Betting on the Zebra Chapter 15

For Disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 15

Chucking the last of her stuff into her bag carelessly Lenny zipped it up and then hoisted it up to her shoulder. At least tonight she didn’t have to worry about a tiring journey on to the next city. Nope. Thank god, tomorrow they would still be here. Yeah they would be in another arena but still in the city. Tonight all she had to think about was getting back to her hotel and falling into bed. It felt like she could sleep for a couple of weeks actually and she wasn’t really sure why. It wasn’t as if she had been having a bad night’s sleep up till now. If anything she was sleeping like a log. Oh well, it was just one of those things she guessed. Maybe she was getting her period. Oh that was something that she should do ... pick up some tampons though she didn’t have to do it tonight. She could probably do it tomorrow sometime. It was difficult to remember all of these day to day things that should be done when they were constantly on the move. It wasn’t the first time that she had been caught out and had to run to one of the other girls to get what she needed.

The guys just had it so much easier. She thought to herself then immediately rolled her eyes. Who in the hell did she think that she was kidding? Of course they didn’t have it easier. They were the ones who were kicked to holy hell in the ring every night. Then again the girls were too ... but the guys matches were just so much more brutal. And yet they did it without complaint. Hell they did it while feeling lucky to be there and then they would head on back to their rental cars, drive sometimes a couple of hundred miles and then do it all again the next night. Some people would say that they were insane ... but she was kind of proud to know them. Of course there were a couple of them that she was sure had been touched by the insanity stick but what business was that of hers?

“What on earth are you laughing at?” Trish asked as she appeared beside Lenny and looked at her with an arched brow. “You look totally insane.”

Hearing that and knowing that it was incredibly close to what she was actually thinking Lenny found herself laughing a little harder then she held up her hand. “Sorry, sorry.” She said while shooting the other woman a considering look. “Have you considered working for the psychic friends network Trish? You might just be surprisingly good at it.” She snorted out another laugh and then hurriedly shut up. She knew that she already looked insane, Trish had just said as much. And now she had compounded it by doing a pig impression! “Just having one of my many crazy thoughts.” She said finally and shrugged.

Tilting her head she looked at Trish closely. “How are you feeling after that match?” She asked and there was more than a hint of worry in her voice. She knew that the other woman had taken a severe pounding out there. But that was something that no one could say about the petite blonde. She never complained, no matter what she was dealing with. Nope, she just hunkered down a little more and got on with things. If Lenny was being honest with herself she knew that she admired her. She shoved some of Trish’s hair away from her face gingerly. “That is going to be one nice shiner in a few hours. Are you sure that you’re ok?”

“Of course.” Trish said with her trademark wide smile. “I might look like a delicate flower but let me tell you ... I’m made of much stronger stuff.” She added and laughed. “Besides I’ve had so much worse but thanks for being worried about me sweetie.” Then she shot the other woman a slightly knowing look. “And how are things with you?”

Smiling slightly Lenny knew exactly what Trish was getting at and rolled her eyes. “I’m absolutely fine.” She said honestly and then felt her smile getting wider.

“I thought that you were usually out of here as soon as you had thrown on your clothes.” Trish said and frowned as she realised that what she had just said was true. “What’s holding you back tonight? Do you have a ride back to the hotel?”

But Lenny just nodded and then she smiled again. God what was it with her and the smiling tonight. It felt like she had slept with a plate in her damn mouth. Ha! Maybe that was why she felt so tired today! “Yeah I do. That’s why I’m hanging out here.” She answered and at the same time pulled open the locker room door holding it so Trish could get out behind her. Almost as soon as she was out in the hallway she noticed Kevin leaning against the wall waiting for her a few feet down. Now why on earth did seeing him waiting for her make her feel so good.

Pushing himself away from the wall Kevin tossed the car keys in his hand a couple of times. “Finally.” He said and pretended to sigh and check his watch. “I thought that I was going to have to come in an get you.” Then he remembered what had happened when Paul had tried that particular trick. “Um no on second thoughts I would have found someone to come in for me.”

“Nice save Nash.” Lenny told him with an arched brow and had to resist the urge to laugh out loud at the look on his face. She was trying but it was still difficult to make herself even think of calling him Kevin ... at least not all the time. She might slip up occasionally and let his Christian name slip but she couldn’t recall another time that she had done it. Then she frowned slightly. If he was going to come to this wedding with her then she was going to have to get used to calling him that. She couldn’t very well just call him Nash all night. Her mother would definitely smell a rat if she did that.

Looking at the other woman in surprise then back to Kevin, Trish just shook her head slightly as if she thought that might clear up what she was seeing. “Kevin?” She asked while looking at Lenny a little incredulously. “Kevin is giving you a ride back to the hotel?”

“Do you have a problem with that Trish?” Kevin asked with the beginnings of a frown on his face. He wasn’t sure that he liked the tone of voice that she was using. Why the hell was it so surprising that Lenny would be travelling with him? He wasn’t that much of an ogre was he? He leaned forwards a little eager to hear her answer.

Blinking up at the tall man who appeared to be almost bending over her Trish had the sudden and inexplicable urge to laugh out loud. “Um, no.” She said honestly. “I have no problem with that at all.” She smiled at Lenny then took a few steps away from her before turning back to face her with a grin on her face. “Call me tomorrow ... we should have breakfast.” She said and with a final wink she headed out to the parking lot.

“What the hell was that all about?” Kevin asked as he watched the blonde disappear with an odd look on his face. Then he turned back to Lenny obviously thinking that she would have the answer to that particular question. “Want to clue me in Lenny?”



But she just shrugged while attempting to keep her own smile off her face. “Nope ... I would if I could but I don’t have a clue either.” She insisted. “You saw Trish take that blow to the head and face tonight from Jericho. Perhaps she was a little more worse for the wear than even she thought.” She added and tried to paste her most innocent expression on her face.

“You really don’t do innocent all that well young lady.” He smirked as he ran a finger down her nose and then tapped her on the end of it. “C’mon. I am so ready to get the hell out of here.”

Nodding in agreement Lenny hoisted her bag a little higher up on her shoulder and followed him towards the parking lot and his rental. She could hear the yelling and cheering from here. It would only be worse when they got out of here. “Now are you sure that you want to be seen with me?” She asked him a little cheekily. “This is how rumours get started you know. As soon as your fans see you with me then I will instantly be labelled a scarlet woman and you’ll be linked with me ad nauseum.”

“I have no problem with being linked with you.” He said and winked at her. “If it doesn’t bother you then it certainly doesn’t bother me. Besides, we have to get on with our lives no matter what the fans think.”

She thought about it for a second taking into consideration some of the women that he had been linked with. They were all incredibly beautiful. Hell she could definitely stand to be in that kind of company even if she would be the complete odd one out. “It’s fine with me.” She shrugged in agreement. “I just want to get back to the hotel and fall into bed.” She muttered and covered her mouth quickly before she could yawn rudely in his face.

“Funny, that’s just what I was thinking.” Kevin muttered and made sure that she hadn’t heard him.

-o0o-

“Oh my god, that is just total bullshit Lenny!” He said and though he hadn’t thought that he had spoken loudly in the close confines of the car it sounded like he had yelled it. “I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.” He said and then turned his head away slightly so she wouldn’t see that he was smiling.

She shook her head. “So you’re telling me that it wasn’t you with your hand on my ass at some point in the match tonight?” She asked and pursed her lips. Damn, even though she knew that she should be angry about this he was even undoing all of her righteous indignation. “Well then I guess that it must have been Paul. I should probably get on his case about it right.”

“You’re taking some pretty big leaps there immediately thinking it was one of us.” He pointed out to her as he pulled the car into the hotel parking lot. She hadn’t stopped taking pot shots at him all the way back here and he was pretty sure that he knew why. Hell if he was honest with himself then he was kind of pleased that she was. She didn’t want to lower her guard around him because she knew what would happen if she did. She knew that he wanted her and it was becoming more and more evident to him that she wanted him too. What other reason could there be for the fact that she hadn’t been able to keep her mouth zipped for longer than twenty seconds since they had left the arena. She was searching for safe ground. “For all you know it could have been Helms or Jacobs.” He said and nodded to punctuate his sentence. Of course it hadn’t been Helms or Jacobs. He knew that he should feel ashamed but at the time he just hadn’t been able to resist.

Rolling her eyes she shot him a ‘you have got to be kidding me look’. “It’s just a pity that tonight wasn’t TV or I could have requested a copy of the tape and found out exactly who it was for myself.”

He grinned. That was exactly why he had done it tonight. No cameras there to capture the moment. Plus he had thought that he was being pretty discreet. Considering that they had been surrounded by thousands of people and not one of them ... even the ones in the front row ... had yelled out anything about his hand being on her ass for any length of time. “Yeah.” He sighed out as he turned off the engine and pulled the keys out of the ignition. “That is a pity.”

“Oh don’t give me that crap Kevin! I know that it was you!” She said suddenly as she slapped at his arm. She could see him opening his mouth to say something but didn’t give him a chance. “And don’t try to wriggle out of it either you son of a bitch.” She bit at her lip to stop herself from laughing. “Out of the four of you I know that only you or Paul would have the stupidity to actually do something like that. I mean ... what the hell were you thinking!”

The moment that she had started to speak his mouth had curved up into a smile. She had done it without even noticing. She had called him Kevin instead of just ‘Nash’ and damn if it didn’t sound just as good as he thought that it would. Oh to hell with this ... to hell with playing the good guy and trying to get her comfortable. It was time to play this thing the only way that he knew how to ... dirty. Reaching out quickly he caught her upper arms in his hands and knew that she was surprised by his actions. Good, that was what he wanted her to feel. “Damn woman, don’t you ever know when to shut up?” He asked in a husky voice then quickly covered her mouth with his thrusting his tongue inside.