Wrong Man at the Right Time
All characters except Stella and Trip Herzog belong to JE. I'm not making any money.
Chapter 7 - Ranger's POV
I had no idea what the hell was actually going on, I just knew that something wasn't right about the whole thing. Lester has been the epitome of a wild and free playboy all his adult life and Steph is deathly afraid of commitment. For one of them to suddenly decide to get married would be strange enough, but for both of them to suddenly decide to get married - to each other of all things - was over the top.
There had to be a reason, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what it was or if I just wanted to go far away and never think about it again. Even if I could find out the reason, it's not like I could stop them. It's not like I even had the right to try.
This single act of the two of them getting married was going to change everything. Stephanie, whether or not I was willing to admit it before tonight, was the main reason I'd stuck around in Trenton for so long after setting up Rangeman here. Usually, I set up a location and after it is up and running, I move on and scout out the next location for an office.
There would be no more stolen kisses in the alley by the bond office. No more sneaking into her apartment at night to watch her sleep on nights I needed to center myself. No reason to hope that someday I'd figure out a way she and I could be together. There would never be another night like the glorious night we'd shared in her bed. After all this time, I could still remember the details of that night, both large and small. The scent of her hair and body, the glazed look in her eyes when she let herself go. The way her curls trapped my fingers when I buried my hands in her wild hair. The way our bodies melded into a perfect whole. The realization I'd had that night that there would never be another who could take her place. At least not in any way that really mattered.
As the speedometer on the Porsche approached 106 mph, I tried to picture a life without Stephanie. I saw nothing but bleakness. An empty black hole that would tempt me to crawl inside and never come out. Nothing really mattered without Steph being there, even if we didn't have a real relationship. In my mind, we were a couple, just not in the traditional sense. In my mind, she was my reason for ... everything. Without Steph, my world was black and white. She brought not only color, but smiles and laughter and warmth. She made me feel a passion that was absent before I met her and would no doubt disappear with her out of my life.
When I saw the guardrail up ahead, I wanted nothing more than to crash my car through it and sink into the river below. I knew I couldn't to it though. I have a company that employs people who depend on me. My parents would be devastated and I'd already put them through enough over the years. But mostly, I couldn't do it because Stephanie would find a way to blame herself, and I couldn't let that happen.
I let off the accelerator and took the next exit so I could turn around and head back toward Rangeman.
An hour later, I was sitting at my desk, going through a pile of paperwork that needed to be taken care of before I could just up and leave town. It was after midnight when there was a sudden loud knock at my door and it flew open before I could say a word.
My head snapped up as Tank, my second in command, strode in without waiting for an invitation. He quietly slid into one of the leather chairs in front of my desk and crossed one leg over the other. He studied my face for a moment, neither of us speaking so much as a greeting.
Finally, Tank broke the silence. "What the hell is going on, man?"
"What are you doing here, Tank?" I asked him, without answering his question.
"Binky is on monitor duty tonight. He called me after you came in and said he could tell something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was. He thought I should know."
"Fuck Binky," I told him. How come no one minds their own fucking business any more?"
"Nice deflection," Tank threw back at me. "Now, you want to tell me why you came back to the office to do more paperwork at this time of night after already leaving for the day?"
I knew I could keep up the back and forth banter forever, but it was pointless and immature. As much as I hated people being in my personal business, Tank is my best friend, and I knew he'd find out eventually anyway. I tossed my pen on the desk and leaned back in my chair. "You gave Santos some time off?"
I could see the surprise on Tank's face at my choice of subject matter. "Yeah," he replied. "He has unused sick days and unused personal days. He asked for a few days off and since no one else is off or incapacitated at the moment, I told him it was okay. Why? Is there a problem I don't know about?"
"He tell you why he wanted the time off?"
Tank shook his head. "Nope. I didn't ask either. None of my business. I just asked him if everything was okay. He said that it was. I checked the schedule, told him it was no problem and he left. What the hell's going on, Ranger?"
"He's getting married," I ground out.
"What the fuck? Christ, Ranger, if I couldn't see the look on your face that you're desperately trying to cover up, I'd say you were pranking me. Lester's getting married? That's insane."
"You don't know the half of it," I told him.
Tank shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. He's not even seeing anyone in a serious way. As far as I know, he's never even had more than two or three dates with the same woman. Who the hell would marry that guy?"
"Stephanie," I blurted out.
For two minutes minimum, you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
"You're full of shit," Tank finally barked out. "That's not possible. Just two nights ago, at Shorty's, Lester was all over a waitress and Steph was there, laughing her butt off at him. There is no way our little girl would view Lester as marriage material."
I picked the pen back up off my desk and started flipping it back and forth between my fingers. Normally, I don't do nervous gestures, but this was too much, even for me. I knew Tank was waiting for a reply, but I was fresh out of comebacks and truthfully, I couldn't figure it out either. Nothing about the situation made sense.
"Ranger, you're serious, aren't you?"
"Serious as a heart attack. I pulled into her parking lot tonight as the two of them were getting ready to load her suitcases into Lester's SUV. They said they were leaving for Vegas to get married."
"Damn. This is fucked up, man. I can't believe Stephanie would willingly marry him. She couldn't even make herself marry the cop and the cop loved her."
I didn't bother to reply. The same thoughts had already raced though my head a dozen times since I'd left her standing there with Santos.
"What are you going to do about it," Tank demanded.
"There's nothing I can do about it. I asked her if this is what she wanted and she said it was."
"And you believe her?"
"Not entirely, but I don't have any authority over her, Tank. She's free to do as she pleases."
Tank scrubbed his hands over his face. "Man, I don't think I've been this stunned since I read the orders for our last mission and realized what the government wanted us to do." He paused then, trying to get a read on my face and mood. "You okay, dude?"
I almost rolled my eyes at his use of the word dude. Sometimes my men spoke like sixteen year old street kids. "When I finish here, I'm going off-line for a while. I'll be in touch."
I could tell he didn't like my answer, but he knew from past experience it was useless to object. "You'd better be in touch, man. The building I work in has the best men and equipment available. You try to get lost and I'll hunt you down myself."
I didn't feel like saying anything so I gave him a brief nod and he finally stood up and left me alone in my office.
Thirty seconds later, he stuck his head back in my office. "If he hurts her, I'll kill him," Tank spouted off.
"If he hurts her, I'll kill him before you even get wind of it," I promised him.
Tank nodded at the validity of my words and softly closed the door.
I was seriously running low on energy. It was as though the emotional impact had drained the life out of me. I had a headache from hell, my chest hurt and my throat was as dry as the desert. I hauled myself out of my chair and made my way to the break room to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator. When I got to the doorway of the break room, I heard a familiar squeaking noise.
I stepped inside to confirm what I'd heard, and sure enough, there was Rex, running on his wheel in his cage. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it with my own ears, but I swear, I choked back an anguished sob. My Babe was gone and she'd left us both behind. She'd be coming back for Rex, but she wouldn't be coming back for me. I turned and hurried from the room. Back at my office, I turned out the light, pulled the door closed and took the stairs at a dead run to the garage. I had to get out of here. Now.
I tore the tracker from the car and heaved it at the wall, then slid behind the wheel of the turbo and tore out of the garage. The biggest problem was, there was nowhere I wanted to go. Nowhere I wanted to be ... except in the arms of the woman I love and she was on her way to Vegas to marry someone else. How could this have happened? How could I have let it happen? Maybe it wasn't too late to stop them. Fuck! I had no right to stop them. I'd never once told her how I feel, not without adding a damn clause at the end of it. I had to be unique among men, I thought. A badass without a fucking spine!
I stopped at a liquor store and bought a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. I had to hassle with the owner because it was past the legal hour for selling hard liquor. Finally, $200 in cash changed his mind. I drove to Steph's apartment building. Her car was still there and her apartment was dark. It was really true. She was gone. I parked in the back of the lot and went inside, then took the stairs to the second floor. I easily picked her Toys R Us lock and stepped inside. I knew I shouldn't be here. I wasn't even quite sure why I was. I guess because it belonged to my Babe and it was a connection to her.
I settled myself on her couch and opened the bottle of Johnnie Walker, then flipped on the TV. For the next two hours I stared at CNN and drank myself into a stupor. Finally, I clicked off the TV and stumbled into her bedroom. My vision and coordination were off because of the drinking and it took me at least five minutes to get my fucking boots off. I collapsed back onto her bed and pulled her pillow close. I groaned as I breathed in her scent from the pillowcase. "I can't make it without you, Babe. My life is too dark and ugly when you're not around to make things better," I slurred into the pillow. I took a ragged breath, closed my eyes, and let sleep overtake me.
A/N Please review if you have a minute. I love reading all the comments. It's fun! So, what do you think Ranger will do next?
