Disclaimer: Everything recognizable belongs to JE

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Chapter 10

As I walked through the front door I was surprised to see Joe sitting on the couch. His clothes looked like they had been slept in and he hadn't shaved in a couple of days. There was a tumbler of what looked like whiskey in his hand and it took a moment for his eyes to focus on me. When they finally did, I felt a shiver of apprehension run up my spine. I wasn't afraid of Joe, but at that moment I was definitely uneasy. Morelli men and whiskey never mixed well.

"You're back," he said in a flat tone. I guess the fact that I was standing in his living room tipped him off. No wonder he was a detective. I decided it was probably best to keep that thought to myself.

"I just stopped by to pick up Rex. I know we need to talk, but I don't think now is a good time."

"When the hell would be a good time, Cupcake? After you're done fucking around with Manoso?" The tone of Joe's voice made me even more uneasy. He wasn't yelling like he usually does when he's mad. This was said in a cold, hard tone that was not at all what I was used to from him. This was stone cold rage.

"Joe, I think I should just take Rex and leave. You're drunk and neither one of us should be doing this right now. We need to take some time and make some decisions about where we want our relationship to go before we try to sort things out."

I moved past him and into the kitchen where I set my bag on the counter so I could gather up Rex's things. As I reached for the bag of hamster crunchies on the counter Joe grabbed my arm and spun me around forcefully.

"Oh, we're going to get this sorted out Cupcake, and we're going to get it sorted out right now," he said in the same cold, hard voice he used before.

"Joe, stop it. You're drunk and you're starting to scare me. Let me get Rex now, and we'll talk once you sober up."

I tried to free my arm from his grasp but when I did, it was like I had lit the fuse on his rage. He grabbed both my arms and slammed me up against the wall with enough force to rattle my teeth. As he held me pinned against the wall he crushed his mouth against mine hard enough to split my lip. I could taste the blood as he forced his tongue into my mouth. I bit down hard on his tongue and he pulled back. There was no warning at all as he back-handed me across the cheek. If he hadn't been holding me up with his other hand I would have fallen from the blow.

I was completely stunned by the violence. Morelli men were known for being drunks and abusers, but everyone believed Joe had escaped the Morelli curse. I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree after all.

Joe took advantage of my shock to grab both of my hands and pin them above my head. He held both my hands in one of his while he slid the other hand up under my t-shirt. He leaned into my face and said in the same cold voice "You're mine Cupcake. Manoso had his fun but you'll always be mine. You always come back. That's why you're here now. You can't stay away from me and my boys."

As he said this he started rubbing his erection against me and I could feel how excited he was getting from hurting me. Once again he crushed his mouth down on mine and forced his tongue into my mouth. I whimpered at the pain from my split lip but Joe took it as a sign that I was getting as turned on as he was.

"I didn't know you liked it rough, Cupcake. Is that how it is with Manoso? Do you like it when the thug gets rough? And here I thought you were a good little Burg girl. Guess it's time to find out what I've been missing out on. You're mine, Cupcake. I'm going to make sure you never forget that."

With that, he grabbed the neck of my t-shirt and ripped it open. He bent down and painfully bit the top of my breast, leaving an ugly red mark. I let out a small scream, more from surprise than from the pain itself, but it only encouraged Joe more. I realized that if I didn't do something, things were going to get really ugly.

Using what I hoped sounded like a sexy voice, I said "Let go of my hands, Joe. I want to touch you. I want to show you how much I like what you're doing."

Joe bent over and bit the tendon on my neck, marking me again before releasing my hands. He moved back slightly to reach for my breasts and gave me just enough room to do what I do best. I dropped my hands to his shoulders to give myself some leverage and drove my knee up as hard as I could into his 'boys'.

Joe let out an inhuman sound and collapsed to the floor. He curled up into a fetal position with his hands cupping his groin. I ran over to my bag and pulled out my stun gun.

"Touch me again, asshole, and I'll have you arrested." With that, I put the prongs of the stun gun against the back of his neck and pulled the trigger.

I threw the stun gun back into my bag and grabbed Rex and his crunchies and headed out the door as quickly as my shaking legs would carry me. I used Rex's tank to hold the tattered remains of my shirt up as best as I could as I made the way down the sidewalk. I was praying the neighbors wouldn't see me as I made my way back to my car. I secured Rex's tank with the seatbelt and climbed in. My hands were shaking so badly it took me several tries to get the key into the ignition. I finally managed to get my car started and headed towards my apartment.

I don't know how I managed to drive home without killing myself or someone else on the road. I had to pull over one time because I thought I was going to throw up, but, other than that, the drive was without mishap. As I parked beside the dumpster I took a quick look around to make sure none of my neighbors were out in the parking lot. Thankfully, they were all safely tucked in for the night watching television and no one was around to witness my latest humiliation.

I used Rex's tank again to hide my ripped shirt and made my way into the building and the elevator. I breathed a sigh of relief as I opened the door to my apartment without running into any of my neighbors. My relief was short lived when I realized I wasn't alone in my apartment.

I could see someone sitting in the armchair of my darkened living room. His black clothing made him look like a shadow until he reached over and turned on the lamp on the table beside him. He gave me a quick once over and asked, "Are you okay, Babe?"

What could I say? I didn't want to tell him the truth. I was humiliated that I had let Joe hurt me and that I hadn't seen it coming. I pick up abusers all the time. How could I have not seen this coming?

"I thought you were going to be away for a few days." I brilliantly deflected.

"I had some things to take care of before I head back down to Miami. I asked if you were okay." he said with his blank face in place.

"I'm fine. Thanks for checking on me. I'll see you later."

I continued to stand in the foyer holding Rex's tank in front of me like a shield. I couldn't hide the damage to my face but I didn't want Ranger to see rest. I stood rooted to the spot as Ranger slowly got up and walked towards me. He took Rex's tank from me and my shirt fell open as soon as he did. The bruises from the rough handling were just starting to come out and the bite marks were vivid against my pale Hungarian skin.

Ranger carried Rex's tank to its home on the counter and gently set it down. As he walked back towards me I couldn't meet his eyes. I just stared down and watched as his feet came closer and closer.

"Morelli?" he asked in his quiet voice. As scary as Joe was with his quiet voice, he had nothing on this guy.

"I'm fine. I handled it. I told him if he ever touched me again I would have him arrested."

"Was this before or after he attempted to rape you?"

My eyes flew up to his face as I realized that was exactly what would have happened if I hadn't been able to stop Joe when I did. Ranger started to move toward the door and I grabbed his arm like I could actually stop him from doing whatever he wanted to do.

"Please, Ranger. Don't. Please. I handled it. If you go over there it will just make things worse. Everyone will think it's my fault and if you kill him you'll go to jail and I couldn't live with myself if you went to jail because of me and I can't do this and I just, I ….can't…..Please. Promise me you won't kill him, please Ranger?" I realized I was babbling hysterically, but I couldn't help it. I was on emotional overload and just couldn't deal with any more. I didn't even realize I was crying until Ranger reached over to gently wipe the tears from my cheek.

"I promise you, I won't kill Joe. Okay, Steph? I promise."

Ranger has never broken a promise to me so I breathed a sigh of relief. With that surge of relief, my body suddenly lost the ability to remain upright and I started to collapse. Ranger caught me before I could hit the floor and carried me over to the couch. He sat down and cradled me to his chest while I sobbed. As the heat from his body flowed into mine, I realized how cold I was. Ranger felt me shiver and wrapped the throw from the back of the couch around me. Between the crying, the body heat and the adrenaline crash, I suddenly felt too exhausted to move. My sobs turned to whimpers and I drifted off to the soothing sound of his heart beating in his chest. My last coherent thought was how much I loved how safe he made me feel.

I remember waking up to Ranger carrying me to the bedroom and removing my boots and jeans. I felt the bed dip as he crawled in with me and then the warmth of his body as he pulled me against him. He kissed the top of my head and I fell back into a deep and dreamless sleep.

I awoke the next morning alone in bed, but the smell of coffee coming from my kitchen was promising. I pulled off the tattered remains of my t-shirt and slipped into a RangeMan sweatshirt. I made a conscious effort not to look in the mirror as I washed my face, brushed my teeth and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. A pair of yoga pants completed my look as I headed out into the kitchen. When I walked into the kitchen I found Ranger leaning against the counter with a mug in his hand. As he handed me my own mug, I spotted a white bakery bag on the counter. The smile on my face was only tempered slightly by the split lip as I happily peaked in the bag.

In answer to my questioning look, he said, "I thought you could use some happy food this morning."

"Thank you, Ranger. These aren't totally unhealthy you know. The raspberry in the jelly doughnuts is technically a fruit."

I could see he was thinking about smiling as I happily consumed my breakfast. Just as I took the last bite my phone rang. Caller ID said it was my mother and I didn't want to ruin my jelly doughnut happy just yet, so I let the machine pick up.

"Stephanie, this is your mother. Stephanie, are you there? I just heard about poor Joseph."

As she said this my eyes flew to Ranger's face. The blank face was back and I just stared at him as my mother continued.

"Mrs. Simpson's daughter Maddie works at the hospital and she said he was brought in by ambulance about 2 o'clock this morning. Apparently he was drunk and fell down his stairs. She said he had a dislocated shoulder and a couple of broken ribs. She also said he is black and blue from head to toe and that his nose was broken again. No one can understand how he managed to rupture a testicle as well. He was lucky he wasn't killed!"

At this last comment, I gave Ranger my best Burg girl death stare. He didn't even try to hide his smile at that.

"I promised you I wouldn't kill him, and I didn't."

"I can't believe you went over and beat the crap out of him for me. I told you I had dealt with it."

"I didn't do it for you, Babe. I did it for me. I know you dealt with it. Where do you think he got the ruptured testicle? Your knee should be a registered weapon."

"What do you mean you did it 'for you'?" I couldn't understand that statement at all.

Ranger walked over and wrapped his arms around me to gently pull me against his chest. He kissed the top of my head and said, "I will no longer allow the women I love to be abused just because they think they have to handle the abusers on their own. I let Bella push me away until I almost lost her and I'm not going to make the same mistake with you. I need you in my life in whatever capacity you choose, and I won't risk losing you."

"Good to know you love me like your sister." I tried not to think about why that made me want to cry.

He kissed the top of my head again and then leaned back so he could look at me when he spoke. "I love you as much as my sister, but not in a sisterly way. I've told you before that I love you in my own way, and I do. I love you completely and with every ounce of my being - the only way I know how to do anything."

"When Bella was hurt, I knew you would be able to get access to her in the hospital easier than anyone else, but that wasn't why I came to get you. I needed you. I needed you with me to keep me from losing my mind from worry and guilt. I needed your strength and compassion. I needed you for everything you are and the light you bring to my darkness."

I was stunned and it must have shown on my face. Ranger pushed my chin up with a single finger and gently kissed my lips. For once in my life I was speechless. Giving me one more gentle kiss, he left without another word. I looked over at Rex, who had witnessed the whole thing from his glass home, and said, "Holy shit, Batman."