Zelina Vega ended the phone call she had been stuck on for what felt like hours and glared at the screen. "Jesus Christ, just leave me alone," she angrily told Vince McMahon, the person she had just been talking to. While she should have been getting ready for her celebratory drink with Drew McIntyre, she had instead been on the phone with the Chairman, listening to him droning on about how he thought it would be a good idea if she avoided adding any more superstars to her cartel. Apparently his fear was that the show could become too much about her, at the expense of the other stars.
Biting her tongue, Vega had thought that was rich coming from him when he had at one time had a Corporation team that had been twice the size of her cartel. If it had been anyone else, she would probably have said as much. However, she had to keep in mind that Vince was the boss, and she was new in the General Manager role. If he wanted to remove her, he could do so without causing a huge amount of disruption.
"I can assure you, I have no plans to recruit anyone else," she had told him.
"Good, because I hired you to run the show, not for you to go out of control on some power trip," had been the blunt reply.
"I'm not on a power trip, Vince," she had assured him. "As you well know, it's prudent for any authority figure in WWE to have some backup around them. That's all that's going on here."
Vince had thankfully decided not to labour his point any further, and had moved on to talking about the Raw ratings, which were up since she had taken charge. Like that was a surprise, she had thought.
Eventually, McMahon had let her get off the phone, but he had already delayed her to the point where she wasn't going to have time to even freshen up her makeup before going down to the bar to meet Drew. At least, not without making herself incredibly late.
To hell with it, she thought. She had already been made up nicely before Raw, and she had worn leather pants for the show. It was a look Drew blatantly liked, so she decided a change of top would do. She took off the red number she had worn on Raw and pulled on a black t-shirt with a skull design on the front of it. A quick glance in the mirror confirmed that her appearance was at least acceptable. "You'll do," she told the reflection, hoping that Drew would think the same when he saw her.
Grabbing her phone off the bed and dropping it into her clutch, Zelina was about to leave the room. As she turned around, she caught sight of her leather jacket hanging over the back of a chair. Deciding to add that to her look, she walked over and put it on. Now she was definitely ready.
A few minutes later, she was down on the ground floor of the hotel, walking into the bar. As with their previous date, she was arriving later than the agreed upon time, and Drew was standing at the bar, already with a beer in front of him. He was wearing black pants and a cotton twill shirt again, this time in white and blue. He was busy looking at a menu, apparently fancying the idea of getting something to eat.
Presumably hearing her heels on the floor, Drew turned and looked at her as she approached him. A warm smile appeared on his face and she noticed how his eyes lit up when he saw her. It warmed her heart, telling her that he genuinely felt something for her. There was more than a superficial physical attraction there, and she felt the same way about him. Although it was early days, she could see them actually dating each other.
"Hi, Zelina," Drew greeted her. "You look beautiful, as ever."
"Thank you," she smiled. "You look really handsome dressed up like that. And you can call me Zel when we're not at work."
"Zel, huh? I like that," he said before a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "I like a girl in leather, too."
"Yes, so I've noticed," Zelina said dryly. To her delight, he didn't know where to look after that comment. She had overegged how much he had given away his appreciation of the clothes she wore, but he didn't know that.
"Uh, can I get you a drink?" he asked, sounding a little flustered.
"Yes, thank you," she said sweetly, letting him off the hook. She wanted to have a bit of fun, not to ruin the date for him. The bartender came over and he ordered a gin and tonic, after confirming that the tonic water was vegan.
"Speaking of vegan," Drew said while the bartender fixed her drink, "I had a look over the menu and they have vegan options if you'd like something to eat? I was thinking about it. Would you mind if I ordered meat?"
"It's not up to me what you eat," Zelina said in a relaxed tone. "I'm not one of those crazy blue hairs who has to be on a soap box every time they see someone living differently to them. I'm plant based because I find it the healthiest diet for me. You can eat whatever you like."
"Crazy blue hairs?" Drew chuckled. "That's brilliant."
The bartender returned with the gin and tonic and Drew insisted on paying for it.
"Thank you," Zelina said. Looking around the bar, she saw an empty table for four near the back of the room. It was one of the few currently unoccupied, so she picked up her drink and the menu and set off in that direction. "Let's grab that table while we can," she said.
Drew followed her and they sat down opposite each other.
"Okay, I'm going to pay for the food," she insisted, taking her first look at the menu. "This is our second date, and so far I've not bought anything."
"This is our second date?" Drew repeated, smiling broadly.
Zelina realised what she had said. She was sure they had both felt like their first night sharing a few drinks had been a date, but they hadn't actually called it that, and they hadn't called this a date either. Until now, at least. "I'd like to call it a date," she ventured.
"Then it's a date," he replied, still smiling.
She spent a few minutes deciding on what to eat, then went up to the bar to order for them both. When she returned to the table, business was the first thing that came to mind. "Tonight went well, didn't it?" she asked.
Drew nodded. "Yeah, it did. Seth joined the team, and no one saw it coming. Recruiting him could be a big deal. Honestly, though, it does trouble me a bit."
That surprised Zelina. She raised her eyebrows. "How so?"
"Well, when you approached me, I was the first one you came to. You wanted me to be the main man in The Vega Cartel. You wanted me to be your Universal Champion. I wanted those things, too. But with Seth on-board, maybe he might get ideas about making that position his own."
Zelina shook her head. "That's not going to happen. Bringing him into the fold hasn't changed my plans for you, or my opinion of you, at all. Seth is there to lock up the Intercontinental division for us. You're the one I want to see that Universal Championship on. That's why I put you in the Royal Rumble, and I'm going to put Corbin and Ciampa in too, so that if need be they can help out. I don't care how we get the job done, so long as you're the last one standing at the end of the night."
"Alright, that's good to hear," he said. His smile returned a moment later. "You know what I'm picturing right now?"
Zelina sipped her drink, looking at him over the top of her glass. "What?"
"Me and you walking out to the ring for the main event of Wrestlemania. It would be the biggest moment of my career. Actually, the biggest moment of my life. Ever since you approached me, I've been picturing it. I've been living for it. Originally, I pictured myself entering as champion, but that's not going to happen now."
"No, but the rest of that picture will happen. I promise you that," Zelina said sincerely. "I can imagine it too. The two of us walking into MetLife Stadium side by side, and walking out with the Universal Championship. It's going to happen. I feel it. This is going to sound weird, but when I feel something this strongly, I'm almost never wrong."
"Are you a superstitious person?" he enquired, intrigued by the last thing she had said.
"Not superstitious necessarily, but I just get feelings for things. Like when I decided to apply for the General Manager's job on Raw. Logic told me it was a waste of time. Why would McMahon consider Andrade Almas' business manager for a role like that? But I had a feeling that I should go ahead and apply anyway."
"And now look at you," Drew said after downing some of his beer.
Uncharacteristically, Zelina was made to feel a little shy by that. The feeling told her she was attracted to him as much as anything else that had happened between them so far. Not wanting to let on, she said the first thing that came to mind. "Yes, look at me now, late for a date because Vince McMahon is giving me crap on the phone."
"He was? What about?" Drew asked.
"Mainly warning me not to make Raw all about a power trip for me."
Drew laughed. "That's rich, coming from him. Jesus Christ."
Zelina laughed also. "That's exactly what I thought. I told him I wasn't on a power trip, I simply want a few good people around me."
"And you want one of them to be the Universal Champion."
"And that," she giggled. "By the time the Royal Rumble is over, we'll be well on the way to making that happen."
"I'll drink to that," Drew said, raising his glass for a toast.
Zelina picked up her glass and copied the gesture, and they both drank.
Before long, their meals were delivered. The conversation flowed easily between them, and more than two hours passed seemingly in the blink of any eye. By then, they had put away four drinks each. Unaccustomed to drinking that much, Zelina was feeling tipsy. Figuring it was for the best not to go any further, she announced she was going to call it a night.
"Sure, it's getting late anyway," Drew agreed easily. He downed the remains of his final beer and stood up from the table.
Before eating, Zelina had taken her jacket off. She put it back on now, and walked with Drew out of the bar and across the lobby to the elevators. "Thank you for tonight," she said while they waited for an elevator to come down to the lobby. "I enjoyed the food and your company. I hope I didn't talk about work too much? It's given so much on my mind lately, it's hard to turn it off."
"You didn't talk about it too much. Besides, when we were talking about it, I enjoyed it."
Zelina felt like that had sounded a bit corny, but she didn't let on. The elevator arriving gave her cover not to respond right away. There was a more important thing on her mind anyway. Shortly, they were going to have to part ways. How exactly would she handle that this time?
When Drew pressed the button for the fourth floor, one potential option was ruled out. He was on the same floor as her, so they wouldn't be parting in the elevator as they had last time. Alright, he can walk me back to my room, she decided.
"What floor?" he asked her.
"Four. Same as you. So you can walk me back to my room."
"Yes, boss," Drew said, amused by her lapse into the directness that was used by General Manager Zelina.
She looked up at him and tried to put on her best sultry expression. "You like a woman to be the boss of you, is that it?"
"I wouldn't complain if it was you," he replied, openly flirting with her.
Biting her bottom lip seductively, Zelina maintained eye contact with him for a few seconds before saying, "I'll keep that in mind."
The elevator reached the fourth floor and the doors slid open. Zelina walked out right away, leaving Drew to follow her. He caught up with her, but her room was only a few doors along from the elevators. "This is me," she announced, stopping and looking up at him. "Thank you again for a lovely night."
"No, thank you. I had a great time," Drew said.
Zelina detected uncertainty from him. He was contemplating going in for a goodnight kiss, but was unsure if that was what she wanted. She took charge of the situation by stretching up towards him. He responded by leaning down, and they locked lips for a moment. Zelina gave him enough to leave the taste of her in his mouth, hopefully making him want more.
"Goodnight, Drew. We should do this again," she smiled.
"I'll look forward to it. Goodnight."
He might not have wanted to, but Drew walked away, heading for his own room. Zelina watched him go, realising that part of her wished she had invited him into her room. It had only been their second date, though, and she didn't want to move too fast. Maybe if he managed to win the Royal Rumble, they could celebrate in the best possible way, she thought.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.
Next time, the men's Royal Rumble match. For a bit of fun, let's have some predictions on surprise returns we might see. Leave the name of someone you would like to see in a review, and we'll see if anyone gets what they want! I'll shout out anyone who does.