Betting on the Zebra Chapter 5

For Disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 5

For a few moments Lenny just stood there and tried to take in what Kevin had just said to her. Perhaps she was right and her head injury was making it more than a little difficult to understand what was going on around her. She could swear that he had just said that she and Chris were seeing each other. Or that he thought she and Chris were seeing each other. Tilting her head upwards a little more she looked at him and could see both the humour and curiosity shining in his eyes. Oh my god! He had just said that and it looked like she really thought he was right too. “NO! Oh my good god no!” She said loudly before she had a chance to stop herself. She almost laughed out loud when she saw the way that he hopped back from her. Reaching out she touched his arm lightly and shot him a sheepish smile. “Whoops, sorry about that.” She said and felt like a complete idiot. “That bump on the head I took must have screwed with my inhibitions meter ... well that and my volume control.”

“Ok, not really understanding all of this but I must admit that I am definitely interested in a lady whose inhibitions are on the fritz.” Kevin said with a wide smile. Perhaps this was going to be easier than he thought.

She just looked at him from under her lashes; it was a look that was completely no nonsense. “I said that it had screwed with my inhibitions Nash not that it had made me a woman prone to performing charity.” She told him and smirked. Now that was a good one. Out of all of the shots that she had taken at him she might like that one the absolute best.

“Ouch!” He said and clutched at his chest while staggering backwards. “Ok you scored a direct hit with that one. Ladies and gentleman the Lenny that I know and begrudgingly sort of like is definitely still with us.” Then he straightened and smiled at her. “But I’d still kind of like to know what a Lenny does when her inhibitions aren’t what they should be.”

She shrugged and tried to hide the wince that came from the slice of pain from her head. “She plays it smart and lets her friend take her back to her hotel...”

“And now it starts to get really interesting.” He chipped in with a grin, which only got wider when he saw the look on her face. “Yeah, yeah, I know ... stop interrupting you. But can I help it if I’m an interested party.”

“Just shut up and stop grinning. You look like the village idiot.” She couldn’t resist pointing out to him. “Hell what am I saying, it’s a lot more than looking like one.” She said and saw him open his mouth to say something else. Before she could stop herself she lifted her hand and pressed her fingers to his lips. “Didn’t you just hear me? I told you to shut up.”

He nodded. “Shutting up right now.” He said but it came out completely muffled. He wanted to smile but wasn’t sure why or if it would even be a wise move. Paul was right ... she was attractive.

“Right ... now what was I talking about?” She asked and frowned again. That was when she felt his fingertips smoothing over her forehead once more. “Oh yeah, I forgot. No more frowning.” She said. “Chris and I are not seeing each other. He just stopped by the hospital because like you he wanted to check that I was ok. And like a true gentleman he has very kindly offered to take me back to the hotel.” Then she pulled her hand away from his mouth. “Ok, you can make all the crass jokes that you want to now. I’m done talking.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to laugh and say that if Chris was being a gentleman then he was in line for citizen of the year but he didn’t. Some strange sense of self-preservation kicked in just in time and flashed the thought of himself in women’s underwear through his mind. Nope, there was no way that he was going to put himself through that kind of humiliation. So it looked like he would have to play nice. Then he grinned. Not too nice though, if he did then Lenny would surely get suspicious. They always acted fairly childishly when they got around each other. He didn’t know what it was about her that brought out the kid in him. His grin got wider when he realised that it wasn’t anything in her ... he was a kid practically all the time. “Well, I’ll have you know that I’m insulted that you would even think such a thing of me. I have no crass thoughts, jokes or comments to make at this time.” He said and rocked back on his heels slightly. “For all you know I could be a gentleman too.”

“Pfft!” She let out an exasperated gasp of breath at those words coming out of his mouth. “Yeah right and I’m a virgin.” She muttered before she could stop herself. As soon as the words passed her lips she wanted to throw herself under the nearest bus. “Oh my god.” She wailed quietly as she brought a hand up to her mouth.

There was no way that he couldn’t react to that statement so he started laughing. “You know ... we can take care of that right now if you want. Oh I’ll be sure to do it in a very gentlemanly way.” He said through his laughter. “Hey you don’t have to feel embarrassed. Remember you already told me that your inhibitions had been screwed with so I want take your screaming need to blab all as a cry for my help.”

“I have to be away.” She said very quietly as she felt her face flame under his scrutiny. God she really knew how to make herself feel like a tiny little insignificant ant. “I’m sure that I’ll have plenty of chances to humiliate myself in your presence in the future Mr Nash.” She said with a small nod and then winced again.

He just smiled. Then when he began to realise how endearing he found her sincere embarrassment he suddenly tried to jerk his mind back to reality. “Yeah, I’m counting on it Lenny.” Then slipping an arm through hers he began to walk. He saw the surprise on her face. “You’ve just been released from hospital. Do you really think that I’m going to let you walk through the parking lot on your own?”

“But Chris is parked right over there.” Lenny said as she pointed over to Chris’s car jerkily trying not to look at Kevin at the same time. “I have a feeling that I might just have made it on my own.”

“Humour me.” He said softly as he looked down at the top of her head. She was still determined to hide her face. “I’d just feel better if I saw you to the car.”

So she did the only thing she could do. She kept her mouth shut and she let him.

-o0o-

Chris nodded to Kevin after he closed the car door. “You ok to leave now?” He asked with a small smile.

“Yeah, sorry about holding you up like that.” Lenny said as she leaned her head against the car’s headrest. “Nash was kind of talkative tonight.”

Starting the car Chris pulled out of his space and began to drive out of the parking lot. “No need to apologise.” He said honestly. “I wasn’t having a pop at you. And yeah, I noticed that Kevin wasn’t quite as monosyllabic as usual right then. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and grinned. “I wonder why.”

But Lenny didn’t notice his slightly sly look. “I have no idea.” She said with a light shake of her head closely followed with a wince.

-o0o-

“I hate my life.” Lenny muttered as she jammed the last few things in her bag. Of course she didn’t really hate her life it was just in that minute that she thought that everything really sucked. She hadn’t gotten an awful lot of sleep last night what with the pain in her head constantly throbbing through and whenever she actually did manage to fall into a slight slumber she always seemed to roll straight over onto the lump that she had been left with on her cranium. When she was lying in bed staring at the ceiling she just kept on telling herself that if she couldn’t sleep she should get up and start to get her shit together considering that she would be moving on after tonight’s show. But of course she hadn’t been able to actually drag her worthless carcass out of her warm and cosy bed even if she wasn’t getting the sleep she so craved.

Walking into the bathroom she gave it a last once over and was happy that she hadn’t left anything behind. Moving back into the main room she grabbed her bag and headed to the door with it. She would shove her bag in the car before she headed for breakfast. Taking a last look around she opened the door and walked into the hallway. This was the part of her job that she hated. It did involve a hell of a lot of travelling and then a lot of hanging around. She was just glad that when it came right down to it that she did love the main part of her job. The part that let her run around and act like a crazy person. What woman in her right mind wouldn’t love to get paid for shouting at a bunch of guys?

“And she’s up and moving around folks! The wounded walk!”

Rolling her eyes she stopped in her tracks and started to turn around. “You are so funny Levesque.” She said and saw the smile spread across his face. “But I’m absolutely fine, thanks for asking.” She added before she began to walk towards the elevator tugging her bag along behind her.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Paul said lightly as he caught up with her. “Though I’m surprised that they let you come back to the hotel last night. After the way that you were taken out of the arena last night I was certain that you would be kept in overnight.”

She shook her head. “Nope. The doctor that treated me made a few noises about it but I managed to convince him otherwise.” She admitted. “Really I think it was just the fact that I was so loud in my convincing that made him think that he had better get rid of me sooner rather than later.”

Catching her under the chin he tilted her head up towards him. “They made a good job of your stitches.” He said as he squinted slightly and could only just see them in her hairline. “I can barely see them.”

“But you can see them?” She asked feeling part of her plummet to the floor at the same time as she told herself that it really didn’t matter. “Well shit. I thought that they were pretty much invisible.” She said quietly. God anyone listening to her would think that she was really vain.

He nodded as he stroked his thumb gently over her chin. He wasn’t sure if he should do that but it seemed like she hadn’t even noticed ... at least not yet. “They are ... pretty much invisible I mean.” He said and smiled down at her. “But since I have had more than my fair share of stitches in my time I kind of know what I’m looking for. Don’t go getting all bent out of shape about it. They won’t mess up that pretty face.” He added and leaning forwards slightly he pressed an extremely light kiss on her hairline just above the stitches. Then not lingering for a second he took a step back and merely smiled at her. He had to resist the urge to smile wider when he saw the totally stunned expression on her face. “So where are you heading?” He asked as if he didn’t know.

“Um, what?” Lenny asked in a breathless sounding voice. Ok, maybe she was wrong and she had been kept in hospital last night. Perhaps she was still unconscious or on some kind of pain medication. That was all that she could think of to explain her sudden fall into a parallel universe. “I mean ... I’m going to get some breakfast.” She finally managed to stutter out.

He looked down at her face and then shot a pointed look at her bag. “And you’re taking your bag with you. Do you know something that I don’t know?” He asked and pressed the call button for the elevator.

“I’m going to shove this in the car before I eat smartass.” She answered with a smile relieved that whatever had just been happening was apparently over. This kind of conversation she could handle. “Where are you heading out to?”

Leaning hard against the wall with one shoulder Paul snorted. “Lucky me, I have a wonderful radio interview to do.” He said and rolled his eyes.

“Don’t make that face!” She laughed. “You know that you love it really.”

Laughing too he nodded. “Yeah I do don’t I?” He asked no one in particular as the elevator doors opened and they both stepped inside. He shot her a look. “So ... you’ve had your first trip to the emergency room. It looks like you’re finally a full fledged member of the team Lenny.” He said and leaned back on the wall taking a few minutes to admire the view. Yep it seemed that he was right ... this was going to be fun. And if he hadn’t misjudged what had just happened in the hallway he thought that he might have just scored himself some major points there. “Poor Kev.” He whispered to himself then had to bite his lip to keep from laughing out loud.