Chapter 26—The Reason
Tank's POV
What the hell is that noise? FUCK! It's Connie. Why is that crazy bitch crashing into the gates? She'll be lucky to be alive. I look at Monica. We need to get Ranger and Steph into the elevator and on seven. Stephanie will kill me if I let anything happen to Ranger and he will kill Monica if something happens to Steph. We run over to the Cayenne and each grab our quarry. "Come on, Ranger, we to secure you and your woman."
"Let go of me, Tank. Just make sure that Steph is secure. I'm going after that bitch."
"No, Ranger, you are not. You need to stay with Steph on seven. Remember, no stress. She's going to go ballistic if you leave her side. Think of your little girls, Ranger, think of your girls." I pushing him towards the elevator. Monica already has Steph there and is telling me to hurry. Easy for her, her target is willing to go. My target is fighting. I finally manage to push him into the elevator and fob it up to seven. I set the lock so that he can't ride it down. I call control. "Make sure Ranger does not get down to the garage until I clear it." I hang up the phone. No one will disobey my order. Now, to go get that crazy, psychotic bitch.
Monica's POV
Oh no, not again. I think maybe I should go back to Boston. Only my sister here could get in trouble as much as she does, and in the secure RangeMan garage. Tank and I are running to get Steph and Ranger to safety. Stephanie, for once, is thinking with her heart and taking care of her girls. I grab her, cover her, and push her towards the elevator. Where the hell is Tank with Ranger? I look and see him struggling. Damn it, why are men so damn pig headed. Let's lock up the woman while we men fight. Doesn't Ranger realize how much stress he puts on Stephanie? I'm going to have a long conversation with him about HIS safety. Finally, Tank gets him to the elevator. He fobs them up and locks it down. While he calls control, I go to get Connie and end this once and for all.
Ranger's POV
I hear the loud bang. My only thought is getting Stephanie to safety. I jump out of the car and run to the other side to get her out. Monica beats me to her and starts dragging and pulling her to the elevator, to safety. Tank is next to me and trying to push me towards he elevator as well. "Come on, Ranger, we to secure you and your woman."
"Let go of me, Tank. Just make sure that Steph is secure. I'm going after that bitch."
"No, Ranger, you are not. You need to stay with Steph on seven. Remember, no stress. She's going to go ballistic if you leave her side. Think of your little girls, Ranger, think of your girls." With that, Tank gets me in the elevator. I'm not staying up on seven while my building is under attack. I'm going to lock Steph in the apartment and then go back down to the garage using the stairs. I open the door for Stephanie and push her into the apartment. I give her a quick kiss and grab her key fob. Without it, she can't get in the elevator or the stairwell after I seal them. "Carlos, where do you think you're going?"
"Babe, I'm going downstairs to help."
She glares at me and puts her hands on her hips. "No, you are not. You are staying up here, in our apartment, with me and our daughters. You are not leaving me here to worry about your safety. Tank will come up when everything is settle. Now, get your ass in here." I just shake my head and start to head to the stairs. Then, I hear it, it's barely a whisper, but I hear it, "Please, Carlos, please."
I can't do that to my Babe. I can't hurt her when she's so fragile. I can hear the hitch in her voice. I sigh. "Okay, Babe, you win." I enter into the apartment and the magic begins.
Stephanie's POV
What the heck is that noise? OMG, someone is trying to get into the garage. I can tell by the car that whoever it is, they don't belong here. What am I going to do? I get out of the car and Monica is next to me. She pulling and dragging me towards the elevator. I go with her. I need to keep these girls safe. We get to the elevator, but Carlos isn't here yet. How did I beat him? Finally, I see Tank push him in. The doors close. He is not happy. I can see he wants out. We arrive at seven and he opens the door. He pushes me in and kisses me. He turns to leave. I say, "Carlos, where do you think you're going?"
"Babe, I'm going downstairs to help."
What the hell? Why is okay for him to put himself in danger. Why isn't he thinking of me and our girls? I have to stop him. "No you are not. You are staying up here, in our apartment, with me and our daughters. You are not leaving me here to worry about your safety. Tank will come up when everything is settled. Now, get your ass in." I see he's not going to be listening to me. I finally say that word.
"Please, Carlos, Please." I'm trying not to cry, but I can't be without Carlos. He looks at me and his shoulders drop. He replies, "Okay, Babe, you win." He enters the apartment with me.
Once the door is closed and locked, I put my arms around his neck and I give him a kiss. I try to put as much heat as I can into the kiss. I feel that if I can get him worked up, he'll forget what's going on and will stay here with me. He responds to my heat with heat of his own. The fire spreads down my whole body. He presses a button by the door that puts seven on lock down mode. This prevents anyone from entering our apartment from the outside. I know he did that so Tank or Monica didn't enter after the situation was resolved. We started to undress each other, our need became too great. I was happy to be alive and with Carlos, I'm sure he was feeling the same way. I started to kiss his chest, his abs, working my way down his chiseled body, but he stopped me. He lifted me up and carried me to our bed. He gently placed me down on my back, but when he went to climb over me, I wiggled out and reversed our positions. "You first." I said. I went back to kissing him and slowly descended down his body. I wanted to make him moan and yell out my name. I knew just how to do that. I found his member and started to stroke it with my hands, teasing his head with my tongue. I could tell that he was enjoying what I was doing to him. Then, I took him member in my mouth. I slowly moved my mouth over his member, and after every few times I stopped to tease his head and lick it like an ice cream cone. I would build the pace and the amount of strokes with my mouth until I would feel him getting close, then I would stop to tease him again. After doing this at least six or seven times, he started to beg me to keep going. "Please, Babe, I'm so close." I decided to stop at that point. He tries to flip us, but I wouldn't let him. "Carlos, I'm not done." I started to rub my body against his erection, and I felt him get even harder, if that was even possible. I line us up, center to center, and slowly move him inside me. I bring myself up as high as I could until he is almost out before dropping back down again. I continue at this slow and excruciating pace, watching him battle for control. When I feel his climax approaching again, I pull myself off completely once again. I pull him up so that he is sitting, with his back against the headboard and straddle once again. I want to be able to kiss him while riding him. Now, I go faster. I feel him helping me to go deeper and faster. My mouth is on his and we reach our climax together. Now, Carlos takes very little time to flip me over.
His kisses run down my neck, my chest. He plays with my nipples, gently nipping them with his teeth. I want his talented mouth farther down, but he's not moving. I feel his hands rubbing the inside of my thighs, but he's not touching the promise land. I know that this is payback, but I hate waiting. He finally brings his mouth to my center and teasingly licks my clit. He runs his tongue from bottom to top between my folds. He sucks on my clit, but doesn't stay for long. Now, he puts his tongue inside me. Suddenly, his mouth is gone and he's repeating the process, only now with his fingers. He brings me to the brink and then stops to just kiss my mouth before starting all over again. He repeats this torture at four more times, each time bringing me closer to release before stopping. This time, though, while kissing me he puts his manhood inside me. "Carlos, please take me, take me now." He pushes fast and hard, going as deep as he can. He takes my leg and puts it on his shoulder to give him better entrance into me. I start to call out his name as we both climax once again together. He continues to pump inside me until we are completely done. Then, he smoothly turns us over and I lie in his arms.
"Babe, you have no idea how much I love you and how relieved I am that we are safe, and that you didn't try to fight tonight."
"I feel the same way. Until this threat is over, and even after, I don't want you to be my martyr. I need you with me to raise our family." I start to close my eyes and drift off to sleep when I hear the phone ring. Carlos reaches over me and picks up the phone. "Report." Some phone manners. "Okay. We'll be down later." He hangs up.
"Babe that was Tank. They got Connie. She's in holding. I told them we'll question her later, she's not going anywhere and we'll call the police when we are ready for them. Go to sleep."
"I can't go to sleep now! I want to go and talk to her." I try to extract myself from Carlos's arms, but he holds me tight.
"You need rest. Another hour or two won't matter. Look, I'll set my alarm for two hours, okay, then we can down together."
"Are you going to stay here with me?" I ask my husband.
"Yes."
"What about dinner?"
"Everyone can wait." With that, Carlos sends a text to Tank. Dinner in 2 ½ hours on seven. Pass the word.
Tank POV
Thank God I got Ranger on that elevator. I think Stephanie would have collapsed if I didn't get him there. I don't know why he is so pig headed. Doesn't he realize that Steph needs him to be safe? Monica, Lester, Cal, Hal, Bobby, and I are more than capable to get this bitch. We are approaching the car. Being that she hit the gate, her airbags all deployed and she seems to be unconscious. I call for Bobby to come to the car. We carefully open the door. Connie practically falls out the car. We grab her and put her in cuffs. "What were you thinking Connie? You could've killed yourself." I said while shaking my head.
"What does it matter to you? Once again, you got that pussy whipped Ranger to run and hide."
She's putting up a fight. She obviously doesn't want to be here, but I don't care. We bring her down to the holding cell and I let Bobby exam her. She has a lot of bumps and bruises from the crash, but no broken bones. Bobby patches up some of her more serious cuts, and then we leave her in the holding cell attached to the chair with shackles. I pick up my phone and call Carlos. He answers. "Report."
"Connie is secured. Bobby checked her over, no serious injuries just some bumps and bruises. She's in the holding cell."
"We'll be down later." Ranger disconnects.
"Well, what did he say? Are he and Steph coming down now?" Lester asked.
"No, he said they'll be down later."
"I guess that means that we're on our own for dinner." Cal sighed before continuing. "I was looking forward to having dinner on seven. Steph seems like she needs some support."
With that, my phone pings. I check my incoming text message. It's from Ranger. Dinner in 2 ½ hours on seven. Pass the word. I tell everyone, "Dinner is in 2 ½ hours on seven." With that, we go up to control to find something to do to kill the time.
Stephanie's POV
"Steph, Babe, you need to wake up." I hear Carlos as he is gently placing kisses on my face. "Everyone will be here in a half hour, I'm sure you want to freshen up."
Ugh. I'm too comfortable to move, but I guess I must. I slowly sit up and pull the cover up with me. I know that it's only me and Carlos in the room, but I'm not as confident with my body to just sit here with my chest exposed. Carlos laughs at me. "Babe, I've seen them many time and as a matter of fact, I was just enjoying them a couple of hours ago."
"I know, I'm just a little self-conscience about my body."
"You shouldn't be, you're beautiful. Te quiero, mi amor."
"I love you too." I get up and go the to the bathroom to freshen up. I look in the mirror. Eeek! My hair! I wet it and throw it up in a pony. I put on some mascara and go put on my RangeMan uniform, which consists of black maternity yoga style pants and one of Carlos's RangeMan t-shirts, being that mine no longer fit me. I enter into the dining room as Ella is finishing setting up dinner.
"The food smells delicious, Ella. I hope it wasn't too much work for you."
"No, no problem at all. I enjoy feeding you and my boys, and Monica." I reached over and gave her a hug and kiss. She smiled as she walked out of the apartment. Two minutes later, there was a knock, and the rest poured inside. We all walk into the dining room and start to eat the feast. We finished about an hour later. Then, Tank asked, "What is our approach with Connie? We have to call in TPD soon."
"I need to talk to her, to find out why. I don't understand what she has against me or Ranger. I thought she was once of my friends. I need to understand why." I stated.
"That's a good idea. You and Ranger are going to go in together?"
"No. She'll be expecting that and I want her off. I want to go in with Monica. If she thinks it's a talk between 'us girls' she may reveal more than she would with Ranger in the room."
"That sounds like a plan." Monica replied. With that we all get up and head down to the holding cells. When we get off the elevator, Carlos pulls me aside, "Are you sure you're okay with this. You don't have to do this."
"I'm fine Carlos." With that, I give him a kiss. Monica and I go over to the cell and look in. I can see that Connie is upset and scared. I look at Monica and we nod. We know it's time. I open the door.
"Connie, how are you feeling? Are you hurt?" I ask. I could tell it caught her off guard.
"I'll live. Where's Ranger? Too scared to come in to me?"
"Connie, why? Why did you set me up? Why are you trying to hurt me? I need to understand."
"Stephanie, believe it or not, but this really isn't about you, at least not directly. For me, it all starts with your husband. Your husband ruined my life, and now I am ruining his. It's only fair, an eye for an eye. Only it took me over ten years to realize that he was he one."
"What are you talking about?"
"My cousin lives in Georgia. She told me that every November, when the Rangers graduated, there was always a lot of celebrating going on in the local bars and towns. She said the night before graduation and graduation night were the best nights. A few girls have even met their husbands then." I got a vision of "Officer and a Gentleman" in my mind, and I could see Connie trolling for her 'officer'. "I was at the bar with my cousin and I saw the most unbelievable gorgeous man I've ever seen. I knew that he was mine. I saw him glace over at me multiple times, but there was little blond twerp next to him, hanging on his every word. I could see she was throwing herself at him, but he wasn't interested. Finally, she left alone and he came over to me. We had a couple of drinks, we talked and we danced, then we went back to my hotel room. We made love that night. I swear, he ruined me for all other men. When I woke, he was gone, but I wasn't surprised. Then, the next night, we went back out again and I saw him. I went to approach, but he left with the blond twerp before I could go over to him. About a month later, I found out I was pregnant. I knew that it was his child, but I couldn't find him. I decided to have the baby anyway. I knew that he had family in NJ and I figured, eventually, I'd bump into him. I brought out baby to term, and when I delivered, the baby was still born. Apparently, the cord was wrapped around his neck. I was devastated. The birth was complicated, and I was bleeding too much, so I had to have a hysterectomy. When my cousin came to visit a year ago, she recognized Ranger as being that man from that bar in Georgia. When I looked up his Ranger school graduation, it all came together. I never realized that Ranger was the father of my baby. I was so annoyed that you, a little nitwit who can't do anything right, had caught Ranger's eye. I didn't understand it. What did he see in you? How did he not recognize me? That's when I knew I had to take you out of the picture to get Ranger. Joe went along because he just wanted you away from Ranger so he could marry you. You should have said yes to Joe. We were working together to get the two people we wanted most of all. Then, Joe found out from your mom that MY FATHER was YOUR FATHER! I hated you even more then. My dad did nothing but ask me how you were after each of your disaster and how you were coping. I didn't understand why at first, but now it is clear. He was asking how his DAUGHTER was. Now, when I confronted him, he told me the whole story. Do you know that if you were a boy, he would have claimed you and taken you from your mother. She wanted him to do that. But, alas, you were a girl. When he found out what I did, he disowned me, his daughter, for you, a whore. So, it became even more important for me to end you. Joe's not done. He is out right now waiting to get you. And when he does, you will be his wife and Ranger will be where he belongs with me."
"Connie, Joe was arrested tonight. It's over. He's back in custody. I will never be with Joe again. And as for the blond twerp, she's sitting in this room and she has a much different memory from 'that night'."
"You, you are the one who stole him from me! You fucking slut!"
"Connie, I know Ranger better than you, and we were in Ranger school together. Ranger was and is one of my best friends. He was there to help me in a time when things went horribly wrong for me. The night that you were together was the same day that I found out that even though I finished Ranger school and was graduating number two in the class, I was not going on. I was a woman, so I wasn't qualified to be a Ranger in the eyes of the Army. Ranger knew how upset I was and went out that night to keep me company. I was in love with him, but looking back on it, I know that I loved him as my brother, not my lover. He felt and feels that same way about me. Ranger was a womanizer. He only slept with women for the physical release, not for any emotional attachment. He didn't spend the night with you, he left you right after you were done. He was in my barrack at 3 am to make sure I got home okay. The next night, after graduation, I was too upset to truly enjoy my accomplishments, so after we went to the bar, Ranger took me out for ice cream to help me feel better. We never were together, but until Stephanie, he never wanted to be in a relationship beyond sex with anyone. I can tell you, he never thought about you after that night. He probably doesn't even remember that night. As for your child, I'm sure if he knew, he would've helped you, like he did Rachel, but I know that after Rachel, he never had unprotected sex so I find it hard to believe that the child you carried was Ranger's child." Monica told Connie.
"No, you're wrong. We were connected. We are meant to be."
"Then how come Carlos never remembered you? He's been working for Vinnie for how many years and he never, ever recognized you. What makes you think that he would go back to you?" I asked gently. "And remember, you and Lula kept pushing me toward Ranger and away from Joe. So, you didn't even realize it at the time."
"You're wrong. Ranger is my man, and you don't deserve him." Connie was starting to get agitated. Suddenly, the door opened and Carlos walked in. He looked at Monica and I, and signaled for me to leave. I wasn't sure why, but I did as he asked. When I walked out, Lester took me to observation area so I could watch what was going on.
Ranger's POV
"Connie, you need to leave Stephanie and me alone. There will never be an 'us'. I didn't even remember anything about that night until you just told the story. I'm sorry about what happened. I was an ass back then. I used women because I could. So many women there, just throwing themselves at me, why wouldn't I take advantage of their desire. You were another one of those women. I don't even think I asked for your name, and if I did, I would have forgotten it the moment I left you. I never stayed beyond the time it took for me to get my release. If you got a release or not, it didn't concern me. The only reason why I remember anything is the significance of the date, being around graduation. Monica is right about me. The one and only woman I have ever spent the night with is my wife, is Stephanie. And if you were carrying my child, then I'm sorry that you went through that. If I had known, I never would have let you go through that on your own. But you need to leave Stephanie alone, you need to leave our children alone, and you need to leave me alone. The cops will be here soon to take you away."
"But Ranger, you and me are meant to be. Don't you see that? Why can't you dump Stephanie and come to me, then everything will be the way it should have been."
"What role did Stephanie's mom play in this?"
"She was the catalyst. She told me that her daughter was making the wrong decision in not marrying Joe and that she wanted her away from your bad influence. That you were making her a whore, and if that is what she was, then she needed to be treated as such. She said that she needed to learn her lesson and that maybe, if she was raped and knew that if was you who set her up, she would finally learn her lesson and settle down with Joe. She came to visit me in the bond office about two weeks before I gave her the file. She said that it would also be payback to Vinnie for giving her a job in the first place, because she would quit, and you would stop working for him. And she would be able to make her pay for being born. She ruined Ellen's life, and now Ellen was set on ruining Steph's life. I know that my dad was her father, all he did was brag about how much spunk she has and how different she is. I think he would've preferred to have her live with us, but that wouldn't have gone over well in the Burg. He was furious when he found out that Ellen and Frank used the money he gave them for Steph's college to pay for Valerie's school and her wedding. Not mention, Stephanie is in his will. She will get what belongs to me. That's why I helped, to show my dad that I am the better daughter and that Steph is nobody."
I was in shock. I couldn't believe that Steph's mother was behind all of this. I could only image what Steph was going through. I needed to get to her. Without another word, I walked to the door and went to Stephanie.
Stephanie's POV
OMG! My mother, my own mother set me up. She wanted me to be raped so I would marry Joe. How fucked up is my life. I can't breathe. I'm so angry and scared and upset. Lester wraps his arms around me and comforts me. "Beautiful, everything is okay. Don't cry, you're going to make me cry." He was supporting me fully. Then, I felt him enter, and I smelled the Bulgari, Carlos was here. Carlos takes me from Lester's arms and picks me up. He sits on the chair in the room and places me on his lap. "I'm so sorry Babe. Te queiro, tu eres mi vida, mi amor. Tu eres hermosa."
I just sit there and take comfort from my husband, the first person who truly loves me for me. I know for sure now that I have no biological family anymore. My only family are my Merry Men and Monica. I feel so dejected and rejected. How can someone hate their child that much?
"Boss," Tank said, "TPD is here. You and Steph should go upstairs."
Carlos stands with me in his arms and carries me to the elevator where we go up to seven.
Author's Note: Sorry about the delay. Life came in the way and I lost my muse. I rewrote this chapter about 3 times and hope you liked the way it turned out. I figure we have about 2-3 more chapters left in this story. I am already circulating ideas in my mind for my next, unrelated Babe story. Please keep the review coming, they are pushing me to finish this story for all of you. Thank you for following the story and writing your reviews.