Hi everyone! Underwhelming response on the last chapter..sadface! But I will not let that deter. Here's some more for you guys.

AJ sat alone in the divas locker room, ignoring the pre-show bustle that normally would capture her attention. Instead, her focus was on her tall, black Chuck Taylor wrestling boots.

She looked forward to wrestling, but now that things had just gone down the way they had, AJ had a hard time imagining herself pulling them on. She had a hard time pretending that she wasn't emotionally whacked out right at that moment.

It was like her wrestling boots were mocking her; knowing that she would put on a horrible show that evening. She couldn't even remember who she was facing, let alone the type of match she'd be in. Did she have a promo scheduled? Damn...her brain was still numb from the little shindig she just took part of in Stephanie McMahon's office.

She should've known that dating Seth Rollins was going to be harder than she'd expected. What was she thinking?

"Hello, lovely," Paige slid next to her on the long, narrow bleacher-style bench. "Are you planning on putting your boots on, or do you just want to make faces at them?"

AJ shrugged. "I haven't really decided. Things didn't go well in Stephanie's office, you know? I hate saying this, but maybe coming back here wasn't such a great idea."

Paige shook her head, slicing through the air with her hand as if to cut her off. "No, AJ. Falling for Seth Rollins wasn't a good idea. I know you like to see the good in everyone, babe, but consider all the things that he's done in his past. Sure, he seems like a great catch...but he's rude, he'd entitled, and frankly, he's a womanizer. Think what you want, but I truly believe that he's going to hurt you."

"He already did," AJ admitted, not able to look at the blackened, charcoal eyes of the other former Divas champion.

Paige gave her a questioning look, and AJ told her it was a lot of grounds to cover; her whole stay in his home and all.

"Well, unless you really want to wallow in your own pity after the show, why don't we grab a bite to eat?" Paige asked. "I really do want to know what Seth did to get you so lovestruck over his whiny, lame-ass personality."

AJ sucked in her cheeks. "Okay, but under one circumstance..." she trailed. "I don't know what the state of our relationship is at this exact moment. I mean, we're together, but I am pissed at him right now. He's got ex's falling out of his back pockets, and I don't know how to deal with them or if I should even have to. While Phil and I had a clear understanding that we would no longer be in contact, it seems to me Seth isn't able to let his women off so easily."

Paige smirked knowingly. "I'll try to leave the cut-downs to a minimum for your own benefit; but it doesn't mean I don't feel any differently about him. Meet me here after the show, and we'll leave together. I rode with Becky, but I'm sure we can find somewhere within walking distance. If nothing else, we could just get a cab. We need bestie time, and I need the whole story."

AJ gave a light smile. "I'd really like that. I feel like it's been too long."

Paige got up, giving her shoulders a good, strong stretch. "Yeah, it has. But first...put your gear on, and quit moping like someone just kicked your dog."

Paige had an early match that evening, in Becky Lynch's corner while she took on Tamina Snuka-a total waste of space if she could be perfectly honest. The best storyline the daughter of Jimmy Snuka was ever part of was probably taking on the role of AJ's bodyguard; aside from that, she was lame and had zero personality.

AJ still had her own match later on in the evening, which meant that Paige had an opportunity to track down Seth and do a little digging of her own. Although Seth was in the main event that night, he wasn't exactly hard to find. He was busy doing his stretches in the middle of the hallway, stretching his calf muscles against the cool, paved walls.

"Paige," he grunted, not looking at her as she stood over him. "So glad you decided to swing by. Coming to gloat? Or are you coming to warn me to watch my step with April? Because to be honest, I'm not interested in the overprotective card you're trying to flash at me."

Paige groaned. "Seriously? I haven't even spoken to you yet, and you're that rude?" she wondered out loud, and his eyes trailed to hers as he slowly began to rise to his feet.

"I just expect the worst from you," he said, his face fairly level with hers. Man, she was pale; he had always joked with his friend Sheamus in the past that Paige was his long lost ghost-sister, but now, it was evident that this wasn't necessary a jab towards the Irishman. This was a straight-up fact.

"I should say the same," she spat, crossing her arms across her studded chest. She was clearly upset with him, for what exactly, he didn't know. AJ wasn't really the type to run and tell their business to people, even if Paige was her closest female friend. "But I'm here to figure out why I just saw my friend wishing she'd never returned to the company that she once thought of as a second home," Paige finished, her eyes wandering to the floor as though she was embarrassed to be there. "I'm not here to avenge her, or anything. But what exactly are your intentions, Seth? I've been arguing with Kevin Owens over yours and AJ's little fling for like, a month. Is this a real thing that you feel for her? Or is it some kind of twisted game to you?"

Seth scoffed, shaking his head disapprovingly. "Is this a real question that you're asking me? I think I've made my intentions clear. I care for AJ, a lot. She's beautiful. She's smart. And she's feisty. She's nothing like anyone I've ever been with, and the more I've thought about it, the more I realize that maybe that's a good thing. Sure, she's gotten a bad break. Sure, she's already surpassed every personal goal she's ever set for herself while I'm still floundering, trying to figure out how to make just as large of a statement on the company as she has. And yeah, she's got a douchey ex-husband that totally ruined her mental state. But we've all got problems, Paige. Even ones that aren't so much on the surface. You never know what someone's been through 'til you've been through it yourself."

Paige made a face. "Just hear me out, okay? AJ is literally head over heels for you. And that'd be fine, if I hadn't spent the last bit of months helping her piece back the soul she had before Phil shattered her. And the last thing I want is for her to get too involved with someone who is well-known for the exact same bullshit that her ex-husband pulled." Paige put clear emphasis on her wording, wanting to prove that she still had a rough time trusting the Architect of the Shield.

"Would it really be fine? Because I'm beginning to feel like this is a personal vendetta you've got against me," Seth shot back. "I just want to be with AJ. No questions asked. The past few days especially, I've really felt like I've connected on a deeper level; something I've never gotten in the past. I want to be the one to make her happy."

"Ohh-kayyy," Paige drawled. "But what if there's someone better out there for her?"

"Isn't that up for her to decide?"

"Maybe, but again, hear me out. Before you declared your feelings for her, she was busy in NXT. She just so happened to capture the eye of a certain Demon. And I know you don't want to think about this, but Finn Balor is...well, he's possibly the nicest human being on the face of the entire planet. He's charming, handsome, and he's got no baggage that he carries around, waiting for someone to help him unpack. AJ needs someone that is safe. Catch my drift, champ?"

Seth's ears prickled. Sure, he'd heard rumor that AJ had been out with the former NXT champion, Finn Balor, but to hear it firsthand didn't really sit well with him. He kind of felt like in a way, he'd been played. Like the Black Widow had found that the cunning rookie wasn't all that he was cracked up to be, only to find herself to Iowa a few weeks later. It was hard hearing that maybe she had links to someone other than CM Punk.

But, could he really be surprised? AJ was fantastic to be around, and before their game of cat and mouse, he couldn't hold her responsible for wanting to play it safe. She'd avoided him, questioned him, evaded him...because he was too similarly characteristic to her ex. And Finn...Finn was respectable.

But boring.

"She had a thing with Balor?" he finally choked out, not wanting to know the truth.

Paige gave a tiny smirk, one that he wouldn't have normally noticed. But right in that moment, he watched every move the dark-haired diva made, and he saw that she was glad he'd picked up on that teensy fact.

"A thing, yeah," she declared. "Before you came trotting in, anyways."

"She liked him?"

"Who wouldn't?" Paige asked, incredulously. "You've met the guy. But for some reason, she still chose you over him, without really giving him a fair chance."

While Seth felt badly that the NXT star had been hitting it off with his girlfriend, he also had a hard time feeling bad that, ultimately, she'd decided against him. Balor had a backstage reputation: He was a wonderful worker, but once you got him one on one, he was hard to feel involved with. And that went beyond a relationship standpoint; that was just what it was. He was more or less interested in his career, past and present, than he was about whoever he was talking with.

That, in part, was why he hadn't yet debuted on the main roster. He just was tough to get along with.

"Look, Seth. Just do my dearest crumpet a favor, and disappear for awhile. She doesn't need the attachment. She needs to get her head on straight. She needs to look at the bigger picture, not just follow in the shadow of a WWE champion. AJ deserves much, much more than that...don't you think?"

Seth glared at her, looking deep into her features. The more she irked him, the more he'd wanted to tell her off. Sure, she had a point, and he understood that she was here to make sure her friend didn't wind herself into a bad situation all over again. But it seemed, he thought, that everyone seemed to compare him to the great CM Punk. In a way, it was humbling; in the way he was being compared, it was numbing. The last thing he'd do, or ever want to do, was burn AJ Lee as badly as that man had. And he planned on proving that to the entire world.

"Paige," he said slowly, taking a long time to say her name. "I know she's your friend, and I know that I'm not. But listen to me, please. I don't want to hurt her, I just want to be with her. For the millionth time. I know my track record is less than stellar. I know it's comparable with CM Punk's. But I want to prove to the entire world that there is much more to me than a shitty boyfriend. There's more to me than the lackluster champion everyone's seen. And it begins with her. For the first time, I'm not afraid to admit that Dean Ambrose's character is much more intriguing than my own. I'm not worried to announce that Roman Reigns' strength is much more magnificent than what I can accomplish. She's grounded me, Paige. She's made me realize that even though I'm at the top of the mountain right now, I'm still not at the top. There's still much more that I can do. And I want nothing more than to do it by her side."

Paige gave another small smile, offering her hand to the champion. "For once, Seth, I don't want to gouge your eyes out and cut your nuts off," she said quietly. He accepted her hand, not realizing that a cameraman lurking in the background had caught their entire exchange.

After her match, AJ looked forward to her evening out with Paige. She'd desperately wanted girl time, having been surrounded by Seth for the past week. Not that she was complaining, exactly; but after Leighla and psycho-bitch Zahra Schreiber had made their presence in Seth's life known, AJ really needed to talk to a friend, ensuring that she wasn't insane for being slightly jealous. She knew that Seth and Phil weren't the same person, but Punk had been the same way with Amy; not ever fully being able to let her disappear completely. The result? A broken-hearted wife and an even more broken marriage.

But before she tried to scope out Paige, she figured she'd ought to get hold of Seth. He knew that she was upset with him, and they really need to set some ground rules for ex-lover communication, but in the long run they'd come too far and fought too hard to pretend that they weren't together.

AJ knew the struggle that would come with this relationship and had knowingly signed up for that. So...the least she could do was give it all she had. Being scared of a phonecall from an ex was hardly something worth leaving Seth for.

Right?

She opted to send him a quick text message, hoping the way she'd acted towards him earlier didn't make him run for the woods.

Hey, can we talk?

The reply was almost instant; and she immediately got butterflies before she started towards the showers. She'd scraped her elbow pretty badly taking a bump, and she wanted to make sure she washed the dried blood off from herself.

Sure. Where r u?

AJ smirked to herself as she typed the word 'shower,' the memory of their earlier conversation playing in her mind. Setting her phone inside her bag, it started vibrating in her hand. She looked at it stupidly, confused even; until she realized that she had an incoming call. She answered it quickly, expecting it to be from Seth, trying to scope her out.

Instead, she was greeted by an old friend: Colt Cabana. She was sorry to admit that she'd cut him out of her life, too, after her divorce. He was always a better friend to Punk than to her anyways, so she knew better than to expect him to stay friends with each of them. It was just easier, anyways, for everyone associated with Phil to remain distant. AJ just didn't really want to be reminded of him any more than she had to be.

"Hey, Ape," he said loudly, his goofy voice booming in her ear.

"Don't call me that, Colt," she warned. "I haven't gone by that nickname in quite a few months. I prefer to keep it that way."

"Hey, no problem! Listen, I don't mean to take up too much of your time, but I picked up your stuff from Phil. You know, the gamer room that you had set up?"

"The front room? He remodeled it?" her tone changed, and she was kind of shocked that he'd taken down her stuff. She'd put a ton of effort into making it look right, and she wouldn't have been that upset if he'd kept everything the way it was. It kicked ass, anyways...and it wasn't like she had anywhere to put all the boxed figures and memorabilia these days.

Colt sighed. "Yeah, you could say that," he said shortly. "I don't ever fight with Punk, ya'know? But that day, I've never been more disappointed in him."

"What? Why?" AJ didn't really want to know, she shouldn't care...but it was kind of rewarding to hear that Punk's friendships were seemingly beginning to fall apart. And why? All because of that stupid redheaded slut.

"Well, he let Amy remodel the gamer room. It's a lovely shade of pink," he replied.

"They made it the fucking nursery?!"

"They did. But listen, I got everything out of there before he dropped it off at Goodwill or wherever. Where are you staying at? I don't mind hanging on to it, right now it's all in our spare bedroom...but my wife's sister is gonna be in town next month, and she's been nagging me to clear it out. I can ship it to your new home address, if you'd like?"

"Errr...I don't know about that, Colt," she replied, not wanting to admit that she actually didn't have a home of her own yet. In fact, looking for a condo for herself hadn't really even crossed her mind at all up until that point. She didn't have a ton of stuff, not like she used to. Her mind was going a million miles a minute, when all of a sudden, strong arms came up behind her and wrapped around her waist. She looked down, recognizing the calloused fingers and toned forearms immediately. She allowed herself to melt into Seth as he trailed fluttery little kisses on her shoulders, which were still covered with the cotton t-shirt she'd worn to the ring.

"I'm...let me call you back when I know for sure, okay?" she didn't bother to hear Colt's reply before ending the call, turning to see her suitor. His hair was wet, he was shirtless and sweaty, and he was damn gorgeous. She held his gaze for a minute before finally forcing her lips to find his, allowing him to slip his tongue into her mouth with ease. He backed her up against the tiled wall; only a few more steps and they'd be in the shower they'd joked about earlier...

Seth pulled at her hips, smashing his body against hers. She felt him tense; slowly working a hand to the waistband of her jean shorts. Without even glancing down, he'd managed to loosen her studded belt, sliding his hand down the front and cupping her lace-clad mound.

"This is naughty," she managed to whisper. "What if we get caught?"

"What if we don't?"

"Does this mean you forgive me for acting crazy?" she moaned out as he began to rub thumb across her underwear.

"Baby, you wouldn't be AJ Lee if you weren't acting crazy," he replied, turning her to face the wall.

She giggled, allowing him to slide her shorts down just enough to gain access to everything...

This was bad! This was a bad idea! They could seriously get fired for having sex in the locker room! AJ's conscious was yelling at her, declaring her the winner of the Stupidest Idea Ever award. But the way Seth could turn her on and get her ramped up with just a few words and his amazing handiwork, well...part of her didn't exactly care.

He moved her long hair from her neck, giving light kisses to the exposed skin. He kissed her tattoo gently, and she could see him lower just enough of his tight black pants to get his fully erect dick over the top.

He pulled her panties to the side, gliding effortlessly against her moist folds. Each of them took a shocked breath as he began to thrust into her, his hands holding on to her hips. She had her hands planted against the wall, but her palms became sweaty with both anticipation and fear of getting caught. It was a lot harder to hold herself up than she'd ever imagined it to be.

"I just want to comment about how fucking sexy you are," Seth murmured in her ear, his hot breath sending shudders through her entire body. "You're something special, AJ, and I don't want you to forget that."

Unsure of how to reply, she murmured incoherently, still overwhelmed by the entire thing. He kept gentle, his hips hitting up against her butt and making small slapping sounds.

"I don't want you to wonder if it'd be better, or easier, with anyone else...this is better. This is easier. We can get over the extra bullshit, and be like this all the time," he kept thrusting, his words sharp yet meaningful; he didn't intend to sound angry.

"If we're like this all the time, we'd never get anything done," she replied.

"I don't care. Tonight, I want you all to myself."

"I-oh!" she could feel the coil in the pit of her stomach begin to unwind with each thrust, a hotness beginning to bloom. Whatever Seth was hitting, he was hitting it just right...

"Yeah, baby...come for me," he gave an animalistic growl; his hips now going a quicker rhythm and the slaps becoming more frequent. As if on his command, AJ felt her whole world burst: the coil in her tummy snapped, a whoosh of extreme pleasure filled her entire body as she shook, still struggling to hold herself up against the wall. She always knew her triceps would come in handy outside of the ring.

Feeling AJ's sudden burst, Seth, too, let his own orgasm unfold almost immediately after. He hovered over her exposed backside, panting from the exhaustion as he pulsated between her thighs. He gave her lower back a tiny kiss before pulling away, quickly adjusting his pants back at his waist.

"That...was wow," was all he could say as AJ re-buckled her shorts.

"That was definitely wow," she replied, turning to kiss him. "And really dirty."

"Can't say I've ever done that before," Seth joked. "I love you, April. I don't know why in the fuck my ex-girlfriend called me. I don't know why in the fuck our business made it all over social media. But if you're willing to be with me despite those stupid things, it'd make me the happiest man in the world."

"You didn't think I was going to leave forever, did you?"

Seth shrugged, and it was clear that he was unsure. "I just know how it might look," he replied. "But I've never felt like this before. The last thing that I want to do is hurt you. I want to protect you."

AJ smiled. "Like a shield?" she asked, winking at her horrible pun.

Seth held up his hands. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he replied. "But the least I can do is offer you my commitment."

"I'd love that," she smiled, embracing him in a deep hug.

And with that, she gave a chaste kiss on his scratchy sideburn, finally turning towards the shower. She smelled like sex, and she really didn't need for Paige to take notice once they met up.

Yay, a fight, a make-up, and a sex scene...so we're on top of the world, right?

Well, for now.