Chapter 9

Before Keyla knew it, August had rolled around and she'd been with the company a little over 2 months. Throughout June and July, Baron had asked her out for coffee at least twice a week and Keyla discovered she enjoyed his company. He was a laid back country boy, born and raised in Lenexa, Kansas on a farm. Explained his incredible muscle tone, Keyla observed secretly, sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for Baron to join her so they could head to Full Sail University together. The man stood at 6'8, weighed 275 pounds and most of it was muscle. There wasn't much fat on the man, though he did enjoy the occasional cheat pizza and dessert. Baron had asked about Keyla's past and life, all of her answers short because she didn't want to divulge her past to him. Keyla did her best to keep Baron at arm's length, thinking her past was not worth discussing and he respected her wishes. She didn't want to get too close to him for fear of losing him the same way she did Jon Moxley.

However, that didn't stop Keyla from finding him incredibly desirable and could feel her body reacting to him and ached to have those strong hands of his touch her. The last time she got close to a man, he broke her heart and she still pined for him after over 2 years being apart with no contact. Baron was a great man and deserved a woman who could give him her all and whole heart. Keyla wasn't capable of doing that because, unfortunately, Jon Moxley had stolen it long ago and she still hadn't gotten it back. She couldn't help wondering if having a fling with Baron would be such a bad thing though since they were both single, enjoyed each other's company and there had been a few times where they'd been close to kissing. Keyla was always the one to pull away first or turned her head just before his lips could connect to hers, her cheek getting the honors.

Jolting out of her deep thoughts about Baron, Keyla looked down at her ringing cell phone and read the name on the caller ID, smiling. "How did you know I needed to talk to you?"

"I'm psychic, remember?" Lennox retorted with a grin of her own, standing outside of her tattoo parlor enjoying a cigarette. "Been a couple days since we last talked and I wanted to make sure you were still alive. How are things?"

That was a loaded question since Lennox knew about Keyla's reservations regarding Baron. "What do you think?" She mumbled, sipping an iced coffee and leaned back against the wall.

"Woman…" Lennox shook her head, blowing smoke out of her mouth and nostrils before taking another drag. "Okay, I'm gonna ask you something and I don't want you getting pissed at me for it."

"I won't, go ahead."

"Do you plan on being celibate for the rest of your life?" It was a blunt legitimate question and one Lennox had wanted to ask Keyla for a while.

That was definitely not a question Keyla expected to come out of her best friend's mouth. It was also one she had asked herself on more than one occasion ever since meeting Baron. She still had no idea what the answer was because Jon had such a deep strong hold on her heart. Keyla didn't have sex just to release tension and stress unlike some of the other people on the NXT roster. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to go that route and she already knew sex with Baron would be mind-blowing.

"So I should…"

"Get your fuck on already, Key! Christ, you've waited long enough and that man wants you. He's hanging out with you every chance he gets, he's tried kissing you several times and still hasn't given up. What more do you want? What other signs do you need? You need to just let your hair down and have fun for a change. Jon Moxley isn't the center of your universe anymore." Lennox dictated, flicking ash from her cigarette and held her hand up when Gina came out to ask her a question about a client.

What it boiled down to was Keyla had needs like every woman on the planet and it was time to clean the cobwebs out. It'd been over 2 years since she last had sex and, if Baron wanted to be the one to make her feel like a woman again, there was nothing wrong with that. She wasn't using him to get over Jon Moxley either. If they did this, Keyla had to make sure he understood it was strictly sex between them and nothing more. The last thing she wanted to do was give Baron false hope to have a relationship, only to pull the rug from underneath him once they were finished with each other. Or rather Keyla was finished with Baron.

"Okay." Keyla broke the silence with Lennox after a few minutes while she discussed something with Gina.

"Okay what? Okay I'm full of shit and you're going to go the rest of your life without sex or okay you're going to fuck him?" Lennox demanded, flicking her cigarette across the street after a car passed by and headed back into the tattoo parlor to start on her new client.

Shutting her eyes, Keyla sucked in a huge breath and slowly let it out, not believing what she was about to say. "I'll do it." It was a rush of words, but Lennox's squealing told Keyla she'd heard them clear as a bell.

"You'll do what?"

Keyla nearly dropped the phone at the sound of Baron's voice in her ear and hadn't realized he sat down beside her, catching the contraption before it hit the hard floor. "N-Nothing…" She was caught red-handed and felt her cheeks flame up, putting the phone back to her ear. "I'll call you later, Len."

All Lennox could respond with was laughter.

Baron raised a brow at Keyla's reaction to seeing him and folded his arms in front of his chest, curious about the phone call she just had. "Lennox, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah…" Keyla smiled sheepishly and tucked her phone in her purse before standing up, lightly smacking him on the arm. "Took you long enough to get your big ass down here."

"Hey! Not my fault I take a little longer to get ready than you do." Baron shot back playfully, standing to his full 6'8 height and stretched his arms in the air, the black t-shirt he wore riding up his toned stomach before dropping back down again. "Ready to head to the university?"

Keyla had to learn how to breathe again when he did that and nodded, averting her gaze from his as they headed out the front doors of the hotel both stayed in. "So, are you gonna be on the taping tonight?" She asked once they were on the road with Baron driving.

"No. I talked to Triple H about my character change and he agrees it needs to happen. So I'm off TV until I come up with something and they're giving me until the beginning of the year to figure it out." Baron heaved a sigh, leaning his head back against the seat and stopped at a red light. "He finally told me that's why they've been keeping me off the tapings lately."

"Wow…" Keyla had no idea because Baron didn't talk about his career or what was going on with his character often. Not unless she asked. "I'm not an expert or anything, but…if you need help figuring out a character, I'll help you anyway I can." The last thing she wanted to do was lose Baron, one of the only friends on the NXT roster she had.

Baron smiled at her offer and took her hand, brushing his lips across the back of it, lacing their fingers together. "I'll keep that in mind, sweetheart. Thanks."

For once, Keyla didn't pull away when he did that and tightened her fingers slightly around his, moving her gaze to stare out the window.


"Big segment to kick off the show tonight." Athena informed her trainee, feeling somewhat nervous since it wasn't often WWE Superstars from the main roster came down to wrestle against the NXT clan. "You really need to be on your game tonight, Key. No fuck ups." Not that she had any since starting back in June, but Athena's backside was on the line as well as Keyla's. "Can you handle it tonight or not?"

"O-Of course. Yes – YES." Keyla affirmed, not able to pass up this opportunity to prove she could handle the camera work and could only imagine what the big segment consisted of. It was top secret; nobody knew what was going down and everyone was told to be on their top game tonight. "I won't let you or the company down tonight, Athena. I got this."

"Good, get your ass out there then."

Dressed in the NXT black polo top with black pants and shoes, Keyla quickly went to the hair stylist to do something with her dark blue tresses. She didn't want them in the way during the huge segment she would be filming. After a little contemplating, Keyla stepped away 20 minutes later with her hair pulled back in a tight bun, not a fragment out of place. Gel and hairspray did wonders sometimes. Keyla thanked the lady and jogged off to grab her camera, trying to watch where she was going so she didn't bump into any of the NXT talent.

"Whoa! Where's the fire?" A somewhat high-pitched male voice demanded, stopping the woman in her tracks as she slowly turned around. He smiled, stepping toward her and extended his black gloved hand, chocolate eyes alight. "I'm Seth. Though you probably already know that."

Seth…Seth…Keyla couldn't place the name anywhere in her frazzled mind and shook his hand, cracking a small smile. "Nice to meet you, Seth. Are you new to the roster?" She blinked when he started laughing boisterously and released his hand, wondering why his voice sounded so familiar to her.

"Doll no, I used to be part of the roster." Then Seth's eyes narrowed, seeing absolutely zero familiarity in her citrine eyes. "Wow, you must be new around here if you don't know who I am. I was only the first ever NXT World Heavyweight Champion and revolutionized the business. And now I'm carrying one half of the WWE Tag Team titles." Though he didn't have the gold with him at the moment. "You really don't recognize me?"

"No, sorry…" Keyla didn't appreciate his arrogance and kept the smile on her face that did not reach her eyes. "Mind filling me in?"

"Seth Rollins, doll. Memorize it because you'll be seeing a lot more of me around here over the course of this month." He informed her, watching all the color drain from her face and frowned, stepping toward her. "Hey, you alright?"

Seth Rollins…Roman Reigns…Dean Ambrose…They were collectively known as the Shield and the most dominant force WWE had ever seen. Keyla was in the same building as… "I have to go. Nice meeting you." She didn't give the man a chance to respond and hightailed it as fast as she could down the hallway, finding the nearest empty dressing room to hide in. "Oh fuck. Oh god. Oh fuck." Keyla muttered, her stomach tightening and felt tears burn her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself.

What the HELL was Jon doing on the NXT roster?!

Keyla was on the verge of having a panic attack and checked the clock, knowing she had to be down at ringside in a couple minutes. How was she supposed to hide from Jon if he was going to be out there near her? Taking several deep breaths, Keyla knew she couldn't let Athena and the company down just because she had history with one of the WWE's biggest stars at the moment. She had a job to do and if they ran into each other, maybe it was meant to happen. Or maybe she was completely screwed and should run as fast as she could away from Full Sail University! Pacing, Keyla spotted an NXT hat in the far corner and snatched it, placing it on her head making sure to hide as much of her dark blue hair as possible. A lot of the camera crew wore hats to promote the merchandise NXT sold at the souvenir stands. Glancing in a mirror, she double-checked to make sure nothing was out of place before exhaling shakily and stepped out of the room to head down to ringside.


"Hey Seth, you alright man?"

Seth looked over at Roman, who was the other half of the WWE Tag Team champions and nodded, still baffled over his run-in with the blue haired woman that apparently worked for NXT. "Yeah. Just had an interesting talk with someone who works here. She didn't even know who I was."

"What?" Jon's ears perked up while doing push-ups in the middle of the room, a routine he did before every match he had. "How the fuck is that possible?"

Seth snorted, shrugging. "Beats the hell outta me. She's probably new to the roster here or something, but damn if she wasn't hot." He admitted, sitting down on a bench and chugged half a Gatorade down his throat.

"Maybe she was one of the NXT Divas?" Roman suggested in a deep baritone, wrapping his wrists in black tape before tightening the wrist cuffs he always wore to the ring. "What'd she look like?"

"Dude, seriously, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Jon hopped up from the floor and walked over the sink to slick his hair back since they were part of the first segment that night. "Try us, bro."

"Gold eyes, for one thing. Who the hell has golden eyes these days? She probably has colored contacts of something." Seth explained, standing from the bench and grabbed his tag title, tossing Roman his. "And dark blue hair…"

Jon froze at the sink, both hands on top of his head and looked at his comrades through the reflection. Gold eyes…dark blue hair…there was only one woman who fit that description in his head. It wasn't possible though. It couldn't be. She wasn't in the WWE. He was imagining things like he had all those months ago when he thought he caught a glimpse of dark blue hair during Sami's audition. Sami hadn't mentioned Keyla once and figured they didn't talk anymore due to their rocky history. He wasn't about to bring her up in their conversations either.

"Dean, you straight man?" Roman asked, tossing the man his United States title and placed a hand on his vest covered shoulder. "Everything cool?"

"Yeah, never better, bro. Let's roll out and do this."

The Shield left their dressing room and headed down to the gorilla position, prepared to make their return to NXT after months of being strictly on the main roster.