Chapter 2

"Wait, you want me to be what?" I must have misheard Steph.

"We want you to be the newest member of the Shield." She says it so casually that I wonder if I'm overreacting. "This could be a huge opportunity for you, teaming up with the most dominant faction in the WWE. I thought you would be excited."

"Of course, I am!" I tuck a piece of my dirty-blonde hair behind my ear, nervously. "This is just a little out of the blue." Quickly I glance at the behemoths around me. "And how do you guys feel about this?"

Seth smiles fully and I admit it takes my breath away. "Are you kidding me? You've always been my favorite Diva."

His words settle some of my nerves until I feel a large hand on my knee. "We would love to have you, babygirl." Roman casually throws in the endearment and I'm forced to look away, rather than get absorbed in those dark brown eyes.

"And Creative is behind this?"

James rejoins the conversation. "Yes, I'll be honest with you though. We have some conflicting plans for the long run."

"Such as?"

Steph waves a hand dismissively. "Relax Elle we're going to take care of you. Or I can give this opportunity to another girl." Her cool gaze lands on me. "Take it or leave it."

Before I can answer Dean's arm pulls me straight into his side. "Of course, she's going to take it."

"Good," Steph stands, effectively ending the meeting. ''Next Raw we'll make it official. For now, I want you four to travel together. Let's perfect that chemistry, shall we?"

We all nod as the Billion Dollar Princess leaves the office.

Once she's gone I walk over to James, under the pretense of looking over some story arcs. Really, I just need to put some space between myself and the two giants on the couch. "Do you have a general outline for this idea?"

He nods and hands me some papers. "All of it subject to change of course."

We exchange a knowing smile, noting in this business stays constant for long. Seth comes and reads over my shoulder. "So Elle is going to have a shot at the Diva's Championship right? I mean we've all had titles…"

Seth's idea gets my heart pounding. I figured that I shot at the title would still be months away. I'm so absorbed with this prospect that it takes me a second to notice just how close Seth is to me. He's almost right against my back, so close that I can feel the heat emanating from his chest. With a deep breath I shuffle a little away from the tempting high-flier.

James continues the conversation. "Well…"

"Is that what you disagree with Steph on?" James laughs at my question. "What?"

"She wants there to be a romantic twist on the story line actually."

His words are innocent enough, but they trigger all sorts of inappropriate thoughts. I can't imagine kissing one of these guys on a regular basis, a girl would spontaneously combust. And then I think about the girl this morning, who was clearly enjoying herself.

"Elle?" I hear snapping and I flinch. "You still with us?"

"You feeling alright Elle?" Dean adds in with a smirk, like he knows what I was thinking about. "You look a little flushed."

"I'm fine." Brushing nonexistent lint off of my shirt I start moving towards the door. "Are we done here? I need to go over some things for tonight." James nods and I take that as I cue to leave. "See you guys around."

Hopefully the guys give me some space. I don't know how I'm going to be able to function in such close quarters with them day in and day out. I suppose it would help if I apologized to Dean and Roman for uh, interrupting them this morning.

When I get back to the Diva's locker room it's considerably more crowded. Great. "So what was your meeting about?"

All of the girls stop to listen to my answer. "They want me to join the Shield." Silence. "Thanks for the support guys."

An uneasy chuckle filters through the room before I hear half-hearted congratulations. Finally, Nattie steps forward. "We're happy for you of course, but it's kind of weird."

"I guess you're right." She does have a point, compared to just about anyone in this room I've put in the least amount of time.

Paige comes over once Nattie returns to her things. "You work your ass off Elle. Don't worry about them. We both know they're just jealous."

I nod, taking comfort in my good friend's reassurances. She hasn't made her official television debut yet, but we are all expecting it any week now. The two of us have already been planning our first match together.

Up until the pre-show of Raw I keep to myself, partly because I have a match and partly because I know I'll run into the guys if I wander. Unfortunately, I can't focus on my match. I'm just running through and rehearsing what I'm going to say to Dean and Roman. Nothing I come up with sounds right though, everything comes off awkward. I groan, there's probably no helping that. After all, I did walk in on them during sex.

Finally I pluck up the courage to find my new teammates. I find them in one of the back areas of the arena, about to shoot a promo. Seth sees me and gives me a nod in acknowledgement. I return it and settle in to wait.

And that was probably a bad idea. The guys, all in full gear are cutting an amazing promo, like they always do. It's different this close up though. I stand transfixed as each of them take turns talking to the camera. I've seen this time after time, but I'm still amazed. By the end I'm convinced that any of them could sell a bicycle to a fish.

Once they're done I watch with ever increasing nerves as the guys walk over to me. I lean against the wall for support as I'm suddenly surrounded by three massive mounds of muscle.

I cough.

"Actually, I just need to talk to Dean and Roman."

Seth blinks and I'm afraid that I've upset him. "Hey, now, I thought I was your favorite." He winks, but walks away without another word.

Now alone with Dean and Roman I doubt my ability to get this all out in the open. I can't even look the two in the eye. I just wish it was yesterday again, when I was comfortable around these two, instead of this awkward tension.

"You alright there, kid?" Dean takes a step closer in concern and I regret using the wall for support. There's nowhere for me to go.

I stutter, "Uh yeah." I cross my arms over my chest in the hopes of one putting some much needed space between me and Dean and two to appear more confident.

"I just um, wanted to well apologize for this morning."

Elle's words jolt my eyes away from the intriguing bit of cleavage she exposed when she crossed her arms. I back away slightly glancing at Roman, who looks just as surprised as I am. We both assumed that one of us was going to have force Elle to talk about this morning, but apparently we underestimated her.

I know that Roman would advocate for accepting her apology and putting her out of her misery, it's clear that she's uncomfortable. Myself on the other hand, I want to know how she feels and I imagine that if she talks about it, I'll get to see that adorable blush on her face again. I cock my head to the side. "This morning?"

And I'm rewarded with a blush. "You know, this morning."

With a slight shake of my head I cross my arms, "I don't recall, exactly."

"Dean…" Roman interjects and I see him send an apologetic look to our newest member. "Thank you for the apology Elle, but really it's not a big deal."

She lets out a sigh, as her body visibly relaxes. "Okay, good. I just figured since we're friends and we would be working so closely together it would be good to clear the air. Really, there wasn't that much to see." As soon as the words leave her mouth I know she regrets them. "I mean that you know, I didn't see too much, not like the good parts uh I mean the important... Oh, shit that's not what I mean either."

Her eyes are firmly fixed on the ground and I have to stop myself from laughing. She's adorable when she's flustered. Finally she looks up in exasperation. I work to keep my face neutral. "Y'all know what I mean right?"

"Yeah we know what you mean, don't worry about it." Elle's words provide an opening, one that I don't plan on missing. I'm sure Roman is going to chew me out for this later. "You're apologizing for walking on me and Roman fucking a girl in our hotel room right? Or are you apologizing for watching us a little longer than you should have?" I move in just a hair closer as I lower my voice. "Or are you apologizing for it turning you on?"

Her jaw drops with my last statement and I know that I went too far. It takes a few moments for her to voice her outrage. "You shouldn't say things like that."

"I call 'em as I see them."

"Well, you're wrong." She's looking everywhere but at me. "And I need to go."

I smile and back away giving her space. "And you're a liar."

"Think what you want Dean. I told y'all I'm sorry. And it won't happen again. See you after the show."

So our kitten has claws, this revelation makes me happier than it should. I watch as she walks away her hips swaying in a way that should be illegal.

"Dude, why did you do that?" Roman gives me a slight shove.

"Do what?"

We start walking towards our locker room. "You pushed her, made her uncomfortable. Do you really think that it's going to help?"

"I wanted to see how she would react."

"React to what?"

"Remembering this morning." Roman doesn't seem to catch on and I stop outside the door. "Wait, you didn't notice?"

"Notice what?"

"We were afraid that she wasn't going to be into the idea of sharing, right?" The Samoan nods and I continue. "Well, we don't have to worry about that. She's into it; she just doesn't want to accept it."

"And how can you be sure?"

I roll my eyes. "Trust me."

"Whatever, but if you fuck this up, Seth is never going to forgive you."

I knock on the door and Seth appears a few seconds later. "So, what did Elle want to talk about?"

"This morning."

"Really?" Our two-toned friend's face breaks out into a smile. Damn, he really is half in love this girl. I mean we all care about her, of course, but Seth well, Seth is the type of guy to fall in love. "What'd she say?"

"She apologized." Roman answers and then nudges me. "Want to tell Seth what you did next?"

Seth glares at me. "Dean…"

"It's not important what I did." I wave my hand. "What's more important is what I found out." He looks at me expectantly. "Elle isn't opposed to the idea of sharing."

"She said that?"

"Not necessarily."

Roman chimes in. "Dean thinks he knows all her inner desires."

"I know this. We just have to nudge her in the right direction."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

Naturally Roman and I look to Seth, our resident idea guy. He's not saying anything and I'm worried that we might be out of luck. Sure Roman and I have our own plans, but they usually lack the finesse of Seth's. And for a girl like Elle, we are going to need finesse. "Seth?"

He smirks. "Don't worry boys, I have an idea."