Betting on the Zebra Chapter 4

For Disclaimer and other details please see chapter 1.

CHAPTER 4

Not able to help it Lenny hissed a little as the doctor finished up with her stitches. She hated making a fuss about it though. She saw the guys in the ring night in night out take a much worse pounding than anything that she had ever experienced. Not that the stitches were even painful to have done, they had made sure that part of her head was completely numb but she did have a goose egg sized bump on her head and was pretty sure that the dumb ass of a doctor had just pressed down on it. “Is there any chance that I can get cleaned up a little?” She asked finally as she looked up at the doctor who was moving away from her. God was it her or did it look like she had just been worked on by Doogie Howser? “I mean I can feel the blood crusting up on my face as we speak and just know that it isn’t an attractive look on me.”

“Yeah you should be ok to get cleaned up now.” The doctor said through a laugh. “Is there someone with you? Someone who can take you home?”

She nodded even though she had absolutely no idea why. For all she knew there was no one out there for her. She had been in the land of the knocked unconscious when she had arrived here and she knew that the show was still going on at the arena when she left. “I think so.” She said and nodded unthinkingly then let out a wince.

“I think so is not good enough.” He said even though mentally he was already on his way to dealing with his next patient. “If you get out there and you don’t see a friend then have the guy on the desk call you a taxi. And take things a little easy over the next couple of days.” Then he smiled before he left the room. “Don’t go throwing yourself face down on any steel chairs.”

Sighing she tried to fix him with a look even though she had a feeling that she was failing miserably. “For the last time I did not do this on purpose doc.” She said and saw his look.

“No, she’s not lying to you doc, I did it on purpose.”

Recognising the voice instantly Lenny looked over towards the door again. When she saw Chris standing there she pulled a face at him. “You better not have done this on purpose buddy.” She said and arched a brow. “Because if you did then I would have to put you on my enemies list and believe when I say that that is a place you really don’t want to be.”

“Oh yeah?” Chris asked with a small smile drifting over his face. “And why would that be?” He knew that the conversation wasn’t exactly sparkling but at least she was talking to him and not trying to kill him right away.

Rolling her eyes she stood up. “Because then I would have to be mean to you and you really would not like that Chris.” Out of the corner of her eye she could see the doctor hovering in the doorway and she smiled at him. “I’ll be ok.”

“He hit you with a chair?” The doctor asked and fixed Chris with a hard look. “I should warn you that regardless of this woman’s word we have to inform the police of all assaults that are brought in here.”

That had come completely out of left field and Chris jerked around to look at the other man. Surely he was yanking his chain. Not able to stop himself he let out a little burst of laughter. “You’re kidding me right?” He asked but as soon as the words were out of his mouth he began to realise that the younger man really wasn’t kidding at all. “Um, he’s not kidding is he?” He hissed at Lenny out of the corner of his mouth. “Didn’t you notice the shirt that she was wearing?” He gestured towards the woman beside him jerkily. Either he hadn’t noticed how close she was to him or he had gestured just a little widely but suddenly his hand was coming into contact with Lenny’s body. A very soft, round part of her body. His eyes widened and he turned around towards her. Yep, that would be her breast that he currently had his hand on. He noted the humour dancing in her eyes and the way that she just looked down at his hand. “Oh shit! Sorry, sorry, really did not mean to do that!” He said hurriedly as he yanked his hand back. It was probably just embarrassment that made it feel like it was burning that way.

“I should hope not Chris.” Lenny said as she felt the smile spread across her face. “Because if you did mean to do that then I would be worried about you. If it was deliberate then it was more than a little high school.”

He looked at her and resisted the urge to smile at what she had just said. It was not funny, it was humiliating. “Like I said, I didn’t mean it. I was just trying to point out your shirt to the doc.” He said.

“It won’t make a difference.” She whispered conspiratorially. “He’s not a wrestling fan, I tried to explain what happened but he didn’t get it. In fact now that I think about it I’m not sure I do either. Who in their right mind would want to throw themselves all over the place and let themselves get battered on a night basis.” Then she noticed that the smile on his face was real. “Oh yeah ... all of the people that I work with, that’s who.”

“Don’t worry about it doc.” He said as he turned towards the door again. “Believe me when I say that this woman is way too scary for anyone to even think about taking her on. And I’ll make sure that she gets back to her hotel ok.” He looked at the other man and must have done or said something that reassured him because he left them alone. Turning his attention back to the woman beside him he asked the question that he had been intending to ask the moment that he walked in there. “Are you ok?” He asked, as he looked her over assessingly. “I mean I saw you before they took you out of the arena and you were out of it.” He watched as she walked over to the sink in the corner of the room and looking in the mirror above it begin to clean the worst of the blood off her face. “I’m sorry that you ended up in here.”

Looking at him in the mirror she smiled slightly. “What are you apologising for?” She asked as she cleaned her face the best that she could. She wasn’t much of a looker but she had a feeling that her chances might go up if she wasn’t spattered with her own blood. “It wasn’t your fault, it was probably just a case of the timing being fucked up.” She added and shrugged.

“I’m actually kind of surprised that they’re letting you out of here so quickly.” He pointed out as he moved over to lean on the wall beside the sink so he could watch her face instead of trying to catch a glimpse of it in the mirror.

She turned towards him slightly and pulled a face. “Don’t you start.” She muttered. “They were making a few noises about keeping me in for the night when I first came round but I soon put a stop to that.” She saw the look on his face and hurried on before he could speak. “I have seen all of you guys take much worse than anything I’ve ever had to handle every night in that ring and you all just get up and go on without complaining. So I knocked myself a little loopy, made my nose bleed and cut my head open. My nose has stopped bleeding, which my shirt is probably happy about. My stitches are hidden in my hairline so no one will be any the wiser ... oh and I have a goose egg on the top of my head but apart from that I am one hundred percent fine. Is there anyone waiting for me out there?” She asked hurriedly.

“Not now.” He said honestly. “Earl was out there, I think that he just wanted to make sure that you got back to your hotel ok. He takes his responsibilities seriously what with him being the senior ref.” He explained. “I assured him that I would make sure that you were taken care of. Call it my penance for my part in you being here.” He finished with a smile. He still wasn’t happy about her being let out of here but what could he do about it? She was right, they did work with much worse injuries than the ones that she was carrying right now. He had done it himself.

Drying her hands she turned fully to face him. “Well I’m ready to go-shit, I have to go back to the arena and get my stuff.” She said and moaned the words out. The last thing that she wanted to do right now was go back to an almost empty arena and rummage around for her stuff.

“Already in my car.” Chris said easily. “Hey I’m always prepared.” He added with a wide-eyed look when he saw the look that she was shooting him.

“And if you tell me that you were a boy scout then I won’t believe you.” She muttered as she let him lead her towards the door.

-o0o-

Leaping out of his rental car outside the hospital Kevin headed for the main doors and was about to step inside when he noticed the very person that he was looking for coming right towards him. But she wasn’t alone. His eyes narrowed as he realised that the person with her was Chris Irvine. Now that was something that he had never taken into consideration. That she might be seeing someone. That would definitely put a crimp in Paul’s plan he thought with a smirk then that smirk was abruptly wiped off his face. It wasn’t just Paul’s plan, it was his too and he had agreed to it. It didn’t matter if she was seeing someone, he had to win this bet. Losing just wasn’t an option. There was no way that he was wearing women’s underwear in the locker room. Besides he had just started thinking that this might be a highly enjoyable way to pass some time.

He liked her. True whenever they were around each other they seemed to spend most of their time regressing and verbally bashing each other like a couple of kids in the playground but it was fun. She was full of fire and he was only just realising that he might want to get burned.

Well screw it. He didn’t care if she and Irvine were seeing each other. It wasn’t against the law to be friendly especially with a co-worker. Moving out of the shadows he stepped almost right in front of them. “Hi.” He said directing his smile towards Lenny. “I came here to see how you were or if you needed anything but it looks like someone beat me to it.” He looked at Chris and nodded.

“I’ll wait for you in the car Lenny.” Chris said with a smile. He already knew that she was ok so he didn’t have to stand here and listen to her go through her boo-boos again. It didn’t exactly make him comfortable.

Turning to watch Chris go Kevin couldn’t say that he wasn’t a little surprised. Didn’t the guy see him as a threat at all? Shrugging he turned towards Lenny again. “You two kept that really quiet.” He said with a sly grin. “Which is quite a feat considering the line of business that we’re in and the way that we’re always in each other’s pockets.”

“Kept what really quiet?” Lenny asked with a frown and then let out a little gasp of pain. “Fuck! Why the hell do I frown so much?”

He laughed and reaching out a hand he smoothed his fingers over her furrowed brow. “Good question.” He pointed out with a smile.

“I repeat ... we kept what quiet?” She asked once more not that it was really making any sense to her. Vaguely she wondered if that was the results of her head injury.

Leaning as close to her as he could he brought his face so near to hers that it was almost touching her. He could smell the remnants of her perfume and had to admit that it was nice even as faint as it was now. “You and Irvine. You kept your relationship quiet. How long have you been seeing each other?”