Author's Note: Okay... so Fanfiction is kind of ticking me off... It's once again telling me that it can't find my reviews. So... UGH! Thank you to all those who left a review for chapter 5. I'm so glad y'all are enjoying this story and I hope I can do it justice as I can continue. Here is Chapter Six.. please enjoy!

Chapter Six

She walked numbly into her kitchen and screamed. There was a strange man in her kitchen. A strange man in a ski mask. A strange man in a ski mask holding a giant ass butcher knife and he just took a step in her direction. Steph did what any rational woman would do in her situation. Screaming like a banshee, she grabbed the closest thing to her –her cookie jar– and threw it at the man in the ski mask. It hit him square in the face, knocking him back a few steps. It gave Steph just the time she needed. She grabbed Rex off the counter and hauled ass toward the front door.

The man screamed in outrage or pain. One couldn't be too sure in this situation. She could hear his heavy footsteps behind her but that didn't stop from throwing open her door and bolting down the hallway. As she was running for her life, she realized something. She was really out of shape. Okay, so she had realized this some time ago, but maybe it was finally time to do something about it. She was getting tired of running for her life. And out of breath. She ran down the stairs, oh she hated stairs. She ran down the damn things, trying her damnedest not to fall down them. She ran down them until she hit the exit. She ran right out the door and into Lester.

"Oomph." She whimpered as he grunted. Rex's cage cutting into them both. Lester gripped both her arms and pushed her back.

"What the fuck, Steph?" He bellowed roughly.

Steph out of breath, couldn't get out what she needed to say so Lester went around her and opened the exit door.

"No!" Steph screamed.

Lester turned back to give her a dirty look as he threw open the door. Steph waited for the guy in the ski mask to come barreling towards Lester, but nothing happened. Steph looked around Lester to find the stairway empty.

"There was a man in a ski mask." Steph finally spoke, able to breath.

Lester growled out a few curse words and started up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Steph asked, following behind him.

"Where the fuck do you think, Steph?" He snapped at her.

She followed in silence for a few minutes before finally speaking again. "You're going to my apartment, but what I don't understand is why."

Another growl left Lester and Steph couldn't t stop the thought that went through her head.

That was sexy as hell.

"Just shut the fuck up, Stephanie. I can't think when you're talking to me."

She winced at his harsh tone, but she shut up. Her thoughts drifted to thoughts of violence and revenge. If she wasn't so afraid of killing him or his wrath if she didn't kill him, she would trip him and make him fall down the stairs. Maybe he would hit his head and go back to the Lester she used to know. She snorted in derisive. Like that would ever happen.

They made it to her apartment and Lester told her to wait by the door. It was more of an order than a request so Steph waited. Lester eventually made it back to her, shaking his head.

"There's no one here."

Steph nodded. She walked around him and made her way into the kitchen. She sat Rex down on his spot on the counter and began to clean up the glass from her now broken cookie jar. Her gun lay on the kitchen floor, unloaded.

"What the hell happened in here?" Lester asked from the doorway.

Steph shrugged. "I threw my cookie jar at him." She replied.

She heard Lester chuckling and she froze. It had been so long since she had heard him laugh she didn't know what to think. She slowly turned her head towards the sound, but the very moment their eyes met, his laughter stopped and the scowl returned.

Shaking her head, she went back to cleaning up. Once she was finished, Lester backed her into a corner. Literally. She was stuck in the corner of her kitchen, up against the counter with Lester's body blocking any way of her escaping.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" He asked bitterly.

She shook her head. "I was worried about you."

His eyes flashed in fury. "I'm a grown fucking man, Stephanie. I can look after myself."

"You've killed people." Steph whispered, lowering her head and her eyes.

Lester gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger and brought her eyes to meet his. "That's none of your damn business, little girl." He hissed through clenched teeth.

Her own eyes narrowed in anger. "Maybe not, but it is now." She informed him.

Lester snorted. "No it isn't."

Just then his phone rang that same tone it did before and Lester jerked back and away from her. He answered it with a lower tone and Steph couldn't make out a word he was saying. She tried to inch closer to the kitchen doorway and down the hall towards the front door, but before she could get too far, Lester appeared and his face was dark. One could only describe it as evil. Steph gulped and took a step back.

Lester followed her. With every step she took backward he took a step forward. With every step they took, his face got darker. His eyes got darker. And with every damn step, Steph's heart beat faster. And dare she even think it, this darker Lester was turning her on. She didn't understand it and she definitely didn't like it.

Or did she?

No.

She did not like it.

Maybe she did. But only a little.

Lester's arm suddenly shot out and gripped the back of her neck, bringing their bodies closer together. She was barely able to contain the shiver at the touch of his hand.

"I hope you're fucking happy, Stephanie." He growled out.

She didn't know exactly what to say so she just shook her head.

Lester laughed, but it was dark and evil. "There's now a fucking bounty on your head, Stephanie!" Lester practically screamed in her face.

Steph felt queasy and her stomach rolled. "I…"

He squeezed her neck, cutting off anything she was going to say. "A bounty, Steph." His voice lowered and he shook his head. "You pissed him off, Steph and now I don't know if I can save you."

"I'm sorry, Lester." She whispered.

Lester brought their heads together until their foreheads touched. "We're now in this together, Steph. Do you know what that means?" He asked.

Steph shook her head.

"It means until this is over, you and I are joined at the hip. You'll be my fucking shadow until further fucking notice."