Chapter 38: Stephanie's POV

I turned over on the ground and was examining my road rash knees and bloody arm when Ranger jerked me to my feet. "Are you hurt?" he demanded.

I was still trying to figure that out for myself. Both knees hurt like hell and my right upper arm was stinging like a million bees had just stung me all in the same spot. Shit, I'd been shot. Again. Why me?

I looked over at my arm and Ranger glanced over before he paled. "Brown! Steph is hit!"

"I'm fine, just a graze, I think." Ranger's arms tightened on my shoulders. "Oww!" Don't squeeze my gunshot wound. Yeesh.

Bobby handed his goon over to Ram and he rushed over. Tank was shaking Jackson like a dog with a chew toy. "What were you thinking, shooting that girl? You gonna be lucky if you don't get yourself dead tonight, man."

Ranger swung me up in his arms and carried me over to one of the Rangeman SUVs. I tried to tell him that I could walk and he just ignored me. I was at least 10% sure that I could have walked. Bobby had already opened the cargo door to the SUV and pulled out his med kit. Ranger sat me in the open floorboard space.

Bobby had gloves on and was prodding at my wound. "Oww!" I glared at him. I forgot how much getting shot hurts.

"Gotta check it, Bombshell." And then he cut the sleeve of my formerly cute shirt off my arm. Damn. I really liked this shirt.

Ranger was holding my non-injured hand and shooting death glares at the still struggling Jackson Mitchell. I could hear Tank muttering in my earpiece. "You a stupid man, a really stupid man. Ranger gonna kill you. You shot Stephanie, he gonna kill you now." He must have been around Lula a lot because he was starting to sound a lot like her.

Bobby spread some kind of disinfectant on my arm and it felt like it was on fire. I whimpered and reflexively squeezed Ranger's hand. Ranger turned his attention from Jackson and wrapped his arm around my back. "Babe."

I focused on not crying from the pain, biting my lip and closing my eyes. Holy crap but this hurt. A few tears leaked down my cheeks and Ranger wiped them away.

Finally, Bobby, evil masochist that he his, stopped pouring the liquid fire on my arm. "It just grazed her, just muscle and fat. Probably need a couple of stitches to close it up properly."

Hadn't I already told them it was just a graze? Geez, don't these guys ever listen?

Then Bobby turned his attention to my knees. Road rash city, straight ahead. He reached up under my skirt and Ranger growled at him. Bobby put his arms up in an 'I surrender' gesture. "I need to get her pantyhose off so I can check her knees."

Ranger nodded and Bobby peeled down my completely ruined thigh highs. That was $14 long gone now.

He poured more of the evil liquid fire on a gauze pad and put it on my knee. I reflexively kicked Bobby in the thigh. "That hurt!"

"So did getting kicked in the leg by pointy-toed shoes," he replied.

"Bet that mine hurts more than yours. I've been shot, for crying out loud!"

Bobby cleaned up my knees and I only kicked him two more times before he pulled my heels off of my feet and tossed them in the back of the SUV. He pulled up my left leg and rested my foot on his rock hard thigh. I wiggled my toes experimentally against his taunt quadriceps muscles. No fat at all on his thighs, unlike mine. Damn.

"Must have been some glass on the ground. Knee's pretty cut up. Probably need some stitches. Already swollen, probably sprained it." He looked up at me. "When was the last time you got a tetanus shot."

"When was the last time I got shot?"

"Babe," Ranger said.

"I went almost a full year without being shot or needing stitches. Guess I was overdue for some quality ER time."

Blue lights were everywhere by now and I saw Morelli walk over. He shook his head and paced around a bit before coming over to me.

"Cupcake, what did you do now?"

"Joe, shut up. I didn't do anything."

"Why does this always happen to me?" Joe asked, walking towards me.

I pulled my less bloody right leg out of Bobby's hands and shoved it into Joe's stomach. That stopped him with a loud oomph. "It didn't happen to you. It happened to me. So go the hell away before I do shoot you!" I glared at him. "And stop looking up my skirt!"

Ranger growled a little at the thought of Joe looking up my skirt and Bobby reclaimed my leg. I could feel him shaking with laughter so I glared at him too. "Shut up. All of you, just shut up."

"Babe."

"That includes you, Ranger."

"Babe."

"Shut. Up."

I started thunking my head against Ranger's shoulder. Why me?

"Babe."

"Shut up."

I thunked my head a few more times and then I felt the adrenaline start to wear off. The world went all twirly and it was only Ranger and Bobby's quick reflexes that kept me from pitching forward out of the SUV. Bobby was shining a light into my eyes and telling me to follow his finger with my eyes.

"Adrenaline crash," I whispered.

Bobby nodded and walked to the front of the car and pulled out a can of coke. The combination of sugar and caffeine helped when your blood sugar inevitably crashed after an adrenaline overload. I wrinkled my nose as Ranger helped me drink it. Ugh, it was warm. Bobby handed me two pills and I swallowed them. I didn't know what they were, but I hoped they'd make the pain go away.

I was suddenly so tired. I relaxed against Ranger's chest and he pulled me tighter to him. Mmmm, he was warm. And either he was really happy to see me or his Glock was currently poking me in the back. Given that it's Ranger we're talking about, I was going to go with a gun is what is poking me in the side.

"Move it," I whispered to Ranger.

"Move what, Babe?" he asked in response.

"The gun poking me in the side." There was a pause and then Bobby started laughing. I could hear one of the guys in my earpiece laughing too. Guess my wire was still transmitting.

Bobby shot a glance at Ranger and then put his head down to wrap my knee. Ranger shifted me slightly so that whatever it was wasn't poking me in the side anymore. Much better.