While I continue to work on chapters for my FF Reconciliation, I've had a few ideas for one shots and short stories. This scene takes place a few months prior to the start of Reconciliation.
It was a simple distraction job which meant it shouldn't have gone down this way. That fact pissed me off more than I can begin to express. We'd missed the real threat and by we, I mean Tank and I missed it. We were the ones covering the front door. Because of our oversight one person was dead and I could only pray another wasn't about to join him.
It all started with Vinnie bonding out Dario Giovanni. A mid-level drug dealer accused of attempted murder after nearly killing one of his runners. Against everyone's advice, Steph's sleezy and stupid cousin had bonded him out only to have Dario turn FTA in the face of a lengthy jail stay. After an extensive search and stakeout, Rangeman determined that Dario liked to frequent a little dive bar just outside the burg called Beaker's Place.
It was also a well-known fact that Dario held a predilection for beautiful women and could usually be found with a new woman every few days. Since Steph is our distraction tonight, hopefully, his obsession will also be his downfall. In my opinion, there's no woman on the planet more beautiful that my Babe. Since my opinion is the only one that matters, I stand by that sentiment.
If you know anything about Stephanie, then you know Babe's closet holds three styles of clothing. Jeans and t-shirts are her daily uniform, be it black on black for work at Rangeman or a bigger selection of colors for lounging and play. She also owns sexy dresses that make her look every bit the classy and sophisticated woman she truly is. Those she reserved for night's out with me or high dollar protection work. Then she kept a selection of sexy slut clothes for distraction work.
Tonight's distraction and capture called for something out of her sexy slut line. As usual, she didn't disappoint. Dressed in a lavender halter top mini dress that gathered in all the right places, and four-inch black FMP's, Babe was particularly sexy tonight. The tight scraps of fabric pretending to be a dress were held together by laces that zig zagged a stitch pattern along each side, leading to two knotted ties resting on each side at the hem. My fingers itched to loosen those knots so I could watch the skimpy fabric fall away. Just the thought had me hardening as I helped her ready for the assignment.
She'd plied those addictive curls of hers into a sexy updo with several tendrils left loose to dance around the edges of her face. Playing up the pissed off girlfriend angle, she'd gone extra heavy, dolling up her eyes and her lips were currently the color of ripe cherries. If this capture went off quickly without any issues, I planned to have those succulent lips wrapped around a particular appendage of mine later tonight. Hopefully, right before I untied those laces. Damn!
In the meantime, as difficult as it was, I needed to focus. "You're stunning, babe," I whispered as I handed her the silver crossbody purse containing her gun.
Her luscious lips tipped into a smile. "You interested in showing me just how stunning you think I am."
"Later," I said my voice laced with desire.
"Promise?" she teased.
"Guaranteed," I replied, then turned her toward the door before I lost all self-control and pulled her into the alley instead. "Watch yourself," I said.
"I will," she replied as she turned her head to plant a quick kiss against my jaw. Then she shifted, straightened her spine, and disappeared inside.
"We're a go," I heard Bobby murmur into his mic.
Inside the building, Bobby and Lester sat stationed at the bar, pretending to share a beer and watch whatever sporting event was currently on the television. Woody took up the task of playing bar tender while Ram and Cal shot a game of pool. Hal was outside, covering the back door, in case our target got wise and tried to make a run while Tank and I staked out the entrance.
Twenty minutes passed from the time Steph entered the establishment to the time when the second man walked up to the door. The tall, skinny blond looked unassuming enough that while we were alert and aware of him, we weren't overly concerned. This was an active business with patrons coming and going. So, people coming into or leaving a bar wouldn't normally have been a big deal. His demeanor appeared relaxed and unconcerned as he pulled open the door and headed inside. Just another patron looking for a cheap, cold beer.
The man all but forgotten, I listened through the wire Steph wore as she worked her magic on Dario. She'd laid out her sob story of how she'd caught her boyfriend cheating and Dario had just suggested the idea of taking him home as revenge.
The idea of another man putting his hands on my woman had my fingers curling into fists. This was just one part of running distractions that I hated. However, Steph was good at her job. I only needed to hang onto my patience a few more minutes before she'd have the fish hooked and this would be all over.
A man's voice we didn't recognize carried through the background noise, bleeding through Steph's hidden mic. "Dario!"
"Hey, Pauly," Dario replied. "Long time no see."
"Not long enough," the man name Pauly said.
The next thing I heard was Steph's gasp, Lester's shout and then the unmistakable sound of gunshots.
"Shots fired!" Bobby's voice carried through my earpiece. "Shots fired. Target down."
"Move in," I ordered even as I heard Stephanie's squeak followed by an umph that sounded like she'd had the breath knocked out of her. My heart nearly stuttered to a stop as I thought about how close she would have been to Dario when this Pauly guy opened fire. If she was hurt…
With gun drawn, Tank kicked open the door and we stormed the bar. For several minutes bedlam ensued. When the chaos subsided, Cal held the shooter, we recognized as the blond man, on the ground, while Woody cuffed him. With the suspect neutralized, I turned to see Dario now laying face up on the floor a few feet away, his blank eyes stared at the harsh fluorescent lights as blood continued to ooze from the gaping wound on the side of his head. Fuck! We'd still be able to collect our body receipt but cleaning up the mess wasn't going to be much fun.
As I continued to assess the scene, I spotted Lester on the ground, his body covering Stephanie like a shield with Bobby and Ram in front of him. Both were in the process of re-holstering their weapons. The sight caused an internal smile as I took a second to absorb the scene. I and my men had always told Steph that we'd protect her above all else and that was just what they'd done tonight.
I walked over to where Bobby and Ram remained in place, protecting Lester and Steph. They parted to give me access to my cousin. "Santos. You can let her up now."
He didn't move, but beneath him Steph began to squirm. "Lester, let go." She struggled to move. "Come on Les, this floor is disgusting. Now let me up." He didn't move. "Les?"
"Santos?" Assuming he was taking advantage of being so close to her and was playing some sort of game, I reached down to pull him off Stephanie. Instead of trying to stand up, or letting out a laugh, he rolled onto his back and grimaced as his painfilled gaze met mine. Blood poured from a wound on his left shoulder and my gut clenched in response. Double Fuck! "Man down. Bobby, triage. Ram, we need an ambulance."
Steph scrambled onto her knees and turned to look at Lester, her eyes going wide in horror. "Oh God! Les!" She shifted so she could pull his head into her lap, in the process barely keeping her dress pulled down far enough to cover her important parts. I noted the blood on her leg, then my gaze drifted up. Her lavender dress, arm and bare shoulder were splattered with blood and organic material. Just as I'd feared, she'd been close enough to catch the spray from the bullet's impact with Dario's skull.
"Hal," Bobby called out. "Get my medical bag from the truck. Ranger, I need clean towels or rags …something to use to put pressure on this wound." Without so much as a nod, Hal disappeared through the front door. Before I could move, Tank appeared from the kitchen area with what appeared to be a stack of clean towels. He tossed one to Bobby who folded it over and pressed it against the wound, causing Les to let out a hiss of pain.
"I'm sorry, bro," Bobby said, "But we have to put pressure on this wound."
"I know," Les rasped as he sucked in what appeared to be a painful breath.
Bobby turned to look at Ram who had just repocketed his cell. "Ram. Come hold pressure on this."
Ram dropped to his knees next to Steph and took the towel from Bobby. "Ambulance is on its way."
I glanced over my shoulder and motioned to Woody. "Get that fucker out of here. Take Cal with you."
"Yes, Boss," Woody replied as his worried gaze cut from me to Lester and back. Our team was one that when one of us was down, we all felt it.
"Stay with us, Les," Bobby said as he turned and began to dig out what he'd need to start an IV.
Lester gave Bobby a small nod as his attention shifted to Stephanie. "Beautiful," he whispered as he lifted his right hand to touch her face. "You, okay?"
Tears streamed down Babe's cheeks as she cradled his head in her lap and covered his hand with hers. She pulled it away from her face and pressed a soft kiss to his palm as her other hand brushed lightly through his hair. "I'm fine," she said, her voice shaky with fear. "Thanks to you."
"Good." He gave her a small smile, then dropped his hand as he sucked in another ragged breath. "Cold," he whispered to Bobby.
"I know," Bobby replied. "You're going into shock. Just keep talking to me."
"Can't." Les swallowed hard. "So tired."
"Lester," Steph's voice hitch. "Talk to me, please. Tell me one of your jokes, or one of your lame stories, just whatever you do, don't close your eyes."
His attention slowly shifted from Bobby to Steph again as he stared up at her. "Take care of, cuz for me."
"I will," she said. "We're gonna take care of you too, so please, just hang on."
"Don't…cry…beautiful," he whispered as he stared at her, then his eyes drifted shut and my stomach clenched a second time. Despite Bobby's best efforts, we were slowly losing him.
"Les!" Steph's panicked eyes shifted from Lester to Bobby. "Oh God, Bobby."
"Don't panic on me, Steph," Bobby replied as he ripped the sleeve on Lester's shirt and swabbed it down. "He's still breathing. He's just unconscious. At least he's not feeling anymore pain right now."
While the paramedics and Bobby worked on Les, I'd steered Steph out to the back of the Cayenne and worked to clean as much of the debris off her as possible. Dario's blood wasn't going to come out of her dress, and I'd probably missed the smaller stuff that no doubt was hiding in her curls, but at least there was less of an immediate reminder of what had just happened. The entire time Steph continued to cry and glance over her shoulder at the bar entrance.
By the time they loaded him into the ambulance, I had Steph calmed down and belted into the passenger seat of the Cayenne.
Ten minutes later, we rolled into St. Francis behind the ambulance and headed inside to wait. After hearing about the shooting from Vince in the control room, Ella had packed a change of clothes for Steph and sent them with Cal and Ram. Knowing we were probably in for a long night, Steph hadn't protested when I suggested she take the clothing and get changed into something more comfortable. Not only would it give her a chance to clean up a bit more, but it would get her out of that damn blood-spattered dress. She'd simply nodded, picked up the bag and headed toward the bathroom. Having ingrained in my men the need to protect Steph, Ram and Cal followed to stand guard while she changed uninterrupted.
Five minutes later, Cal returned. The look on his face had me arching a brow. "What is it?"
"Bomber's crying again," he said.
I watched as Tank, Bobby and Woody edged up in their seats. The need to not only protect, but console my girlfriend ran deep in them. "Stand down," I said as I pushed up from my seat and followed Cal back to where Ram stood outside the single room family style bathroom. Through the wooden door, I could hear her soft sobs and my heart threatened to break all over again. This wasn't at all how the night was supposed to end for us. "Steph." I lifted a hand and knocked. "Babe, open the door."
A moment later the door slowly creaked open, and she stepped out. I noted how she'd washed off her makeup, but her beautiful blue eyes still looked red and swollen from crying. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around my neck, buried her face against my shoulder and sobbed. With a nod to Cal and Ram, they disappeared, taking Steph's bag of clothes with them. Careful of my surroundings, I shifted to put my back against the wall, then held her tight as she cried.
"He's gonna be okay," I whispered against her hair. "You have to believe that."
"That bullet was meant for me," she said as she lifted her teary gaze to look me in the eye.
The accuracy of her words had nausea clawing its way up my throat. If Santos hadn't thrown her to the floor, there's no doubt in my mind we'd all be here waiting for news from her surgery, or God forbid…worse. "He loves you," I said as I curled a finger beneath her chin. "Almost as much as I do."
Her eyes widened at my admission. "I-um…how do you know that?" she asked.
"You remember right before you agreed to move in with me?"
She nodded. "When you offered me a full-time job and an apartment at Rangeman if I quit working for Vinny."
"And you told me you weren't taking my pity or my charity?"
Her lips tipped into a slight grin. "Then you said you were tired of me accusing you of giving me charity and when I was ready to accept the fact that I was really needed, by Rangeman and you, to let you know and then walked out?"
"That would be the time," I replied. "Well, when I returned to Rangeman I was in a really shitty mood and ended up in the gym beating the piss out of one of the heavy bags. Eventually, Les and Bobby made their way in to try and calm me down."
Steph gave my statement a snort. "Like anyone has the ability to calm you down."
"You, do," I said as I tucked one of her stray curls behind her ear.
"Anyone except me," she corrected.
"Right. Well, after not getting what Santos thought was an appropriate answer from me. He proceeded to tell me that I was on notice and if I didn't get my head out of my ass soon and do something about you, then I better just get out of the way because he wasn't going to continue to stand by and watch me and Morelli play with your emotions."
Steph's eyes widened in horror. "He didn't."
"He did," I confirmed. "That's when I realized just how much he actually does love you." What I didn't tell her was how much his comment both pissed me off and comforted me at the same time. Knowing, if anything ever happened to me, Lester and the team would be there to help Babe pick up the pieces made my decision to push for a real relationship with her easier.
"There's only one man I'm in love with," Steph said. "And that's you. Les…well…he's like an adorable and annoying big brother. I love him…a lot, but not in the same way I love you."
I started to reply to her declaration when Ram appeared. "Doctor just came out. Santos is out of surgery."
"And?"
"Doc said he'll be up and annoying people again in a couple of days."
Steph made a face. "The doctor didn't say that."
Ram grinned. "Maybe not the annoying people part, but the rest is accurate enough."
"When can we see him," she asked.
"Doc said we could have couple of minutes with him in recovery. Then we can come back tomorrow during regular visiting hours."
The advantage to donating large sums of money to St. Francis meant not only was Bobby given hospital privileges, but special concessions were always made when it came to me and my team. With Steph next to me, we walked into the recovery area and over to the bed where Lester lay. At the sight of Les, lying motionless, his left shoulder bandaged, and his arm trussed up into a sling, she began to cry again.
"Babe," I whispered. "You heard the doctor. He's gonna be all right."
"I know." She sniffled as she reached out and took his right hand in hers. She leaned over and brushed her left through is short blond hair. "I just can't get over the fact that we could have lost him tonight."
"You know it's a risk we all take with this job."
She nodded, but her focus never left Lester's face. "I know, but that doesn't mean I like to think about it."
I smirked as I ran my hands along her all too tense shoulders. "Well, none of us do, but I can promise that he'd rather be the one laying there than seeing you in his place."
"And I can say without hesitation I'd rather be the one in the bed, than to have one of my guys hurt."
At that moment, Santos moved. At first it was just a slight jerk of his head, and a grimace crossed his face. Then slowly, he turned his head from left to right and back as he let out a low groan.
"Les," Steph said. "Lester. Open your eyes."
At her command, he did, blinked a couple of times before his lips tipped from a frown into a soft grin. "I thought I heard the voice of an angel," he whispered. "I was right."
She grinned down at him, even as her tears grew. "Charmer," she replied.
"Always," he said, then his attention shifted to me. "Cuz."
"Glad to see you're back in the land of the living," I replied as I rested a hand on his blanketed leg.
"Are you sure I'm not dead," he asked then turned his gaze back to Stephanie. "Especially since I'm looking into the eyes of an angel."
"Best, stop flirting with my girlfriend, Santo," I growled. "I'll have your ass to the mats as soon as your well enough."
Steph gasped. "Ranger. You will not."
"I will if he doesn't stop hitting on you."
She made a face of disbelief at me then turned her gaze back on Lester. "If he's hitting on me, then that means he's feeling better. You should be happy for that fact."
"I am happy, he's going to be okay. That doesn't change the fact that I don't want my men flirting with you."
"Possessive much?" she snapped.
I arched a brow as Lester spoke. "You knew how possessive Ranger was when you agreed to move in with him. Best get used to it."
"I'm sorry Mr. Manoso," the nurse said as she walked into the room. "But time's up. We need to get Mr. Santos moved into his room and you all should go home and get some rest."
Knowing we were going to need to leave, Steph leaned over and pressed a kiss to Lester's cheek. "Thank you," she said as she pulled back.
His brow knit as he looked up at her. "For what?"
"The bullet you took was meant for me. I don't know how I'll be able repay you for this."
Slowly his shook his head. "No repayment is necessary, Steph. Just like Ranger, I and the others would do anything to protect you."
"I realize that, but still…"
He grinned as he cut a quick glance toward me, then back to Steph. "If you really want to make it up to me, maybe you can be my personal nurse when I'm released to go home."
She let out a laugh as I growled. "Santos!"
He winked at her and his smile remained in place. "Yeah, I know. As soon as I'm well enough…mats at five am."
If you took the time to read to this point...thank you. I hope you enjoyed it.