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As Jeff held Ashley in his arms, he realized that he never wanted to let her go. But he knew that was an impossibility, as her return date was looming just head of them.
With her wrist now completely healed, the blonde had officially been cleared to return to action. She would be appearing on the next edition of RAW in a couple more days. While he was happy for her, the young man also felt a bit bummed out for himself. How was he going to manage without her?
Jeff kissed Ashley's fragrant hair, reminding himself that she would be home three days out of the week. Well, the number was two on weeks the WWE had pay-per-views, but that wasn't so terrible. But he had to acknowledge he'd grown so attached to her in all the time since his suspension - which he still had another month to endure. He knew he had an addictive personality as well and had - for lack of a better wording for it - become addicted to her.
Yeah, he thought as she clung onto him and he gazed down at her, she's my beautiful addiction.
Ashley snuggled up to him, her hair lightly tickling his nose. She made a soft, contented sound before speaking her mind.
"You're worrying, aren't you?"
"Huh?"
Gently unentangling herself from his hold, the young woman turned over so that she was facing him. She lay on top of him fully, her forefinger tracing his lips seductively, and she smiled.
"Don't play coy with me, Jeffrey Nero Hardy... I know you better than you think. You're worrying about me going back on the road, thus leaving you all alone," she said.
"How did you know that?" he asked. It was kind of freaky, the way she read his mind.
Ashley shrugged, running her fingers through his hair.
"I know you."
Jeff held up both his hands in mock surrender.
"Okay, Ash - you got me. I dunno if I can get along without you," he said honestly.
Her expression grew serious as she realized he wasn't merely joking. She gazed into his green eyes and tried to reassure him.
"You'll be fine, Jeff... You've done great so far, and come a long way."
He lowered his gaze for a moment.
"I know," he admitted, "but you've been right by my side through this whole ordeal." He raised his eyes back to meet hers and said, "It's just that I've grown to really depend on you... and to really, really love you."
Her heart melted at his sweet words. One of the things that had made it so easy for her to fall in love with him was his sensitivity. She supposed in some way, another was his vulnerability. At times, he was much like a lost little boy - not that she wanted someone to "save."
Touched, she lowered her head to his, kissing him as passionately as she could. She nearly died at the soft feel of his hands in her hair, caressing it away from her face.
They stayed like that for several minutes until she finally pulled away. She smiled softly as she gazed into his eyes.
"I love you," she murmured. She touched his nose gently with her own before kissing him again, this time quickly. "And you know we'll be together every day that I'm home. And hey, we're on the same roster," she reminded him.
Jeff smiled at that. He'd forgotten that she was now going to be on RAW. After all, she'd only been there one night before sustaining her most recent injury.
"That's true," he said. "I couldn't be happier about that."
Ashley grinned and placed her hand on his cheek in a most loving manner.
"And we won't have to hide our relationship, since Matt's on SmackDown."
Matt... Damn it, Jeff had all but forgotten about his brother. His smile faded as his mood suddenly soured.
"What?" the blonde asked, concerned. "What's the matter?"
The young man felt badly. He'd never even mentioned Matt's visit to his girlfriend, and it had taken place last week.
Jeff sat up and ran a hand through his locks. Licking his lips nervously, he said, "Matt stopped by last week."
Ashley's face registered some surprise.
"He did?"
"Yeah, he was checking up on me... Said he wanted to see how I was doin'."
"Oh," she said. "Well, that was nice of him... I guess." She wasn't exactly sure of how he felt about it yet, so she didn't want to point out that Matt hadn't visited him in rehab or upset him in any way.
Jeff shrugged.
"It's not like he cared before," he said, bitterness prevalent in his voice. "I confronted him, said if he really cared about how I was doing, he'd have come over or at least called, rather than makin' that damn blog."
Ashley's heart sank. Sure, she was no longer fond of Matt, not even as a friend at this point. But he was Jeff's brother, and she wanted them to get along for the sake of their familial ties.
"I threw him out," the young man continued.
"Oh, Jeff." While she couldn't blame him for that, it still bothered the blonde that the Hardys weren't seeing eye-to-eye.
"But look," he said, suddenly changing the subject, "for now, let's pretend I don't even have a brother... because I'd much rather focus on you." He smiled softly as he gazed up into her sparkling blue eyes, his hand in her hair, caressing it.
Ashley lowered her head to his, kissing him into oblivion.