~Sorry about the long wait guys, I kinda got stuck with where this is going. But I think I got it figured out now. I hope you're still interested in this story. As always PLEASE review, they really do mean the world to me, espeacially with this story. Let me know what you think & if you want me to continue it. Enjoy~

~Chapter 11~

Alex wasn't sure how long they'd sat by his door. Chris had announced his arrival home and the actress untangled herself from the wrestler; ducking into the bathroom to fix herself up.

Alex shuffled into the kitchen in a daze. Keegan's story was spinning around his brain slamming into the parts that controlled basic functions. Just thinking about it made his stomach clench deep inside him. How could anyone take advantage of her; take advantage of a child? No wonder she kept everyone at arm's length.

"Alex!"

"Wha?" He snapped his head up to Chris.

"You haven't heard a word I said have you?" The older boy accused.

"No, not really," he confessed falling into a chair at the kitchen table.

Chris rolled his baby blues. "I said Lauren spent the night at Jeremy's last night. She came in while I was leaving. Jamie's gonna give me the details later."

Alex watched his friend throw a frozen pastry into the toaster. "You really are worse than a chick with all the gossip. Dude, who anyone sleeps with is their own personal business."

"Unless you're me, than it's everyone's business," Keegan said coming into the kitchen.

Chris' eyes bugged and they all heard him lose his breath at her appearance. He slumped against the counter swallowing thickly before he found his voice.

"Keegan," he squeaked. "What…? Where…? Hi."

She smirked. "Good morning Christopher."

Alex watched as his friend melted like butter on a hot pan and barely held back his laugh. There was no denying Keegan Malloy when she turned on that infamous charm. Keegan's eyes sparkled on their own accord and she bit her lip while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Chris visibly shuddered at her ardent stare. His eyes were still as wide as dinner plates.

"And just where did you sleep last night?" She inquired putting her hand on her hip.

"Um…" He squirmed a little, "at Jamie's. Did you stay here?"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded reaching around him to get a glass out of the cupboard.

Chris seemed amazed at the fact that Keegan Malloy was pouring herself orange juice in the middle of his kitchen. He kept looking from her to his tag partner; Alex was much too calm for his liking. The older boy watched Keegan slide into the chair next to Alex and had to bite his tongue to stop himself from demanding just what was going on. The air surrounding the two seemed to be electric. Chris jumped when his strudel popped up from the toaster. He put it on a plate and took a seat across from the actress.

"So what's on the agenda for today guys?" He asked with flaky crumbs falling out of his mouth.

Alex cringed but did answer him, "Chilling 'til Impact. Probably taking Keegan home sometime before. Do you have any appointments or anything?"

"I don't think so," she furrowed her brows. "I should check my black berry though."

Keegan got up and went to the stand in the living room where she'd left her phone. She checked her calendar and found the date empty. Smiling she returned to the kitchen.

"Nothing's scheduled for today so I get to go to Impact with you."

"Awesome," Chris grinned.

"That's assuming that we want you there," Alex quipped. "You could ask first."

Keegan narrowed her jade eyes but couldn't stop the smirk that curved her lips. "You know I don't have to ask for anything. I just always seem to get what I want."

Alex chuckled and shook his head. "You want breakfast?"

"I don't suppose you know how to make eggs benedict?" Keegan asked knowing it was fruitless.

"Um… Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs?" Alex held up the boxes.

Keegan tilted her head as she pondered her options. "Cinnamon Toast Crunch please."

"Do you want some coffee?" Chris offered.

"She doesn't drink coffee," Alex supplied. "Did you really use all the milk again?"

"There's some in there behind the protein shakes."

"I'll be lucky if I get one bowl outta this."

Chris shrugged. "At least I didn't use all of it."

Alex turned around and slapped Chris in the back of the head.

"Hey!" The blonde frowned.

"Boys," Keegan cut in, "why doesn't someone just go get more milk?"

"Yeah Chris, go get some."

"Dude, you want it."

Keegan sighed loudly rolling her eyes to match. "Chris, would you please go get some milk so I can have some cereal?"

Alex smirked instantly recognizing the velvety texture to her voice. He watched her go in for the kill with her shy smile and eye bat combo and knew Chris was done.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," he nearly knocked his chair over as he stood up. He didn't even pause to grab a hoodie on his way down to the corner store.

"How do you do that?" Alex wondered.

She shrugged, "it's a gift."

Alex's smile faltered and he suddenly grew very serious. "Kam, are you sure you want to come tonight? I mean… If you're not up to it…" He trailed off.

"Why wouldn't I be up to it?"

"Well, after everything last night… I mean you've gotta be I don't know… upset?"

Keegan's porcelain features fell and she drew back into her chair. Her eyes got misty but she blinked hard and cleared them. "Alex I've been past upset for quite some time now. But what am I gonna do? I'm not gonna lie down and die. It hurts everyday, and it is draining to talk about it, but I won't stop living. I do what I want when I want, and I'm certainly not going to let someone like him dictate how I live anymore. I gave him too much of that satisfaction when I was younger. I wanna go to Impact with you, and I'm going."

She tried hard to put her confident façade back up, not realizing she was trembling under the task. Alex reached over and took her hand in his. He brushed his thumb over her knuckles and when her eyes finally made it back to his they looked relieved. She squeezed his hand gently gracing him with a very small but sincere smile.

Suddenly the phone pulled them apart. Alex grabbed it off the counter and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Chris greeted. "Does Keegan like whole milk or skim?"

Alex remained silent. He wasn't sure if he was shocked by the random question or by the blonde's sheer foolishness. He made a noise like he was grasping for the words but then just couldn't get them and hung up.

"Who was that?" Keegan asked intrigued by his face.

"No one." Alex had to close his eyes. "How do you possibly put with people? I mean if everyone bent over backwards for me about the most absurd shit I'd go crazy."

"You get used to it," she replied with a snicker. "I think that's part if the reason I like you so much. You actually put up a challenge before you cave."

"Ah," Alex's chin dropped to the tops of his bare feet. "I do not cave."

Keegan fixed him with an incredulous gaze refusing to even comment.

"I don't give into you. Stop looking at me like that."

She held her hands up in mock surrender. She quickly changed the subject. "So who are you guys wrestling tonight?"

"I think we've got those British guys tonight."

"Awesome. You get to win?"

"I don't know yet. Probably."

Keegan opened her mouth to respond, but the door burst open before she could.

"Why did you hang up on me?" Chris placed two bags on the table. He took out four half gallons of milk.

"What the hell is all this?" Alex demanded.

"Well you didn't tell me what kind of milk she liked so I got one of each; whole milk, skim milk, 1%-"

"And goat's milk?" The brunette picked up the glass bottle, scrunching his nose at the label.

"Well I just thought…" Chris ended in a shrug.

Keegan bit her bottom lip trying hard not to laugh.

"What are we gonna do with two gallons of milk? And seriously, goat's milk? Dude she's not-"

"Thank you Chris," the young actress interrupted, "it was very thoughtful of you. Alex can I please have skim milk in my cereal."

Chris smiled proudly while his younger roommate begrudgingly opened the skim milk. He made sure to use regular ole' 1% for himself though.

~xxx~

After breakfast, Keegan called Britt and told her assistant to come get her, even though Chris had offered to take her home. She told him that he should worry about his match instead of her. Britt texted her arrival and Alex walked Keegan down to the parking garage.

"You're sure you wanna come tonight?" Alex asked her again.

Keegan rolled her eyes playfully. Secretly, she appreciated his concern. "Yes. I told you I've been dealing with it for a while now, I've got it down."

"You shouldn't have to be dealing with anything," he sighed. "If you ever wanna talk…"

Her green eyes softened, but the way her body stiffened it was obvious that there would be no more late night therapy sessions. Quickly shaking her head clear she turned to face him.

"Are you gonna be all mushy and shit now?" She cocked her brow, "'cause you're gonna get wicked boring if this is how it's gonna be between us."

Alex snickered. "And when Keegan Malloy is bored God help us. If we were in medieval times still, I bet you'd be one of those royal bitches that demanded knights to joust to the death whenever you got bored."

"Newsflash Shelley, I am royalty," she flipped some of her scarlet hair over her shoulder.

Britt lowered the automatic window to smile warmly at Alex. "Hi," she chirped.

"Hey B," he nodded, "take care of the princess here okay?"

"Princess… please. I'm a queen."

"Just try not to cause a scene tonight your highness," Alex scoffed.

"You should know better by now," Keegan replied getting into the passenger side of the car.

"I do, it was just wishful thinking," he shut the door for her. "See ya later."

She smiled at him before slipping on her huge designer sunglasses and putting up the window.

Alex shook his head as he went back inside and waited for the elevator of his building. With a bit of a jolt he realized he missed her already. He pushed his hand roughly through his short dark hair cursing at himself. He knew this was a big mistake waiting to happen. Keegan was so out of his element, quite literally. What did he know about movie premieres and red carpets? Not to mention the girl was packing some serious baggage. He already knew she was more than he could handle. But he also knew that he was already addicted to those rare uncontrived smiles. These past few weeks had been full of surprises and arguments that he knew he would miss if he listened to the rational side of his brain. Somehow he had made up his mind by the time the elevator opened on his floor. Foolishly, he let the beating of his heart drown out the rest of his sense. He couldn't help the grin that overtook his face.

~xxx~

By the time the Guns got to the Impact Zone there was a definite buzz in the air, more than just the normal T.V. night aura. And was it just Alex's imagination or was everyone staring at him?

"Dude?" The brunette glanced at his partner.

"Yeah bro," Chris answered. "Wonder what's up?"

Just as Alex was about to say he didn't know, someone called out to him.

"Hey Shelley, you've gone Hollywood now?" James Storm laughed.

"What? Are you drunk already?"

"Not yet," the Tennessee Cowboy chuckled approaching the Michigan natives. Alex noticed a rolled up magazine in his hand and suddenly had a very sinking feeling. "Look here."

James unfurled the tabloid revealing the cover shot of Alex and Keegan leaving Addiction. The caption was in bold yellow print, Keegan Malloy dragged out of club by mystery boyfriend after she was caught giving Chase Davenport a lap dance.

"There's a whole article to boot," James smirked. "Havin' trouble keeping your woman in line, there mystery boyfriend?"

"Fuck off Storm!" Alex growled ripping his cell phone out of his pocket. He hit the last number in his speed dial and waited impatiently as the phone dialed "Kam".

As usual it took some time for her to answer. "You've already seen it then." There was no question in her voice.

"I've just been slapped in the face with it. What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," she replied indifferently.

"What do you mean nothing? I didn't drag you out of a club, there's not a word of truth in this," he disputed.

"Welcome to my world Trix. At least they don't have your name yet, you still have a bit of anonymity."

"Well that's comforting. And just because my face isn't beamed up into the satellites of space like yours, some people are still gonna recognize me."

"There's not much we can do about it. Even if we deny it no one's gonna believe us now. Pictures never lie." He could hear the mockery in her tone and felt his temper flare even more. "Listen, I'm almost there, let me call Britt and I'll talk to you when I get there."

"Yeah sure. Later," he slid his phone closed.

"It's really not that bad dude," Chris assured as he read the article displayed on pages 34-35.

Alex snatched the tabloid out of his hand, marched over to the nearest trash can, and shoved it inside.

"That's not gonna make it go away Shelley. It's up on the internet too; they've got video of Keegan's mystery boyfriend shoving her in an SUV," James Storm sniggered. "I know how it is though, I mean catching your girl giving another guy a lap dance. I don't blame you for being pissed."

Alex glared darkly at the bigger man. He flipped him off and went to his locker room. Chris followed him in a few minutes later. The blonde set his stuff down glancing at the other boy sitting on the bench.

"Can I ask what's so bad about this?" Chris broached.

"They're accusing me of dragging her out of a club, of being some jealous psycho boyfriend. Never mind that it's the biggest invasion of privacy ever and complete bullshit. And they make Keegan out to be nothing but a whore." He threw his roll of black tape across the room.

"Okay, I get that, but she didn't sound that upset. I kinda think if you wanna keep seeing her you're just gonna have to get used to this sort of thing," Chris shrugged. "People that need to know the truth do, and this will all blow over in a few days."

"It's just so stupid that people don't have anything else to do with their time."

Keegan entered the room talking on her black berry. "No I don't want to make a statement. I don't care how you spin it just make it clear that I was not giving anyone a lap dance and no one dragged me out of anywhere…. Alex? No absolutely not, don't mention his name at all. Tell them it was a friend I was out with."

She nodded to herself, telling the other party to have it fixed by the morning. When she ended the call she blew her bangs out of her face. She looked tired, but not exhausted. She was dressed in a casual black tank top and tight low rise jeans. Her hair was straight red silk with a fringe falling over her beautiful green eyes.

"Hi," she smirked.

Chris smiled at her as he started taking things out his bag. Alex on the other hand greeted her with a hard stare. The back of his mind was chanting 'I told you so' and he was trying to focus on the way his heartbeat picked up as soon as Keegan had came in the room to drown it out.

"Well I can see it's gonna be a pleasant evening," she said sardonically.

Alex finally snickered and shook his head even though he found nothing funny about this situation.

"Look, this isn't that big of a deal. I mean I'm in the papers all the time."

"But I'm not," he quickly interrupted her. "How am I supposed to explain this to people?"

"What do you have to explain? They didn't even name you."

"That's not the point; and people who watch TNA also read magazines. It's only a matter of time 'til they do figure it out. And I don't really like people thinking that I'm so some crazy boyfriend that pushes his girl around."

"Well in all fairness I did deserve it. I was giving Chase a lap dance right in front of you," she joked.

"This isn't funny! If you want people to stop seeing as a slut in movies, than you maybe you should stop fucking acting the part in real life," he finally snapped.

Keegan's amused smile immediately became crest fallen. Her eyes darkened and narrowed at the wrestler in a way that sent chills down his spine. Chris looked from the actress to his tag partner and with a sigh he quietly left them alone. They didn't even hear the door click shut.

"First off, Fuck you Shelley. Secondly, whom I do what with isn't any of your business considering that you aren't actually my boyfriend. If you're really this insecure that you feel the need to throw a hissy fit over a fucking magazine then stop wasting my time. I can't help what they choose to print."

"You could stop giving them stuff," he argued.

"And stay home every night? Everyone else gets to go out and enjoy being young, why shouldn't I get to?"

"God, do you ever consider anyone's point of view besides your own? Go out, have fun, just know when to stop."

"Why should I compromise what I wanna do? I compromised myself for three years and I won't ever let anyone tell me what to do again." Her voice was strong, filled with steeled determination, but her eyes had filled with water. The dark liner traced around the rims made the threatening tears shimmer across the sea of green. "I won't ever give that control to someone else again."

All of Alex's anger deflated as if it had been popped with a sewing needle. He watched Keegan turn on the heel of her flats, intent on walking away from him for the final time. His heart lurched after her and he knew he couldn't let that happen. He began reaching for her before he even spoke, grabbing her arm gently, he implored her to wait.

"Don't go Keegan," he began softly.

Biting her bottom lip she looked up at him almost cautiously through thick lashes. He looked intently into her jade eyes, hoping to see through the wall she constructed around herself. It wasn't easy, but he found her real motives; the fear of giving in and being powerless again, distrusting everyone because she only knew disloyalty, unable to be empathetic because no one had ever shown her how.

"I get where you're coming from," he began, "but try to see it from my perspective. Not only is it an invasion of privacy that I'm not accustomed to, but the headline isn't flattering to either one of us. They're basically saying that I'm a controlling prick and you're a two timing whore."

"Well at least we deserve each other," she smirked.

Alex closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. "Are you like not getting this on purpose, I know you're not this stupid."

She laughed out right that time. "I get it, okay. I get everything you're telling me, but what else am I supposed to do but laugh? If I got angry over everything they printed… I don't even know; there isn't enough Ativan in the world for that. If I have learned anything it's that you need to let go of what you can."

Alex nodded. "Yeah okay, that's true. I mean there are bigger issues to contend with I guess."

"Exactly," Keegan smiled triumphantly.

"But it would make things a lot less stressful if you gave them less negative press."

She growled and whipped around giving him her back. She put her hands on her hips and began tapping the toe of her shoe.

"It's awesome that you're confident enough to truly not give a damn what people think of you, but confidence and self respect are different. That's what I've learned."

"I respect myself," she turned on him again a glare hardening her face.

"Then give other people the chance to respect you too."

Keegan's stiff stance dropped. She seemed to shrink back as if the thought knocked her off balance. She shook her head, if to clear it or to simply disagree with him Alex wasn't sure, but he was certain that her black berry was ringing. She answered it and gave him her back again. Alex picked up the roll of tape and sat down on the bench. He fiddled with the end while he waited.

"That was Britt; she posted a statement on my website that explained the whole thing. You're just my friend and you were pulling me through the hoard of reporters, you're not secretly abusing me."

"That's not funny," he glowered.

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes. "Don't be so sensitive."

"Ya know there are just times when I like Chris so much more than I like you"

"Well that makes two of us," she retorted.

Alex tried hard to fight the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth, he watched as Keegan lost her battle with the happy expression. The door opened slowly and a blonde head poked inside.

"Um… the scripts are done... Is it safe to come in yet?"

Alex and Keegan both began to chuckle at the boy they liked better than each other. She flopped down beside the brunette knocking his shoulder playfully. Chris smirked at the soft smiles he witnessed pass between the pair; he knew he'd have to tell Christy about this.

"We got the British Invasion tonight. We're going over and then we're calling out Suicide again," Chris explained.

"Awesome. I'm glad they're pushing the X-division again," Alex replied.

Chris nodded, flipping to the part that pertained to the Motor City Machine Guns. Keegan sat back and watched attentively as the wrestlers prepared for their performance.