14. Lady

Friday mid-morning, Lil was sipping a cup of hot tea while reading the local newspaper. She was pleased to find two articles written by Stephanie. One was the review of a new bar and dance club downtown, a place called Lush. According to the review, the atmosphere was intimate without feeling creepy. The second article was an exposée on the supposed corruption in the Governor's office, including two different affairs and a bribe. Reading both, Lil was convinced that Steph had found her true calling. Speak of the devil, her phone rang. "Hey girl, did I catch you at a bad time?" Lil smirked. "Nope. I was reading your handiwork in the Times. Great writing. What can I do for ya?" Stephanie was blushing on the other end. She loved when people praised her work. "I was talking to the girls when you left yesterday, we thought we'd have a girls night out tomorrow night. Would you be interested?" Lil made a sound of intrigued hesitation. "It would just be the four of us, plus whatever hunky bodyguard you need to bring. Though we wouldn't mind if you brought more than one... We thought we'd go back to Lush. It was a lot of fun the first time. Come on, you have to come with us!" Lil caved. Stephanie sounded so excited. They agreed to meet at the club at 8pm, Steph gave her the address before saying a thrilled goodbye. As she was hanging up, she heard the other woman mention something about FMP's. Lil wondered what that meant.

Within two minutes, Lil was regretting her decision. Suck it up Buttercup. She made a commitment, she wouldn't back out. She texted Cal first, needing a babysitter for the night. When he called her back he knew right away that his sister was uneasy. "Lil, it will be good for you. I'll hang with the Peanut, we'll have fun. You'll have fun. Stop worrying!" Hanging up with her, he placed three brief calls. The first was to Ranger, he knew his boss would want to coordinate extra protection for the evening. Guarding someone in a club was different than simply shadowing them. The second call was to Hector. They had a very fast conversation in Spanish. Last, he called Ella to ask if she could watch Tilde for a few hours. When he explained why, his 'master plan', Ella was happy to help. With his brotherly job done, he returned to his stack of reports. He hated paperwork.

The call from Cal had been concise, just the way Ranger liked it. Looking over the spreadsheet on his computer, he saw that Lester was scheduled as Lil's shadow tomorrow night. There was no way in hell he was sending Lester with all those women to a nightclub. Not by himself. Not with Lil. Not without him. He trusted his crazy horndog of a cousin with his own life. Didn't trust him to keep his paws to himself. His first mistake was calling Tank and Lester. He explained the plan for 'girls night' and told them they would both be there… with him. Of course, this meant that word of their plans spread like wildfire. The grapevine in the office gave the Burg a run for its money. Half of Rangeman was vying to switch schedules for a night off so they could gatecrash. Ranger's second mistake was not preparing himself for how tomorrow night might go...

Ella had showed up at Lil's door minutes after her phone call with Cal, asking if she could spend some time with Tilde. Tilde, of course, was keen to go with her. When they left, Lil realized her brother was up to something. He was always adept at anticipating her needs. Now she was standing at the door of her open closet, hoping the answer of what to wear out would suddenly appear. Nothing was speaking to her. Not a fricken peep. Mind you, her wardrobe was small, but she usually had enough to be comfortable in any situation. Apparently not. Her clothes served her well in Nevada, Indiana, and Georgia… not New Jersey. Traitors. When someone tapped lightly on her front door, she figured it was Ella returning for something. "Come on in", she hollered from the closet. Hector sauntered into the living room. "Chica?" Lil popped her head out the bedroom door, surprised but pleased to see another face. "Hi Hector! What can I do for you?" She noted he was dressed in civilian clothes, faded jeans and a gray tank stretched across his lean muscles. Lil was betting that Hector was inked as much as her brother, maybe even more. From the first time she had met him last week, she knew two things right away. 1. Hector was gay. It was as obvious to her as the teardrop tattoos on his face. 2. Those teardrops didn't mean he was a killer, it meant he was a survivor. Lil got along well with survivors. She was one herself.

Hector chuckled. Lil thought the sound was sweet, musical. His thick accent made it sexier than normal. "I am here to help you Chica. Cal called. Said you probably need shopping." His eyes twinkled. He was happy to take her shopping for clothes… See, obvious. Lil huffed and cursed under her breath. "May I?" Hector was pointing to her closet. Lil gave an exaggerated arm sweep, "Be my guest. My wardrobe has become mutinous. I don't think there's anything in here that will work for tomorrow night." Hector expertly flipped through her hangers, taking time to consider a few pieces. "Lil, you have nice clothes. Good style. But nothing here screams Caliente!" She laughed at his eyebrow wiggle. "Es no problema Chica. Come. We shop now." Twenty minutes later they were parked and entering the Macy's at Quakerbridge. Hector rubbed his hands together. "Do you want Caliente, or Muy Caliente?" Lil snorted, "I'll take 'just passable for Jersey'. I haven't tried for sexy since before Tilde was born." Hector stopped short. "What? Why no?" Lil shrugged. "After the shooting I had other concerns. Then when I brought Tilde home, my priorities changed. I haven't been out, without a child, well… in a long time." Hector shook his head, muttering things in Spanish that were too fast for her to catch. "Come. We fix this. You will be muy sexy when I am done." He grabbed her by the hand and headed for the dresses.

Three hours, and many compromises later, they had both found an outfit to agree upon. Hector's idea of modesty was vastly different from Lil's. He spent fifteen minutes pointing other women out in the mall to prove to her that their choice was actually tame for Trenton. By the looks of some of them, they weren't the best choices for comparison to anyone. One lady in particular was rocking sky-high red hair, leather pants, and a leather bustier. In broad daylight. It was terrifying. She was grateful that at least all her private bits would be covered. They also had to compromise on the amount of skin above the waist that would be shown. In previous years, Lil would not have cared about showing some cleavage or wearing something with spaghetti straps. Now, she was a little uncomfortable with her scars. In the end, the romper they found in black silk was perfect. It had a tuxedo feel with long sleeves, softened by the deep vee plunge in the front. She couldn't wear a bra, but she didn't have a ton that needed extra support anyway. Sometimes having a humble B cup was useful.

The bottom half of the romper was short, almost indecently so, but not fitted at least. Hector swore to Lil that her legs looked so good, no one would notice the part of her scar that was visible on her chest. She bought a few thin gold chain necklaces, just to be safe. Shoes were the easiest part of the trip. They loved a pair of nude strappy heeled sandals. The thin ties wrapped around the ankles multiple times. The three inch lift would set her at 5'10". When she put them on and walked around, Hector whistled while fanning himself. He was really good for the ego. "Chica, you will be the sexiest woman in the club. Wear your hair down, some bedroom makeup… The men will follow you around like starved lions."

Having completely exhausted themselves, they grabbed a bite to eat at the food court. Lil was not impressed with her beef and broccoli, but it was mall food after all… "Thank you for today Hector. I had a really good time." Her smile was genuine. "You make the perfect shopping friend. Though you can be a little bossy!" Hector threw his head back in laughter. "You have no idea Chica. I'm even bossier with my men!" Lil was in tears holding her side. People walking through the food court must have thought they were crazy. She was sure they made in interesting pair. "Speaking of men. How the fuck are you single?" Lil sighed, pushing her tray away on the table. "I could give you many reasons. Though I don't think any of them are one hundred percent true..." Hector tilted his head while giving her a calculating look. "Try me." Lil shrugged. "I don't know. It's many things. After I was shot, the recovery was long. Then I got Tilde shortly after I was healed. She had her own health issues that we dealt with in the first years. Since then, I just haven't made it a priority, and I don't want to parade random men in front of my daughter. It would be bad for her to get attached and then have them walk away… I was never a big dater before, but I would go out occasionally. I just, I don't know..."

Hector knew the topic made her uneasy. Too bad. He was not about to let up if he thought he could help her. "You stopped taking care of your own needs." Lil started to object, but he stopped her. "From what I see, what Cal say, you are a great mama. Your hija is lucky to have you. You put all your energy into caring for her. Doing for her. But you stopped doing for you. It happens to all the good mamas." He gave her a look, silently asking if she understood what he was saying. "Now Tilde is older, healthy, happy. You can take the time to make you happy too. It's not selfish. It good for you." Lil nodded slowly. She knew he was right, it was a hard concept to wrap her head around though. Four years of thinking and living one way wasn't going to be changed overnight. "Plus", Hector gave her a ridiculous wink, "so long without sex is muy unhealthy." She lost it, throwing her napkin at his face. "Excuse me!", she tried to contain her laughter while donning a look out outrage, "but a LADY doesn't talk about those things." He wasn't buying it. "Besides, I've made due with a large drawer full of interesting toys!" Hector's eyes widened as he howled. He let loose a string of Spanish, most of it unintelligible. The only thing she piked up was 'switching teams', which made her join in the laughter again. Her mama would wash her mouth out if she had heard her having this conversation. A Lady indeed.