Chapter 7 – Ruining

I'm getting nothing from this except fun playing with JE's characters. Italics are internal thoughts.

Ranger

For the first time in as long as I could remember, I audibly groaned and cursed when the alarm went off at 5am. My body has been operating on this schedule for years, and I'm trained to function on less sleep than the normal civilian. But it turns out my bride-to-be coming home after over 2 weeks away and going at it like newlywed rabbits for a over week straight takes a lot out of a man. I stretched and rolled out of bed, pulling on my favorite basketball shorts and the t-shirt that was on top of the stack. When Steph emerged from the bathroom, naked as the day she was born and sporting a few well-placed marks that I'd left on her body – souvenirs from last night – I felt my cock twitch to life again. Down boy. We're not 20 anymore. I headed to the bathroom while Steph dressed, and we headed down to the gym together. She was scheduled to spar with Tank again this morning, and she was beyond ready to move past him.

I normally prefer to do my runs outside if the weather is nice, but I wanted to watch the sparring today, so I set myself up on a treadmill with a good view of the mats and started my warmup. Hector was helping Steph stretch and giving her some last-minute pointers. They spent the first several minutes just feeling each other out. I could tell from watching that Steph had been practicing some moves while she was away and realized belatedly that she was actually incorporating some Krav Maga moves that I hadn't seen her use before. Babe.

The real fighting began about 15 minutes after the match started. According to the rules, the takedown had to occur withing 45 minutes, or it didn't count as passing to the next level. Stephanie was really holding her own, and I could feel my pride and my dick both enlarging as she continued getting closer and closer to getting the slip on Tank. He was a big guy, but Steph had the advantage of being quick on her feet. It was only a matter of time before she successfully got him down to the mats. I knew Hector would have trained her well to use an opponent's weight against him. It went against the grain to watch my Babe fighting with a man three times her size, but I knew Tank would never hurt her, and it really gave me a huge peace of mind to know she was going to be safe when I wasn't around.

There were just five minutes left in the match, and I'd finished my program, so I meandered over to the ropes to watch the last of the fight. I heard the doors to the gym open and close and was surprised when the men behind me reacted to the newcomer. I was just turning my head to look when several things happened simultaneously.

"ACK! Rangeman Stephanie!" a strange voice called out.

Tank's focus broke for just a split second as his eyes cut to see who was talking, and it was all Steph needed to swoop in and bring him to the ground with a spectacular thud. I glanced at the timer: 44:49.

"11 seconds to spare. Nice work, Babe," I said, swelling with pride.

"Why the fuck is there a fucking bird in the fucking gym?" Tank asked, still flat on his back on the mats. I sauntered over to give him a hand up.

Steph had already scrambled down from the ring and was currently holding and petting a bird in a hoodie, which I assumed to be Adrian. Steph was set to debrief the rest of the Core Team on her trip at today's meeting, so they hadn't heard the stories of the bird saga yet. Tank and I made our way to the bird and the Rangeman with him. I extended my hand.

"Ranger," I said, shaking his hand. He returned the shake firmly.

"Sir, it's an honor. Ace Martin. Apprehension, Rangeman Boston," he said.

"Tank," Tank said, extending his hand.

"Oh wow," Ace said.

"And why the fuck did you bring a bird to my gym, Martin?" Tank said in the voice he used to make recruits piss themselves. I kept my blank face in place.

"We had a skip that led us on a bit of a goosechase up into East Brunswick, Sir. And once Adrian saw the New Jersey signs, he was demanding we stop and see Stephanie. When I checked in at the Control Room, they sent us down here." I had to give Ace points for not flinching. Or pissing.

"I don't like birds," Tank said, eyeing Adrian warily.

"Fuck you," Adrian said, nuzzling Steph's cheek with his little beak. I snorted a laugh. No wonder Babe had been so taken by this bird. He definitely had the attitude of a Rangeman.

"Are you staying long?" Steph asked Ace.

"Just passing through this morning. Gotta get our man turned in before close of business today," he replied.

"At least stay for breakfast," Steph insisted. Ace hesitated, his eyes flicking briefly to me. Good man. He knows his place in the ranking. "Ella will be making me waffles this morning since I finally passed Tank. And you deserve to join me, because of the assist," she said, unashamed that she had taken advantage of Tank's momentary distraction.

"If Steph wants you to stay, you might as well just agree to it," I said. "I'm interested to hear about your time at Rangeman so far."

"I like waffles," Adrian said, flapping his wings from his perch on Steph's shoulder. That seemed to settle things because before I knew it, we were in the elevator, heading up to the penthouse. Steph was correct, and a spread of waffles, scrambled eggs, and what I suspected was non-turkey bacon waiting for us on the counter. Stephanie made 2 plates, and I watched, amused, as she placed Adrian on the kitchen island in front of a plate of bite-sized waffle pieces. She led Ace to the dining room table, and I realized this was the first time I'd seen her entertaining company in our house outside of the familiar Core Team or friends who were already used to being in my personal space. She hadn't even thought twice about insisting he join her for breakfast. Dios, how long did I live up here before I'd allowed anyone other than Tank to come up? I truly couldn't remember, but it was at least a year. And now this curly haired, blue eyed dynamite was inviting casual coworkers – and birds! – to the house before 8am. It was nice to see she thought of this as her space now, too. And I never wanted it to be otherwise.

In deference to Steph's victory, I filled my plate with a waffle, extra eggs, and a strip of bacon and joined her and Ace in the dining room. They were talking animatedly about their adventures in Boston. In her easy way, Steph wound the conversation around to Ace, knowing it wasn't often I got the opportunity to grill the guys from satellite offices without their Managing Directors hovering around, and that I'd have some questions to ask. I'd finished my eggs and was just cutting into my waffle when I heard a screech, a crash, and violent tapping coming from the kitchen area.

"What the…" Ace trailed off as Stephanie jumped from her seat, sending her chair flying backwards into the wall and running into the kitchen.

"Kill the rat! KILL THE RAT!" Adrian shouted. Can birds actually shout? I wondered idly as I followed quickly.

"Adrian, NO! This is Rex. He's a hamster. He's my friend," Stephanie said, checking the aquarium, her shoulder relaxing slightly when she saw it was still closed, and Rex was safe inside twitching his whiskers and starting back at her.

"We kill rats," Adrian said, his voice calmer now. "Bad rats."

"No, Adrian. Hamster. Not rat. Friend."

"Hemp-er-star," Adrian tried the word.

"Ham. Ster." Steph enunciated the word slowly.

"Hampton," Adrian replied.

"Close enough," Babe said, making me chuckle. "Be nice to him. No killing." She patted Adrian on the back.

"Too many rules," Adrian said.

"Come on, come finish your breakfast in the dining room," Steph said, handing his plate to Ace as she held out her hand to Adrian.

"Kill joy," he said as he hopped onto her arm, and we went back into the dining room to finish our meal in peace.

I was happy to learn that Fuller was doing a great job and most of the men respected him highly. Ace seemed like a solid hire, and I was glad to know that Fuller was bringing in quality talent, and that the men enjoyed their jobs. We finished breakfast and made our way back into the kitchen. Adrian flew to the counter and stared into Rex's cage.

"Can't trust beady eyes," he said.

"Adrian," Ace said with a warning edge to his voice.

"Yes, Master, I be good Adrian," he said, swiftly flying to land on Ace's left shoulder. Babe bubbled out a laugh.

"What the hell have you guys been teaching him?" she asked, genuinely amused.

"He knew most of this shit," Ace replied. "His history was definitely colorful. See you later, Plum. Nice to meet you, Ranger, sir," he said, making his way to the door.

"Bye, Bitch," Adrian said as the door clicked closed.

We got ready for our day, showering together, as was our usual routine. Steph seemed to be lingering, but I had an early meeting scheduled with Les, so I headed down before her and settled into my office. The morning passed in a blur, and before I knew it, it was afternoon, and we were filing into the Conference Room for the Core Team meeting.

Steph did an incredible job presenting a proposal for expectations of Team Building and the budgetary needs that went along with it. She even surprised the shit out of me when she showed how comradery lowered employee turnover by more than 50% a quarter. Sexy and smart. Maybe I should have her on my desk before the day is over. I tried to reign in my thoughts and shifted uncomfortably in my seat, willing my erection to calm the fuck down.

Lester was up next, sharing a proposal for potential expansion into the Midwest or mid-south regions. There was a lot of untapped market potential there, and compared to the places we were currently operating, the cost of real estate was a fraction of the price. We discussed the pros and cons of Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Indianapolis. After several minutes we tabled the discussion, in order to do more research and conduct potential site surveys before we made a final decision. Some of our long-term employees were open to a move, but none of the current Core Team were looking to make a permanent move.

The final item on the agenda was finalizing a trip to Miami to check in with Jorge, now that he'd officially been in place for 3-months. I knew I wanted to go, since I hadn't been there since personally firing Armando. Steph also demanded to be included. In the end, it was decided that Tank, Lester, Stephanie and I would make the trip south to do Jorge's 90-day eval as Managing Director. We decided to take the jet, so Tank said he would make the arrangements and let us know when we had a confirmed date.

We dismissed the meeting and the rest of the day passed in a blur. I was neck deep in paperwork when I noticed it was nearly 7pm. I shut down the computer and texted Steph to let her know I was on my way upstairs. She surprised me by popping into my office.

"I'm just now heading up too," she said, threading her arm around my waist, resting her nose against my neck. I fucking love it when she sniffs me like that. Her eyes go dreamy, she moans, and her body melts into mine like a cat. I swear I'm going to buy stock in that damn shower gel, it makes her fucking crazy for me.

We rode the elevator up in silence and ate our dinner of grilled chicken and vegetables that Ella had left for us in companionable silence. Steph cleared the dishes when we were done and stacked them in the sink. I flopped onto the couch and remoted on the television, looking for one of the sitcoms she loved to zone out to in the evenings. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I saw her standing naked before me.

I licked my lips. "Babe."

"I beat Tank today," she said, climbing onto my lap and drawing lazy circles on my biceps.

"Yes, you did," I agreed. I wasn't tired anymore.

"So, I think I earned a reward," she purred, pulling my shirt off and tossing it aside.

"A reward?" I parroted. It was hard to think with all the blood in my body rushing to my cock. It strained towards her like there was a magnet in the end and she was made of steel. She undid my belt and slid down my zipper, allowing my erection to spring free.

"I'm going to ride you like Zorro," she said as she lowered herself onto me, making my mind go blank as sensation overcame me.

Then, she started to move.

And I stopped thinking at all. Dios mio.