Drinking Alone
Based on Carrie Underwood's song by the same name! Ranger and Steph have both had bad days so the two end up drowning their sorrows in a bar together.
March writing challenge - "if it's drowning you're after, don't torment yourself with shallow water"
Ranger POV
What a fucking terrible day. One of our biggest client's had their computer system targeted by a virus and lost a lot of proprietary intelligence. Whilst we managed to solve the issue and rebuild their firewalls, losing their contract was a massive blow. I'd immediately been forced to fire our I.T guy since he'd designed the firewall that had, apparently, more holes than Swiss cheese according to Hector Ramirez who'd been sent to us to help us figure what had gone so horribly wrong.
ReAssure Technologies were working on specialised drone designs that, if successful, would revolutionise the way government agencies gathered intelligence in hostile territories. Whilst they hadn't received government funding yet, they were weeks away from making the pitch and now? They were facing having to start from scratch.
I'd had to deal with all of this after only just getting back from an off-the-grid recovery mission in a back end hell-hole in the foothills bordering Somalia and Kenya. My team had barely made it out alive after being chased to the edge cliff with a fast flowing river at the bottom, and forced to jump, hoping that we'd all hit water and not solid rock. It had taken days for our rescue team to get to us and by then we were all suffering from dehydration, hunger and exposure.
Needless to say, with everything that had gone on, I was desperate for some headspace...and a good bourbon.
I'd managed to find a quiet backstreet bar and made my way to the back booth, sitting with my back to the wall, allowing me to survey the whole bar. I nodded to the waitress and she promptly brought me a double Wild Turkey on the rocks. I knocked it back and she promptly poured another, went to leave, thought better of it and turned back, choosing to just leave me with the bottle. I gave her a smile and she simply stared back looking like she'd lost all ability to communicate. I didn't pay too much attention to her attention, I was used to women losing themselves a little when I smiled, but not tonight. Tonight, I needed to be alone.
I was poured myself my third and sat back, choosing to savour the flavour and the heat that filled my chest as it went down.
I'd been alone with my own thoughts for a while when the waitress arrived at my table with a shot of Reposado.
"I didn't order this"
"Thank the lady in the other corner" she said, nodding her head towards the corner booth at the other side of the bar.
I raised an eyebrow.
"She has a point! If it's drowning you're after, don't torment yourself with shallow water! Throw yourself in at the deep end!"
I glanced over to the corner. Those deep blue eyes caught mine and I knew I was heading for trouble.
*STEPH POV*
What an absolute joke of a day. I'd taken over my cousin's bail bonds business a few weeks ago after he was forced to flee the area by our financial backer, Harry the Hammer. See, my scumbag cousin is married to Lucille who is Harry's daughter. He is also a sexual deviant with a love of animals.
It makes me shudder just thinking about it.
So Harry comes by to check on the office and finds Vinnie balls to the wall with a prostitute who was dressed up as a dog, whilst they watched porn on his computer. Harry told him to leave and never come back or he'd be floating down the Hudson with a fancy new pair of concrete booties.
Vinnie makes a run for it with his trousers still undone and Harry flings the keys at me and says "You're in charge now Plum, don't fuck it up"
I'd been working for the business since I was 19. My sister is the county Coroner and both sides of my family are Family, with a capital F.
Today, I'd had no choice but to go try and track down another cousin of mine who had skipped bail. Victor Valko, on my mother's side had been arrested for running semi-automatic weapons loaded with cop-killer bullets. We didn't associate with him since he had chosen to marry into an opposing family. Neither side of my house dealt with guns that would be used to kill cops. It just wasn't a done thing. We needed cops on our side.
Astoundingly, he had been given bail, but with Les Seabring. However, Les's office had had an unfortunate incident with a Molotov cocktail and had passed the bond to me to deal with whilst he waited for the insurance cheque to come through.
Naturally, the thought of going back to jail didn't sit well with him so he just didn't turn up to court. Now it was down to me to bring him in.
I knew exactly where to find him since my father regularly played cards with him so I blagged my way into the working men's club. I got there early and Daddy hid me in a cupboard in the back room whilst I waited for Victor to show up. Except...he didn't.
Daddy pulled me out, told me he hadn't shown and I immediately felt something wasn't quite right.
"Do you think someone took him out?" I asked Daddy.
"Maybe. It's not good for a gun runner to get caught since it could very well lead to the whole chain being taken down."
"OK. Thanks for trying to help. I'll take a drive around and see what comes up"
"Stay safe Pumpkin" he said, kissing me on both cheeks.
"You too Daddy". And with that, I hopped into my Ford Escape and drove off into the night to try and bring Victor to justice.
Now, I am DAMN good at my job but I have a bad habit of attracting the crazies. Apparently that also includes members of my own family.
I drove around for a whole looking for Victor and finally found him hanging out on the porch of a friend, smoking cigars and drinking bourbon. I'd barely made it two steps from my car when Victor made a run for it and his friend made a Molotov cocktail out of the bourbon. The cocktail made its way to my car and I lost Victor in the chaos.
What a waste of a good car, and good bourbon for that matter!
Whilst I sat on the sidewalk watching my car burn, my childhood friend Joe Morelli turned up. We'd had a turbulent friendship over the years but he made it his business to check in on me and make sure I was ok when a capture didn't go according to plan.
"Damn. I loved that car"
"Was a good one. You ok?"
"Nothing that a few shots won't wash away. Can't drive anywhere so might as well make the most of the warm night"
"Want some company?"
"Nah, I'll be OK. Could do with some alone time"
"K. Call me if you need picking up"
"Thanks Joe"
He kissed me on the top of my head and made his way back to his car.
I took the opportunity to double check myself for injuries since I'd been blown back a bit by my engine catching fire. The palms of my hands were scraped and my ass was going to be sore in the morning but for the moment, I was doing ok.
I walked off into the evening and made my way to a small bar that I'd frequented over the years. McManimon's or Micky Mac's has been around since my Great Grandparents moved here from the Old Country. It was an Irish bar and was looking a bit tired these days, but Tessa McManimon kept it tidy, the beer was cold and cheap and she'd started stocking it with good tequila so it was all good with me.
I made my way to the bar. Tessa took one look at me, handed me a bottle of Reposado and a shot glass and told me my usual booth was free. At the back of the bar in the corner where I could hide from everyone coming in but could see the door from the security mirror in the opposite corner.
I was midway through my second pour when I heard the door go and looked up at the security mirror.
Holy freakin' shit balls! I recognised the guy as Ranger Manoso. His company had just opened an office in Trenton and I made it my business to find out as much about him as possible. They were mostly running high end security contracts but I'd been made aware they'd made an application for a bond enforcement license.
I watched him as he made his way to the bar, knocked back a glass of Wild Turkey and moved to the booth opposite mine. Tessa approached his table, poured him another, went to go back to the bar, and decided to turn around leave him the bottle. Clearly she'd picked up on him having just a bad of a day as I was.
He looked like he was going to need more than Wild Turkey though. I signalled to Tessa and she took him a shot of Reposado.
I watched as he questioned where it had come from, and she indicated I'd had it sent over. He turned his head to look at me, and I knew I was a goner. He was 100% the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. His eyes flashed black as he looked at me, and I took my chance.
I walked over and placed my bottle of Reposado next to his bottle of Wild Turkey.
"I'm not looking for company tonight"
"Me either. So why don't we drink alone..together"
He thought for a second and simply nodded.
"Look, we clearly aren't gonna solve all our problems tonight, but misery loves company"
He stuck his hand out to introduce himself but I cut him off.
"I know who you are but let's not do names tonight. I just need a stranger"
He eyes widened slightly but I noticed the slight curve of his lips as he smirked at me, quickly realising what I was getting at.
We didn't say a lot to each other, just soaked up each other's company and drank until it was way past closing.
Tessa came over to apologise, but she really did need to lock up.
"Can I call you a cab?" She offered.
"No need" Ranger said, pulling out his phone. He quickly typed in a message and within 10 minutes a blacked out Matte Black Ford Explorer was parked outside.
"You coming?" He asked with a glint in his eye.
"Sure thing" I answered, grabbing my vintage leather jacket from the booth.
Tessa grinned and handed me another bottle of Reposado from the bar.
"Just in case you want to continue this errr party at home" she said, winking at me.
"Thanks"
She stood in the doorway watching as we got into the car.
"Make good choices!" She shouted after us, and I couldn't help but laugh, knowing full well this was turning into one long night of bad choices…but none that I'd regret…apart from the tequila when I wake up in the morning.
