Life's Challenges Ch3
I strolled into the café and spotted Camille and Celia at a table by the windows. I smiled and walked over, Ranger close behind with Alejandro in the back corner watching us.
"Celia! Cami how are you, baby?" I asked, lifting her in the air and bringing her down into my arms. She smiled and giggled when Celia made a funny look at Ranger. "Would you like to hold her?" I asked him
"Sure" he took her from me and started whispering to her in Spanish. He looked at me through the corner of his eye, smiling at me.
"I'm starved, hungry?" I questioned, sitting down at the table.
"Yea, me too. So how have you been Steph? We've missed you!" Celia said, smiling and ordering from the waiter.
"Good, I had to fly over to England yester week." She smiled at that. "Mom was harassing me, again. The same old 'Marry Joe, he's your last chance at happiness!' And I told her Bite Me or Kiss it, it was her choice. She did neither, I left, and well, Morelli… well, idiot. That sums us up!" I said, Celia looked at me, looked at Ranger, and then looked at me, stating:
"You're psychotic. You're insane, crazy, a lunatic, moron, not wired right! Something's off up there!" She exclaimed making a crazy sign at Ranger.
"I know" He stated, handing me Camille back.
"Why am I crazy?" I questioned.
"You stood up to the burg! No-one does that!" She exclaimed, "I bow down to you"
"Ha. What's been up with you?" I asked, sipping some water.
"Not much other than her." She said motioning to Camille.
"Well, this has been nice, but we've gotta fly! Love ya, Celia!" I said, hugging her and walking to my Porsche, placing Cami in the backseat, which had a carrier in it. I hopped in the passenger seat and Ranger drove us to the airport.
My phone rang from the bedside table; I recognized the ring, muttering
"Daggone stupid loud freaking phone!" I glared at the face on my screen: Lula.
She laughed, "Wassup girl? I'm down here in the little ole cabin, you?" She was referring to her house about a mile down the path from mine. I owned a little island off the coast Athens, and we loved to walk down to the other's house, or more like mansion, and swim.
"Well, you woke me up. I need to get Cami up, and get dressed and I'll be down. Seen Ranger?" I explained looking over at the other side of my bed, empty. Sheets cool.
"Yeah, he picked tank up and went to the unknowns…that would be 5:00 so, two hours ago." She announced, while I was trying to figure out a good way to kill Ranger for not waking me.
"Crap! I needed to be up then! It's seven! Good god! I have to go; can you watch Cami for a while?" I asked, flinging myself out of bed, as I ran to the closet, I scooped up Cami from her crib, and started dressing her, as I got my stuff together. She ended up more clothed than me. I was semi-dressed in a pink tank top, shorts, Nike running shoes, my iPod on my arm in an armband, a Glock at my back, knife at my right ankle, gun at my left, and a peachy jacket thrown over my shoulders, so I wasn't completely revealed, should Tank be home when I got there. Lula had told me she would be happy to take Cami while I was busy doing whatever, she didn't ask, and I told her I'd be there in ten. I slid into my Porsche, and drove Cami over on my lap. She started to grab the wheel and try to drive, but I laughed and stopped her before she could wreck the car. We arrived at 7:09, and Lula was laughing on the porch when we got there, staring at her iPad.
"Hey my adorable little niece!" She exclaimed, grabbing her and holding her up. "Tank and Ranger just went for a run. Said they'd be back in thirty."
"Thanks, I'm going to follow, know where they went?" I asked, putting my ear buds in and turning the iPod on.
"Yeah, went down that trail" she pointed. "You might be able to catch them, if you hurry"
"Thanks!" I ran off down the trail, and I could see where they had been running, so I knew I was getting closer. Pretty soon, I saw someone's foot go around the bend in the trail, and I sped up.
"Hey Ranger, Where's Tank?" I asked when I caught him, looking over at him.
"What?" He said, looking at me, "Oh hey, I'd thought you'd be in bed still."
"Tank. Lula said he was running with you" I rolled my eyes "I woke up twenty minutes ago." I said glancing at my watch.
"Yeah, he's up ahead." He said slowing down slightly. "I'm surprised you joined us."
"Don't worry about me. I can keep up." I smiled passing him and jumping a small ditch in the path. Tank had stopped bent over.
"You okay, Big Guy?" I asked, slowing to a stop.
"Why are you here?" He questioned, looking up at me.
"Morning run and these trails are beautiful." I said, bending to tie my shoe.
"I can see. But I'd think you were in bed still. Where's your child, anyway?" He asked, looking around. Ranger raised his eyebrow.
"Lula. See ya!" I started running again, only to be caught up with. I changed trails, "That one leads to the safe house, guest house, marina, and airport. Come on. This leads over to the beach." Ranger and Tank followed me, and we were at the beach in minutes. I took my jacket off ran down the beach, looking back to find Tank's eyes scanning me. "Cut it out!" I told him when I got back. "I'm going for a swim at the house. Ya'll comin?" They nodded, and I started walking down the trail.
"When did you start running, Bombshell?" I smiled.
"Right after I found out I was pregnant." I tied my jacket around my waist.
"What the..." I heard Ranger say; I looked up and saw my car racing by
"Crap!" I looked at the driver's seat, Lula. "Never mind, not my car… wait, Dammit!" I pulled my gun out and shot the tire when she raced by again. She jumped out and planted her hands on her hips.
"What was that for? Now I need this repaired!" Lula exclaimed. I walked over to the passenger side and kicked the tire.
"It's fine, I'll fix it, take it over to the garage." I looked in the window. "Where's Cami?" I asked.
"At my house" Lula said, like we were discussing how much we liked the beach.
"Why? She's alone?" I yelled, meanwhile Tank was trying to keep from getting hit or shot - I still had my Glock in hand. Ranger was just watching, arms crossed, until Lula said Cami was at home.
"No! Marie came to clean and restock, and she's watching her!" Marie was Lula's housekeeper.
"Yay, now, take it to the garage, I'll be there in thirty ish." She drove it off, kind of, down the paved road.
"Garage?" Ranger asked from behind me.
"Mechanic's garage. I can fix almost anything wrong with my cars." I slipped my hand into the pocket of my jacket and pulled out my Droid. I showed him a map of the island. "We're here, and the garage is here. I need to get there, but Ya'll can head back."
I pulled up to my house three hours later to find Ranger watching TV with Cami on his lap, rubbing her belly.
"I'm going upstairs to change, be right back." I told him, walking upstairs and stripping down. I changed into jeans, Nikes, a V-neck tee shirt, and pulled my hair into a ponytail. I walked back down and kissed ranger, slapping the back of Tank's head, getting his attention.
"I need to go to Athens, if Ya'll are comin, hurry up." I announced, Lula turning to me.
"Okay, you flying or taking the boat?"
"Flying." I said
"I'll ride. Where are you going?"
"I need to talk to my real estate agent and see how things are going, and my business has had some problems. I need to let him go. He tried to kill an employee." I said spitting the word. Lula winced when I said that
"Again?" She asked, getting up and walking with me through the door
"Yeah. I think he just needs to get his ass kicked." I said, shaking my head and leaning against a Lexus.
"Who is he?" Ranger asked, walking up and taking me in his arms, kissing me then walking to the passenger seat of the sports sedan.
"Ryan. He was my first employee, but he's gone psych since then." I explained, slipping into my car.
"Why is he here?"
"You think I'd torture Trenton with him? No, I sent him here so Liam could straighten him out. Apparently not." I parked the car by a hanger and walked in, a Cessna sitting at the ready. Lula followed me up the ramp and sat in the co-pilot's seat, checking with Athens' airbase to ensure we were clear to land when we arrived. Between the two of us, the checks where done in minutes and we were in the air within a half hour. I left Lula to pilot and strolled to see what ranger and tank where doing. Big surprise, they were silent.
"Bombshell, why Athens?" Tank asked.
"Beauty, Culture, and DFTCPIT" I said.
"What?" Ranger asked, looking up at me.
"Distance from the Crazy People in Trenton." I laughed. Lula laughed, too. "Who's driving the plane?" I asked, shoving past her and throwing myself in the pilot's seat. I had to pull the nose up quickly before we landed in the ocean. Muttering in French, I called Lula in. "You do know that we were about to be fish food, right?" I asked through clenched teeth
"No. I thought it had autopilot" She responded, sounding like goofy.
"Well congratulations, we almost where." I rolled my eyes and ten minutes later, we were in Athens.
"Liam! It's great to see you!" I said, running up to the blonde man with grey eyes and giving him a hug.
"Belle! How have you been?" He asked me, kissing my cheek.
"Great! Liam, you've heard of Ranger, and his right-hand man, Tank." I said, introducing the men.
"Welcome to Athens. I hope Belle doesn't overwhelm you." He greeted from behind his mirrored glasses.
"Belle?" Tank asked. Ranger was silent, but pulled me to his side.
"Beautiful in French. He always calls me that in French, instead of English to prevent the smart asses *Adam* from teasing." I explained. "Follow me inside. Liam, get Adam and Leo."
We moved into my two story office, and I gave them the tour. I started the dreaded walk to where Ryan would be working. Ranger stopped me on the way.
"Babe, you don't have to do this." He said, rubbing my arms.
"No I have to. He needs to get out before there's more trouble. Come on" I sighed and followed Liam to the base of operations where Ryan was on paperwork duties.
"Steph why are you here?" He growled.
"You know it's rude to attempt assassinations on Tuesday" I stated, lazily walking to Ally-the young woman he tried to kill.
"She wasn't listening to me! I'm her boss, She's my employee!" He argued, standing up and waving his arms, throwing paperwork in the air. Ranger moved to stop him, but I held my arm out.
"She is not your employee. And you are not her boss. She has no reason to listen to you… after all, you are just a supervisor. It's not like you do anything for her. Liam, how long has Ally worked for us?" I asked, slowly working my way to Ryan, who was now agitated beyond belief.
"Six months, I believe." He answered, leaning against the far wall near the panoramic windows to the street below.
"And Ryan how long have you known her?" I asked, moving past him to the windows, where a desk with a computer was resting. I started typing my master code and unlocked the laptop.
"Why does it matter?" He hissed, starting to come towards me.
"Curiosity." I felt him moving and turned just in time to land a punch on his nose, stunning him before he could possibly do anything else. "And these records show that you two are… fourth cousins! So you never met her? And you're abusing your cousin? That's low, Ryan. And if you haven't gotten the message, you're fired."
A/AN: I'm cursing myself for not updating, but school and life got in the way of writing, plus my fiction book started to inspire me more and more, so I'll try to get another update to you within the month!
JLRS
