It was probably lucky for Dean that Seth managed to grab hold of him before he made it more than a few paces away from the car. "Dean, leave it! Having a fight isn't going to do anything apart from get you in the shit."
"Fucking get off me," Dean snarled, trying to break free of his friends grasp.
"Dean, calm down!" Alexa pleaded, stunned by his angry reaction to seeing his ex-girlfriend with another man. Why would it bother him so much? Unless, she thought with a sinking heart, he still had feelings for Renee. Could that be the reason?
By now, Finn and Renee had seen Dean trying to come over to them. "What up, buddy? Having second thoughts?" Finn called out sarcastically.
"Come over here and say that!" Dean challenged.
Simultaneously, Alexa shouted, "Just get out of here, both of you. You're just causing trouble."
Dean wasn't the only one whose anger was getting the better of them now. Renee started storming over to the group, clearly intent on confronting Alexa. "Oh, we're causing trouble? That's rich coming from you, you little tramp."
Her path was soon blocked by Lucy, who stepped in front of her. "Back off, Renee," she ordered, trying to bring some calm to the situation.
"Move!" Renee said aggressively, trying to push past the taller woman. That proved to be a mistake.
Lucy shoved Renee back much harder, sending her stumbling backwards. A stark warning quickly followed. "I don't have a problem with you, Renee, but if you touch me again I'll flatten you."
By now, Seth had succeeded in manhandling Dean towards the entrance to the arena, albeit with him still shouting abuse at Finn. Then his attention shifted to Renee. "You fucked up little bitch. You were sleeping with him while we were together, weren't you? And you had the nerve to try and make everyone in the locker room hate Alexa and I. Fuck you!"
Alexa scuttled over to join her man, wanting to calm him down. That last outburst was a little reassuring, at least. If that was the reason he had lost his temper, maybe he didn't have feelings for Renee after all? It certainly didn't sound like it, with the abuse he had been shouting. If anything, it sounded like he was mad on her behalf because of how Renee had gotten the other women to treat her. But then, if that was the case, why had his initial outburst been directed at Finn?
The truth was, she had no idea what to make of what had gone on in the past couple of minutes. It had all happened so quickly, and so many things were running through her mind at the same time. That horrible feeling refused to leave her, though. A voice in the back of her head was asking what if she was nothing more than cheap sex to Dean after all? What if all he wanted was someone who would model sexy lingerie for him? What if there were no genuine feelings there at all? If that was the case, if what she felt for him was not returned in kind, she would be heartbroken.
"Where are you going?" Finn shouted at Dean, challenging him again.
"Finn, just fuck off," Lucy said with contempt as she and Alexa grabbed the guy's cases along with their own and headed towards the building. "You obviously want him to hit you so he gets himself in the shit. It's not going to happen, so just shut your mouth."
Having heard the shouting, several backstage crew members came out of the arena's entrance, just as Seth shepherded Dean inside. "Alright, get off me, Seth," he said, knowing that the confrontation was over now that there were plenty of people around. Lucy was right, smacking Finn in front of some many witnesses was probably exactly what the prick wanted to happen. If so, he wasn't going to get his wish.
Seth cautiously let go of Dean, ready to grab him again if he tried to walk back out into the parking garage instead of further into the building. "You good?" he asked.
"Yeah," Dean sighed. Then he saw the look on Alexa's face, and he knew that he had a problem. She looked shocked by what she had seen, but even worse, there was distrust in her expression as well. He was hot tempered, but he wasn't stupid; he knew that he had fucked up by going off like that. Understandably, she was worried by the fact that he had focused some of his anger on Finn. He had given the impression, wrongly, that he still had feelings for Renee.
"What the hell, Dean?" Alexa asked sadly. "Why are you so angry with Finn? I don't understand."
"It's not what you think," Dean assured her, knowing that simply saying that wasn't going to cut it.
Seth realised that she and Dean were going to need some privacy, and fast. Besides, Finn and Renee would come into the building soon, and the whole thing might kick off again. "Why don't we go find our locker room and you guys can talk in there?" he suggested, conveying the message to Lucy with his eyes that they should make themselves scarce. He received a slight nod of agreement in response.
A minute later, they walked into at The Shield's locker room. Luckily, the room was empty, Roman having not arrived as yet. "We'll leave you to it," Seth said as soon as he had stored his and Lucy's cases in the corner of the room.
"See you in a bit," Lucy said, giving Dean what she hoped looked like an encouraging smile. "Alexa, come find me if you need to when you're done. We'll be in catering."
"Thanks," Alexa said glumly. When the door closed, she had to get right to the point. "Tell me you don't still have feelings for Renee, Dean?"
Dean looked her in the eye, wanting to be perfectly clear about with his answer. "I don't still have feelings for Renee. Far from it, in fact."
"Then why were you so angry with Finn?" she asked, hands on hips. "Because it seemed to me like it might have been because he's with her and you're not. Do you want her back?"
Running his hands through his hair in frustration, Dean said, "I don't want her back. I don't have feelings for her. I was angry because that fucking potato-munching prick made sure to park near us and kiss her in front of me to get a reaction. She might have encouraged him to do it, I don't know. Either way, they baited me, Alexa, and I fell for it because I'm a fucking idiot."
"But why would it make you angry? That's what I'm trying to understand. Why can't you just ignore Finn kissing her if she means nothing to you? I want to know what was going through your mind, and I want you to be honest. If you can't do that, then we have nothing, Dean."
"I am being honest," he insisted. "You want to know what I was thinking when I first saw them? Okay, I'll tell you. I was thinking about what Renee said to me when she told me it was her who saw us in the club that night. She accused me of cheating on her, saying she could tell we had been together for some time. That's why she went around the place making me out to be a piece of shit and making you out to be a slut. When I saw them out there just now, I thought the same thing," he said, pointing in the direction of the parking garage. "It seemed to me like they've been seeing each other for some time. I think she's accused us of doing exactly the same thing she's done, and you came out with the worst of it. That's what pissed me off most of all."
"Okay," Alexa said, her tone softening considerably. Nothing about his words or body language seemed dishonest to her. However, he still hadn't answered the question, not exactly. "But you said you were going to kill Finn. You directed your anger at him, not Renee."
"I couldn't exactly go and smack her one, could I? Plus, like I said, I could tell he was trying to piss me off. I don't react well to things like that. He knows that, and so does Renee. They baited me and I went for the bait. I don't know what else to tell you."
Alexa believed him. She hoped she wasn't being gullible, but it really didn't seem that way. Even so, it was time to see if he felt as committed to their relationship as she was. If they were going to become something serious, it was time to get serious. If he could do that, then she would trust him. "What you can do is tell me what I mean to you, Dean. This isn't just sex for me; it's not just walking around a hotel room in expensive lingerie. This is a relationship that means a lot to me. I want to know where you stand, because if you don't feel the same way, we might as well…"
"I do feel the same way," Dean cut in, before she could mention ending it. He decided the best way to convince her was to be frank about it. "Look, if this was just sex for me, I would have already said fuck it and bailed by now, instead of having this conversation. If I didn't care, I wouldn't pretend that I did. That's just not the kind of guy I am, and I think you know that. But I do care. I want to be with you, Alexa. I left Renee to be with you, and I certainly don't want us to let that pair of fucking idiots out there ruin it for us now we've come this far. They're probably laughing at us right now because they know we're having this exact conversation. I played right into their hands, and I'm sorry, okay? As I said before, I'm an idiot who doesn't think before he loses his cool. I really don't know what else I can say."
The part about Renee and Finn laughing at the upset they had caused resonated with Alexa. She could easily see that being the case. Her instincts told her to believe what Dean had told her. "You don't have to say anything else," she told him, walking into his arms. "Just promise me you won't get into any more arguments with either of them. We don't need the drama, and it'll probably end up being you who gets in trouble for it anyway. If they want to stir shit about us, that's up to them. I said I was going to apologise to Renee, but forget it, it's not going to happen now. I'll have to tell the girls in the locker room later, because they were expecting me to do it."
"Lucy will stick up for you," Dean said, holding her tightly to him, glad that she had seen sense and listened to him. "She saw how Renee tried to go for you out there. There's no way you could be expected to apologise to her after that."
"Let's hope they see it that way," she said quietly. "I really can't be dealing with any more drama, Dean. Yes, it was wrong how we started out together, we both know that, but are we supposed to pay for it forever? I'm really sick of all the crap. Why can't people just leave us alone and let us be happy? Damn it, it's not as if Renee is sitting around crying that she lost you. She can move on and be happy, yet she expects us to still take shit from everyone."
"It's bullshit, darlin'," he agreed. "This is why I wish you could be a bit more like me in terms of not getting upset by other people's reactions to you. I know you hated it when everyone was ignoring you, but you told them all the truth and apologised for lying. That should be enough for them. If they still don't want to treat you fairly after that, I say fuck 'em. Like I said before, they obviously weren't friends of yours to start with if they can turn on you that easily. Lucy didn't. You said Bayley didn't. They didn't like what you'd done – what we'd done, I should say – but they didn't turn their backs on you. That's not what friends do."
Alexa pulled herself out of his embrace and looked up into his eyes, feeling a new sense of determination. There was no decent counter argument to what he had said. If the other women were determined to shun her for the rest of time based on what Renee had told them, then so be it. "You know what? You're right. I'm not going to go grovelling to them for approval again. I have Lucy and Bayley who will be friendly to me come what may. Nia probably will too. If the others don't, that's up to them."
"That's my girl," Dean said, smiling broadly. "So, we're good?"
"Of course we're good," Alexa smiled back. She reached up and gave him a peck on the lips.
The locker room door open then, and Roman walked in with his case. "Oh, hey," he greeted them pleasantly. "Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine," Alexa replied with one of those sweet little smiles. It was the best thing Dean had seen or heard all day.
A/N: Many thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter.
Things could probably have gone a lot worse for Dean. Do you think Alexa was right to trust him? Might Finn and Renee's attempt to drive a wedge between them actually have brought them closer together now that they voiced their feelings for each other?