Chapter 25
"So, I have a confession to make."
Keyla quickly glanced over at Lennox while driving to the next area for the Smackdown! taping. Turns out, Penelope worked both shows and since Keyla was taking her place, she had to do the same thing. Triple H neglected to provide her with that bit of information and, to say Keyla was annoyed, was an understatement. Still, she had a job to do and wouldn't back down, coming up with a plan to always be one step ahead of the Shield – of Jon Moxley. Instead of staying the night after Raw in the same city or town, Keyla would simply drive or fly at night to the next area the WWE performed at. Lennox didn't have a problem with it when Keyla approached her with the idea after Raw over a month ago and they'd been doing it ever since.
"I knew something was going on with you, but you were stubborn and always said you were fine." Keyla didn't know how to feel about Lennox keeping a secret from her and braced herself for what she was about to hear. "Out with it."
"It's nothing bad…" Lennox didn't think anyway, but then again it involved a certain 6'3, 265 pound Samoan giant, who she had several run-ins with at the arenas lately. "I just don't want you freaking out. You've been doing well and I don't want to ruin your progress…"
Keyla rolled her eyes and picked up a bottle of anxiety pills from the center counsel, shaking it at Lennox. "You told me to get them, so I did and now I'm not having panic attacks every 3 seconds. Now tell me what the hell is going on with you."
"Alright – alright…" Lennox couldn't beat around the bush anymore and took a deep breath, violet eyes lowering to her clasped hands in her lap. "I'm assuming you know who Roman Reigns is, right?"
That name immediately made Keyla's entire body tense from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. "What about him?" Her voice had changed from curious to low and guarded, eyes remaining on the road. Of course she knew who Roman Reigns was! He was a third of the Shield – the group Jon was part of and known as the Lunatic Fringe. "Please don't tell me you're…"
"Just a few quick encounters and nothing more." Lennox said in a rush of words, trying to calm Keyla down because it looked like she was on the verge of having a panic attack. "I didn't want to say anything because, every time it happens, I walk away and I haven't said more than 3 words to him. I don't know why it keeps happening and, frankly, I'm getting ticked off about it. What if he's doing it on purpose? Like stalking me or something? I have nobody else to talk to about it, so that's the only reason I'm bringing it up."
"Was Jon with him during these encounters?" Keyla had to know because Jon would instantly recognize Lennox, even though she'd taken the red and green streaks out of her hair to replace with them with burnt orange. "Has he seen you?"
Lennox immediately shook her head, reaching over to take Keyla's free hand and squeezed it. "No. The Samoan idiot is always by himself. If Jon was with him, I know better than to stick around and talk. I know you don't want him seeing me until you confront him."
If that ever happened, Keyla added mentally, breathing a little easier since Jon wasn't involved in this situation. However, it did make her apprehensive knowing there was a possibility her best friend was being stalked by Reigns. What was she supposed to do about it though? Keyla couldn't walk up to the Samoan monster and demand him to stay away from Lennox, not without exposing herself to Jon Moxley. That was simply out of the question. Lennox would simply have to be more careful and try to avoid Roman Reigns or else one of their encounters would result in Jon Moxley seeing her. Then all hell would break loose in the WWE and that's the last thing either woman wanted.
"Do you like Roman Reigns?" Keyla asked after a few minutes of silence, wondering what was going through Lennox's mind regarding the Samoan. "I mean he is good looking and tattooed…"
"Are you nuts? I just ended a very long relationship with my ex-fiancé and you're asking me if I'm interested in another WRESTLER?" Lennox didn't know whether to feel offended, amused or both, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Key, I've been down the dating a wrestler road and I really don't want to venture it again. Wrestlers are off-limits to me."
The finality in Lennox's tone told Keyla the conversation was over and a change of subject was in order. She didn't want to upset Lennox further, knowing the wounds Danny inflicted wouldn't heal for a while. It would take a miracle for a man to break through her walls and Keyla felt the same way since she'd been abandoned by the man she loved for 3 years. The anniversary of his departure had recently passed and, since it was during her days off, Keyla spent it alone eating ice cream and crying.
She still hadn't found a place in Tampa, but they hadn't flown back to Philadelphia either, so Sami and Gina invited both to stay with them until they decided what to do. Their two story house in Tampa was gorgeous, on the outskirts of the city and had a huge backyard where Lennox spent most of her time, especially at night. Keyla found a few leads to possible houses to look at, but so far nothing had really popped out and she made sure to pay Sami and Gina rent for both her and Lennox, refusing to live there for free. With WrestleMania on the horizon, which would be Keyla's first, she decided to wait until after the chaos died down in WWE before continuing to look for a place.
Valentine's Day came and went with both girls wearing all black, renting horror movies and vegging out together with junk food. They both made a pact not to mention any man during the dreaded V-Day, focusing on laughing and talking about anything else. It worked…until Lennox broke out the hard liquor and liquid courage ensued, best friends venting about the dickhead men who hurt them. Sami and Gina walked in on them sleeping on the couch downstairs together, managing to put them to bed without disturbance. The next day consisted of thunderous migraines and vows to never drink again with Gina trying not to laugh at them. Sleeping most of the day away was all they could do after being drugged up to make the migraine disperse.
~!~
The Shield had a busy night ahead of them, being booked in a six-man tag match against Christian, Daniel Bryan and Sheamus. So Roman knew he couldn't eat anything heavy prior to his match. Afterwards was fine. Walking into catering, Roman grabbed some of the fruit salad before turning to find a table. Grey eyes zeroed in on the mystery woman he'd been running into lately and Roman wondered if she'd make an excuse to get away from him. The closer he approached the table, Roman noted she had ear buds in and could hear the loud music pulsing from them. How the hell was the honey blonde not deaf? It reminded him of Ambrose's warmup routine because the man blasted music as loud as he could while doing pushups, jumping jacks and shadowboxing. Deciding not to startle her, Roman sat on the opposite side of the table across from her and smirked, wondering how long it would take for the mystery woman to notice him.
Getting lost in her artwork was all Lennox could do not to think about Danny, missing the man fiercely. It'd been close to 3 months since she walked in on him having sex with someone else on Christmas Eve. Why couldn't she forget he existed and move on with her life? Because Danny Havoc was supposed to be her past, present and future – her husband and father of any children they wanted to have together. None of it would happen now. Cheating was unforgiveable and deep down, Lennox knew he would never give the drugs up. Then there was the fact he'd been the one to put her in the hospital the day before Thanksgiving, for what reason she still didn't know. Maybe one day they could reconcile and make amends, but not while he was nose deep in drugs screwing anything with two legs. Lennox broke out of her deep thoughts, the black sketch utensil freezing on the paper, when she felt the table nudge from someone joining her. She looked up and immediately felt the breath hitch in her throat at the sight of a smirking Roman Reigns staring back at her.
"Something I can help you with?" Lennox asked coolly, pulling the ear buds from her ears and set them on the table along with her drawing notebook, not appreciating being bothered by the Samoan.
It showed and Roman didn't miss the slight disdain in her voice, shaking his head at her question. "No, just thought I'd join you since you looked lonely." It was an honest answer as Roman popped a grape in his mouth, winking at the honey blonde and his grey eyes moved to the drawing she'd been working on. "What's that?"
Lennox followed his eyes down to the sketch and shrugged, knowing it was dangerous to converse with this man. Yet, she was doing it anyway. "Nothing, just something that popped in my head."
So the mystery woman was an artist, Roman thought, stormy grey eyes unable to leave the design for some reason. It called out to him and he wanted a closer look at it. Standing, Roman moved to the chair beside the honey blonde and waited for her to tell him to take a flying leap or to simply leave him before he could talk to her further. None of that happened. Grey eyes once again took in the design and Roman reached out to turn the drawing notebook closer to him, tilting his head at the unique design she came up with. It was black with a slight greying, or maybe she hadn't finished yet. It reminded Roman of the Spiderman logo, only it didn't have multiple legs on either side. Instead, it looked like two R's back-to-back, the line separating them a wicked spike. It was intriguing, just like the woman sitting beside him, and he couldn't help admiring every inch of the design before finally locking grey on bewildered violet.
"This is awesome. I dig it." Roman complimented, watching her immediately start to close the drawing notebook and stopped her from standing up to leave. "Wait."
"What do you want?" Lennox somewhat snapped, his hand on her upper arm turning her skin to molten lava along with the rest of her blood. Christ, why did he have such an effect on her? "Let me go…"
"Come on, I just wanna talk to you." Roman coaxed, keeping her seated with another smile and leaned closer, their eyes remaining locked. "What's your name?"
Why did he want to know that? Lennox didn't feel comfortable with this situation, but for some reason she couldn't pull her gaze away from the Samoan. "I'm not sure-" She was cut off by another woman approaching the table and managed to break eye contact with Roman Reigns, looking up only to face none other than Stephanie McMahon.
"Roman, there you are. I've been looking all over for you." Stephanie said by way of greeting, her cool blue eyes moving to the honey blonde he'd been somewhat holding hostage. "Who's your friend?"
"She's not-"
"Hi, I'm Stephanie McMahon." She extended a hand to the honey blonde, introducing herself before Roman could say much and smiled. "And you are?"
There was no getting out of this situation and Lennox hoped she didn't regret dropping her name to one of Keyla's bosses. "Lennox, ma'am. Lennox Sparks." She slid her hand into Stephanie's and felt the firm handshake, swallowing hard. "I-It's nice to meet you…"
Stephanie had a natural intimidation factor about her, which could be both good and bad when it came to business. "You too. How long have you known each other? Roman, you know the rules…"
"I-I'm not with him…" Lennox immediately regretted saying that, watching Stephanie take a seat on her other side and felt boxed in at the table.
"Then who are you here with?" Stephanie reached out to finger the backstage pass around Lennox's neck, arching a brow. "I don't believe I've seen you around before." If she had to call security to escort this crazed fan out of the building, Stephanie wouldn't be happy.
Oh god, please don't kill me Keyla, Lennox silently prayed, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "My best friend is on the camera crew. She invited me on the road and got clearance from Triple H." She was very familiar with this woman and had watched Stephanie over the years because Danny had somewhat of an obsession with the man. "Her name is Keyla…"
Stephanie instantly relaxed, a genuine smile crossing her face and remembered her husband mentioning Keyla bringing an individual on the road with her. Just for her own sanity and protection, she would talk to Keyla to make sure the information was legitimate. Stephanie went to stand up from the table and stopped, noticing the design on the drawing notebook Roman had admired a few minutes ago. Did Lennox draw this? Was she an artist? Stephanie already made a mental note to talk to her husband about Lennox Sparks, if her story about being Keyla's best friend was true, not wanting an artistic talent to go unused. It wouldn't be prudent for business.
"That's good. Enjoy your time with us. Roman, my office in 10." Stephanie made her exit, leaving Roman and Lennox alone at the table to go back to her office.
"Great, what now?" Roman muttered, shaking his head and turned his attention back on the honey blonde named Lennox, that name fitting her to perfection. "So it's Lennox then?"
She groaned, not bothering to hide it and closed her notebook before standing from the table, this time Roman not stopping her. "I-I have to go…" Lennox was frazzled and needed to pop one of her anxiety pills, every part of her body shaking from the encounter with Stephanie McMahon.
Roman stood as well, picking up the drawing notebook when Lennox dropped it at his feet and handed it to her, once again grey locking on petrified violet. "See you around." It was a simple promise he intended to keep, finding this woman more intriguing every time they saw each other.
Not responding, Lennox flew out of catering like her backside was on fire and made her way down the hall to the empty dressing room, shaking like a leaf. What the hell was she supposed to do now? Why did she drop her name to Stephanie McMahon of all people?! Now Roman Reigns knew her name and if he told Moxley about it…Lennox was in trouble, burying her hands in her hair.
She possibly just blew Keyla's cover and had nobody to blame except herself, hoping Roman kept their talk with Stephanie quiet.