Wow, some very strong opinions out there. Thank you everyone who has reviewed and let me know what you like and don't like and what your think of the situation.

Chapter 4

Another week passed and the only Merry Men I saw for any longer than a passing wave, were Bobby and Tank. Both times out of their standard black uniform. And both times they were reluctant to help me out at first. They had to check their schedules and get back to me. A far cry from the days, just a couple weeks ago, when they would racing each other to come meet me on location.

Thursday afternoon, I decided to take the afternoon off fruitlessly chasing skips to wind down with some retail therapy. I was in Macy's walking the shoe department in heels I would never even consider buying when a Merry Man emerged from the word work, or sprang up from the carpet or something. I certainly didn't see him approach before he was directly in front of me in, giving my feet and ankles a very appreciative nod.

"I like," he informed me. "You should wear them every time I see you."

"You should turn around so I can implant on in your ass," I countered, crossing my arms over my chest and looking him up and down. Once again, I was confronted with a Merry Man out of uniform. Lester was sporting a pair of black slacks and a dark blue v-neck sweater with the sleeves pushed up his forearms. My ovaries did a flip at the sight and I had to remind myself that this was crude-mouthed Lester I was staring at, not smooth and suave Ranger.

He let out a chuckle. "I've definitely had worse threats than that." Turning from me, he started down the aisle behind me, trailing his hand along several choice pairs of CFMs, not doubt imagining how they'd look on me. It really was sick, sometimes. "So what's with the shopping?" he asked. "I thought you would have been out beating the streets to bring in your next skip?"

Leaning against the shelves so I didn't fall on my ass while I stepped out of the super high stilettos, I sighed. "I was, but there's only so many doors I can stand to have slammed in my face in one day."

"That bad, huh?" he asked, holding up a pair of lavender pumps for my consideration. I studiously ignored him while I pulled my ratty sneakers back on. "I've got the rest of the day free if you could use some assistance."

"Your day off?" I asked pointedly.

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason," I assured him, hitching my purse a little higher on my shoulder. "I've got the file in the car if you really wanna tag along."

We were heading down the street, our destination the coffee shop on the corner where my skip's brother worked. I'd tried contacting the guy at his home earlier, but the roommate had literally slammed the door in my face. I was lucky my noise wasn't broken.

Lester had been teasing me for the last hour and a half about nothing in particular. He was informing me that my hair looked almost like a Pomeranian in the back where the humidity had gotten to my messy bun, when my phone trilled out the batman theme song.

"Yo, batman," I greeted, a laugh still on my chest as I batted Lester's hand away from my head.

"Yo yourself, Babe," he replied, and I could tell he was smiling. "Listen, I'm sorry I didn't get your message earlier, I was in a meeting and-."

I shook my head, even though he couldn't see me. "Oh, no, that's okay I got L-" Lester was in front of me shaking his head and making cut motions under his chin. Perplexed, I immediately changed what I'd been about to say mid-word. "Llllaaazy and decided to leave it for another day." At least it wasn't a total lie. I had intended on leaving it for another day, until Lester came along.

"Put Lester on the phone, Babe," Ranger requested.

Lester was mouthing stuff and making all kinds of wild gestures that were distracting me, but I got the overall message. He didn't want Ranger to know that he was with me. "I don't know what you're talking about," I said into the phone, sending Lester a what the fuck look. "I'm not with Lester..."

Ranger's voice was flat. "I'm looking at both your phone trackers right now."

Two weeks it's been since he's given me the time of day, and now he's called and almost immediately asked for Lester? Not cool. "If you wanted to talk to Lester why didn't you call him?" I demanded.

"I wanted to talk to you," he insisted.

I just lost it. I was sick of him treating me like I didn't matter. I thought he was different and then this. "THEN WHY ARE YOU ASKING ABOUT LESTER?" I yelled. "IM NOT EVEN WITH HIM RIGHT NOW!" And hung up. It was the first time I'd ever hung up on him, but I just couldn't handle the way he was freezing me out.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked Lester, tossing my phone back in my bag to be forgotten for all I cared.

Lester raised one shoulder in a half shrug. "I may or may not have put itching powder in Rangers gym clothes?"

And the prize for the least convincing performance goes to… "Nice try," I said, shaking my head. "Not even you are that stupid."

He sighed loudly, shoulders dropping back down to below their natural position. "Okay, I'll level with you," he said heavily. "Ranger's made some decisions lately that I don't agree with. I let him know. And you know how he feels about people telling what he's doing wrong."

"You're so stupid."

Lester chuckled. "You only just realised this now?"

"You do a god job of hiding it," I informed him, adding as an afterthought, "Most of the time. But it doesn't explain why you wouldn't want Ranger to know that you're with me. Are you supposed to be somewhere else right now?"

"No. It's my day off, like I said. That's why I'm not in black cargoes and combat boots."

"Just like Bobby was on his day off, so he was in sweats. And Tank was done for the day, so he was in jeans. But I've never seen you all out of uniform so often."

Lester's head snapped around from where he'd been staring off at something down the street. "Hold up," he said, holding up a hand to slow me down, though I wasn't going anywhere. "You've been seeing Bobby and Tank?"

"Uh," I uttered, confused. "It's not like I've been dating them or anything, but, yeah. Was I not supposed to?"

"Oh-ho-ho," he crowed, his face lighting up with joy. "Just wait til I tell-"

"Tell who?" I interrupted. "Ranger? I thought you were fighting with him? And why would me hanging out with Bobby and Tank be news for Ranger?"

"Because we're not supposed to be."

"What?!"

Talking quickly now, in an attempt to stem my tirade before it happened, Lester explained, "Ranger named you a liability and informed us in no uncertain terms that we were not to help you on company time or while wearing the uniform, and we were not to use company resources. He even made us sign a contract to that effect."

"WHAT?!" That was definitely not what I was expecting.

"Did I speak too fast?" he questioned, and I had a feeling he honestly thought that could have been the reason. "My high school English teacher always marked me down on my speeches because I spoke too fast and she couldn't catch everything I was saying."

"Ranger forbid you from helping me?!" I demanded, getting him back to the situation at hand.

"Oh," Lester uttered, looking a little uncomfortable as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "So you did catch it. Yeah, he had a meeting with the lawyers and accountants and such and they advised him to cut ties if he wanted the business to continue to succeed.

"Cut ties…"

"Yep. And he clearly didn't mention it to you… Are you okay?"

I shook my head, suddenly understanding why he'd been avoiding me the last couple of weeks. I didn't know what was worse, that he'd told his men to leave me alone because some accountant said it cost too much to help me, or the fact that he himself had not informed me of this decision. I might have been alright with it if he'd let me know what he was doing, and I certainly would have stopped asking the guys to give me a hand. I didn't want them to get in trouble.

Then there was the fact that he was avoiding me outside of professional fields as well. He was supposed to be my boyfriend, the one person in the world who supported me no matter what – apart from my parents, and we all knew how good a job they did at it. I guess it was just the story of my life.

"He doesn't want me around anymore because I'm ruining his success. I'm tarnishing his good name with my accident prone ways," I muttered.

Lester wrapped one arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. "If it makes you feel any better, this is what our disagreement was about," he assured me. "That's why I'm helping you right now. That's why the others have been helping."

"You're going against your boss for me?" I was surprised I hadn't started the water works yet. It felt like my life was falling apart while I stood here on the sidewalk.

"He wrote the loopholes in," Lester shrugged. "We'd be stupid not to use them."

I shook my head, suddenly feeling like my entire existence was useless. "You should have been stupid."

That's all I have for the moment. I'll try to get more done over the weekend for next week.