My muse briefly abandoned me a few days ago and I think that she's apologising for leaving me…Hence so many chapters!
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Chapter 16After an hour of discussing Pedral I came to the conclusion that we knew nothing about him. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nil. Naught. Nothing.
We knew what he looked like, we knew a few potential goons, and we knew he wanted to nail Ric. We didn't know where he was, we didn't know his movements, we didn't know what was happening, who he was with, what his plans were. Nada.
Shit.
'What's the matter Babe?'
'Huh?'
'You said 'shit'.'
'Out loud?'
'Yeah Babe.' Ric said, sounding amused.
'I have gotta quit doing that!'
'So, what's the matter?'
'We don't know a whole lot Ric. It's not good.'
'I know, which is why security is going to be tightened. You're going to have someone on you at all times from now on, ok?' I opened my mouth to protest but Ric held up a hand and said, 'Please Babe. I'm going to have someone with me as well. Ok?' I sighed but nodded. 'I've got in contact with several people that owe me and they're trying to dig up something, but it'll probably be a few weeks before we get any useful intel. Tank, can you go debrief Haywood? Nick, Danny – carry on as before. Casey, Bear – can you stay here? Everyone else – dismissed.'
I got up to leave but Ric gestured for me to stay.
'Babe, this is Casey, he's Aunt May's husband. He runs the security for the compound.'
'Compound?'
'This house Babe.'
'Oh. Nice to meet you.' Casey smiled at me slightly and nodded. Casey was probably in his early 50's, but he was as muscular as Ric and the only indication of age was a few laughter lines around his eyes.
'This is Bear,' Ric said, gesturing to the mountain of a man next to him. It would be easy to be intimidated by him but I smiled at him and said, 'Hi! Nice to meet you.' A slow smile curved across Bear's face, and Ric and Casey looked surprised.
There was a look in Bear's eyes that made my heart ache, and I recognised it instantly. It was the same look that my Uncle Tommy had had in his eyes. Uncle Tommy was a friend of my Dads, and the look in his eyes had appeared because his wife and his twin daughters had died. So I did the same thing to Bear that I used to do to Uncle Tommy, I climbed onto Bear's lap, wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
Bear's arms came round me slowly, like it had been a very long time since he had held someone. I drew back slightly and looked into his eyes, he nodded as if he had made a decision, and the look in his eyes changed. It was the same fierce protectiveness that Uncle Tommy had had in his eyes when he had pushed me out of the way of an oncoming car. He had saved my life, and lost his.
'You gunna look after me?' I asked Bear, even though I already knew the answer.
He nodded slowly again.
'You ever talk?'
He shrugged slightly.
'Ok.' I said and then I kissed him on the cheek. His arms tightened around me and he kissed me on my hair. He stood up and deposited me on his chair, then he went to a cupboard and tapped in a code. He pulled something out and returned to my side. He held out a woman's Kevlar vest and shook it at me firmly.
'Do I have to?'
Bear nodded once.
'But it makes me look really flat chested!'
The slow smile spread across Bear's face but he shook the vest again.
I sighed. I hopped up off the chair and held my arms out; Bear slipped the vest on and did it up securely for me. I glanced down at my now flat chest and sighed again. Very sexy.
'You always look sexy Baby. Even in Kevlar.' I rolled my eyes at Ric but smiled despite myself. I was surprised that he called me Baby, rather than Babe, but I guess it was an indication of how comfortable he felt with these two men.
Ric crossed the distance between us and kissed me lightly. 'You're amazing.' He breathed into my ear; I guess he was talking about Bear.
'You wanna be on bodyguard detail for Steph?' Ric asked Bear.
Bear nodded firmly once.
'Good. Babe, have you considered Tank's offer yet?'
'What offer?'
'To join Rangeman full time.'
'I don't know, I like bounty hunting.'
'You can skip trace for Rangeman. We get our skips from Vinnie, it's just you get more money if you go through Rangeman, he pays us 17 rather than 10. The Rangeman employee gets 12 and 5 goes the company. It's just if you work for Rangeman you won't be limited to just fugitive apprehension.'
'That sounds good, but what if things between us muck up?'
'You think they will?'
'No! But it's a possibility, a very slim one, but a possibility nonetheless.'
Ric nodded, 'It's good that you're thinking about it, taking it into account. If things don't work out between us, we are staying friends. No two ways about it. I won't ever lose you from my life. And if we're friends then it shouldn't be a problem.'
'I don't ever want to lose you either. How about a trial period? To see if I can handle set hours and procedures and stuff like that.'
'How about a months probationary period?'
'Yeah. Ok. Let's try it.'
Ric smiled and went to a file cabinet. He pulled out something that looked a lot like a contract, wrote on it, and then he handed it to me.
It was a contract. Ric had written in the time period the contract was valid for, a month. It already said Stephanie Michelle Plum and had the rest of my details filled in. I raised my eyebrow at him.
'I've been planning on offering you a job for a while, especially since I've seen how well Danny's been training you.'
I nodded and read through the contract thoroughly – I trust Ric, but I'm not stupid. Then I signed. I handed it back to Ric and he was smiling at me – pleased I'd read the contract properly.
'Welcome to Rangeman officially.' Said Casey. And I recognised his voice from the impromptu 'I've got your back' ceremony in Haywood. I also realised that Bear hadn't been there. I raised my eyebrow at him. Bear gripped a hand on my shoulder and I knew he was saying, 'I've got your back.'
I smiled at him and said, 'I've got your back, Bear.' The slow smile drew across his face and he nodded fractionally.
'You wanna do skip tracing today?' Ric asked.
'Ric. You can't treat me like your woman who works for you. You've got to treat me like you would any employee. Don't ask me what to do, tell me. If I have a problem with you're orders, I'll tell you so.'
'Proud of you Babe.' Ric said. Then he removed another file from the cabinet. 'This is your FTA. You have three days to locate and secure her. The bond is worth $10,800 to you and $4,500 to Rangeman. Questions?'
I shook my head, stood up and headed for the door.
'Baby?'
'Yeah?'
'You wanna come back here tonight?'
'For dinner?'
'And breakfast.' Ric said, with a sexy smile.
'It's a plan.' I said with my own sexy smile.
Ric's smile widened, 'good. Have a lousy day Baby.'
'You too Rico.' Ric closed the distance between us and kissed me, tongue and everything. My hand curled into his shirt and I pressed my body against him. When we pulled apart his eyes were dark, 'You'd better go now or I'll drag you back to bed.' I smiled at him and kissed him lightly on the lips.
'Don't get shot.' We said, simultaneously – causing us to laugh. With one last kiss I left the conference room.
I turned to Bear, 'You know the way around this maze, right?'
Bear's lips tilted up fractionally and he nodded. I linked my arm through his, 'good. Can you take us to the garage?' He nodded again, and my protector led the way.
