''Oh my goodness Paige!'' I squealed out in an excited tone (Maybe a little too excitedly, because Roman had a look on his face like he wasn't buying any of i

''He's with you right now isn't he?'' Seth said.

''No of course you haven't caught me at a bad time babe'' I grinned, winking up at Roman, who had stopped thrusting now, but was still panting on top of me with sweat pouring down his hair and face.

''I miss you babe'' Seth whispered.

''Oh that's so sweet'' I smiled.

''It is?!'' Seth said in shock.

''It's so nice of you to call and check on me, yeah it came as a shock to all of us too, I mean you never really imagine one of the legends dying do you?'' I said sadly.

I felt terrible using Dusty's good name to support my little lie, being pretty certain right now that he was looking down at me and frowning.

''Paige, hold on one sec ok babe would ya...'' I said, and covered the phone with my hand as I whispered to Roman ''I better take this baby...I'm sorry, I means it's Paige you know''

''Sure thing baby'' Roman nodded, knowing how delicate the relationship between Paige and I still was after the whole Dean incident.

''We can finish off after'' I grinned, sitting up and kissing his nose.

''Of course baby'' he smiled, and rolled over and climbed off of me.

I quickly got up and flung one of the hotels pink robes on, before heading into the bathroom and locking the door behind me.

ROMAN POV:

I was nowhere near tired right now, so I wasn't worried about the fact that I'd just jerked myself off while she was still in the bathroom. I knew I'd be able to get myself hard again, so we could finish making love, leaving us both satisfied just the way we liked it....if she still liked it that is I thought, concerning myself with worry all over again that she may be possibly cheating on me.

I mean, why did she even have to go in there in there first place huh? If it was really Paige she was talking to in there - and I knew damn well that it wasn't - then she should have been able to just talk to her in front of me right?

Wrong.

Because it wasn't Paige was it? It was the ''whoever'' that had sent her those flowers yesterday, the same ''whoever'' that had texted her last night, and the ''whoever'' who'd worried her so much to the point that she wanted to make love like she was being...all over again. And it was the same person she was on the phone to right now.

My mind had begun doing overtime since discovering those roses yesterday morning. And just like a game of scrabble, the more I pieced together the odd parts...the clearer the words became.

Don't think I didn't notice that all those weird occurrences started happening after we performed in Davenport on Monday. I tried not allowing myself to think what was becoming very obvious, but if things continued this way, maybe I'd no choice.

I looked over at the bathroom door, wanting desperately to know what was going on, and who she was talking to. She had been in there for some time now, and I couldn't hear anything, nor did I want to be the guy who didn't trust his girlfriend, especially as I myself had put her through similar doubt and worry the first time she visited my home, so I guess I had no choice now but to learn to be patient. To keep my thoughts busy, I decided to let the cool night air rush through me and go stand out on the balcony for a while.

I stood up, and was immediately forced to sit back down.

What the hell was that?! I gasped, quickly sitting back down again, waiting in panic for the room to stop spinning around me - which it did in about five to eight seconds.

I stood up again, very slowly this time and looked around me, trying to test how my body felt. Everything seemed fine now, but I didn't want to tempt fate, so I sat down again and decided to check out instead what was on the TV, rather than standing out on the balcony.

FAITH POV:

10 MINUTES EARLIER...

I still had the receiving end of my cell covered as I stepped through the bathroom door and locked it shut behind me. I needed to make absolutely sure Roman couldn't hear me, so I went inside the shower cubicle and slid the glass door shut behind me. I then sat cross legged on the cool floor, before slowly raising the phone back to my ear...

''Seth?''

''I'm still here babe'' he whispered.

''YOU LITTLE FUCK!!!'' I hissed under my breath.

''You don't mean that'' he tried saying.

''You better believe I do!'' I hissed again ''Now listen up Seth, because I'm only going to tell you this once. You are not to call, text, send me flower's, or anything else that sick little twisted mind of yours can come up wi-...''

''But you liked them...'' he interrupted ''...I know you did'' and I could hear him smiling on the other end of the line, and I became enraged!

''ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!'' I growled through clenched teeth ''You are not to contact me ever again Seth!!! You and I have absolutely NO MORE TIES! You have nothing to blackmail me with, because I don't owe you a damn thing anymore! You got that?! So this little game of yours stops right now!'' I growled at him again.

He was silent for a moment, then he said ''Faith I've changed, I really have, if you could just see that I'm not the man I used t-''

''I want you to journey back in your mind Seth'' I said, cutting him off from whatever he was about to say ''...and I want you to remember the night you raped me, every last bit of it. Then want you go look in the mirror, and ask yourself why you could never mean anything more to me than the lowest scum on this earth!'' I said venomously.

''Faith...wait...PLEASE!'' he begged ''look I know what I did alright, and I know I don't deserve your forgi-''

''You have your money Seth. Now leave me the FUCK alone!!!''

My hands were trembling as I closed the phone, and once again all I wanted was to take the pain away. Apart from the odd encounter a couple of days ago, it had been well over two years since I'd seen him last. The last time being stood in a witness stand next to a judge, having to testify against the man who raped me, in a courtroom surrounded by top lawyers, while all eyes were on me.

After Seth was sentenced, I felt safe once again. I was now with the man I was meant to be with, the man who loved and cared for me very much, and I loved and cared for him so very much too. But somewhere in the back of my mind, even though Roman would always protect me...I knew the day would eventually come when Seth would be released from jail. I guess I just never banked on it being this soon...

And like a light switch going off in my head, that 'problem' I mentioned earlier, suddenly became crystal clear...I was still very sacred.

I hated to admit it, but I was. After all these years of searching for myself, of trying to become a stronger person, of standing up for what I believed in...he still managed to tear it all down within a matter of seconds. And like many other women who've suffered the same experience as I have, I was trying to replace that fear with pain, but in the end, I would only end up hurting myself more.

Seth knew it too.

His eyes alone always seemed to see right through me, even with the other night when I looked in them and saw all that emotion he had, they still tore through me and looked deep into my soul. He possessed a power to always compel me, leaving me feeling both weak and frightened...and I knew it was because I was still scared of him. I could still see those dark eyes of his under the mask he wore.

He'd attacked me so brutally that night, that in some sick and twisted way, a part of me would always be with him.

I hated him for that.

Since that night, I've always felt proud of myself for just how far I'd come, and just how much time and effort I had put in to keeping myself held above water.

But now that he was out, and closing in on me again, I felt myself slowly sinking into a deep abyss...