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Matt smiled to himself as he fingered the shiny silver gadget in his right hand. This was such a brilliant idea, he could hardly believe he hadn't thought of it himself.
"Give me that!" the woman at his side demanded, an amused smile that was part-smirk dominating her features. "After all, it's mine." She took the cell phone out of his hand and flipped it open. She had already very easily memorized the new number that went along with it.
Hardy let out a soft laugh, adoration in his dark eyes as he cast his gaze on her. The truth was, he wished to use it once himself before he let her have it. He snatched it back from her in an instant, putting up his free hand in protest as she reached over to take it back.
"Hey!"
"Hold on," he said. "I'd like to borrow it if you don't mind." He met the woman's eyes knowingly. "All I ask is that you allow me one phone call, okay?"
She crossed her arms over her full breasts as she eyed him with a measure of amusement. She nodded.
"Yeah, okay - sure."
Matt offered her a grateful nod but didn't utter a word as he flipped the device open and instantly punched in a number he knew by heart.
*
Ashley whipped her head up sharply in the direction of her bag. Her cell phone was in it, and the locker room filled with the sound of her Soundgarden ring tone.
"Damn it," she muttered and met the gazes of Trish and then Amy in turn as she reached into her bag. However, she frowned as she noted the number on display was not one she recognized. In fact, she wasn't even sure she could place the area code.
Shrugging, she flipped the cell phone open and pressed it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Ashley, it's Matt," the man's voice spoke sternly on the other end.
The blonde's heart sank, and she damned herself for being so stupidly naive. She should have known it was him with a new number. She sighed.
"Matt," she said, feeling dejected. "Hello." She felt strange for even issuing the greeting when he hadn't enough courtesy to even say hello to her. She noticed Trish and Amy exchange glances and saw the roll of the other blonde's eyes as well as the redhead shaking her head. She really should have screened her calls, at least those coming from phone numbers she didn't recognize. Well, next time she wouldn't be quite so dumb.
"Yeah, so what the hell's the deal, Ash?" he barked at her. "You just up and leave me in the middle of the night like that? Why?"
She shook her head and sighed as she eyed her two fellow diva friends. She supposed she'd asked for this.
"You know why," she stated.
"Oh, gimme a break... So, because I might have slapped you once or twice and lost my temper, you run off on me?"
"That's right, Matt," Ashley said, surprised by her own calmness as she spoke to him. In reality, however, she was a bundle of nerves inside. Her pulse was positively racing. "Now, look... I really can't talk to you. I'm getting ready to do a segment for the houseshow. Actually, I'd prefer it if you didn't call me at all. Goodbye." With that, the blonde flipped the phone to a close, hanging up on the man. She barely managed not to wince as she heard him still shouting on the other end.
"Yay!" Trish quipped, clapping.
"Very nice," Amy praised her. "You handled yourself quite well."
"Yeah, you did," the blonde concurred as she came to put an arm around her friend's shoulders. "But if I were you, I would keep track of that new number. Next time, you'll know not to answer when you see it flashing on your display."
Ashley nodded, knowing Trish was one-hundred percent right. She would jot down that phone number and ignore any calls she received from it from now on. Although it suddenly struck her, as strange, at that, that Matt hadn't even announced to her that he'd changed his number. Then again, Matt himself had become damned weird over the past several months.
"Hey, don't worry about it," the redhead said as she came closer to the blonde's other side. "If it makes you feel any better, you should go and talk to Carlito about this." She was thinking she might as well go see Adam, on that note. Strange things were indeed going on, and she suspected she would be next to receive a call from Matt.
"I will," Ashley said with a nod.
"I'm going to catering," Trish announced. "I told John I would meet him there."
"I'll go with you," Amy insisted. She knew she would run into her own boyfriend there as well.
Ashley waved and nodded as they looked over at her, letting the two veteran divas know that she would be okay. Then, the duo headed for the locker room door and left for the hallway. As they walked slowly to the catering area, Trish was first to speak.
"Can you believe that?"
Amy nodded.
"Of course I can," she said. "He's been the same way with me. I'm actually surprised he hasn't called since I took Lucas back."
"She's got to tell Carly all about this," the little blonde stated. "Just in case."
They reached catering, and sure enough, both John and Adam were there. The two guys were talking where they stood halfway into the room.
"There you are!"
The men looked up and paused in their conversation as their girlfriends rushed over. Trish gave John a hug as Amy approached Adam with a serious expression on her face.
"Hey... What's wrong?"
"Ashley just go a call from Matt," the redhead revealed. "Apparently, he got a new number."
The tall blond man rolled his eyes. Didn't the elder Hardy brother ever give up? Couldn't he take a hint? Was he really that pathetic? Unfortunately, he already knew the answer to all three questions by heart.
"I just wanted to prepare you, Adam," she continued. "Don't be surprised if he tries to call me next."
"Okay," he said evenly. "Don't worry about it. We'll deal with that if and when it happens." He wrapped an
arm around her, hugging her against his side as she nodded.