Betting on the Zebra Chapter 14

Thanks for the FB. S For Disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 14

Moving quickly through the maze like corridors of the back of the arena Kevin looked over his shoulder to make sure that he wasn’t being followed. Hell he wouldn’t put it past that smug bastard Levesque to be right behind him while he did this. But no, it looked like he was right when he thought that Paul was tied up with some of the creative team. At least that gave him some time to do this. See how he liked it when he found out that Lenny was going to be travelling with someone else. He wondered what had happened during their journey. Oh he was pretty sure that nothing drastic had happened because Paul hadn’t tried to call him on the bet, but he was pretty sure that something had happened. He just couldn’t figure out what and Paul wasn’t talking, nope he was just shooting him continual smug grins.

He found himself wondering where she could have gotten too. No sooner had that thought formed in his mind than he saw her walking around the corner right to him. He frowned slightly when he realised that she didn’t look happy. Perhaps he should attempt to take cover while he could. Nope he couldn’t do that. There was too much at stake here. Least of all him wandering around in women’s underwear. He was certain that was never going to happen. “Lenny!” He called out before she could even have a chance to blow him off or walk right past pretending that she hadn’t seen him.

Jerking up her head Lenny almost rolled her eyes when she saw who was walking towards her. Then she felt bad. Yeah just lately it might have felt that every time she turned around either Kevin or Paul was right there but she supposed that with the jobs that they all did that it could tend to feel like you lived in each others pockets at times. “What can I do for you Nash?” She asked and made sure to keep any edge that she might be feeling right now out of her voice.

“Why do you always call me Nash?” He asked before he could tell himself that it was a bad idea. He stopped right in front of her leaving her no option but to stop too and look up at him.

She blinked a little while she took in his question then let out a snort of laughter. “I’m sorry but I was under the impression that it was your name.” She said through her laughter and shot him a look that clearly said she thought he was deranged. “Have I been misinformed?”

“Very funny wiseass.” He said and smiled back at her. Well whatever bad mood he thought he had seen showing on her face was definitely gone now. Either that or he had been mistaken. “I meant why do you always call me by my surname?” He asked again. “My name is Kevin, the world won’t suddenly stop spinning if you use it you know.”

Again she paused and shot him a measuring glance before she answered him. “I don’t really know.” She told him truthfully with a small shrug of her shoulders. “I guess it’s because it’s what nearly everyone else calls you.” She added and knew that she was right. Only a select group of people used his Christian name and she was pretty sure that she didn’t fall into that group. She had barely known him any length of time for a start. Besides, she knew that he could be a difficult son of a bitch and she made sure to address him in as formal a manner as possible just in case he was having a bad day and wanted to find someone to yell at, she would be damned if that person was ever going to be her. She wouldn’t give him an excuse to lose it at her. “I thought that only your best buddies got to call you Kevin.”

“They do.” He said. “You should think about starting to use it too.”

“Oh I don’t think so.” Lenny said as she attempted to step around him but found her way blocked easily when he stepped in front of her again. “We aren’t buddies Nash, best or otherwise. We’re work colleagues.”

For a fraction of a second he thought about telling her the real reason that he wanted her to start using his Christian name but bit it back at the last second. He was pretty sure that she would laugh her ass off if he said that he just wanted to hear what it would sound like if she used it on a regular basis. “Ok, whatever.” He said with an easy shrug although he wasn’t happy at all with her description of their relationship. How in the hell was he going to get anywhere with her if that was how she still thought of him. And he had thought that he was making progress. “Just thought that I would catch up with you to see if you wanted to travel with me to the next city.”

“What? Oh, well I just kind of assumed that...” She let her words trail off when she realised that it didn’t do anyone any good to make assumptions.

He nodded. “You thought that you would be travelling with Paul again right?” He asked and seeing her tight nod he knew that she was pissed that he had her pegged so easily. “I suppose that you would be but Paul has some dumb thing to do right after the show tonight.” He lied. “Some interview with a radio station or something. You could hang around and wait for him I guess.”

“No, I don’t want to do that.” She said softly. The last thing that she wanted to do was hang around in an arena waiting for one of the top talents. That was how rumours got started and she didn’t want that to happen. She thought of asking Trish but then just looked up at him once more. “You wouldn’t mind?” She asked although she was pretty sure that she knew the answer to that one. “For all you know I might be an incredibly irritating person to ride with. Perhaps that’s why Paul jumped at the chance to do a radio interview.”

He just grinned. “I’m willing to take that chance. Besides for all that you know I could be maniac when I’m behind the wheel.” He pointed out to her.

“Not really doing a great job at the whole attempting to win me over there Nash.” She said but couldn’t help but grin right back at him.

Rocking back on his heels he shrugged again. “Hey it’s not my job to do the winning over.” He said and arched a brow at her snort. “It’s me that’s offering to do you the favour remember ... by giving you a lift.”

“Yeah right.” She laughed and then nodded. “Ok, as long as you’re sure that you don’t mind. It will definitely save me scrabbling around trying to catch a ride with someone else. Thank you.” She remembered to say at the last minute. Then she waited for a second but it didn’t look like he was going to move. “So can I get past now ... I kind of have a job to do. And so do you.” She pointed out to him.

Stepping aside he gestured with his hand for her to pass him. But the moment that she drew up level with him he spun on his heel and started to walk in the same direction she was. He dropped his arm over her shoulder almost casually. “So did you find a date for that wedding yet?” He asked and wondered where that had come from. True he hadn’t exactly had a topic of conversation picked out and ready but still that one had come as a surprise.

“Nope.” She answered and looked at him surprised that he had even remembered that conversation let alone decided to bring it up again. “Not that I’ve really been looking all that hard. I’ll probably just ask Brian to go with me.” She said honestly. “What with all of the running around I do I don’t have the time to go out on a few dates with someone on the off chance that I might like them enough to introduce them to my family. Come to think of it if I did like them then the last thing that I would want to do is introduce them to my family.”

He laughed. He liked the honest and straightforward approach she had to things. “Oh come on, they can’t be all that bad.” He said and noted with pleasure that she hadn’t knocked his arm away, or tried to step away from him. Not that he was trying anything, it really was just like two friends walking together and having a conversation. It was kind of a new experience for him ... having a woman friend.

“Oh but they are.” She said and found herself smiling despite herself. She could feel the solid weight of his arm curling around her and she liked it. For some reason she found it quite reassuring. Damn but she was getting weird in her old age. “I love them but even I have to admit that they are completely insane.” And she nodded for extra emphasis. “So that’s why I’m going to take Brian with me.”

“I’ll go with you.” He said suddenly and had to resist the strongest urge to look around and find out what stranger had just used his voice!

Stopping dead in the middle of the hallway Lenny just spun to look up at him. “WHAT?” She almost yelled. “Now I’m thinking that it’s you that’s the insane one.” She said and laughed expecting him to laugh to or do something that pointed to the fact that he had been kidding. But he didn’t. In fact he just stood there looking down at her with an oddly hurt expression on his face. She sobered instantly. “I mean, why in the hell would you want to do that? You don’t know my family, you barely know me ... that’s just something that you shouldn’t even be interested in doing.”

“You’re my friend.” He pointed out. “You’re in a dating quandary, I’m just trying to help you out here.” He said and leaned towards her a little. “Surely your mom knows Brian and knows that he’s just your roommate. If you turned up with someone that she didn’t know then I bet that she would stay off your back about the whole guy/dating thing. She wouldn’t dare come up to you and ask how your love life was if there was guy with you that she thought represented that love life.” He grinned about to play his trump card. “Hell I bet that she’ll leave you alone all night ... she might be downright happy.”

She pursed her lips. Surely she hadn’t said that much about her mother to him. He couldn’t have the woman pegged that easily ... could he? “I guess that makes sense.” She muttered then shook her head. God she couldn’t believe that she was actually contemplating saying yes. Hell not only was she contemplating it she felt like screaming it out loud. And it would get her out of a hole. “But I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You aren’t asking, I’m offering.” He pointed out to her again then frowned. “Though I guess if I was going to be your date for the evening that you really should be asking shouldn’t you?”

She shook her head a little more firmly this time. “Well that’s never going to happen.” She said faintly. It was something that she had never expected to happen; her family life and her work life colliding like this.

“Come on, think about what this will do for your stock in the family when you turn up to your cousin’s wedding with a tall handsome guy like me.” He said and then pulled a face.

She laughed and smacked him on the chest. But when she did he caught her hand and held it there. And for once she didn’t even think about pulling it away, again there was something reassuring about the gesture. “You really have tickets on yourself don’t you.” She said through her laughter, which died off slowly. But she couldn’t deny that it would shut up some of her more overbearing female relatives. One of them had even had the nerve to ask her if she was a lesbian at the last family get together. She had coldly informed the woman that if she was then it would be none of her business before storming the hell out of there. Damn, it was coming to something when a woman couldn’t be happily single without having her sexuality questioned. “You realise that if you do this that you will without a shadow of a doubt be barraged with questions for the entire day?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He answered her question easily. And that was when it hit him that she was starting to seriously consider saying yes to his offer. He took a deep breath and waited for the panic to hit him and then for his brain to start coming up with all kinds of excuses for getting out of this. It didn’t happen. “So was that your way of saying yes?”

She took a deep breath and then nodded. “Yeah, yeah I think it was.” She said and the words came out sounding soft even to her ears. “But feel free to back out at any moment.” She added even though she was already starting to hope that he didn’t do that. But she had to at least give him that option since she was sure that he was making this offer without really thinking it through.

“I won’t but thanks for telling me that I can.” He said and couldn’t help the smile that creased at the corners of his mouth. “One day you’re going to give some guy too many ways out and he’s going to take them.” He warned her warmly and stroked his fingers over the back of his hand that he still held against his chest.

She shrugged slightly sheepishly. “Yeah but what can I say, it’s a failing of mine.” She told him and it was honest. That was how many of her relationships had ended. She had simply given the guy in question too many ways to walk away, they always took that as her way of signalling that she wanted them to walk away and then they took the hint. Then she seemed to realise that she was standing in the middle of the hallway with her hand pressed to him like ... well she didn’t want to think what it would look like to whoever happened to catch sight of them. “But thanks ... for offering to help me out with the ride and for ... well just thanks.” She said as she attempted to walk away but he held her hand a little longer right where it was.

“No problem.” Kevin said as he lifted her hand from his chest but instead of letting it go he lifted it and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I can be a gentleman from time to time but I wouldn’t let the word get around. We don’t want to blow people’s image of me.” He added with a grin then let her hand drop slowly. “See ya in the ring Lenny.” He said and then took off before he could do anything more stupid than he had already done. It wouldn’t do to push things at this stage.

-o0o-

Pushing himself off the wall at the other end of the hallway Chris couldn’t even begin to feel bad about basically eavesdropping on the majority of their conversation. Hell he felt bad enough as it was. “I should be talking to her right now.” He muttered to himself as he started to walk away. “I should be walking right up to her and telling her all about this stupid goddamn bet.” He snapped and then made sure to take off before he could turn around and do just that.