Disclaimer/Author's Note: I obtain copyright privileges to Morgan Lathan and no one else. All other rights and publications of WWE go to the McMahons and the characters used in this fan fiction to themselves.
Morgan's glaze returned to Shane, who was right in front of her. She really couldn't help but smile at the charming man in front of her. He was intelligent, powerful and so easy on the eyes. Little did she realize now, those very same those qualities she found so irresistible, would soon be her downfall. Shane and Morgan let go of each other's hands while Trish ran her fingers through her hair and sighed, heavily, in annoyance.
Shane looked down at his watch in disappointment. "Well, I guess time is escaping from us all fast. You two have to be getting ready now."
"That's right! So if you would excuse us Shane," Trish's voice rang with bitterness as she walked over to Morgan. "I have to get your newest 'acquisition' ready for her big debut."
"Damn! I hadn't realized the time either. I guess I'll get to talk to you later, Shane. Or whichever one of you or your father I see first. And thank you so much, Shane. I owe you more than you know." A naively, sweet smile formed at Morgan's lips.
Trish grabbed Morgan and left the room quickly. Shane smiled and shook his head as he watched the two beautiful women leave the office. The office door shut as Trish and Morgan were only a little ways down the corridor. Morgan immediately stopped and folded her arms across her chest. She wasn't the least bit amused by how Trish had acted during that entire conversation. But, who isn't to say that Morgan didn't behave poorly as well?
"What! I'm not playing games with you, Morgan. We have to go get ready like right now." Trish's impatience reached its limit with Morgan.
"Neither am I Trish," Morgan stood face to face with the blonde. "What the hell was all that about in there?"
"First off, back the hell off! I don't know what you're talking about. I acted as I normally do in there, charming. What the hell was I doing in there? Hun, I should really be asking you that question."
Charming my ass, Stratus! "I'm not stupid! I noticed how you acted towards him. That was not normal at all. Do you two have some kind of past together or something? If you two did, I could understand this bittersweet scenario between the two of you. And I don't know what you're talking about."
"There is no way in hell that I'd ever go out with him. He's no good for any woman, not even you. Although, that thought is highly questionable at this point." Trish spoke venomously. "Do the words, 'And thank you so much, Shane. I owe you more than you know,' happen to ring a bell?" She said mockingly towards Morgan.
"And what's that supposed to mean? You saw him in there." Morgan yelled, using her hands to talk as well. "He couldn't have been any more charming to either of us. I meant those words as a gesture of good faith to him."
"You never say those words to a McMahon!" Trish threw back. "Sometimes when you say things like that, they take it at your word. And you'll end up paying for it in the worst kind of way."
"So, don't fucking lash out at me! And for what, something I just cannot understand right now? And you're not letting me either way. You don't know me as well as you should at this point, Trish. But, I'm not counting that against you yet."
Before Trish could explain herself, a stagehand interrupted the two feuding divas. The two set aside their anger to get rid of their little interruption faster. Morgan took a deep sigh of relief and unfolded her arms as she let the stagehand speak.
"Miss Stratus, Miss Lathan I hope I'm not bothering either of you." He spoke kindly.
"Oh, no, no not at all." The two divas reluctantly said in unison, not looking at one another.
"Mr. McMahon asked me to give these scripts to you two. And he said that he wanted Miss Lathan to relax and to wish her the best of luck out there tonight."
"That's so nice of him. When you see 'Shane'," Morgan spoke gratefully to spite Trish. "Tell him I said thank you on behalf of Miss Stratus and myself."
"Will do, Miss Lathan!" He nodded and smiled.
Morgan and Trish took their scripts and let the stagehand get back to his work. Trish glared at Morgan as the two started down the corridor once more. Without even a word, Morgan ventured off in another direction. With the whole point being to move herself further away from Trish and the faster the better.
"Morgan, where are you going? We need to get ready. I don't have time for this shit." Trish stomped her foot, causing Morgan to rolled her eyes and just pity the Women's Champion.
"I'm going to get somewhere far away from you as possible. Is that going to be all right with you, Miss so goddamn Bossy? Don't worry about anything. I'll be back in time for make up and wardrobe for your sake."
Trish couldn't even attempt to get another word in before Morgan moved on by herself down another corridor. Maybe it was her imagination when she heard Trish mutter the word 'bitch' underneath her breath. Nonetheless, Morgan couldn't help but sigh and let a faint smirk pass through her lips as she flipped Trish off briefly for the kind word. The smirk soon disappeared as she began skimming through her script as continued on down the corridor. It wasn't long before she made it to her destination point, a desolately abandoned area of the arena. She was now left with her thoughts.
As the question of was this what she really wanted surged though her mind, a familiar sound of paint splattering was heard not too far away. Morgan left her script on one of the empty equipment cases as she turned the corner to see him. He seemed to have had made his own makeshift art studio in this corner. There was neon paint everywhere. The walls, the floors and of course, him. It was times like these that Morgan went into fantasy modes and imagined all kinds of scenarios of how this moment would turn out. Most the time, they ended up painting each other's bodies and having sex in the process of it. Okay, there weren't really a whole lot of scenarios that came up, just one.
"Are you going to say something to me or just keep staring?" He spoke harshly, snapping Morgan out of her thoughts. From the sound of it more or less, he had a bad day to begin with.
Morgan stepped backwards cautiously as one of her heels got wrapped up in some wiring that was stretched across the floor. She yelped as her started falling backwards but Jeff grabbed her arms and wrapped his arms around her waist. He ran his fingers through her hair, trying to comfort her. But, only causing her to start acting coldly towards him.
"Don't do that, Jeff! It's scaring me. Stop it..." Morgan attempted to push him away but he ended up pushing herself towards the ground and into wet paint.
"What do you want me to stop doing, Morgan? I'm not doing anything that you don't want me doing." It was his southern draw that took her away again. But, that wasn't going to change anything that happened in the past.
She said nothing while trying to get up but ended up slipping back again. This time, when Jeff tried to help, he when down as well. Morgan lay there staring at the ceiling as he suddenly began laughing. None of this was supposed to be the least bit funny to her. While he looked away from her, Morgan reached up to the canvas and grabbed one of the containers of paint. She looked at him then at the paint.
"I want you to stop acting like all you and I ever did is play games. And this time, this isn't any game to me." Morgan sat up on her knees and dumped the paint all over him. She dropped the container to let her hands cover her mouth to suppress her laughter. But ended removing them and busted out laughing. For the first time, in a long time, he heard her laugh. And it had to haven been the most beautiful sound he'd ever hear.
"You think that was funny?" Morgan covered her mouth as she snickered and shook her head, not giving him a straight answer. "I'll take that as a yes."
Jeff smirked as he reached behind her and grabbed another container of paint. Morgan moved her hands away from her mouth as she tried to knock the paint out of his hand. She had nowhere to go but wait for how he was going to retaliate. To her surprise, he didn't pour the paint on her yet. He set it down as he pulled her into a passionate embrace. Morgan resisted at first but soon fell into her same destructive pattern of falling for him over and over again. She wrapped her right leg around his waist as he took her left leg, taking her gently down to the floor. Jeff broke the embrace almost as quickly as he initiated it.
Morgan looked up at him more confused than ever. What the hell kind of game was his playing with me? "Get off of me, Hardy! This isn't funny."
"Welcome to RAW, darling." He smirked again as he helped himself and her up.
Morgan smiled sweetly and said nothing. Instead, she just took a hold of the paint container he originally had intended for her and poured it all over him. She pushed him roughly, seeing the paint all over her body. "I told you I didn't want to play games."
"I'm sorry, okay? But, you made it so easy." Jeff had been playing her all along. She tried wiping the paint off but just kept making more of a mess on herself. "Come on, you know you enjoy this. You've never had a problem with it before. I mean not when we were-"
No! "Jeffrey Nero Hardy! Don't you ever say what had happened between us out loud!"
"What! It's not like anyone's around, Morgan. But, you already knew that when you came down here." He stood up brushing himself off a bit. "You don't want me to say what? You don't want me to say that I'd strip you down slowly and use your body as a canvas."
Morgan swallowed hard from the lump that formed in her throat. "That...that was a long time ago. Neither you nor I are those two awkward, messed up teenagers. And truthfully, I don't want to be her ever again."
He walked around her, messing with certain parts of her dress. While Morgan eyed him cautiously, she couldn't see herself telling him to stop at any point during their eventful reunion with each other. "You don't want me to say that I gave every intimate part of your body special attention. Face it Morgan, you still are that girl or else you wouldn't be here right now."
"I can do you one better I'll leave right now." Morgan started off down the corridor while Jeff was content to let her leave. That was a possibility if he hadn't grabbed her arm without thinking.
She didn't turn around, easily getting restless and uneasy around him. "What is it, Jeff? I have to go now."
Jeff moved closer to her, not letting of her just yet. His shoulder touched hers as failed to make eye contact with her as well. He searched for the words that could ease the tension between them but that would've been too easy for both of them. "I'm sorry...If it's any consolation, I'm sorry for what I've done to you and to us." He whispered to her as he grabbed her script from off the equipment case and placing it into her hand. Morgan reached out her other hand to keep him near her for one more moment if possible but pulled away at the last second. His hand let go of her hand as he walked back over to his canvas, once again lost in thought.
I wish I could believe you.