Chapter 56

SPOV

I sensed that Les wanted to talk to Ranger, without me there, and decided that if it was important then Ranger would tell me about it later. Well that's what I hoped. I was surprised as I walked into the apartment to find Ella putting food into the fridge. She turned as I approached her and smiled up at me.

"I've restocked the fridge and there are some new things in the cupboards. I thought that maybe we could continue with our cooking tomorrow"

I had really enjoyed the few meals that we'd prepared together, and I'd had more practice with Ranger. Maybe I wasn't as bad at it as I first thought.

"I'd like that Ella"

"Good I'll bring the ingredients up tomorrow"

As I watched Ella finish unpacking the bag, I stood there trying to work out how to say to her that Ranger had asked me to move in with him. It may sound stupid, but I felt that I needed for Ella to be okay with it. I suppose I must have been quiet for too long because Ella's voice suddenly had me looking at her.

"What's on your mind Stephanie?"

"Well I thought. It's just that. Ranger's asked me to move in with him"

Okay maybe that didn't come out as well as it should have done.

"About time"

Was the answer she gave to me as she smiled back which had me wondering exactly what she meant.

"You're not upset or anything?"

"Good heavens no. I've been wanting him to ask you for, well a while now. I used to watch you come here and stay and then pack your bags up and go. He always missed you, you know, but he just didn't seem to know what to do about it"

"I think we're both on the same page now"

"Good. What will you do with that apartment of yours?"

"I need to talk to Dillon and hand in my notice and then sort out bills and move my things out"

"If you need any help just ask"

"Thanks Ella"

As Ella left, I went through to the lounge and placed my bag by the couch, as I turned to go into the bedroom, I heard my phone ring and a tapping on my wrist. To be honest I preferred to use the phone so picked it up and seeing that it was my Dad so answered it straight away.

"Hi Dad"

'How are you doing Pumpkin?"

"Good. I feel better every day. How are you doing?"

"Okay"

That wasn't a normal response from my Dad and I immediately knew that something was wrong.

"What's happened Dad?"

"Your mother, well Morelli keeps coming to the house"

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. Your mother won't hear anything bad against him, so I've told her. that I've had enough. It's me or him and it looks as though she's decided to back him up"

I sat down as he said that almost in a daze with what he was saying. Was my mother so delusional that she could think of Morelli as more important than her own husband, or her own family?

"Pumpkin, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here"

"I'm sorry, you have a good life ahead of you. Don't let her pull you down like she has in the past. You deserve to fly and that man of yours, Ranger, he'll help you to do that"

"What about you?"

"I actually feel better being away from the toxicity of that house. I've moved in with a good friend and feel okay about that"

"Val?"

"She's not stupid, she could see it happening. This has been a wakeup call for her and I see a lot more of the girls than I used to"

"Grandma, where's she?"

"She said for now she'd stay with your mother and try and talk some sense into her. I think she wants to give her one last chance to stop the drinking and get some help"

"I don't know what to say Dad, did this happen because . ."

"No. It was a long time coming and started before you were born. I'm just sorry that you took the brunt of it and that has to stop. Get on with your life Pumpkin, I'm here when you need me"

"Thanks Dad, I'm so sorry"

"No, don't be. I'll talk to you soon"

As the phone went quiet, I just sat there thinking through everything that I'd learnt about my mother in the last week. I didn't think that I could hate her or even maybe blame her. My Dad had said that it wasn't my fault, but I'd grown up with her saying that to me so often that I actually thought that maybe what was happening was.

There were so many what ifs flashing through my head. What if I'd been a boy? What if I hadn't let Morelli touch me when I was just a kid? What if I'd tried harder to stop him raping me? What if I'd turned a blind eye to finding Dickie with Joyce?

Oh hell, there were so many what ifs and to be honest, I don't think I could have lived with myself if I'd taken a different route. The what ifs were what my mother had wanted, not me. What if I'd married Morelli like she wanted me to? Then maybe I would have had her love, but I didn't think so and I just knew that it would have been the end for me.

No, my mother had chosen how she saw me, what she felt for me and I knew deep down that there had never been any love there to start with. I wasn't even sure that what she showed Val was love or just some perverted pride at how she'd turned out, a clone of herself.

I shook my head to shake me out of the mood that I was sinking into. I wasn't going to allow her to continue to control me, my feelings or my life. As far as she was concerned, she could forget that I ever existed, forget that she had me as a daughter.

I was brought out of my self-pity by the feel of hands on my face. It didn't surprise me or make me jump, it gave me comfort when I knew I needed it. Looking up into Ranger's eyes I didn't want him to see me as weak.

"I'm okay. I just wanted to get my head around what my Dad told me"

"So, what's your head telling you?"

"That what's happened is because of her. She never wanted me, so she doesn't have me"

"And what is your heart saying?"

I felt a tear slowly slide down my cheek and was trying to understand that myself.

"Sad. I've just realized that I never had her love to start with and I don't understand why not"

His arms came around me as he sat down next to him, my tears now flowing freely and soaking his shirt.

"I won't let her destroy me Ranger"

"Then don't let her. There're so many people who stand with you and support you"

"I know. I hate what she's doing to my Dad"

"He'll be better off without her and so will you"

I suppose he was right, but it still hurt. How could a mother behave like she did? My mind went to the time with Larri and Leo. I could never hurt a child like Izzie, all I would be able to do was to love her. That seemed to calm me, and I wiped the tears from my face, he was right we would be okay and be better off without her. I started to sit up and pushed away from Ranger knowing that he would still be concerned.

"I'm stronger than she ever realized, probably than I realized, and all that she'll achieve is to make me even stronger"

"I love you Babe and am so proud of you"

"I love you too"

The moment was broken by a loud beeping sound coming from the kitchen, I actually thought it was a smoke detector going off it seemed so loud. I rushed through to the kitchen muttering to myself sure that I hadn't done anything to cause a fire.

"It's Ella's new cook pot"

Ranger said as he fiddled with a control and stopped the noise. I was so relieved that I started to laugh at how stupid I'd been, and Ranger soon joined me. I stopped as I listened to him, to hear him laugh like that was unusual and yet it seemed so natural. As he stopped and looked at me, he obviously couldn't work out why I'd gone quiet.

"Babe"

"I love to hear you laugh"

"Only for you Babe"

The pot held a delicious chili with sweet potatoes amongst the beans and peppers. I might have moaned as the spices hit the taste buds in my mouth and was so lost in the taste that I never stopped eating until my bowl was empty. Hell, I would have picked it up and licked it clean if I hadn't suddenly seen Ranger looking at me. I put the bowl down and smiled sweetly at him, hoping that I hadn't embarrassed myself.

"That tasted amazing. I'll have to get Ella to show me how to make it"

When he didn't answer me, I shrugged it off and leant forward on the table as he finished eating his meal. For some reason I felt, I don't know, lighter than I had done for a while. It was almost as if the whole breaking ties with my mother had freed me, got rid of that hole that had been in my heart. As Ranger finished, I was on my feet and picking up the bowls to take into the kitchen and then returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses. I hadn't drunk any wine for ages.

I took them into the lounge and poured some wine out and then using my phone chose a playlist to come through the blue tooth on the sound system. I started to sway to the music with the wine in my hand and felt Ranger behind me. The glass was taken from me and I was in Rangers arms as he led me around the room. I felt giddy without having touched a drop a wine as our bodies molded together. Damn, he was good at dancing, so instinctively my lips went to his neck, nibbling and licking at his pulse point, as my hands went under his shirt running my hands over the smooth skin of his back.

As my hands moved up his back his T-shirt moved up as well, so I took the opportunity to pull it up and over his head. Whilst my hands continued to massage my fingers into his back my mouth returned to his neck and started the journey down, nipping at his pectoral muscle and swirling my tongue over a nipple. I don't really know what came over me, but my hands followed the waistband of his trousers and inch by inch I moved them down and over his backside. Keeping them there I slowly lowered myself pleased that his erection was now standing proud above his trousers. As he tried to lift me up, I shook him off, intent on showing him exactly how I felt.

I felt empowered and in control as my mouth licked the precum around the tip of his erection. Then my mouth was moving, my tongue swirling and my teeth grazing. I relished the smooth tightness of his skin and the salty taste in my mouth aware that he seemed to swell even more. Hands were in my hair, holding tight as though anchoring him to me and with a final thrust forward of his hips I felt as he stilled and as the orgasm moved through him. I swallowed quickly, surprised at what I had done. Okay I'd given a blow job before but only under duress. This was totally different and had the added effect that I was so wet and turned on that I knew that I had to get some satisfaction myself.

I felt hands below my backside and as I was carried into the bedroom and laid on the bed. I was fully clothed and watched a naked Ranger start to pull my clothes from me. That in itself was so erotic, having him already naked in front of me was definitely heating up my skin and body. He was now knelt to the side of me as his mouth came down and he started to nip and lick at my neck. I know I was writhing as he moved to my breasts and a hand started to massage the other. The feel of his fingers massaging my mound had me squirming until he delved into my folds. I lost my hold on him as he moved down, then groaned in sheer delight as his mouth joined his fingers. My first orgasm rolled through me with a ferocity and as I opened my eyes it was to see him looking up at me. Our mouths joined once more so I pushed him over onto his back and slowly sank down, guiding him home.

I woke feeling totally contented and for the first time in weeks, relaxed. My body ached but not badly and not anywhere near my last injury. Ranger had been so gentle. My head was resting on Ranger's chest with my arm laid next to it. I could feel Ranger's hand running up and down my hip so I knew that he was awake. I knew that he watched me sleeping but it never felt weird, it felt kinda comforting to know that he was watching over me. I tilted my head up and saw his eyes open and look back down at me.

"Good morning querida"

"Yeah it is. I'm going to start closing up my apartment today"

"When will you need to go there?"

"I'll have to go to the bank and check how much money I have first then I can pay any rent due and utility bills"

"So the bank first then the apartment?"

"Yes"

"I'll let Hector know, so that he can go with you"

I knew that being with Ranger would entail having someone with me and that I'd have to start being more careful. I didn't want Ranger to worry unnecessarily so I'd just have to get used to it.

"Time to move"

I watched as Ranger moved from the bed, his body on total view for me to watch as he walked across to the bathroom. Tempting as it was to follow him in, I stopped myself and instead found a robe on the back of the door that I wrapped myself. Feeling more confident with myself I had the sudden idea of cooking breakfast for us. I'd surprise Ranger when he came through to the kitchen.

I found what I needed in the fridge and set them on the counter. Sliced the veg ready to go into the egg mix and then set the pan on the hob. Plates and cutlery were quickly set out and the coffee machine was started up. I was just stirring the contents in the pan deciding it was cooked to perfection when Ranger walked through.

"Smells good Babe"

As he poured us both a coffee, I turned the gas off, something that was now a part of my routine, and served the scrambled egg out onto the plates. It tasted good, even if I did say it myself, and was pleased with the result. It was something so simple to do and that had me wondering why I'd found it so hard to do before now.

The reason was probably how my mother had always criticized me for what I was doing, always being stood behind me making me feel so nervous that I ended up doing something stupid that ruined the final outcome. That woman had a lot to answer for.

"That was perfect Babe"

Had me looking up to see that Ranger's plate was empty.

"You know that you are very capable, don't you?"

"I do now, but only because you and Ella have been so patient with me"

"Why don't you invite your father over for a meal and show him how good you are?"

I nodded my head, doubting that I was quite ready for that, but maybe if Ella talked me through a simple recipe I could do it.

"I'm heading down to the office, I'll let Hector know that you'll be going out"

"I need an hour to shower and get ready and I probably need to write down a list of what needs doing"

"I'll ask him to have some boxes and bags in the car with him"

Yeah, this was really going to happen, and I couldn't wait.

Once showered, I dried my hair into soft curls and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. I checked that everything I needed was in my bag and was heading out of the door when my phone started to ring. I still wasn't that confident at using the watch and had read that it only used Wi-Fi to take and make calls so I'd made the decision that using the phone was the way for me to go. A look at the id had me frowning because I had no idea who it was.

"Hello"

"Is that Miss Plum?"

Asked a woman's voice, a voice that I didn't immediately recognize.

"Yes, it is"

"Oh good, I was just calling to give you an update"

"I'm sorry, but who are you?"

I had no recollection of anyone needing to call me or that I'd asked them to call me. Okay, when I was looking for a skip, I might leave my card with a neighbor or relative in the hope that they would contact me if my skip turned up. But seeing as I hadn't been looking for anyone recently, I was a little bit puzzled as to who was calling and why.

"It's Mrs. Grovernor. You gave me your card when you visited the apartment"

I stayed silent wondering what apartment she was talking about.

"Sophia hasn't been back, but a young man turned up and said that she'd moved away permanently and that he was looking for a place to rent"

Everything suddenly fell into place and I remembered the woman that we'd spoken to when we'd first visited Sophia's apartment. She was the woman who owned the apartment and told us that Sophia had left.

"Thanks for letting me know Mrs. Grovernor. Maybe I've already spoken to the man but on the off chance that I haven't, what's he called?"

"Richard, Mr Richards. Such a serious young man, but he paid up front in cash so I've let him have the apartment"

I recognized the name Richard, that was Ferdinand's first name so maybe I was jumping to conclusions, but I needed a bit more information first.

"Is he tall, dark skinned with long dark hair and brown eyes?"

"Yes that's him"

"I think I know who he is. Thank you for letting me know"

"No problem. Goodbye"

"Bye"

As the elevator doors opened, I was tapping my phone against my lips and walked straight into Hector. His hands came to my shoulders as though to balance me and he gave a look that was asking what was wrong.

"I just need to talk to Ranger, I won't be a minute"

Of course, Hector stayed with me while I knocked on the office door and then opened it. I hadn't expected it to be empty. I thought that Ranger had work to do and would be here so instead of hanging around and waiting for him I found a piece of paper and pen. I left a message telling him what Mrs. Governor had said and decided that he would know what to do.

Closing the door behind me I followed Hector down to the garage and climbed into the SUV that he walked up to. I noticed the back was full of flattened boxes so didn't think that there was anything else that we would need.

As we drove from the entrance, I told Hector I needed to call at the bank first and took out the list of things that I needed to do. As we pulled into the bank and parked in front of the entrance a quick look around showed that few cars were parked up making me feel hopeful that there wouldn't be too many people inside. Once inside Hector stayed at the back of the room while I walked to stand behind a woman who was being seen to by the clerk. Of course, she was taking an age and suddenly the bank seemed to fill up, with four people behind me. I was pleased to see Sonya stood behind the counter opening up another till, so walked up in front of her.

"Hi Sonya, how are doing?"

"Oh hi, Steph. I haven't seen you in here for a while"

"No. I've been busy with other things. I need to know the balance for my account"

"No problem"

Was her response as I handed her my bank card. As usual it seemed to take an age though maybe it was because she needed to log into the system. Everywhere seemed so quiet as Sonya was busy looking at her screen but when her eyes came up she looked, almost shocked.

"Is something wrong?"

It was then that I noticed that she wasn't looking at me, instead her eyes were focused behind me. I turned to see what had her attention. A man, with a black wooly hat on and a what looked like a Halloween mask over his face, was stood next to the woman beside me at the other till with a gun pointing at her head.

"Everyone down on the floor or I'll blow her head off"

He turned to Clara and the other woman behind the tills and stared at them.

"You hit the alarm, and someone will get shot"

I sank down on the floor with everyone else, looking around for Hector. I found him at the back of the room, sat on the floor against the wall with another masked man holding a shotgun pointed toward him.

"Hands on heads now"