Betting on the Zebra Chapter 22

Sorry it has take me this long to post more of this fic ... and thank you so much for sticking with it. Real life has been something of a bitch for me lately. LOL. For disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 22

As they walked along the hallway Lenny could feel her heart pounding. Yes, this was something that she had expected to happen tonight but no matter how much she thought that she had prepared herself for it she was starting to see how incredibly wrong she had been. There was no way to get herself into the right state of mind to say everything that she had wanted to say. She could practically feel all of her well thought out speech and sense of self-righteousness leaving her. It was just draining away and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

Then she jumped slightly as she felt Kevin cup her elbow. Shit! She had been so deep into her thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed him come across to the side of the hall that she was walking on. Then she felt her face twist when she was sure that she heard him chuckle at the way that she had shown her surprise. God she felt like just kicking the guy in the nuts and walking away. No one would blame her if she did. Hell the guy deserved that and a whole lot more. But no, she had decided that she was grown up enough to handle this so she had to see it through right to the end.

Watching him discreetly from under lowered lashes she realised that he was checking the room that they had paused outside of. Again she felt her heartbeat go into overdrive and again she questioned her own motives not to mention her sanity. The only sentence that kept on reverberating around in her brain was ‘what am I doing here?’ She should probably get that tattooed on herself somewhere considering the fact that it seemed to be the one question that she asked herself more than any other.

“Empty.” Kevin said with a nod as he looked around in the room and noted that it didn’t look like it had been disturbed by anyone since they had arrived. That was of the good. It meant that they wouldn’t be bothered by anyone charging into this room to use it as an office. “I guess that this place is as good as any.” He said as he looked at Lenny and jerked his head towards the open door to indicate that she should follow him in.

She pulled a face. Now wasn’t that just the most gracious invitation that she had ever had in her life. She almost choked on her tongue when she realised that it probably was. What did that say for her life and the people that she had let into it? “Why are we coming in here?” She asked before she even set so much as one toe into the room. Oh she knew exactly why but she wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page here. No point in letting a confusing situation get any worse. “It’s a little bit deserted isn’t it?”

“Now you wouldn’t be getting girly on me there would you Lenny?” Kevin asked with a grin as he turned back to face her. He had no real idea why he was grinning at all. He was incredibly angry with her and he couldn’t understand what would have made her do something as stupid as what she did last night. Was it all just one enormous joke to her? Then he paused. What if it was? What if she stood there and said that it was? He had no idea how he would react to that. “I just needed to talk to you and I’m pretty certain that you know exactly what that conversation is going to consist of. I was sure that you wouldn’t want to do it where just anyone could overhear.”

Not sure what else to do Lenny found herself nodding but she still only took a couple of steps into the room. “Well then aren’t we short a person?” She asked and then felt like kicking herself. Yeah of course it wasn’t enough for her to be shut up in a room that was quite a bit away from the rest of the roster with one intimidating guy ... oh no, she had to ask him if he minded waiting for his fellow jackass! She saw the surprised look on his face and instantly drew herself up t her full height. There was no way that she was letting him think that she would cower before him. “We are.” She pointed out clearly.

“Yeah we are.” Kevin said and the words fell from his mouth easily. “But believe me when I say that you have no idea how fucking angry Paul is right now.” He added and nodded slightly as if to punctuate his point. “I thought that perhaps we could discuss the point of last night’s ... exercise.” He grinned not able to help himself. “And this morning’s revelation without having someone screaming right in our ears.”

Leaning against the wall she tried to affect an uninterested pose. “I guess that makes sense.” She said in a grudging tone. Inside though his last words had done nothing to calm the whole swirly thing that she had going on in her stomach right now. “But since I’m working Paul’s match in a little while I have to catch up with him at some time.” The moment that she said that she was sure that she had just said the wrong thing. She saw his face change from someone who was grinning to something much darker. “What?”

“You’re working Paul’s match tonight?” He asked in a voice that sounded odd even to his own ears and he waited till she nodded and did this strange looking one shouldered shrug. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Perhaps they could find someone else to replace you.”

She let out a pissed of sounding noise from the back of her throat. “Oh and I can really see that happening too.” She said on a hoot of laughter. “I’ll just walk right up to Earl and say that I have to switch matches because Triple H might have just a slight problem with me.” She shook her head. “Yeah and he’ll just bend over backwards to accommodate me too. Paul’s a grown up and he’s supposed to be a professional. He won’t let what happened affect what goes on in the ring.”

“Did I not mention how angry he was?” Kevin asked sarcastically and arched a brow. After waiting a few moments he knew that she wasn’t going to answer him. “What the hell was all of that stuff supposed to mean Lenny?” He asked her finally and then sat down on the only chair that was in the room. True it wasn’t very gentlemanly of him but no one had ever accused him of suffering from that particular trait. Besides she didn’t seem to want to come away from that wall anytime soon.

“All of what stuff?” She asked him blatantly trying to stall for time.

He again shot her a look of disbelief. “Don’t try to do that with me. Don’t try to play the innocent. I know for a fact that’s something that you definitely are not.” As soon as he said that he grinned once more but managed to put a lid on it rather quickly. The last thing that he wanted her to think was that he found what she had done amusing. Oh he supposed that he did to some extent simply because of the fact that it was Lenny that was trying to pull something on them. “Why?” He repeated. “I thought that last night happened because it was something that you wanted as much as we did. But then this morning with the photograph and the cryptic message ... I would kind of like to know what was going through your head.”

“So you didn’t appreciate my attempt at photography then did you Nash?” She asked and a smirk worked its way across her face. “Somehow I thought that might be the case.”

He shrugged. “Well I was pissed that you didn’t get my good side but at least you caught Paul mid-drool.” He said and tried to keep his cool here. This just wasn’t getting any easier at all. “The fact that it was my chest that he was drooling on is perhaps a little hard to take.” He sighed out loud. This wasn’t getting them anywhere. “You should have seen him rip that thing to shreds. He was pissed.”

“I kind of thought that would be his reaction. In fact I thought that it would be the reaction of both of you.” She added pointedly. “But there is one thing you’re good for apparently Nash and that would be surprises. But no matter, I have another one.” She said and then grinned. “Of course it’s hidden in a special place right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s all very well and good but it still doesn’t get me anywhere closer to an explanation.” He pointed out and shook his head. “And what did you mean when you said that surprises were the only thing that I was good for.” He shot her a frankly lascivious smile ... his meaning was clear.

She rolled her eyes. God all men were so fucking typical. They all wanted to hear the same thing. Yeah he had been great but there was no way that she was actually going to inflate his ego any more by telling him that. “If you’re waiting for a critique then you’ll wait a long fucking time.” She snapped out then smirked again. “And it might not be to your liking.” She knew that she had hit the spot with that little barb when his eyes widened a hell of a lot. “It was a bet!” She finally blurted out surprising even herself.

At those words Kevin felt something inside him clench. Shit! Shit, shit, shit! She had found out about his bet with Paul. He had known that was a bad idea from moment one but there was nothing he could do. There was no way that he could lose face in front of a guy that was one of his best friends and would probably love nothing more than to laugh his ass off at him. “What? I mean how did you...” He began

“I know that it’s not exactly what any guy wants to hear but that’s what you were Kevin.” Lenny continued as she rudely butted in to whatever he had been about to say. “Don’t ask me to apologise because I won’t.” She said and lifted her head a little higher. There was a part of her that was screaming that she should be deathly ashamed right about now but she couldn’t let that part take over. If she got through this then she was halfway done. Then she fixed him with a cold look. “I’m sure that you and the guys have done worse in the past.”

He shook his head and knew that his face must have been screwed up in confusion. Right about now absolutely nothing that she was saying was making any sense whatsoever. What did she mean about him being the bet? That wasn’t how things went. “I have no idea what that means.” He admitted finally feeling like a total idiot. “What are you talking about?” He asked and began to get a seriously sick feeling welling up from the pit of his stomach.

“God! What the hell do I have to do ... take out an ad?” She asked angrily. It had been hard enough to say it the first time but at least her mouth had kind of taken over for her on that score. It had just fallen out without any warning. It was a bet.” She began only slower this time. “You and Paul were a bet.”

He jerked upright in his chair like it had just been struck with electricity. “What?” He repeated again but this time the word sounded cold and empty.

“Someone struck a bet with me that I couldn’t ... well that I couldn’t have you both.” She began to explain and cruelly found herself smiling as she did so. “Then they decided to up the ante and make things more interesting by adding that I had to have you both ... together. It sounded doable to me ... so I went along with it.” She added and then shrugged.

He sat there stock still for a moment or two. Wow, talk about your ironic situations. “We were a bet.” He muttered and then looked up at her. Before he knew that he was going to do it he was surging out of his chair and right there in front of her. “We were a fucking BET?”

“Yeah ... pretty much.” She said and tried to act unaffected but once again her heart had started that whole racing thing. She felt like she might just black out at any moment. Reaching out she tugged at a lock of his hair before laying it over his shoulder. “But don’t act like someone just pissed in your coffee Nash. You had fun too.” She jerked her hand back before he could touch her. “And that’s why I took a picture. I needed proof. So I got my proof and left a little joke for you into the bargain. And that’s all she wrote.” She mumbled letting her voice trail off into nothing then began to slide out from where he was pressing her against the wall to head for the door. She had only gotten a couple of steps when she felt his hand encircle her wrist in a strong grip. She could practically feel the anger pulsing from him to her.

“How could you do something like this Lenny?” He asked and even though he was angry his words came out sounding soft. But they didn’t lose any of their strength.

She looked at him and hated the fact that there was disappointment in his gaze. But then she remembered what she herself had found out only a matter of days ago and felt her resolve harden. “You would be surprised what kind of motivation I had Nash.” She said and looked down at where he was holding onto her still. She jerked her arm once, twice then he let her go completely.

“So I really should have listened to you all the times that you told me you were a hard nosed bitch?” He asked her harshly and saw the way that his words stopped her in her tracks. No! He didn’t want to think that way about her at all.

“Pretty much.” Lenny said without turning back to face him then she slipped from the room as quickly as she could.