A/N: So a few of you brought up some really good points in your reviews. I went back and made some minor changes to Chapter 9 and Chapter 10. Basically, in Chapter 9, I meant Ranger *banked* her check, and then paid for her rent with his own money. Also, yes, Ranger arranged with Vinnie to change the skip chasing arrangements. I added in a paragraph on Steph's thoughts about that and her and Ranger have a short chat about it. And to be clear, Stephanie did not photograph her tattoo when she took those shots, and she held her shirt against her tattoo while Robin took more... I guess a lot of you focused on things I didn't really see as important to the story - but maybe I should have! Hopefully, if you read back over last chapter, it all makes sense now :D
Disclaimer: All credit goes to JE for creating her characters and writing the books. Original characters I've created are all mine (muahhahaha).
Warnings: It's a Babe story. Rated M+. Bad Language, Alcohol, Violence, Drunken Decisions, Sexual Situations, Attempted Sexual Assault and related themes, and a Happy Ending. Not cupcake friendly, but no brutal bashing…
Chapter Eleven
Thursday, I devoted to finding information on Kyle. I staked out his house for a good couple of hours but didn't see any movement. His street wasn't exactly one where you went and asked neighbours about each other, so I headed over to his mother's address and knocked on her neighbours' doors. I didn't have much luck. Varying reports from the neighbours of the last time they'd seen Kyle Jackson visit his mother, anywhere between three weeks and three days. When I finally got up the courage to knock on his mother's door, she opened it, screamed abuse at me and slammed it shut again. She wouldn't be any help in tracking down her son.
I'd headed home after that, determined to get a good night's rest. I'd continue the search for Kyle tomorrow. Maybe I'd get lucky and some new skips would come in.
*_R^S_*
Three weeks and four other skips later, I cruised around the neighbourhood of the tattoo parlour, looking for Kyle Jackson and killing time until I could drop in and get Sketch to have a look at my tattoo. I had no idea where Kyle might be, and had drawn up nada over the past few weeks, so this seemed as good a place as any to look. Also, there was an awesome little Deli that I could stop at for lunch. A girl's gotta have her priorities. At ten to two, I headed back to the shop for my two pm appointment. I even managed to get a park three spaces from the front door. I should have known I wasn't that lucky.
I climbed out of my car and froze, my eyes glued to an A2 sized image that had recently been framed in the window. I knew it was recent because it hadn't been up last time I'd been there. I also knew it was recent because I'd only had the tattoo maybe four weeks! I swung my purse over my shoulder and stormed into the shop. Sketch was the only one out front and it looked like he'd just recently finished up with a client as he was cleaning his station down.
"What the fuck is that?" I growled.
He paused and glanced up at me, raising one eyebrow. "What the fuck is what?" he wondered placidly, going back to his cleaning.
I let out a frustrated snarl. "That! In the window," I cried, sweeping my arm behind me.
He shrugged and stripped off his gloves. I watched as he stood and tossed them into the trash can next to the steel framed glass counter. He then proceeded to lean back against it, arms folded over his chest and his ankles crossed. He gave a small unconcerned shrug. "That's my tattoo."
Oh hell no. "No, that's my tattoo!"
He started shaking his head. "I drew it, created it, I breathed life into it. It's mine. Deserves to be seen. Work of art."
"It's on my freaking body – its mine! It's not even finished yet!"
"You need to cool it in my shop, little gurl."
I turned to the man who'd just stepped out from the back room. He was fine. F-I-N-E. He had scruffy jet black hair, was nearly as toned as Ranger, startling blue eyes, and had a good foot on me. Oh, and had a fantastic dragon tattoo up one arm that disappeared under his shirt but that I could see hints of around his neck. I really wanted to stride over to him and strip his shirt right off that fine body and find out what else he was hiding when I remembered I was pissed. And that he'd just called me little gurl. Not to mention Ranger and I seemed like we were sort of… but I'd hardly even seen him the past few weeks. Now was not the time to dwell on Ranger, Plum.
"Really, you want to go there right now?" I demanded, rounding on him and planting my hands on my hips. I could so take him. Maybe. If I had a few years' worth of training first.
"Lay off Jet, she's Mañoso's," Sketch sighed, waving a hand.
"Her? Mañoso's bitch?" he looked surprised and then curious.
"I am standing right here. I'm no one's bitch!"
"Okay, I get it. She's sassy. Got a little fire. Gotta be a wildcat in bed," Jet said, nodding thoughtfully, his eyes running up and down my body.
"Standing right here!" I growled.
"Had Mañoso's man guarding her here the other week," Sketch said to Jet.
"I'm a fucking bounty hunter. I don't need anyone guarding me."
"Woman, you need a whole team of men guarding you. I bet you're a pain in Mañoso's ass," Jet warned, pinning me with his eyes.
I struggled silently for a moment and managed to drag my eyes away from him and glare at Sketch. "You're supposed to keep quiet about my tattoo."
"I haven't told no-one."
"Everyone in Trenton will know before the day's finished if you keep that picture in the window!"
"Wait, wait. Rewind and start from the start. Why don't you want anyone to know about your tat?" Jet wondered, his thoughtful eyes staring at me once again, no doubt trying to see straight into my soul. It was probably working. God knew Ranger and some of the Merry Men seemed able to.
"I don't want Ranger to know. The more people that find out, the harder it's going to be to keep quiet. It's nothing short of a freaking miracle he hasn't found out yet. "
"Gonna be kinda hard for him to miss it when he's fucking your brains out."
I turned my glare up a notch, but knew my cheeks were burning red, betraying me.
"Interesting."
I thought maybe I'd just revealed something I shouldn't have. I tried my best to ignore Jet, and faced off with Sketch once again. "Just because I was tipsy when I got the tattoo does not mean you can take advantage of me. You don't have the right to post images of my body in the window for the entire world to see without my permission!"
I heard Jet hiss quietly. "You worked on her when she was drunk?" he growled.
Sketch gave a small shrug. "What, man? She was really into it, she signed the consent form and she paid extra. I got the skills and talent to make it work, so I did."
"Christ, you're just fucking lucky she likes it. If she was intoxicated when she signed the form, that means she did not give explicit consent. I should fire your ass for this shit."
Sketch gave a few small nods and a quick, cheeky smile. "But you won't 'cause I got talent."
"Fuck Sketch. Get out of here and go home for the day before I do something stupid like knock you into next week. I'll close up."
"Cool. Catch ya Mañoso's woman."
"Not if I can help it," I muttered as Sketch grabbed his wallet and keys and left. I slowly moved back towards the door.
"Easy, you're safe with me," Jet said, holding his hands up non-threateningly.
I stopped moving and hitched my bag up a little higher. I figured I could always sock him with it if worst came to worse. "Define safe," I said.
He gave me a small smile that could've melted ice off of a glacier and shoved his hands in his front pockets. "How long you had the tat?"
"A few weeks. Sketch was supposed to finish it off today, but it looks like that won't be happening. Ever."
"Jump up in my chair; I'll finish it for you."
I stared at him wearily.
"I do good work. I'm sure I can find the drawing Sketch was working from. I'll do it right."
"I'm not sure," I hesitated.
"You want to see some of my work? I'll grab you my book to look at while I set up."
He managed to steer me towards a station and helped me into the chair. Then he went and flipped the sign on the door to 'closed'. He dumped a photo album in my lap and moved around the shop comfortably, gathering supplies, cleaning his hands and grabbing a few pieces of paper.
While he was busy, I opened the album and flipped through the images. They were stunning. The colour, the detail, the shading; each piece was a work of art and pointed to one very talented artist.
"Convinced I can work on you now?" Jet asked, startling me. He had everything set up, gloves on and was watching me patiently.
"I guess so. I do want it finished."
"Shirt off and lay back," he ordered, grabbing up what I recognised as the initial drawing of my tattoo, the reference photo, and another more detailed drawing. He shuffled through them, nodding to himself as I dropped my purse under the chair, and shrugged off my light jacket and t-shirt. The cool air in the shop made my skin prickle.
Jet's eyes traced over me once, assessing, before they zeroed in on the tat. "The pain gets too much, you let me know," he ordered before hunkering down over me and getting to work.
*R_S*
"You said you've had this a few weeks?"
"Yeah, closer to five." I shifted, biting back the pain. I was pretty sure we were going on three or four hours. I was stiff, the whole right side of my body burned with pain. But I wanted it finished. There was no way in hell I was calling it quits. It was too important to me.
"Mañoso's got a woman in his bed, he don't wait a few weeks between visits. That tells me you're not in his bed. Yet I know for a fact that you're his woman. Care to explain that to me?"
"Nope."
"Lucky I don't need you to explain it for me then."
I raised both my eyebrows at him.
"I know Mañoso. He doesn't do long term. You're worth the effort for long term. That either tells me you're under his protection, and he's gonna make a play for you sooner or later, or, he cares about you just enough that offering his protection is sufficient."
"Is that so?" I wondered.
"Yeah. He better watch out though, or someone will make a play for you before him."
The way he said it had the hairs rising on my arms. I glanced up and his eyes met mine in a heated glance. Oh boy, just what I needed, another alpha male interested in me.
"All done, put your shirt back on and then I'll finish dressing it. You want a look first?"
I sat up and moved over to the floor length mirror. Tears prickled in my eyes. It was perfect. Of course it was. It expressed everything I knew I would probably never get the chance to say to Ranger. It was a dream; my fantasy, and probably the most intimate emotionally I'd ever be with Ranger and he'd never even know. I shuffled back to the station and got dressed dolefully before Jet finished dressing my tattoo.
"Thank you. I really appreciate you doing this, it means a lot to me."
"Mañoso better realize soon how much you mean to him and how goddamn lucky he is," he said warmly, a smile playing on the corners of his mouth. His face froze and blanked a split second before I heard the door slam open.
"What the fuck, Stephanie?"
I closed my eyes and dropped my chin to my chest. Oh good Lord. This day was heading down the drain. First I find my tattoo is in the window for all the world to see, and now Morelli shows up?
"You know the cop?" Jet wondered.
I opened my eyes with a groan and nodded slowly.
"Cupcake, seriously. What the fuck are you doing here alone? What the fuck are you doing here at all?"
Crap, how did he even find out I was here? Someone must have seen me enter and reported it to him. Or maybe saw my car out front. Why was it anyone's business what I did in my personal time?
"That's not your business, Joe." I took a few steps further away from the door before turning side-on so I could keep an eye on both Morelli and Jet.
"Bullshit."
"Want me to get rid of him, Sweet-pea?" Jet drawled.
My eyes darted nervously to Jet. Sweet-pea? Seriously.
Joe looked like he was about to explode. "Outside, Stephanie. Now."
"No thanks, Joe. Jet was just about to finish cleaning my tattoo."
"You're what?"
"Uh, he was just going to let me look at some tattoos."
"That's not what you said."
"Paddling upstream now, Sweet-pea."
"And do not get me started on the fact that you know Zaiden 'Jet' fucking Cross by name."
"You have a name as cool as Zaiden and you go by Jet?"
"Not the time, Sweet-pea."
"What tattoo, Stephanie?"
"It's none of your business, Joe!"
"Does Ranger know about this?" he demanded.
Jesus. It was my body, my choice. I could get a tattoo without permission from any of the men in my life! I must have stayed silent too long though, because his eyes went flat, shuttered.
"So Ranger knows. What is it? Where is it? He own you now, Stephanie? Did he persuade you to brand his name on your body too?"
My blush at his words must have given me away.
His face turned red. "You're gone from my bed one fucking month and suddenly you're hanging out in tattoo parlours, binding yourself to Ranger fucking Mañoso!"
"Joe, it's not like that!"
"Show it to me. Show me your tattoo." Joe made a grab for me and suddenly I found my body behind Jet's.
"You need to back off now, cop, and leave her alone."
"Jesus Christ. You just fucking attract them, don't you Stephanie?"
"Joe, Ranger doesn't know about my tattoo. It's neither of your business what I got done. It's personal."
"I'm done. Mañoso can have you, if he'll even take you. He might not want my sloppy seconds."
"Get out, now," Jet growled, anchoring an arm tightly around my hips as I tried to lunge at Morelli.
I felt more than saw the stare off Jet and Morelli were having. The hair on my arms rose and the air was practically electrified with their anger and testosterone. I relaxed a little when Joe finally backed out of the shop. That wasn't to say I wouldn't kick him in the nuts next time I saw him, but at least he and Jet weren't going to have a shootout. "Please don't see the picture, please don't see the picture," I chanted under my breath as Joe headed towards his car.
My heart sunk as he glanced back through the window and his face froze. Damn it. There went what was left of our friendship. His eyes hardened and found mine through the glass. He was hurt, but more than that, he was livid. I was scared he was going to do something stupid. Like confront Ranger. He strode quickly to his car and jumped in, peeling rubber as he raced away from the curb.
"Shit!" I made a dash for the front door when Jet pulled me to a stop.
"I have to go! Joe's going to confront Ranger and Ranger might just kill him."
"Well, he's heading in the wrong direction."
"What? How could you possibly know that?" I asked, dumbfounded as I turned to stare at Jet.
He gave me a small knowing smile, the kind that said I know something you don't know. God men are jerks.
"Babe."
Uh oh. Double uh oh. Quadruple uh oh. Infinity uh oh. This was bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
"Hi, Ranger," I turned nervously and slipped out of Jet's grip. My eyes darted over to where Ranger was leaning against the back wall.
Now you'd done it, Plum.
TBC...