Since He's Been Gone


Prologue

Ranger POV:

I sat on the couch in my darkened apartment. My mind wandered to a time before. A time where I was happy, my life was full of love, happiness, and sunshine. Never a dull day in sight. That is until I fucked up, ruining the only good thing in my life. The only good thing I had ever had.

I remembered waking up late in the morning, sun streaming in through the windows. Her body was thrown across mine, limbs tangled, her wild hair in my face, sometimes a few strands ending up in my mouth. I would pull her closer, the blankets falling farther down our bodies.

I would wake her up slowly, kisses to her neck and shoulders, nuzzling her and whispering to her. She always woke up with a smile on her face. I would lean down and claim her lips in a lazy morning kiss until she would shift and take the kiss deeper.

Hell, I loved her and I pushed her away. I knew I was a coward, I was scared and I ran like a little girl. I wanted her to hate me at the time, but now I was scared that she did. God, I missed her.

I stood, the only way I would get any closure would be to go back to the city. Hopefully, she wouldn't shoot me when she saw me, and from what I had heard there was a good chance she might. I grabbed a jacket from the foyer and pulled on my boots. Scrolling through my phone as I stepped onto the elevator I booked the next flight out.

Taking the elevator down to the sub-basement, I jogged out to one of the SUVs. I would tell Ace to send a man to come get it from the airport. Driving in downtown Miami at almost two in the morning on a Monday, the streets were pretty much empty. I could let my mind wander.

I couldn't say I didn't know where I went wrong. I got greedy, I thought I was invincible and felt the need to prove it. It cost me the greatest thing in my life for a few bucks and the chance to prove I was still a legend even if I was getting older.

The ride, although short, felt like the longest flight I had ever taken. I landed at five AM, getting a rental car. Although I knew she wouldn't be there, I wanted to go back to the last place I had seen her. The guys had informed me she moved out less than a month after I left.

Pulling up in front of the building, brought back so many memories. I went around the street and parked in the building's garage, pausing as I saw the sign on my spot. 'Ricardo Manoso/Stephanie Plum' the sign read, declaring who the spot belonged to.

I took the elevator up to the bridge floor and crossed into the apartment building. Taking the elevator up, I was nervous. I had no reason to be there other than to return to the place the incident occurred. I stepped off on the floor and walked to our door, I used the key and entered the dark apartment. Snapping on the lights, everything was just how I had left it, other than the furniture was covered in sheets.

Then I noticed it. Every touch of her was gone. The trinkets, the pictures, little things that marked her living here, things that made this home. I didn't expect there to be anything left, but I had hoped. I had hoped there would be something left of her here. Her things were long gone, along with the scent of her perfume. I used to come home and walk through the apartment, the smell making me feel like I was home.

I walked through pulling off sheets and turning on lights. Even though the apartment was completely furnished it felt empty.

I sat on our bed, my head in my hands. I needed to figure out a way to get her back. I don't know how I had survived this long without her, but that's all it was. Surviving, I hadn't been living. I hadn't felt alive since she left. But she wasn't the one who left; I was the one that left her.

Two weeks. That's how long I was in the city, trying to find the right time to approach her like she wasn't running the New York office. I had hundreds of reasons to seek her out, after all, I was her boss. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't approach her at work, and it didn't feel right to make the excuse of work to see her again. I was dying to hear her voice, dying to see her in person but I hadn't worked up the nerve.

I sat in a bar having a small pity party for myself. Nursing my second beer. I knew this was a bar the Rangemen like to visit, but I was surprised as hell when she sidled up next to me. It had been completely unexpected. I hadn't known she was here.

She looked gorgeous. Her skin flushed, bright, and glowing. Hair curly and bouncy. Crows' feet had begun to form at the corners of her eyes, but they only made her look even more attractive. Her eyes were now full of wisdom, and something else. Mistrust, that's what it was. Mistrust.


Since I literally have no patience... There's six chapter along with a prologue and epilogue.

So I hope you all enjoy, it was so much fun to write.