"Pride and Prejudice"
An Edge/Ashley fanfic

Thanks to xXRiaHardyOrtonXx, Edgesgurl, xAttitudex, csimiamigirl73, jojocheer28 and JeffHardyFan4everx333 for reviewing last chapter, you rule!

Hope you enjoy the new one, let me know what you think :)

R&R and enjoy!


Chapter 41
"I Could Use Somebody"

Heavily slamming the car's backdoor once Paul had stopped the vehicle in the arena's parking lot, a very bouncy Cherry was surprisingly the first one to step outside and guiding the path towards the door that led to the main building, leaving the others for once to struggle to keep up with her.

Strangely enough, she had been going on about how excited she was for tonight's tag team match during the whole trip, leaving no doubt on how much she was looking forward to that. And it didn't take a mind-reader to figure out that this sudden confidence outburst had most likely to do with Brian having suddenly become some sort of personal cheerleader in the last week.

"It shouldn't be more difficult this time, right?" She wondered out loud while she pushed the door opened, silently followed by Michelle and the two Hooligans "I mean, I don't want to underestimate them but 1) Did Brooke actually ever be in a match? 2) I know Layla has been in a few with Ash before passing on the dark side, but have you seen her fight since she went to ECW?" She vigorously shook her head, "Cause I didn't. I only saw her dancing. Then, 3) Do we even need to mention that I have Michelle on my side? Which makes me extremely more calm approaching the match—"

"Yeah, I noticed." Paul muttered whilst the petite diva rambled on, earning a playful nudge in the ribs by Michelle herself.

"And then… we're in our own territory!" Cherry pressed on, "Smackdown is our house and we're most definitely going to kick their—"

Though, as graphic as the allusion already was, it remained suspended in mid-sentence when someone suddenly appeared to block the small group's way, causing the shy diva to stop on the spot.

"Well, well, well," Domino towered over his ex girlfriend with a wolfish grin "what do we have here."

As predictable, that was all it took for the diva in question to instantly go back to her usual shy self, her gaze suddenly fixed on her shoes while she nervously fidgeted with her hands.

"What? You're not going to greet me Cherry pie?" He took a step forward, "Funny, I seem to remember when no one gave a fuck about you but me… and then here you are with your new friends. At least I see you've learnt how to run your pretty little mouth… and I mean not only inside the bedro—"

"Hey! Don't you dare speaking to her like this." Whilst the diva was too busy blushing at least five different shades of red, Brian promptly came to her rescue, a finger threatening pointed towards Domino's chest.

"Wait… you're not really trying to threat me, right?" The latter laughed, "You menacing me?!"

"You can laugh all you want," the blonde shrugged "if I remember correctly we kicked your ass last time we were in the ring together… didn't we?"

At this the eyes of the superstar-from-the-other-side-of-the-tracks visibly narrowed, ready for a comeback… that never came though since Brian didn't miss a beat in pressing forward the matter.

"Anyway, if you want to excuse us, we have somewhere to go… so keep the fuck out of the way." He defiantly announced, an arm protectively placed around Cherry's frame whilst he gently pushed her forward with him, "Don't mind him." He told her as they passed the guy by, but loud enough for him to hear "He's not worth your time. Actually he never was."

And from the bright smile Cherry offered him without fully looking up, the tag team champion of the world definitely didn't need to be thanked in any other way for his little rescue act.

"…Right." Paul drawled as he and Michelle followed, a few steps behind the other two. "What the—"

"Never mind," the tall diva offered an eye-roll "looks like your friend plays the knight in shining armor role very well though." She added with a smile.

"Yeah, I noticed that too." He chuckled.

"Anyway, we were saying—"

"I don't see why Ash couldn't come with us as usual." He grumpily stated.

"She's alright, she's with Matt." A quite confused Michelle retorted.

"Yeah, I know." He tried to suppress a groan, "I just don't see how useful could it be to train a few hours before the match… honestly, it's not like she's going against Beth Phoenix."

"Someone sounds a bit jealous this morning…" The faith-heart-soul diva teased.

"Jealous? No, no, it's not like that. But I don't like how lately she's spending the majority of her time with Matt, that's all."

"And that's not called jealousy, right." She playfully rolled her eyes.

"I told you, it's not that. I just…"

"What?"

"I have like the feeling that he's slowly trying to shy her away from us… alright?" He eventually admitted with a sigh.

"Oh." Was all the blonde could utter at first, taken aback by the revelation. "I mean… I don't know, I never considered it this way. I just thought he's trying to protect her since… you know."

"Like we couldn't as well." Paul couldn't help but let out a scoff.

"Maybe you're just being paranoid cause you miss her hanging out with you guys, that would be normal." She tried to make a bit of sense out of the situation.

"Yeah, perhaps." He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, I guess we'll have to wait and see." He unconvincingly put an end to the conversation.

x—x—x—x—x

Despite the advanced hour in the late morning, The Rated R superstar's room was still left in the most total darkness; the tightly shut curtains having evidently the double task of blocking out both sunlight and any unwanted noise from the outside world since the only sound echoing in the stillness of the room was the soft snoring of its owner.

It seemed like nothing and nobody could disturb Adam Copeland from his deep slumber that morning …just like in fact Kenny had failed to do when, dressing up in aforementioned forced darkness, he managed to bump every possible part of his body against any possible hard surface available in the room. With consequent muffled cries of pain, of course.

…That seemed true enough though only until a light kick nudged the champion in his ribs while he laid face down on the pillow, prompting him to come back to life with a low yelp.

After all it was light, alright, but a kick nevertheless. Surely not the best way to wake someone up… especially someone who was already in a bitter mood of his own.

"What the he—" He exclaimed sprinting in an upright position, a hand clutched on his side. "I swear I'm going to kill you Kenny, you filthy little—"

But the most predictable insult parade was left in mid-sentence when, switching on the lamp on the bedside table, he found out that his aggressor wasn't the younger superstar. Besides, with all due respect, Kenny could be painfully dense at time… but a suicide mission of that caliber on his own will was definitely too much even for the ex Spirit Squad member.

"You stink." Was the only greeting that he got from the mystery person who towered him with their arms folded on the chest and an incredibly smug expression on their face.

"What the hell, Jay!" An indignant Edge exclaimed in disbelief as he groggily ran a hand through his tangled locks, "What the fuck are you doing in here and what way in hell is that to wake someone up?"

"Aw, all sunshine and rainbow today, I see." The other Canadian commented with an innocent grin, wholeheartedly laughing when the sleepy man tried to aim a kick at him from under the covers… miserably failing when Jay, with obvious much readier reflexes due to the situation, promptly took a step back, leaving him to tangle his foot in the bedspreads.

Adam scowled at his best friend, eventually rolling his eyes when nothing seemed to come out of his mouth except a few very annoying self-complacent snickers. "Do I get an explanation or what?!" He helplessly spread his arms, his confusion progressively growing along with his awakening status.

"I thought it was a good time to pop in for a visit." Was the reply that followed, accompanied by a nonchalant shrug of shoulders as he moved around the room to open both curtains and windows.

"Yeah, all the way from Canada to visit me in a hotel room. Makes much sense." Adam retorted with a scoff.

"I had to meet Vince to discuss the situation." Another shrug was in order as Jay leant with his back against one of the windows frame, "And you sounded like you needed it last time we spoke on the phone."

"I most certainly did not." Spat Adam, an affronted look on his face.

"Did I mention that you stink? How much have you drunk last night?"

"I don't know." Was the sincere and careless answer that followed.

"You don't know?"

"I believe that's called drinking oneself to oblivion for a reason, you know? And wipe that frown off your face buddy cause as far as I remember you've not always been a saint either."

"Alright," The short haired Canadian lifted both hands in mock surrender "do I get to know what the hell is going on though? Cause there surely needs to be a reason for that… especially when you have a show the following day. I'm not stupid, you know."

"Yeah… makes me appreciate Kenny's company much more to be honest." He muttered.

"What?"

"Never mind," he rolled his eyes "I told you on the phone, it's complicated."

"Well that's why I came all the way here to find out… where's Ashley? And I surely won't blame her if she left for the smell, really."

Adam rolled his eyes, deciding to ignore the last remark. "You haven't happened to keep up with Smackdown lately… have you?"

"Of course I have. But don't try to change topics now."

"I'm not changing topics, idiot, that's what's going on."

"…Not following you."

"Have you seen Kelly Kelly? You know, kinda tall, blonde, long legged, skanky…?"

"Oh please," Jay burst out with laughter "you're surely not telling me that you and Ashley had a fallout over a storyline! Really man, try another one."

In one sharp movement the World Heavyweight champion kicked the covers off, annoyed by his friend's amusement. "I'm not kidding!"

"…C'mon. I can't believe Ashley would actually get mad at you for having kissed this Kelly girl in that backstage promo or something… nice heel turn for her by the way, I didn't see that coming."

"No shit genius," he snorted, "nobody saw it coming. It wasn't a promo… it wasn't a storyline… it's what's going on in my real life at the moment."

The revelation remained suspended in the air for a few moments, Jay's mouth slightly hanging open as he stared at his friend in a midst of shock and disbelief… then he eventually slowly made his way to the bed once again.

"—Ouch!" Was the yell that followed once Christian's hand collided with the back of Adam's neck, "What was that for?!"

"For being such a prick, you idiot. I can't believe you cheated on your girlfriend with—"

"Hey, it's not like that… alright?!" He quickly protested, "Let me explain, would you? I told you it's messed up."

"Be my guest." He signaled opening his arms in an inviting gesture, collapsing on a spare sofa that was partially covered in random clothes. "And I suggest you to let out all the details at once… Trish won't be as indulgent as yours truly here, trust me."

x—x—x—x—x

"That's right… take this and this!" Ashley loudly exclaimed while she let all her stress out on an unfortunate punching bag in a local gym.

"I see someone's rather fired up for our match tonight." Matt chuckled coming from behind her, a closed cell phone secured in his hand.

Under the playful comment the diva's fists fell to her sides while she wore a scowl on her face. "Oh yeah, so fired up." She echoed with obvious sarcasm in her voice.

"Why?" Matt questioned genuinely puzzled by her reaction, "I thought you would be ecstatic to finally have a chance to legally land your hands on Kelly. Wasn't this what we were waiting for?"

"The bitch? Sure thing. Her tag team partner? Not so much."

"Well, that's easily solved… you take care of her and leave him to me."

"Yeah, I know, it's just…" she trailed off while she wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her arm, a light feeling of frustration increasing in the pit of her stomach as she tried to find the right way to voice out her thoughts without sounding like a total fool.

Said thing that surely wasn't coming as an easy task.

As goodhearted as Matt was towards her, she wasn't sure of how he would have reacted at her incoherent, conflicting rambles. Especially when she was the one not fully understanding them in the first place.

Truth was that, at the mere thought of finding herself face to face with Adam again that night, revenge was the last thing on her mind. She actually felt, how to put it, more like sick to her stomach.

One thing was to lash out on him in the midst of her scorned woman fury, and another was to meet him in the ring, officially, before the eyes of the whole world and, mostly, witnessing him side by side with Kelly. A sight she would have gladly spared herself.

"Hey," Matt softly said as he affectionately stroked her hair, mistaking her hesitation in giving a full explanation for a different kind of concern. "It's okay, you don't have to worry. If he tries a cheap shot on you I'll take him out."

"No…!" She found herself exclaiming in surprise; something deep inside told her that she definitely didn't need to fear him in that way… as much as he had already hurt her, emotionally, obviously. And she hated herself for this, silently cursing her tongue for having let that slip.

"I mean, I don't think he really would—"

"Ash, there are no limits on how low the bastard would step, trust me. I was the one who had to fight him in a steel cage for one spot only on Raw. I know him." He sternly said.

"Yeah, I guess so." She halfheartedly offered a shrug of shoulders.

"Good." He settled the matter with a kiss on her temple while he moved to sit down on a bench in front of her. "That being arranged, it was Jeff on the phone." He revealed with a mischievous glint in his eyes that didn't go unnoticed by the punk princess, catching her full attention.

"…And?"

"And he says you should totally go ahead with Twist of Fate's like crazy tonight." He grinned, "He actually wanted to give you his full blessing on Swanton Bomb-ing away… but I kinda talked him off pointing out you might kill yourself in the process."

She fully laughed, "Thank you very match. Your bro, never knowing limits our Jeffrey."

"That's him." He chuckled, "By the way dad said he's expecting us at home for the weekend… if you feel up to it, of course."

"A weekend back in Hardy land, huh? Sure, why not. Let's do this blast from the past." She offered a playful wink.

"Awesome." He smiled back, "Both dad and Jeff would love to have you there and, well, me too." He added somewhat sheepishly, earning a kiss on the cheek as she passed him by.

x—x—x—x—x

In meanwhile, in one of the upper rooms, Kelly idly worked on her manicure while she laid half spread on her bed in her own little more clothed and much more skanky "Maya Desnuda" impression.

"So, plans for the day, what about spending the whole afternoon sunbathing at the hotel's poolside?" She voiced out her idea without looking up from her nails.

"Oooh, I do like the sound of that." Layla approved with a grin while she stood before a mirror, desperately trying to straighten her black curls; something Kelly had actually been very strict on. The trio's appearance couldn't lose a single beat according to their leader.

"I definitely need to work on my tan… I want to look at my best tonight for the match. That punk wannabe's gonna eat her heart out when she sees me next to my man," the latter nonchalantly said before offering an amused snort, "I mean not that I won't look 10 times better than her even in my worst clothes… duh!"

Layla promptly joined in with a giggle, nodding at the blonde through the mirror.

"Oh, oh! And what about a small shopping session?" The skilled dancer added a few seconds later, "Don't you need something absolutely perfect for your outfit tonight?"

"Good thinking there Layla." Kelly complimented with a smirk, "But maybe I should discuss that with Adam first, you know, to be completely in tune. Ah, what a tag team will we be…"

"That's odd though," Brooke decided to join the conversation from her comfy position on her bed where she was lying back on two pillows engrossed in a book "you're always talking about your guys' relationship… but you always spend time with us."

As innocent –and legitimate- as the brunette's wonder was, the Extreme Exposé leader visibly stiffened under the inquiry; the fact that even Layla turned to glance at her surely not helping.

"Well… of course," she stammered only for a second, regaining her composure with a dramatic flip of her hair that would have given Maryse a tough competition, "I'm not one of those clingy girlfriends." She explained matter-of-factly, almost with an affronted tone. "I'm perfectly capable of giving my man his space. Besides, I can guarantee you that you two girls are definitely NOT with me when I'm alone with him… if you know what I mean." She concluded with a smirk, prompting Layla to let out a wolf-whistle, soon followed by a giggles outburst.

Still unconvinced by the -at least according to her- poor explanation, Brooke knew better than contradict her friend once again though, having well noticed how the blonde had changed, even if briefly, under the previous question's pressure. In meanwhile she decided to press the most urging matter at hand instead.

"Anyway," the latter piped up after a couple of minutes of silence "shouldn't you work on the match perhaps instead than worrying of how you look?"

Brooke's words remained hanging in the air for a good whole minute, during which it seemed like everything had suddenly stopped in the room; both girls had left their occupations and were staring at the brunette with slightly opened mouths… until Kelly let out a loud scoff followed by a high pitched laugh.

"Oh please…! Sometimes you're so naïve sweetie, I mean… hello? I'm going against Trashley, not the women's champion. I can easily take her out… don't you think?"

"…Obviously!" Layla quickly assured, even though she had seen Ashley in the ring, she had even trained with her during their friendship, and she had not less than a few doubts on the fact.

"See?" She waved her hand to dismiss the matter, "The match will be as easy as a relaxing walk on the beach. Besides, I'm not alone." She added with a giggle.

"Well… I wish I was as confident as you about our match tonight." Brooke let out a sigh, "Michelle and Cherry are going to be a tough competition."

"Ah, I surely don't think so." Layla begged to disagree, "Michelle is only legs, Cherry is… well she's definitely nobody. Nothing easier than that. Right Kells?"

"I couldn't have said it any better girly." The latter beamed as she stood up from the bed and picked her Versace tote bag from the floor, "You ready for the pool then?" She asked placing her brand new sunglasses on top of her head, the last add to her copious collection to be exact.

"Super ready!" The other immediately agreed, "We so need to relax before teaching the bitches a lesson tonight."

"Exactly. Brooke?"

"I— umm, I don't think I'll come." The third diva hesitantly answered, definitely not sharing the same level of confidence –which she would have rather called arrogance- of her dancing partners. "I… still need to get ready," she pointed at her simple pink sweatpants and white tank top "and then… maybe I'll feel better if I train a bit this morning." She eventually admitted.

"Oh well," Kelly shrugged "suit yourself. We'll be down if you decide to join us… after putting on something appropriate, of course." She didn't refrain from shooting a disapproving look at the outfit in question… as if she had never laid eyes on a pajama in her whole life.

"Yeah, and don't ruin your hair with sweat." The curly haired girl added, "We need to look hot tonight. Show the blue roster what being from ECW means."

At this the two exchanged a high five, leaving Brooke to hide an eye-roll… highly doubting their colleagues from the extreme roster would agree with that.

"Alright, I'll see you girls later then." She instead offered a small smile.

"Yup. Oh, and for God's sake," the blonde sighed "leave this rubbish and catch up on the last issues of Vogue or GQ, would you do?! " She impatiently swatted the book out of the diva's hands, making it fall on the ground as the duo walk out without adding another word.

Finding herself at last alone in the room, Brooke couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh. Lately she had surprised herself in actually longing for these rare yet blissful moments during which she was finally allowed to feel free. At first, when the Extreme Exposé had just formed, she had been literally ecstatic to be with her girlfriends 24/7. But as the time went on… well, Kelly had become more and more confident in herself… turning actually into a first rate bitch and unfortunately dragging Layla with her, with the consequence of making the brunette of the trio feel everyday more out of place in the once idyllic group.

Standing up from the bed to pick her almost worn out "Pride and Prejudice" copy from the floor, she childishly stuck her tongue out at the closed door, as little personal revenge towards the bitchy blonde.

"She surely might learn something from it anyway." She muttered under her breath before carefully placing the book in her bag. Then, quickly throwing a pair of shorts and a towel on top of that, she covered her long straight hair with a baseball cap and put on a pair of simple white Adidas, hoping she would be able to catch Tommy Dreamer or someone else of their nice colleagues to help her prepare for the upcoming match. Despite Layla's recent boast of confidence, she surely as hell still considered herself –and her partner, for the matter- as inexperienced as ever in the ring, dancing performances aside, and a bit of help wouldn't have hurt. Not at all.

Therefore, with this hopeful resolution she proceeded to open the door… and was destined to immediately jump out of her skin when, stepping outside, she found someone right before herself.

"…Gosh!" The diva gasped, a hand instinctively flying to her chest where her heart was pounding like crazy.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" Kenny rushed to her rescue quickly seizing her bag with one of his hands… the other being previously busy in holding a Starbucks paper cup.

"It's okay," she slowly managed to recover from the shock while he didn't seem to notice how close they were… or, if he did, he surely didn't mind. "I just wasn't expecting to… but what are you doing here?" She stopped in mid-sentence to question with a confused look.

"I saw Kelly and Layla leave," he explained with a somewhat embarrassed smile "I— I was bringing you this." He sheepishly lifted the paper cup, "It's your favorite. At least I think it is since you ordered it these last three days… not that I've been stalking you, of course!" He quickly added with a vigorous shake of his head that dangerously reminded of one of Cherry's best shy impressions, "I just… happened to be there myself and—"

"Mmm, looks like my favorite indeed." She interrupted his ramble with a wide sincere smile as she stepped even closer, looking down at the brown chocolate colored liquid, "You're a life savior Kenny."

"Oh, hey… well," he put on his best smile "one's gotta do his best, right?"

She seemed to agree with a giggle as he eventually handed her the hot beverage and she started to proceed down the corridor, silently walking side by side with the superstar who was still carrying her bag.

"What are you doing now?" She inquired after a few sips, feeling already more awake.

Used at the usual treatment he got from Adam, poor Kenny stopped in mid-track, his smile immediately dropping. "I—I was just walking, but… I mean, I can leave you on your—"

"Kenny," she cut him off with another sweet smile of hers, this time placing a hand on his forearm, "I meant what you are doing this morning… if you have any plans for the day." She clarified, good-naturedly amused by his goofy self.

"Oh. I don't have anything to do before going to the arena actually… well, technically I should run a couple of errands for Adam first, but that's it." He offered a casual shrug, "Why?"

"Would you like to help me out for a bit?" Brooke hopefully asked, biting on her bottom lip as she gave him her best puppy-eyed look "I was hoping someone would teach me a move or two for my match tonight… and since you're here…" She trailed off matter-of-factly.

It was definitely hard to make out if Kenny was more taken aback or flattered by the unexpected request, anyway he didn't miss a beat to happily smile down at the brunette.

"I'd be more than glad to help." He announced in his most dignified voice… something Adam would have definitely scorned him for life if the Rated R superstar had been there right now; but, since fortunately he was not, the answer was classified only as cute from the diva in question.

"Awww, YES!" Was the natural reaction that followed as she sprung forward to close her arms around his neck, coffee and all, and stamped a loud kiss on his cheek. "You're the best!"

Kenny just grinned… in a very Cheshire cat way to be exact, feeling there wasn't definitely any word that could speak louder than his facial expression in that moment.

And oh, how right he was… at least for once.

x—x—x—x—x

"So… let me get this straight," Jay slowly said while distractedly rubbing his chin at the end of the most dreadful, fully, long version of what was currently going on in his best friend's love life "she broke up with you after the little video-kiss plus bandana move… while you still have no idea of how that infamous bandana ended in your new girl's hands?" He skeptically asked, "Dude, that's messed up."

"Thank you very much, captain obvious." Adam didn't spare him an eye-roll, "I surely wouldn't have figured that out on my own, really. And by the way, I told you, Kelly is not my girl. She never was and never will. And not even a one night stand… or anything, alright?" He added before Jay could contradict him.

"Well… alright… then how on earth is she in the picture?"

"I told you, I don't know…!" He let out a frustrated sigh, "I mean she was kinda obsessed with me… but duh, most girls are, how you could blame them?"

"I bet they fall especially for your humility, huh?" Was the sarcastic reply that followed, accompanied by an impressed look.

"No, I mean, alright… let's say that I used to go a bit around the women's locker room—"

"Where that 'bit' is definitely a euphemism, obviously."

"—but that was before Ash, okay?" He went on as he hadn't been interrupted in the first place. "I've never cheated on her. Never. And surely not with Kelly. Actually… I haven't even been flirting with the other girls since I got with her, I swear."

"I trust you mate, but I'm not the one you need to convince." The short haired Canadian lifted both hands in surrender.

"Yeah, talk about easy tasks." The Rated R superstar grumbled.

"Try to talk to her." Jay suggested with a half-hearted shrug.

"Oh, you're such a genius Jay!" He sarcastically feigned enthusiasm, "Like I haven't been trying all along… there's no way she's listening to me. Besides she's all packed with her buddies that even just approaching her is a wild-goose chase, believe me. And I've even tried with the most innocent person on this planet… if she lashed out on me after Cherry gave her my roses, that's really nothing left to do." He sighed in defeat.

"Maybe what you have to say is not that interesting then. You should work on that." The TNA superstar mused with a nonchalant gesture of his hand.

"Sure, cause I can fully explain to her what the fuck that was about… I don't know! I have no idea, no rational explanation of how things got so fucked up…! The kiss, I told you as I told her, Kelly jumped on me and someone evidently got it on tape. The bandana… I really have no idea. Only thing I know is that I'm innocent, I swear to God, Jay."

Now, the two Canadians had been friends for almost their whole lives, they were more like brothers at this point… but surely Jay had never seen his best friend in this state before. Never. Not for a family matter, not for an injury, and surely not for a woman. Thing that only proved how serious the situation really was.

"Alright…" the latter slowly drawled as he adjusted himself in a more determined position with his elbows propped on his knees, "Then we have to do something about that."

The puzzled look that Adam shot him spoke for itself, prompting Captain Charisma to explain further.

"We need to find out what happened. That's the only solution."

"…Right. Very easy, look I already—"

"Cut it, Adam. You want to give up on her?"

"Obviously not!!!" Was the outraged protest.

"Good, then stop moping around and get that head of yours to work… don't you have someone who can help us in finding the truth?"

"I'm not really popular here, you should know—" But the champion's reply was interrupted when a very cheerful looking Kenny entered the hotel room with a paper bag in his arms.

"Here," the younger superstar announced as he walked towards the bed without noticing the unexpected guest "I got all you asked me. I… umm… got a bit late, I know, but something came up last minute and you were still sleeping when I left and, trust me, I really couldn't let this unexpected thing go and—"

"Kill him, please. That's all I ask of you." Adam dramatically slurred as he heavily collapsed back on the pillow, both hands on his aching temples.

"OH, right, sorry." Kenny guilty apologized, "But I got something for your hangover too. Should I get you a glass of water?"

"Nice butler you got here, buddy." Jay couldn't help but snicker at the scene.

Under the interruption, Kenny immediately turned to look at the other wrestler in surprise… which strangely didn't seem to decrease as the seconds dragged on in total silence, his eyes getting only wider as he stared at the man with his mouth slightly open, looking progressively more and more agog.

"Umm…" the observed man unsurely piped up, confused by such reaction "maybe you could introduce each other… Adam?"

"Yeah, whatever," the latter huffed "Ken, this is—"

"Christian!!!" Kenny actually finished for him, dropping the paper bag on the bed –and receiving a loud yelp when its contents landed on Adam's left foot- to eagerly clutch Jay's hand in between his own "I— I know you! The glorious Edge & Christian, the 10 seconds pose, the sombreros, then Tyson Tomko, the whole affair with Trish and Jericho, Captain Charisma, and now the TNA! Oh, I'm such a huge fan!!!"

"Really?" Jay couldn't help but chuckle in amusement at the obvious excitement as he shook his hand, "Well nice to meet you. I see you've been taking good care of this mess here." He nodded towards the bed, accompanying the gesture with a playful eye-roll.

"Yes," the ex Spirit Squad member proudly nodded "we're almost like brothers, you know."

"Cool. Then would you mind getting him a couple of aspirins for his head?"

"Of course, sir. May I get you something too?"

"Nah, thank you… but you can call me simply Jay." He explained with a benevolent grin, earning something in the middle of a nod and a bow as Kenny sprinted up to disappear inside the bathroom.

"Nice kid. Who knew he was such a big fan. Oh and should I get jealous over this almost-brothers relationship?" He good-naturedly laughed as he turned to look at Adam who, in meanwhile, had followed the almost absurd exchange with an appalled look, his head moving back and forth in between the two. "What?"

"He— sir?! Unbelievable… he never called me sir! He— he likes you more than he likes me!!!"

"Oh, that's the problem." Jay drew back his head as he bust out with laughter, "Wow, tell me if things haven't got exciting while I was away."

"That… that's my kid, alright? Get yourself another fanboy!"

"Don't worry, in meanwhile yours will just do… he'll help me finding out the truth behind your messed up relationship."

"Yeah, count on him, he won't find his own feet in the darkness." Adam rolled his eyes.

"Give the boy some trust, would you? Who knows what he can achieve under the right guidance." He smugly smiled.

"Awesome," his best friend retorted through narrowed eyes "and what should I do while you two play detectives?"

"Focus on your match." He simply shrugged his shoulders, "And in meanwhile we'll talk to Ash to see if there's still a—"

"Don't waste your breath." The Rated R superstar hastily kicked the covers as he sat up "What makes you think that she'll listen to you, Sherlock? She has seen you… what… two times? And Kenny, well, honestly."

"Ah, but don't worry, I wasn't planning on speaking to her myself." He enigmatically smirked, "That won't do."

"…Then what the heck are you babbling ab—"

"That surely won't do. But Trish… oh, wait till she gets here." And with a wink the TNA star proceeded to take his cell phone out of his pocket.