The Men of Rangeman
M rating
Thank you once again Margaret for reading ahead as my Beta. :) I much appreciate :)
This takes place in current time. Books 1 through 19 may be referenced. The people you recognize belong to JE :)
Chapter 25
Ranger's POV
I wasn't one hundred percent sure I'd heard her right, so after our breathing returned to normal, I took Stephanie's left hand in mine. I removed the wedding band, but left the diamond in place.
"Do you like this ring, or should we get you something different?"
She didn't answer me right away and for a minute I thought she might be regretting her decision.
"Babe?"
"I don't know how to put this Ranger. I love you and I cherish everything you give me, but aside from the luck I felt these rings gave me with you, they do remind me of you and Joe throwing punches at each other."
"We can return them and get you whatever you want. They were only supposed to be a prop anyway; even though I guess I saw them a little differently."
"Talk to me Ranger…"
"Carlos."
"I'm sorry. Carlos. What is it that you're feeling?"
"You still have the original set, don't you Babe?"
"Oh course I do. They're in my apartment. I tried to give them back a few times, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I thought you would think I was ending things with you."
"You went back to the cop after Hawaii, what was I supposed to think anyway? I never asked for them back, even though they're worth quite a bit of money, because I picked them out with you in mind."
"You picked them out?"
"I did. But obviously they're a stock item…I was able to get another identical set…and since there is nothing stock about you, let's get you something you like. There's a Tiffany's on Collins Avenue, we can go over there later."
"Are you sure about this Carlos?"
"I'm as sure as I'll ever be. Tell me about the cop."
"What do you want to know? It's over for good if that's what you were asking."
"I assumed so. Santos told me it was ugly, but I never heard anything either way, from you."
"I didn't think I needed to fill anyone in on the details. I caught him with Terry; isn't that enough?"
"I'm sorry Babe, that must have hurt."
"Not as much as if I would have caught you with Jeanne Ellen."
"What does Jeanne Ellen have to do with this?" I was turning the diamond ring on her left finger as I asked. Jeanne Ellen never meant anything to me and I was hoping my lack of enthusiasm would let her know that.
"I thought…I heard you were an item."
"An item, Babe?"
"I'm sorry, I forget you don't know all the Burg expressions."
"I know what that means. Me and Jeanne Ellen?"
"You know, you are both bad-ass bounty hunters…"
"Babe. If you're asking me if I've ever fucked her, well then I have to answer honestly that I have…wait Babe," I said, trying to clarify as she moved away from me, "don't take that the wrong way, it meant nothing."
"It meant nothing? How can something as intimate as sex mean nothing?"
"Don't look at it as intimate, look at it as a need. It was just a release for both of us. That's all. What about the cop? I'm not even going to pretend you didn't have a sexual relationship with him…he told me on more than one occasion…"
"He did?"
"Any time he could, he was in my face about it. 'I'm dicking Stephanie and you aren't'…"
"He said that?"
I just nodded. Those may not have always been his exact words, mostly they were cruder, but that was the sentiment.
Stephanie got quiet, so I changed the subject.
"Babe, while we're talking about sex, I need to ask you something. You're still on the pill aren't you?"
"Um, yes…why?"
"And you've been taking it religiously?"
"Every day."
"Gracias a Dios,"
"Carlos, what did you just say?"
"I said 'thank God' because the condom we were just using broke."
"How is that possible?"
"I guess I got a little carried away, but as long as we had backup we should be ok."
"No, I swear, I've been good about taking them…um wait…"
"Babe?"
"Well it's not like I didn't take it, but the day of our flight to Florida I was so flustered because I couldn't get a cab to the airport, that I didn't remember to take it until that evening…but I did take it."
Technically that should be ok, but this was Stephanie we were talking about.
"Shall we head back to the marina? Tiffany's isn't that far from it and I was hoping we could pick out a ring and maybe even get it before we have to go back to Trenton."
"You are serious, aren't you?"
"I couldn't be any more serious. I love you Babe," I said again, looking into her eyes and dipping my head to kiss her lips.
"Oh God Carlos, keep that up and we won't be going anywhere."
"Yes we will, I see some kayakers approaching."
Ernesto's POV
I had gotten a call from the Miami PD a couple of days after Junior, Hector, Slick and Slick's friend Michelle captured Santana and freed the McCall kid he had in a cage in his backyard. They asked for our help with the case again.
A female police psychologist from North Miami was brought in to talk to Darcy and the kid broke down as soon as she started talking. Seems Santana had a friend named Moe. Stocky man with a black beard who didn't smell too good. Santana would leave him alone with the kid for days at a time and the man would rape and sodomize her repeatedly. If she protested in any way, he would beat her. She remembered bleeding vaginally, rectally and from her nose and mouth on more than a few occasions. She also said he punched her so hard she was sure he did internal damage and broke a few ribs.
The psychologist wanted to have Darcy admitted to a private hospital for some x-rays and MRIs and also wanted to bring her parents down to Florida to be with her. The kid refused to see her parents and the only way she would go to the hospital was if that woman who held her, stroked her hair and told her everything would be ok, came with her.
It seemed that she was talking about Slick's friend.
Hector had been hanging around the office after the debriefing, but I knew that Junior and Slick took their much-deserved time-off. Unfortunately I was going to have to call them back in. And I was about to when my phone rang…Miami PD again. Diego Santana was found dead in his cell; he had ripped and tied his socks together and used them to hang himself. So now, getting a hold of this Moe wouldn't be as simple as we'd thought, and neither would this case.
I was able to find Hector easily enough and I convinced him to call Junior, who he said was on his way to Disney World. Hector called him from my office and I was thankful that he agreed to turn around and come back. He told Hector that Slick and Michelle were spending the weekend together and he highly doubted that Slick would be willing to come back to work for any reason.
Hector didn't know that the kid had been asking for Michelle.
I thanked Hector for his time. I knew he'd been called back to Trenton or I would have recruited him too, then I sat down to figure out what I was going to do about Slick and Michelle.
I gave myself a couple of hours and when I couldn't think of a nicer way to approach this, I called Slick's cell.
Slick's POV
I was thinking about my call from Junior, but I was also trying to be attentive to Michelle. No one has ever made me feel the way she does.
"Baby, come here," I called to her as she unpacked clothes to put into the dresser she had just claimed.
"Are you being slick again since you got that call from work?"
"No, but I want to share something with you."
She came over and I pulled her onto my lap. I guess she was partially eager to hear what I had to say but by the way she was settling into me was she partially into making me crazy too. She knew what she was doing to me.
"Baby, I love you, but not now, I want to tell you something first."
"Shaun?"
"I told you that was Junior on the phone, right? Well it wasn't about work. He had just found out that his…I don't know even what to call her…his sometimes woman is pregnant and he was asking for advice."
"Pregnant like they were trying, or pregnant like 'oops'?"
"They weren't trying; they are not a couple like that. He said she was on the pill but she got pregnant anyway. I'm a little worried about him. He's one of our best guys and if he decides to leave and go off on the daddy track, it will be a huge loss for us."
"Shaun you can't control people's lives. If that's what he thinks is best for him, you have to respect that."
I didn't have a chance to really think about what she was saying, because my phone was buzzing in my pocket. I had sent it to voicemail and was about to turn it off entirely, when it buzzed again.
"Baby, I need to take this," I said to Michelle as I looked at the ID readout on top. "It's Ernesto." And what use was turning it off if Rangeman could turn it back on?
"Moore, you have a minute?" he said when I answered. I hoped he wasn't calling me back to work and I was going to protest that I never, ever ask for my time, when he asked about Michelle.
"And is Lore there with you?"
I told him she was and he asked me where I was. When he ascertained it was ok to speak freely, he asked me to put my phone on speaker.
"I'm sorry to put a damper on your weekend, but we got a call from South Miami earlier. Darcy McCall had a freak out and she's asking for Michelle."
"What can I do?" Michelle asked, no beat between the request.
"She'd like you to be with her for a full set of x-rays and MRIs. Turns out she was badly abused."
"Shit." That came from Michelle who I hadn't heard curse before.
"Are you ok with that? Do you want Slick with you?"
"No I'm ok. I had been hoping she wasn't raped."
"Rape is a simplistic term for what was done to her. Unfortunately the kid was abused in any and every way. She said she bled heavily from her nose and mouth."
I was thinking head injury.
"That bastard," Michelle said, surprising me again. And when I looked at her she was crying.
I maneuvered myself behind her and put my arms around her.
"Baby, it's ok," I whispered. "I'll go with you."
"I don't want to scare her Shaun. If she was asking for just me, I can do this."
"I love you," I whispered. And I did.
That's when it dawned on me. Those bastards. Rangeman ran a search on Michelle. If they hadn't, she wouldn't have passed their criteria and she wouldn't have been asked to help out. I was going to let my temper fly when I realized it would do no good. And Michelle seemed to be ok with what was going on. I was the one who needed to get myself under control.
Lester's POV
I patiently sat outside. Sunny said Merry would be right out. Unfortunately I am not a patient person so after five minutes I'd had it.
"Merry?" I knocked on the door to their break room.
"Santos, stay where you are," I heard through the door. "I can't decide what to wear and no, I don't need your help." "Fuck," she yelled loudly right after her declaration.
"Merry?"
"Do not touch that knob," she yelled, although my fingers already had a grip on it.
"Is everything ok?"
"A button just came off, but yes everything is ok."
"Want me to sew if back on for you? I have a needle and thread in my first aid kit."
"You're shitting me, right?"
"Nope."
"You can sew?"
"It's not one of my finer points, but yes, I can sew."
"Ok, then yes. I'm going to hand it out to you. No tricky stuff ok?"
"Promise. Give me two seconds to get the needle and thread. What color is it?"
"Purple."
I doubted I had purple thread in that mini-kit, blue would have to do.
"I'll be right back."
I brought the whole kit back in with me. In all honesty, I'd never used it, but I did know how to sew a button on.
"Ok, I'm back," I said rapping slightly on the door.
An arm came out with a purple dress draped over it, fingers deftly holding a button.
"Top back," she said slamming the door in my face before I had a chance to see anything else.
Sewing on a button wasn't any more difficult than stitching up a wound: many of which I had done in my army career. Bobby was the expert; but I wasn't bad at a little nip and tuck.
I knew with chicks that color was an issue, so even though I saw it was the back neck button that no one would see with her hair down, I made a decision to go for black thread instead of the blue; which was too blue. Three or four stitches later, I was done.
"Merry?" I called at the door. "Button's on. Open up."
"Not for you Santos. Leave it on the chair and once I hear the back door open and close I'll come out and get it."
What the fuck? Was she being a little too anal or what? I wasn't a serial rapist. So then I did what any man in my position would do; I went outside.
I was about to knock on the door before letting myself back in when it opened from the inside. There was Merry standing in front of me wearing the purple jersey dress with four-inch black heels. She looked stunning. The jersey hugged her curves and the heels made her almost as tall as I was.
"You look beautiful," I said, using the word I usually reserved for Stephanie.
"Thank you, not too bad yourself," she said, giving me the once over.
"So dinner?" I said, taking her arm and maneuvering her over to my Mustang.
"Santos, is this your car?" she said breaking away from me and going over to my midnight-blue convertible.
"Yeah. 1968 ½ 428cid, 335 horsepower."
"Nice."
"Thank you. I had it fully restored."
"Maybe you'll let me drive it sometime?" she asked practically drooling over my car.
"You drive stick?"
"I grew up in rural Vermont. I drove a tractor."
Good to know.
"Well then you're used to a hard clutch. This one has a lot of kickback. I wouldn't suggest driving it in those shoes though."
Next thing I knew she had her shoes off and was handing them to me. She was definitely a force to be dealt with.