A/N: I meant to have all the previous Stephanie-chapters in one Ranger POV chapter, but decided on cutting it up in two parts. Also I figured the Catalina conversation would happen in between his two visits and that would definitely have gotten to long for a chapter.
Stephanie Plum was everything I've never encountered in a woman before. She was a mystery that seemed to never end and kept surprising me at every turn I took, assuming I finally had her cornered – so to speak.
I loved a good challenge and she posed an excellent one. She was someone who didn't play by any of the rules I was used to. Not wanting to sound arrogant or like the hottest piece of ass out there, but I was well aware of my effect on women. I had been used to the effect I had on them since my late teens when it became rather obvious, I was what women liked looking at. When the military beefed up my physique, things only became easier again and when money entered the mix, I was probably one step away from being irresistible for most of them.
People keep saying men are easy, but in my experience, women are just as easy. Often enough, if you looked good and had a comfortable account balance, you'd be surprised how willingly women seemed to overlook flaws, like character or even horrendously bad lovers.
I was used to easy – not that I was generally after it, but if women didn't make it hard for you to score and you managed to get by with the least amount of effort, you got used to it. Women throwing themselves at me, trying their hardest to catch my eye or stay relevant long enough for me to maybe get tied down. I was always upfront and didn't play games, appreciating when I wasn't dragged into games as well. Or drama for that matter. I wasn't into hard to get and certainly didn't run after anyone. But maybe that had only been so far because no one had proved worth running after. Enter Stephanie Plum and her own set of rules it seemed. I wasn't sure whether she was playing hard to get or what the deal with her was, but I could definitely guarantee you it was turning me on.
After my ordered thorough background check on her didn't discover any shocking findings and a rather average life, I wasn't any wiser, but at least I knew where to look. I had all her information accumulated neatly stacked on my desk and it would have been easy to simply call her and see how things went, but somehow, I felt playful and didn't mind a bit of a chase.
As address our system had strangely enough dug up two possibilities – a house on the outskirts of the Burg and an apartment in a less popular area. The house I could rule out pretty quickly, mainly due to her financials and because it was nowhere listed under her name. So, chances were this was her fiancé's place and she used it for bills. Her apartment left me rather… confused. The building itself was looking like it had ben built in the 70s and hadn't seen an update since. Generous parking space in front, a broken elevator and staircases that could do with some paint, I had seen junkies live in better digs. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't stellar either. Judging that the neighbours as well as cheap rent played into her choice of place, I was not very surprised to find that her only security system present was a chain to her door. Of course, I only found out about that after I had knocked and waited a few moments for possible movement.
Nothing happened – as expected – and I was inside her place within seconds, realizing the décor somehow matched the entire building and seemed to be more a wild collection of single items and not put in here with a system or concept of design in mind. Nothing matched anything, but everything looked well lived in and like it could do with an update.
While I myself wasn't an expert on design and usually paid people to do my interior design, I was certain that her apartment was not furnished that way because that was her style. I rather suspected she took what was cheap – or maybe even free – and made it work as best as she could.
Her bathroom was one of the ugliest I had ever seen, with yellow-brownish tiles that certainly wouldn't win a design award anytime soon. Her kitchen followed the same concept as the rest of her place, seeming puzzled together and with counters and cupboards not matching another, a table with four completely different chairs and a stove that looked like it had been stick in the 70s and also had last seen being used around that time.
I usually was a very straight-forward guy in everything I did and walking through her place right now, I wasn't sure why I was doing it really. Obviously, she wasn't in, so surprising her out of the blue was out of question and walking through her place might give me a good idea about the person Stephanie Plum was, but it felt invasive in a way and for a second, I actually found myself wondering how I'd feel if someone I barely knew would just walk through my place. So, before I actually could make it to her bedroom, I decided I was leaving that territory untouched and retreat, respecting her privacy. On a weird level I wanted her to show me that last place unknown.
I walked back into the kitchen, deciding this had gone far enough and that I should either return at a later point when she actually was in or find other ways of contacting her. And then I realized I had left a card back in my car that I could use to leave a message. So, I jogged down the two flights of stairs, got the card and a pen and made it back up in record time.
For a second, I thought about what to write and ended up with a message about wanting the hoodie back, stating it was my favourite. Truth be told, I couldn't care less about the hoodie and it was one of plenty, but somehow, I figured she'd appreciate that as an excuse rather then me simply stating I'd like to take her out. I spotted a somewhat interesting cookie jar on one of the counters, placed it in the middle of the table and propped the card against it, assuming that way she couldn't miss it.
As mentioned before, Stephanie Plum was a woman that didn't play by the rules. I waited four days for a call from her, knowing I definitely didn't make a mistake with the number and had to realize she wasn't going to call at some point. Yes, I could have called her, seeing that I had her number, but somehow with the night we had spent and her leaving, getting a visit from me in her empty apartment, I felt the ball was in her court. Or maybe she just wasn't interested.
"What has you in such a crappy mood?" I heard my cousin Lester ask a second before he was inside my office. I looked up from some file that I probably had been looking at for the past hour without even knowing what I was reading.
"Okay, fair, you are never little Miss Sunshine, but something is off," he remarked a moment after I had just looked at him. I was certainly not known around here for being the cheeriest guy.
"Nothing is off," I tried to say, but a second later Tank – my second in command – and Bobby – the company medic – entered.
"Oh, something is definitely off," Tank stated. "Since a few days you are… different. I can't put my finger on it, but something seems off."
"Maybe it's that chick," Bobby just remarked and there was no way he was simply fishing. I could detect by the way he was saying it that he knew something.
"What chick?" Tank and Lester asked Bobby simultaneously.
"Zero told me a few days ago that Ranger called in, asking about a girl and to run her through the systems. And the next day, he called again, asking for a full background."
"What?" Lester asked, looking confused. "Who's the girl?"
I was only paying mild attention to Lester, my mind wondering where I could send Zero for being a gossip and making my private affairs more or less public.
"Before you plan on shipping Zero to the Russian border in January be aware that I only asked about any special issues during the night when I got a report the next morning. And he only mentioned it offhand. I actually was in the room though, when you called for the full background. So, no shipping of men anywhere just yet."
I let out a groan, seeing that Bobby was right. I hardly ever called in for backgrounds that weren't related to a job, though, I can't remember ever having asked my men to run a female. So, Zero probably didn't even think about it too much and figured to better be prepared than be sorry in the end, telling Bobby about Stephanie.
"So?" Lester asked, looking more than just interested.
"So what?" I asked.
"Well, who's the girl?" Tank asked, curious now as well. When I didn't reply they both turned to Bobby, who held up his hands in surrender.
"Don't ask me. I didn't get the name or… don't remember if Zero mentioned one. That reply lead to three pairs of eyes on me, asking an unspoken question.
I let out a quiet sigh, wanting to roll my eyes. Great, no I had Miss Marple and her two associates on the case of finding out more to quench their thirst for gossip. I knew I should have run a background myself, but holing Stephanie at gunpoint made it slightly impossible to just get a laptop and run her name without calling someone. The bad part about this is, that Lester and the others would most likely succeed sooner or later, seeing that all calls were recorded and they easily had access to the recordings. I could definitely make this hard, but also risk them never letting go when they got their first answer, since they then would know that something was up.
"Stephanie Plum," I said finally.
"So, what's the story?" Lester asked.
"There's no story," I answered almost stoic.
"You don't really expect us to believe that, do you? You called in twice for her. Once late at night and then again, the next morning. There is definitely a story here."
I looked at all three of my men for a second, knowing them long enough for being aware sooner or later they either annoy the hell out of me with constant questioning or venture out of finding out themselves by even calling her themselves. I knew, Bobby would eventually back up if there wasn't any voluntarily offered information from me, but Tank and Lester would see it as their mission to find out what happened. They were also my three closest and best friends. And we had gone through hell together at times that seemed like life times ago.
"She broke into my place," I started and was interrupted before I could even finish my sentence.
"She broke into your place?" all three asked me. I just nodded and saw Lester look at me, an odd mix of admiration and confusion on his face. "Either she is incredibly dumb, or incredibly brave. Though one doesn't necessarily exclude the other…"
"I definitely need to meet her now," Tank just remarked with I smile.
"She broke into my place," I started anew, this time being able to actually go on. ", wanting to get something of hers back that apparently Catalina possessed. I caught her, and during … um … interrogation it was discovered that her life and mine connect through our partners. They screw each other."
"Can't really say I'm surprised," Lester remarked. "It's the kind of shitty thing I would expect of Catalina. As you know, I was never a big fan of her and in all fairness, have never quiet understood what you saw in her."
I know what he was talking about, seeing as he had been never made it a big secret that he really didn't like Catalina. For the two years we have been dating, I think not a week didn't pass when Lester didn't make a remark of some sorts. He of course respected my choice and never felt her unwelcome much, but it went without saying that there was no friendship lost between Catalina and Lester. Or any of my other men. It wasn't like Catalina got along with Tank or Bobby either or anyone else working at RangeMan. Now, it's not like I minded much, seeing as previous girls had provided a distraction as such, but to go all cold wasn't really a preferred idea of mine either.
"So, what happened with that Stephanie?" Bobby asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Did you get her arrested?" It would have been the standard operational protocol. Catch the bad guy and hand him over to the authorities. Now, we all know how that played out. And so must have Lester, judging by his intense stare at me, followed by a statement.
"I don't think he did," Lester said when I wasn't responding for a while. "I think you slept with her."
"What? Why would you think that?" Tank and Bobby asked confused. Lester just shrugged and I wasn't sure I should be annoyed or impressed with what he was going to say next.
"Because I've known Ranger my entire life. That blank face he has on and the way he thinks very carefully about each word means he is trying hard not to give too much away. He'd only do that if there was something he didn't want to share. Since handing the bad guy over to the police wouldn't raise a lot of questions or require for blank face, something else happened. And judging by his expression right now, I'm spot on."
"Tell me, he is wrong," Tank almost pleaded and took my silence once more as affirmation for Lester's statement.
"Wow," Bobby said a second later and it didn't sound like admiration. Not that I didn't get their sentiment. This was… not how we did things. Not that I had any regrets, despite how all of that played out so far.
"I guess that is one way of getting out of B&E charges," Lester commented cheerily and I was about to hit him.
"She did not sleep with me to get out of possible charges. I think," I said, realizing all of a sudden that I hadn't even thought about that possibility. What if she really just slept with me so I was distracted? A very thorough distraction. Could it be possible that she just slept with me out of protecting herself?
"No!" I said more to myself a second later. "I ran her name while holding her gun point. She was obviously there and knows I know who she is. So, sleeping with me wouldn't have helped her since I could just have come after her anyway."
Lester shrugged, Bobby nodded and Tank seemed still confused how this all went.
"You had said she wanted to get something back that Catalina had. What was it?"
"Not sure why that is of importance, but … I think it was a necklace. No idea whether she got it though."
"Wait," Lester said, smiling in a way that didn't bode well for me. "Not only does she break into your place, fucks herself out of you pressing charges – so far anyway – but you also don't know whether she actually got what she came for? I definitely have to meet her now."
"What happened the next … um… morning?" Bobby asked and I could see how he tried to not seem curious, but truth was, all three of them were. They wanted to know how this played out. I was contemplating how much to actually say, when I realized something.
"I don't think how this could get any worse so… she left before I was awake."
There was silence for a while, everyone looking like they tried digesting the just provided information. Yes, something like that definitely didn't happen very often.
Lester looked like Christmas just came early. "Let me guess," I interrupted before he said anything. "You definitely, definitely want to meet her now?"
"Hell yes!" Lester more or less shouted and I suppressed the need for rolling my eyes.
"So, what happens next?" Tank asked and I shrugged.
"I…reached out to her, guess we see what comes next. In the meantime, I guess there's a conversation to be had with Catalina and how we have come to an end…"
"That's one way of putting it," Bobby just remarked and Tank looked like he'd rather take a bullet than switch places with me right now. I would too, if I had the choice.