Chapter 17
Tank's POV
I parked my truck in the garage at Stephanie's house. Marco, Stephanie and I loaded our bags into the trunk of her car. She gave Marco the address of a private airfield. We arrived at the destination a few minutes late. Joe Juniak waited beside the hangar to direct Marco where to park the vehicle.
"Sir," I said when I exited the car. Juniak shook my hand.
"Thanks for letting us borrow your plane, Uncle Joe," Stephanie said. "We'll bring it back tomorrow afternoon." She hugged her godfather, then kissed his cheek. Joe shook Marco's hand, then introduced him to the pilot, Archer Billings. I raised an eyebrow. "Marco is the copilot," Stephanie informed me. Hector and Lester arrived as I carried the luggage onto the plane.
"Is there room for my car?" Lester asked when Juniak returned. I stepped off the plane in case they needed my help. Juniak nodded and directed Lester to the shack behind the hangar. Hector carried two duffles when they returned. "I can carry my bag." Lester growled.
"Angelita says no," Hector replied. I smirked at Lester. He didn't like feeling helpless. But when Little Girl gives an order, she expects it to get followed. Hector is a wise man to listen to my girl. I'm surprised Hector let Lester drive.
Lester grumbled but didn't attempt to grab the duffle. I followed them into the cabin of the aircraft. Marco and the pilot locked our luggage into the closet. He returned to the cockpit, pulling the curtain across the opening to block the control panel from our view. The rest of us took the remaining seats inside the cabin. I sat beside Stephanie on the bench seating that faced the tail. Hector and Lester sat on the seats across from us. Lester was direct across from Stephanie.
Stephanie whimpered when the plane taxied down the road to the runway. I held her hand to rub my thumb over her knuckles. "Are you afraid to fly, Beautiful?" Lester asked.
"Nope. I'm afraid of crashing," she replied. "Most airplane crashes occur during lift off and touchdown." Her breaths hitched until the plane levelled off.
She spent the next few hours telling us about the show called Mayday. Stephanie recited various instances where the plane crashed during take-off because the pilot didn't calculate the correct weight capacity with the passengers and luggage. I never gave much thought to why the baggage weight was necessary. However, it did explain why they weighed your luggage at the airport before your flight. The weight capacity made sense. I wondered if this was the reason some luggage mysteriously disappeared.
"We're not going to crash," Lester said. I admit he wasn't overly convincing. Stephanie obviously didn't believe him either.
"You don't know that, Les. I'm glad Charlie and Hawk taught me first aid. I know how to sew deep cuts back together," Stephanie said. I could tell she was proud of that fact.
"Why did they teach you that?" I asked.
"Charlie and Hawk thought it would come in handy?" she replied, shrugging. "I never leave home without carrying a sewing kit." Stephanie opened her purse to show the fabric, plastic lined bag with various sized needles, thread, fishing line, scissors and tweezers.
"Fishing line?" I wondered how that would get used.
"It's what Charlie said to use if I didn't have proper sutures. The thread is in sterile packaging, and so is the fishing line. I assumed the first aid kit included antiseptic wash or peroxide. Uncle Joe said it was fully stocked. I'm not sure if he added a suture kit," she explained. I was surprised at her preparedness.
"When did Charlie teach you to suture wounds?" I asked.
"Oh. Um. After I got shot. Charlie had a few abrasions on his arm and leg. I stitched him together before we debriefed. Charlie gave me the instructions, and I learned hands-on," she replied.
"You have got to be joking," Lester said.
"Nope. Stephanie is fairly good at sewing. Charlie said she's a natural," Marco called from the cockpit. "We land in ten minutes. Fasten your seatbelts."
As the plane descended, Stephanie held her breath. She released it once the plane touched down on the runway. Stephanie thanked the pilot for the safe landing. I stopped her from kissing the ground after we disembarked the plane.
We walked along the strip before finding a hotel with a wedding chapel. After checking in, Stephanie showered and pulled on the dress she had purchased before the trip. She exited the bathroom with her hair pinned back at the sides. Her dress was a pale blue. Stephanie went into her bag to grab a gift for me. I untied the ribbon and found a blue tie perfectly matching her dress.
Lester, Marco and Hector knocked on our hotel room door to see if we were ready to get married at the chapel. Stephanie held up her finger, asking us to give her a minute. She put the phone on speaker for us to hear her call. "What's up, White girl?" Lula asked.
"I want to ask you something, but I'm afraid you'd get mad," Stephanie replied.
"Listen to me, girl. You go marry that hunk of man before your momma forces you to marry officer fine-ass. She may blame you for everything, but she wants you married," Lula said, surprising us all.
Stephanie giggled. "Would you like a copy of the video?" she asked.
"You bet I would. Now, go marry that man before he gets away," Lula replied. "Take me off the speaker. I want to say something to you in private."
We couldn't hear what Lula told Stephanie, but it made her face turn bright red. "Thanks, Lula. I'll call you tomorrow," Stephanie said before ending the call. She dialled another number before walking into the bathroom for privacy. I suspected she called Ranger but didn't want me to know. It was wise to tell the boss we got married before he heard it through the grapevine. When she exited the washroom, I received a text from Ranger congratulating us. He threatened to kill me if I hurt her in any way.
I grabbed Stephanie's hand as we left our hotel room. She smiled as we walked toward the elevator. Lester, Marco and Hector crammed into the space, separating us. Stephanie laughed at their antics. It made me wonder how the other men would react to learning that Stephanie and I got married.
Stephanie's POV
Tank and I entered the chapel with my brothers following close behind. Hector carried his camera with enough memory to record our event. I was both excited and scared to become Mrs. Stephanie Sherman. However, I couldn't imagine marrying anyone else. Well, that's not entirely true. When Ranger's friend, Kinsey, was marrying Amanda, I could picture my wedding to Ranger. I wasn't afraid. Those dreams vanished when I learned Ranger was already married to Jeanne Ellen Burrows.
I decided to forgo the "walking down the aisle" concept and met the officiant beside the podium. Lester stood beside me as my man of honour, while Marco was beside Tank. Mi hermano, Hector, recorded the ceremony. He was able to link his camera into the wifi system to send a live feed to my dad.
When the officiant asked, "Does anybody here object to the union of these two before me?" I was afraid Morelli would attempt to stop our wedding. "No? Great," he said before carrying on. A few minutes later, he said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride."
Lester and Marco signed the marriage license as our witnesses. I was officially Stephanie Michelle Sherman. Hector saved the wedding video to the cloud and sent a mass email with a file link to all of our friends and family. I kissed Marco, Lester and Hector on the cheek before Tank and I retired to our room. It was time to consummate our wedding, and we didn't need an audience.
I laughed when I found chocolate covered strawberries and champagne in our room. The notecard indicated the gift was from Marco, Lester and Hector. My brothers thought of everything. Even the jacuzzi tub had candles along the edge, adding to the ambiance of our room. "Is there anything they didn't think of?" I asked Tank.
"Doesn't look like they missed anything, Little Girl," he replied. Tank pointed to the bed where a gift covered in pale blue gossamer ribbon sat. I opened the parcel and removed a gorgeous pale blue teddy from the box.
"It's delicate and soft," I said, letting the fabric slip between my fingers. We took advantage of the romantic setting in the washroom. Tank had grabbed the strawberries and champagne before we poured the hot bath. We stayed in the tub until our skin wrinkled and the water cooled. I climbed from the tub and wrapped a towel around my torso. The bottom barely covered my ass.
Tank pulled the plug to drain the tub before climbing out. He grabbed the largest towel to wrap around his hips. I laughed when he had to hold the two ends together using his left hand. "Remind me to purchase larger towels for the house," I said, attempting to stop my laughter.
"Yuk it up, Little Girl." Tank dried off his body before dropping the towel over the side of the tub. I watched him leave the bathroom. How did I not notice Pierre has an amazing ass? I wondered.
He was waiting for me in the bed when I dried off my body. I slipped into the teddy the men purchased for me and exited the washroom. Pierre's eyes darkened with desire as his gaze lingered on my breasts before settling on my crotch. "Do you see something you like, Big Guy?" I asked.
"I most certainly do, baby," he huskily said. I sat beside him on the bed. Pierre kissed me hard, bruising my lips. His tongue plunged into my mouth when I opened my lips for him. I heard the sound of tearing fabric before he entered me. We didn't use a condom but didn't care. All I wanted was for Pierre to make love to me. I screamed his name as we climaxed together. "I love you, Stephanie." I placed my head on his shoulder and put my right leg across his waist. My man loved to cuddle.
"I love you too, Pierre. You make me happy," I whispered into his neck. Pierre moved his right hand to settle on my ass. He placed his left hand on my knee, holding me in position. We fell asleep entangled in each other's arms.
During the night, either Tank or I would wake up the other to make love. I couldn't get enough of my husband. I used to think Ranger ruined me for all men. It may have been true until the day Tank and I had sex. No other man could hold a candle to my Pierre. He made me ache in all the right places.
I could barely walk straight the following morning. We met Marco, Lester, Hector and Archer for breakfast before returning to the airfield to go home. None of us wanted to stay in Vegas longer than necessary. I planned to wear a dress home, but I changed my mind. After pulling on my cargo pants and t-shirt, I placed a satellite phone in my pocket. Tank gave it to me as a wedding gift. He said I could call from anywhere regardless of a strong signal. It would be enough to call for help. I surprised him by wearing the watch containing a tracker. "Better safe than sorry," I replied when he raised an eyebrow.
"We'll be safe on the flight, Little Girl," Tank said as we drove towards the private airfield.
"You can't promise that, Tank. My spidey sense isn't warning me or anything like that. But you never know what would happen once the plane gets to cruising height and speed." Tank knew I was right, so he didn't challenge me. The wise man knows which battles to pick.
During the flight home, I started to get antsy. Something was setting off my spidey sense. I went to the washroom to grab the first aid kit I saw inside. After loading several packages of bandages and dressing into my pockets, I looked for a suture kit, smiling when I found several. I packed them into the pocket on my right pant leg.
"Did you leave anything in the first aid kit?" Tank asked when I returned.
I opened the case to show him the bottles of antiseptic wash and peroxide. "See? I didn't take everything. The bottles could get punctured or break in my pockets," I replied. Hector leaned over to grab the kit from my hands. He would hang onto it until the plane lands.
"Beautiful, what's wrong?" Lester wondered.
"I'm not sure, but my spidey sense is humming. It feels like something is about to happen," I replied while fastening my belt. Lester, Tank and Hector followed suit and got buckled into their seats. I had my purse strap on my left shoulder, then draping across my body to rest on my right hip. Tank grabbed my right hand and held it as I took deep breaths.
"Fasten your seatbelts. Brace yourselves!" Marco demanded before the plane bumped along the tops of the trees. We were flying over Aspen. I don't know what happened, but I felt Tank pull my face into his chest as the plane crashed into the trees.
I felt someone pulling at my seatbelt. "Little Girl, I need to cut the belt," Tank said as he sliced through the seatbelt at my hip. Hector was climbing from the plane through the hatch, having already cut Lester and himself free. He got out of the airplane to clear a path for us to escape. Hector returned quickly to pull Archer from his seat. Tank grabbed my brother while I dragged an unconscious Lester from the plane. While the others used the hatch, I pulled Lester through the hole on our side of the plane. I didn't think I could pull him over the seats to get him to safety.
"We have to get farther away, Pierre. Please," I begged. He lifted Lester over his shoulder to take him away from the crash site. Marco was too injured to carry the pilot but not bad enough to require assistance. Hector surprised me by pulling the 225 lb pilot across his shoulder. We quickly walked for half an hour before hearing the plane explode.
"Did someone get the black box?" Tank asked.
"Yes. I have it," Marco replied. Marco was limping but he was able to keep up.
I got Tank to place Lester on the emergency blanket from the first aid kit. Using Hector's knife, I sliced open the leg of Lester's cargo pants. He had a gash down his thigh. Tank had applied pressure on the wound as we walked to safety.
After wrapping a tourniquet around his thigh, I cleaned the wound and used a suture kit to sew the gash together. Marco assisted by holding the ends closed using the tweezers he grabbed from the first aid kit. "Hector, call for help," I said, passing him my phone after unlocking it with my thumbprint.
Hector called 911 first before contacting Rangeman. I listened as Hector explained the event to Bobby. As I removed the tourniquet Marco had tied to his arm and sewed the gash, Marco told us what happened before the impact. "Archer filed our flight plan for this morning. We were supposed to be the only flight in the airspace above Aspen. I called it into the closest tower, and they attempted to contact the pilot. When we corrected our flight path to avoid the collision, we had already got forced into the mountain. Archer and I only had seconds to crash the plane safely. I'm sorry, Steph," he said as tears streamed down his cheeks.
"It's not your fault, Marco. What happened to the other plane?" I asked.
"I'm not sure, but I thought I saw it crash," Marco replied.
I followed Bobby's instructions to check Lester for a concussion. Lester had a bump on the back of his head. When I shone a light into his eyes, I carefully watched for an equal response between the two pupils, as Bobby had described. "Lester probably has a concussion, but his pupils reacted to the light," I said. I got Hector to take a couple of pictures to send to Bobby.
"The eyes look good, Steph. Thank you for taking care of Lester," he replied. "I'll meet you at the local hospital." We heard the helicopter as it approached. Bobby used the time to disconnect the call. He had to get to Aspen.
Once they airlifted everyone onto the helicopter, Lester's eyes opened. "Beautiful?"
"I'm here, Lester," I said as I stroked his hair. He closed his eyes and purred as I ran my fingers through his hair. "You're safe. I had to sew your leg closed. Thankfully, you didn't sever any major blood vessels."
"How did I get out of the plane?"
"Stephanie pulled you free," Marco replied.
Lester tried to sit up, but he got strapped to the backboard. "Thank you, Beautiful. You're my hero," he said before closing his eyes again. I was afraid he was going into a coma, but the pararescuer said he gave Lester a sedative for the headaches. He assured me that Lester was alright. I leaned against my husband to receive comfort from his warm embrace.
Marco moved to my other side to offer me additional support. I felt Hector press his back against mine. "Merry Man sandwich," I mumbled before falling asleep.
