For Alexa, the vacation in Nassau felt like it had ended almost as soon as it had started. It wasn't surprising that she felt that way, given how much she had enjoyed herself. There were memories of that trip that would last forever. But now it was back to Raw, and back to the grind. She had just been summoned to the ringside area to see Tyson Kidd so that they could discuss the plans for her storyline for that night's show. With Lucy and Seth not in attendance, it would be interesting to see how Vince and Hunter had decided to handle it.
On the way out to ringside, she bumped into Paige, Becky, Emma and unfortunately Renee, who must have been summoned from the heel locker room. "Hey, guys," she said, glad to be able to address them all with a blanket greeting, since she had no desire to be pleasant to Renee.
The feeling was obviously mutual, since the Canadian didn't join the other three when they returned greetings. Instead, she just walked along with a sour expression on her face. That was fine with Alexa. Renee could look as sour as she wanted; it wasn't going to get her down.
"That's an amazing tan you have there," Becky said, looking Alexa up and down in approval.
"Thanks, Bex. Dean and I spent a few days in the Bahamas."
"Yeah, we know. We saw the pictures," Renee muttered.
Paige rolled her eyes, indicating to Alexa that she should ignore the childish comment. "It looks like you had a great time?"
"Sure did," Alexa took pleasure in saying. "Plenty of fun, plenty of sun, amazing food for dinner every night, more cocktails than I can count, and of course, lots of great sex." The last part had been added for Renee's benefit. Take that, bitch, she thought.
"Of course," Emma chuckled. "The best part of any vacation with a hot guy."
"I'm paying for it all now, though," Alexa said. "I'm going to have to kill myself in the gym the next couple of weeks to make up for it."
"You're welcome to train with us if you like, while Lucy isn't around," Becky offered.
"Thanks. I might take you up on that."
By now, they had walked out onto the stage, where a number of crew members were making their final preparations for the show. Tyson Kidd, the man they were coming to see, was on the stage, talking to Titus O'Neil. When he saw them approaching, TJ excused himself from the conversation and walked over to them. "Hey, everyone," he said cheerfully.
Alexa joined in with the greetings. She was happy that TJ had been chosen to be the agent for Twisted Thorne's matches as he was one of the most popular agents in the company. Always in a good mood, he had a lot to offer in terms of motivation as well as his not inconsiderable talent for translating Hunter and Vince's wishes into compelling television.
"Okay, I think we all know why we're here," TJ said. "Lucy Thorne isn't with us tonight, for reasons that you're no doubt aware of. Safe to say all of our thoughts are with Lucy, Seth and Clementine right now."
Alexa joined in again with the positive responses. She was surprised in a way by how much she missed having her tag team partner around. They had only been a team for a few months, but they had formed a strong bond in that time. She knew that bond would outlast the Twisted Thorne team, no matter how long of a shelf life it had. While she was thinking about missing Lucy, TJ had moved on.
"So, with Lucy not here, something was needed creatively to continue the storyline between all of you guys. The decision has been made the no one from The Shield will appear on the show tonight. Even though Roman and Dean are here, they're going to sit this one out. The explanation that will be given is that there was a mix up with their flight, so none of them made it here. In a backstage segment, Renee, you will tell Emma that you called in a favour from someone back at the office to arrange the little mix up, so that you have Alexa here all alone."
It didn't take a genius to figure out the rest of the idea. "And I get my ass handed to me by all four of them?" she guessed. It was a simple plan, but she had to admit it made sense creatively. Lucy could come back the following week, full of rage over what had happened in her absence and determined to get revenge.
"That's pretty much the gist of it," TJ confirmed. "You're booked in a one on one match with Emma. You'll look like you're about to win, but Paige and Becky, you will come down and interfere, causing a DQ. Once that's happened and they've beaten you down, Alexa, Renee, you will come down as well and get a few shots in of your own. It'll end with Paige and Becky getting their table spot again, leaving Alexa lying in the wreckage, to be married out by the medics. Any questions so far?"
No one had any. Alexa thought about voicing her displeasure at having to let Renee get some shots in, but it was a bit late for that. She had already been pretty much pushed into this angle by Hunter a few weeks earlier, so there was no sense in kicking up a fuss about it now. Doing that would any make her look bad, and Renee would undoubtedly delight in that if it happened. With that in mind, Alexa kept her mouth shut.
"Good," TJ said, satisfied that no objections had been raised. "Let's get into some specifics of how it's going to go down."
BREAK
While Alexa was busy attending to her business, Dean had been relaxing in The Shield's locker room with Roman. The two men had enjoyed catching up on their respective weeks off work, before Dean had decided to go and fetch them both a cup of coffee from the catering area. When he was fixing the drinks, he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Deano, Deano, Deano. You need to pay more attention to what's going on around you, pal. If you did, there wouldn't be pictures of you and your little bit of fluff all over the internet right now."
Already, Dean was struggling to keep his cool. "Balor," he sighed without giving the Irishman the satisfaction of turning around to look at him. "Does this not get old for you? Sticking your nose in my business, I mean. When are you going to realise neither me nor Alexa give a fuck about you or Renee? We're happy. Shouldn't you guys be more interested in making what you have work, not trying to get under our skins?"
"Wow, that's very mature of you, Dean," Finn patronised theatrically. Stepping forward, he started to fix himself a coffee. "Tell me this: What was going through your head when you fucked Alexa behind Renee's back, then kicked her to the curb? Because I really don't understand it. Ring rats are ten a penny, and you had something much better than that."
Dean couldn't help bristling at that. "Alright, that's the last thing you're going to say about Alexa. You can talk shit to me all you like; I don't care. But if you insult my girl again, I'll knock you the fuck out. We clear?"
"Touched a nerve, obviously," Finn said dryly, enjoying the reaction. "I noticed you didn't answer the question. I mean, look at Renee and look at Alexa. There's no comparison, is there?"
"True. Alexa is much hotter. And if we're getting into question and answer, why don't I take a turn? What were you doing while we were in Nassau, having the time of our lives? Where were you, Finn?"
"In Florida," Finn answered with a hint of defensiveness.
"Oh! Florida!" Dean exclaimed in faux excitement. "Well, fuck me! I've never been to Florida before! Renee really got lucky with you, didn't she? I'm sure you guys are definitely in it for the long haul. Tell me, when you saw the pictures of me and Alexa, did Renee seem jealous to you? Because she probably realised in that moment that she lost a real man and settled for second or third best with a fucking nobody like you."
Finished fixing his drink, Finn looked up at Dean with an arrogant grin on his face. "You see, that's the difference between us, buddy. You're desperate to keep Alexa around, so you pay for ridiculous vacations and shit like that. It's so pathetic. I, on the other hand, do what I want, when I want. If Renee sticks around, great. If she doesn't, she doesn't. I don't really give a fuck one way or the other. She's just sex to me. I like getting to you by saying she's hotter than Alexa, which is true by the way, but if something better came along, I'd kick Renee to the curb tomorrow without thinking twice about it."
"You're a real piece of shit," Dean said in disgust, shaking his head.
"Maybe," Finn shrugged. "But so are you. Look at what you did to her. Alexa dropped her little panties and you couldn't get rid of Renee fast enough. You had been with her for years, man. Years! And you ran off with the first little slut that came on to you."
That insult to Alexa pushed Dean over the edge. He shoved Finn hard in the chest, making him stagger backwards into the table where the coffee and tea making supplies were. As he bumped into the edge of the table, Finn spilt some of his piping hot coffee down the front of his T-shirt.
"Fucking prick!" Finn raged. He slammed the coffee cup down on the table, then pushed Dean just as hard as he had been pushed himself.
"I told you not to talk about Alexa!" Dean yelled at him. "I ought to break your fucking legs!"
Before any serious fighting could start, the other wrestlers who had been enjoying meals were over there to split them up, telling them to leave it and that they needed to calm down.
Dean allowed Samoa Joe to half lead, half drag him across the room, knowing that the big guy was doing it for the best of reasons. "Alright, let me go," he said once they were on the opposite side of the room, trying his best to regain his composure.
Tentatively, Joe did as he had been asked, ready to grab hold of Dean again if he tried to get back across the room towards Finn. "Dean, you need to leave that fucking idiot alone. Everyone knows what he's like, trying to stir shit up and play people for reactions all the time. The only reason he keeps coming back at you is that you react to him. That's exactly what he wants."
"He can say what he wants about me, Joe. I went off because he was saying shit about Alexa. He called her a slut, for fuck's sake. He's lucky I didn't glass him, let alone pushing him."
"And then you'd get fired, and probably end up in jail," Joe pointed out. "Who would be happy then? You? No. Finn? Yes. He would have gotten exactly what he wants. You seriously just need to ignore the guy, whether he talks about you, Alexa, or anyone else. His opinion means nothing to you, so just blank him. I know it's not easy when he mouths off about your girl, but…"
"I hear you," Dean said, taking a deep breath and sitting down at the closest table.
Joe sat down opposite him and said, "You should go to Hunter about it."
"We've already both had the riot act about all this before. Hunter said if it carried on, someone was going to lose their job over it. Apparently the dumb Irish fuck cares about that less than pushing my buttons."
"Just another reason to walk away next time he opens his mouth," Joe said pragmatically.
"I know you're right. It's just not that easy in the heat of the moment, when he starts abusing Alexa. There's going to come a time where I give him the ass kicking he deserves if this carries on. It's not just me, either. He told me Renee means nothing to him; that she's just sex to him and he would walk away at a moment's notice if he got a better offer. He's a real piece of shit, Joe."
"Well, that's pretty obvious. Let's be honest, you're no angel after what you did to Renee. But Finn was with her straight away, like, the next week or something crazy. The girl was blatantly on the rebound after being with you for so long and being upset at what had happened between you, and he just swooped in there. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if there's some emotional abuse going on there. Renee hasn't been the same girl since she's been with him. Everyone notices that and comments on it. He's in her head, saying fuck knows what about people."
It dawned on Dean that what Joe was saying was definitely possible. Maybe Renee wasn't being nasty to Alexa purely out of anger at what had happened. Maybe she was being pushing into it by Finn. Dean could certainly imagine him putting ideas and negativity in her head. Say this to Alexa next time you see her. Say that to Dean next time you see him. It was definitely the kind of thing that slimy piece of Irish shit would do.
That thought made Dean feel some modicum of sympathy towards Renee. Any real feelings were a long way in the past, and that was where they would remain, but he still didn't want to think about Finn ruining her life. Even the fact that he was blatantly leading her on, making her think that he cared about where he didn't in the slightest, felt bad enough. Renee was a nice girl, and she didn't deserve that.
"You might be right," he said to Joe. "If so, Renee probably needs some help to get away from the piece of shit. I know what it's like when women get with guys like that. They find it impossible to leave, no matter what the guy does to them. That's how women end up getting beaten to death by their partners."
"Whoa, wait a minute," Joe said, raising a hand. "I'm not suggesting Finn is hitting her or anything like that. He'd have to be beyond stupid to do that. We all know WWE is zero tolerance on domestic violence."
"I'm not saying he's hitting her, either," Dean clarified. "I'm saying it's that kind of poisonous relationship that can end up that way. I might not be with Renee now, but I don't have anything against her. I wouldn't want her life ruined by that piece of shit. I might speak to Alexa about it. You never know, maybe she'll be willing to have a chat with Renee and try and get her to see sense when it comes to Finn."
Joe pondered that for a moment. "If Alexa's up for it, and I'd imagine that's quite a big if with everything's that happened between the four of you, it could see them mend some fences. That's assuming Renee sees what we see in Finn. Keep in mind that's far from a guarantee, too."
Dean nodded, noting as he did so that Finn had disappeared from catering and everyone else was returning to their seats. "Thanks, Joe. I'll think on it and speak to Alexa."
"You got it, man. Just don't let me have to pull you off that fucking moron again."
After getting up and giving the big man a clap on the shoulder, Dean walked over to make a second attempt at fixing coffee for himself and Roman. This time, he had a lot on his mind.
A/N: Special thanks to those who reviewed the previous chapter.
Now we know Finn is only with Renee for the sex, since he openly admitted it. But how will Alexa react to Dean's idea? Will she agree to talk to Renee? And if so, how do you think the conversation will go?