Betting on the Zebra Chapter 23

For Disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 23

Stepping into the locker room Kevin looked around for a moment or two before his eyes fell on the person that he was looking for and he started to head over to him. “Hey Chris.” He said but kept his voice low. He didn’t particularly want anyone else listening in to this conversation.

“Hey Kev.” Chris said in his usual manner then went back to what he was doing. He wasn’t expecting those words to be followed up at all. It wasn’t as if he and Nash actually ever really talked about anything anyway. Sure, at times they would pass the time of day but that was about it.

Kevin wasn’t surprised when the other man just kind of dismissed him after he had said hello. They never went out of their way to have a conversation. Still it did piss him off a little. “Can I have a word man?” He asked as he leaned a little closer.

“What?” Chris asked in surprise as he lifted his head then was surprised again when he realised just how close Kevin was to him. What on earth could be going on now? “Yeah of course.” He finally remembered to say. “What can I do for you?”

But Kevin just shook his head. “Not here.” He said and again made sure to keep his voice quiet. “This isn’t exactly something that I want everyone listening in to.”

“Ok.” Chris said with a slight shrug as he shoved himself off of the bench and onto his feet. “Whatever you want man.” He agreed and began to follow Kevin out of the locker room. They didn’t stop just outside either which was kind of what he had been expecting. They continued moving until they were away from everyone else. “So what’s so important that we had to walk this far before you could spill?”

Taking a breath Kevin waited till the other man turned around to face him. “You’re working Paul’s match tonight right?” He asked even though he knew the answer to that question already. He just wanted to make absolutely sure.

“Yeah.” Chris said and nodded. “He and I are tagging together tonight.” He could see a strange look on the other man’s face and was sure that it was because of the match. “I know, with our character’s history you would think that they wouldn’t dare put us together but what the hell do I know about anything.” He added and then laughed lightly thinking that Kevin would do the same. He didn’t. “Ok, this is just getting way too weird ... tell me what the hell is going on and tell me right now! Is there a problem with tonight’s match ... I should know about it don’t you think?”

Blowing out a breath Kevin nodded. “Yeah you should and yeah ... there might just be.” He said and then paused. He was sure that Chris was about to say something else so continued before he could. “I need you to do me a favour tonight. Lenny’s working that match too and well, I need you to watch her back.” He said and then just stopped talking. He didn’t try to explain ... he had no real idea how to.

“You ... want me to watch Lenny’s back?” Chris asked and now just felt completely confused. This was making less and less sense the more that the guy spoke. “Believe me watching Lenny’s back wouldn’t usually be a hardship for me but ... um, I’ll kind of be more than a little busy myself.” He pointed out knowing that this was the kind of match that had a tendency to take up all of his attention. It would involve people running from all sides at points so he would have to keep his wits about him. “Why would you want me to do that anyway?” He asked and watched the other man closely.

“I can’t really answer that question for you right now.” Kevin muttered and was sure that Chris wouldn’t be happy with his answer. He held up his hand quickly. “Look please don’t ask me to explain and don’t say anything to Lenny either. She would skin me alive if she knew that I was asking you to do this.” He sighed. “She thinks that there’s nothing to worry about ... I know that you’ll be watching out for flying bodies at the time but it would mean a lot to me if you could do this for me.”

Rubbing a hand over his brow slowly Chris just nodded though he wasn’t really sure what he could do. “I’ll do my best man.” He agreed but his mind was still going crazy trying to work out what was going on but something had just clicked into place in his head. “This has something to do with Paul right?”

“That’s not important Chris.” Kevin said calmly and made to walk away.

Blinking Chris reached out and caught Kevin’s arm in a strong grasp. “You can’t ask me to do this and not at least give me a little explanation.” He said softly. “Hell just the way that you don’t want to tell me gives me the answer that I was looking for. It does have something to do with Paul.” He frowned and looked at the other man more closely. “You want me to watch Lenny’s back and it has something to do with Paul.” Then his eyes widened. “You don’t think that he’s going to do something dumb do you?” He asked. Even though he had no idea what the exact back history was on this whole thing it was all that he could come up with in this situation.

“I don’t know.” Kevin admitted finally. “Let’s just say that he’s not exactly happy with our little referee right now.” He sighed again. “But I know the guy and he’s a professional ... he shouldn’t let his personal emotions get in the way of what he does in the ring.”

But Chris slumped back and leaned against the wall heavily. “But you didn’t see him earlier.” He said and saw the way that Kevin jerked his head up to look at him. “He was looking for her a little while ago ... he seemed pretty determined too and then decided to wait till he saw her in the ring.”

“Shit.” Kevin ground out as he kicked out at the wall ruthlessly.

“Careful Kev.” Chris said and grinned. “I really don’t think that the poor wall did anything to deserve that. Can’t have you kicking lumps out of innocent scenery.” The grin fell off of his face and he took a few steps away. “Like I said, I’ll do what I can.” He added with a tight nod then began to walk away.

Looking down at the floor for a few moments Kevin suddenly began to head back the way that he had come. “And I’ll try to find the idiot before he does something he regrets.” He muttered to himself.

-o0o-

“Hey Lenny.”

Jerking around Lenny hurriedly folded her arms around herself in a protective manner. “Hey Paul.” She said and was sure that she had just gulped loud enough for everyone in the arena to hear. She had so many things going through her mind right now that it was difficult to have a coherent thought. Why she had ever thought that this was something she could do was beyond her. Oh yeah, she had been able to do it and she had done it on her terms. “Ready for your match?” She asked simply for the reason that she had to say something.

“Oh you better believe it.” Paul said softly but with a wide smirk. “I’m always ready ... but wait, you already know that don’t you sweetheart?” He asked and threw an arm around her shoulder. Feeling her tense under him his smirk got impossibly even wider. “Why so tense honey? You didn’t seem to have this problem when I got close to you last night.”

She gritted her teeth together to stop herself from just lashing out and attempting to cripple one of the top talent just before his match but it was taking all of her willpower. “Please shut up Paul!” She hissed out of the side of her mouth. That was something that she didn’t want anyone else on the roster to hear. Then something occurred to her. “Have you been talking to Kevin?” She asked and felt her hand flutter to her throat in a nervous gesture. At the same time she managed to get out from under his overbearing grasp. She couldn’t quite believe that. If Kevin was so worried about her working Paul’s match in the first place then why would he fill the guy in on what she had shared with him? Of course he could have just been so angry with her that he didn’t give a fuck what happened to her any longer. She didn’t blame him either.

“Nope, haven’t seen the guy for a while.” He told her honestly. “Why? Should I have been?” He asked and then just looked at her. Then he smiled. “Oh I see ... you already have spoken to him haven’t you? Now that was a conversation that I wish I could have been a party too ... I should have too shouldn’t I?”

She moved away from him fractionally. “I’ll have the same conversation with you later I don’t doubt.” She muttered and this time just thinking about it was enough to make her feel like she was going to just snap. She was dreading it that was of no doubt. “Now I have to go out there.” She said moving further away and about to step through the curtain while they were still in commercial.

Reaching out Paul just stroked his hand over her back and no more. He watched her tense up again and laughed. “Looking forward to our talk already baby.” He said but there was harshness to his tone now. “And yeah ... I’ll see you out there.” He almost laughed out loud again as he watched her scurry away.

-o0o-

Frowning Chris moved a little closer to the gorilla position. “What the hell was that all about?” He asked Paul in a quiet voice. He was kind of surprised that no one here had stepped in when it was so obvious that Lenny was uncomfortable. But of course they couldn’t interfere with Paul’s intimidation tactics. He was the light that the rest of them were supposed to revolve around after all. He snorted out a bitter sounding laugh. “If my eyes didn’t deceive me then you were just getting decidedly touchy-feely there. That is just so unlike you.” He managed to say but was happy when the words didn’t come out sounding like he had a tight throat.

“Shows how well you don’t know me then Chris.” Paul said smugly. He had no idea where he was finding the energy to be so smug. All he wanted to do was lose it big style. He couldn’t get that picture out of his head at all and he couldn’t get the thought that they had been set up to stop winding him tighter and tighter. The only thing that was working at all seemed to be the idea that he had to put a stop to this ... she had to see that she wasn’t the one in charge no matter what.

Looking away from him Chris waited for his music to hit. “Do me a favour and just try to keep your head in the game.” He said and tried to make it sound snarled. Maybe he would be able to transfer some of what Paul was feeling onto himself ... at least hen he wouldn’t have to keep checking over his shoulder every five seconds to make sure that Lenny was still on her feet.

“Remember who the fuck you’re talking to pal.” Paul said as he stared at Chris coldly.