Disclaimer: JE's characters—my version.
Author's Note: I am so so sorry it has been so long! The first couple weeks have been intense for this semester… Plus I have been house hunting with some friends. So lots going on—but I promise you, I have not forgotten about all of you! Please forgive me—and enjoy my chapter =] As always, I'd love to hear what you think! .
Chapter Nine
Once I was finally able to think straight after Ranger left me standing in the road looking like a fool; I immediately headed home to shower and change. The shower didn't feel nearly as good as I hoped; the little cuts on my skin stung slightly under the heat of the water. I continued to turn the temperature down but by the time the water was no longer bothering my cuts—it was also freezing. So I turned it back up to above freezing and hurried the rest of my shower up. I dried off and wrapped myself in my robe and left the steamy bathroom.
"Christ!" I yelled and jumped back when I saw someone sitting on my couch. Lester started laughing and I couldn't help but smile. It had been a week since I saw him and I had really missed seeing him sitting in my apartment like before. Today he was suited up in his all black RangeMan gear and held up a small tube of something; a cautious smile reached his lips.
"Ranger told Bobby you may need something for a cut; I happened to hear about it and told Bobby I'd bring it over for you."
Even though I smiled to him I couldn't help but feel bad. One of the most important people in my life needed to use something like this as an excuse to see me. All because I stopped answering their calls for a while—I couldn't do that anymore.
"Thanks Les." I walked to him and reached out to grab the tube and he snatched it back.
"I haven't seen you in forever, Steph, let me help—and we can talk."
I wasn't terribly in the mood to get into another "talk" about anything at the moment. Lester shrugged his shoulders; trying to appear more casual than I could see he was feeling.
"Just about life…I've missed seeing you and hell I've missed just talking to you. I get that you don't want to come between Ranger and I but you can't just drop out of my life completely." Lester paused for a beat; and I could tell this was hurting him more than I ever imagined it could. "You're my best friend, Steph—I can't lose you."
I wanted to say it back; I had missed Lester so much I felt like I was going nuts. I'd been spending more time with Morelli lately and while I loved our time together—he still wasn't Les. But saying all this to him right now seemed beyond unfair. I was the one telling him I needed space from the two of them. Since I couldn't say the words I needed and wanted to; I sat down on the couch and wrapped my arms around his neck. It took him mere moments before his arms were around my waist squeezing me tight while his face was buried in my still damp hair.
I wasn't sure how long we sat like that; but I knew neither of us wanted to pull away. Lester reluctantly loosened his grip and pressed his forehead against mine; his green eyes bore into my blue ones.
"Promise me that no matter what I can at least be a part of your life. I'm going to lose my mind if I never get my best friend back and lose my baby Stella in the process."
My hand brushed the side of his face. "You'll never lose us, Les. I promise." His eyes locked with mine and his lips began their descent towards mine. A week with no contact from either and now in the same day they both kiss me.
Lester quickly backed away from me his eyes were no longer soft; but instead they were filled with an emerald fire. "What!" He snarled out.
Shit… "That was outloud?"
"He kissed you!" Lester stood up; his hands balled into fists at his sides. Last time one of these alpha males was in my apartment it led to an awful fight. This time I had every intention to prevent that from happening. I quickly stood and placed my hands on Lester's tensed up shoulders.
"It was really more of a peck. I swear it's not like we've been making out in the alley or something."
"Wouldn't be the first time." Lester spit out; my face contorted with guilt knowing this was true. Lester immediately realized his mistake and softened once more pulling me back into his arms.
"I'm sorry, Steph."
"No, you're right—it's not like where Ranger is concerned I've always stood up to him."
Lester shook his head in my hair. "That was a mean thing to say though; it's just…hard enough to think I can't have you for now at least. But it is even harder to think that he's still playing at his old game with you. It bugged me before when he'd poach in your relationship with Morelli, because you absolutely deserved more than that. Now though, it is just tearing me apart."
I squeezed him even tighter. "It didn't mean anything, Les. It really was just a simple peck." Lester removed his face from my hair and when he looked at me I saw his eyes had darkened with a look of lust that made my entire body shake. Before I could react his lips were pressed against mine with force; even though the action was rough, his touch was anything but. The voice in the back of my mind tried to get me to pull away but his lips felt incredible against mine. One hand moved to frame my face while the other pressed into my lower back and brought me closer to his body. I felt my lips move with his and after a few more blissful seconds we both pulled away. The desire in his eyes had only grown, as did the smile on his face.
"I just wanted you to know that any kiss with you means something to me." I couldn't help but smile back.
"Well come on, Beautiful—let's get this stuff on those cuts before I get called away."
My head was still woozy from the kiss but I followed him back to my couch and let him dab the cream on my sore skin. We didn't mention the kiss or Ranger again; instead I filled him in on Stella's newest habits. The love and interest was clearly visible in Lester when we talked about her, and I promised they could see each other again soon. I had no doubt that my Stella Bee missed her 'Es—I know I certainly have.
Lester finished with my last cut and his cell phone went off the same time there was a knock at my door. Les stepped into my kitchen to answer the call while I grabbed the door: it was Jenny. I glanced behind me at the clock it was 3 o'clock—I was surprised to see her out and about.
"I'm sooo bored." She said stepping inside my apartment. "You want to go out or something?"
"Well actually…" I figured I'd mention my skips, but Les stepped into view; making this scene look less innocent than it was.
"Oh!" Jenny's bored eyes quickly lit up. "I see you are already doing something." I rolled my eyes at her.
"Jenny this is Lester, Lester this is my neighbor Jenny." Lester flashed her a smile that made me check Jenny to make sure she wasn't drooling.
"Nice to meet you, Sweetie." Les said, as he stood beside me and slung his arm around my shoulders.
"I actually started doing that bounty hunter thing again; would you wanna ride along?" I asked Jenny and she practically starting jumping with excitement.
"Hells yes!" Lester let out a chuckle.
"Well, you ladies be safe. That was the office and Hitler has decided to send me on the opposite end of town from your place." I didn't bother asking who Lester was referring to as 'Hitler', I was pretty positive I knew already.
"Okay, be safe, and thanks for helping take care of the cuts." Lester turned towards me and pressed his lips to the top of my head.
"No problem, and don't forget to call me later so I can see my baby girl again."
"I will." Lester placed one more kiss on my forehead.
"See ya, Beautiful." On his way out he tugged on Jenny's side braid and with a smile said: "Nice to meet you, Sweetie."
He shut the door behind him as he left and Jenny looked over at me with her jaw stuck in a wide open position. "Is it possible to have goosebumps everywhere just from having him touch my hair?"
I smiled knowingly and nodded. "It sure is. Just give me a sec to get changed and we'll head out."
"Okay." Jenny whispered out; still in shock from an encounter with one of the best looking men on the East Coast.
The first couple skips' homes we tried were duds and since I had quite a few to choose from I decided to move down the list. I didn't want to spend hours even days chasing after a single guy with this many still out there. The next FTA's house we went to I saw he was bonded out for shooting a few guys in the legs before robbing them—lovely. The guy's name was Allen Paulson; Allen is 25 and he is 5'7 like me and in his mug shot I wouldn't be surprised if he had his own 'grow room' in his living room.
Jenny stood behind me holding my pepper spray as I knocked on the door. The door flew open and the smell of marijuana smacked me in the face. I'd be lucky to leave this place without a contact high.
"My name's Stephanie Plum, I work for your bond agent—you missed your court appearance."
Allen smacked his forehead with his palm and shook his head laughing. Jenny let out a giggle and I wondered if it was because the smell was getting to her too. "Shit—I knew that was coming up. What do I gotta do?"
"Real simple, I'll take you to the police station now to reschedule."
"Good deal!" Allen opened the door wide for us to enter into his small apartment. "Just gotta find my keys."
"We'll be giving you a lift." I said, hoping to leave the apartment as fast as possible. Every time I breathed in I felt the marijuana invading my body; but I wasn't mad—but I was sure this was because of the sudden giddiness. I bit my lip to try and choke back a random laugh that was trying to escape. My eyes darted over to Jenny and she was nearly in tears with her silent giggles.
"I figured as much, but I gotta lock up my apartment. I got stuff in here I don't want stolen."
Jenny laughed out loud. "Some good stuff it smells like too."
Allen's face lit up at Jenny's comment. "You like it?" He asked with a Cheshire cat size grin that made caused a snort of laughter to escape from me.
"Apparently." Jenny said with another laugh; I felt comfortable saying I knew Jenny well. Jenny was not a smoker—so her tolerance for it was not the best. Not that mine seemed to be any better.
"Come here! Let me show the buds they're beautiful." Allen grabbed Jenny's arm and pulled her down the hall to his bathroom. I followed behind them, not that I was interested in beautiful buds but my legs followed after Jenny of their own accord.
"Alright it's a small bathroom so go in and peek into the tub—that's where they are." Jenny walked in without hesitation to look over the 70s style looking tub. The need-to-know everything side of me decided I wanted to see them too. I followed her into the bathroom and peered over the edge of the tub. Other than the obvious signs it needed a complete deep clean—there was nothing else. I turned around in what felt like slow motion and saw the door slam closed. I hurried to the door and tried to open it but the door didn't budge. The sound of something scraping across the floor was followed by something shoving against the door.
The bathroom door was one that swung out; and I quickly realized by the lack of give that something heavy was on the other side of the door.
"Open this door, dammit!" I yelled; kicking pointlessly against it. Jenny was sitting on the toilet seat and looked mortified.
"Stupid bitches—you really think I'm just going to give in that easily?" Allen's footsteps became faint as I assumed he walked away from the door. I started yelling for him to open the door but seconds later the sound of some war game filled the apartment. The volume was turned about as high as it could go and I knew there was no point wasting my breath trying to get his attention now.
On the other side of the tub was a decent sized window—which looking promising enough to crawl out of. If only there was something to grab hold of. I hopped in the tub and pulled the window open; looking down I saw an older looking fire escape. A little rusty—but sturdy enough for us to get out of her. Before telling Jenny the plan I let the fresh-weed-free air blow against my face, and hopefully sober me up a little.
"Come here, Jenny." She did as I asked and looked outside then shot me a dubious look.
"I'd rather sit in this bathroom, Steph."
"It'll be fine—I promise I've had to do stuff like this more times than I can count."
"And nothing bad ever happened?"
Yes. "No!" She shrugged her shoulders.
"Okay—tell me what to do."
"You'll go out first, and then walk to the left that will be the more stable side. I'll come out and I'll lead us down okay?"
Jenny nodded and used my hand to help her out the window. She did as I instructed and grabbed hold of the bars of the fire escape above her for balance. I followed Jenny out and took a step to the right to start going down when a loud boom came out. The landing we were on suddenly tilted and the side Jenny was on at least stayed stable enough for her. I however lost my balance, slipped and began sliding down the slanted landing. My hands quickly grabbed hold of the bars before I fell 4 stories to the pavement. Jenny let out a loud scream and I tried to pull myself up to see her and calm her down. My upper body strength was not about to let that happen though.
"It's going to be okay! I'll get us down!" I called to her; hoping my voice was more confident than I was feeling. Shit I did not miss this part of the job.
I was trying really hard to not think too hard about dangling over the cement with weak arms holding on, but the sound of someone chuckling below me caught my attention. I tried to see who it was but before I could see, they spoke up.
"Having fun, Cupcake?" I rolled my eyes.
"If I had a free hand I'd flip you the bird."
"Raincheck." He called, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
"You gonna help me or what!" I angled my head enough to see him. The good-looking shit was standing with his hands on his hips and a smile taking up over half his face.
"I put in a call to your freaky body guards; they're on their way." Great—this was not turning out to be the day I hoped for.
"What are you doing here, Morelli!" I yelled; angry that he was just standing there smiling.
"The guy whose bathroom you are hanging out of called and said there was a break-in. Well, I was in the area and had a suspicion it was you—so I called Ranger."
"Great."
"Seriously though, Steph—you guys okay?"
"We'll be fine, just as long as they hurry."
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault!" Jenny sobbed out.
"Don't feel bad Jenny." Joe called out to her. "I promise it was nothing you did—you just happen to be with the Queen of disastrous situations. There really was no way to avoid this one other than to stay home today."
"Shut it, Morelli!"
Joe laughed out again. "Love you, Cupcake." I tried to stay mad but couldn't help but smile. Then I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw two big black SUV's pull up. One pulled up directly below my feet and even though there was still a good distance below I felt much more comfortable. Especially since my fingers were slipping; Tank and Bobby exited the SUV seconds before I let my fingers give way and drop with a crash to the roof. It was definitely not the most comfortable thing to land on—but not the worse either. Tank helped pull me off the roof and set me down on my feet. Seconds later Ranger was standing next to me with his arms wrapped around my shoulders; I leaned into him for support—my back and legs were screaming for me to lie down.
"Jenny's still up there. Allen Paulson is an FTA, he locked us in the bathroom." Ranger nodded and looked to Tank—he nodded in silent agreement and Ranger walked off. Tank opened the backseat of the SUV and helped me in to lie on my stomach.
"I'm just going to make sure you didn't break anything, Steph okay?" Bobby asked from behind me.
"Mhmm." I muttered out, closing my eyes. His hands were gentle as they examined my legs and I opened my eyes when I felt hands on my head. I looked up to see Joe squatting in front of me so we were eye level.
"Working at the bonds office again?"
"Sure am."
"Jesus Cupcake, you know how to scare the shit out of me."
"Sorry." I mumbled out.
Joe pressed his lips to my forehead. "I need to head out. Will you please be careful?" He looked worried and I tried to work a smile up to the surface.
"Yes!" He ruffled my hair then walked away.
"Everything feels fine, Bomber. But you need to go home and rest the remainder of the evening at least!"
"Don't have to tell me twice, Bobby." He gave my leg a sympathetic squeeze before I heard him walk away. My eyes were only shut for another second before I heard another familiar voice call out to me.
"Beautiful!" I heard Lester's footsteps approach at a quick pace. He resumed the position Joe had been in seconds before. Les didn't hesitate to shower my face with small kisses. My eyelids, cheeks, nose, everywhere—but my lips.
"I heard the guys were coming to help you—I flew over here to check on you."
"I'm okay." I sat up and Lester shifted into the backseat with me and wrapped his arms around me; pulling me into him to use him as my pillow.
We didn't say anything; we just sat there together in silence, as his thumb rubbed softly against my arm.
"Stephanie!" I heard Jenny's voice call to me; I shifted out of the car and Jenny caught sight of me and threw her arms around me. Lester had followed me out of the backseat and was now standing next to me, with his arm around my waist.
"I'm sorry Jenny—I should have known better than to drag you into this with me." Jenny's cheeks were tear-stained, making me feel worse.
"It's okay—can we go home now?"
Before I could answer I looked up to see Ranger standing next to Jenny; his eyes looked to be shooting lasers at Lester's arm that was around me still.
"Did you get him?" I asked and Ranger's eyes left Lester's arm and met mine.
"Yes."
"How?"
His lips twitched a little. "He lost his game and was bored."
"Unbelievable." I said throwing my arms up and letting them hit my thighs.
"Tank will escort him downtown; Bobby recommended you shouldn't drive right now."
"But I have to get Stella."
"I can have one of my men give Jenny a ride home. Another can drive your car back to the house. I brought the other SUV that has the car seat; so we can go pick our daughter." Ranger made sure to glare at Lester so he didn't miss a hint of what Ranger was saying. Lester tensed up next to me and I knew another fight would break out if I didn't diffuse it now.
"Les, will you please take Jenny home?" He glared at Ranger for another minute before returning his eyes to me. They instantly softened as he looked at me and he nodded.
"Of course."
Lester leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead before releasing me. "Come on, Jenny." Lester held out his hand and Jenny took it; and I was glad she too would have someone to comfort her. Ranger was still glaring after Lester as he walked away.
"Will you two ever just stop this?" I asked him; pulling him out of his unsafe thoughts.
"Once he stops putting his hands on you, I will." I sighed and rolled my eyes—no point getting into this again.
We got Stella and when the three of us arrived back to my house Ranger drew a bath for me. While I soaked in the tub Ranger stayed and played with his daughter; the sounds of her giggling filled the apartment. There were even a couple times I heard him laugh; and I couldn't be mad for the foolish fighting. Not when the beautiful sound of my happy daughter rang through my apartment.
