Chapter 38

Les headed out once I was completely calm again. I was never really un-calm, but he knew me well enough to know that I wasn't totally okay with the new path the day had taken either, so he stayed with me for a little while.

Eventually, I convinced him that I was okay and he reluctantly headed back to his regularly scheduled life and work.

I didn't see or hear from Ranger for days. Les saw him at work when they had the briefing to fill him in on everything that had happened in his absence two days later. He'd been gone a year, so it would be a very long briefing, and Bobby insisted that Ranger have at least 48 hours to rest before he do any type of work. Bobby refused to clear him for anything other than the briefing, which had left Ranger livid, but Bobby was adamant that he needed rest and to heal from his injuries.

I didn't ask about his injuries. I didn't think I wanted to know.

Les said that Ranger appeared shocked to hear about how I'd taken over the bond's office and had increased business. He didn't seem to be thrilled that I had negotiated access to the search programs, but Tank essentially told him to suck it up, that the three of them had agreed and signed the contract, so Ranger couldn't do shit about it.

Les had smiled when he told me about that.

Ranger had vanished up to the seventh floor then, and no one had seen him since. Bobby would check on him in another couple of days if he didn't come out of hiding.

I felt bad for Ranger, I really did. I didn't agree with what he did, but I could sort of understand his twisted, and stupid, rationale. It was dumb, even he agreed with that, but he had somewhat good intentions.

Of course, if he hadn't been a stupid man, I probably wouldn't be with Les right now. Les thought I was in some type of weird relationship with Ranger and would have never said anything about his feelings for me except Ranger had been a dumbass. And I had never been in such a wonderful relationship with such an amazing man. I wouldn't change that for anything.

Maybe Ranger and I could eventually be friends again. I hoped that at least Les and Ranger could be friends again. It would make the whole running a major business together really awkward if they couldn't.

I snuggled against Les's side and decided to distract both of us from thinking about it anymore. It didn't take much, just a kiss and a soft moan for him to get the idea, and then I was in his arms and he was practically sprinting towards the bedroom.

Sometimes it was really nice to be married to a man with ESP.

Les told me a few days later that Bobby finally cleared Ranger for office duty. Ranger was anemic and undernourished from over a year in someplace I can't be told about doing things I also can't be told about, so it would take a while before Bobby would consider clearing him for fieldwork. Ranger was not pleased, but even he couldn't gainsay the medical officer.

That evening, Les got called out to help bring in a high dollar skip who'd been spotted in a bar. Since it was my high dollar skip, and I'd been the one to bond him out, I couldn't do anything to help get him out of the bar other than wish them luck. Les gave me a steamy kiss, dressed quickly and left.

Phone calls at four am are never a good thing. Wait, haven't we done this before?

I felt dread pool in my stomach as I grabbed my cell phone. "Yo," I answered.

"Beautiful, first, I need you to know that I love you more than anything," Les said.

The dread intensified. "I love you, too. What's wrong?"

He sighed. "I need you to come bail me and Ranger out."

It took a minute for that to compute in my sleep-fogged brain. "What?"

"We got arrested, and we need you to bond us out," Les repeated.

Oh, this was going to be good. "I'm not bonding anybody out until I know why you got arrested!"

"We got into a fight once the guys left to take the skip to jail."

"Over?"

"You."

"Shit!"

"Yeah. Please, baby, can you please come down and get us? And call Bobby, Ranger needs to see him."

"Do you?"

I could hear the smirk in his voice when he answered. "No."

"You're in so much trouble, Lester Santos," I warned.

He sighed. "I know, Beautiful. Just get here soon, please."

"On my way."

I called Bobby and told him to meet me at the jail. Then I threw on some clothes and headed towards the jail.

Bobby was already waiting with his big black medic bag. "Bomber, what the hell's going on?" Bobby asked anxiously.

"No clue, man. Les just called and said they'd gotten into a fight and then got arrested, and to call you cause Ranger needed to see you. That's all I know," I said as I held up one hand to forestall any other questions. "Come in with me and we'll see if we can get some answers."

Robin Russell was working the front desk. "Came for your husband?" she asked.

I nodded. "He's in deep shit, but I love him."

Robin laughed. "You going to bond out Ranger too?"

"Haven't decided yet. I want to know what the hell happened between those two before I decide," I told her.

Bobby laughed behind me and I shot him a glare.

"Bomber, it was bound to happen," Bobby said. "Ranger's been walking around like a bear with a sore paw. He didn't expect to come back and find you married, especially not to Santos. So they were going to have a confrontation at some point."

"A fight? Outside a bar? After picking up a skip? They couldn't work it out in the gym with you standing by to put a stop to it if it got too out of hand?"

Bobby shook his head. "Guess not, Bomber."

I sighed and looked back at Robin. "Let me see them, please."

She nodded with a smile. "I've already got them in a holding room. They promised to behave, and Carl's with them to make sure they behave."

"Thanks, Robin."

Bobby and I followed her into one of the holding rooms. Les and Ranger both stood as soon as we walked in. Les pulled me into his arms and Bobby whistled before he headed over to check out Ranger. I heard Carl and Robin leave us alone.

Ranger looked like shit. His lip was split and bleeding, both eyes were already turning black and the way he was standing, his ribs hurt.

"You okay?" I asked Les.

He nodded. "Fine, baby."

I looked him over carefully. He did look fine. His hands looked red and swollen, and he had a bruise on his jaw, but that was all I could see. Once I knew he was okay, I punched him in the arm. He mock pouted at me and rubbed his arm. "I'm going to regret teaching you to fight, ain't I?" he asked.

Damn skippy.

"He okay?" I asked Bobby.

"He will be," Bobby said as he poked and prodded at Ranger. "Damn, man," he said to Les. "You really worked him over!"

"He should have kept his fucking mouth shut about my wife," Les growled as he pulled me closer to his side.

Bobby shook his head and glared at Ranger. "What the hell did you say about Bomber?"

I glared at him too. I wanted to know as well.

Ranger glared furiously at all of us. "You don't need to know," he finally growled.

"The hell I don't!" I snarled. "If you want me to bail your ass out of jail, I need to know what the hell you said!"

Bobby harrumphed. "And if you want me to wrap your ribs, I need to know what you said about my little sister," Bobby said as he stuck his hands on his hips and glared.

Ranger kept his mouth shut so I turned to Les. "What did he say?"

"Baby, you don't want to know," Les said. "Please."

Usually please worked wonders on me. Not this time. My curiosity was hooked.

"Sorry, honey, usually you know I'll do whatever you ask if you say please, but not this time. I want to know what he said," I replied implacably.

Les sighed softly and sat down, pulling me in his lap. "Well, primo [cousin]. You want to tell her or will I?" he said.

Ranger remained conspicuously silent.

"Les, honey?" I cajoled. "Tell me."

"He showed up to watch the take down," Les said, speaking slowly. "We had to wait hours for him to finally get drunk enough to come out. Once he did, it was fairly easy. He resisted, but he was no match for us. Hal and Ram were taking him to the cop shop and everyone else was heading out. Ranger asked me to hold up for a minute."

Les fell silent for a second and I could feel him tensing, so I could squeezed his shoulder in silent support.

"So then he started in on me, how I'd moved in on him. I let him bitch for a minute before reminding him that he'd told you that you were too attached and to move on. So you did. And that if he didn't like it, it was just too damn bad. That was when he said he'd be back in your life and in your bed whenever he wanted."

I turned to glare at Ranger. "Have you lost your damn mind?" I asked rhetorically. Clearly he had if he'd said that to Les.

"He said he'd already kissed you."

I turned back to Les. "He tried, before I told him about us. But I turned my head so he just kissed my cheek. I swear," I promised Les.

"I trust you, baby. I just don't trust him."

"Ranger, let me explain things to you. I'm married to Les. I love him and he loves me. There will be NO poaching. If you try to kiss me again, I will kick you in the balls. And as for being in your bed again, once was quite enough and it was pretty much the worst experience of my life. Never again. Got it?"

Bobby choked. "Once? Worst experience of your life? What the fuck?"

Les snorted softly.

"Yeah, I slept with Ranger once because he made a deal that I had to sleep with him if he helped me with a skip. Now before you get all pissy like Les did when he found out, it wasn't like he forced me or anything like that. But then he told me to go back to Joe the next morning, which was not a pleasant feeling at all. So I can tell you this, Ranger Manoso, no matter what happens, I will never, ever be with you. Not ever. I will join a nunnery first."

Bobby started growling and pulled the bandage he was wrapping around Ranger's rib tight. Ranger couldn't stifle a slight wince.

Les kissed my ear. "Not a damn chance, baby."

"He took advantage of you!" Ranger finally spat.

I jumped out of Les's lap. "The hell he did! He never took advantage of me!"

"You were upset! Mad at me and he used that to get you into his bed!"

I laughed manically for a second. Unfortunately, only Les got why that was so funny, so both Ranger and Bobby looked at me like I'd lost my ever lovin' mind. Close.

"Dear God Almighty, if you only knew how ridiculous that was! Les was, still is, my best friend! He was there for me when I needed him. He never took advantage of me. He just let me get to know him, to see what an amazing man he is. And once I saw that, how could I not fall in love with him?"

"How long before you were sleeping with him?" Ranger said in a deadly calm voice. "Two weeks? Three?"

"Until we were married."

Ranger's eyes widened and I smirked at him. "Yeah, smartass. We didn't make love until after we got married, eight months after you left. The first time we were together, it was as husband and wife. He could have gotten me into his bed earlier than that if he'd really tried. I mean, hello! Look at him, he's the sexiest man I've ever known. But he didn't want me to think that he thought of me as just a piece of ass, so he never put any pressure on me. He never treated me like a pick up girl at a club. He treated me like he would the woman he wanted to marry from the very beginning. That's hardly taking advantage of me."

I paused for a minute to glare at him. "Any other bullshit you need me to debunk?"

I watched Ranger swallow hard.

"A lot's changed in a year, Ranger," I told him. "I'm not the same girl I was when you left. I let you poach with Joe because I knew things with him were never real, and because at one point, I hoped that something might develop between us. But you were the one who said that was impossible. And that was a good thing, because if you hadn't, Les would have never told me how he felt. He would have never tried to come between us when he thought we had some sort of fucked up relationship. He's too honorable for that. But I'm with him now, and I've never been happier, and if you try to screw with that, then you will have one seriously pissed Jersey girl after you. I might not have the training you guys have, but I can still make your life miserable. Don't forget, I'm family now, and your abuela will beat your ass if I tell her what you've said and done!"

Les started laughing. "Shit, abuela would beat you with her wooden spoon if I told her you were trying to hit on my wife! She loves Steph!"

"You've met abuela?" Ranger asked.

I nodded. "And your parents and your siblings, hell, I've met pretty much all your family," I told him.

Ranger turned to glare at Les. "What? It was the holidays, I couldn't not bring my new bride to the family Christmas parties," Les explained.

"Fuck."

"So you try to screw with us, Ranger, and I will unleash hell on Earth on your Cuban ass," I warned. "I can do it, too. Hell hath no fury and all that."

"Shit, Bomber, you're one scary bitch sometimes," Bobby said in awe.

"And don't you forget it, Brown," I told him seriously.

"Do you need to spend some time in the pokey to think about it, or are you smart enough to understand it now?" I asked Ranger. "Because I am the only way that your ass will get out of jail tonight. And unless you give me your word of honor that you will keep your damn lips and hands to yourself, you will stay here indefinitely."

"Pure evil," Bobby muttered as he went back to patching up Ranger. Ranger remained the freaking sphinx.

"So when did it go from words to flying fists?" I asked Les.

He groaned. "Shit, I hoped you wouldn't ask." I shot him a look. He knew better than that.

"He wouldn't shut the fuck up about how he could have you back in his bed. I told him it would never happen. He smirked at me and asked why I was so damn sure, and I told him it was because you didn't have enough energy left for any other men, I made damn sure of that. That's when he took a swing at me. Training took over at that point and I subdued him, but he wasn't smart enough to stay down."

I shook my head at his comment, but it was true. I didn't have enough energy to think about other men. Hell, some days I barely had enough energy to get myself to work. Forget about walking, it was good that I had a dedicated parking spot right next to the front door now.

"I tried to go easy on him," Les continued, "but he kept running his mouth and kept trying to fight me. I know he's still recovering from his mission and not up to par, so I finally just knocked him out so he'd stop fighting and I wouldn't have to really hurt him. That's when Officer Picky showed up and arrested us both. I should have just put him out earlier and we wouldn't be in this situation now."

"If this was you trying to go easy on him, I wouldn't want to see what you'd do if you were really pissed," Bobby said.

"This was his one free pass because I know it had to be hard to come back and see Steph married, especially to me. But if he says shit like that again, I won't go easy on him, and a couple of bruised ribs will be the absolute least of his worries," Les said with a ferocious glare that should have overridden Ranger's control of his bowels. "If he survives it, he'll wish he was dead."

Ranger snorted.

"Look around, man. Who's hurting in this room? It ain't me," Les drawled.

"I could always beat you on the mats," Ranger replied as stoically as he could with a busted lip. "Once I'm back in shape, we can revisit this conversation."

"I never gave you my A-game because I knew it was important for you to be seen as the top dog. But if you really want to see who's really the best, fine. Once you're better, we'll see."

"What? What do you mean you never brought your A-game?" Ranger almost roared.

Les shrugged. "I did sometimes, and that's when I beat you. But if I was seen winning all the time, or even most of the time, it would create conflict with the guys. You needed to be seen as the best to be the boss. And if I beat you at hand-to-hand even the majority of the time, you wouldn't have that authority. It took a lot to beat you, but I could. I can. I knew that you needed to be the best and they needed to see you that way. So as long as I could beat everyone else, which I can and do on a regular basis, that was enough for me."

Ranger looked pole axed. "So you threw the fights?"

"Basically. I figured you knew. I used to kick your ass all the time before we started the business. What did you think had changed?"

Ranger just stared at him.

"Did you think you got that much better, or I got that much worse?" Les asked.

Ranger didn't respond.

I turned to look at Les. "Psych major stuff again?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Ranger looked like he was going into shock. "You've completely destroyed his world view," I told Les.

Les shrugged. "I figured he had to know even though we never talked about it. I won enough to let him know I still could, but I stopped winning so much once we opened RangeMan. I was sure he knew that I just didn't want to discredit him in the eyes of the guys."

I looked at the stunned man sitting in the chair. "I don't think he knew that."

"Guess not. I was always better at the hand-to-hand stuff. He's better at business bullshit and all that, so I was fine with him being the CEO. Even Tank has more patience for it than me, so it's fine that he's second in command. I'm good with being third. But I've always been best at hand-to-hand combat, and he should remember that before he starts throwing punches at me."

He glared at Ranger. "I'm a better fucking shot, too."

Yeah, there was no warning in that statement.

Guess my sarcasm off button is broken tonight.

"Alright boys, you're both in deep shit," I told them. I looked over at Les first. "I get that you were trying to defend my honor and all that, but stop it. I can defend myself."

"Baby, I will always defend you. I love you."

I melted a little at that. "I love you, too. But you have to stop beating the shit out of your cousin. Got it?"

He pouted a little but nodded reluctantly.

"And you," I said as I turned to Ranger. "What are you even upset about? If you wanted more, you had your chance and you blew it. You don't like it? Tough shit. Life sucks and then you die. Deal with it. You try to touch me again as anything other than just a friendly hug, and you won't have to worry about my husband beating the shit out of you. I don't know where your famous self-control went, but find it. Got it?"

Ranger stared at me for a minute before he finally nodded too.

"Now do you promise to behave yourself with me and Les, or do you want a cellmate named Bubba for a few days?"

"Babe."

"Not an answer, Ranger."

"Fine."

"No, I need to hear the words, 'Yes, Stephanie, I promise to act like a gentleman with both you and Lester' if you want out of here tonight." I wasn't above playing hardball.

"Babe."

"I want the words. I still believe that you'll keep your word if you make the promise, so let's hear it if you want to walk out of here," I said.

He sighed but repeated what I wanted to hear. I nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you." Then I pulled out the bond agreements and slid them in front of each idiot, er, bondee. "Sign these, but it's not like I don't know where to find you if you go FTA."

Les grinned at me. "You going to bring me in if I do?"

"You just want me to handcuff you," I teased.

"Well, it was fun last time!"

Ranger growled slightly and Bobby groaned. "Seriously, can you two please stop it with the sex talk?" he asked.

I smiled and held out a hand to help Les to his feet. He took his and stood, yanking me quickly into his arms. "I promise not to go FTA," he whispered huskily.

I smiled. "Good. I think Bobby would find it awkward to have to drag you in."

Bobby laughed. "Might be fun," he mused. Les shot him a mock glare.

"When do you work again?" I asked Les.

Les looked at his watch and groaned. "Hour and a half."

"Nope. He's offline. Make it happen," I told Bobby.

Bobby grinned at me, snapped to attention and saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

"You'll see him day after tomorrow," I told Bobby, ignoring his smartass antics. "Fix Ranger. Check him for brain damage too, I'm pretty sure he's got some to pull a stunt like this. I'll be back in a minute once they process the paperwork."

I took the two forms they'd signed and headed back out to talk to the cops. Robin laughed when she saw me. "Everything okay?"

"Men are idiots. Other than that, everything's fine. Here's the paperwork, can we get them out now?" I asked.

Robin nodded and went to work, typing furiously. In almost no time at all, the guys were ready to go.

I took Les home, and left poor Bobby to deal with Ranger.

Author's note: What, you didn't think it would be easy, did you? They're both macho Alpha males, and they were going to have to have some type of confrontation eventually. And I see Ranger as mostly a cool and collected Spock-type character, but there's enough of the passionate Latin in him that he was left simmering in rage that Steph had moved on with his cousin while he was gone, and that slow-burning rage exploded on Les with the predictable results. Several of you asked for fisticuffs, so here ya go!

And with Ranger still not back to normal and Les being great at hand-to-hand stuff, Ranger got his ass handed to him. And now he's got a double whammy learning that Les had let him win some of the fights on the mats over the years to let Ranger keep his title of top dog at the RangeMan junkyard. Everyone has their strengths, and Ranger's gotten a little arrogant in thinking that his were: D) all of the above.

I've been really busy this week and I haven't been able to personally answer all of the reviews yet, but I promise I'm working on it! Please leave a review and I'll respond as quickly as I can. Pretty please with whipped cream and a RangeMan on top? (way better than a cherry, right?)