Dawn Tracy
The characters you recognize belong to Janet Evanovich. I'm just borrowing them for fun and pleasure.
Rating: R
Spoilers: HS through EOT CHAPTER EIGHT"What are you doing here babe?"
I could ask him the same question. He looked ragged. Like he hadn't slept in a long time. Dark smudges circled his eyes. At least two days of beard growth covered his chin. A cut sliced under his left eye. There were tears in his jacket and I looked him over for bloodstains. I didn't see any.
"I was with Tank when he got the call. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. You shouldn't be here." His mouth was set in a firm line.
"Are you coming home now?" I wanted to know.
"Yeah, when we finish here." Ranger answered.
Tank came over and said something to Ranger I couldn't hear. I'm sure I wasn't meant to. They spoke between the two of them. Tank made a call on his cell phone and handed the phone to Ranger.
The three of us walked back to the Explorer. Ranger seemed like he wanted to get out of there quickly and I didn't blame him.
Tank cursed when he got to his vehicle. "I don't fucking believe it."
I looked in the vehicle. A man's body was in the passenger's seat. A bullet wound to the head marred his face. He looked to be in his forties, white, dressed casually. I did not recognize him. Although I supposed the bullet wound did take away from his appearance. Maybe I might know him if he didn't have a hole in his head. I tried to imagine it. Still didn't seem familiar.
"Go get one of the cops." Ranger said to Tank.
Three hours and a visit to the police station later we left the police station. Tank got a ride with Lester and Bobby. I slid into Ranger's SUV.
"Let's go home." I said on a sigh.
"Home to your apartment?" Ranger asked.
"Uh I moved some things into your apartment last night. You told me it was okay." I felt all self-conscious suddenly.
"I'm glad you did." He said softly.
Once upstairs in his apartment Ranger headed straight for the shower. I found him in his dressing room wearing silk boxer shorts. He was putting away his guns. The sight of a nearly naked Ranger is enough to take my breath away. He had a bruise on his chest that was black and blue and purple and nearly the size of my fist.
"What happened to you?" I couldn't keep the emotion out of my voice.
"It's nothing."
I touched his bare chest and ran my finger gently around the area. He watched me, his brown eyes tired, but curious. A surge of electricity ran through me at the contact of my skin with his.
"You were shot weren't you?" Earlier I saw the tears in his jacket and I was just now putting together the pieces. Ranger always wore his Kevlar vest.
Ranger nodded, just a slight incline to his head. I lost all self-control and I hugged him. I wondered briefly if I might be hurting him. But he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I felt a rush of emotions in addition to the warming tingling below my belly.
"I was so worried about you." I told him. "I thought you might be dead. I had to beg Tank for information and he barely told me anything."
Ranger pulled back and looked at me, keeping his arms around me, "It was hard to make calls. I didn't think you would be worried. I'll try to call you next time."
He didn't think I would be worried? What did he think of me?
"Are you tired? Do you want to go to sleep now?" I asked him.
"I'm hungry."
"I'll find you something to eat."
Ranger followed me into the kitchen. I found a pasta salad that Ella left in the refrigerator. It had chicken and vegetables and a vinaigrette dressing. Far healthier than I would have asked for, but I knew Ranger would eat it. I dished up a couple of plates and got out a couple of beers.
At first we were quiet while we ate.
"Are you going to tell me what you were doing and how you were shot or am I going to have to drag it out of you?" I finally spoke up.
Ranger smiled. "And just how would you drag it out of me?"
"I have my ways. Now tell me."
"The word on the street is that the first Slayer that was murdered, the Axe man was killed by the Ramos Family. The Slayers recently purchased some weapons from Marco and Teddy Sanchez. Theory is that the killing was to warn them to stay away from the competition. The Ramos Family sells guns to the Slayers and they don't like business being taken from them."
"What were you doing exactly?" I asked.
"Gathering information."
"How did you get shot?"
"I was too close to someone being shot at."
I rolled my eyes. "What else did you find out?"
"Marco and Teddy Sanchez have a growing gun running operation." Ranger said. "Marco has been small time for years while Teddy has been in jail. Teddy used to work for the Ramos and that's where Marco gets his connections. Marco was only into prostitutes before that. Teddy got out of jail six months ago and they are getting more active."
"Do you know them? Do you think they have anything against you personally"?
"I brought in Teddy when he was FTA. I know Marco by sight but we have never been introduced.""
"Was there anything memorable about his takedown?"
"There was some gunfire exchanged and he was violent. I hit him with the stun gun. He might know about me from the Ramos Family, but he and I are not really acquainted. His takedown took about an hour."
"Do you think Teddy and Marco Sanchez have anything to do with the murders or the letters?" I asked.
"It is possible, but something is not right." Ranger said "If they are trying to frame me and Hal for murder they are doing a pretty bad job. If they are trying to scare us off the jobsite why don't they come out and say that? And why would they want to do that?" Ranger continued. "Someone paid a the kids to dump the bodies in the vehicles. No one knows who it is, or they won't say. And again why?"
"Did you tell the police about that?"
"Yeah. But the kids aren't going to talk to them so it's just my words."
We sat on the couch after we ate and I told him about Bruzniak Contractors and the alleged bribe and Gumbazzi Construction and my meeting with George Gumbazzi. I gave him a quick run down of the drive by of Gray's Gym, Rodney Smith's messenger service and the fight with the women in the ladies room at Maud's Diner and how Hal came to my rescue. Before he could get a word in I told him about the carjacker.
"Babe." Ranger's voice was very quiet. "Why didn't you tell me any of this right away?"
"It wasn't important. It was taken care of. And don't yell at Tank for not telling you because I begged him not to tell you until you got back. I didn't want you to worry."
Ranger just stared at me. I wondered if he was counting to ten or doing some kind of Zen meditation thing so he didn't kill me. Only he didn't look mad exactly. Then he cupped his hand behind my neck and leaned over me. "When someone or something threatens you or something happens I want to know about it. Right away."
"I'm not keeping secrets. I just didn't want to worry you while you were away."
"Don't worry about what I'm doing. When something happens I want to know about it when it happens." Ranger had a very intense look in his eyes.
"Will you do the same for me? Will you let me know what's going on? Will you tell me when something happens?"
"If you want me to I will. I think I already do."
"I don't feel like you share a lot of information with me. You were shot and you didn't tell me. You still haven't really told me what happened."
The corners of his mouth turned up. "I tell you what you need to know. You figure a lot out on your own. "
"You tell me what you think I need to know. What about what I think I need to know?"
"Go ahead, ask me a question." Ranger sat back on the couch, his legs outstretched.
Oh boy. The underwear question was tempting but a bit too embarrassing.
"Do you ever get scared?" I asked. It wasn't the best question. But I was still trying to make sure Ranger really was human. I was pretty sure he was. But maybe I could still use some reassuring.
"Sure I do. Fear keeps a person from getting too cocky. Keeps you alive."
"You never show it."
"No? It's my turn for a question. Why did you come here and not stay with Morelli?"
"Morelli and I broke up." I told him.
"Again?"
"This time for good." Ranger arched his brows. "Really. I'm never going to be the perfect little stay at home housewife he wants me to be. He doesn't want me to be who I really am. So this is it. He's working on an assignment. He said he was going to be out of contact."
"What about the dog?" Ranger asked.
"He left Bob with his brother Tony."
"Are you okay with this?"
"Mostly I'm upset about the dog. The thing with Morelli has been a long time coming. He doesn't think I'm fit to even take care of a dog. I really like dogs."
"Are dogs the only thing you like?" Ranger ran his hand down my jaw, stopping at my chin, rubbing his thumb across my lower lip.
"This is a trick question."
"Probably." He slid his hand around to the back of my neck and pulled me closer to him. Any thoughts I had of refusing him were gone. All I could think about was kissing him.