Chapter Six

I had Hal drive me around for a couple hours looking for Jessup, but we didn't see any signs of him. Even the blood trail had disappeared. It was like the streets had swallowed him whole.

I suppose I could have tried harder. In all honesty, I was pretty creeped out. Morelli can be highhanded, and he doesn't have a lot of faith in my ability to handle myself, but he loves me. The fact he was so flipped out kept whispering at the back of my brain, telling me that there might be a chance he was right. Hal and I had taken Jessup down once already. It was hard not to imagine what might have happened if he'd been in the car with us when he did his hulk impersonation.

By dinner time, I was ready to call it. Lula was still snoring in the backseat, and my stomach had started to growl. I asked Hal to take us to Cluck-in-the-Bucket on the way back to the bonds office. We ordered three of everything. I figured Lula would be hungry when she woke up. And Hal was a big guy. No telling how much he could eat.

Connie was still at the bonds office when we got back. She didn't look happy.

"What's up?"

"Vinnie rebonded Skeezer Marquez this afternoon."

"He did what?"

"Trust me, I know. And that's not even the worst part. Marquez was pretty vocal while he was in holding. Got pretty specific about his opinions of you. Didn't like being taken down by a girl. You might want to watch your back. He's got a lot of people behind him."

"Thanks for the heads up." I was going to kill Vinnie. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Avery Jessup was taken to Saint Frances about an hour ago. Apparently he took a header from the second floor of a parking garage. He's in pretty bad shape. Broken legs, a dislocated wrist, head trauma. As far as they can tell, he did it to himself. They've got him on lockdown in the psych ward."

"Is he gonna be okay?"

She did a palms up gesture.

Jeez. And I thought I had problems.

Hal drove me home and insisted that he check out every corner of my apartment before I locked the door behind him. Stood there in the hall until he heard the deadbolt slide into place. I'd already seen Woody waiting to take over for him in the parking lot, and I had to admit to myself that after a day like that it was actually kind of comforting knowing that Rangeman was looking out for me.

I set my messenger bag down on my kitchen counter and checked on Rex. He came out of his soup can and looked up at me with those little black eyes, his whiskers twitching. Rex was the ideal roommate. He didn't make a huge mess. He didn't argue with me over who got to control the remote. And he didn't judge me for my romantic failings. At least, I was pretty sure he wasn't judging me. He's not exactly a brilliant conversationalist.

I dropped a baby carrot into his food dish and looked over at my bag. Angry butterflies were fighting in my stomach. It was now or never. I pulled out the pregnancy test and stared at it.

God. Please let it be negative. I'll be a better person, I swear. I'll start going to church, and I'll stop using the Lord's name in vain. I'll stop swearing all together if that's what it takes. I thought about offering to stop having sex too, since that was kind of what got me into this mess in the first place, but I couldn't really bring myself to lie to God.

I took the test into my bathroom. Read the instructions through twice just to be sure.

It was the longest three minutes of my life.

The timer went off on my phone and I reached for the test, my hands shaking.

One line. What the hell did one line mean again? I looked at the box.

Not pregnant.

I jumped out on my skin when the phone rang in my other hand. I answered it just to make the sound stop, my heart pounding in my ears. "It's positive!" the voice said.

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is. I just took it and it said it was positive. I'm pregnant again."

"Oh! Oh Val, that's great."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Oh, good. Because I wasn't sure. Do you think Albert will think it's great?"

"Of course I do. Albert loves you, and he loves the girls. I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

Val sounded much happier about that. I congratulated her and said goodnight, still looking at the negative test in my hand. Trying to ignore the little whisper of emptiness. It wasn't regret. That would have been self destructive. But after hearing Val's excitement, I couldn't help but envy her just a little bit.

I definitely didn't want a baby right now. But maybe it really was something I might actually want someday. When I was ready.

I dropped the test into the garbage can in the bathroom and looked at the box just one more time to make sure before I dropped it in too. Took in a deep breath and let it out all at once. I might have just dodged a very big bullet.

I brushed my teeth and got into bed in just my black t-shirt, listening to the slow breeze murmur across my bedroom window in the darkness. Skeezer Marquez flashed through my thoughts, but I pushed him back. Woody was in the parking lot, watching my apartment building. He wouldn't let anyone get by him.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to relax enough to drift off to sleep.

It was still dark when I felt a whisper of doubt drag me awake again. Something felt off. It took me a second to realize it was because I wasn't alone. An energy was creeping toward me in the silent shadows. I was about to freak when I caught a faint whiff of Bulgari Green, a familiar warmth leaning over me. Ranger. The relief was profound. I think he might have sensed it because I felt him smile. He brushed his lips across mine and my fingers curled into his shirt all on their own.

I should have pulled back, but the mix of relief and surprise had me off balance and I didn't have a chance to put my barriers up. He let out a silent breath and the gentleness gave way to something more intense. The kiss deepened and I was in Hawaii again, his familiar atmosphere all around me. I felt it when he pulled back the covers. His heat settling over me. His hands slid under my shirt and I made a noise halfway between a whimper and a moan.

He was inside me before I could even think. Before we'd had a chance to remove any of our clothes. I clung to his shirt and lost myself, pulled into a bright world of color and magic in the total darkness. I felt the release in both of us, followed by a perfect moment of contentment. He kisses turned tender and lingering again. Tracing my mouth and across my jaw. "You missed me."

He nodded. "Yes."

"Where were you? You were supposed to check on an account in Whitehorse and never came back. No one's heard from you in days."

"Manhunt. My phone was damaged. Didn't get a chance to get another one."

"That's it? That's all you're going to say?" He was almost as bad as Rex.

His belly contracted against mine and I knew he was laughing. The awkward balance between his professional secrecy and my need to know everything amused him. It usually set my teeth on edge. He seemed to sense that because he laughed again, finding my lips in the shadows. "The guy I was after is named Juan Alvarez. He's supposed to be an informant for the FBI, but he gave them the slip. I was called in as a personal favor. I've hunted Alvarez a few times before when he went FTA. They knew I'd be able to find him off book, and that I had ways of bringing him back without waiting for extradition. I tracked him as far as Juarez before I finally caught up to him. Dragged his ass back across the border. I chartered a plane out of El Paso this afternoon. Handed him over to the feds when we got back to Newark."

"You came straight here?"

He smiled again, nuzzling my cheek. "Lucky for me you were awake." He kissed me again and lifted his weight off the bed. "I've been traveling rough for a week. I'm gonna go take a shower. Then we can try this again without any clothes on."

I bit my lip while I watched him head into my bathroom.

Damn. I'd decided not to do this anymore. Not with him. Being loosey-goosey with my morals was what had gotten me into trouble in the first place. It had messed up my juju. Thrown my karma out of whack. Jumping back into a sexual relationship with Ranger wasn't going to solve any of my dilemmas. It was only going to give me new ones.

A sudden sense of dread overwhelmed me. The energy in the apartment had changed. Ranger stepped out of the bathroom again, his eyes on something in his hand before they found me, his face expressionless. "Babe? Is there something I should know?"

Oh God. He'd found the box for the pregnancy test.

His black eyes were boring into me, my insides turning squishy. I swallowed back the sick feeling.

"It was negative," I offered.

"But you felt the need to take it for a reason."

I debated making a run for it. Might have made it to the window before he caught me and dragged me back. I sighed. "I'm a few days late."

"What's a few?"

"Four. Maybe five."

Ranger just kept staring at me, impossible to read.

My phone started ringing. Neither of us moved. We just stayed there, his black eyes holding me prisoner while my heart beat in my throat. It went to voicemail. When it started ringing a second time, my nerves got the better of me. I pressed it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Give me to Ranger." Tank. I panicked. Tank knew Ranger was here. That meant all of Rangeman knew that Ranger was here. Woody was still in the parking lot. He would have seen Ranger come in. Oh God. What else did they know?

I held the phone out to Ranger.

"What?" Ranger said to the phone. Didn't ask who it was. Guess he didn't need to. "When?" His eyes never left me, but I could see the subtle change in him. He wasn't happy. "I'll be right there." He disconnected and tossed the phone onto the bed beside my knee. "I have to go. We're not done here."

And just like that, he was gone.