Thanks for the reviews! And the follows. I'm glad you all like the story! I don't own anything.
Rpov
Steph had been gone for hours. The men and I had searched all through the town, and I was waiting on a phone call from Daniels to taunt me. Shane had a knot on his head the size of a baseball, but refused any help. He probably felt nearly as terrible as I did right now about my Babe being taken.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I was really starting to lose it. As soon as I got her back we were going back to Trenton. No ifs, ands, or buts. I was taking her back to RangeMan and she wouldn't be leaving my sight again. Damn, I couldn't believe this. I pulled out my cell and called Tank.
"Any signs or word on anything yet?"
"No bossman. We're getting to the outskirts of town, and we're not leaving anything unturned. We'll find her soon. Daniels only has this town before the long stretch drive to New Jersey."
I knew that Daniels wasn't ready to head to New Jersey. My contacts in Mexico said he hadn't been to pick up the shipment yet. And smuggling a person across the border was a lot harder than smuggling drugs. So I was going to take several deep breaths, and keep my temper under control.
This proved not to be the easiest task, the thought that Shane was supposed to be keeping an eye on her kept coming to mind. And even worse, I'd walked away from her right before it all happened.
Just then I heard my phone making an alarm sound, and my heart beat skipped. Stephanie had brought a pair of shoes that had a tracker in them! And she'd set it off!
I called Tank once again.
"Get back to the ranch house. Steph set off a GPS signal, it's showing about forty five miles out. I'll load up some equipment and we're leaving."
Tank and Lester only took ten minutes to return, and by that time I'd loaded up a blanket for Steph, some water bottles, and a first aid kit. We already had extra ammo and I had a feeling I'd like to use my hands as weapons a lot more than my gun.
"Ranger, we're leaving Shane here. He's not really in the best of shape to deal with things if it gets complicated," Lester told me.
I nodded my approval at them and we got in the SUV. Shane walked inside and saluted us as we drove off, a disappointed look on his face.
"He wants to pull apart whoever took off with Bomber and knocked him on the head." Tank said, looking like he wanted the same thing.
"Well I'll be the one doing that. You and Lester just make sure that Steph is out of the way."
They agreed and we rode the rest of the way in silence. I'd been taking the old paved road well over 100 m.p.h and we'd be arriving in less than five minutes.
The GPS was showing she was quite a ways off of the road so when the blip on the screen of my phone showed we were as close as we could get, we took off to go by foot. A flat tire would get us nowhere, and if my Babe was in bad shape I wanted to get her help, and fast.
Within fifteen minutes the beeping on my cell was coming at faster intervals. We scouted the area and made sure there was no threat. There was not a soul in sight but there were many places a sniper could hide in these huge rock formations. I rechecked the signal and saw that it was coming from the largest grouping of stones. We took the land quickly and I saw an opening. Something was splattered on the rocks.
Vomit.
She was here, and something wasn't right if she had vomited again. I launched my body down into the covering and what I saw next stopped my heart. My Babe was curled into a ball, tears had stained her dusted face. She had on only one shoe and her hands were bloodied, probably from trying to get the tracker out. Her elbows and knees were a bloody mess as well, and a bruise was on her cheek. Since she was asleep I didn't want to alarm her, so I carefully put my hand to her back and said her name quietly.
"Babe."
She blinked her eyes open and then threw her body into my arms. Crying into my shoulder and saying my name over and over.
"Ranger, I thought they were going to find me before you did."
"Shh Babe, I'm here. We're going to get you somewhere safe, alright?"
She was so cold. I had my arms wrapped around her and reached down to scoop her up and carry her out of the covered area. She dropped her head on my shoulder and was shaking.
"I've got a blanket for you in the SUV ok Babe?"
She mumbled something and rubbed her face farther into my chest. She was cradling her hands on her stomach and was trying not to let them touch together.
"Does anything hurt Babe?"
"Mm. Hands." Her voice was shaking as much as she was.
I pulled her closer to me and tried to warm her as much as I could for the walk back to the SUV. Lester was in front of us, while Tank pulled up the back. They had both cautiously looked Steph over when I pulled her out of the cave.
"Lester go on ahead and get the heater going in the vehicle." I wanted to hurry and get my Babe warm as quickly as possible. Her shaking was worrying me more by the minute. I doubled our pace and didn't have to check to see if Tank was keeping up. He was worried about Steph too.
The SUV was heated by the time we got there and Lester opened the door for me to set Stephanie down. She whimpered when I lowered her and mumbled something at me again.
"What did you say Babe?"
"Please don't leave me Ranger."
"I'll be right back, I've just got to go check on something."
"You're always going."
I didn't want to leave her ever again, so I did something I usually would never do. I sent Tank to go and do my job, while I stayed and pulled Steph onto my lap to hold her for the drive back to the ranch house.
"Babe, do you remember how you got out to the cave?"
"I ran there, I thought he was going to find me. I needed to hide."
"Who would find you?"
"Daniels. Or Ted."
The name Ted must belong to the man Daniels sent to pick Stephanie up. Ted would definitely be regretting working for Daniels later. First I had to get Steph back somewhere safe.
"I remember where they were keeping me." Her voice had been so faint I wouldn't have heard her if I hadn't been paying so close attention to everything about her.
"Where would that be Babe?"
"It's about ten or fifteen minutes behind where I was hiding. I'm not sure though. I was running and falling a lot. We can go and see if Daniels is still there."
"As soon as Tank gets back from checking around the boulders we're going to get you back to the house then I'll go check it out."
"No Ranger, we need to go now. What if he's gone by the time you get there?"
She was making a valid point.
"Are you sure you're ok to go back there?" She looked so scared, but I knew she wouldn't let it stop her.
"Yes, let's go." And with that Tank got into the passenger seat and we took off being directed by Stephanie.
Spov
I knew it would have only been a matter of time before Ranger would find me. And when he had picked me up and cradled me against him I had wanted to cry all over again. I had fallen asleep to the fears of what my late period meant, and had tried my best to blame it on the stress of the past month. But for now, I was going to focus on helping Ranger to get Daniels out of my life for good.
We took a dirt road off of the paved one and drove on it for ten minutes before we came up to the cluster of tin sheds and the burnt barn.
"Is this the place Bomber?"
I nodded my head to Lester and was told to stay in the car.
"NO! Ranger, you said you wouldn't leave me behind again!"
Ranger cursed and then gently took my hand that wasn't covered in scratches from the sharp rock I'd used to get the tracker.
We slowly walked over to the first few sheds and Ranger had pulled out his gun and ordered me to stay behind them. Twenty minutes later all the sheds had been checked besides one.
It was the one that I had been tied up in.
Lester and Tank busted the door down and signaled Ranger and me when it had been cleared. I looked around and saw where he had tied me up, Ranger had seen it too, and he did not look happy. I looked to another side of the shed and noticed a white piece of paper hanging. Tank went to grab it and handed it to Ranger.
Ranger scanned the letter and crushed it in the blink of an eye.
"What does it say bossman?" Lester and Tank were curious as well.
"Don't worry about it." They immediately hushed themselves, but I wasn't one of the Merry Men and I wanted to know what the hell it said.
"Tell me what it says Ranger."
He crushed the note harder in his fists and then put it in his pocket.
"No. And don't ask me again."
This really set me off. Not only had I been through hell and back tonight, but now Ranger was acting all macho man again and not including me!
"Fine, Ranger. Keep it to yourself, fill Lester and Tank in later, and leave me in the dark."
He knew I was pissed but it still didn't sway him. With nothing left to see we went back to the SUV and I realized that the best way for me to figure out the note was to play along. It was the only way I'd be able to keep myself in the loop.
So when we got into the SUV I didn't even put up a fight with Ranger when he pulled me into his lap, not that I would have anyways. I was still pretty shaken over the events of the day, and the thoughts stuck in my mind.
We got back to the house and Ranger followed me into the bedroom. I went ahead and walked into the bathroom, stripping my clothes off as I went. I went to the sink to brush my teeth and rinse my mouth out, and Ranger just leaned against the opposite wall and watched me. When I was finished I went to unhook my bra but Ranger's fingers were already there.
He took my bra off, kissing each of my shoulders, and a shiver ran over my body.
"Babe, I don't think I've ever wanted you so badly."
I turned around to look into his eyes and saw that he wasn't lying. He leaned away from me to turn on the shower and set it to the appropriate heat then came back to me. His hands were running up and down my body and I was getting hotter and hotter.
"Ranger, I love you."
What the hell? Why had that slipped out?
"I mean, I'm glad that you found me tonight." I was hoping he'd forget the first words that I'd said. Luckily he didn't say anything back, but crashed his face onto mine and started kissing me. The bite of the bruise on my cheek had hurt, but when I flinched he'd eased back and started to kiss it softly, trailing kisses down my neck and then further.
He put his hands under my arms and lifted me into the shower, the warm water rolled down my body and the aches I had felt were slowly going away. When I felt Ranger move in behind me the aches were non-existent. Probably due to the fact that I had a gorgeous man behind me kissing and biting at my neck.
I turned around and kissed him until I was sure my face had fallen off. He spent the next hour making me appreciate a shower at a whole new level. When we got out he towel dried me and slipped one of his t-shirts over my head and I pulled on a new pair of underwear. He carried me to the bed and settled in behind me, pulling me close. Ranger was not a man of many words, and for once this made me happy. I really didn't want to go over my mouth slip earlier with my declaration of love for him.
I do love him though.
I knew that his steady breathing meant he was asleep, and I'd have to be very careful because he would wake at the slightest noise. Even me getting out of the bed he had stirred.
"I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll be right back."
He nodded at me and I stood up walking to the bathroom. His pants were still on the floor by the shower and sure enough, his pocket still had the paper. I pulled it out and flushed the toilet, to cover up the sound of me straightening out the paper. The last thing I needed was Batman busting in here with his supersonic hearing.
I looked down at the paper and started to read.
Stephanie,
You BITCH! Do you think that you're something smart just because I LET you get away from me? I hope the coyotes rip you apart, and if they don't I'll find out. Then I'll find you again and waste no time at all making you regret hitting me in the balls. You stupid whore. I'm going to tie you up and cut off a finger for thinking you can get away from me. Then I'm going to take my time fucking your brains out. Now I know that if you're reading this then you found your owner, since he says you're HIS, and he's trying to find me. He won't. So now let me list you all the ways I'm going to make you regret running away from me.
I'm going to tie you up in ropes so tight that your fingers and toes are going to go numb.
I'm going to burn those pretty legs of yours with my cigarette.
I'm going to leave scars on those breasts of yours.
There was more to the letter but I was seeing double and couldn't read any further. I wadded up the paper and threw it against the sink. I must have made enough noise to wake Batman because he swung the door open and saw the letter on the sink.
"Damn it Stephanie! I told you not to read it! Why can't you listen to a damn thing I say?!"
"I don't deserve to be left in the dark Ranger! Why would you hide that from me?"
"Because how do you feel now knowing what he wants to do to you?"
I felt completely like shit. And sick, I was genuinely scared for my life all over again. But lying sounded a better route to go when it came to telling Ranger my feelings.
"I feel fine Ranger. I don't see what the huge fuss is about."
He knew I was lying, damn him.
"Alright Babe, then would you like to analyze the letter further? How about we talk about the list of things he wants to do to you? Tie you up? Cut you? And I think number ten said something about strangling you while he makes you suck his.."
"SHUT UP RANGER!" Tears had already started to run down my face and I was shaking all over again.
"Just get out, go get your own room, and leave me the hell alone." Here I go again, pushing him away.
"No."
"What do you mean no? Go away Ranger!"
"No."
Damn it!
"LEAVE RANGER!" So I know screaming and throwing a fit wasn't exactly mature, but I wasn't in the right state of mind to be mature at the moment. Having a psycho wanting to rape, cut, and kill you wasn't something that would put you in a good mind set.
"Babe, I'm not leaving you. I'm staying, and in the morning we're heading back to Trenton. You're overdue to see Rex. And when we get there, you're staying with me."
I did a double take. I was going to stay with Ranger?
"Now stop pushing me away, come here, and let's get some sleep."
I didn't put up any more of a fight. I let him pick me up and carry me back to bed. I fell asleep before he did, and when I woke he was still there. And so were the thoughts that I'd be needing to make a trip to the pharmacy for a pregnancy test when we got home. The only problem was, how was I going to do it without body guards watching my every move? I definitely didn't need the world to know that I was maybe carrying around a tiny Ranger inside of me.
My hand moved down to my stomach and I started to rub it, thinking of my maybe baby. And how Ranger was going to react when I told him. I knew I wouldn't tell him till I was one hundred percent sure, but the thought nearly made me panic. I didn't want to be left to do this on my own. Children scared me more than crazy skips.
"Are you hungry Babe?" Ranger was awake and watching me rub my stomach. I stopped doing so immediately.
"Uh, yea."
"Well let's get you some breakfast then pack up. I'll give you some time to tell Shane goodbye."
"Shane's ok!?"
Ranger laughed at me and nodded his head, swatting me on the butt to get me going. He was out of the room and I was up grabbing all of my stuff. He must have wrapped my hand up in bandages while I was asleep, because I didn't remember doing it myself last night. He cared about me, but how much did he care? And would it be enough to stick around when I told him I was knocked up? IF I was knocked up?