Dean had been thrilled when they allowed him to pull some if his old Jon Moxley gimmick into his character. He even had the fork again. They had shot some nice segments of him arriving to the arena and kicking backstage workers around. Wrestlers, of course, not signed with WWE. They were doing some "earlier today" segments to be shown that night on the show.

However, he wasn't thrilled in that moment as he had a hand on a woman's face, pressing her up against the wall. He had wanted to do this one, redeeming the one from his indie days where the stupid woman had smiled. Some referee had a daughter dying to meet her biggest idol, and he had foolishly agreed to letting her be the one for this part. She was smiling too. What the hell was the problem with his cruel side and women since they were smiling? He let go of her and let out a humph.

"Cut," the camera man said.

Jamie Noble looked at Dean. He was still working backstage for WWE, and always wanted to help wherever he could.

"Are you alright, Dean?" He asked.
"Get me another one!" Dean sneered.
"Another fork for Dean!" Jamie called out.
"No!" Dean raised his voice. "Another girl!"

He heard the woman up against the wall let out a surprised sound. He didn't care. His eyes had landed on the cleaning lady further down the hall. Mackenzie. Her name was all he knew about her. And her look of course. Medium brown, straight, shoulder length hair. She had been cleaning in the arena for three weeks now, and she was different. Half the staff had never watched wrestling before getting jobs in the arena, but they quickly watched and drooled when the wrestlers came around. Mackenzie didn't. She didn't even raise her eyes to look at any of them if she could get away with it. He had caught glimpses of her honey brown eyes here and there. Over all, she was beautiful in his eyes.

"Keep the camera rolling. I'm serving one hell of a performance in a couple of seconds," he said.

He walked with determined steps down the hall where she was sweeping the floor. He grabbed her arm, and she dropped the broom when she was taken by surprise.

"You're coming with me!" He snarled.

He dragged her back to the spot, not even giving her a choice or explaining anything to her. He pushed her up against the wall, and placed his hand on her face.

"And they call me a lunatic! Look at the women throwing themselves at me!" He yelled.

He looked at her, giving her a second to respond. Nothing came but she was trembling, and tears ran down her face. And most importantly, she wasn't fucking smiling. She looked scared like she was supposed to. His hand slid down and wrapped around her throat. He leaned in and ran the teeth of the fork down her cheek.

"So this little bird here is gonna be my prey of the evening," he sniffed her hair. "God, you smell good. I wonder if you taste good too."

He licked up her cheek, tasting her salty tears, and then just stared at her.

"Cut!" The camera man yelled. "That was perfect."
"I know," Dean grinned.

He released her and took a step towards Jamie who was one big smile.

"Damn it, Dean, you're crazy sometimes," he said.
"It paid off, didn't it?" Dean asked.
"Big time. Look at this," Jamie said.

The camera man rewinded the clip and showed it to them. Dean was grinning again. Mackenzie had been perfect with how scared she had looked. She had even cried on cue like a natural.

"Look at this," he said.

He turned to look at her, but she was gone. He looked in the other direction, thinking she had gone back to work, but the broom still laid on the ground.

"She ran outside," Jamie sighed. "I think you actually scared her for real."
"Shit!" Dean hissed.

He took off running. If he had scared her, he needed to apologize. He hadn't meant to scare her. He had wanted to touch her since he laid eyes on her for the first time three weeks ago, and this had seemed like the perfect opportunity. In his mind this would have led to a conversation and laughter and maybe even a date. He had messed up. He ran outside where she was standing on her own.

"Hey!" He placed a hand on her shoulder.

She jumped in fear as he startled her. She took a step backwards, clearly not wanting him to touch her.

"Please, I did what you wanted. Leave me alone," she pleaded.
"Are you scared of me?" He asked. "Like, for real?"

Her fingers nervously played with each other while she nodded.

"Why?" He asked.
"I just am," she answered.
"I'm sorry," he put on his biggest smile. "I didn't mean to scare you. You should see what we filmed though. It was perfect, and I owe you a big thank you. So how about we go out tonight for a bite to eat as my way of saying thank you?"
"I'm busy," she said.
"Tomorrow?" He asked.
"I'm busy," she repeated.
"Well, when are you free?" He asked.
"Never," she answered.

She moved her eyes down and hurried inside before he could drill further into that. He watched her run off while he chuckled lowly. She could run, but she couldn't get away. He wasn't one to take no for an answer, and he wasn't gonna start now.

He watched as the "earlier today" segments were played that night. The camera crew had done a great deal capturing the moments just right. These short segments showed his lunatic side perfectly. He wasn't even surprised when he was called into Stephanie's office before his match. He figured her and Hunter wanted to thank him for doing a great job. He was surprised to find Mackenzie in there too.

"What's going on?" He asked.
"There's whispers going around that the segment you did with Mackenzie wasn't exactly planned," Stephanie answered.
"What do you mean? You asked me to do this. You even brought in that stupid girl who couldn't act for shit. I just chose someone who could instead," he said.
"It's a damn good segment. Almost too good," she sighed. "People are saying it was real. That you didn't warn her about what was going on."
"Mackenzie?" Hunter asked.

She mumbled something no one could hear while keeping her eyes down. It was clear to Dean that she had been blindsided by this meeting too.

"Speak up," Hunter said.
"I knew," she lied. "I was told to act as real as possible. I didn't know I overdid it. I'm sorry."
"We can all press out a few tears on command, but you were really crying," Stephanie said.
"I was thinking about something sad from my personal life to bring those tears out," Mackenzie said.

For a few seconds no one spoke. They all stared at her, and she continued to keep her eyes down.

"Alright then," Stephanie said.
"Would you be interested in being brought back on camera with Dean?" Hunter asked.
"No!" Mackenzie finally looked up. "I chose to help out because that other woman failed. I just wanna clean and not be noticed by the world."
"Okay," Hunter nodded. "You can leave. Take the rest of the night off and go home. You'll still get full pay. It's our way of thanking you for stepping in."
"Thank you," she said.

She hurried out of the office, and Dean stood up too. He walked out more casually until he was out of sight. Then he took off and caught up with her quickly. He grabbed her arm gently and spun her around to look at her.

"Why didn't you rat me out in there?" He asked.
"I just wanna go on with my life without making you more mad," she said.
"Mad?" He chuckled. "You do know it was all for show, right? I'm not really that mad behind the scenes."
"Every man is that mad," she said.
"Auch! Putting us all in a box, are we?" He said.

He reached a hand up to stroke her cheek, and she flinched by his touch.

"You really are a scaredy cat, aren't you?" He said. "You'll learn soon enough you don't have to be afraid of me."
"Please, just leave me alone," she begged.
"Maybe," he smirked. "Thank you for having my back. You heard Hunter. You got the rest of the night off. What are you planning on doing?"
"Nothing," she said.
"I thought you were busy tonight," he said.
"I am," she looked scared again. "I have... this thing..."
"Sure you do," he laughed. "You're not a great liar. It's alright. Run off. I'll still be here tomorrow and any other day after that."