NOTE: This story picks up from Chapter 10 of "Heaven Beside You". It takes place during Seth & Brenna's morning conversation as they prepare to head out for their morning crossfit workout.

Hell Without You

Chapter 1: Crossfit Crush

Brenna popped the trunk to her car and watched as Seth tossed their gym bags in shutting it quickly. He looked over her car briefly and shot her a smirk, "So you're a Mustang kind of girl, huh?" he teased.

"Hey now don't judge, this car is my baby!" Brenna scoffed playfully firing up the engine. "I'm not judging you, in fact I'm impressed… Actually, more like memorized to be honest with you" he shrugged looking out the window.

As angry as she was with everything that was going on between her and her now ex-boyfriend, Jacoby, Brenna found herself blushing around Seth. "You know I'm gonna have to get you back, right?" she smirked as they sat at a traffic light.

"Get me back for what?" Seth said shooting her a look of confusion. "My pet name that you gave me earlier…" she giggled. He shook his head and laughed lightly. "So you're gonna give me a pet name, this I can't wait for…" he smiled sarcastically.

"Well if you can call me honey bun, I'm sure I can find something to call you" she beamed. A moment of awkward silence fell over them as they each pondered what to say next. "Oh crap, am I that rusty at flirting with a guy?" she thought to herself glancing over at Seth. She knew that getting over Jacoby wouldn't be easy but that fact that Seth Rollins called her stunning and was willing to hang out with her, gave her hope.

"So how long have you been into crossfit?" Seth's raspy voice kicked through breaking up Brenna's train of thought.

"Uh… I've been going at this for about 2 almost 3 years now" she said squinting her eyes. "I've tried to get my sister to do it but she's content with just going to a regular gym. She said she would leave the acrobatics and superhuman stuff up to me" she chuckled.

Seth flashed a cheeky grin as his eyes scanned Brenna from head to toe. "Pace yourself Rollins, she's not ready for anything serious and won't be for a while." he contemplated. "Well I think it's a beautiful thing that you do crossfit. I mean hell... I'm sure your body looks great…" he trailed off letting his head hit against the seat in shame once again.

"Sorry, that was completely out of line" Seth mumbled covering his face with his hands. "Seth, it's ok...and thank you for the compliment" she smiled. Brenna turned into the large shopping center complex and parked her car in front of the gym. Seth hopped out and opened the trunk grabbing their bags. Brenna locked her car and grabbed the bag Seth was handing to her.

"Welcome to Atlanta X Fitness, handsome. I hope you can keep up…" Brenna winked as they walked through the doors. "Let me get us checked in and we'll be good to go" she said stopping by the check in center. Seth looked around the gym marveling at it's overall size and available equipment. Eventually his eyes wandered back to Brenna as she talked briefly with one of the check in attendants.

Other women in the gym would stop and stare at Seth but he only managed to focus on Bren. "Sure would like to meet this Jacoby moron and bash his face in. Look at this woman! Who the hell is dumb enough to cheat on someone like this?" he mused silently letting his eyes run over all of her features. "Snap out of it...I don't need hard on when I'm only here to workout with her. Get it together Rollins!" he said to himself trying to shake off mental images of what Brenna was wearing under her sweatpants.

"You ready to do this?" her soft voice rang out grabbing his attention. "What… Uh yeah let's get to it. You lead the way gorgeous" he smiled extending his arm out for Brenna begin walking. He tried his best not to stare at the way her hips swayed when she walked but he couldn't help himself.

Brenna paused a quick second to remove her sweatpants, revealing the the green Nike track shorts she had on underneath. She folded the pants and deposited them into her gym bag. "Here, you can put your bag in my locker Seth" she gleamed. He gave her a small nod and tossed the bag inside.

"I always do squats first. That's how I keep up this spectacular rear end of mine" she chortled pointing to her backside. Seth swallowed hard and gave her a sheepish grin. They completed a few warm up stretches before beginning their workout.

Seth walked over to the section designated for box jumping. As he shifted through his music he watched Brenna attack the rope climbing course. "Damn she's good…" he smirked. Per his normal routine, Seth took off his shirt and secured his phone in the zip pocket of his shorts before starting his jumps.

Brenna had just finished her rope exercises when she noticed Seth doing box jumps. "Oh boy…" she sighed heavily staring at him. "I still don't believe I'm here with him right now… Ugh, pull yourself together B! I sound like a ring-rat drooling over him" she scowled shaking her head at her own reflection in the mirror. While she gazed at Seth, the music on her phone came to an abrupt halt and her phone started to ring. She rolled her eyes not believing that Jacoby had the audacity to call her again.

"What do you want you deceitful bastard?" she snarled through the phone. "Come on baby don't be that way. I just wanna talk about where things went wrong between us, I need a chance to explain..." Jacoby sighed on the other end of the phone. "I'm not discussing a damn thing with you and as far as I'm concerned, you and Tonya or Toya or whatever the hell her name is can just kiss my..." she started before her phone was taken by Seth.

"Look dude, I don't know you and you don't know me, but I do know that right now is definitely not a good time to discuss anything with Brenna" Seth replied sternly. "Who the fuck are you?" Jacoby scoffed. "I'm a friend of hers and right now, she doesn't need to talk to you. Give her some time and she may come around. Until then you have a nice day…" he growled hanging up her phone. Brenna was partially in shock that Seth had asserted himself into the situation but she was also grateful.

"You didn't have to do that you know?" she shrugged sliding her phone into her gym bag. Seth slung his gym bag over his shoulder and shoved the shirt he was wearing into the bag.

"I know it wasn't my place to step in but I couldn't handle the thought of that douche bag getting the best of you and making you cry again. You deserve better than that. If he was man enough to cheat then he should be man enough to accept that he has no business coming at you like you owe him something" he huffed staring into her violet eyes.

She gave him a weak smile as they walked over to the refreshment bar. "What can I get for you?" the attendant smiled brightly at Brenna. Seth watched the male attendant and the way his eyes combed over her sweaty body. He felt a bit of jealousy rise up within him and decided to douse that guy's fire quickly.

Seth casually wrapped his arm around Brenna's waist and pulled her closer to him while resting his hand on her hip. He made sure to read the guy's name tag before speaking.

"Uh...Devin, we'll take 2 Muscle Milks and 2 bottled waters." He smiled then glanced down at Brenna and asked, "What flavor would you like, honey bun?" She blushed at the fact that Seth was trying to stand his ground against what he probably considered potential competition.

"I'll take a strawberry" she grinned.

"Well Devin, let me get 1 strawberry and 1 cookies 'n' creme Muscle Milk and 2 bottled waters" Seth retorted with a devious grin on his face. He felt Brenna pinch his butt as he paid for their items. She gave him a smirk of her own before shrugging her shoulders and walking outside.

"So you totally pinched me…" Seth trailed off taking a sip of his water. "Oh I know" Brenna replied trying to suppress her laughter. "You sneaky little thing you…" he laughed. As they came to a stop light she reached for her water and winked at him. They both sighed looking out their windows.

"Ok Rollins, keep it going. She's smiling and in a good mood, gotta keep it up" he thought to himself. "Uh...so do you have any favorite foods or musicians?" he asked trying to break the awkward silence.

"Well I do love me some sushi. Actually I'm gonna see if Tina and Lani want to go out and get sushi for dinner later. You, Roman and Dean are more than welcome to come with us by the way!" she gleamed. "That would've been awesome but unfortunately we're leaving for Austin once you and I get back from the gym" Seth pouted.

"Oh crap! Next time then?" she smiled coyly. "You got it honey bun!" he said pinching cheek.

Eager to continue their conversation Brenna went on to speak again.

"As far as my favorite musicians are concerned, I have a variety of bands that I like but only one of them is my absolute favorite" she said. Seth enjoyed watching her eyes light up as she talked. Her violet eyes and shoulder length black tresses went perfectly with her smooth mocha complexion.

"So who's the lucky band?" he asked chewing on his bottom lip. She smiled big as she pulled into Christina's driveway.

"Uh it's this band out of Ocala, Florida. They're called, A Day to Remember." she said stumbling through her words. Seth felt his heart skip several beats as the once tiny smile on his face spread from ear to ear.

"Marry me!" Seth blurted out causing Brenna to snicker. "I'm dead serious...we should get married Brenna. Besides I already call you honey bun..." he said as they got out of the car. Brenna felt like her cheeks were on fire, she couldn't stop blushing around him.

"You're too much Seth Rollins, just an absolute mess. I haven't been out of my relationship a full 72 hours yet and you want me to marry you" she laughed unlocking the front door. They walked into the house smiling at each other with their bags and drinks in hand.

"You two get in a good workout?" Dean's voice chimed in as he shot Seth a smirk.

"Yeah it was great! Brenna can go hard at crossfit, she's no joke man" Seth chuckled. He looked over to Roman and said, "I'm gonna go hit the shower and then we can head out to the airport" he huffed resting his hands on his hips. After Roman gave him the ok, Seth turned back to Brenna as they walked into the guest bedroom.

"I'm gonna go take a quick shower in the upstairs bathroom" Brenna said grabbing a handful of clothes. "Alright honey bun, see you 15?" Seth smiled.

Brenna skipped out of the room and paused in the hallway when she heard her niece, Noelani, crying because her dad, Roman, and her new found uncles Dean and Seth had to leave Atlanta today. She looked at her sister Christina and gave her a sad face. Tina gave her sister a weak smile in return as Brenna made her way up the stairs.

Seth stared at himself in the mirror as he tugged his wet hair back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. "At least hug her before you leave. Yeah a hug will be nice...and give her your number!" he said to himself reassuringly. He quickly gathered the rest of his things and walked out of the guest bedroom. He signaled to Roman and Dean that he was ready as he spotted Brenna walking down the stairs. She was wearing blue jean shorts and a red tank top sporting the letters ADTR on it. Her was still wet and hung loosely over her shoulder.

She smiled at Seth as she walked past him and Dean to open the front door. Once everyone was outside Brenna watched as Lani said goodbye to Dean and couldn't help but smile at how cute he was with her niece. "Big bad Dean Ambrose and he's turns to putty at the hands of a 6 year old girl" she chuckled to herself.

"Alright little sis, take of yourself and look out for my girls would you? Don't worry, I'll watch out for Seth for you..." Roman grinned pulling Brenna in for a hug. "Oh whatever Romeo!" she scoffed playfully. "And no worries big bro, I've got Chrissie and Lani under my watch" she winked.

"Thank you for having me and Dean in your home Chrissie. That was really kind of you." Seth said hugging Christina. "You're always welcome!" she smiled back.

Seth turned around and picked up Noelani and hugged her tightly. "I'll see you later sweet pea. Before you know it time will have flown by and we'll be back to see you again" he said poking her tummy. "Bye bye uncle Seth" Lani laughed softly. Seth placed the little girl back on her feet and watched as she walked back over to Roman.

He went to speak to Brenna but she wrapped him up into a tight hug before he could say anything.

"I think I miss you already…" she pouted. His heart fluttered again another large smile spread across his face. "I put my number in your phone. You should call me whenever you have time or whenever you want to talk." he said softly. She peered up at him with a smile laced across her beautiful face.

In that moment Seth wanted nothing more than to kiss Brenna's plump lips but he knew he couldn't. She wasn't ready for that and he knew not to cross that line. "I'll see you soon…" he said with a weak smile kissing the top of her head.

"Be safe!" Brenna called after him as he joined Dean by the rental. She moved to stand with Noelani as Christina finally broke away from Roman and joined them on them on the porch. They waved at Roman, Seth and Dean as the guys drove away. She looked at Christina who was talking to her daughter and chuckled when she heard Noelani say, "Saying goodbye sucks!"

Once they were back inside the house Brenna hopped on the couch and was joined by her niece. "So I was thinking...how about we grab sushi for dinner?" she said looking at her sister. Christina nodded her head, "I'm sure the little one won't mind so why not?" she chuckled.

Meanwhile as the guys headed to the airport Seth suffered relentless teasing at the hands of Roman and Dean. "Admit it Rollins, you like Brenna. You're practically smitten with her aren't you?" Roman chuckled. "Yeah, you've got a crossfit crush don't you Seth?" Dean added.

"You guys are total assholes…" Seth groaned as they made their way to the airport.