Chapter 12

He didn't buy it.

Robert wasn't convinced for a second that Spencer and Colby were dating. If they were, it would've been known throughout the locker room. Colby would've made it clear that Spencer was taken. Robert found it awfully coincidental that Colby defended Spencer AFTER he showed interest and claimed she was his girlfriend. Something wasn't right. People thought he wasn't intelligent, but Robert knew when he was being played for a fool. He laid eyes on Spencer first, not Colby, and even if the punk did it didn't matter. Robert was twice the man Colby Lopez ever thought about being. Smirking, Robert had a plan brewing in his head while pumping iron in the local gym located right down the street from the hotel.

There was one other person that'd recently been burned on the roster. One person that Robert knew without a shadow of a doubt wanted revenge. April 'AJ' Jeanette Mendez. The Diva's championship was ripped away from her in the blink of an eye because of the Shield's 4th member, Milla Brown. Ever since then, AJ had scratched and clawed to try to reclaim what she felt was rightfully hers. Milla stopped her at every turn. Quite frankly, Robert personally thought Milla was a much better wrestler and Diva than AJ, but he would keep that little nugget of information to himself. If AJ was going to help him, Robert had to watch what he said around the woman since she was a little on the psychotic side.

Speak of the devil, Robert thought with a soft chuckle, as he watched the woman he'd currently been thinking about walk into the gym. Her current boyfriend, Nick, wasn't with her, so this gave Robert the perfect opportunity to approach her. Nick didn't like him and the feeling was more than mutual. The bleach blonde idiot didn't know his head from his backside. Again, he wouldn't say anything to upset AJ though since she was completely in love with Nick. Racking the bar, Robert wiped sweat from his forehead with a towel and stood up from the bench, rising to his feet. His brown hair was pulled back in the usual ponytail to keep it out of his face as he draped the towel around his neck, heading over to where AJ was.

AJ tapped her chin in thought, deciding she had to strengthen her legs in order to make her finishing submission move more effective. It was called the Black Widow. Deciding to start with 100 pounds, AJ would slowly work her way up to her max weight. She had to get stronger. Milla Brown was better than her and, in AJ's eyes, it was unacceptable. No matter what she had to do, no matter how long it took, AJ would reclaim HER Diva's championship sooner or later. She didn't care that Milla was part of the Shield. That didn't make her invincible to mistakes and all it would take would be one. AJ would capitalize on it and snatch the Diva's championship from right under Milla's nose. She just had to be patient, knowing all good things came to those who waited.

"AJ."

Hearing her name, AJ turned to see who it was and blinked at the sight of Robert, wondering what he wanted. "Rob." She nodded in acknowledgement and finished placing her weights on the squat machine.

"Mind if I talk to you for a minute before you start this?" Robert asked, his brown eyes kind, but his attitude would change if she didn't comply.

"Sure, what's up?" She sensed the danger under his kind tone and folded her arms in front of her chest, suddenly wishing Nick had come with her to work out.

Robert was pleased she agreed to give him a few minutes of her time because it'd be a shame to snap her scrawny neck in half for angering him. "I've noticed for the past couple months you've had issues with the new Shield member. Milla, I think her name is?" He made it sound like a question. "What if I told you I can help you get the Diva's title back around your waist?"

Now AJ was intrigued and arched a slow brow, confusion swirling through her dark eyes. "What do you mean?" She began shifting from foot to foot, running her tongue along the inside of her bottom lip.

"What I mean is if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." Robert didn't know how much clearer he could've been, both browns mixing together as they sized each other up.

"What did you have in mind?" AJ would do anything at this point to reclaim her Diva's championship, still referring it as hers in her unstable mind.

Robert chuckled, stepping up to wrap an arm around her shoulders in a purely platonic way. Or so it seemed. "I need you to find out some information for me." His mouth was right by her ear, brushing his nose against her cheek. "All I need you to do is keep your ears open and, if you hear anything, let me know."

AJ chewed her bottom lip, slowly looking up at him from the side through long lashes. "What is it?" She sounded breathless, feeling his hand move from her shoulder to slide down her side until it rested on her low hip.

"Good girl." He murmured in a seductive pitch, pulling her closer to him and it still looked like they were having a friendly chat. "Do you know who Spencer King is?" Robert waited for her eager nod and chuckled. "I need you to find out if she's dating Shield member, Colby Lopez. I heard her and Milla have grown close, best buds. So imagine if you screwed with Spencer, you could play mind games with Milla and slowly break her down until you become the Diva's champion again." It didn't matter to Robert whether or not AJ got anything out of this deal, merely using her for his gain.

AJ's dark eyes sparkled with pure malice and joy at the thought of messing with Milla's head, rubbing her hands together. "Why do you want to know if Spencer and Colby are dating?" She suddenly asked, not able to stop the question from popping out of her mouth.

Robert smiled softly and ran a finger down her cheek, tracing her jawline. "That's my business. Just find out for me and I'll help you win the Diva's championship back."

Honestly, AJ didn't care why Robert wanted to know this information and had an idea of how to acquire it. "Consider it done."

"Good, I'll give you a week to figure it out." Brushing his lips against her cheek, Robert walked away without another word and headed for the showers, an evil smirk crossing his lips.

Soon, he'd find out the truth about Spencer's relationship status and hoped AJ didn't let him down for her sake.

Later that night at the arena, AJ immediately set off to track down Spencer King after parting ways with Nick. They promised to meet up for dinner after the show like always. AJ knew she could lose Nick if he found out what she was up to and was willing to risk her relationship to reclaim the Diva's championship. It was her number one love in life, though Nick came in a close second. Skipping down the hallway in her undersized blue jean shorts and cropped shirt that rested just below her breasts, exposing most of her stomach. Her black hair was down, bouncing with every step she took and she had her patent Chuck Taylor wrestling boots with kneepads on.

Her plan was simple: Befriend Spencer in front of Milla and gain her trust enough to find out Robert's information. Once Spencer became her friend, AJ would drive a rift between them and therefore take something precious away from Milla. It would screw with Milla's head and eventually she'd make a mistake that would allow AJ to reclaim HER championship. AJ cackled, giddy over how perfect her plan was and turned the corner, spotting her prey standing by some equipment trunks a few doors down from the Shield's locker room.

Milla laughed at something Spencer said, shaking her head and the Diva's title sat right beside her on the equipment trunk, already in her wrestling gear. "Please tell me you're joking." She giggled uncontrollably when Spencer smirked in response. "Girl, I can't believe you did that!"

"I had no choice." Spencer folded her arms in front of her chest and stuck her nose in the air playfully. "He had it coming."

"PLEASE tell me he got it…off." Milla was doubled over by now, laughing so hard tears formed in her eyes.

"Oh he did…" Spencer studied her nails, an evil smirk curving her lips. "After he finally paid attention to every word I said to him instead of that stupid game. I swear to god, you could blow a foghorn in his ear and he STILL won't pay attention." She scoffed indignantly, crossing one leg over the other.

"So you put SUPERGLUE on his controller?!"

Spencer hopped off the equipment trunk, dusting her dress pants off. "Maybe next time he'll answer me when I ask him what he wants for dinner instead of me having to literally scream at the top of my lungs 10 fucking times before he finally hears me. And it's not like I didn't have the adhesive to remove the controller from his hand."

"Lesson learned indeed. Poor Colby." Milla giggled harder and stood up from the equipment trunk as well, wiping a few stray tears away. "You're lucky I didn't do my makeup already." They both turned just as AJ came bounding up to them and Milla instantly stood in front of Spencer, ready to protect her if she had to.

"Hey Spencer!" AJ greeted in her hyper tone of voice, ignoring Milla standing there with HER championship draped over her shoulder. "Can I talk to both of you for a second?"

Milla had her guard up, wondering what this psychotic bitch wanted and shouldered the Diva's championship, squaring her shoulders. "I don't think that's a good idea." She stated, answering before Spencer could.

Spencer had no bad blood with AJ and the last thing she wanted to do was treat a fellow coworker badly. "What did you need, AJ?" She asked, ignoring Milla's incredulous look and flashed a friendly smile.

This would be like taking candy from a baby, AJ thought smugly, twirling some black hair around her finger and looked almost sheepish. "Well, I just…I wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I've been acting lately." That would be the closest she'd very come to an actual apology because AJ had done absolutely nothing wrong. "I don't really have a lot of friends and I know it's my own fault, but I want to try to make it right."

"Gee I wonder…" Milla muttered, grunting when Spencer nudged her with an elbow and rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Be nice." Spencer chastised softly, stepping forward to stand in front of AJ with Milla behind her. "Don't worry about it, AJ. I know you two are feuding currently for the Diva's championship, but we should leave any personal animosity outside of work. I have no grief with you."

AJ sighed with relief and grinned, flashing her pearly white teeth. "Thank you, Spencer. I promise I've changed and I won't be a bitch anymore. To either of you." That was a blatant lie, but if AJ wanted to gain Spencer's trust, she knew she'd have to befriend Milla as well. "Milla…"

"Trust is earned, not given." Milla stated, refusing to keep her mouth shut and folded her arms in front of her chest, light brown eyes narrowed. "You'll have to gain my trust and respect again. I have nothing more to say to you. See you out in the ring." Stalking away from them, Milla headed straight for the Shield locker room to inform Colby on what's going on through text message.

Colby looked down at his phone and frowned, wondering why Milla was texting him. "Shit." He muttered, looking up at both Jon and Joe, flying out the door without another word.

"What the fuck was that about?" Joe wondered aloud, both of them deciding to cut their workout short and headed back to the locker room to find out what was going on with Colby.

Sure enough, when Colby turned the corner of the hallway that lead to their locker room, he spotted AJ talking to Spencer. Not thinking twice, he headed over to where the women stood and wrapped an arm around Spencer, his mouth claiming hers in mid-sentence. Spencer instantly kissed him back, cupping the back of his neck and temporarily got lost in the moment. Whenever Colby kissed her, it made everything else obsolete going around them and savored every second with his lips against hers. Only when they were both breathless did Colby break the kiss and rubbed his nose gently against a dazed Spencer, smirking back at AJ.

"Sorry, couldn't resist my woman." His hand slid down her back to squeeze her backside, which was something Spencer was used to since they had to show public affection. "Hey come help me with my hair for the show. You don't mind, do you AJ?" Colby trusted this woman about as far as she could throw him, which wasn't far at all.

"N-Not at all. Go for it. I'll talk to you later, Spencer."

AJ waved and took off in the opposite direction of the hallway, turning the corner to watch them secretively. She had to wonder if they really were together, especially after that passionate steamy kiss Colby gave Spencer right in front of her. Scowling, AJ would have to work extremely hard to find out the truth and hoped she didn't disappoint Robert. He promised to help her reclaim the Diva's championship, but only if she acquired the information he wanted. Shaking her head, AJ took off down the hallway once she saw Spencer and Colby walk down the hallway out of sight, needing to get ready for her segment with Milla that night. Once again, she was challenging Milla at Survivor Series for the Diva's championship and, this time, planned on winning.

Speaking of Milla, she was busy pacing like a caged animal, snarling angrily. There was something about AJ that rubbed her the wrong way. This whole sudden wanting to befriend Spencer situation did not set right at all with Milla and she wanted to bash the woman's face in with her Diva's championship. Overcome with uncontrollable anger, Milla grabbed the nearest metal folding chair and tossed it as hard as she could against the wall by the door, just as it opened. Jon ducked and jumped, having his head nearly taken off by Milla, wondering what the hell was going on with her, blue eyes narrowing.

"Milla!" He shouted, stalking over to her and stopped short when her head snapped to glare at him heatedly. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! You just nearly took my fucking head off!"

Not saying a single word to him and snapping out of her rage, Milla stormed into the bathroom slamming the door behind her harshly, leaving Jon standing there completely perplexed.