He was dying to know what was going through Leila's mind at the moment. Of course, he did realise that she was probably freaking out inside because he was holding her in his arms.
"Tell me, Leila. Have you ever been in this position before? Being held in someone's arms?"
With her brain still resembling an omelette, all Leila could do was nod her head. Her ankle was starting to throb a little more and she supposed it was a good thing that René was carrying her. Her ankle probably wouldn't hold her weight for too long.
Reaching her hotel room door, Leila turned her head to look at René.
"You can put me down now. I can hop to my bed."
"I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing. I've carried you this far. The least I can to is to carry you to your bed. Now, may I please have your key?"
Leila dangled the key from her middle finger, refusing to look at René any more. He inserted it into the lock, opened the door and took in the scene.
Clothes covered just about every surface in the room. It looked as if World War 3 had erupted.
"How do you manage to find anything in here?"
"Easy. It's a matter of knowing which mess something's under. I'm used to it. You're not, obviously."
What else about him, René Dupree, was obvious to this girl? The fact that he currently didn't want to let her go? The fact that he didn't want to put her on her bed but on his?
"It will take a little getting used to."
René put Leila on her bed but didn't completely let go of her. He gently held her leg in his hand.
"If your ankle's worse tomorrow, go and have it checked out. Trust me, you've done some damage to it."
"Let me tell you something. 35 things you should know about men. Number 36 - never trust a man when he says "Trust me". Besides, I don't have female and stupid tattooed on me."
René looked horrified and confused at the same time as he tried to work out the meaning behind what Leila had said.
"Don't worry. I understand. I think I do."
"Good. Now, can you go? I'm sure you have planning for a future match to do."
"Is that a hint that I've outstayed my welcome?"
Leila nodded and René conceded she did have a point. He and Sylvan did have some planning to do for a few matches, one of which he vaguely remembered was against the Hurricane.
"Okay then. I'll go and check up on your sister. For all we know, Sylvan could be all over Sophie like a rash."
He smiled somewhat cheekily at Leila and left her alone. But he didn't go to see whether Sylvan was all over Sophie like a rash or not.
He trudged back to his room, conveniently down the hallway from Leila's room, and sat on his bed, looking at his La Résistance attire, the tag team belts.
La Résistance were set to defend the belts against the Hurricane and a partner of his choosing the following week. A few minor details still needed to be tweaked on but he knew already what the result of the match would be. And that he would take another beating. Again. It was only fair that Sylvan got treated like shit in the ring every now and then. He was the rookie out of the two of them, after all. Not him. Not René Dupree.
With that thought in mind, he headed back to the bar, where Chris Jericho was treating everyone to his rendition of a very popular song. Being in Fozzy didn't help him at all - René thought he sounded like a strangled cat, not that René knew what a strangled cat sounded like when it was singing.
"Is she okay?"
As René sauntered back to Sylvan and Sophie, Sylvan threw him the question as if it was the only one he knew.
"She's fine and leave her sister alone, will you?"
"I'm only protecting her from these big, bad Americans!"
"No, you're not. You're all over her like a rash!"
Sylvan chuckled and disentangled himself from Sophie who clearly looked very relieved.
"I have a feeling that your sister doesn't like being protected."
"Yeah, well, our family mean well but they take it too far sometimes. Stems from the two of us being born early."
In a way, René could understand where Sophie was coming from.
"You make sure she gets to a hospital or something tomorrow. I have a feeling she's done some damage to her ankle."
"What do you expect? My shoes are killers!"
René turned around and found the Hurricane looking at him.
"We have to talk about our match. Some details that need to be attended to."
"It can wait until tomorrow. Cripes, I'm busy here. Can't you see that?"
René pointed in the general direction of Sylvan and Sophie and turned around to find they weren't there. Where had they gone?
"You're busy, alright. Busy looking like a loser standing by himself. I'll get my superhero hat on and find them for you if you would like. That way, you will find you won't have to report to the other twin about her missing sister."
René wondered who had spiked the Hurricane's drink as his invisible superhero hat was placed on his head and he sauntered off to try and find out exactly where Sylvan had taken Sophie. It was highly unlikely that Sophie would've taken Sylvan somewhere. That wasn't her style.
Thinking about the Hurricane's words, René realised that he did look like a loser standing by himself so he decided to mingle with some of the other WWE superstars. They talked to him about a few shows that were coming up and compared various efforts in the karaoke contest to that of La Résistance.
"How much did you have to bribe those twins to sing along with you?"
"Not a thing. We asked if they would like to help us and they said they would. End of story."
Spike Dudley smirked at Rene.
"Expect us to believe that, do you? The fact that you've got the hots for one of the twins is written all over your face."
"Watch it, pipsqueak. If I had the hots for Leila, I wouldn't be as obvious as Sylvan, would I?"
"I suppose not."
René wondered whether he should tell Leila about her missing sister, and the fact that Sylvan had taken her somewhere. In a way, he felt responsible for leaving the two of them alone in the first place.
"Go and tell her sister. She deserves to know."
"Yeah, yeah, you're right. I'll do it now."
After seeing who was treating the crowd to a song, René sneaked out of the club and to the bank of lifts. Upon entering the lift, he stabbed the relevant button and pondered over what to say to Leila.
He knocked on her door and alternatively stood on one leg while waiting for her to open it. He could hear her cursing as she got up from wherever she was.
"What?" Leila barked as she opened the door. Upon realising it was René who stood on the other side of her door, she blushed, pulling her bathrobe around her, not before Rene got a good look and noted that she had no tan lines whatsoever.
"They've gone AWOL. Sophie and Sylvan. The little green twerp is looking for them for me and told me to tell you basically."
Leila cursed under her breath before looking at René.
"Thanks for letting me know. I'll wring her bloody neck when she gets back. Maybe Sylvan's as well but I might leave you with that honour."
René smirked.
"I'm wondering about you, Leila. It appears to me that you have no manners. It's not polite to leave someone out in the hallway like this."
With an air of 'for heaven's sake!', Leila moved away from the door and let René in the room. No matter what she did with her bathrobe, she was still conscious of the fact that she was wearing her birthday suit under it, and the fact that René had been eyeing her up before she closed it. Now, she felt nervous.
René knew it too. She was nervous and that was precisely what he wanted her to feel at the moment...

MS Works decided to pack another sad on me earlier when I was typing this up - sometimes it doesn't like me using the Replace tool to change Rene to René so I might have to do it the long way next time. Any suggestions as to where the story should go are very welcome. Many thanks also go to everyone who has reviewed this story - very much appreiciated!