Another day...another chapter! Enjoy!
The next two weeks went by at a furious pace. We were making wedding plans, getting the RangeMan building completed and I was brining in a few skips a day with the help of the Merry Men. A few days after I found out I was pregnant I started getting sick. I had anytime sickness, not morning sickness. I trudged along and finally it was time for us to move into our new place. I hadn't seen it since the walls went up.
Ranger remoted us into the underground garage. It was much bigger than the old one. There were probably 50 parking spots, maybe more. We rode the elevator up, it had the same security features as the old one. We would just have to push a button on the remote. Everyone would have remotes. They would be programmed to only allow access to the floors in which they were allowed. Pretty nifty. My key let me everywhere besides the private residences on the floors below us. That included Ella and her husband's apartment, the one below them (Ranger hadn't told me who would there) and the smaller (although still huge) apartments on the 5th, 6th, and 7th floors. Floors two, three and four were offices and the security center. The ground floor that I had previously thought had only held reception actually had a pool and the gym. Underground there was a shooting range and weapons room.
The elevator opened directly into our foyer. Everything was beautiful and very natural looking. The floors were bamboo, the kitchen and bathrooms had slate tiles. The kitchen was big and airy. Ranger took me a quick tour, everything was perfect. We got to the last room and I started to cry. It was a nursery. There was a beautiful canopy crib with all the matching furniture. There were toys and stuffed animals and a rocking chair. It was amazing. It wasn't finished; everything in the room so far was very unisex. Ranger was a smart man.
"Do you want a boy or a girl?" He asked me.
"I think I'd like a boy…so you could teach him out to play sports and bond and all that."
"Really? I want a girl. A little girl who is just as beautiful as her mother."
"Huh, Ok I want a girl too but I figured you'd want a boy." I said and Ranger laughed. "Really I'd be happy with either. Just as long as he or she is happy and healthy." I rubbed my nonexistent baby bump and explored the house a little further. I looked outside. RangeMan employees were arriving. Today was moving day.
Ranger took me on a quick tour of the rest of the building and I was told to sit in our apartment and do nothing while he unloaded the clothes we had brought from the batcave. Instead I put on my bathing suit and went down to the pool.
There were floaty noodles and other fun things to play with. I had no idea who had bought them but I figured it hadn't been Ranger. I laid my head on one of the floaty noodles and let myself veg out. I don't know how long I was asleep but I was suddenly woken up to yelling and I was being pulled out of the pool.
I screamed and started struggling reflexively.
"BABE!" I stopped struggling and was carried to the edge of the pool. Tank grabbed my arms and hauled me out. I turned to look at Ranger and giggled. He looked pissed. He also looked like a drowned rat. He was fully dressed and his wet hair was plastered to his forehead.
"Stephanie what were you doing? You can't just disappear without telling someone where you are going." He had his blank face on and I could tell he was trying not to be mad but I was confused.
"Why are you freaking out? You could have just asked the control room where I was."
Ranger sighed. "Stephanie the control room isn't operational for at least another hour. No one saw you come down here. We've been searching for twenty minutes, I was worried Stephanie. And then I come down here and you're floating in the water, not moving. You didn't answer when I called your name! God. I…"
I started to cry then. "I I'm so sor-rr-rr-y," I managed to stutter out. "I'm just so tired and must've fallen asleep. I'm so sorry. Don't be mad, stop calling me Stephanie, I'm not Stephanie I'm babe."
Ranger gave me a peculiar look. "Babe, I'm not mad. I was just scared. I couldn't stand it if I lost you." He wrapped me in a hug and I stopped crying.
"Ranger?"
"Yeah babe?"
"I'm hungry. I'd really like some chicken noodle soup and BBQ chips."
"Okay babe." He helped me stand up and I looked around. Half of RangeMan was standing there along with Diesel.
"Why are you here?"
"I'm living on the 8th floor."
"What? Why? That's great!" I was exceptionally happy to have Diesel around. I gave him a hug and then looked around. "I really need that soup. But I want Chicken Tortilla now. Oooh and a taco. I need a taco."
I started walking out towards the elevator and I heard someone mutter "hormones" behind me. I turned and gave a look that brought even Tank up short. I might have growled.
I rode with Ranger to the 10th floor; we let Diesel off on eight. I went into the master bedroom and rinsed off. I put on a robe and grabbed a pint of ice cream out of the fridge. Ranger took a shower right after me and came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped low around his hips. I licked some ice cream off the spoon I was holding and gave Ranger a sexy smile.
"Babe. You keep giving me that look and you won't be getting your soup."
"I'm not hungry for soup anymore." I slipped my robe off and leaned against the counter naked.
Ranger stalked towards me and watched as I took some whipped cream and squirted right into the ice cream container. I swiped some with my finger and slowly sucked if off as Ranger stopped in front of me. I swiped my finger through the whipped cream again and offered it to him. He closed his lips around my finger and sucked it off. I almost came just standing there.
Ranger lifted me up onto the counter and I moaned as the cool granite touched my hot body. He stepped in between my legs and pressed his lips against mine. His phone rang as he started to tangle our tongues together but he ignored it. It rang again. And again. Finally there was knocking at the door. Ranger handed me my robe and stalked over to the door as I shrugged it on. He pulled the door open and barked out a "WHAT?"
Tank stood on the other side of the door and he didn't look happy.
"Sorry boss man. We've got trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
"Bomber trouble." I started walking over when he said that. What did I do? I hadn't even blown anything up lately. "Someone just delivered these."
Tank gave Ranger a huge stack of photos. Ranger flipped through them, his blank face slammed into place. There were hundreds of photos. All of them were of me. There were photos of me showering, of me changing, sleeping, eating, walking Bob, shopping, taking down skips. It was a photo gallery of me going back years. The last photo was a recent one of Ranger and I, kissing at the beach. Red writing was scrawled across it.
"I'll kill you before I fuck her."
I watched helplessly as the photos fell out of Ranger's hand and fluttered to the floor.
A good chapter? A horrible chapter? A wonderful chapter? Let me know.
