Disclaimer: I don't own them, they belong to Janet Evanovich, and I will return them…
Summary: Steph's hidden past is a lot greyer than she'd like to admit, and when she accepts a job from Ranger the truth comes out.
It's my life
And it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
-Bon Jovi
The silence in the office told me that Ranger had just walked in. Swell. Normally seeing Ranger would be a good thing, but I had called it quits with Joe two weeks ago, and there had been no sex since. Hungarian hormones do not like two weeks without sex, but they like Ranger. I felt his hand rest on the small of my back, and his breath whisper across my neck.
"Babe, can we talk?" he asked, hand guiding me to the door before I had answered. I expected him to push me into the wall and kiss me, but instead he leaned against his Porsche and looked at me. Finally I couldn't take the silence.
"Soooo, what's up?"
"I've got a job, need your help." I opened my mouth to agree, but something in his face told me this wasn't the usual distraction, and I gave him a suspicious look.
"What is it?" I asked cautiously, and he blew out a breath before answering.
"It's a long term job, anywhere from one week to three or four months. We've been hired to go undercover in a bar to find evidence that the bouncers are using the place to run drugs and guns. I've got a couple of my men as bouncers, and some as patrons, but we need a bartender too." I narrowed my eyes a little more.
"And your men can't do it, why?" I wanted to say he looked almost apologetic, but that wasn't quite the right emotion. Wary, maybe?
"Because the bar we're working is The Cage." The Cage? It was named the cage for a reason. All the bartenders, the female bartenders, spent half the night dancing on the bar or in one of the cages at either end of the bar. Well, it wasn't like they stopped bartending, they just kinda, hopped up for a dance in between shots. I fought the urge to smirk, I had worked at place exactly like The Cage all through college. I didn't need to tell Ranger that though.
"The Cage?" I asked, pretending to be incredulous although I didn't have to work to hard at it. Just because I would be more comfortable with the job than Ranger suspected didn't mean I wasn't shocked he was asking me to do the job. "You want me to bartend at The Cage?"
"You're the only female RangeMan employs." I sighed.
"When do we start."
"We need to be at the bar at seven, we have a meeting at six." Six!
"SIX! TONIGHT?" I screeched, looking at my watch, "its four o'clock now Ranger, that's barely time to get ready." I hopped into my Accord and headed for my apartment, not waiting to hear his probable reply of 'babe.' I made it to my apartment and ran to the shower, making it out by quarter to five, giving me an hour and 15 minutes to do my hair, make-up, clothes and get to RangeMan. Ranger was lucky I was a Jersey girl or I'd never make it.
I chose a pair of well fitted black leather pants that had ties up the outside of each leg, a dark red leather halter top that was just a few inches longer than a bra would have been, and a pair of 4'' FMP's that I would regret by the time the night was over. But they looked great with the pants. I did my hair in the classic 'just fucked' look, before moving on to make-up. I gave myself smoky eyes and ruby lips before grabbing a coat and rushing out the door. I made it to RangeMan with two minutes to spare, and I headed to the conference room. Ranger glanced at his watch as I walked in.
"Wow, whole minute early." I gave him a dirty look and settled in a chair with my coat still on. He raised an eyebrow. "Gonna take your coat off, babe?" I shrugged.
"Have it your way." I stood up and shrugged out of my coat and laid it over the back of the chair. I knew Rangers eyes were turning into the molten chocolate that usually got me in trouble, but I wasn't that concerned about him, since just about every guy in the room had the same reaction. Everyone but Hector, but he doesn't really count, being gay and all. I sat back down, and acted like I had no clue why everyone was looking at me like I was dinner. If Ranger hadn't been standing right there, I knew the guys would be commenting on me. "Are you going to start the meeting?" I questioned. He gave me a look that promised everything and nothing before taking a breath and speaking.
"Ok, tonight's the first night we all go in together, but I've had Bobby and Lester working there as Bouncers there for the last two weeks. I wanted to have a feel for the situation before we went in. Les, you want to tell us what you've found out."
"Honestly so far, not a hell of a lot. The bouncers that were already there aren't into trusting. Unless we do something to prove ourselves, they're not going to talk to us about shit." Ranger sighed and rubbed his temple.
"I was afraid of that. We'll work on a plan next meeting, for tonight let's just focus on getting Steph in place without any trouble." Ranger ended the meeting and led me into his office. He pushed me into the wall and leaned in to kiss me. Before my hormones could get the better of me, I held up a finger and shook it in his face.
"Uh, uh, uh, you'll mess up my make-up." The corner of his mouth tipped up a little, and he retreated to his desk. He grabbed a small box and handed it to me.
"Wire. Put it somewhere it won't be seen." I opened the box and realized RangeMan had been upgrading, because it was just a little circular sticker. I peeled it off its…base, and stuck it under my boob, giving Ranger a lovely show. "You gonna be ok with this job babe? If you're going to back out, do it now. Once you go in, you're it." I rolled my eyes.
"I'll be fine Ranger. Come on, I'll ride over with you." The ride was relatively quick and completely silent, with Ranger in his zone the whole way. He drove around back and parked near the side-entrance, next to the other two RangeMan vehicles
"Alright babe, I'm not going to go in with you, because I don't want people to realize we're working together. Go in the side door, Marco, the owner, will be waiting to show you everything, and Lester and Bobby will already be in there. If the Bouncers are working the place, then some of the other bartenders might be in on it too. You'll have to try to get in with them, which should be made slightly easier by the fact that Lester's sister is a bartender there and she agreed to help us out."
"I know my job, and are we sure Lester's sister isn't in on it?" He gave me 'the look.' I felt bad for insinuating his sister could be involved, but I had to be sure.
"We're sure. I didn't know if you'd take the job so I didn't give her your name, but as soon as you identify yourself as the new bartender she'll know who you are. You going to be ok in there babe?"
"I'll be fine Ranger, trust me, ok?" I said, pulling the trust card that we so rarely used.
"I do trust you babe. Time for you to go to work." He said with a small smirk, and I was sure he would be in before the night was over, if only to watch me dance. I slid out of the car, and headed to the side door. I had just opened the door when a short, balding, unattractive man grabbed my arm and started pulling me down the hallway.
"Your 5 minutes late, you need to go meet the other girls and get the feel for the place before we open at eight. Ranger tells me you've never bartended before, is that correct?" My eyebrows rose, just another little Stephanie Plum tid-bit the man of mystery didn't know.
"Actually, I was a bartender at a place similar to this all through college."
"Good, good," he said as we stopped outside door. "All the girls get ready in there, since you're already dressed you can just go in and meet the girls then go out front and see where everything is." He opened the door and gave me a nudge in, slamming it behind me.
"Uh, hi," I said, going to introduce myself, but I was cut off.
"Stephanie!" I heard from the corner and looked over, my eyes widening, "You're the new bartender! It's soo good to see you again." Jess ran over to me and threw her arms around me, giving me a hug. "Come on, I'll show you around." Once we were outside the door, and she had closed it she turned to me and gave me a smack on the shoulder.
"Why didn't you tell me you worked with my brother?"
"Brother?" I repeated dumbly, thinking about how the hell I was going to explain everything to Ranger and the guys that were undoubtedly listening through the wire I was wearing.
"Yeah, I'm Lester's sister."