Chapter Two
Lenny let herself in the back door of her home and locked it behind her, leaning back on the wood and closing her eyes. Oh no, not again, she thought, biting her lip as she tried to slow her heartbeat down. She had been causing trouble for Kevin Nash for years now, and it didn't look like things were going to change anytime soon. Even trying to avoid him for the last few months hadn't worked. As soon as he was anywhere in her vicinity she managed to drop something on him, push him into something or nearly set fire to him. So far he hadn't managed to get hold of her, but she knew her luck wouldn't hold out much longer, not judging by the look on his face as he surfaced in the lake. It had been an accident, but she doubted he would believe that. In fact, thinking about it, he would probably be on his way here right now with blood in his eye, looking to take out his temper on her hide. She cast a quick look out of the window, not really expecting to see anything, and then jumped and almost fell over when she saw him striding towards her house, looking like the swamp monster.
Now what did she do? she thought hysterically as she stood in the middle of the kitchen watching his progress though the glass. Her brother Sam was at the party with her sister-in-law, Rachel, who was heavily pregnant now and they didn't need the aggravation of a confrontation in their house. Kevin was marching up the steps now and she belatedly moved away from the window, her hands going to her throat as he banged on the wood, his face pressing up against the glass panel and looking through it. "Open this damn door if you don't want it broken down!" he yelled, pounding on the panelling and making the whole thing shake in it's frame. "I can see you in there, you little vandal!"
Lenny stood undecided as he hammered on the door and then took several steps backwards when the door gave an almighty crash, vibrating with the force of his shoulder hitting it. She knew that one more hit and it would give way, and Sam couldn't afford to have it fixed, so she rushed forward and unlocked it, pulling it open just as Kevin was charging at it again. His momentum kept him going and his eyes widened as he tried to stop, but his wet shoes skidded on the floor and he went down, his huge body hitting her ankles and sending her sprawling on top of him in an undignified heap.
When her makeshift Kevin shaped toboggan finally slid to a stop against the opposite wall, Lenny tried to get off him, her hands and knees digging into him as she made an attempt to extricate herself. He smelled like a pond, and she could feel the malodorous ooze starting to seep through her dress. It made her try to move faster and as her foot hit the floor she slipped in a puddle of water, landing on top of him again with her elbow hitting him firmly in the ribs.
The air whooshed out of his lungs and he lay there trying to get his breath back, glaring at her accusingly through narrowed watering eyes. "You damn pest!" he growled at her through his teeth, his face just visible through the mud he was wearing.
"It was an accident...I-I'm sorry," she stammered, her eyes widening when he lifted his hands towards her, and she totally panicked, knowing if he got a good hold on her he wouldn't be letting go for some time. She threw herself backwards with all the strength she could muster, but one of his hands managed to attach itself to her upper arm and he tugged her back down. Seconds later his face went almost blue as her knee hit him squarely in the groin, her entire weight behind it, and his hand automatically went downwards to clutch at himself in agony. He rolled onto his side, dislodging her as he went and she fell next to him, scrabbling away as soon as she landed, watching him through wide eyes as he gasped and wheezed.
"Is there something you should be telling me?" her brother asked from the doorway and she looked up to see him standing there looking stupefied. "What, exactly, has been going on in here?"
"It was an accident," Lenny repeated in a small voice, glancing back at the furious man who was only now starting to recover and easing himself up into a sitting position.
"She's the damn accident," he growled, his eyes shooting sparks of fire out at her. He looked up at her brother and grimaced. "Sorry about the mess."
"No problem," Sam said, cocking his head to one side and staring at his sister. "I came back to see where you'd gotten to and if everything is okay. I guess it was just as well I did, huh?" He shook his head and started to smile when he took in the state they were both in. "Charlene, you'd better go upstairs and get yourself cleaned up. You can't stay here and not say goodbye to Amy and Mark, they'll be going off on their honeymoon in a little while."
"Okay," she said meekly and glanced once more at the big man sitting on the floor, gulping when she saw the promise of retribution in his eyes. She almost ran from the room to get away from him, silently thanking God that her brother had come back when he did.
Sam looked down at the big man that he'd known for a few years now and grinned. "I bet right about now you want to take a carving knife to my baby sister, don't you?"
"A carving knife isn't big enough," Kevin muttered, slowly pulling himself to his feet and wincing at the sudden bite of pain. "Damn, I'd better still be in working order, or she'll wish she'd never laid eyes on me."
"Somehow I think she already wishes that," Sam said, shaking his head again. "Sit yourself down there and I'll go and get some clothes from Mark's place. Mine won't fit you."
Kevin nodded gratefully and eased himself down into a kitchen chair, sighing as he relaxed. Now he could smell himself too, and he realised he wasn't too fresh at the moment. It was all that little brat's fault. He could hear her clunking about on the floor above and his eyes narrowed, seeing her brother through the window disappearing down the road. Well, he hadn't said anything about staying away from Lenny, had he? Not one word about not punishing her? A grim smile touched his mouth as he stood up again and slowly made his way up the stairs, taking care to be quiet as he went. He didn't want her alerted to his presence in any way, because he intended to pay her back for every single little thing she had ever done to him, starting right now.
He didn't know the layout of her house, but he simply followed the noises he could hear until he got to the room they were coming from, stopping to listen. She was talking to herself, by the sounds of it, but he couldn't make out much of what she was saying, except for the words 'stupid' and 'clumsy' and then his name. His eyes narrowed and he snorted his breath out of his nose, thinking she must be talking about him, and he pushed her door open before he had any more time to think about his actions.
Lenny hadn't been talking about him, she had been talking about herself, cursing how clumsy and awkward she had always been. She had slipped her dress off and was just about to put a T-shirt over her head when the door burst open and Kevin stood there, scowling at her. Her eyes grew huge and she belatedly tried to cover herself up, clad in only her underwear as she was.
Kevin looked no less shocked, but he still looked seethingly furious too and he stalked towards her, making her start to walk backwards as she tried to get the shirt over her head, giving up and flinging it on the floor as she made a race for the bathroom so she could lock herself in. Kevin belatedly realised what she was doing and lunged for the door just as she slammed it shut, giving a shout of agony as she caught his fingers in the door. He managed to snatch them back before they got chopped off and he stared at them, his expression getting even more furious as he saw the dent that ran right across them, already turning blue as they started to bruise.
He grabbed the door handle and turned, rattling it when he found it locked and he leaned against the door, listening for any noises on the other side. "You can't stay in there all day!" he shouted through the wood and then moved his head swiftly back when she thumped the other side of the door.
"I can do what I like! Why don't you go and jump off a cliff?" she yelled at him, annoyed that he had made her feel even more uncomfortable than she already was.
Kevin gritted his teeth, almost breaking them. "Why don't you come out here and say that?"
"I'm not stupid!" she yelled back, hitting the door again with impotent fury.
"That's debatable! Get out of there right now!" he shouted, losing his temper completely.
"I will not!"
"If you don't come out I'll break the door down," he threatened, meaning every word. He measured the door and gave a grim smile. He could handle it easily enough, it wasn't that sturdy. "I'll count to three."
Lenny stood in the bathroom and wondered if he'd really do it, staring at the door in trepidation. He had tried to break the back door in already, she thought, so the betting was pretty good that he had every intention of breaking this one down. She looked down at her semi-nude state and quickly grabbed her robe off the back of the door, putting it on and belting it up. By that time Kevin had got to two and he had started pounding on the wood again.
"Last chance!" he warned her, and she held her breath as he said 'three'.
When nothing happened she frowned and listened carefully, managing to move away from the door with a muffled shriek when she heard footsteps running at it from the other side. The door gave easily, the lock breaking out of the frame and leaving the actual door intact, swinging back and forth on it's hinges. Kevin glared at her as he literally filled her small bathroom up with his body, stalking towards her with murder in his eyes.
Lenny stared at him dumbfounded for a second and belatedly tried to run out of the room, but it was impossible to get past his immense bulk and he grabbed the collar of her robe easily, holding her struggling form in front of him. His eyebrows drew down in a deep frown when she continued struggling, kicking him in the legs with unerring accuracy and making him curse. He looked around the small room and his eyes lit on the back of the door, a nasty smile turning his lips upwards as he picked her up.
"Maybe this will keep you still," he growled, using the collar of the thick robe to hang her on one of the hooks, laughing as he watched her try to get down. He leaned towards her and gave an evil grin. "Going to behave or do you want to stay up there all day?"
"You pig!" she spat at him, tying to kick him again and only managing to set her entire body swinging wildly on the back of the door. She waited until she had stopped moving and then hung there limply, glaring daggers at him. "Get me down from here!"
Kevin crossed his arms in front of him and leaned against the opposite wall, smiling smugly. "I don't think so. It's rather nice to see you unable to cause any damage, for once. Maybe I can persuade your brother to keep you up here until I leave Mark's house."
"I'll gladly stay up here to avoid you!" she said nastily, narrowing her eyes spitefully at the huge man.
"Oh really? You'd stay up here for three weeks, would you?"
"Three weeks? You can't....you're not staying here for three weeks!" she said, a look of utter horror on her face.
"Well, no, not in this house," he agreed, looking at her distastefully. "Now then, what sort of punishment would suit what you've done to me?" he mused, one hand rubbing his beard thoughtfully. Suddenly he clicked his fingers and opened the shower door, pulling out the shower head and turning it on, the water splattering onto the base of the cubicle. "I think this will be a good stand-in for the lake, don't you?"
"You wouldn't dare!" she said, her eyes widening as he grinned evilly, starting to lift the shower up.
"Hey where did you go?" Sam shouted from downstairs and Lenny breathed a sigh of relief.
"Up here! Sam, you have to help me!" she shrieked, her eyes still riveted to Kevin's hand and wondering if she was going to get a soaking.
"Hmm, saved by the bell, huh? Well, I guess this wasn't a fitting punishment anyway. Clean water hardly matches up to mud and weeds and stench, does it?" Kevin said, turning off the shower and putting the hose back in place. When he turned back he narrowed his eyes and pinned her to the door with his hands on her shoulders, not taking her down from the hook. He still topped her height by a couple of inches, but she was unnervingly close to his intense hazel eyes. "I won't be forgetting about this, you know. You owe me, little girl, and you're gonna pay if I have to follow you around and wait for an opportunity. Don't say I didn't warn you!"
He moved back from her and pulled the door open, Lenny going with it. But he didn't say another word and she heard him walk down the stairs and start talking to her brother. Soon, she heard the sound of footsteps again and her brother came in the bathroom, smothering his laughter when he saw her hung up like an old coat.
"It's not funny," she said sullenly. "Get me down!"
Sam grinned and lifted her off the hook, placing her on the floor again where she could straighten the robe, looking indignant. "He's such a pig!"
Her brother laughed. "Well, you do keep making a mess of him. I guess he's out for vengeance?"
"It was an accident!" she said, her voice getting high pitched again. "I have never deliberately.."
"The maple syrup?" her brother cut in, raising one eyebrow.
Lenny blushed and looked away. "That was an accident too, and if it had been deliberate he would have deserved it. But he doesn't have any right to come into my bedroom, when I'm virtually naked.."
"Naked! What do you mean naked?" Sam burst out, frowning.
She looked up at him and shrugged. "I was getting changed and he burst in without knocking, and he got an eyeful," she explained, wondering if her brother would have an argument with Kevin if she embroidered the tale a little bit. But she couldn't have that, she thought. Sam and Kevin were friends, she couldn't make her brother mad at him, even if she did want to see him dead at the moment. "Nothing happened," she said, walking back into the bedroom.
"I hope not," Sam said, relieved. He hadn't thought Kevin would try anything, but you never knew.
"I'm going to get changed," she said. "Is Kevin still here?"
"Mmm-hmm. He's using my shower to wash off the bottom of the lake. Maybe it would be best if you weren't still up here when he came out, okay?"
She nodded, definitely seeing the sense in that statement. "Okay. I'll get dressed and go and say goodbye to Mark and Amy. I could go for a walk afterwards. Anything's better than being under the same roof as him!"
Her brother chuckled as he walked away, shaking his head. He wondered if the two of them would hate each other forever, deciding they probably would judging by the way Kevin had been glaring at her earlier.
****Okay, okay, you may have noticed I've changed his eye colour, but do you know how hard it is to find a good close-up pic of this man? I think they're hazel....I'm not certain. I had written them as blue. Hell, I'm sure any Nash fans can put me straight!!****
