…well, I mean it’s still there, but it was near the college. Used to go up and there’s a waterfall there, did you know that?”

Lake, waterfall, near the college…the place she gave herself to Mark, in every way…it wasn’t a campground and she remembered Mark saying something about it being private property. Probably his, now that she thought about it. How did Jon know about it, though?

“Yeah, there’s some private property up that way with a lake, waterfall and everything you just described, actually.” There was no way she’d tell him the land and property more than likely belonged to Mark. Nothing about The Ministry was Jon’s business or her place to say. “Sounds like fun and right up your alley.” The pomegranate smoothie Teralyn was currently sucking down was delicious.

“Private property?” He echoed and then shrugged, wondering if it was the same place. Probably was, the town hadn’t been overly large, it was just a literal college town, so they were both probably talking about the same place. “Well, I never ran into the owner so no harm, no foul?” College kids did a lot of dumb things, especially that first and, more likely, second year. Some were still in their shells as freshmen, but not Jon. He had gone balls to the walls right out the gate and simmered down overtime, instead of the other way around.

“Hey, you didn’t get caught, so that’s all that matters. If you do plan on going up there, just make sure you’re not on private property and you’ll be fine.” Mark would probably shove Jon’s head up his backside if he trespassed into the man’s territory. “Okay, so I’m just going to come right out and ask because I’m nosy and curious.” Jon raised a brow at her and she looked at him intently. “Are you still with Renee? I know we had a falling out after I started dating Mark Calaway, and I regret it because she was a good friend to me.” Renee refused to talk to her after the confrontation that happened at the basketball game in the locker room.

That had been the final nail in their friendship coffin when Renee saw Teralyn in a Ministry cheerleader uniform.

Chapter 7

Oh no, Jon hadn’t gone back to that place since before he had graduated and he had no plans on going back now. Nostalgia and all that wasn’t his thing, he preferred to not look back, only forward. Her question was fair, but he also thought it would be obvious. Then again, he hadn’t come right out to say he was a single sexual potent creature either and chuckled at that in his head.

“No, we’re not together, haven’t been in a few years.” He wouldn’t ask her out, even as just friends, if he had been with someone. A lot of people found that disrespectful and rude. “Falling out…oh right, with Austin and the cult shit and the game…damn, that was a while ago.”

“Yeah, it was and that’s why I was a little apprehensive when you approached me at the gym. I didn’t think you wanted anything to do with me after that day at the game.” Teralyn smiled sadly, hoping she didn’t just make things awkward between them and felt bad he wasn’t with Renee anymore. “You two were such a great couple. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

She truly meant that, wanting to reach over to squeeze his hand and decided against it, taking another drink of her smoothie. No matter how hot Jon was, Teralyn’s heart was already taken and had been for the past six years. Teralyn could only be his friend and nothing more, so she sincerely hoped Jon didn’t have an ulterior motive asking her to come rock climbing with him.

“Wait…” Jon’s disbelief was in his tone, blue eyes going wide for a moment. “You…that was years ago, Teralyn. We were barely more than kids.”

Still technically in their teens and early twenties, young and dumb for sure. She was smiling, but it was sad and it hit him that she was sad, not as in personally feeling sad, but as a person. Everyone had heard about her and Mark Calaway, how it ended and it just occurred to Jon that Teralyn had never really moved on from the past. She might still be living in it six years later.

Perhaps she was.

Then again, maybe she wasn’t.

Everyone was different. Everyone handled things differently and it wasn’t that she was living in the past. It was the fact Teralyn had every right to be cautious around people after what she’d been through. Her trust issues were a hurdle she would have to get over eventually. It did not help she was emotionally stunted and her first two relationships had crashed and burned. Teralyn blamed herself for both, even after all this time. Deep down, Scott wasn’t her fault, but Mark was due to her deceit and Mark’s apparent love for strippers / exotic dancers.

“I know, some people hold grudges though, and it didn’t take me long to figure out you’re not one of those people.” Thankfully. “Some blasts from the past aren’t a good thing, but I’m glad this one is.”

Sure, his love for strippers / exotic dancers…one time Taker had gone for something that wasn’t business and he was in love with the strip clubs now. His problem was he had been dating a piece of meat, who had put herself on sale weekly or whatever her schedule had been. Now, six years later, Teralyn was off the market and hiding her stripper roots as some conservative journalist. It was great. People changed over the years, most of them even grew up and moved on.

Emphasis on most.

“Six years is a long time to hold a grudge or be holding onto crap from college.” Jon popped a piece of his grilled chicken into his mouth, chewing it thoughtfully. “Nah, college was college, glad I remembered most of the learning. The social shit and all the drama,” He shrugged his shoulders, staring at her thoughtfully. “Hakuna matata’d that shit.”

She laughed at the Lion King reference, wishing she could do that. Let everything go and truly move on with her life. For the most part, she had, until Mark decided to step back into her life and now…now she felt lost. She didn’t know how to feel, if she should be angry or happy he was reaching out to her. Why was she holding onto all this animosity, sadness, and anger? Six years was a long time, Jon was absolutely right and she had to, as he said, hakuna matata everything and truly start living again. She was nineteen, stupid, naïve, and thought the world was against her…all because her ex-boyfriend, her high school sweetheart, had cheated on her with her ex-best friend.

Why did it take Jon Moxley, of all people, to point this out to me? To make me see what I’ve been doing. He’s down to earth and kind yet straightforward and up front about how he feels. He doesn’t let anything get to him, it seems, and when I mentioned Renee, not an ounce of sadness or anger flashed in his eyes or across his face. Just resignation and peace. Can I do that with Mark? I want to…I want to let it all go and move on, whether he’s in my life or not. I have a great career, some friends I hang with on occasion, a beautiful home and I’ve done it all on my own. “What’s your secret to letting go and moving on, Jon?” Teralyn asked quietly, after several minutes of silence between them while picking at her chicken wrap.

Had she really moved on though? Living by herself, afraid to date, doing nothing except focusing on work? What kind of life was that for someone who wasn’t even thirty yet? These were her prime years and Teralyn had skipped most of them in favor of just working because she had been burnt in the past. Playing it safe was not ‘moving on’; it was walling herself off because of fear. That was no way to live.

“My secret?” Jon echoed after he had swallowed the last bite of his chicken salad, pulling his drink towards him thoughtfully. “I just don’t want to be defined by my college years, you know? Those years shouldn’t define me or the rest of my life and I refuse to let them.” He flashed her another grin, wishing he had more of a philosophical answer to give, but he didn’t. “No secret doll, just a matter of grabbing my own life and steering it the way I want it.”

Grabbing her own life and steering it the way she wanted…if only Teralyn could do that. Life would be so much better for her. These past six years hadn’t been miserable, but they were lonely due to her trust issues. How did one overcome those? She’d been approached on numerous occasions by men for a date and Teralyn turned down every one of them. Mark really hurt her that night at the strip club – there were other things he could’ve done and, yet, he chose to go watch other women shake their tits and asses.

Then, he fondled her…not knowing it was her, but thinking it was just another stripper. That was cheating in her eyes and Teralyn had cheated on him too by keeping the job a secret. They had cheated on each other – that was a life lesson to her as well. There was more than one way to cheat on someone and it didn’t necessarily have to involve actual sex to happen.

They both made mistakes. It wasn’t just all on Mark and it wasn’t just all on her. They were BOTH equally guilty for their relationship not working out…and because of their age difference. She was only nineteen, he was twenty-five – a six year difference wouldn’t be a problem to a lot of people, but she was still growing and trying to find herself as a person. Hell, she STILL was! Even though Teralyn was a lot more mature these days than she had been back in college…everyone had to grow up sometime. Not to mention, trying to get over what her high school sweetheart of 5 years had done to her. Maybe she had gotten together with Mark too soon and that was another factor – she had fallen super hard and fast because she didn’t want to be alone and Mark had been damn near perfect to her.

Treated her like a queen – even calling her his Queen at one point. Saved her from going to prison for murder after she stabbed that rapist for attacking her. No questions were ever asked, Mark had come to her aid instantly with the rest of the Ministry and cleaned up the mess she made. The fact Mark had done that for her, without any question, made her fall in love with him even more. Even after she tried pushing him away and keeping him at arm’s length, Teralyn couldn’t do it. It all lead to her giving him her virginity, surrendering to him in every way and after six years, she felt herself doing the same thing all over again. And Teralyn was absolutely petrified to let it happen again because she knew deep down inside, the man she loved was also a monster in disguise.

“I like that way of life, that way of thinking. Anyone ever told you you’d make a fine therapist, Moxley?” She giggled at his eyeroll, having a feeling they had because he was a great listener and philosopher. “Actually, you’d be a better philosopher.”

Jon rolled his eyes dramatically, shaking his head at her before draining the rest of his beverage. He leaned back in his chair, just studying her again. “Nah, doll, don’t let this façade fool you, there really is nothing of substance beneath these abs and rugged, good looks.” Her laughter had him grinning and laughing right along with her, wondering if she knew she had a musical lilt to her voice. It made several people look up at or toward Teralyn, most of them smiling because laughter had a tendency to be contagious, especially when it was genuine. “You need to smile more, you don’t have laugh lines and you need some.”

“I do, huh? Well, truth be told, I haven’t had much to smile about these days. I mean, I love my career and I have a warm home to go to at night. I know I’m blessed beyond belief unlike others in the city.” The homeless came to mind and it always saddened her to see the people on the street, wondering if she’d be able to survive if she was in their shoes. Just that thought alone always made her give whatever she had on her to them. Teralyn had money and security, they didn’t. “I actually haven’t done something like this,” She gestured between the two of them with her hand. “In a long time. I think I need to reevaluate my life and start actually living it instead of working all the time and feeling sorry for myself. You helped me realize that today, Jon, that’s why I say I think you’d be a great therapist.”

“Oh good, I’m so glad I could play…a therapist / philosopher.” He joked, pushing away from the table and stood up. “We should do this again and, if you want to get out living again, doll, I’m your guy.”

Jon had his own friends, a lot them from the garage he worked in, and he did things with them. However, Teralyn seemed like she really needed an actual friend and he wanted someone to do the physical hangouts with, like rock climbing today. Get Roman to rock climb? Nope, not happening, big lug was afraid of heights. Seth was too busy with his woman and he often told the man to remove his balls from her purse before it was too late.

“Seriously though,” She was up too and they headed for the door, mindful of the other people coming in. “Career and everything is awesome, but there’s no point in it if you’re not enjoying the smaller things in life.”

For the first time in six years, Teralyn had a genuine, full smile on her face and she felt the dark cloud looming over her slowly dispersing. “Yeah, I’d love to.” She told him, once they were outside in the heat and both groaned at how ungodly hot it was. “You need a partner to rock climb with or anything fun, I’m your gal.”

They were strictly friends and there was nothing wrong with the opposite sex hanging out together. Teralyn did not feel an ounce of lust towards Jon and she had a feeling he didn’t feel anything except friendship for her as well. Jon was right; it was time for her to start enjoying life and hakuna matata everything. It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past. It can’t be changed and I’m done feeling sorry for myself.

After just one day hanging out with Jon Moxley, Teralyn had felt more alive and rejuvenated than she had in the past six years and that night, she went to bed with an actual smile on her face.

It was sad that in this day and age, people actually thought to themselves that there was nothing wrong with hanging out with another person of the opposite sex. It was like justifying it to themselves. It was a good thing Jon couldn’t read her mind because he would have informed her that she didn’t have to justify anything to anyone, herself included, especially when it came to things like that. Some things should have just been acceptable as they were, socially and personally, hanging out with people for one.

Jon Moxley had A LOT of life lessons to impart on anyone willing to learn them, especially Teralyn.

Chapter 8

For the next several days leading up to her dinner with Mark, Teralyn had taken Cynthia out to lunch every work day, just to hang out and get to know her better. Turns out, she was a firecracker of a woman with a heart of gold and had a husband, who was overseas in the army. She spent a lot of her nights alone as well, just like Teralyn, so they both made a vow, over drinks one night after work, to start living life to the fullest.

Jon had also taken her out to see a movie, followed by ice cream, and she’d never laughed so hard in her life. He really was a ball of light and she appreciated their friendship. Throughout the week, Teralyn kept receiving emails from Mark, making sure she hadn’t changed her mind. Even when she woke up on Saturday morning and checked her email, something she’d grown accustomed to doing, there was the question yet again posed to her.

If you ask me this one more time, I’m not coming tonight. I haven’t changed my mind and I’m not going to. She’d been about to add she was looking forward to seeing him, but decided against it. I will be there at 7 PM sharp. Hell, maybe Teralyn would show up a few minutes early, just to ensure she made it on time and looked back at the pomegranate stones. The rose was planted in her mythology book, right at the beginning of the story of Hades and Persephone, so it could dry out.

Emailing repeatedly was NOT his style, at all. Asking the same question wasn’t his style, making sure someone was coming…pathetic, clingy and needy. That was something pathetic people did. However, Teralyn was a little on the pathetic side, or had been the last time they had seen each other, so Taker figured it would be something she’d expect. He wasn’t aware that in the course of a week she had pulled her infamous switch up act again.

Just making sure. Taker facepalmed himself, eyeballing the penthouse he had borrowed for tonight. It was thrown together in his style; he had familiarized himself with it and now he was preparing to cook.

Staring in the mirror, Teralyn wondered if wearing a dress was really the right thing to do. She had showered, done her makeup – it was a natural look with a slight gold sheen, black liner, and mauve glossy lips – and now she was figuring out what to wear. It was nice, casual, and sexy in a conservative way. It was also the first time she’d worn a dress that went to her knees in quite some time. The dress was spaghetti strapped champagne with a sweetheart necklace, lace on the bottom and it had a lace overlay to go over the shoulders, cinched at the waist with a tied bow.

Teralyn decided to slip on some diamond studs in her ears and a simple white gold necklace with a diamond dangling from it. She pulled her hair up to pile on top of her head. It was way too hot to leave her hair down and she’d put some bobby pins in to keep it held in place. Slipping a pair of brown heels on, open-toed, Teralyn glanced at the clock again, knowing she had to head out now. The penthouse she was heading to was on the other side of this part of the city, so it would take her some time to get there.

She did not see the pair of narrowed eyes watching her leave her penthouse.

Naturally she wouldn’t. For someone with such severe trust issues, Teralyn was rather oblivious and had been for years. It was one of the downsides about her. Beautiful woman. Smart too. Relatively. Then again, relative was a key term in this game.

Naturally, when Teralyn arrived, he was alerted. Taker buzzed her in when she finally passed the front desk. He loved these swanky places, the security that came with them was always amusing. Wearing nothing except a pair of black jeans, his feet bare, and his hair pulled back because he was cooking. Taker had the radio on and it was starting to smell delicious in here already. He heard the bell for the door and grinned, heading that way.

Persephone had finally come home.

Butterflies were the size of Texas fluttering in her stomach while she waited for the door to open, wishing she wasn’t so nervous. Calm the hell down. It’s just dinner. That little voice was still lingering, but not nearly as much as before. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of Mark as soon as the door opened, her eyes staring at a bare chest before looking up to lock on those fathomless green pools. Breathe, just breathe. “Hi.”

What the HELL was this man doing answering the door for her BARE from the waist up! His auburn hair was pulled back in a tight braid and the smell of the food wafted through the door, hitting her in the face. Whatever he was cooking, it smelled divine and made her smile widen.

Considering she had been with him for a fair few months and gotten to know him relatively well, all things considered, Teralyn should NOT have been surprised by his lack of attire at all. How many drug dealers / murderers actually came clean to their significant other, let alone help clean up their mess? Exactly. She knew Taker hated wearing a shirt, with his big frame, including his neck, t-shirts, shirts in general were just confining. Hence his penchant for vests, nothing tugging and constricting him with those.

“Hey, darlin’,” He greeted with an easygoing grin, stepping backwards and gestured into the large, open room. Decorated sparsely, but in his tastes, such as they were since they had evolved over the years. “No trouble finding the place, right?”

“No, I used my GPS to make sure I didn’t get lost.”

Teralyn stepped inside the penthouse, which sort of reminded her of the one she had. Only hers was decorated with a little more warmth. Still, it was nice and she could tell it was his style, looking around while he shut the door to stand behind her. “This is nice.” Just how much real estate did this man own? Not your business. “Whatever you’re making smells really good.” She complimented, following Mark into the kitchen area since the place was an open floor plan.

“Thanks, got it for a steal.” That was half true. Taker had paid very well for the use of the penthouse and, in exchange, not only did the real owner get a delicious lump sum of cold, hard cash…he wasn’t breaking his legs either. It was a win-win for everybody involved. “We’re havin’ veal, by the way.” Tender, delicious…cooked in an equally delicious sauce from scratch, prepared with fresh baby vegetables. “I had to get a hobby, a real one.” Guiding her into the kitchen, a bottle of wine – one that complimented the food – awaited them in an ice bucket with two glasses by it. One was already filled and he had been sipping from it. “Care for a glass, Teralyn?” He asked cordially, gesturing to the wine.

It was a bottle of Dom Perignon Rose, which would go really well with the veal. She had no idea this particular wine was very pricey, in the $400 range, and nodded in response. Walking over, Teralyn picked the bottle up and poured herself a glass, setting it back in the ice bucket. Even the glassware was beautiful and she took a sip of it, immediately enjoying the taste. It was a lighter red, somewhat sweet, but not overly.

“Did you take a cooking class or something? Is that what you meant by a hobby?” Teralyn asked, walking over to stand by the counter while he continued cooking, holding her glass to give her hands something to do.

“I took several cookin’ classes.” He answered without looking at her, busy with the dishes he had going on the stove. Expertly, Taker flipped the thin slices of veal, sautéing the other side with his chosen spices and everything else, before glancing down at her. “Apparently, I was too stressed and pissed with the world and if I didn’t get a hobby, the boys were going to mutiny so to speak.” He shrugged his massive shoulders, though also sounded amused about it all, mirth in his tone. “Remember, it used to be you did all the cookin’, unless it involved grillin’, that I could always do.”

“I remember, you even said you burnt macaroni and cheese the one time you tried making it.” Teralyn recalled with amusement in her tone, stopping herself from asking if he needed help.

It was clear to her he didn’t and he had offered to cook for her, so she needed to let him do it. There was no need to take over because the penthouse smelled amazing. Mark was even using herbs and spices, which surprised her. Teralyn could not remember this man ever using spices and herbs on anything he made on the grill, she usually had to season everything before he slapped it on.

“Seems like those cooking classes did wonders for your cooking skill. You’re probably even better than I am now. Should I start calling you Gordon Ramsey?”

It was the truth, Taker had actually burnt the macaroni noodles because he had forgotten they were supposed to be boiling. Water evaporated, burnt the noodles and the pan, and he had to bring in someone to scour clean his stovetop because apparently, boiling water overspill created a very weird brown burnt substance. It was all crazy. “Nah, my temper isn’t as nasty as he is.” He knew who that was, beginning to snigger. “Though…it does amuse me, the shit he says and does.” Like some broad having bread held to the sides of her head being called an idiot sandwich. He held out the ladle to her. “Try it.”

Opening her mouth, Mark blew on it a few times and she did the same before he put the food in her mouth, her eyes closing at the heavenly taste. Teralyn opened them a few seconds later as the ladle left her mouth and nodded, giving him a thumbs up with her free hand since her other one still held the wine glass. “Oh my god, Mark…” It was amazing and her stomach rumbled slightly, not loud enough for him to hear, but she could feel it. “That is delicious!” She licked her lips of the sauce and then took a swig of wine. “Wow, well done and I mean that.”

When he decided to get invested or interested in something, Taker went full hog on it. Probably one of his better traits, as well as one of the worst, because that applied to basically everything in his life. Teralyn was actually included in that, but she obviously didn’t realize it or she wouldn’t be here right now. She’d probably be hiding somewhere across the country, maybe even the world.

“Wait until you see what I have cooked up for dessert, darlin’.” He chuckled, winking at her and turned down the burners to a simmer. “Be about ten minutes before we eat,” Lifting his wine glass, taking a slow sip, emerald eyes fastened on her and that dress. “By the way, you look beautiful, Teralyn.”

The roses in her cheeks bloomed as she took another slow sip herself, a soft smile lighting up her face. “Thank you.” Don’t do it. Don’t fall for those gorgeous eyes and that smile again!

Those damn eyes…Teralyn found herself gazing into them for a moment before looking around the penthouse. She had found this dress at a vintage shop a few months ago, while shopping for some dress pants for work, and fell in love with it. When she saw it hanging up in the closet, she decided it would be the perfect outfit to wear for a night out like this.

“How long have you had this place?”

The smile and the way Teralyn’s cheeks flushed sent his pulse racing, though he managed to keep from displaying any outwards. This woman did some interesting things to him, confusing sometimes, definitely irritating, but always interesting, even after six years. “About three months now,” Partial lie. Taker had HIS penthouse for three months, but only this one for about three hours. “Housing in the city is…a lot different than when we were in school. I thought about maybe trying in a neighborhood, something that at least has some damn trees, but…families and all. I didn’t think they needed a neighbor…like me.”

“You’d probably do anyone who was your neighbor a favor.” Nobody would dare screw with a man of his size, not unless they had a death wish. “Just one look at you and I don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to go near your house or your neighbors.”

She chuckled at the thought of Mark scaring them off with just a look, knowing it was very true. Three months…that’s how long he’d been back in the city, which wasn’t a long period of time. She recalled him saying something about being down in Texas and Vegas…and immediately felt the screech in her head, refusing to think about that.

“Hell, if I had a neighbor like you, I’d sleep better at night, but that’s just me.”

“No…you know better, darlin’, you of all people know that there are those who are willing to sell my ass out.” Hadn’t she written an article about him, well, about the now defunct ‘Undertaker’? Not that she’d ever hear about THAT part, that little result of her story. “Speaking of selling my ass out, how much does information about me go for these days?” Taker was up again, moving to check on the food, nodding because it was about ready and began setting out the plates and silverware, all legitimate crystal and fine china, the works. “It’s an ego thing.” He added when she came around to start helping.

“Well, nothing actually.” Teralyn took the silverware from him to set the table slowly, feeling his eyes on her and she looked up at him, the smile not leaving her face. He was curious about how she’d gotten her information and since Dennis Knight was out of the city, possibly out of the country, Teralyn decided it wouldn’t hurt to tell him. “Dennis Knight gave me the majority of the information in that article. I did talk to one of your…clients and they told me one of the drugs you sold, but that was it. Wouldn’t give me any other information without money and I refused to pay for information.” That was just the type of journalist she was. “Dennis came out of nowhere, contacted my boss and I met with him, jotted down what he told me and turned it into that article. I’m just glad my boss said it was enough to publish or else I would’ve probably had to scrap the whole thing.”

Chapter 9

Dennis Knight…Somehow that wasn’t surprising and she really was still naïve as anything. It was probably a good thing Teralyn wasn’t aware of how life, her life especially, operated because he doubted she’d survive just learning about it. Taker contemplated asking how she and her boss had made it this far, wondering if they had vetted Dennis first, or at least the boss. She obviously knew him, the boss didn’t.

“So, how did you guys verify he knew jackshit?” That had him genuinely curious. How did they ‘know’ people were who they said they were…were actually in the know? What was the vetting process to make sure they were getting honest facts? “So, dude just comes out of the woodwork, lays out all this info, and there’s an article…who has an agenda against the Undertaker.” This was a mob run city and he was a bit surprised none of these journalists had thought about it.

Why were they talking about this? Is this why he asked her over for dinner, to grill her about the article? Because he couldn’t do it in a public setting? “We don’t write anything that’s not factual. And in the article, I made it clear these were all assumptions about the Undertaker, not facts. The only way they would be factual was to talk to the Undertaker himself,” Ironically, Teralyn was doing exactly that at this very moment. “Look, I didn’t want to do the article, okay? I was approached with it from my boss and he convinced me to do it, said it could boost my career in the company. When I presented him with what Dennis told me during our meeting, he said it was ‘good enough’ to publish it. Other than that, I have no idea. Maybe he just wanted to slander the Undertaker and if that’s the case, I don’t have a clue why.” She set the final piece of silverware on the table, heaving a sigh. Maybe this was a mistake coming here. It sounds like all he’s looking for is information about the article and who was stupid enough to tell me anything about him. “If that’s the only reason you wanted me here tonight, you could’ve just asked me through email and I would’ve told you what I know. There was no need to lure me here for dinner, Calaway.”

Little did they both know that was exactly what was going on. Daniel was related to someone who had a vendetta against the Undertaker and this was the beginning of trying to bring the drug lord to his knees.

“Nah, I didn’t invite you over to talk about the article, the whole ‘I’d sleep safer’ thing from earlier just kind of segued into it, darlin’.” Honestly, he didn’t care a bit about the article. Outside of someone, not on his payroll, had been pulling her strings, which wasn’t nice. Only he got to pull Teralyn’s strings and the fact someone else had his hand on the same string, at the same time, wasn’t acceptable. “Not gonna lie, Teralyn, sounds like your boss or whatever the fuck he is isn’t fit to be in his position. Making the New York Times seems like a tabloid company.” How many years needed to pass before she could take over without it seeming like the hand of god interfered? Hand of Satan, maybe. “You’re too paranoid, sit down.” Pulling a chair out for her, Taker saw her take it with suspicion in her eyes. Without a care in the world, he began setting the table, plating her food for her because there was visual presentation involved.

Genuinely, Taker was impressed with himself and these mad cooking skills he had developed and wanted to show off.

“Maybe you’re right. I’m not too fond of Daniel, honestly.”

Cynthia wasn’t either; they both felt he was a slimeball, but the company hadn’t fired him yet. She had no idea Mark was already thinking along those lines of it happening, especially after that article, full of allegations instead of facts, had been published with her name on it. Daniel had insisted it was her that took the recognition for it. Her eyes watched as he filled the plates, making them look like two masterpieces with all the garnishes and trimmings involved. She was almost afraid to touch the food because it looked so beautifully presented and took another slow sip of her wine. Mark came back over to fill their glasses up since they were both low before taking a seat himself. Everything was cooked to perfection and the first taste, the first bite of that veal, was simply incredible.

It was one thing for HIM to play with Teralyn, and do some behind the scenes manipulation, because nothing he did hurt her. Well, outside of the strip club scenario, but that was on both of them and he wasn’t dwelling on mistakes made six years ago. However, someone was pulling her strings and she was…not realizing it. Taker had thought she would have emotionally grown up and it hit him, even as he was chatting with her about absolutely nothing related to her job, or his, that the growth she HAD been making all those years ago had been halted, thanks to their relationship ending. This was a big, tangled mess of mistakes and miscommunication.

Now there was mistrust on her part and he understood why she had it. Teralyn had been burned a lot, which caused her to hide things, adding to the never-ending, vicious cycle. “I’m sorry, say that again? You tried rock climbin’? No shit?”

Burned was an understatement. She’d been scorched from both Scott and Mark, both for nearly the same reason too. Cheating. It was why she did have trust issues with men because she refused to put her heart on the line only to get hurt. Still, Teralyn was determined to move on with her life and stop letting the past hold her back and bring her down.

Hakuna Matata. “Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Great workout too. I’m planning on doing it again. And once I’m good enough with the fake rocks, I’ll try it on an actual mountain.” Teralyn had a goal in mind for the first time in six years and it was all thanks to Jon Moxley. His look on life was what she needed, to live her life the way SHE wanted with no regrets. “It’s a good thing I’m already in semi-decent shape for it or else it would’ve been hell the next day on my body.” Soreness still played a factor, but it was manageable.

Took two to tango, she had been cheating as much as he had. Probably more since he now knew she had been working weekends there at the strip club, selling her assets. “Yeah I bet, delayed muscle onset soreness, usin’ muscles you don’t usually.”

Taker had finally sat down, a bit reluctant to eat because then it would be the end of how beautiful this all looked. Eventually…he did, inwardly complimenting himself on a job very well done. Perhaps weird, him being a killer and a drug dealer, but capable of producing something so delicious and lovely. He liked it and it gave him a nice bit of fleshing out.

“How’d you even get into that? Join a group?” They had things like that, right? It was New York City after all.

She was halfway done with her meal, wondering why Mark hadn’t touched his and had talked to him while eating, thoroughly enjoying the dinner he prepared. “Actually, I got another blast from the past the other day, at the gym I go to a few days a week. It’s just down the block from where I live. Do you remember Jon Moxley? He was part of Austin’s football team and dated Renee Young, who was my friend before we started dating. Blonde auburn curly hair, blue eyes?” Oh boy, the flash in Mark’s eyes actually sent a shiver down her spine as she took another sip of wine. It was calming her nerves, thankfully. “He invited me out, said he needed a partner to climb with and I figured it couldn’t hurt to try it. Then after that, we went to some kind of smoothie shop that had the best pomegranate smoothie I’ve ever had in my life.” Teralyn took another bite of veal with the vegetables, still not believing how incredibly delicious this was.

He hadn’t touched it because it was going to be gone in five bites since he had a big mouth. Taker was eating, slowly, his eyes fastened on her while she told him about meeting with Jon Moxley. He remembered the curly mop haired idiot, he had been a jock, one of Austin’s idiot boys who had bought the cult hype and helped spread the unsavory rumors around. Well, that had all ended well for them, hadn’t it? Pomegranate smoothie, it was good to know that rose and those jeweled seeds had left a lasting impression on her at least.

“I’m glad you’re takin’ up some new hobbies, interesting about Moxley. I always thought he’d try out for professional sports…” Jon Moxley was the best center on the football team, back then, in recent years at the college and he had won the championship his freshmen year, so the boy was very gifted when it came to sports.

“Nah, he was never really into them. I asked him about it when we hung out the other day.” Before going to see a movie that followed with ice cream at a nearby street vendor stand. “He’s a mechanic now, actually.” Teralyn set her fork and knife down on the plate, since her food was gone, leaning back against the chair. She was stuffed, that was one of the best meals she’d ever had in her life. “He’s not a bad guy and he said he was stupid in college, spreading those lies about The Ministry all over campus. We talked about it, hashed everything out and I’ve decided to go with his life philosophy. Hakuna matata all of it and start living and enjoying life. There’s more to it than just work, after all.” She winked and finished the rest of her wine.

“Hakuna matata?” Taker echoed, wondering if he’d heard her correctly and sipped more of his wine. That led Teralyn into explaining the children’s movie from the 90’s, The Lion King, something about a lion, a pumba…what the hell was a pumba? It was something involving Disney and the 90’s for him had been vastly different than what she had experienced, that was for sure. “I feel like I’m missing some pop culture reference here.” Her giggling about it was amusing and he smiled at her, draining the rest of his wine, his food gone. “Let me know when you have room for dessert, darlin’.” He had not been lying when he said he made dessert and it would also be scrumptious. “Come sit with me on the couch?”

“Don’t you want to clean up the mess first?”

Mark shook his head and stood up, extending his hand to her. She took it as he pulled her up from the chair and lead her away from the table to the living room portion of the penthouse. It was a standard couch, nothing too fancy and a coffee table was in front of them. Teralyn settled down on it, crossing one leg over the other and Mark did not release her hand.

“Okay, this is much better than that chair.” Her stomach was full of delicious food, slowly digesting and now she was sitting on a couch beside her ex, who had just pulled out all the stops cooking for her. “That really was a fantastic meal, Mark. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. It was nice having someone to show off for, it’s been a while.” Taker leaned back into the comfortable couch and stretched his long legs and bare feet out, resting on the top of the coffee table. He let his head rest against the back of the couch, turning so he could see her properly. “I got to ask because it’s been on my mind since you said yes to this invitation. Why did you say yes, Teralyn?” Considering they hadn’t even officially ‘ended’ their relationship, it was interesting and a little surreal Teralyn was here now. She had made her little announcement that night at the club and walked out. Walked out on everything and he had just let things slide, let them go, just as much as she had.

That made her pull her hand out of his to rest in her lap, her eyes lowering from his and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, and that’s the honest truth. I wasn’t going to, but…you sent me that rose and those beautiful pomegranate seeds and…I felt bad about what happened at the restaurant for lunch. And part of me was curious why you wanted to cook for me in the first place.” Teralyn looked back up at him, confusion and curiosity swirling through her ocean blues because she could not figure out what this man’s intentions were. “So, I pose the same question to you – why did you send the invitation to me?” After all that had happened between them, and him showing up to her work out of the blue, their lunch going awry…and their past…Teralyn didn’t think she’d ever see Mark again after that day. “No better question, why did you send me the rose and pomegranate seeds?” That was the real question she wanted answered.

“Mostly to see if you’d actually come, other than that, I don’t know.” It was the same answer she had given him and Taker let his hand rest on his lap, the other busy holding his wine glass, though his emerald eyes never left hers. There was no showing up out of the blue, she honestly didn’t think he would ignore that article, did she? Well, it WAS Teralyn and she was a bit on the naïve side, always had been and he doubted it would ever change. Just one of her more endearing qualities he adored for some reason. “And I wanted to remind you, darlin’, that there is always more than one way to tell a story. Like Hades and Persephone.”

Doing it to prove a point and to see if she would come here…those were truthful, legitimate answers and Teralyn had to respect him for his honesty. “I see.” Why did it matter if Hades and Persephone had different stories told? What did that have to do with them and their failed relationship? “Maybe you needed closure of some kind and maybe that’s why I decided to come here tonight too.”

They really had left everything hanging – well, SHE had, but Mark didn’t make any effort to contact her after that night at the strip club. Her stuff was sent from his house a month later, after she had moved out of the apartment with Claudia into her own. Claudia had dropped it off and they hadn’t spoken since that day. It didn’t break her heart since she wasn’t very close with Claudia in the first place.

“Maybe.”

He had given her that month, figuring when she was ready to talk, she’d come to him. Honestly, Taker had been exhausted just from thinking about it. He had spent so much time building her up, trying to help Teralyn regain her confidence, trying to just…help her come out of that shell because he had known there was a vibrant person beneath the veneer. That had exploded in a way he hadn’t thought possible and not in the best way either.

“Is that why you came tonight?”

Chapter 10

She didn’t know the answer to that question…no, that was a lie. Teralyn knew why she’d come tonight, deep down inside, but she wouldn’t tell him that reason. She would not put her heart on the line again. It was that lingering, annoying fear, that uncertainty and distrust she had that prevented her from being completely honest with him. There was nothing to be done about it either, it was just how she was and felt. Emotionally stunted, as Mark had thought of her several times.

I still love him, that’s why I came here tonight. She wanted to see if there was anything left between them, any spark, any fire and so far, they were being friendly and cordial, but that was it. “Curiosity more than anything is why I’m here. Maybe the closure deal, but it’s mostly curiosity.”

Teralyn also knew this may be her last chance to see him since he traveled all over for his business. If it was, she didn’t want to leave things open anymore and felt she owed him something that was long overdue. “No, there is another reason why I came here tonight that’s more than closure or curiosity. And I may not get another opportunity like this again to say it, so I’m going to say it.” She locked eyes with him and did what she could to fight back the intense emotion threatening to overwhelm her. “I’m sorry about what I did to you. There’s no excuse for my actions, even though I’ve defended myself by saying I had to do it to keep myself financially secured. I didn’t need anyone’s help. I had to do it on my own. I couldn’t rely on anyone.”

“When I look back at what I did, and how I handled it, all of those reasons are nothing more than excuses. There was absolutely no reason for me to keep it from you, to lie to you about why I was working out, my night classes I was taking, all of it. I was young and stupid and I honestly thought it was a job, nothing more, nothing less. Just a job to help me pay my way through school and set me up financially for a while. The only thing I had in my mind was doing things on my own and I refused to get help from my parents to get through schooling. I didn’t care about the repercussions of our relationship or the fact I was lying to you and everyone else about what I was doing.”

“I was selfish, inconsiderate, and wrong to do what I did to you. I should’ve been honest with you from the start and told you what I had planned to do. I don’t regret doing it, but I do regret what it did to us and it’s my fault, so I’m deeply sorry for hurting you, Mark. You didn’t deserve to be betrayed that way and I hope you can forgive me.” Wow, it felt like a huge weight had suddenly lifted from her shoulders and the stream of tears sliding down her cheeks was proof of that. It was also a weight lifted from her heart, a burden she’d been carrying around with her for the past six years. “Christ…”

Why the hell was she crying? Taker had absolutely no idea and he realized if this was a chick flick, this was the part where he apologized about what he did to her at the strip club. Truth be told, he had gone in with some wicked intentions. Then she had denied him and…well, he hadn’t liked that, so he had gone out of his way to teach MORE of a lesson than he had been planning. Humiliating her was his ultimate payback for all her lies and deceit.

“My ass shouldn’t have been in that club.” He admitted finally, inwardly cringing because he hadn’t MEANT to say the words, but here it was. Not to mention, yes he actually had, but he could lie with the best of them. “The guys and I were celebrating a…milestone and it’s a place I did business out of.” He began laughing because in retrospect, it was hilarious. “You know though, that was the first time I’d been in there for something besides slinging drugs and it ended the way it did. Maybe that should’ve been a wakeup call.” He reached out to use his thumbs, brushing away her tears.

“I don’t know if you’ll believe this or not, but…until that night, I ONLY danced and stripped. I never did any lap dances because they weren’t required. I COULD do lap dances for extra money, but I didn’t want to. I never did anything else, especially going to the VIP lounges they had set up. You were the first and only man I gave a lap dance too. And I was planning on quitting that night because I found out earlier that day I got the internship with the Times. I…never wanted you to find out about the job, truthfully.” Teralyn sniffled, taking another deep breath and realized just how much she’d been carrying around with her all this time. “I understand why you were there.” She still didn’t condone the fact he wanted to take her to that VIP lounge to have sex with her, though. That showed he was capable of cheating on her with a stripper, even if it was her. “I forgive you for what happened that night, all of it.

He didn’t know whether or not he believed her because he had learned the very hard way that Teralyn, for all her supposed innocence and definite naivety, was full of deceit. Half the time, it wasn’t even to be malicious, which in his not so humble opinion, made it worse. “I wasn’t askin’ for forgiveness, darlin’, I was just telling you I was sorry that it happened.” He retorted bluntly, not surprised when she rolled her eyes at him. Good to know she remembered some things about him, such as the way he would say whatever he wanted for the most part. “Do you feel any better?”

“And I’m telling you that I forgive you, even if you didn’t ask for my forgiveness. And yeah, I actually do.” Teralyn felt lighter and sat up on the couch, looking away from him to stare straight ahead.

Mark didn’t have to believe her, but it was the truth and she had no reason to lie to him, not after all this time. She hadn’t meant to be deceitful, it just happened with her thought process at the time. Hadn’t Teralyn just said she was wrong for what she did? Yes, yes she had, she admitted her faults, but she wanted him to know that she’d never actually cheated on him the way he nearly cheated on her, even though it was HER he would’ve cheated with. Good lord, her brain hurt as Teralyn stood up from the couch, needing another drink in the worst way.

If it made her feel better, he supposed that was the most important thing, even though it didn’t matter to Taker either way. Pushing himself up, he followed her quietly into the kitchen, watching as she topped off her glass of wine and wondered if her alcohol tolerance had improved any. Last he knew, she couldn’t even drink two beers without getting buzzed.

“You ready for-” He had startled her and his response when she jumped, at him no less, was to loop his arm around her waist and trap her next to his body, steadying her. “Dessert?” It came out a little husky.

Indeed, her alcohol tolerance had increased exponentially throughout the past six years because the first two she’d turned to heavy drinking. Vodka, Tequila, any kind of hard liquor she could get her hands on. Once she started to see her grades slipping due to her drinking, Teralyn tapered off and only drank wine, wine coolers and beer. Some of the wine spilled on the table from him startling her and she slowly looked up at him, not missing the way his voice had changed. The huskiness sent a wave of warmth through her and Teralyn was pleasantly surprised that he still had the same effect on her he did back in college. Her cheeks flushed again, for a second time that night and something she hadn’t felt in six years began to stir inside of her.

Desire and need.

“Yeah, show me your second masterpiece.” She had no idea what Mark could’ve made, but was looking forward to it and their eyes remained locked, boring into each other.

“Don’t ya dare laugh.”

Cooking was no problem, baking and candy making were still a bit tricky, but he was rather pleased with how this had come out. Taker had thought about showing her his ‘masterpiece’ and reminding her that there were other types of dessert, but…not yet. He wouldn’t move in so fast and scare her off, though he also half expected her to jump him. The woman had asked him to take her virginity, when they had first started dating, right against a door no less. Turning and reaching down to adjust himself, he went to wash his hands before retrieving dessert.

If Mark knew WHY she had asked him to do that, he would’ve blown a gasket and taken half of New York City with him. No, she was taking that one to the grave. The whole reasoning behind it was because she wanted to lose her virginity BEFORE she started stripping. It didn’t matter if she loved him or not, she wanted it gone and Ericka had been right – it worked wonders for her performance. It really helped her understand what sex was really all about. Definitely never, ever telling him the real reasoning behind wanting to lose her virginity.

“Why would I laugh at you for making a dessert? You really make no sense, Calaway.” She took a sip of her wine, after cleaning the spill up and waited for him to return, raising a brow at the platter he set on the table. “Okay, what in the world is THAT?”

Taker would’ve blown a gasket all right, knowing she was basically whoring herself out just so she could be comfortable…whoring herself out for other men. Well, maybe back then he would have blown a gasket. Now that he was a little older, he would have found it amusingly stupid. That would be the equivalent of him trying every drug he sold before selling it to make sure he was selling good product or something. “Mmm, a melting chocolate ball.” It was called magic melting something or other, kind of a stupid name, but it looked and tasted delicious. “Here, sit down.” Gesturing to the island table right there in the kitchen, Taker pulled out one of the stools from beneath it and then the other.

There were some things Mark never needed to know and that was definitely one of them. She hadn’t lost her virginity that day anyway because he had stopped it from happening. Instead, it was a romantic setting with a waterfall, in the back of his truck on a mattress, under the glistening hot sun and then later on that night under the moon and stars. She smiled at him, watching as he poured chocolate sauce over the cake ball, or so that’s what it looked like. Then, it began to disappear or disintegrate, revealing the dessert beneath with eh chocolate from the ball surrounding it. Beneath was a delicious looking brownie type dessert, surrounded by strawberries and whipped cream on top of the brownie.

“Oh wow…” It looked very rich and she knew it would be delicious, taking one of the strawberries to dip it in the melted chocolate, popping it in her mouth. “Mmm…”

“Yeah?” Taker was genuinely smiling as he watched her trying it, finally getting himself a small bite. “You know, when I first started learning how to do this stuff, make desserts like this, I thought they were incredibly stupid, especially with how small they are. How tiny.” Because they were barely more than four or five bites. Another bite and he took his time in chewing it, savoring it. Teralyn was enjoying it too, he could tell and it was…the weirdest thing, how that gave him pleasure, her enjoyment with something he had made just for her. “I get it now though, it’s rich, almost too rich if you try eating more than this.”

“It’s like cheesecake or tiramisu. They’re delicious, but they are rich and you can only have a slice at a time or else they can really mess your stomach up.” She had experienced it firsthand when she bought a cheesecake and tried eating the whole damn thing in one night. Needless to say, she had NEVER tried that again and instead stuck with chocolate eclairs. “This is just…on a whole other level of richness though.”

This type of dessert was not only meant to be split and shared, but to also savor every rich, chocolate bite. Mark took another bite and ended up with some chocolate sauce on the corner of his mouth, her eyes zeroing in on it. Reaching up, she gently swiped it away with the pad of her thumb and popped it in her mouth before taking another bite.

“They should call this the better than sex cake ball.” It was an instant orgasm in her mouth with every bite Teralyn took.

This stuff was no joke. He could blow through a carton of ice cream by himself without any issues, but this stuff he had learned how to make…not happening. There was a reason for the small amounts and he had figured that out quickly, fortunately…by himself. That had just been a bad night all around and Taker was grateful nobody had been there to witness it.

His tongue darted out to the corner she had swiped, watching as Teralyn absentmindedly popped her finger into her mouth. It was such a seduction technique, he wondered if she knew she was doing it or if it was something she had learned during her stripper days. No, he mentally cleansed all that, not about to let it ruin their night and honestly, at this point in their lives, who honestly cared? The past was the past and he had more important things to focus on.

“I don’t know…” He drawled, his eyes darkening. “Sex is pretty good, when done right…”

No, she didn’t realize it was a seduction technique and had done it, so he didn’t get it in his goatee. “Yeah, very true. I have a bit of a chocolate addiction, though.” She wouldn’t deny that, especially with him. Sex with him was always mind-blowing and fantastic, made her toes curl and her…STOP THAT TRAIN OF THOUGHT RIGHT NOW! “Oh my god, I can’t eat another bite, Mark.” Teralyn set her fork down and rose her hands up in the air, admitting defeat and surrender. “If I take one more bite, I’m going to explode all over your pristine penthouse and I don’t think you wanna clean that mess up.” She groaned, not remembering the last time she had a meal quite like this and watched him finish the dessert off.

Chapter 11

His dessert. Taker didn’t touch hers because he was somewhat insane, not entirely stupid. That went straight to the trash without an ounce of shame or remorse. She couldn’t finish it and he did not blame her. “So, that your way of telling me I should make something a little lighter next time?” He asked when he walked back over to the counter, watching as she topped their glasses off with the last of the wine. At her raised brow, he flashed her another smile, this one just a hint predatory and the roses blossomed in her cheeks, causing his eyes to gleam a little wickedly. “There WILL be a next time.”

Honestly, Teralyn didn’t know what would happen tonight and she figured this was just Mark’s way of getting closure between them. Hearing those words from him, however, made it sound like he wanted to see her again. Cook for her again. Spend time with her again. Damn, her cheeks were red again as she took a long swig of the wine, feeling just slightly buzzed at the moment, nothing she couldn’t handle.

“You want to do this again with me?” Teralyn chewed her bottom lip when he nodded, slowly looking up into those gleaming, wicked emerald orbs she had dreamt about nearly every night for the past six years. “I guess I don’t have a problem with that, if that’s what you want. I should return the favor, though, and cook for you sometime.”

“After all the cooking you did before, I feel like I owe you quite a bit of meals, darlin’.” He was a little surprised, to be honest, that she had agreed.

Nevertheless, it was one thing to agree right now, while in his presence, another entirely to follow through once they were apart. It wasn’t as though Taker was asking her to be his one and only again…yet. He wasn’t looking for things to get back to how they were; that had been six years ago and they hadn’t been who they were today. He was just letting Teralyn know he was interested and that was likely never going to change.

“Okay then, a compromise…we cook together. You can even show me some of those fancy tricks you learned in your classes.” Teralyn offered, taking a step toward him and then another, until she was right in front of him instead of a few feet apart.

This was her way of telling him she was also interested, but she was also keeping her guard up for the time being. There was no way she could handle a third heartbreak, not with Mark. Unlike college, they could actually date each other, make plans around their own schedules and maybe eventually figure out if they truly belonged together or not.

“What do you say, Mark?”

“Fancy tricks?” He echoed, wrinkling his nose. Some of the things he’d learned were fancy, he supposed, though not so much a trick as learned skills. “All right, darlin’,” He slowly moved his hands until they were on her hips, letting her see what he was planning on doing and putting a stop to it if she wanted. Since she didn’t, he assumed Teralyn was comfortable. “You’re buzzed.” Not very much, but enough to potentially get in some trouble if she were pulled over. “Want a coffee?” He pulled her in a little further, leaving barely any space between their bodies.

“Don’t worry, I’m still in my right frame of mind and my alcohol intake has increased since college. I can handle more than just two beers these days.” Hell, they had finished off that bottle of expensive wine together and she was feeling really good right now. His hands on her hips felt amazing and she could no longer hold herself back, slowly sliding her hands up his bare muscular chest to rest them on his broad shoulders. Just one kiss, one taste of him is all I need. If I’m dreaming, I never want to be woken up again. Just because she felt brave enough to do it, thanks to some liquid courage, Teralyn did make the first move and rose up on her tiptoes to softly brush her lips against his. “Mmm…”

He had one glass prior to her arrival, actually it had been half a glass. So, there was like six and a half, seven glasses of wine in that bottle, good to know. “Never said you weren’t in your right frame of mind, darlin’.” He rumbled against her lips once the kiss broke and it had been a very chaste kiss.

Taker hadn’t tried for tongue, no coaxing into something else, he had been a gentleman. It had nothing to do with what she could and couldn’t handle, it had to do with legal limits and driving. New York City was a very weird state when it came to laws and whatnot. There honestly was no place like it and he didn’t mean that in a necessarily good way. Bringing his hand up, palm against her cheek, Taker let his head rest against hers lovingly.

This felt right, him holding her like this and being close to him again, after all this time. It felt like Teralyn was finally home and her lips were burning just from that small kiss she gave him. He hadn’t pulled back, he returned it just as gently and it made her heartrate speed up. That warmth was flooding her body again and all the sensations, all the feelings from back in college, came rushing back.

“I know, I just wanted to assure you I’m fine.” More than fine now that she was in his arms again and Teralyn pressed her forehead to his as well, adding her own pressure. “I missed you.” She slid her hand up his arm to lace their fingers together against her cheek, ocean blue and emerald swirling together while their eyes remained locked. I love you. Those words would not leave her lips for a while, not until she was certain they were going to last this time.

Surprisingly, that little voice in her head had gone completely dormant.

It felt right because even with everything, good and bad that happened between them, with what he did to ‘make’ money and what she had done as well, none of it ultimately mattered. At the end of the day, his lies and hers did not matter at all. The shady business they did behind each other’s back did not matter either. When they were together without the outside world pressing in, it was perfection between Taker and Teralyn. King and Queen. It had been this way back then too, when it was just them, nothing else mattered. They were able to sort through their personal problems, when they actually confessed them and opened up, able to strengthen and repair their relationship as well.

“I missed you too, Teralyn.” He returned just as softly, committing this moment to memory.

She believed him. With every fiber of her being, she believed his words and was also searing this moment in her memories, never wanting to forget it. Whatever happened in the past couldn’t be changed. The damage between them was done, but…it could be repaired. That was the one strength in their relationship, being able to repair and strengthen through truth and honesty.

“I was hoping you did. I didn’t know how you felt about me after all this time.” He had gotten married to a Vegas showgirl, after all, which had knocked her for a loop. That was something she would never admit outside of her own head, however. “I never stopped thinking about you after we parted. I always thought about you and hoped you were happy and safe.”

Also kicking herself in the backside repeatedly for what she’d done, realizing the mistake she had made with him too late. There was one thing she didn’t want to do and that was start over with him because, for the most part, their relationship hadn’t been bad. There were so many great memories and Teralyn didn’t want to start from scratch, if they wound up back together again.

The damage could be repaired, as long as he remained secretive with her. Then again, probably not because Teralyn would not be amused if she knew what he did. However, sometimes life lessons had to be taught. Taker had put himself in a catch .22, it would be interesting to see how that all played out if it came to light. When it came to light. Happy and safe, this woman was such a contradiction. She was too good and kind for the likes of him and yet a scandalous liar when it suited her. Teralyn was probably perfect for him. All sweet and spice with that sliver of something wicked in her core.

“You’re too good for the likes of me, you know that, don’t you, darlin’?” Brushing his lips along her jawline, moving to her mouth, Taker craved another taste of her, even a small one.

She slid her arms around his neck, pressing herself closer to him and the kiss quickly turned hot and deep, especially when she didn’t let him pull away. Instead, she tightened her arms around his neck and slid her tongue out to swipe across his lips, moaning at the first real taste of him in six years. It made her shiver and she didn’t know if it was the wine or him or a combination of the two, but the need for this man was overwhelming. Jumping into bed together tonight couldn’t happen, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t kiss and touch each other.

“And you’re too good for me, handsome.” Even with what he did for a living, being a drug lord, Mark had never lied to her. Her trust for him would have to be rebuilt and until Teralyn fully did trust him again, she would not sleep with him. “Mark…” She pried her lips away from him, staring into those dark forest green eyes and slid her tongue along her bottom lip. “This is all we can do tonight, okay? I-I don’t wanna rush anything…” Not this time, there was no hidden agenda of hers and she hoped there wasn’t any for him either.

Not tonight, obviously, but sometime real soon, they would have to have another talk. Tonight, she had already laid out quite a bit and they both came rather far with each other from where they had been the day he had shown up in her workplace. In just hours, what had taken mere minutes to destroy six years ago, had slowly started mending and Taker did not want to ruin it.

“I’m not looking to bed you right out the gate, Teralyn.” He reassured her, a bit amused that she was actually saying those words out loud given her prior stance on sex and doors. “I know this is going to take some time.” That did not mean Taker couldn’t kiss her senselessly.

Mark could kiss her all he wanted and hold her, caress her, as long as he stayed away from her two intimate areas. For now. Her ass was free to be groped if he wanted to as well, she didn’t mind that. They hadn’t really taken the proper time to get to know each other in college. She had thought long and hard about this over the past six years and everything was rushed. Mostly because of her and Ericka in her ear about losing her virginity for the job. Teralyn didn’t regret losing it to Mark, but she did regret not taking her time and getting to know him better before they did the deed. They had a second chance to do things right and they were both a lot more mature with more patience.

“It will be worth the wait.” She murmured, feeling him lift her to wrap her legs around his waist and Mark carted them back to the couch, sitting down with her straddling him. Then, their mouths connected again, making out on the couch with just kissing and touching.

Hadn’t he been the one to say something about that? About timing and everything? Even back then, Taker had known it was a bad idea, especially given how short a time they had known each other and what he HAD known about Teralyn. Turned out he had been right and yet here he was, a moth to the flame, preparing to do the tumble down the rabbit hole all over again. This time, Taker knew when they crashed and burned, a lot of it was on him and he was willing to play that game, to risk it all. Of course, if they were fast-tracking making out after one ‘dinner date’ and he wasn’t expecting the sex thing to remain on the back burner very long either.

“Usually is.”

They couldn’t just start over from scratch with hand holding and talking, not like they had begun in college. They knew each other, they’d been together and she was just drawn to him as he was to her. Moth to a flame indeed. More like a fly to a spider. Teralyn could only hope Mark didn’t devour her whole in a bad way or kill her, that their relationship would be different this time. There would be no sex until she was 100% sure and nothing would persuade her otherwise or change her mind. There would be no sleepovers or anything of that nature, they were going to date the right way and tonight was the beginning of that.

After two straight hours of kissing, touching, and exploring, Teralyn managed to pull herself away from Mark to go home. She didn’t want to leave, but knew it was for the best if they were serious about getting back together. They continued kissing all the way down to her car, both standing there for another hour with her in his arms and their lips locked. By the time she finally got into her car and drove away, with extremely swollen lips, it was after 2 AM in the morning. Teralyn also made sure to leave her number with him, so they didn’t have to stick with just emails and told him to call her when he was ready to see her again.

Chapter 12

“I need a new job, mine sucks.” Jon informed Teralyn a few days later during lunch.

They had met up during their respective breaks to start planning their next rock climbing excursion. He held up his hand, showing off the scraped up, swollen knuckles. All cleaned of course, but goddamn it wasn’t fun at all. Jon had a lovely bit on his calf too, from tripping over Roman’s stuff and bashing his leg into a lowered car.

“You know, I wanted to be a cameraman, film exciting stuff for a while…” Turned out filming sex was not something that qualified being a cameraman, who knew?

“You poor thing, I’m sorry.” Teralyn frowned at his swollen knuckles, not able to imagine how difficult being a mechanic must’ve been. They were at a local diner, sitting inside because outside it was over 100 degrees and there was no way she could eat in that kind of heat. “Have you thought about getting another job, looking in the paper to see what’s out there?” She asked, knowing there wasn’t any positions within the Times that he would qualify for or even want to do. Unless maybe a maintenance guy, but mechanics made a lot more money than maintenance guys. Besides, he had a job where he could use his trade school degree in. “We all have bad days, maybe this was just a bad day for you, Jon.”

“Nah, I’m going to give up the glamorous life of a grease monkey and come follow you around with a camera. You can be April O’Neil and I’ll be…whoever the fuck was behind the camera.” Jon was joking, dragging his steak fries through the mountain of ketchup he had poured right in the center of his plate. “In all seriousness, doll,” He popped that fry into his mouth, blue eyes locking on her. “There’s been some talk going around the seedier parts of town about that article you did.” He’d know because one of his favorite bars was not only along his way home, but also…shady, seedy, not a place he’d ever bring her.

“Really?”

Teralyn didn’t know if she liked that or not, tilting her head slightly and could see the worry in his eyes. Her boss did warn her there could be some backlash headed her way with the article, even though she hadn’t put anything incriminating into it. Still, the fact of the matter was it she wrote about a potential drug lord, which some people deemed to be a myth in the shadier, seedier part of the city.

“What are they saying?” Was she in danger? Was that why Jon asked her out for lunch today? Mark wasn’t going to like this one bit if that was the case.

It didn’t matter if she liked people talking about her article, that was just how life worked and she’d have to get used to it. Wasn’t that what being a journalist was supposed to be about? Getting people talking and thinking? Jon had asked her out for lunch because they were friends and friends did that. The article thing was just a byproduct and he honestly thought she would have known people were going to talk. The New York Times did not publish anything unless there was some truth in it, even he knew that.

“Wondering when the boogeyman is going to come for you?” Jon remembered that nickname very well and had to wonder if it had been the same Calaway guy, the teacher’s aide, she had been dating in college. How many people had that nickname, the Undertaker?

Teralyn chuckled in response, shaking her head. “Nah, not really.” If anyone came for her, she would defend herself and had the means, the capability, to do so. “People are gonna talk and any gossip about it is better than nothing. At least it’s getting recognition.”

That actually made her feel a mixture of good and bad. On one hand, it was good for her career to have recognition for the article, but the bad part came with the fact it was about Mark…the man she loved. It’d been a week since she had dinner with him at his place and they talked almost every day, both making an effort.

“I don’t know if its gossip, not all of it. I heard a rumor the other day that the cops have been investigating those leads and shit you posted. There’s some crimes, I guess, associated with this guy, and they’re gonna try following whatever you did to see if they can’t wrap it all up and pin him with a bow. If he’s that bad, maybe it won’t be a bad thing. You can say you helped catch a criminal.” Jon was just waiting for the cops, the detectives, to knock on her door. It was going to happen, only a matter of time.

Mark would handle it. Teralyn wasn’t worried about police, especially since he had been skating by this entire time, even in college, AND nobody knew his true identity either. They didn’t know the Undertaker’s real name and she did not divulge that in the article. That would’ve been incredibly stupid and she had done everything she could to protect Mark. If the police came to her, she would continue protecting him. It would all be fine.

“Of course there is. Just being a drug lord is a crime in itself.” Hello, selling and distributing drugs! “And if they do catch him or her because of my article, then so be it. I don’t see it happening though. I didn’t even find out his or hers real name either.”

Jon didn’t say a word, just let her change the topic and hoped she knew what she was doing. The rumors back in the day had been the Undertaker of The Ministry fraternity house had been slinging drugs, selling girls, a whole bunch of horrible things. Not many people went openly by that name and he was a bit curious if there was a connection. If Teralyn didn’t think the detectives were coming, she was out of her mind. Or maybe they’d try to get whoever her sources had been instead. Either way, for someone this big, the law was on its way.

They wouldn’t find him because Taker had just arranged for the ‘Undertaker’ to surface and get shot down in a drug deal gone wrong.

Dennis Knight was officially living on borrowed time and would atone for what he’d done.

~!~

“Breaking news just in, the man known as the Undertaker, authorities have been investigating, has been gunned down in Atlanta, Georgia! Authorities haven’t said much, only that gunshots were heard and they were notified by several anonymous callers, complaining about hearing the gunshots. Authorities arrived on the scene to find who is allegedly known as the Undertaker, shot twice in the chest and once in the head. More on this story as it develops…”

Teralyn couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move from the spot on the couch, staring at the television screen in shock. Pure shock. She felt numb from head to toe, slowly lifting her hand to cover her mouth after five straight minutes of staying frozen where she was. Mark was…dead? They’d only been back together for a month and…he was gone? It felt like her chest was caving in at the moment, tears slipping down her cheeks as the numbness wore off, but the shock remained. Her phone began to ring and Teralyn couldn’t move to answer it, even though it was right in front of her, facedown, so she couldn’t see who was calling. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pull her gaze away from that television screen.

Technically, it wasn’t him, but it was. Nobody except a few people knew who the Undertaker really was and this had been a beautiful idea. Kane had even volunteered to go handle it, after which he was going home to his pregnant wife and children. The body hadn’t been shown yet, but there was plenty of ‘evidence’ in the ‘Undertaker’s’ home down in Georgia. That had been Kane’s little joke, the devil went down to Georgia and all that. Mark sighed when she didn’t answer, knowing he should have probably told her what was coming, BUT…they had a deal when it came to his business. Also, Teralyn was a journalist and some things just could not be discussed. “Darlin’, you need to call me back, or I can come over.” He even sent her a text message, something Taker rarely did.

Teralyn didn’t receive any of it due to ignoring her phone, trying to wrap her mind around the fact Mark was gone. She managed to stand up from the couch and moved to the kitchen, immediately breaking down. The last time they’d been in this kitchen together, they cooked, laughed, and danced to the radio playing. Mark had drawn her into his arms and began swaying with her to George Strait’s ‘Carrying Your Love with Me’. It was on a whim, he just started dancing with her while the food cooked and even sang the song to her. That had been two days ago…and she’d been so happy, they were happy, and now it was all gone.

“M-Mark…” Gripping the counter, it took everything inside of Teralyn not to drop to her knees, her hand clutching her stomach.

All the while, her phone kept ringing and going to voicemail in the living room.

When she didn’t answer at all within the next few hours, he immediately went to her penthouse. Teralyn had invited him over a few times and he had finally, recently in fact, taken her to his REAL place. He had even told her about the other one being ‘borrowed’ and the reason why. Protecting himself and she had understood. She had even found it amusing, such a weird woman. Damn it, Teralyn wasn’t even answering her door and he began buzzing it, mentally rolling his eyes. Eventually, he retrieved security to let him in based on a wellness check, stepping inside quietly and closed the door behind him. She was crying, he could hear her, frowning and realized maybe he should have said something.

“Teralyn…”

Her head snapped up as soon as she heard his low baritone voice fill her penthouse, her face nothing more than a mess of tears. WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON?! Teralyn was crying so hard, sobbing so hard, she was hiccoughing and could not get a single word out, stumbling away from the counter. All she could do was stare at him, clutching her chest tightly because it really felt like her heart might give out at any second. It had been in shambles while she watched that news broadcast and now…it was painfully, slowly, piecing itself back together again.

“H-How…?” What if he was a ghost? Teralyn believed in ghosts and wondered if Mark was now haunting her, another wave of despair crashing over her at the possibility.

Was she really falling to pieces all over again? He shook his head and walked over to her, scooping her up and bent down to brush his lips against hers. The warmth, the scent, hell his facial fuzz tickling at her should’ve all been good indicators he was alive and kicking.

“It wasn’t me, darlin’.” Taker rumbled, figuring the next time he pulled some crazy stunt like that, he’d give her a heads up.

To be fair though, he didn’t actually expect the demise of the Undertaker to make the national news the way it did. Her story had blown up. FBI had been after him since his drug trade had transcended state lines, making it a federal matter.

“I’m here.” He carried her shaking body over to the couch and sat down, cradling her in his lap.

All Teralyn could do was cling to him, not able to kiss him back because she was one big ball of emotion at the moment. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, her tears beating down on his neck and kept silently thanking god he was really alive. Later, she would smack him, but for now, Teralyn had to calm down and him whispering soothing words in her ear helped a great deal.

Why didn’t he tell her what he was planning? Didn’t he think she would fall to pieces thinking she lost him?! They said the Undertaker was DEAD, gunned down! How did he EXPECT her to react to breaking news that would be all over the country since it was a federal matter?! Did he think she’d be happy about this?! Or wouldn’t cry her eyes out over losing him?!

Being the Times, of course her article had blown up and Teralyn hated herself for writing it because now Mark had been on the FBI’s radar. Jon had been right. They had come to her, questioning about who she interviewed and she’d been honest with them since they had a lot of information from her boss. Dennis Knight had been up in the mountains somewhere, hidden far away, where the world could no longer get to him, if he wanted to keep living.

“I-I t-thought I…I lost y-you…” She finally spoke an hour later, her sobs ceasing, but she was still crying while stroking his chest, the trembling also diminishing. Slowly, Teralyn lifted her eyes to meet his, so many different emotions roaring through her at once, but one outweighed them all. “I-I can’t l-lose you again, M-Mark…” Holy Christ, that had scared the hell out of her!

Under normal circumstances, Taker would not have the patience for this type of outburst. He had the patience for it back in college when he definitely had to protect his image and himself, but these days…not so much. So maybe he had changed more than he had originally thought. Except with her, Teralyn was always the exception to whatever rules he was currently following. He felt like a jackass for not giving her some kind of heads up. It had only been a month and he knew what she had told him about how she felt, how much he had doubted it. Taker wasn’t anymore, so maybe there was some silver lining here, doubts be gone.

“No, I’m here and I’m not going anywhere, Teralyn. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…”

It wasn’t all right what he did, but Teralyn also wouldn’t let it come between them either. “You scared the hell out of me. Please don’t ever do that again.”

In her eyes, she had reacted like a normal woman finding out the love of her life was killed. Teralyn had EVERY right to have a meltdown and it also made her realize how much she LOATHED Mark’s profession. He was in constant danger and she hadn’t helped with that article, which was why the FBI had been after him in the first place and why he had to stage the Undertaker’s death.

“This is my fault, isn’t it?” Her eyes lowered to her lap as Teralyn took another deep shaky breath, wiping her tears away. “It’s that damn article I wrote. I should’ve turned it down and told Daniel to let someone else handle it or tried convincing him it wasn’t a smart idea to go after you.” Maybe she deserved to be scared out of her mind for a bit, even if Mark didn’t mean to do it. “I’m sorry, Mark…damn it…”

Chapter 13

“Well, to be fair, we weren’t together at the time.” However, it was her fault for basically turning ‘ideas’ that the FBI already had into concrete facts. What they had known had been collaborated by her article and sources. “Don’t be sorry darlin’, I should’ve said something to you…” At the same time, that might have been a bad idea since police and the FBI had already been at her door. Taker had no idea of knowing if she was being watched or not. Not likely and now it didn’t matter. “Besides, with the Undertaker dead, I can start wrapping shit up and get into something legitimate and legal.”

“I should’ve turned the article down. There were other things I could’ve written about, other ideas. Daniel was adamant about getting into the under belly of the city, though, and…I haven’t been in the company long enough to really turn down any idea they give me to write.” Teralyn really resented her job right now, especially since Mark had to ‘kill’ himself off in order to get the FBI to wrap up their investigation.

Why didn’t he hate her for this?

It was her fault he was targeted in the first place and, yet, here he was, comforting and calming her down. “If you leave New York again,” Teralyn swallowed hard, looking up into his eyes and reached out to caress his face with the back of her hand. “I’m going with you. I can be a journalist anywhere, but I won’t let you leave without me.” Something told her Mark didn’t want to live in New York City for the rest of his life and she didn’t care where she lived as long as he was there.

Truthfully, Taker hated New York City. He had only come back for…reasons, several of them, one being her. Eventually, they’d have to talk about everything he was keeping under his hat, so to speak. There were so many secrets, he was surprised he managed to keep them all where they needed to be. One thing at a time, though.

“You think you’re going to be able to take your work at the Times and be somebody somewhere else?” He asked, no malice in his tone, just curiosity because she was…a record breaker when it came to her job. Taker wondered if she even knew it.

“I’ll figure it out. Maybe I’ll find something else to do, if I can’t be a journalist wherever we go.” Shifting from sitting sideways on his lap, Teralyn straddled him and this time kissed him, now that the tears had finally subsided, along with the grief and shock. “That’s how important you are to me. My life is nothing without you in it. Nothing else matters except you and me and what we have now. Our future. You asked me the other day where do I see myself in five years from now. When I said with you, I meant it. And when I thought you were…gone tonight, I felt like dying right along with you.” Teralyn pressed her forehead to his, breathing him in and felt his hands caressing her sides up and down gently. “I love you, Mark Calaway, and wherever you go, I go.”

One thing she had learned tonight – nobody knew what the future held, so living life to the fullest and being happy was all that mattered to her. All Teralyn wanted was to be with him, no matter what, and the interesting part about all of this was they hadn’t reconciled sexually yet. They were both holding off, taking their time and it felt wonderful to know there was no rush whatsoever.

Eventually they were going to have to do something because his hand was chafing and he had given serious thought to buying himself a pussy pocket. Back in the day, Taker would've gotten his kicks elsewhere and just been discreet about it. Now not so much, he was actually devoted to her. Physically anyway. He still had something he needed to tell Teralyn before they went farther just not today. She had already drained her emotional reserves. He opened his mouth to say something else and then groaned when her cell went off.

Teralyn didn’t care who was calling at the moment, her full focus on the man in front of her that had a tight hold on her heart. If Mark was having issues with the intimacy between them, she had no idea because he hadn’t said anything. They made dinners together, though some nights she let him work his magic in the kitchen and watched. She loved the talks they had, it felt like old times whenever they were alone together, at the house, just down the gravel road from the dome. Everything was falling into place…except her trust issues with him. Even though she loved him and was completely devoted, part of her, a small part, still wasn’t ready to have Mark in her bed again. It would happen eventually, it was inevitable, but until she was completely ready, only kissing and touching would happen.

“Damn it…” She growled when it rung again and turned, grabbing it from the coffee table to answer it. “Hello?”

It was her boss, Daniel. Had she seen the news? Was she aware of what had happened? He was already telling her without even waiting for her reply. A body hadn't been shown or a picture of the man, not yet, but it would be happening soon enough. Providing the Feds hadn’t messed up the Undertaker’s face.

“Most likely you’re going to get some official recognition because your information is what led to this scumbag being taken down. Good work, Teralyn!”

She didn’t want the recognition for this and stood up from Mark’s lap, tearing a hand through her hair. Hadn’t she been through enough tonight? “Thank you, sir.” God, Teralyn felt sick to her stomach, shaking her head and rubbed the back of her neck, her cheeks growing red. It wasn’t a blush either. She was flushing from anger – anger at herself for writing that stupid article in the first place. I should’ve told him no when he presented me with the idea! Damn it! “I really didn’t do anything except an interview and even then, a lot of what I said in the article was speculation…”

“It doesn’t matter, your name is on the article, so you will get the recognition, no matter what. This is going to generate great publicity for the company, Teralyn. This is huge, you should really be proud of yourself!”

That did NOT make her feel any better, however. “You should get recognition too since you’re my boss and gave me the idea in the first place, sir.”

They were the New York Times, generating for the company wasn’t really that big a deal, but he was trying to get her excited because she sounded so…not. “No, that’s not how it works. I’m behind the scenes as the editor for a reason and your speculation was based in facts, the FBI already had a lot of speculation and then you confirmed everything they already knew, which is why they acted. Congratulations, you helped catch a drug lord killer! I hear this guy was really evil, credit for that murder on the bridge, where the body parts had been placed in each corner of it and then the head in the center…word is that was the Undertaker too.” Teralyn could practically hear him shuddering at that thought through the phone. “We’re having a small party at work for this, you’re the guest of honor. I’ll talk to you then!”

“But-!” Teralyn groaned when the call ended and she tossed her phone on the coffee table, shaking her head.

Guest of honor? What the HELL? She didn’t do anything besides write one lousy article about the Undertaker and it had BLOWN up! Never mind the fact she knew Mark had done that bridge incident, the murder had been gruesome and they had to write about it. It made her wonder sometimes how she could be in love with a monster like him, but Teralyn had accepted that side a long time ago.

“Jesus Christ, I need a drink.” Between thinking Mark was dead for three hours and now being hailed as the guest of honor at her job…Teralyn immediately pulled a bottle of wine out of the fridge and poured herself a hefty serving. “Kind of wish I had something harder than this right now.”

It was a well-written article that had been researched very well, the speculation was all based in fact and had sources to back it up. Taker was a bit amused with how distraught she was over doing her job and doing it to the best of her abilities. Well, mostly. Teralyn HAD known he was alive and his identity, all of that. The fact that the woman, with everything between them had happened, had NOT sold him out was a miracle.

“Darlin’, this isn’t a bad thing, being recognized for your work.” Taker couldn’t keep both the amusement or the pride from his tone.

“It’s not a bad thing to be recognized, and if it was any other criminal that was brought down I would be over the moon about this. But it’s not. It’s you.”

Teralyn looked up at him with such turmoil in her eyes, it made Mark pull her against him, her arms instantly encircling his waist. Why didn’t this bother him more? Maybe because the Undertaker was dead and the FBI would finally lay off the case. Or maybe he was truly proud of her for the article she wrote about him.

“He said there was gonna be a party at the office and I’m going to be the guest of honor.” She looked up at him again, leaning into his hand stroking her cheek. “Will you come with me if they allow us to bring guests?”

“You wanna bring the Deadman, the actual Undertaker, to your honor party about bringing him down?” Taker wanted to make sure she understood just how hilarious that actually was. “I’ll come, wouldn’t miss it.” He was trying to keep his tone serious, but this whole thing was amusing. Why would he be bothered? “Darlin’…just so we’re clear on this, you do realize what I’ve done, don’t you? Why they won’t be bothering you anymore or looking for the Undertaker anymore?” Or maybe Teralyn knew, had gathered it from the facts she had available, and was trying not to dwell on the fact he had someone murdered and then ‘given’ his alias.

Leaning up, she softly kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling his arms tighten around her. “Even though I wish you would’ve given me a heads up, so I didn’t think you were dead for three hours, I know why you did what you did. I don’t blame you for it either. Anything you do, good, bad, ugly, it doesn’t matter. I support you and I love you.” Taker did it to protect not only himself and keep himself out of prison, but her as well. “I told you a long time ago that I accept who you are fully and I still do. I always will.” A big part of Teralyn did wish he’d get out of this drug business, however, but she would never ask him to do that.

“In my defense, darlin’, I wasn’t sure if the cops were eyeing you or anything, so…this worked out better safety wise for us both. Also, if you would’ve checked your cell, it wouldn’t have been three hours. I realized the error of my ways shortly after that clip aired.” Not to mention, Teralyn should have never agreed to do the article about him, period, not that he would ever say that out loud. She had failed a test, it happened, and there was no changing it. “For the record though, anyone else comes climbing out of the woodwork to talk to you about me…walk away.” Because Dennis Knight was officially dead in every way, unlike him, and he would do the same thing to anyone else who decided to become a snitch and talk to the press. It was just nicer for everyone if they shut up and minded their own business. “So…” He studied her thoughtfully, glad to see that her mood had perked up a bit. “Feeling any better?”

“I will, I won’t put you in danger ever again and I guess I deserved to be scared shitless for a little while after what I did.” Teralyn sincerely hoped she was never questioned about Undertaker again because she had no intentions of answering any of them. Her career wasn’t worth sacrificing her relationship to Mark; it meant more to her than making money and being the guest of honor to anything. “And I’m better now that I’m with you.” For three hours, she didn’t think she’d ever be able to do this again, to feel him hold her in his arms or kiss him, touch him, anything. “I need you to do something for me.” Teralyn waited for him to respond with a simple ‘what?’ and she softly kissed him. “Don’t leave me tonight. I want to fall asleep in your arms and wake up in them. Please?”

His little lesson had been part of a grander scheme, a grander plot, and honestly, Taker had not been expecting her to fall back into his arms so easily. He had thought he was going to have to work at it and even then, Teralyn might’ve told him to go to hell. He had been a spiteful, manipulative bastard and he was realizing he never wanted her to know any of it. It would be in both their best interests to get out of New York City and start over, start fresh. Soon, they would have to have that talk, sort out things, AFTER he told her the truth about the strip club incident, which would not be tonight. She had already had too much come down on her as it was.

“I will, darlin’, but do me a favor? Come to my place tomorrow night, let me cook for you and spend the night there with me.” Tomorrow, Taker would start the process of coming clean about almost everything he’d done to her, how he had manipulated her life all this time.

It was Friday night, so she didn’t have work until Monday and the weekend was free to do whatever she wanted. “Whatever you want, I’m there.” Teralyn should’ve made him work harder to be with her, but at the same time, Mark could’ve done the same thing to her.

He could’ve made HER work hard to be with him again after what she did to him. They had hurt each other, but they were mending and growing closer with each passing day in their rekindled relationship. Falling back into his arms and the swing of things between them had been scary, but also rewarding and Teralyn refused to live her life in fear. She loved him, unconditionally, irrevocably, and could not live her life without him. Mark could be spiteful, manipulative, and borderline psychotic…but as long as he treated her well, like his Queen, that was all that mattered.

He had made her work hard, she just didn’t know it. Teralyn didn’t know anything because he didn’t want her to know. Taker had absolutely no idea that there were other forces at play against them both. If he had known, he would have crushed everything and everyone that he deemed a threat not only to him, but also her, to them. Kicking off his boots, Taker moved on the couch so he was laying back with her on top of him, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead, smiling when Teralyn nestled into him.

“Tonight has been-”

Her phone was ringing again.

This time it was Jon. He had sent her a text, asking if she had caught the news because it was a whirlwind. He left her a voicemail, letting her know to call him sometime this weekend since they had a rock climbing date.

“You’re popular.”

Since when? Last she checked, Jon was going out of town with a buddy of his camping up near the college. He had told her as much and she honestly just wanted to spend the entire weekend in Mark’s arms. She sent Jon a quick text message back, telling him she’d call him tomorrow and responded with a yes as far as seeing the news went. Then, she shut her phone off completely and tossed it on the coffee table before snuggling against her man.

“To finish your thought, tonight has been hellacious.” She yawned, nuzzling his throat and heard him chuckle, his hand gliding up and down her back soothingly. Within minutes, she was out cold, her breathing evening out.

Since his buddy had bailed on him, that’s since when. Jon wasn’t amused, it was supposed to be a guy’s weekend and then turned into this solo thing that just wasn’t as fun.

Chapter 14

Jon Moxley.

Taker was a little surprised by the relationship that had sprung up, given Teralyn’s habit of letting the past control how she acted and behaved. Then again…she was also breaking that habit, so maybe it wasn’t surprising. Either way, he soon fell asleep holding her. When she woke up the next morning, it would be to him in her kitchen, making her French toast and coffee. She had a terrible night prior and needed to start her Saturday off properly.

“Morning, darlin’.” He rumbled when she poked her head off the couch.

Did she really fall asleep on top of him on the couch? “Hi…” The smell of delicious food permeated the air as she rolled off the couch to join him in the kitchen, accepting a cup of coffee with creamer. She liked a little coffee in her creamer and Mark made it to perfection as she sipped it, purring at the taste. “I’m sorry we fell asleep on the couch. I don’t know why we didn’t just go to my room.” Then again, Mark had pulled her on top of him on the couch and Teralyn couldn’t move after that, the exhaustion getting the best of her. “I see eggs over there, but what else are you making? It smells so good.”

“French toast. I ran down to that corner market while you were sleeping and got the good bread.” None of that store bought, pre-sliced stuff either. Topped with cream, fresh fruits, if not for the fact that he was a drug selling murderer, Taker would have been perfect husband material. It had him sniggering on the inside, the thought of it. “And don’t be sorry,” Turning away from her, he finished up the eggs before sliding them onto two plates and pulled the still warm toast from the oven where he had it setting. “You had a rough night.”

“So did you. It couldn’t be easy planning your own demise, after all.” Teralyn smirked when he rolled his eyes at her, taking the plate he handed over. “Tonight when I sleep over at your place, we’re sleeping in your bed. I don’t think either of us can handle another couch.” She informed him, already putting some salt and pepper on her eggs while he finished up with the French toast.

He topped it with the cream and fruit, which was strawberries and her stomach rumbled with life. Together, they walked over and sat at the table, but before Mark sat down, Teralyn gave him a good morning/thank you for breakfast kiss. It truly was the perfect way to start off her Saturday morning as they proceeded to eat the delicious breakfast Mark made her.

“You really are one of a kind, you know that, handsome?”

“Yes, and I’m sure the world is eternally grateful for it. Not everyone gets to see me at my best like you do. Planning your own death isn’t as hard as you would think.” He eyeballed her as she took a bite of the French toast, waiting for that same look she’d had with the veal. “How is it?” Taker hadn’t made it in quite some time and this had been from memory, so…if he had totally botched it, he would feel bad about potentially poisoning her with the wrong spices. She gave him a thumbs up with that euphoric expression and he smiled in satisfaction. “We’re going shopping today, by the way, before we go back to my place, where we will definitely be sleeping in my bed.” There was every intention of easing any physical stress she was carrying too.

“Sounds good to me.” Teralyn had no intentions of having sex with him tonight, not cottoning onto what he meant by sleeping in his bed. She thought he was talking about actual sleep. It’d only been a month since they reconciled and she didn’t realize what a toll that took on him, not being able to have ALL of her completely. “I definitely need to hit the gym this week sometime. You’re gonna make me fat with all this delicious food.” She muttered good-naturedly, sipping her coffee and continued eating. Kissing him on her way to the kitchen, with their plates, Teralyn proceeded to rinse the plates off before putting them in the dishwasher. “Hand me the skillet you used, please.” She would clean up since he was nice enough to cook.

They didn’t have to have sex. Taker could do other things and it had been a long time since he had a proper dessert. He was practically salivating just thinking about it. Passing over the skillet, he moved to dry the dishes and put them away after Teralyn washed and rinsed. There weren’t many. Considering he had been sexually active for most of his adult life and recently, until getting back with her, going back on bread and butter was…hard. It was not fun at all. He was aware she wasn’t ready for sex and it was ironic how the tables had turned. Taker was the one listening to that voice in his head and she was the one being reasonable.

“Hey, you want a workout, I’ll give you a workout.” He joshed, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

The roses in her cheeks bloomed instantly. “I’m sure you would.” She remarked in a tease of her own, passing over the skillet after rinsing it off for him.

Honestly, this was what a married couple did. Cooked together, cleaned together, slept together…why the hell was she thinking about marriage? Teralyn had no idea Mark had the same type of thoughts earlier and wondered if it was too soon to have sex with him. She had needs too, it wasn’t just him that wanted it and she hadn’t had it six very long years. Granted, she got herself off when she wanted, but for the most part, her sex drive had nearly been gone until Mark reentered her life. She just didn’t know if a month was long enough to wait. It was obvious they both loved and wanted to be with each other, so what was holding her back?

“So, what are we going shopping for?”

Not thinking about putting a ring on her finger, Taker found the idea of marriage repulsive. If someone needed that piece of paper and a ring to validate their love, what kind of low self-esteem did they have? Now, Taker got the financial reasons behind it, the taxes and the insurance stuff. That he could wrap his mind around. He was more of a ‘you’re mine, I’m yours’ kind of guy and if the relationship happened to fall into the ‘kind of married’ category, that was fine. People could think what they wanted. To be honest, him getting married was just putting a big bullseye on whoever was unlucky enough to get his last name.

“Groceries, and to clarify, I’ll work you out in any which way you want, darlin’,” He let his eyes roam her, a wicked grin spreading across his face. “I was also thinking maybe boxing.”

“Boxing?” Teralyn wasn’t sure if she’d want to box with Mark and raised a brow when he began playfully jabbing her in a boxing stance. She reciprocated by putting her own fists up and Mark ordered her to punch his hand, his palm, so she did. “Okay, we can do that, but not right now. Right now, I need a shower.” Badly. “And then I’ll pack a bag and we can head out to do that grocery shopping you want to do.” Taking his hands in hers, she stepped up to him and smiled when he lowered enough for her to reach his lips, passionately kissing him. “I’ll be out shortly.” Gliding the pad of her thumb across his lips, Teralyn pecked them one last time before heading down the small corridor leading to her bedroom…a place Mark had not seen or stepped foot in yet. She had two bathrooms, one for her guests and the other was attached to her master bedroom.

Not wanting to box here, he had a gym in his penthouse complete with a regulation size ring. He knew she had a little gun; Teralyn had shown it to him, but sometimes one didn’t have time to go for the weapon and a quick, well thrown, with some power behind it, jab bought a person that valuable time. Teralyn had broken a story that had led to the ‘Undertaker’s’ death via a shootout with the Feds. She had the potential to be assigned more stories along those lines and that meant she would be noticed by some shady, potentially dangerous people.

Once she was satisfied with shaving and everything, Teralyn rinsed her hair out, conditioned it, rinsed again and then stepped out a little over a half hour later. Pulling on a pair of blue jean shorts and a light pink halter top, with undergarments, Teralyn brushed her hair and decided to pull it up in a messy style on top of her head, a few tendrils hanging on either side of her face. She finally stepped out of the bedroom and smiled at Mark snoozing on the couch, his head lulled back with his hands in his lap.

“My King.” She whispered, padding over to him and carefully straddled his lap before softly pressing her lips to his, slowly waking him up.

Her couch had not been very comfortable, the only saving grace had been having her laying there with him. Of course, he was the jackass who decided not to move them to her bedroom, for reasons involving her not inviting him to that specific room. Taker was doubly the idiot for falling asleep on this damn couch again while she got ready for the day and night too.

“My Queen.” He rumbled without opening his eyes, smelling whatever she had washed herself in.

Intoxicating.

A smile spread over his lips as his hands clamped down on her hips to pull her into him, deepening the kiss. She moaned softly, a fire lighting inside of her at being called her old nickname. His Queen. It had always melted her from the inside out and this moment was no exception. Teralyn didn’t want to wake him up, but they had things to do and she also had her bag packed as well. Only when they both needed oxygen did the kiss break and she gently rubbed her nose against his, her hands resting on his broad shoulders.

“Sorry, I took a little longer than I thought.” She had to groom herself, just in case something happened between them that was more than just kissing and touching. “Come on, let’s go get that grocery shopping done and then maybe we can take a nap together for a few hours.”

It was still morning, so they literally had all day long. This woman did not know how to take a breather. Always something, always on the move. Come to think of it, Teralyn had been like that back in college too, when he had met her during freshmen year. Given they had gone their separate ways that same year, he was just going to venture out on a limb and assume she had been like that the rest of her college tenure.

“Maybe.” Taker planned on getting more coffee, the kind that had those extra caffeine shots or whatever they were, sitting upright and held onto her, so she didn’t fall off of him. “Mmm, you smell delicious, you know that?”

People used to call her the energizer bunny in high school as well because Teralyn was constantly on the go. Always doing something, always active. It was a miracle she could actually sit and watch a movie without getting up to do something. That was just the type of person she was and when something had to get done, she wanted to get it done immediately. She smiled at his compliment, flushing a little and didn’t move to get off him.

“That would be my bodywash. It’s some kind of Japanese cherry blossom stuff. Same with my shampoo and conditioner.” Maybe she had spritzed on some perfume and made sure to put deodorant on since it was blazing outside. “I was tempted to let you sleep, maybe I should’ve because you do look exhausted, handsome. Do you want to nap first and then grocery shop instead?”

“No, I’m up now.” Gently, Taker moved her off of him to swing his legs around and push himself up from her couch, stretching his long arms over his head. “Once we get going and moving, darlin’, I’ll wake up more.”

After dropping a kiss on her head, he went to use the bathroom before they left. He needed a shower of his own, thankfully, he didn’t smell or anything, but a shower was definitely needed. Keeping deodorant and a toothbrush here, that was it, because anything else would have been presumptuous. Taker was kind of rethinking that idealism now.

Ten minutes later, they were on their way to the grocery store to grab whatever Mark wanted to make for dinner that night. Not only that, but he got stuff to make a homemade cheesecake as well and she picked out chocolate and strawberries to top it with. They were just rounding the corner to head to the checkout line, when their cart nearly rammed into someone else’s. It wasn’t just some random joker either.

“Oh, hey Moxley!” Teralyn greeted with a warm smile, standing beside Mark since he was the one pushing the cart.

“Hey doll, how-?”

Now, Jon was a little curious when he realized who she was standing with. Last he knew, there was only one ‘Undertaker’ and even back in college, there had been a lot of rumors and gossip about the man dealing drugs. Of course, nothing ever went anywhere because nobody could prove it. However, he was a firm believer that coincidences like this were not…coincidence at all.

“Hey there, Calaway, long time no see, man.” He gave Teralyn a puzzled look, though his smile never faltered. Wasn’t this asshole supposed to be dead?

Gross, a cockroach. “Moxley.”

Technically, Undertaker WAS dead, never to be heard from again and the Deadman had been born from the ashes. She smiled back at him, staying right by her man’s side and could tell Mark was trying to be civil with Jon. “We were just doing some grocery shopping. Didn’t mean to nearly hit your cart.” It was good they both recognized each other and were willing to coexist, for her sake. Jon was a good friend of hers, her rock climbing buddy, and Mark was the love of her life, her everything, her King. “Shit, we forgot the brown sugar. I’ll go grab it really fast.” She kissed Mark’s cheek and jogged off to the baking aisle they were at a few minutes ago.

Teralyn had a LOT of faith in his abilities to be nice to people he deemed beneath them. Jon Moxley was one of those people. The man had always been a little cockroach, scurrying about in the darkness, only darting out to grab at scraps.

“So, Teralyn tells me you got her into rock climbing.” Motherfucker.

“Yeah, ran into her at the gym and it kind of spiraled from there. She’s pretty good at it.” Jon had also given her a new perspective on life, unlike this asswipe. He was gathering the pair was back together, wondering how that played out since Teralyn had written an article about this non-dead prick.

Chapter 15

“Got it!” Teralyn was back a few minutes later, putting the brown sugar in the cart and felt Mark’s arm wrap around her waist possessively, smiling at Jon. She could also feel the tension between both men as they stared each other down intensely. It was time to go. “We should get going. I’ll call you, Jon, and we’ll plan to meet up sometime this week, okay?” That was her subtle way of getting out of the awkwardness she felt as he nodded and they parted ways with Moxley. Teralyn glanced back over her shoulder at him, winking to let him know everything was fine and continued down another aisle with Mark.

It was hard putting aside animosity towards someone who had gone out of his way to be an annoying little cocksucker, even if he HAD been right. Didn’t matter. Moxley, Austin’s little band of jockstrap misfits, had been a colossal pain to deal with. Maybe if they hadn’t expanded their campaign to target people who hadn’t actually been a part of it, things would have been different, but they hadn’t. Anyone associated with The Ministry in any capacity. Taker conveyed some of that, quietly and calmly before offering her an apologetic smile.

“Maybe I still got some growing up to do, darlin’.”

She understood where he was coming from and reached up to stroke his face tenderly with the back of her hand. “It’s in the past. The past doesn’t matter anymore. Moxley is a good guy and he’s trustworthy. He’s my friend, so I hope you’re okay with that.”

Teralyn refused to stop being the man’s friend just because Mark had issues with him from the past. He would have to get over his issues and he needed to understand that they were JUST friends; there was zero romance between her and Jon. They walked up to the conveyer belt and began putting the groceries on it to check out.

Anyone else and he would have gotten irritated being told it was in the past and it didn’t matter anymore. Sometimes, the past DID matter and it did have some importance on the now, on the future. However…Cockroach was apparently the one who had brought Teralyn out of her funk of living in the past. Taker himself, hypocrite that he was, hadn’t he been the one back in college to tell her she couldn’t live in the past? Couldn’t let her failed relationship with her ex and ex-best friend ruin her life? Scott and Marley, right? Teralyn was right and it was weird hearing words he would have said coming from her, but he was grinning anyway. The idea of her and Moxley romantically involved never crossed his mind once either.

Moxley wasn’t her type, she was too smart for that man.

Living in the past would not do any of them favors and Moxley did indeed help her realize that. It was why she decided to give Mark a second chance, to give herself a second chance, to give THEM a second chance at happiness. Moxley was responsible for changing her mindset regarding Mark, so he owed the ‘Cockroach’ a debt of gratitude. If it wasn’t for him, Teralyn would indeed still be in her shell that she’d locked herself in for the past six years.

Now, she was finally living her life and being happy with the man she loved, the man she had given up six years ago. Once they were checked out and in the truck on their way to his place, Teralyn scooted over to snuggle against his side and felt his arm wrap around her, kissing the top of her head. Maybe they could discuss the possibility of doing something other than kissing and touching tonight…maybe she was ready to reconcile with him completely. Still, was a month too soon?

She had wanted him to sex her up as a virgin, against a door, after barely two weeks together and she was wondering if a month was too soon. Taker was waiting, as patiently as he could, for her to initiate sex because she had already said that it wasn’t happening before then. The fact that she had been fine with resuming every aspect of their relationship except that one had been mind-boggling, but…the woman had always had this wild card thing going on. Able to predict her 96% of the time, there was always that other 4% that was unpredictable. Teralyn would do something so unlike what Taker thought she was capable of that it left his head spinning. Probably one of the reasons he was attracted to her. Tonight…tonight after dinner, with a delicious meal in them, maybe a glass of wine or two, he would tell her about that night, or at least, some of it.

There was a specific reason why she had attacked him in the apartment that day, however. It had nothing to do with romance or feeling ready because, honestly, she wasn’t. Teralyn wasn’t even ready that night at the waterfall while they were camping either. Still, she let it happen because of her job and she didn’t regret it. She did love Mark and that hadn’t changed, but if she hadn’t had to worry about that stripper job, she would’ve waited a little longer – maybe a couple months – before letting him take her virginity. Everything was rushed because she was stupid and thought Ericka was right. Now, Teralyn had to find the courage to be that aggressive again, but at the same time, she wasn’t who she used to be. She had changed a lot and didn’t know if she had it in her to be aggressive sexually anymore.

Taker had no idea she had basically been throwing away her virginity so early in a relationship because she had a bee in her bonnet. If Teralyn was smart, she’d never let him know because that was a blow to the ego nobody would take very well. She had wanted to be rid of her virginal status to be able to be more sexual…for other men who were paying to see all of her, instead of the man that was hers. When they reached his place, Taker parked in the secured, underground lot. Then, it was the residents only elevator that required a pin number and keycard for his floor. Thankfully, he was able to carry a lot because no matter how posh a place he lived, he was still the Texas guy who thought multiple trips were for pussies.

“You know,” He mused as they began putting things away together. “It’s insane how we live right across from each other, but it takes like thirty minutes to get from point A to point B. New York City sucks.”

She laughed, agreeing with him while putting the stuff away in the refrigerator while he did the cabinets. Mark was finicky about the cabinets for some reason. “You’re right, it does. It’s definitely too busy, that’s for sure.”

That was why Teralyn wouldn’t mind following Mark wherever he went when he decided to leave New York. She was going with him, she meant what she said. It didn’t matter where they went, as long as they were together and could build a life with each other.

“That’s why I won’t mind going with you when you decide to leave New York behind. I don’t think I’m cut out to be a city girl, even though I’ve lived here for six years. It’s never really been for me though.”

“Maybe we should leave New York.” He suggested softly and casually, but obviously, Teralyn heard it because she had given him a look and he smiled down at her. “Sooner rather than later.”

There was a sinking feeling in his gut something was coming and Taker knew it stemmed from that article, then him having Knight offed and framed as being ‘the Undertaker’. People were going to come to her, give her more tips and hints, look at her to do more investigations like that, possibly even her boss. Daniel. He had put himself in a very stupid position with what he had done over the years, to himself and to her.

“What do you think, darlin’? Run away with me?”

The look in his emerald eyes told her he was serious about this, he wasn’t joking around and Teralyn felt her heart start to beat faster and harder in her chest. Mark wanted to run away with her, to have a new beginning together. How did a woman respond to the man she loved saying something like that? Slowly, she stood up from sitting on the kitchen floor and shut the refrigerator door, walking over to stand in front of him.

“Wherever you go, I go, Mark. I already told you that and I meant it. You’re not leaving without me. I’ll run away with you anywhere you want to go.” Her career didn’t mean anything anymore, not since that article she wrote came out and nearly destroyed the man she loved. Being a journalist wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. “We can leave tonight, if you want. Just say the word and I’m there.”

“Not tonight, not right yet, you gotta get through your accolades and their coming, but soon.”

If the woman who had basically handed the Undertaker over to the FBI on a silver platter up and left, right after the ‘death’ of the man, that might look suspicious and Taker was trying to avoid that. “And I’ve got to wrap up the loose ends I have here.” Information Teralyn probably shouldn’t know and hopefully didn’t want to. “Why don’t we grab that nap and then later, I’ll teach you how to cook?” He winked down at her, knowing she could cook very well and laughed outright when a small hand swatted his chest, reaching down to catch it to press a kiss to the top.

He really was tired and she felt terrible for waking him up earlier. However, they had gotten the grocery shopping done he wanted to do and now they could relax the rest of the day. “Sounds good.”

Mark kept hold of her hand and lead her out of the kitchen down a small corridor that lead to his bedroom. It was similar to hers, just shaped a little differently. There in the middle of was a king sized bed draped in black. Mark peeled his shirt off, kicked his shoes off and crawled into the bed while she kicked her sandals off, leaving everything else on. He opened his arms to her and she softly kissed him and then his chin before getting comfortable to lay against him, sighing in contentment.

He needed a shower and fresh clothes, Taker knew he did, but all that was going to wait until after a nap. Why was he so unbelievably tired? He was blaming it on the couch and the stress of last night, her stress must have rubbed off on him or something. “If you can’t sleep, darlin’, you can put on a show.”

There was a television behind the cabinet against the wall opposite his bed. Taker kept it hidden so the room was relaxing, without electronics interfering in his rest or anything else he might be doing. She shook her head and he kissed the top of her head again, pulling her even tighter against him. They were definitely having a talk tonight.

Four hours later, Teralyn slowly opened her eyes to a darkened room and frowned, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness. The spot beside her was empty and slightly warm, so Mark hadn’t been gone long. Then she heard the sound of the shower on from his master bathroom and smiled, knowing he was cleansing himself. And he was singing in the shower too. That made her softly giggle as she stretched her arms in the air before sliding out of bed, needing something to drink. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was just after 3 PM in the afternoon and couldn’t believe she’d slept for four hours.

How long had Mark been up?

He was singing in there too and had absolutely no shame. If he had known she was awake and could HEAR him shaking his backside while rinsing conditioner out of his hair, he would have shut the hell up. As it was, Taker didn’t and when he finally came out, he was feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed, toweling his hair dry, wearing nothing except a pair of loose fitting shorts.

“I didn’t know you could sing so well, Calaway.” Teralyn tittered when he jumped since the room was still dark while he towel dried his hair. She flipped the light on as he spun around and giggled at the slight flush that went into his cheeks and down his neck. “Sorry, didn’t mean to spook you. I just got up about 10 minutes ago.” For the life of her, Teralyn could not stop giggling and decided to give Mark a minute to compose himself since his face had turned red. “You hungry?” She called back to him, heading towards the kitchen while chugging her bottled water she’d gotten out of the fridge.

Now that was embarrassing and he was not hungry. No, Taker was ready to tickle her until she peed herself. He was STILL red when he made it out to the kitchen, growling under his breath about impertinent wenches and other things along those lines, her giggling only intensifying his humiliation.

“You’re not funny.” He informed her, folding his arms over his chest and raised one black eyebrow, doing his best to look imposing and this wench was LAUGHING. “Okay chuckles,” Taker rolled his eyes, a half-smile gracing his lips before he reached out and pulled her into him with one arm. “You’re going to piss yourself if you don’t stop.”

“Everybody was Kung Fu…FIGHTING!” Teralyn squealed out that last word as he began tickling her, immediately trying to squirm away from him. “Mark, stop!” She laughed harder, her back pressed against his chest while his fingers played with her sides, remembering where her ticklish spots were. “It’s not my fault you were singing in the shower and I caught you! Mark!” Teralyn was laughing so hard, tears formed in her eyes and she finally had to turn her body to bring his mouth down on hers, searing his lips. Then, he proceeded to start tickling her again. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry I’ll stop making fun of you! Stop!!”

Oh this woman…this woman had jokes and he was definitely thinking about letting her piss herself. Taker had jokes too, snorting when she pleaded some more and actually pretended to think about it. “Fine,” He let her go, smirking wickedly when Teralyn immediately backed away from him, apparently afraid he would do it again. “So, you caught me singing in the shower,” And that song of ALL songs too. “There ya go, you now know something very, very embarrassing about me.” He said it good-naturedly, amusement sparkling in his green eyes.

Chapter 16

“Hey, I sing in the shower too! There’s nothing wrong with it and I like the fact my man sings in the shower.” Teralyn beamed back at him, sauntering back up to him and slid her hands up his bare chest, the smell of him intoxicating her. Whatever body wash he used always made her somewhat heady as she kissed the middle of his chest. “Just like you sang George Strait to me during one our dinner dates not long ago.” That had melted her when he began dancing with her, out of nowhere, in the kitchen and she discovered it was one of his favorite country artists. Mark lifted her to set her on the counter to be almost eyelevel with him and she accepted the slow, passionate kiss he laid on her, her fingers instantly delving in his still wet auburn hair. “Mmm, you smell so good…”

“King George,” He corrected her with an amused lilt in his tone. Anyone who didn’t at least appreciate George Strait wasn’t trustworthy in his eyes. The man was a legend, plain fact. “And thank you.” While maybe a little embarrassing at being caught singing in the shower by his Queen, he also knew it wasn’t anything major and the embarrassment was gone. “If you’re done distracting and heckling me, wench…” His hands skimmed up her sides, just beneath the fabric of her tank top so he was touching nothing but bare skin. “We got some prepping to do.”

“Yeah, yeah, take away all my fun, why don’t you?” Teralyn mock pouted, though the humor glimmered in her ocean blues as Mark lifted her from the counter to set her on her feet again.

Mark informed her they were making chicken tacos, so the peppers and onions had to be diced finely. He had taught her the ‘proper’ way to dice, so Teralyn started with the orange bell peppers, beginning to core and dice them up while he pulled out the crockpot to put the boneless, skinless chicken breasts inside. Then, he took the yellow bell peppers and began coring and dicing them up right beside her. They made small talk while doing so while Mark turned the radio on, both enjoying cooking together.

He had learned that cooking sometimes was an hours long process made up of smaller processes, but the end results were always worth it. If not for the fact that he was planning on retiring from everything except the lazy life soon, he might have considered opening up a restaurant. Actually, Taker should have had his own restaurant instead of owning shares in one, because then he could indulge his hobby of cooking AND have a place for his other business. Oh well, probably for the best.

“I never slept with anyone except you when we were together,” He stated quietly, during a radio commercial break. “Or took dances from strippers at that club. That was the first time I’d been in there in a long time for something other than business.”

That had come out of left field and Teralyn froze mid-chop, staying right where she was for a full minute. Why was he bringing this up NOW? Out of all the times to do it, why now when they were having a great time cooking and spending time together? She slowly began chopping again, once what he said digested and swallowed hard, finishing up the bell pepper she’d been working on. Heaving a sigh, Teralyn just wanted to kiss him and stop him from what he was about to say. However, it looked like Mark was adamant about having this conversation and they couldn’t ignore it forever.

“You DID cheat on me, Mark. Even though it was ME you were fondling in that strip club, you didn’t know it was me, so in my eyes, it was cheating. Not to mention, you also invited the stripper me to the VIP lounge for one on one action. We both know what would’ve happened had I went in there with you. And I’m not a saint in this either…I cheated on you too because I lied to you about what I was doing for my night job. To me, lying is the same thing as cheating – they go hand in hand, so I’m just as much to blame for this.” It was also the reason why Teralyn was able to walk out after refusing to go to the VIP lounge with Mark. “So, please explain to me how fondling and slapping a stripper’s ass doesn’t make you a cheater. Or ordering a stripper to go into a room alone with you. And take out the fact it was me – let’s pretend it was a totally random stripper. Do you still think it’s not cheating to do everything you did that night? Honestly?”