Tracy asked me to post this fast, so I did. I hope you like :)
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Stayce all but wrote this chapter, you don't want to know what it would look like without her help! Thank you!!
Disclaimer: Still all JE's characters, but I promise to return them mostly unharmed. The title is borrowed from Bon Jovi
Keep the Faith
Chapter 29
The room gradually got brighter with the early morning sun, but I didn't really notice. I don't know how long I was sitting there, against the wall, not crying, not…anything. Finally I had to admit that it had really happened.
I couldn't believe what I'd said, as if it had been another person in my body. Why would I push Ranger away like that? And what about those accusations, none of which I actually believed?
"Leave me…again?" I recited, shaking my head.
And if that wasn't bad enough, the son of a bitch threatened to have me committed!! Who the hell does he think he is? Like, hello? No bad day could top this one. I know I've said that before, but I've never gone from deliriously happy to so incredibly miserable in the space of a couple hours.
"Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie," I murmured slowly. "Now you've gone and fucked up royally."
It took all my strength, but finally I convinced myself that sitting there and moping wouldn't fix anything, so I slowly stood up and took a couple deep breaths. The room started spinning my stomach was doing somersaults, and for a couple minutes I thought I was going to throw up. Yeah, because that would really put the cherry on top. But then it settled down to a severe dizziness and I could breathe normally.
That vacation I'd been thinking about a couple weeks ago started sounding really good. But I knew that would just be another form of denying reality.
Damage control, that's what I needed to do. And what better way than to show Ranger I was in fact fine, better than fine, large and in charge? I had a to-do list to get to. That's what sane people do, they realize what needs to be done and then do it, right? Hah!
Now I had a plan. I took a fast shower, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, pulled my hair back in a pony tail and applied three coats of mascara, all without even glancing at my hair.
I didn't want to see it, I was in total denial about the bald spot I'd felt during shampooing.
'Keep moving,' I told myself, 'Just don't stop to think.'
There was no doubt in my mind my personal bodyguards were still in the parking lot. Probably Ranger had filled them in on his deadline. So I had to alter my plan from the previous night. I wasn't going to fill them in; it wasn't okay for them to know where I was.
I was going to protect myself this time, and I was going to stay safe. And I wasn't going to do it alone. Just without the Merry Men. There were plenty of people I knew who'd help me without trying to get me to the loony bin.
Ranger had been right, of course, I wasn't okay. Hell, I'd acted like a lunatic earlier! But a shrink wasn't the answer; I didn't need to talk about it. I needed to act.
I went into the kitchen to get coffee started. But I'd thrown the coffee out along with all the other food some asshole had strewn all over my kitchen floor, so I was left staring at the empty canister. No big, I figured, grabbing my shoulder bag, today called for a doughnut anyway. And I could get both at the bakery a block away. Probably my nausea and dizziness were just hunger pangs anyway, I hadn't eaten in forever.
The day seemed warm enough to go without a jacket, but I grabbed a hoodie so I could cover my head, made sure I took my replacement gun out of the cookie jar, loaded it, and dropped it into my bag before I left. I even locked the fucking door.
There was no Merry Man in the hallway, which was a blessing because it would mean my neighbors would stop wondering what kind of trouble I was in. I took the elevator downstairs; there was no representative from RangeMan in the lobby either.
I stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether I should tell them I was leaving. Nah! I was going to be back in no time and I had the tracker in my purse, I was almost sure, so it wasn't such a big deal.
And it did make more sense to leave my building through the front door since I was walking and the bakery was just a couple blocks across the street. So I pushed through the double doors, took a deep breath of the crisp morning air, hitched my bag up on my shoulder and took off.
Sometimes I'm a genuis. It was the best idea I'd had in a long time. As soon as I opened the door, the scent of goodies baking in the oven enveloped me and I inhaled deeply. Was there anything a doughnut couldn't fix?
I ordered a dozen assorted and a large coffee and took my purchases with me to the counter across from the cash register. There were a few guys who looked like construction workers, a cop and a nurse in uniform, but towards the end of the room, I spotted a small empty table and sat down with my back to the wall, smiling at the irony. For the next half hour, I did nothing but eat and drink, savoring my doughnuts, sipping my coffee, my mind on pause. It felt like a day at the spa. When I was done, I balled up my trash and threw it in the big can by the exit.
I wasn't really surprised to find Junior leaning against the shop window, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Good breakfast?" he asked neutrally.
"The best," I replied, refusing to feel guilty over taking a walk.
"Could've brought us some," he said on a smile and pushed himself off the window.
Now I did feel guilty, but for different reasons. "I'm sorry," I said and meant it, turning to step back into the bakery.
Junior chuckled and held me back by my shoulder. "I was kidding. We had breakfast before we started the shift."
I just nodded. If my mother knew about this she'd be wondering if I really was her daughter. Where were my manners? Whether they'd eaten or not, I should've gotten them some coffee. Oh well. I'd think about that later, I decided, and fell into step with Junior, heading back to my apartment building.
He held the door open for me and I paused. "Junior?"
"Hmm?"
"Did Ranger…what exactly is your assignment today?"
Junior looked confused. "We're on Steph duty," he finally said.
"Yes, but what does that entail?" I prodded. "Do you follow me wherever I go or do you…" I made a vague motion with my hand, encouraging him to finish that sentence.
He didn't flinch. "We're on Steph duty," he just repeated and I could see his version of Ranger's blank face slide over his features.
His response gave my imagination free rein. Did that mean they would just watch me? Did that mean they'd pressure me for a decision at noon? How many instructions had Ranger left for them? How far were they allowed to go?
For all I knew they could have orders to cart me off to the asylum! Although I really couldn't imagine that. He wouldn't. Would he? At the very least, he'd show up to cart me off himself, right?
The seconds ticked away and Junior didn't add to his statement. Fine.
I sighed as I rolled my eyes and brushed past him into the lobby. Just to have something to do, I went over to the bank of mailboxes to get my mail before I called the elevator.
Junior waited while I got on, but he didn't follow me. I thought it was childish to be blaming him, so I smiled and sent him a finger wave before the doors closed and he seemed relieved, nodding in response.
Hal was waiting outside my apartment door when I got out of the elevator. I rolled my eyes, reminding myself he was just following orders. Ranger was really overdoing this protection shtick.
"All clear, Steph," he said, pushing my door open for me.
"I'm sure I locked that door," I said, raising my eyebrows at him and he had the decency to look sheepish.
"It's okay," I mumbled when he looked like he was going to apologize. "Just doing your job."
That's all I could manage before I walked into my apartment and closed the door behind me. I knew the Merry Men liked me and all, and I liked them, but they had to be feeling stupid protecting somebody who didn't want to be protected. And I felt bad knowing that what I was about to do would get them into trouble, but Ranger left me little choice. He was smothering me, and since I couldn't make him see that, couldn't say it to his face, I had to find other ways. Right?
I turned my shoulder bag upside down and the contents crashed onto the floor. I knew what I was looking for. There was the lipstick with the tracker inside, there was the old-fashioned tiny bug in case someone searched me and would only look for the obvious, and there was the tiny transmitter sewn into the lining.
I removed them all, leaving a hole in the stitching I'd have to mend later, but that was necessary. Then I put everything I needed back into my bag and called Carl.
"Any news?" I asked as soon as he'd picked up.
"Good morning to you, too," he replied around a mouthful of food.
"Nothing good about it," I admitted. "You hear anything?"
"What's wrong?" Carl immediately asked.
Mental head slap. I had no intention of sharing my morning's experience with him, so I should have kept my mouth shut.
"I'm…uh…just anxious is all," I lied. "I want to get this over with, you know?"
"Hmm," as if he was thinking about digging deeper. "Well, good news, I spoke to Riley and she wants to talk to you."
I bit my lip, wondering if I still wanted to go that route. It had seemed like a good idea last night and even a few minutes ago, but now I wasn't so sure about meeting the detective. Oh well, I couldn't hide forever, right?
"That's good news." I hoped. When does she want to meet?" Realizing I had no idea what time it was, I walked into the kitchen to check. Almost eleven.
"She's free for lunch, around 12:30."
"Lunch?" I swallowed. "She doesn't want to meet me at the station?"
Carl chuckled. "She thinks you'll be more comfortable at Pino's. Go figure."
"Yeah, go figure." I smiled. "She wouldn't have gotten a tip on that, would she?"
I could feel Carl smile on the other end. "Okay, I figured you'd be more comfortable there than at the station, her office is…well, it's nicer at Pino's."
I had an idea that what he didn't say was that Detective Riley's office was Morelli's old office. It was just a feeling. "I agree with both of you then," I said. I had no desire to find out if that was really the reason for the relocation, so I didn't ask more questions.
"Tell her I'll be there."
I'd planned to ask Carl for a ride, but changed my mind about that before we disconnected. Carl was most likely at work and would pick me up in a blue-and-white. And while I was in no mood right now to call my mom just to chat, I really didn't want to talk to her because she'd heard rumors about me getting arrested.
I had some time before I had to be at Pino's, I could easily get more things done. There was talking to Vinnie, for one, and I really had to catch up with Lula and Connie. Yep, the bonds office was a logical next step. See how sane I'm thinking, Ranger? Nothing wrong with me.
"Pardon me? Who is this? I don't think I know you," Lula said when I called her. "The Stephanie I know keeps in touch with her friends and shows her face around the office."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, Lula, it's been kinda crazy."
"So I hear," she confirmed. "But I don't like hearing it second hand, if you know what I mean. Where have you been?"
I gave Lula a rough breakdown of the last few days. Tank had most likely filled her in on everything, but I knew I'd sort of neglected her.
"And now my car is at RangeMan and I need a ride," I finished. "I was hoping you could pick me up."
"Uh oh," Lula exclaimed. "What's wrong?"
Probably I hadn't pulled off the careless tone as well as I'd thought. "Nothing's wrong, I just don't' have a car," I tried.
"Aren't there at least two muscle men in your parking lot at your service, waiting to chauffeur your skinny white ass around?"
Damn. I hesitated, trying to come up with a good excuse, or at least an acceptable one.
Lula gasped before I had found one. "You running out on them again??"
"No, of course not!" I rushed to say. But wasn't that exactly what I was planning? "They'll know where I am because I have the tracker on me."
I crossed my fingers, grateful Lula couldn't see my face blush. It felt wrong to lie to her, but I couldn't go through all the reasons why I had to slip away right now. I couldn't even explain it to myself, how could I make Lula understand?
"Then why don't you ride with them?" Lula asked, and she had a point. Double damn. I sighed.
"Yes, I'm sort of trying to avoid them," I admitted on a sigh. "Are you gonna help me or not?"
I could imagine Lula's face while she was chewing this over. It was a big deal, I was basically asking her to go behind Tank's back. Maybe Lula hadn't been the right choice; it was really a lot to ask.
"Could this get me sent to a third world country by Batman?" she asked after a few moments.
No, only to the padded cell next to me, I thought bitterly. "I'm trying to avoid him, too," I admitted.
"Girl, you're asking an awful lot here. You're not planning on leaving Trenton or anything, are you?"
Not such a bad idea, actually. Had I taken that vacation when I'd planned to, I'd have a respectable tan and a lot less worries right about now.
I sighed again. "No, although I wish I could. I just need to take care of a few things and I'd rather do it without babysitters."
"Bodyguards," Lula corrected. This wasn't Tank talking; it was Lula's respect for all the well-built Merry Men.
"Whatever. Can you pick me up?" I was sort of in a hurry here, because if she said no, I'd have to find another partner in crime.
"Keep your panties on. Of course I'm gonna pick you up. Sheesh. Now?"
"Now would be good. I need to talk to Vinnie."
"I haven't seen him yet. Want me to ask Connie when he'll be in?"
"No, it's okay," I said. "I can talk to Connie instead."
A short pause. "We doin' the drive-by thing again?"
"Yes," I said on a sigh. "I'll wait for you outside."
I disconnected before I could lose my nerve. It was the only option, I kept telling myself. The Rangemen would be no problem at the bonds office, but how would I get to talk to Detective Riley or Harry the Hammer with them in tow? It had to be done this way.
I fed Rex a few hamster nuggets and refilled his water dish. "This is either the best idea I've ever had or the worst," I told him.
He crawled out of his soup can and over to his food dish, took a sniff and looked at me accusingly. I shrugged.
"I'll get you something fresh later, I promise."
He wasn't buying it. With a last look at me, he sulked back into his soup can. I couldn't blame him, I hadn't sounded very convincing.
I slapped on a ball cap to hide my hair (or lack thereof) and put on another coat of mascara for courage, and then I snuck out into the hall and took the stairs down.
Before I could rethink my plan, I hustled through the lobby took a quick look around. "Now or never," I pep-talked myself and slid through the front doors.
I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting Hal or Junior to come barging through the door behind me while I willed Lula's Firebird to appear.
As usual, I heard her before I saw her, the heavy bass from her car stereo thumping to announce her arrival, and I breathed a sigh of relief. She'd barely come to a stop when I wrenched the passenger door open and slid inside. I didn't need to tell her to go; she took off with screeching tires.
"Why do I always feel like I'm driving the getaway car when I'm picking you up?" she asked while I turned down the volume on the stereo.
"It's not like that," I told her. It was exactly like that.
Lula just raised her eyebrows and sent me an incredulous look, and I threw up my hands, giving up. "I know what I'm doing," I said, but I didn't know who I was trying to convince more.
Before I got out of Lula's car at the bonds office, I took a thorough look around, searching for any RangeMan vehicles. I was looking for any black cars at this point, but there were none that I could see parked along this block of Hamilton. So far, so good.
"Look who's here," Connie said by way of greeting when we stepped into the office. "I almost forgot what you looked like."
I fished the FTAs I'd been carrying around for a week now out of my bag and handed them to her. "I'm sorry I haven't been around. And there's just no way I can do these now."
She took the files from me with a look that demanded an explanation. "Oh?"
I plopped down on the faux leather couch and leaned back. "I need to sort a few things out before I can go chasing skips again."
"No shit," Lula agreed and sat down next to me.
"The guy who broke into my apartment and tried to kidnap me later might make a deal with the cops."
"How's that your problem?" Connie asked. "They always offer those deals to the worst of them, there's no justice."
This from the woman whose relatives had gotten out on deals since before time.
"His end of the deal may be telling them I killed Harry's associate."
"Oh," Lula and Connie said in unison.
"Yeah," I agreed. "And someone wrecked my apartment yesterday."
"That happens to you a lot though," Lula said. I wanted to object, but she had a point.
"Well, I'm not accused of murder a lot," I said instead.
"So what are you gonna do?" Connie asked.
"I'm meeting with the PC on the case for lunch." I looked at Lula. "If I can borrow your car for an hour?"
"Why isn't Ranger driving you?" Connie asked innocently.
"Ranger's busy," I lied and Lula sucked in some air next to me.
Connie looked from me to Lula and like she didn't believe a word of it but was curious to see where I was going with it.
I jumped up, but regretted it immediately when the room started spinning and I fell back onto the couch. "It's complicated."
"I'll bet," Connie agreed.
"Look, I can't give you all the details right now," I said. "But I know what I'm doing. And I have to do it without Ranger or his men."
"Like that time when you took off to Atlantic City?" Connie wanted to know.
I regretted coming to the office. "No, not like that time."
I leaned back and closed my eyes, but I could feel the looks Lula and Connie were exchanging. There was nothing I could do about them at the moment.
"If Ranger calls, have I seen you?" Connie asked.
"Of course," I replied. There were enough lies around already. "If he asks. You don't have to volunteer any information as far as I'm concerned"
She nodded her understanding. "Why would the cops believe some crook who tried to kidnap you?"
I sighed and gave her the whole background story with all the gory details after all. It actually felt good to talk about it, I discovered. I had a feeling Lula had shared what she knew with Connie, but neither of them knew the exact details since Tank had probably only shared the absolute minimum.
"You don't have to borrow Lula's car," Connie said after I was done. "We have a Civic sitting out back that Vinnie accepted as payment." She pulled open her desk drawer and fished out the keys.
"Thank you," I said as I slowly stood up. "I'll return it right after."
Connie waved it off. "Anytime. Just try to get it sorted out, we need you here. You're lucky Vinnie's not here; he'd give you the old spiel about losing the business."
I nodded, I was glad Vinnie wasn't there too. I already knew I was behind on my FTAs, if it wasn't for the RangeMan paycheck, I'd gotten evicted a week ago.
I thanked them both and promised to call before I left the office through the back door. No Merry Man in sight. Thank God for small favors.
It was a quarter past twelve when I got to Pino's and I had to park way in the back of the parking lot because it was so busy. On the way over, I'd kept checking for a tail, but it looked like I'd gotten away with it. My cell phone hadn't rung yet either, so there was a chance my disappearance hadn't even been noticed. Yet.
I recognized a few people inside, all cops, and I made sure to greet them all and appear normal, smiling and shaking hands. Carl wasn't among the lunch crowd, and I didn't know if he'd come with Detective Riley or leave us to ourselves. I kind of wanted him here for this.
Most of the lunchers were occupying the front room, so I found an empty table in the back room and waited.
I recognized Heather Riley immediately, although I'd never met her before. She was a middle-aged, average built woman, with light brown hair and hazel eyes, and she looked tired and stressed, like every detective I'd ever known. She was wearing a no-nonsense grey pantsuit on her slightly pudgy frame.
And from the moment she approached me, I had a good feeling. A feeling that I was not going to leave Pino's in handcuffs.
She came right towards me; obviously she'd recognized me, too. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she opened, offering her hand to shake. "I've heard a lot about you since I joined the department."
I grimaced. "Don't believe half of it."
She laughed at that and took a seat. We gave the waitress our order and Detective Riley took out a steno pad and pen and got right to it.
"What was your relationship with Mario Guzzarella?" she started.
Oh boy. Here we go, I thought and took a deep breath. I'd promised myself to answer her questions truthfully and I tried to, whenever possible.
She nodded and made notes, and I didn't get the impression that she believed I was the killer. Then again, for all I knew I could have been looking at her cop face.
"Am I a suspect?" I finally asked when she was done with her questions.
She took a sip from her Coke. "I'd say up until today, you were a person of interest," she said. "But having met you, I can take you off that list as well. You don't meet the profile."
I blew out some air and relaxed. Heather smiled. "Although there is still the question of how your gun ended up at the murder scene, I don't believe you put it there."
Her honesty was refreshing. She could have just as soon stone-walled me; given me some crap about ongoing investigations.
"Thank you," I said and really meant it. "I was kind of nervous."
She laughed. "I got that feeling from Officer Gazarra's request."
"Do you have any suspects?" I asked her.
And this time she did stone-wall me. "I can't talk about the ongoing investigation," she said and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "But no arrests have been made."
"Then can you tell me if Hartung and DalBo will stay in jail?"
She avoided my glance by finishing up her lunch. "That's up to a judge."
We both knew that wasn't an answer, but I was going to let it go. What else could she tell me? I'd have to call Eddie or Carl to get more details.
"Are you gonna tell me to not leave the state?" I asked her when we'd paid.
She laughed again. "Make sure you leave your cell phone on, that's all. I may need to talk to you at some point."
Phew. I was officially off the hook. We got up and I thanked her for her time. It was done. I felt like putting a 'Mission Accomplished' stamp on my mental to-do list somewhere. Fuckin'-A. Although some part of me had never really believed I would be arrested, it was a relief to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
I waved at the cops I knew on my way out, although the crowd had considerably thinned. Between the doughnuts and the pizza, my stomach had calmed down and I felt sort of okay.
That was, until I opened Pino's front door, because at that moment, my stomach dropped about ten inches.
The front parking lot had cleared enough for me to see Ranger, leaning against his Cayenne parked at the curb, dressed in his usual black, half his face hidden behind black sunglasses. I didn't need to see his eyes to see that he was pissed, anger was sort of radiating off his body.
Shit!
I glanced over my shoulder back into the restaurant to see if there was anyone I could ask to walk me out. Maybe with company, Ranger would just follow me home. Fat chance, but the only one I could think of. But there was no one I could've asked comfortably, I didn't even know more than a couple by name.
I turned around slowly, trying to calm myself with deep breaths. And the earth hadn't opened to swallow me, Ranger was still right there; I could feel his intense stare. I had a feeling all the slipper tapping in the world wouldn't get me out of this.
Holding on to the hand rail, I took the few steps down onto the parking lot. Ranger didn't move. He was about 20 feet from me now, and I had a choice. I could walk towards him, 'What's up' like, or I could turn the corner and walk towards my car.
I had just about decided to try and walk away when Ranger pushed himself off the car and walked towards me. A documentary I'd once watched where a panther had stalked its prey came to mind. He was just one man, yet I felt he had all my escape routes covered. That was ridiculous, of course, but I couldn't help feeling it.
I hadn't even noticed that I was walking towards him as well, sucked in by his force field like in a science fiction movie. He stopped a few feet in front of me. A muscle was working in his jaw, underscoring the anger I could still feel coming from him.
"Get in the car," he said tonelessly. It wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.
"No," I said, afraid my voice would give me away if I said more and turned to leave.
Ranger's hand shot out and tightened around my arm. "I wasn't asking. Get in the car."
I pulled my arm free with some effort and glared at him. "No. I came here in a car I need to return. And then I'm going home. You can follow me if you don't believe me, but you cannot order me around."
Ranger took a step closer, our toes were almost touching, I could feel his eyes boring into mine without seeing them. "Do you have any idea how much I pay my men an hour?" His voice was cold; a slap in the face couldn't have hurt me more. "Do you have any idea how much it costs me to have them sitting in your parking lot, drinking coffee instead of doing their job because you decide to run away?"
"I didn't ask…"
He interrupted me. "You didn't ask for it, but you need it. Stephanie, a five-year-old has more common sense than you. Get. In. the. Car. I won't say it again."
His words hurt, and I had a feeling he knew that. But beyond the pain, they made me furious.
"Or what?" I challenged. "You carry me off kicking and screaming?" I jerked my head around to indicate the restaurant. "Pino's is full of cops who'd just love to get you for kidnapping, I'd bet."
Ranger took his sunglasses off slowly. His eyes were cold, the look in them accompanying his blank face. "No, I won't drag you," he said calmly. "I'm only going to take you back to where you're safe."
Oh, didn't that leave a whole lot of options open? 'Safe', by Ranger's definition, could be a lot of places right about now.
"I don't need your help. This five year-old can take care of herself. Unlike you," I stabbed my finger into his chest, "A lot of my friends agree with me."
I straightened my shoulders and crossed my arms over my chest. "Call your men off. I don't want you wasting any more money on me. I'm perfectly safe. In fact, I've just had a meeting with a detective."
No reaction on his face. "You're not safe. Not from yourself."
Okay, that hurt more than his accusations before, more than the five-year-old comment even. So he hadn't given up on that yet. Well, there went his chances of me going with him. But I could only win this argument with words; I had no chance of running away if Ranger didn't want me to.
"If you never give me a chance to find out, no," I admitted. "You don't even share with me why you think I'm not safe. If you took your head out of your ass for a minute, you'd see I'm perfectly capable of…"
A car came screeching around the corner and Ranger turned his head in its direction. It slowed down at the next building over and the passenger side window rolled down. I saw the muzzle of an automatic rifle a split-second before Ranger yelled.
"Down!!" he bellowed and threw his weight against me, slamming me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me.
There was rapid gunfire, impossible to tell how many shots, and the unmistakable sound of bullets hitting metal.
I heard the tires screeching, and people screaming around me, but I couldn't see anything because I was completely buried under Ranger.
It took me a moment to come to my senses, but a quick inventory told me I was okay, I hadn't been hit. I'd probably have a sore ass from being knocked over, and my back would hurt, but other than that, I was fine. Except it was getting hard to breathe under Ranger's weight.
"Ranger," I pressed out. "It's over. They're not coming back. I can't breathe."
He didn't move.
"I think your car caught most of the bullets, thank God for German engineering, huh? Who knew that's why they were building them so strong?"
I struggled to get my hands between us and pressed them against his chest. "Really, it's over, I…"
My blood froze when Ranger rolled off of me, not because he wanted to, but because I'd pushed him, grunting and breaking my nail with the effort it took to get him to move. He lay next to me motionless, his eyes closed. A thin trail of blood trickled down his temple.
Time stopped. I couldn't hear any sounds, I couldn't see anything but Ranger in next to me.
"RANGER!" I screamed, shaking him, panicking, needing him to open his eyes.
If there was a rational thought in my mind it was 'I can't lose him too, God, please no, don't let me lose him like I lost Joe!'
My hands were shaking as I tried to feel his pulse. "Somebody call 911!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs, praying somebody heard me, while trying to determine if Ranger's chest was moving.
Was he breathing? I couldn't keep my shaking fingers still long enough to feel a pulse, they were just aimlessly brushing against his neck, but I could tell he wasn't moving.
Someone was trying to pull me away from him and I angrily jerked away from them.
"Ranger!!"
TBC
A/N: DunDun Dun, as one reviewer put it, right? Is Ranger serisoulsy hurt? Is he...
Stephanie need your help right about now. Clearly, she won't accept Ranger's. Is there anybody else?
