Ch 7
Ranger went home that evening sure that he'd felt some real and deep emotion at the restaurant. Could it have been jealousy? Nah, he didn't know what that emotion was. Or did he?
Lula and Tank were back on and he was pleased for them. They were a formidable, if somewhat scary concept, but he could see them working out their differences. Hell, Lula had even agreed to work round the cat thing.
He peeled his clothes off and laid them neatly on the chair in the corner of the room. He looked at his bed, wishing it wasn't so empty. Perhaps he was feeling regret. Another emotion?!? He blinked. If he hadn't sent Steph back to Morelli, would she have been there with him? He didn't think he'd ever know.
He quickly slid between the sheets but sleep evaded him for most of the night, finally he drifted off and dreamt of curls.
o0o0o0o0o
Steph went home. She didn't know what else to do. She'd had a really nice time at the restaurant and then Joe had spoiled it all. She knew she was being hasty but somehow it felt right to have finally split up with him. He'd been a comfortable and relatively stable part of her life for over two years now, but they hadn't been going anywhere and the penny had dropped this evening.
Joe would always spend his life wondering whether Ranger was more than just her friend. What if she'd gained a new friend. Would Joe do the same thing with that friendship too? No, this evening's fight had hurt, but it was finally over and she could now work out what she wanted without any guilt. Morelli had always made her feel guilty but it was only during this last fight that she'd finally realised it. Tomorrow was another day, to borrow a phrase from someone, she couldn't think who, but it was true. She would start to move forward tomorrow. Perhaps she'd even work out where she was headed too.
She smiled as she stepped out of her dress which was soon joined on the floor by her other clothes. She and put on a t-shirt and panties and slid between her sheets, wondering about Tank and Lula. She was asleep in seconds.
o0o0o0o0o
Lula was in the office showing off her beautiful engagement ring to Connie when Steph strolled in the next morning. They were both cooing and Steph leaned in to look. The ring was perfect for Lula – sparkly and massive.
Steph took hold of Lula's hand and moved her fingers to make the stones shine and sparkle. "Fabulous", she cooed. "It is so you. Set a date yet?" she said, inwardly cringing, remembering the last 'engagement'.
"Tankie thought about Christmas – we could theme it an' have snow an' all. I thought we could have a sledge and little Elves too. Oh, maybe not the Elves thing the last lot were freakin' scary."
Steph laughed, she felt so pleased for her friend. She knew it would become the biggest, loudest most mad wedding in the history of the world and she was happy because she knew that this time Tank would be involved in her plans, rather than frightened of them.
"Ladies, we need to do some shoppin', I mean real shoppin'. I need a dress and you need dresses – will ya be my bridesmaids? Pleeeze?" she continued, begging.
"Of course!" Connie and Steph said in unison and all three of them burst into fits of giggles.
At that moment the air temperature changed, or at least a cold breeze wafted across Steph's back and the hairs on her neck stood up. Lula and Connie stopped mid whoop and they all turned to see an amused Ranger standing in the door and looking at them.
"So, what hardware did he buy you then?" Ranger asked. Lula nervously put her hand out and Ranger took it. A 200 watt smile lit up his face. "Perfect" he said as he let go and carried on across the room to Connie's desk.
The girls all looked at each other with confusion on their faces. Was this Ranger? Weird.
"Any files for me today?" He asked still with a slight smile on his face.
Connie said no and he turned to walk out empty handed. As he went past Steph he slid his hand onto her neck and said "Babe, outside" before gently pushing her out of the door.
Before she knew it they were in the ally and she was against the wall. Ranger leant in and began to kiss her. She returned the kiss and laced her fingers through his soft, silky hair. Their bodies were so close you would not have been able to get a hair between them. He pulled back and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm working on the guilt thing" she said by way of an explanation and pulled him back onto her, initiating a mind blowing kiss. It was several minutes before either of them came up for air.
Steph smiled at him, pushed him off her and returned to the office.
Ranger turned back to his car and got in, deep in thought before speeding off to conquer the world.
o0o0o0o0o
Ranger sat in the park and contemplated his life. What did he have to show for it?
Pots of money – more than he could ever spend.
A profitable and expanding business.
Scores of employees.
A huge Cuban family.
Not bad.
Three friends – all of whom worked for him. Tank, Bobby and Steph were the only people outside of his immediate family that weren't frightened of him.
Crap!
Not good.
He wanted more.
He'd been sitting there for over an hour before the realisation hit him. He wanted people to like him, want to spend time with him, feel a connection other than fear. He'd read something somewhere a long time ago and it flitted into his consciousness "...all that matters in the end is that you were truly loved..." He wanted to be more like her – she was loved, she was kind and had a big heart (mental head slap – duh! As if he could achieve this!).
Ranger realised that he hadn't done a mental anything as his eyes had just watered where the heel of his hand had smacked against his forehead.
"I'm finally losing it" he thought, darkly.
He could see it now – finally killed on a black ops mission (he made a mental note to check his contract with his lawyer on THAT one) his headstone would read:
"Here lies Ranger, a dark knight, perhaps?"
Not good.
A plan formed in his head and he set off quickly back to his car. Could he do this? Could he speak to someone who had formed Stephanie Michelle into a Plum? He hooked out his mobile phone as he drove. Before he had a chance to change his mind a voice on the other end said "hello, Plum residence"
"Hi Sir, can I pop over, there's something I need to speak to you about. Are you alone?"
"Yes, son. The others won't be back for another hour or so" came the bemused reply.
It was now or never, he thought. Another emotion erupted. This one he knew well - Fear.
His stomach lurched.
