My Fair Lady
aly
Six
She was surprised. I got out of bed and went to stand so close to her that she had to tilt her head back to look at me. Then my hands went to her hips, drawing her to me so that we were one, seamless line.
"I'm not leaving, Steph," I told her. "And from now on, I don't want you to, either." Her eyes opened a little bit more, like she wasn't sure I meant what I had said, like she wasn't sure she could believe I had said it.
"I always thought you wanted me to leave," she said, still confused and unsure of what was happening. "I didn't want it to be weird and I thought you wanted me to go."
"I don't want you to go in the morning anymore, Stephanie," I repeated for her. "I don't want you to go at all." She was going to say something else, continue the conversation. I love listening to her most of the time, I love watching her think something through. But just then, talking and thinking were not on my top ten list. I bent my head and took her lips with mine. By the time we broke apart, the list had become X-rated.
"Training?" she asked. Her voice was breathy and she was panting slightly. If she could still ask questions, then I obviously wasn't doing enough. Ranger, man, if you're not distracting her, you're not doing it right, came Tank's voice in the back of my head. Screw him. I got the girl.
"I'm officially giving us a day off," I told her before I went back to distracting her. And she didn't ask any more questions.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Ranger!" Tank bellowed as he pounded on the door. "Wake up! Get your lazy ass out of bed."
Stephanie was currently having a very good time with that ass, and I wasn't inclined to get out of bed.
"I don't think he knows about the day off, Ranger," she said. I couldn't see her, but I knew she was smirking. And she'd stopped what she'd been doing. I twisted us so I could see her face, and sure enough, there was a smirk. But she also looked apprehensive. She was still worried about me, and how I would react when Tank knew. I pulled her head to me and kissed her.
"Ranger!" Tank roared even louder.
She pulled away and giggled.
"Think we can drown him out babe?" I asked. She blushed.
"If you don't get out here, I'm gonna break the door," Tank yelled. I rolled my eyes and got out of bed, heading for the door. I didn't bother to look for my clothes. Stephanie scrambled for the sheets once she realized that I was going straight for the door. I didn't see why, she was beautiful. And while I don't share, I have no problem with flaunting.
I yanked the door open, catching Tank by surprise.
"Go away, Tank," I told him. "We have the day off."
He took in my lack of dress, Stephanie hiding under the sheets, and the various marks I had on me. We're a little aggressive in bed, Stephanie and I are. Between the two of us, there really isn't much we won't try. And we tend to leave signs of it. Scratches, bruises, bites, I think we even got rug burn this time. If you can get that from sheets. Maybe it's sheet burn. Tank just blinked, unsure of what his response should be for this scenario. Apparently, he'd thought we were just oversleeping. Silly him.
"Oh?" he asked.
"Yeah. Federal holiday," I smirked, shutting the door in his face. "Feeling noisy yet, babe?"
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Eventually, Steph was hungry enough to complain about it.
"No, Ranger," she said, slapping my hands away. "I'm hungry. I need food." I thought about convincing her otherwise, trying to see if I could. I knew how much she valued her food, but I was pretty sure that if I put my mind to it I could … distract her. But I was hungry, too.
"Fine, babe," I told her, rolling out of bed and grabbing my boxers and my gun. "Stay here. I'll be right back."
"Ten minutes, Ranger," she said. "I need at least ten minutes. I need to breathe, give myself a few minutes to recoup. Don't come back a second before."
I walked out of the room, shutting the door in case Tank walked by. Flaunting while I'm there to strut about it is one thing. Sneaking peaks while I'm not is another. I didn't have to worry; Tank was in the kitchen when I walked in.
"She finally kick you out?" he asked, smiling.
"No," I said with what I knew was a smug look on my face. "I was sent in search of fortification." He cocked his head, unsure of what I meant.
"She needs sustenance. For stamina," I told him. He laughed out loud and I grinned back at him.
I moved around the kitchen, grabbing some croissants from the bread box and butter and a chocolate spread from the fridge. I paused, getting orange juice and strawberries, as well the champagne I'd bought last time we'd gone to the store in town. There had been a nice local woman who'd pushed it on us. Now I blessed whatever foresight she seemed to have. I took down champagne flutes and a large serving plate.
Looking at the clock, I saw that the ten minutes was nowhere close to having passed. I leaned back against the counter, pouring myself a glass of the orange juice. In fact, I thought, if I ate my breakfast now, it would save time for later.
"So what," Tank smirked. "Don't you want to go back into the den of the beast? You need a break or something? "
"No," I said finishing off the juice and taking a croissant for myself. "She begged me for a breather." My mind was elsewhere, thinking of the not so distant future in the so-called den of the beast. And how not only would it save time if I ate out here, but when I went back in there, it would let me make her breakfast a much more erotic experience. Tank snorted and it brought me back to the present.
"What?" I asked. He didn't have time to answer me, though. Stephanie opened her door and peaked around the wall into the kitchen.
"Remember how I said I wanted ten minutes, Ranger?" she asked. I nodded.
"I changed my mind. Get back in here. And bring the food," she ordered, disappearing back into the bedroom. I scooped everything up and followed seconds later to Tanks booming laughter.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
We finally emerged sometime close to dinner. Tank was very, very glad that we did. Not only because it meant that he could finally shut off the radio, but because he was hungry. Tank has been banned from using stoves, ovens, toasters, microwaves, etc. in any and all of my properties and places of residence. He managed to set fire to three of them, using different appliances each time. One time, it had been while using a blender. I still don't understand how he'd managed that one. So now he can use the refrigerator and the freezer. Period. No, he cannot use the microwave. That was one of the three as well.
I started to throw something together, Stephanie sitting on the counter watching me and Tank leaning against the wall next to her.
"So," Tank had drawled. "Federal holiday, huh?" Stephanie blushed.
"Columbus Day," I told him. And it was, too. Tank chuckled. I wanted to bring something up, but didn't know how to start the discussion.
"I'd like you to move out of my bedroom, Tank," I requested. Or, I thought, instead of having a plan to start the conversation well, I could just blurt it out. After all, it was part of the master plan to move Stephanie in as soon as possible. So it's not like it was completely planless.
"And where would I move to?" he asked.
"Stephanie's room," I said. Obviously.
"Will she still be there?" he wanted to know. She smacked him on the back of the head. Hard enough for it to make a solid sounding thwack. Good for you, babe.
"No," was all I said. In the tone I'd used, it was probably all I'd need to say.
"Then no," Tank said. "Sorry, buddy, you're stuck with me."
"You're moving, Tank," I told him. It was not up for discussion, and that seemed to be all he wanted to do.
"No, I'm really not," he said without concern. He should have been concerned. People who piss me off tend to come out the other side of it worse for the wear.
"You're moving, and that's final."
"I said at the start I was rooming with you," he informed me. "And that's what I plan on doing." I stopped what I was doing with the food and looked at him.
"What are you doing, Tank?" I asked him. What I really wanted to know was if he still wanted to get into Stephanie's pants. That would be unacceptable. Actions would have to be taken.
"Not eating," he complained. Was he kidding me?
"Have you discussed this with Stephanie?" he continued on. "If I'm moving into her room, and she's moving out of it, where does that put her? On the couch? In your bedroom? Have you talked about this to Stephanie at all?"
I just stared and blinked for a few seconds, before shifting my eyes to the lady in question.
"Not as such, no," I admitted.
"So you were just going to move her in and you didn't even consider that maybe she doesn't want to? What if she wants her own space? What if she wants to spend a night without you making kissy faces at her." He was relentless. He was also grasping at straws, trying to get my goat. From the look on Stephanie's face, he was completely off base.
"Are you saying that if I talk to Stephanie about it, you'll move?" I wanted to clarify.
"No."
"Will any line of reasoning get you the hell out of my bedroom?" I asked.
"No."
"Then you better get ready for a lot of cold meals, because I won't be cooking anything you'll eat for quite a while," I threatened.
"That's why they have take-out," he retorted. I really didn't understand why he was being such an ass about this. I didn't understand why it was this about which he was putting up a stink. But he'd dug in his heels. Great.
"Tank," Stephanie asked. "Would it be alright if you and I switched out our sleeping arrangements? It really doesn't make sense for Ranger to have to go back and forth between his room and mine. And since we're two people, and Ranger's room is bigger, it makes more sense if we have that room. So is that ok with you? I would really appreciate it."
Tank smiled and shook his head.
"Sure, darlin'," he said. "Whatever you want."
"Thanks," she said, kissing him on the cheek before jumping off the counter and wrapping her arms around my waist. She smiled at me and kissed my neck, just below the point where it meets my chin. Right next to the spot where I had a pretty sizable bruise. I started to wonder how the kitchen counter would do and if she was into exhibitionism at all…
"I'll go start packing," she said and flounced out of the kitchen.
I just stood there, looking back and forth between Tank and the doorway Steph had used, unsure of what had just happened.
I'd told Tank to move. He'd refused. Steph had asked. He'd agreed.
Yes, I was confused. Very, very confused. So I went back to making dinner.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
A few days had passed since the moving thing had happened. A few tense days between Tank and I. It seemed as though Tank thought the balance of power had shifted since I'd moved Stephanie into the master bedroom. Tank seemed to think it meant I'd gone soft or that he now had the upper hand. He thought wrong.
We were on the mat with Stephanie, trying to show her a rather complicated move. She was trying, but couldn't quite grasp what I wanted her to do.
"Show me?" she demanded. "Just show it to me, and maybe I'll finally fucking get it." Then she sat at the edge of the mat, obviously planted until she got a demonstration.
I was still looking at Stephanie, about to say something encouraging when I saw Tank move out of the corner of my eye. I spun and blocked, turning back to him completely to meet his attack head on. I'd known that the situation between us was going to boil over at some point; I hadn't thought it would be so soon.
He came at me and I used his momentum to keep it from connecting completely, but we both went flying. It was vicious, the two of us rolling around that mat. Neither of us were being careful, neither of us were pulling our punches.
"What's the matter, Ranger?" Tank goaded. We were still weaving and dodging, landing something now and again.
"You wanna start this?" I asked.
"She got you so whipped you can't even talk the talk anymore?" he sneered.
"Oh, I can talk the talk. You should stick to silence. You shouldn't have said that shit to Stephanie last week. I don't share," I said as I landed one to his gut. "Ever. You know that, you bastard. And you're not going to be good to her. Not while I'm around. She's mine, and nobody messes with what's mine."
He got in some good shots; I got in more. I'm not sure how long it would have lasted or how hurt either of us would have been at the end. Why? Because it was ended for us. Neither of us noticed Stephanie yelling at us. We didn't notice her grab something off the shelf. We didn't notice when she approached us. And we didn't notice when she put us down. Neither of us knew what hit us until we woke up.
"Babe?" I called groggily. "Babe?"
"I'm here, Ranger," she said. She was sitting next to my left shoulder, running her hand over my forehead and through my hair. I was splayed flat on my back.
"What happened?" I asked. I didn't understand what was going on. The last thing I remembered was fighting with Tank, and then I woke up on the mat.
"I stunned you," she replied calmly.
"What?" I let out something of a strangled sound. It might have been construed as a word.
"I stunned you," she said again.
"Why?"
"You were hurting each other," she said, this time with anger. "You were just hurting each other, and I needed you to stop. It was stupid – it wasn't going to solve the problems between you two. And there was no end in sight. So I took matters into my own hands." I blinked.
"Tank?" I asked.
"Woke up a minute before you did," she told me. "You won't get any help from that corner. I already yelled at him and sent him to his room."
"You… What?" Suddenly, I wasn't sure I hadn't hit my head on something. This whole situation was surreal. Stephanie had stunned us. Sweet Stephanie had gotten into the middle of our brawl, and stunned us. She'd stunned me. And she'd sent Tank to his room. Surreal.
"Are you ok?" she asked. "Do you hurt anywhere?"
"Other than having been fried by a couple thousand volts a few minutes ago, I'm fine," I told her. So I was a little bit angry myself. I think I had a right to be. She'd stunned me. And Tank. But she'd stunned me. Me.
Her hand paused where it was stroking my cheek.
"Get the fuck over it," she snorted. "It would have been worse if I'd let you two morons beat the hell out of each other."
It would have been harsh if I hadn't looked at her face and seen the concern, the worry etched into her features. I covered the hand on my cheek with my own.
"Come on," she said. "Let's get you to our room. I need to make sure you're ok."
"Gonna play nurse, babe?" I asked.
"No," she said. "I'm mad at you right now. Maybe later." I felt my eyebrows lift up in surprise.
"Are you kidding me?" I asked her.
"No. I need to make sure you really aren't hurt. Tank thinks he has a concussion and I wouldn't be surprised if his ribs are bruised. For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if yours were, too. Now get up and march, mister." And I did. Well, I got up and headed for our room. I couldn't march; I was pretty sure Steph was right and my ribs were in fact bruised.
So maybe Tank had been right after all. The balance of power had shifted, but not to him. It seemed as though Steph had it, now, and neither of us could figure out how it had happened, or how we could get it back.