Thank you to everybody who took time to read and review this story. As promised here is the next chapter. The standard disclaimers apply, not mine except the ones from my brain.

Lester and Staci's Story

Chapter 2

The next morning her boss, Darrin McDaniels picked her up to take her to work, he hadn't seen the damage to the parking lot but knew the building was okay. They rode to work in silence part of the way, finally he asked her what she was going to do for transportation. She told him she had some money saved but not nearly enough to buy a decent used car that wouldn't be a problem all the time otherwise she had no clue.

He told her about a friend of his that had a car for sale and the car was in good shape just a lot of miles. Darrin suggested after work he could take her to look at it. Eventually, he asked her why she was at the restaurant after closing. She told him about her date and how she met Lester. Darrin was old enough to be her dad and had taken Staci under his wing. He was happy for her but told her to be careful, he had heard a lot of horrible stories about the men from Rangeman being thugs. She told him that wasn't true or at least with Les it was not true and went on to tell him how Les had treated her the night before. Deep down Darrin hoped she was right and wouldn't get her heart broken.

At promptly eight oh five, Lester pulled up to the drive-thru, "Good morning Les, your regular?"

"Yes Sweet Pea."

He came around to the window to pay and asked her how she was doing and how was she getting home. Since there was a line of other customers behind him Staci told him quickly about Darrin's friend and the car. Lester offered to go as well. He really wanted to spend time with her and try to be helpful. Staci told him what time she should be done today and he could go with them to see the car.

Her day moved fast and quitting time was rapidly approaching, Staci looked out into the dining room and saw Lester. She walked out to where he was sitting and spoke to him before starting to clean the tables for the end of the day cleaning.

When everybody was done with clean up Staci and the rest of the staff exited out the employee door. Staci told Darrin she would ride with Lester and they would follow him to see the car.

Darrin pulled up in front of his friend's house with Les and Staci following. Somebody else was looking at the car for his kid. Lester noticed money exchanging hands, the car was sold before Staci got a chance to even look at it. They got out of the car to follow Darrin.

His friend Al spoke up, "Sorry Bro, I already sold the car."

"I saw. Hopefully you got good money out of it. Staci's burnt last night."

"Oh man, I am sorry, I thought you were just wanting another to toy around with."

Staci and Lester left Al and Darrin to their conversation. They still needed to work on finding Staci something to drive to work. She asked him to stop somewhere so she could get a newspaper and check the classified ads, while she was at it she could look for another job as well. With her financial situation being what it was the second job looked more like a necessity, if nothing else she could possibly work the extra job through the holidays.

"I can see gears grinding. What are you thinking?"

"With this car purchase I am going to have to get another job at least through Christmas. Even if it is only a few hundred dollars it will help."

"How much do you have to put down on a car?"

"Twenty five hundred is it. Then I need to keep the payment less than a hundred and fifty a month."

"How about I help you pay for a car?"

"Absolutely not. I don't know you that well to be indebted to you and you don't know me."

"I want to and I am not worried about the money, I can afford it."

"Well I am worried about the money. Like I said, I don't want to be indebted to you."

"Let's see what we can find online." He wasn't giving up on helping her pay for a car.

Meanwhile back at Rangeman, Stephanie had forgotten about the background report she had pulled on Staci the night before. She knew what had happened to Staci's car since she had been there. Ranger wanted her to see that other people had bad car karma not just her. What she found on the report shocked her and surprised her.

As Steph continued reading, she absently rubbed her neck and mumbled to herself. "Babe, why are you mumbling?"

She shook her head in disbelief and handed him Staci's background check, "Read her background report. She has had a terrible life."

Ranger read the report and shook his head, "I think she deserves a break but why did you run a background check on her?"

"I thought if Lester was going to go out with her it might be nice to know a little more about her. Besides you know me, I'm nosy, she isn't the first I have ran a report on."

Lester was thinking Staci might be good as a receptionist at Rangeman. Ranger had been thinking about hiring someone to work nothing but the phones. He made the decision to talk to Ranger about it when he got to the office.

On the way back to her house Lester stopped at Pino's to buy a pizza, he was off for the rest of the day and maybe they could find her a car and get it bought before the evening was over.

After they ate, they quietly sat on the couch looking at cars. She found a couple she liked that she could afford but Lester didn't care for them. He wanted her in something safer as he put it. A bigger SUV was what he wanted her in but there was no way her budget could afford the payments, the fuel and insurance for it.

Deciding he couldn't wait, Lester stepped outside to make a phone call. "Yo."

"Have you given any more thought to hiring a receptionist?"

"Yes, why?"

"What are the requirements for the position?"

"The usual except the person will not have to carry a gun or go out in the field."

"Remember last night the woman with the burnt car, Staci. She needs a better paying job so she can afford to replace the car."

"Have her come in and fill out an application."

Lester then heard the customary click where Ranger hung up the phone. He went back in the trailer and sat back down beside Staci.

"Sweet Pea, I may have a solution to your problem."

"Lester, I cannot take money from you. Please stop suggesting it."

"No Sweet Pea, how about a different job, one with benefits and good pay?"

"Yeah Les, those drop out of the sky everyday," she said with a sarcastic and snippy edge to her voice.

"No, I am serious, Rangeman is looking for a receptionist, you don't have to carry a gun nor are you out in the field. It would be a desk job."

"Okay, tell me more."

"It would be mostly Monday through Friday, oh eight hundred to seventeen hundred, an hour for lunch, full medical benefits effective upon hire including vision and dental, 401k with employer match. Plus I would try to get you use of a company car until you save up enough for your own. You would have access to a gym and would be required to work out a minimum of four days per week. I don't know what it pays per hour, but I am sure it is a whole lot better than what you are getting now and what you would get if you worked a second job."

"I'll go over there tomorrow. Can you pick me up from work?"

"Absolutely," he said before placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

He wanted to take it slow with her and truly get to know her. She was going to be special in his life, he knew it. There was an innocence about her like what Steph had when he first met her. Steph had turned out to be a light in Rangeman's world or Ranger's to be precise. Now, Lester would like to have his own light.

She had no clue how she was going to get to work in the morning, she hadn't asked Darrin to come get her and she didn't want to put Lester out with the time she had to be at work. Still looking online, she found a small SUV that might make Les happy. He read about the SUV before deciding if he felt it would be okay.

"Lets go look at it," he finally spoke.

It was in her price range and was a Dodge Durango something she liked. She told him she needed to take Daisy for a quick walk since she was at the door doing the doggie version of the potty dance. While she was gone, Lester checked his billfold, two grand was in it. Between what she had to put down and what he had on him, the SUV could be paid for in full when they left. He knew she would have the job at Rangeman, Ranger wore a blank face usually but his voice was Ranger's tell, it told him what he needed to know, he would hire her.

When Staci got back with Daisy, Lester asked her if she was ready to go. 'Lucky Eddie's Used Car Emporium' was on the other side of Trenton which made Lester leery about the place, it wasn't in the best business district of town. The longer he thought about where it was, kept him from holding out a lot of hope on the SUV being much. Luckily for him, he had his guns on him so he could protect them if the need was to arise.

They spotted the SUV before pulling on the lot. Just as Lester feared, it wasn't much and they wanted too much money for it. The price was to be expected since 'Lucky Eddie's' was a buy here pay here lot and most of the cars compared to Steph's Nova she had at one time. These places fed on people like Staci who didn't have a lot of money and didn't make a lot of money either. He looked the SUV over and gave her his opinion of it.

"Lets walk away, we will get you back and forth to work the next few days until you can get on with Rangeman then you won't have any financial troubles again."

"Les, I cannot rely on you or Darrin to get me back and forth to work, it isn't fair to either one of you."

"Sweet Pea, I cannot let you buy that SUV in good conscience. It is not worth what they are asking and just by looking it over, I can see it has some problems. Some of those problems are going to be major problems in a short amount of time like the oil leak at the valve covers. Lets keep looking. As far as going back and forth to work, I am up usually at oh four hundred."

She finally agreed to keep looking. There were a few other dealerships they stopped at as they made their way towards Rangeman. Lester knew the sooner she filled out the application the sooner Steph could start the background check on her. She would need to interview with the core team and Steph before being hired. He wouldn't be allowed to interview her since he had referred her and was trying to start a relationship with her.

Lester stopped his car on the street at Rangeman and came around to her door to open it for her. She asked if this was the Rangeman building and he told her it was. He escorted her in the front door and retrieved an application for her as they went to the conference room on the second floor. While she was working on the application he sent a quick text to Ranger and Steph that Staci was here and where to find her. A few minutes later they walked into the room.

"I don't think I properly introduced you last night. Staci Martin, this is Ranger and Stephanie Mañoso. Ranger, Steph this is Staci."

Ranger had his usual blank face on, but Steph glowed as Lester noticed. He was impressed that they would've left the penthouse since they were in the midst of being intimate or had just finished.

"Lester said you are interested in the receptionist job," Ranger mentioned while keeping the blank face.

"Yes, I am. As you may remember my car burnt to the ground the last night and a better job would mean a better car and better life for me."

"It would be nice not to be basically the only woman working in the office," Steph chimed in. "Ella is great don't get me wrong but, I don't get to see her often."

"So you have not found another car yet?" Ranger quizzed.

"No, not yet. I have looked at a couple, one was sold before I got there and the other was on a buy here pay here lot. Lester said it had some problems and to steer clear of it. Plus he didn't like the fact it was on that kind of lot, he felt they take advantage of people. He is right they do."

"Sweet Pea, have you finished the application?"

She handed it to Lester who in turn passed it to Stephanie. Steph began looking it over right then and a smile broke out across her face.

"You have had some interesting jobs over the years," Steph commented.

"Yes I have, but I have done what I had to in order to survive."

"I understand what you mean. Before I came on here full time, I rolled in a lot of garbage."

Ranger watched the exchange between the two women and noticed an instant bond between both. They had endured a lot of obstacles and over came them. If he read Steph right, she approved. Ranger went on to tell Staci of the job requirements, benefits, and pay rate. She was impressed to say the least.

"We do require you to be physically fit, but since you will always be in the building and not doing field work, you can skip proving yourself with a gun," Ranger explained to her.

"Thank you."

"When Ranger and I go back upstairs, I will start your background check. If that is good we will set up an interview time."

"It was a pleasure meeting you both."

Staci turned to Lester after the couple left and smiled at him. He could see the relief and appreciation in her eyes.

"Les, I need to get home, I have to get some sleep."

Lester handed her the keys to his Challenger that he had been driving earlier. "Take it home so you can get to work in the morning. I will get it after you get to work."

She looked at him bewildered, "I can't take that car home, it is way to expensive for me to drive. What if I wreck it or someone steals it?"

"It is insured. The way I see it, you have two choices, take the car so you can get to work or I go to your place to stay for the night so I can take you to work. Which do you want?"

That was probably the toughest choice she had had all day. "Who is sleeping on the couch because I'm not driving that car."

He smiled at her comment. "Let me grab a go bag."

Lester left her in the conference room while he went to his apartment on four then went to the fifth floor.

"Lester, we got the report on Staci," Stephanie called out to him. "You would not believe what is in it." Lester began to immediately get defensive and worried too. "It is nothing criminal, but it is about her life and things that had happened in it," Steph added.

"What is in it?"

"Just read the report."

Lester took a few minutes to look the report over. He understood why she didn't want to talk about her childhood. She had been given a tough hand and she had made it through. There in black and white he learned about Staci's life and why she had been reluctant to talk about it. The report read that she had been in and out of foster care since she was thirteen after her father killed her mom and brother. She got lucky because she was staying with a friend that night he came home drunk as the social worker once told her and had notated it in her file. After that incident the extended family turned their back on her, none of them offered to take her in. She ended up bouncing around in the foster care system until she was eighteen.

His mind flashed back to what he had first felt, sympathy for her but it turned to admiration for the tough life she had led and how she was doing now. Somehow, he was not surprised about the information in that file even though she hadn't told him.

On Lester's way back down to the conference room, Bobby got on the elevator with him.

"I heard we are getting a receptionist."

Lester nodded, "Her name is Staci Martin."

The doors opened and Lester stepped off, Bobby followed.

"I'm suppose to arrange a time to give her a physical and go ahead an interview her."

This was going faster than Lester even imagined, but he was glad. They walked in the conference room together. "Staci Martin this is Bobby Brown, he will be the one giving you your physical and you also have to interview with him."

He took her hand and kissed the back of it, "Pleasure to meet you Staci."

"Likewise. When do you want to do the physical and interview?"

"Physical we can do tomorrow if you are available, I'd personally like to do the interview now."

"I can do the physical tomorrow, I get off from my job about two-thirty, I can come over after that. Lester, would you be able to go let Daisy out for me tomorrow if I come straight here? She always has to go as soon as I get home."

He nodded a simple yes. "I'll bring you here and then go over there."

"What questions do you have for me Bobby?"

His interview was surprisingly short. He asked about her work history and then a few questions on her goals. Finally he asked how she had met Les. She told him how they had met at a drive thru window with a huge smile on her face. Tomorrow during her physical he would ask more questions she guessed, but she felt she had passed his questions so far with flying colors. And if the look on Lester's face was any indicator she was right, flying colors.

After Staci finished her interview with Bobby she thanked him for his time and told him she would see him tomorrow. He in turn told her it was a pleasure to meet her and kissed the back of her hand again before leaving the room.

"Wonder who else I have to interview with?"

"Tank will be here in a minute. He will be the toughest outside of Ranger. You got lucky with Ranger, Steph being with him he went easier on you than he does most people," Lester said.

Tank walked in the room, she understood why he was called Tank. She was the size of a gnat compared to him. Lester spoke up and introduced them to each other, he was shocked when Tank took Staci's hand and kissed the back of it like Bobby had done. She was hired, he knew it with the way the others had treated her. Beautiful had gotten her way. She may be married to Ranger, but she had all of us wrapped around her little finger, he thought. None of us can tell her no.

Tank talked to Staci for a while asking her questions he knew would show up on a background report, she answered them without hesitation. After another thirty minutes of his interrogation, he finally finished. As soon as he walked out the door, Ranger and Stephanie walked back in.

"Your background check is back already. There wasn't much in it, which is good. How long do you need to give on a notice at your current job?" Stephanie said while smiling from ear to ear.

"I would like to give them the customary two week notice. But Darrin has been known to let people go as soon as they give their notice."

"Wait until after your physical tomorrow then give him your notice."

"That sounds fine. I can do that."

"Sweet Pea are you ready to go home?"

She smiled at him, "Yes, I am." She turned to Ranger and Stephanie, "Thank you for this opportunity I appreciate it very much."