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Amy chewed her food slowly, but barely tasted it as she met Adam's emerald eyes. For some reason, she couldn't get the image of Jay's face from earlier, out of her mind.
"So, then, you go up the turnbuckle and take him out with the Litacanrana," the tall blond man said. He'd been discussing strategy for their upcoming intergender tag team match for the houseshow that night. They would be facing Gail Kim and none other than Jay.
"Yeah," the redhead agreed, "I remember about that spot. Adam..." she went on, abruptly changing the subject. "... Do you think Jay looked a little... I dunno... unhappy earlier?"
A veil crossed the blond man's eyes, a wall of suspicion shooting up around him. All he could wonder was why she was thinking of such a thing, to say nothing about her *worrying* about the other man. Damn it, she had *him*, so what did Jay matter?"
He shook his head, feigning cluelessness.
"I don't know what you mean."
Amy sighed and put her fork down. Were men really *that* oblvious, and when it came to reading their best friends especially?
"When we were leaving this room earlier," she elaborated. "And he was leaving his. When... when he saw us together, he looked so..."
Adam's stomach was churning with jealousy and rage on the inside at this point. But he refused to give any outward indication of his true emotions. What would this woman - this *goddess* - think of him if he let his hair completely down and saw that? If anything, it would probably scare her away. And he couldn't allow that to happen.
As it was, he was damned relieved not to have seen Dawn Marie down in the cafe earlier. What a horribly awkward fucking mess *that* would be.
All he knew was that Jay had better not get any ideas in that head of his - Amy was now totally his girl - *his* - and his lovely best friend would do best to know his boundaries. And yes, there was also that little matter of Dawn Marie. If that little brunette slut didn't keep her big yap shut about what had happened between them last night... If she tried anything stupid, such as trying to drive a wedge between Amy and himself... Well, he wasn't sure *what* he might do.
All Adam knew was that he would snap. He would definitely and absolutely snap if anyone tried to come between him and the redhead.
*
Jay sighed and rubbed wearily at his face. Why was it that he was suddenly feeling so tired? It was as though he could crawl back into bed and just sleep the rest of the day away.
Trish reached out across the table to give the short-haired blond man's hand a sympathetic squeeze. She knew how hard it had to be for him, having just seen Amy leaving Adam's hotel room with the tall man.
"Look, man," Jericho said, shaking his head, "if it bothers you *this* much, why don't you just talk to them about it? Adam's your best friend - I'm sure he'll understand."
Jay shook his head and moved his hand away from his face as he responded.
"Chris, have you *seen* Amy when she's with him? She's damn taken with him; it's like she gets all starry-eyed in his presence." He gave a small, short, derisive laugh. "And as for Adam... he's not exactly one of my favorite people these days."
"Of course not," Chris said. "He's dating Amy."
Trish frowned as she met her boyfriend's eyes. Didn't he get it at *all*?
"No," she short-haired Canadian protested with a shake of his head. "No, that's not what I meant..." When Jericho gave him a questioning look, he explained. "... oh, come on - you don't *see* it?"
"*I* see it," Trish piped in, the little blonde's expression darkening.
"She sees it, Chris," Jay continued. "So, why don't *you*?"
"I still don't know what you're talking about, Junior... So you might as well clue me in."
The other man shook his head in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose as he went on.
"Adam is being a damn prick lately," he said. "It's like he's got this competition thing against me. He acts like he thinks he's better than me." His hand clenched into a fist. "And right now, he's got Amy at his side and he's sticking it to me."
"And don't forget how possessive he's been with her as of late," Trish added.
"Look," Jay said resignedly. "I'm really not hungry anymore, so I'll leave you two alone." He rose from the table, his two friends eyeing him with concern.
"If you need to talk some more-"
He nodded, grateful.
"Thank you, Trish... you're a true friend." He walked away after that, intending on returning to his room to grab some stuff and then head out.
However, a moment later, Jay nearly collided right into a much smaller body - that of Lilian Garcia as the ring announcer and her boyfriend, John Cena, seemed to be going toward the cafe.
"Sorry."
"Hey, no harm done, man," Cena said, and they continued on their way.