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"Okay that's it" Ranger stepped up, scooped me up into his arms and started to walk towards the entrance. "I'm taking you home whether you like or not Babe."
He put me down in the front seat and buckled me up. I didn't say anything; I was cranky and going to let him see that… by not talking to him of course. All though the silent treatment may not be the way to go with Ranger, him not being the most talkative person in the world. But I didn't think about that at the moment. He got in the drivers seat and slipped into his driving zone. Even though I was drunk and he had his blank face on I could see he was irritated and tense. I starred out of the window the entire drive home. When we pulled over on my parking lot I opened the door to get out. Not as easy as I thought it would be and I crashed down on the pavement. Lucky the fall wasn't too long.
"Oh crap" I said to myself. Ranger came into my line of vision, he leaned against the car and looked down on me amused.
"Need some help there Babe?"
"No! I'm Wonder Woman remember." His lips curved into an almost-smile.
"What ever you say"
I rolled over to my stomach and slowly got up on all four, when I attempted to rise I had to grab the door for support. I gave Ranger the told-you-so look and started to make my way to the house. It was an unsteady way, I wobbled from side to side and tripped on my shoes all the time. Before I knew it I was on the ground again. Damn. I guess Ranger was getting tired of me because he scooped me up into his arms again and carried me to the house.
"Hey I can do it myself" I said whiny. He just gave me a glare. I guess he wasn't amused anymore. When we got inside my apartment I wriggled myself out of his arms.
"Now you don't have to play the Good Samaritan anymore, so bye." I turned around and started to walk away.
"What the hell is wrong with you Steph?" Ranger let out angrily from behind me.
"Me? What the hell is wrong with me?"
"Why are you doing this? All the flirting and acting like a stubborn fucking baby… I know you're drunk but that's not it."
"Why am I acting like a stubborn baby? Because you seem to think I can't do anything on my own! I know I need a lot of help in my job and I'm happy to have you as help, even the times I don't ask for it. But Ranger I can handle a night out with a friend on my own! I can handle guys groping me on the dance floor and too many cocktails" I sat down on the edge of my couch.
"And about the whole flirting part… why should you care?" He just stood there staring at me.
"I think it's pretty obvious why I care…" he said quietly after a while.
"But it's not! You can't keep doing this Ranger, saying one thing but meaning another! I am a single woman right now, I should be able to flirt with anybody I want"
"What about Morelli?"
"It's over, he doesn't want me anymore… he found somebody else… And since Morelli doesn't want me anymore and you've never wanted me, I should be able to flirt as much as I want!"
"Is that why you denied me today? Because you think I don't want you?" He squatted in front of me.
"Is that what this is about? Is that why you're mad? I know Tank said you were angry but… well if that's all you can think about forget it!"
"What are you talking about?" he looked confused.
"I know no one ever denies you and if you're just trying to smooth talk me into sleeping with you just to prove that you can I want you to leave right now!" His eyes narrowed.
"Is that what you think about me?" I tried to look away but he took my chin in his hand and made me look him in the eyes. "Is that what you think I'm doing here?"
"How am I supposed to know something about you when you don't show or tell me anything?" now the blank face was off and I could see that his eyes were full of emotions. Unfortunately I was to drunk to tell exactly what emotions.
"I know I'm not the easiest person and I'm sorry about that, but I want you to know that I would never sleep with you just to prove something"
"Then why did you sleep with me?"
"Because I want you god damnit!" He stood up and ran his fingers frustrated through his hair. "And it hurts me to hear you say that you think I never wanted you… but it hurts me even more to hear that you think I would sleep with you just to use you."
"But what the hell do you mean by want? Do you want my body or do you want all of me? 'Cause I'm having a hard time understanding why you would send me back to Morelli if you wanted all of me" I felt tears coming down my cheeks so I got up and took a few steps from him, I felt I needed to put some space between us.
"And don't you dare try to use the whole my-life-doesn't-lend-itself-to-relationships excuse again! 'Cause if you really knew me you would know that I don't want the ordinary relationship! If I wanted to pick out china plates, go to dinner parties or expected my man to be home every day at five o'clock for dinner, I would already be married to Joe!" None of us moved, we just stood there staring at each other.
"I thought I did what was best for you" he slouched down on the edge of the couch looking beat.
"Well guess what, you didn't! And I don't think I can take getting hurt again… I want you to leave now." I didn't bear to see his face so I quickly turned around and walked into my bedroom, closing the door behind me. After a while I heard my front door open and close. I threw myself on the bed and cried myself to sleep.
When I woke up the next morning I was a wreck. My head pounded so hard I thought it was going to explode, I was still in my clothes from last night, I had smudged make-up all over my face, it felt like an animal had crawled up in my mouth and died and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse I remembered the fight with Ranger. What a great start to a new day. I dragged myself out of bed and got in the shower where I swore never to drink again. I tried as hell not to think about Ranger and all the things we said… but of course I failed miserably. He'd said he wanted me. I told him to leave. I did the right thing… right? Maybe I could blame the whole thing on me being drunk. No, Ranger wouldn't buy that.
I got dressed and got in my car and drove to the office. Not without stopping and a McDonald's to get some fries and a coke of course. I was also smart enough to buy an extra bag of fries for Lula, I didn't feel like sharing today. When I entered the office both Connie and Lula stopped what ever they were doing and stared at me.
"Girl you look like shit" Lula said after a while. "I'm guessing you got a little too much of the good last night with Mary Lou."
"Don't even go there, I'm pissed as shit and not in the mood." No point in trying to hide anything. Lula put her hands up in a jeez-take-it-easy-gesture, and then she spotted my food bag.
"You went to McDonald's without me?" I opened the bag and picked out the extra bag of fries at her. "Knew I could count on you girl" she smiled at me. We started to eat and I turned to Connie.
"Got any skips for me?"
"Yep, I got to low bonds that came in yesterday. I think they're pretty easy but still the cash is kind of good."
"Sounds perfect" I took the files from her and flipped through them. Vincent York, 38, wanted for driving under the influence and Melanie Scott, 24, wanted for violating a car. None of them seemed harmful or scary so I figured if I was lucky I could bring them both in today. The next second I noticed both Connie and Lula tensed up. Shit! That probably meant Ranger was on his way in, damn! I had hoped I wouldn't run in to him for a couple of days. I wasn't sure I could look him in the eyes after last night and I had a feeling things could get pretty uncomfortable. I got up and picked up my stuff so that when he walked through the door it would really look like I was on my why out and not just avoiding him.
"Okay guys so I'll see you later, I'm gonna go see if I get lucky with these skips" As I spoke the door opened and he entered. I turned around to leave. Our eyes locked for a second, his face was totally blank. I had a very strong feeling that my wasn't.
"Hey Ranger" I quickly looked away and walked out of the office. I could feel his eyes burning in my back.
I parked outside Vincent York's house, walked up to the door and rang the bell. I could here movement inside but he didn't answer the door. I pressed the bell again. When I rang the doorbell for the forth time I could hear the lock rattling. A tall man with a beginning bald spot on his head opened the door with pupils the size of coins. It was Vincent York, high as a kite.
"Hey why are you making my ears hurt?" he slurred out. I guess he was referring to my doorbell ringing.
"Mr. York you missed your court date and I'm here to remind you." His face lit up in a stupid smile.
"Well thanks man" he began to close the door.
"Not so fast, I'm afraid we need to go down to the station to reschedule right now." The smile vanished from his face.
"But I don't wanna go!" It's funny how smoking weed can turn even the most sensible man into a whiny kid.
"Yeah I know but you don't really have choice." I saw anger growing in his eyes.
"I don't wanna go! Didn't you hear what I said BITCH!" He started waving his arms, in some weird way I think he was trying to hit me. Suddenly his arm got to close to me and I lost all my patience.
"Well I don't give a FUCK!" I grabbed my handcuffs and succeeded in clipping them on one of his wrists and shoved him around hard, grabbing his other wrist.
"Noooooo!" He screamed and started stomping his feet like cranky six year old. I closed his door and pushed him down to my car and drove him to the station.
When I had gotten my body receipt I drove off to get Melanie Scott. She lived in a brown apartment building on Highland Street. I knocked on her apartment door and after a while she opened. She was wearing sweats like looked like they needed to be cleaned and had a doughnut in her hand. Mmm doughnuts.
"Hi, I represent your bonds agent and I'm here to remind you that you missed your court date." She did an eye roll.
"Oh for Christ sake, I' not guilty of anything!"
"That's not up to me to decide, I'm just here to bring you down to the station so that you can reschedule." She looked annoyed.
"It's not even my freakin' fault… it's my shitty ex boyfriend's. We'd gone out for a few months and just when I started to think things were getting serious he just disappeared on me! Not a word or anything! After I while I found out he had gotten himself a new girl. That fucking bastard. So one day I saw his car parked outside the mall, I couldn't help it, I snapped!" Her story reminded me of the time when I saw Morelli and ran him over with the Buick. Poor girl.
"Hey, I'm rooting for you! I think he got just what he deserved. I myself hit a guy with my car when he screwed me over. But that doesn't change the fact that I need to bring you to the station… I'm just earning a living here." She sighed.
"Yeah I guess you're right. Hey aren't you that Plum girl?" I nodded my head. "Wow you're just as cool as you sound in the papers! Wait just a second I'm just gonna grab my purse."
Well… for the first time in my life my published screw-ups brought me something good. Yey!
I got back to the office about 11.30, wow I thought to myself, not even lunch and already I head caught two skips and earned enough for my rent.
"Not even lunch and already two skips secured behind bars!"
"Well since you're on a roll maybe you wanna take a look at this skip we just got it." She handed me a file. Man in his mid thirties, wanted for domestic violence. What a scumbag! I kind of recognized the picture but I couldn't place him. Well maybe I've just seen him around, after all Trenton isn't that big.
"What do you say I give this guy a try and then we go for lunch?" I asked Lula.
"Yeah sounds good. You want me to ride shotgun?"
"No way you're riding shotgun for anyone today, if you take one step away from that filing cabinet I'm gonna put a bullet in your head!" Connie burst out. I looked over to the filing cabinet and understood where she was coming from. There were more files on top the cabinet than what could actually fit in it. Lula spent way too much time filing her nails instead of the files.
"Uh-oh, Looks like Connie got PMS or something, you'd better stay here. But it's okay, I think I can handle this guy on my own, I'll pick you up later."
"Okay but it better not be too long, I'm starting to get hungry" truth is, Lula was always hungry. "If that bony white ass of his starts to run away you just turn around and come back here. I ain't got time to wait around for you to go home and take a shower if you get rolled around in dog poop or wrestled with a dude covered in Vaseline." Normally people would take this as an insult, but sadly enough she was right and I found myself in those situations all the time. I gave her a you-never-know-so-I-can't-promise-anything smile and walked out the door.
I stopped outside the house that was addressed. The house was on Hancock Street and I didn't have good memories from this street. I once visited a kid who was pregnant with a gang member who was trying to kill me on this street. I hoped this would turn out better. I walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Once again no one opened the door even though I heard movement and I had to ring again. On the third, very long, ring I heard the locks began to rattle and cursing behind the door.
"What the fuck is…" The man stopped in his tracks and starred at me in chock. I was just as chocked. Now I knew why I recognized the man in the picture. It was Daniel, the guy I had been dancing with last night. That fucking son of a bitch!
"You?" I let out in a threatening voice.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I guess I didn't know my profession and therefore thought that I was there to pine and beg or something.
"Well well, not only are you married and still keep the girls warm on the dance floor, but you also abuse and assault your own wife. What a catch you are indeed." He looked confused.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I represent you bond agent and you didn't show up for court asshole!"
"You're a bounty hunter? Oh fuck you can't stick you dick anywhere these days." Oh he didn't!
"Oh shut up! You're coming with me to the station right NOW if I so have to drag you by your balls dumbass!" I got out my cuffs and his eyes grew big.
"Like hell I'm not you bitch!" He shoved me into the wall and ran passed me down the street. Oh fuck, I hated to run, but I was SO going to get this piece of shit. Because this time, it was personal. I ran after him as fast as I could. He jumped down in ditch in which a little brook was running. I jumped down after him and thought – it's only water, water dries and doesn't leave any stains. I can't still go to lunch. He ran long side the brook I wasn't too far behind him. While he was running I could see him bending down quickly. The next thing I knew a rock hit me in my shoulder and a second later another one hit my eyebrow. Damn, that hurt! Boy was he pushing my buttons right now. I also bent down a grabbed a few rocks. I launched them at him and saw to my great pleasure how one hit him in the back of his head. This caused him to trip, only slightly, but enough to slow him down a few steps. I sped up as well as I could manage and was only I few feet away from him now. I picked out my stun gun from my back pocket and launched myself at him, makings us both fall over. Before he could do anything else I showed the stun gun deep in his shoulder and he stopped moving. I stood up and brushed myself off. The shoes were a little wet and I had a few grass stains from the fall but I could live with that.
"Hah! Got cha, you asshole!" I bent down and cuffed his wrists behind his back. Then I realized I was going to have to drag him all the way to my car all by myself… oh crap.
After an hour of struggling I had finally gotten him into my car and was driving to the station. He had woke up two times but I had just stunned his ass again, I was not in the mood for any more wrestling and I honestly didn't care if all the stuns would cause any serious damage to him. He got what he deserved. As I was getting my third body receipt for the day I saw Morelli walking towards me.
"Hey I hear it's you third catch for the day, trying to set a new record?" He smiled at me.
"What can I say, somebody's got to separate the good from the bad" I winked at him and he let out a laughter.
"Everything good with you?" he wanted to know.
"Yeah, pretty good. No maniacs stalking me and I will be able to pay my rent so things are okay for the moment. How 'bout you?"
"Oh same old, same old you know. We should grab a pizza or a beer or something some day"
"Yeah that sounds good. But I actually got to go, I'm late for lunch with Lula and you know how she can get when she's hungry."
"Cupcake, she's always hungry" I grinned at him and waved goodbye as I exited. I was glad that things weren't awkward between us. Even though it felt kind of funny that he still called me cupcake. All though on a second thought I would be more bothered if he didn't.
I drove as fast as I could to the office but when I got there I ran into trouble. Outside was Rangers Porsche parked. Fuck! I still wasn't ready to see him. I decided Lula just had to wait a couple more minuets for lunch. No way I was going in there when Batman was there. I quickly drove past the office hoping no way would notice my car. A minute later my phone rang.
"Yeah?"
"You can't avoid me forever Babe." Then he hung up. Oh shit.
I made up Highland Street since I don't have a clue of what streets exists in Trenton.
And just a question that's been spinning in my head for a while now, does anybody know if Bulgari really exists or if Janet made it up? I'm starting to get a little curiouse here ;)