AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey loyal readers, welcome to another chapter presented by moi.

I think we've already established the fact that I'm not a regular updater lol. It's so sad and I sincerely apologize but the truth is that I have a lot of things I'm doing right now. But I still love this book and I wanna finish it so just know it in your hearts that I'll never give up on it, no matter what. On with the story!

WARNING: This story may contain triggering scenes and strong language not meant for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. (I love to get that outta the way)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters except my OC Kendra and other OC's I might have forgotten to mention. This story is a pure work of fiction (hence its written on) and most of the events and facts are completely made up so... I guess that's it.

Chapter 31 - Curiosity Killed The Cat

"Dammit!" Owen yelled angrily at his phone for the seventh time that morning. Bret raised an eyebrow.

"What happened?" Bret asked.

"Hennig told me he's been trying to reach Kendra for about an hour but it's been of no use." Owen said with a sigh. "I really hope she's alright. You were with her yesterday right?"

"Yeah and I helped her take her luggage to her room. She was fine when I left her. Maybe her phone is switched off or something?" Bret said. Owen shook his head no.

"Nope. It's been ringing. Hell, she's been declining it"

"Hmm, that's unlike Kendra. Even to me, she'll at least let it ring fully rather than declining the calls. Maybe she's with the phone but just doesn't wanna talk" Bret suggested trying to keep his cool. In reality, he was angry with her for putting everyone in a panic but for the sake of his sanity and Kendra's health, he decided to stay calm.

"You're unusually calm. Is everything alright?" Owen asked. Bret nodded.

"Yeah, everything is cool, calm and alright. I've got an interview later but hey, call Shane and find out more okay?"

"And you can't do this because?" Owen asked crossing his arms over his chest. Bret rolled his eyes.

"Shane and I don't get along. Just call him, please" Bret said, adding please to make sure he didn't sound too harsh. Owen rolled his eyes as well but dialed up Shane's number. But soon enough, it rang and Shane answered.

"Hallelujah! Thanks for picking up Shane, is my sister with you?" Owen asked.

"Yeah, she is actually. Hey Kendra, it's your brother?"

"Which one?" They heard her say from the other side.

"Owen."

"Alright. Hand over the phone" She said. "Hi Owen"

"Kendra, thank goodness. Hennig's been trying to reach you all morning and so have I? Why have you been declining our calls? That's not fair at all!" Owen said sounding angry and a little worried. Kendra winced a bit. While she was used to Bret yelling at her all the time, she wasn't used to Owen and it made her feel bad.

"I'm sorry bro. I lost my cell last night and I'm not had the opportunity to get a new one. I'm sorry and please apologize to Curt as well. It wasn't my intention at all" She said.

"I can never stay mad at you. I was just wor..." Owen was cut off which left Kendra confused until she heard another voice on the line.

"Hello Kendra" Bret said. Kendra visibly tensed up once she heard his voice as she recalled what he said on the phone during the drive to the hotel. This didn't go unnoticed by Shane who cast her a worried look.

"Hi Bret"

"So, out of curiosity, how did you lose your phone?" He asked. "I left you in your room when we arrived here in Providence"

"I went downstairs to the pool area for fresh air. I lost my phone in the process" She said and she doubted Bret bought it.

"Alright. If that's the case, I'll send you some money for a new phone. Keep an eye out if your old phone turns up somewhere okay?" Bret asked.

"Will do Bret, thank you. Bye Owen" She said before hanging up the phone.

"Everything alright?" Shane asked her noticing how tensed she looked. She nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks for asking" She said as she continued sorting files. "This is the file for Undertaker's story-lines right?"

"Yep. Dad wants you to head both Austin and Undertaker's story-lines, think you're up for it?" Shane asked. She nodded gladly.

"Yeah way ahead of you, Undertaker vs. Mankind should be set for SummerSlam in a... hear this, 'Buried Alive Match'" Kendra said joyfully. Shane looked a bit confused but he was intrigued nonetheless.

"A buried alive match huh? How are we gonna pull that off? We already have casket matches" Shane said. Kendra got out her laptop and opened up a document. Shane read through and seemed to like the idea.

"You know what, I like it. Go over to Undertaker okay, then when all is said and done go to Vince and shoot the idea at him okay?" Shane suggested. Kendra saluted and nodded.

"Yes boss. I'll get to work on other details alright?" Shane nodded as she got straight to work.

Meanwhile...

"Kendra's not telling us everything. I'm gonna ask the hotel manager for security footage from the pool this morning. You can probably just start going without me" Bret said as he made his way out of the gym. Owen shrugged and continued working out on his own.

Bret was making his way over to the hotel manager's office when he walked past two of the men he absolutely detested in this world.

Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels.

"Hitman, over here" Scott said calling out to Bret. Bret rolled his eyes but the duo still went up to him. "Hey, it's been what? Two months?" Scott said pulling Bret into a hug.

Okay, Bret didn't like Scott but they were civil towards each other at the very least. Well, Scott was being overly Civil.

"Hall, good to see you. Michaels" Bret greeted. Shawn rolled his eyes.

"Hart. Where are you running off to? Bullying your sister again?" Shawn asked.

"Keep my sister's name out of your mouth" Bret said as his hand balled up into a fist. Shawn looked unfazed whilst Scott looked disturbed.

"Hey, hey, easy Bret... let's try to be mature okay?" Scott said. Bret fumed even more.

"Tell your psycho freak to stay away from my sister and keep her name out of his fucking mouth or else...?"

"Or else what? You wanna hit me, huh Hitman? Give me a black eye or break my arm?" Shawn couldn't help but taunt. Bret's eyes widened as he put his fist down and looked Shawn dead in the eye. "Or you wanna give me a big ol' wedgie is that it?" Shawn asked.

Bret took in a deep breath to try to calm himself down. "I fucking hate you Michaels. See you later Scott" Bret said as he walked away from the two men.

"What was that all about?" Scott asked. "And his sister, is she hot?" Shawn just glared at him. "What?"

"Oh nothing. And I wouldn't know. Now c'mon, let's go meet the rest of the guys at the arena."

"And Vince too." Scott said. Shawn raised an eyebrow.

"What for?" He asked. Scott shook his head.

"Nothing" He said as the two men changed topics and continued walking.

Eventually Bret made his way over to the Hotel manager and explained everything that happened the night before. He was able to reason with the manager and was allowed to look through the times. And boy, if he wasn't angry beforehand, he sure as hell was now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well congrats girl, you got yourself settled nicely in this position?" Undertaker commended. Kendra smiled.

"Yes I have" She said giggling. "It's so good to have Russo gone"

"I could have helped you with that you know, if you told me he had Gunn harass you. But nonetheless, Gunn's been taken care off" Undertaker said with an evil gleam in his eye. Kendra gasped and began to laugh.

"You didn't?"

"Hell yeah I did, changing in the hallways for as long as I deem worthy. Being locker room leader does have it's perks" Undertaker said. Kendra giggled but nodded. "Before we get back into the storyline discussion, may I ask what the hell happened to you this past week?" Undertaker asked glancing over to her eye and the cast.

Kendra sighed. She knew it was only a matter of time before he asked about them.

"Unfortunate series of accidents" She said. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Riiight." He said in a totally disbelieving tone but nonetheless changed the topic. "So, a buried alive match huh?"

"Yep. I have a lot of ideas. And you'll win of course, so..."

"Kendra, Vince wants to see you. Pronto" One of the stagehands, Jason came over to tell her. She nodded and jumped off the crate she was sitting on.

"I'll be right there. Bye Taker" She said giving him a hug. No doubt he still scared her.

When she got to Vince's office, she was shocked to see none other than Scott Hall there. He smirked at her which made her rub the back of her neck awkwardly as she remembered their previous interaction. She was sure she didn't leave the best impression on the big guy by slapping him and she hoped he didn't hold it against her.

"Heyo" Scott greeted. She waved timidly at him before turning over to Vince.

"Hi Vince, you asked to see me? If it's about Undertaker, I was planning a..."

"Oh let's not talk about that now. Shane gave me some details and I trust you. We'll advertise the match on Raw next week" Vince said. Kendra nodded. "But I called you here because my friend here as you may know, Scott Hall came here today requesting to see you. He said he's with your phone so I decided to call you over. Can you identify it?" Vince asked.

"S...sure" She said as Scott passed her the black device. "Yeah, it's mine. Thank you Scott" Kendra said. Vince had a suspicious look on his face as he looked between the two but he didn't say anything.

"Sure chica. Just doing my own good back to the society. Well Vince, that's all the info I have for now. Kevin will be here soon probably to tell you more" Scott said. Vince grinned and nodded.

"Thank you Hall, pleasure doing business with you" Vince said with a grin as both men shook hands. Kendra raised her eyebrow as Scott stood up and made his way outside.

"You're dismissed as well Kendra" Vince said.

"Alright Vince, thank you" She said as she stepped outside as well. But as she closed the door, when she turned around she came face to face... or rather face to to chest with Scott. She gulped as she backed away a bit the terror evident in her eyes.

"Heyo chica, what's up?" Scott asked. "Darn, why do you look so petrified?"

"I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn't mean to slap you. I know I had no right to do that and this is a weak excuse but I'm really sorry, I am. Please don't hurt me" She rambled on and on which made Scott laugh.

"Relax chica. While I was angry, hell I was fucking pissed off. Hell, if it was another instance..." Scott didn't have to say a word as she noticed he balled his fist. "...you would've been a goner my dear. But it's all good. Plus, I could tell something was up with you"

"Yeah" She said. "Thanks for bringing back my phone" She said as she saw all the missed calls and texts she'd gotten throughout the day.

"You're welcome. The darn thing wouldn't stop buzzing. You're pretty popular you know. I was tempted to pick up Hennig's though, nice ringtone" Scott said with a smirk. Kendra remembered that Curt and Scott were friends during their early days in the company.

"Yeah, self-absorbed jackass wanted his theme as my ringtone" She said. "He must've been so worried" She mumbled. Scott laughed. "So, what brought you to WWF today? Nothing going on in WCW?" She asked, trying to form a conversation. At this point, they had both left Vince's office door and were walking around the arena.

"Your phone, my friends, boredom..." Scott listed but noticed Kendra's blank stare which was her 'yeah right' look. "...oh come on, what's that look supposed to mean?" Scott asked with a smile. She still kept up that look and even crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay fine, as Kevin and I came to leak some of WCW's secrets as we do from time to time." Kendra's eyes widened in shock. "Don't tell anyone"

"You guys are really infilterating WCW?" She asked.

"Well yeah, we made an agreement with Vince. Plus it's the best of both worlds. I mean we're stars, we're getting paid big bucks and we still prove our loyalty to Vince. Tables may turn one day. You never know" Scott said. Kendra coughed out a laugh.

"Okay wow, that's pretty messed up but badass I'll admit. It's pretty cool and I respect it" She said. "Messed up but pretty cool"

"I am the definition of cool anyways." Scott said. "So anyways, are you doing anything after the...?"

"Kendra?"

"Scott?" Both Shawn and Triple H, who were talking to a seamstress said respectively as they noticed the pair walking. Truth be told, Kendra and Scott had been so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't noticed they'd been walking without direction. Well, they did have directions in mind with Kendra wanted to go meet Taker and Scott wanting to meet his friends but with the lack of urgency, it evaded their trains of thought.

"Shawn!" Kendra exclaimed as she went over to hug him. Scott raised an eyebrow at this as did Hunter. Shawn noticed these looks but hugged Kendra back for a few seconds before they both broke free. "Hey there Hunter"

"Kendra, looking especially horrible today" He teased.

"Thanks, I'm trying the 'Terra-Ryzing' look. Remember, WCW, 1992?" She asked with a smirk as Scott and Shawn laughed.

"Get laid" Triple H said albeit smiling. "Hall, my man. How's it hanging?"

"It's good. Surprised you all know each other" He said.

"Yeah, Kendra's cool" Hunter said careful not to spill out anything else about Shawn's 'previous' crush on Kendra thinking she didn't know. Shawn kept looking between the two but didn't say a word though a lot of questions were running through his mind.

"Well, I guess it's time to leave you guys here. Adieu, and Triple H, suck a butt" She said as she walked away. Shawn decided to shake off his uneasiness as he started a conversation with his friends.

A while later..

Kendra, who was currently seated in Owen's locker room, her usual spot, was going through her phone. She had a lot of missed calls and texts from Owen, Curt, Sable and Bret. She sighed and texted Sable making sure to inform her about everything that happened before dialing up Curt.

"Finally, good to know you're still alive Kends. How've you been?" The egocentric voice of Curt Hennig chimed through the phone. Kendra smiled.

"Hello to you too Mr. Perfect. And yeah, I lost my phone and somehow didn't notice till this morning but it's all cool now." She said.

"Who was with your phone? The person kept declining all my calls"

"Scott Hall" She replied not putting too much thought into it but the same could not be said for Curt.

"Oh"

"Nothing happen. I was downstairs in the pool this morning cause I needed to clear my head and he was there as well. I left in a hurry and dropped my phone so he came here this afternoon to bring it." Kendra said.

"Alrighty then, just be careful around him. Be careful around most guys" Curt said. Kendra rolled her eyes though Curt couldn't see her.

"Yes sir, Bret Hart the second" She said sarcastically. She didn't need another Bret in her life. Hell, she would happily trade the one she had in her life anytime, any day.

"I'll ignore that. So how've you been faring?"

"Oh you know, new job, Shane McMahon, getting acquainted with Vince. It's been all good" Kendra said in a happy tone. She was really liking how things had turned around for her this week, asides from other things. Speaking of which...

"Yeah, we've talked about all that but I'm talking about you. Your health. Owen told me you've gotten injured a lot lately but you didn't tell me anything. You always do, what's up?"

"I... uh... I just didn't wanna upset you or make you worry unnecessarily over some minor injuries."

"Kendra..."

"You're still healing and... I dunno. I just..."

"Kendra are you sure everything's alright? A black eye and a broken arm are not minor injuries and me worrying about you is not unnecessary cause you worry about me literally all the time" Curt said.

That was true.

"I know. I'll inform you next time but I promise you Curt I'm..." Kendra cut herself off when she noticed someone open the door and step into the room. "...fine. I'll call you back later okay?"

"But we just... okay, fine. Love you"

"Love you too, bye" She said as she hung up and took in a deep breath.

"Hi Bret" She greeted. Her mind still took her back to everything that went on this morning with Bret's call and all and to say she was uneasy was a huge understatement. Hell, huge was an understatement for how much of an understatement that was.

"Hey sis. See you got your phone back? Who was that by the way?" Bret asked as he took a chair and brought it over to where was sitting.

"Curt" She replied as he took his seat opposite her. "Any problem?"

"No, not really. How'd you get it back?" He asked. Something in Kendra's mind told her not to lie about this as his tone hinted at the fact that he either knew, or had an idea. Kendra sighed.

"It was with Scott Hall. But you already know this, don't you?" Kendra asked. Bret nodded and the next thing she knew he grabbed her face, pressing two fingers into her cheeks.

"I saw the security footage in the hotel from last night" He said.

Dammit.

"Kendra, I really don't wanna beat you up Kendra, I really don't. When I saw that footage I was marveled at everything and you guys seemed to be having a good time. But, what I don't get is why he felt so comfortable getting so close to you. I saw everything, even the slap. So start talking" He said as he let her go.

"Ow" She whimpered as she felt the slight discomfort in her jaw. "Nothing happened Bret. I am allowed to talk to guys aren't I?"

"We'll get to that" He said. Kendra rolled her eyes.

"I went outside to clear my head and he came, noticed I was down and tried cheering me up. I didn't wanna be bothered but I didn't wanna be rude so I entertained him. But a time came when I..." She paused as she winced a bit at the memory. "...I remembered something awful and he came to console me. But all I wanted then was for him to stay away so I slapped him. That must've been where I dropped the phone. I have apologized to Scott"

"Alright. Story checks out. But I'm not comfortable with you being cozy with Hall. I don't like anyone of them in that Kliq most notably X-Pac, Shawn and Scott. Kevin's a cool guy while Hunter is just an idiot. But I don't want you doing anything with any of them, especially not Shawn.

Well, Kendra was relieved that Bret didn't use her as a punching bag this time around but it only fueled her curiosity.

"Bret, what do you really have against Shawn? Or any of the Kliq members?"

"From a professional standpoint, they're a bunch of cowards who would stop at nothing until they get to the top. They don't mind screwing anyone else over and that is not what this business is about. They're a bunch of assholes"

"Takes one to know one" Kendra mumbled but luckily Bret didn't hear her.

"From a personal standpoint, like I said I have nothing against Nash or Hunter, X-Pac annoys the crap outta me and seems incredibly shady. Scott's a junkie and a womanizer and Shawn, Shawn is everything and more. I hate Shawn. I can fully say that. I've never hated anyone in my life as much as I hate Shawn and nothing short of a miracle will ever change that. He's an obnoxious, self-centered, childish, annoying bastard. He's trouble"

"Well at least he doesn't bit on his sister" She mumbled but this time around Bret heard her and glared at her suspiciously.

"Yeah he doesn't does he?" Bret said standing up. "But for the love of God stay away from them, I don't want any of them coming near you, especially Shawn. They'll probably just wanna get in your pants just to spite me"

"Are you calling me a whore Bret?" She asked. The fact that he insinuated that any of them could just get into her pants didn't sit right

"Nope" He said. "That's besides the point anyways. If I ever find out that anything is going on between you and any of them, Kendra all I'll advice you to do is run. Cause I don't trust myself to keep my cool. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal" She said. "But if you ever insinuate, or ever directly call me a whore again, I'm gonna tell Mom." She threatened.

"Understood" Bret said. "I'll leave you to do whatever. That is unless you have anything else you wanna say?"

Thinking about it, she could ask him what that call was about but God knew she was afraid of the answer. So she shook her head no.

"Alrighty then" He said as he exited the locker room.

Despite everything Bret had said, Kendra was barely convinced. Especially about Shawn. She knew Shawn had his... quirks. But this past two weeks she'd seen another side to him. And she felt something she didn't often feel towards other people.

Trust.

She trusted Shawn. He was a good guy. At least she thought he was. But maybe she just had to prove it to herself/

Without hesitation, she dialed up Shawn's number and crossed her fingers waiting for him to pick.

"Hi Shawn"

"Hey Kendra. What's up?" He asked, his voice sounding cooler than usual. She took notice of this.

"Are you alright?"

"Never better. What's up?" Shawn asked.

"Hmm. Well, I was wondering if you wanna do something after the show? Maybe go out for drinks? Dinner? A movie? Anything like that" She said. Shawn was silent for a few seconds.

"Really? But what about...?"

"What about what?" She asked in confusion.

"Nothing. Alright. Wait for me, I'll probably be done with everything by 9" He said. Kendra couldn't help but squeal which stunned Shawn. "Someone's excited."

"It's a date. See you later Shawn" She said hanging up.

This could go either way, but she was naturally a very curious person. And she would admit she liked Shawn. A little. So this could be fun.

But as the old saying goes, Curiosity killed the cat.

Alrighttt. Time for some loveee.

I feel after Russo's trial, I've been slacking with this book in terms of excitement. Too much drama and angst, not enough romance which is definitely gonna change soon. Bret's mellow now but would it last long? What's the deal with Scott Hall? Isn't Triple H just a natural treasure?

All these and more will be answered in subsequent chapters so stay tuned and most importantly... stay safe. Love and kisses.