Chapter Twenty-two

I hit the pavement hard, Ranger on top of me, pinning me down. The flash of heat was intense. Then metal rained down from the sky. I couldn't hear anything but ringing. Smelled nothing but smoke. His arms were around me, holding me tight, the vibrations of his voice moving into my body where his chest pressed against mine. It took a second for my head to clear. The piercing bleat of the car alarms cutting through first before the world came into focus.

"Babe! Babe, are you with me?"

"Yes. I think so."

"Are you injured?"

"I don't know. What happened?"

"IED. Someone threw it at us and sped away. Didn't realize your car would take the brunt of it."

"Not my cute Audi!"

A little light broke through his concern. "I'll get you another one." He looked me over, noting the scrapes behind my elbows. They didn't hurt yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time. The back of his shirt was smoking.

"Omigod. Are you—"

"I'm fine. I've been through worse."

Ranger was careful when he lifted me up to sitting. And then I saw my Audi. Or what was left of it. The blackened wreckage was still burning. "Holy shit."

I didn't realize Ramon and Tank were standing over us until Tank's deep bass voice made my insides jump. "You want to move her inside?"

"Give her a minute," Ranger said, searching my eyes like he was looking for signs of concussion. "That fucker is done. I want to know what shithole Skeezer is hiding in, because he's getting my personal boot up his ass before I haul him in."

"I'm already on it, but the coward's gone to ground. Not so much as a blip."

"Turn up the heat. I warned him what would happen if he moved on her."

"You told Skeezer I was off limits?"

Ranger's face wasn't giving much away, but I could see how tense his body was. "I paid him a visit after I got Hal's report. Before bodies started dropping. He knows the reach I have in the Trenton underground. I don't take sides, but I've made a lot of connections over the years. Enough to shut him down in a very permanent way if he crosses me. Guess he thought the rules changed now that we're both on someone's hit list. I told you he wasn't that smart." He lifted me up and my knees wobbled, refusing to hold my weight. He caught my waist and held me against his body. "I'm taking her to the hospital."

"No, I'm okay."

"Babe."

"I'm fine. I swear. I'm just a little shaken. It's not my first car explosion either."

Our eyes held and I knew what he wasn't going to say. It wasn't just me he was worried about.

Ranger was an honorable man. Even if his moral code wasn't always consistent with the law or the Ten Commandments, he always did what he thought was right. I knew he still wouldn't marry me if I ever did get pregnant, but he would never shirk his responsibilities either.

"There's nothing to worry about," I told him.

"Do you know that for certain?"

He had me there. Knowing I wasn't pregnant and proving it were two different things. He wasn't about to make medical decisions based on my gut instincts. "I'm just a little scraped up. I'll be fine."

He didn't like it, but he wasn't about to argue his case in front of his men. "Take her inside to get her personal items while I make some calls," he said to Tank, his eyes still on me. "Then I'm taking her home."

Tank nodded and wrapped one of his big hands around my upper arm, supporting me until he was sure I could walk without Ranger. I cringed when we turned around. The windows on the bonds office had been blown out again in the blast. Connie and Lula were standing in Vinnie's office looking worried. Vinnie was in shock. Looked like his office would be delayed even longer. Definitely karmic justice.

A few minutes later, I was buckled into the 911 and Ranger was driving away from the bonds office, leaving Tank in charge of the carnage. "You really should let me take you to the hospital."

"No. I know the checking out you want done has nothing to do with my injuries and the last thing I need is for someone at St. Francis to overhear the word pregnant."

"I don't have to take you to St. Francis."

I shook my head again. "It's just some skin on my elbows. Not a big deal."

"We'll see about that," he said quietly. It took me a minute to realize we were heading to Rangeman again. He heard my objection before I could get the words out. "Steph, you don't have a car, and your bodyguard is helping Tank deal with the fallout from the latest attempt on your life. You're coming home with me, whether you like it or not."

What could I say to that?

Ranger pulled into the underground parking garage and fobbed us up to his apartment on seven. Tossed his keys into the silver tray on the sideboard. Then he took my hand and pulled me toward his bedroom. He sat me on his bed and went to get the first aid kit. When he came back, he dropped a package the size of a brick on the mattress beside me. I recognized it as the box Gregorio had given him at the pawn shop. "What's that?"

He focused on my skinned elbow a moment before he answered. Wiping it with an alcohol pad. Stung like a sonovabitch. "Leverage."

He didn't stop me when I reached for the box and opened it. Oh boy. Another pregnancy test. I panicked for a second, remembering what Ranger had said about how adapt Gregorio was at finding things. Ranger shook his head.

"He doesn't know what was in it. I purchased it online through an alias and had it shipped to him to avoid a connection to Rangeman. I admit, it might have been excessive as far as secrecy is concerned, but it was safer than walking into a drugstore if you're avoiding gossip." Especially if you were Ranger. Ranger was pretty well known, and not just in Trenton. I can only imagine how it would spread if someone saw big bad Ranger buying a pregnancy test.

I was suddenly feeling very amateur about the way I'd acquired mine. But then, if I had the secrecy skills of James Bond, I might have done it this way too. Would have been less stressful. "So why is it leverage?"

He lifted my other elbow so that he could see it. "If it's positive, you let me take you to a hospital."

I bit my lip. Trying to find some flaw in that. I couldn't. I let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine."

The corner of his mouth twitched.

He applied some gauze pads to my wounds and fixed them there with surgical tape before he let me go into his bathroom. It was one of those fancy digital tests. Way more expensive than the cheap one I'd bought. I did my thing and set an alarm for three minutes. Left it flat on the counter. Ranger was lying on his bed when I stepped out of the bathroom to wait. Hands behind his head, ankles crossed. He crooked a finger at me. "Come here."

"Haven't we done this before?"

"The circumstances were a little different then."

"How."

I'd made the mistake of stepping close enough that he could catch my hand. He pulled me on top of him and then rolled me onto my back so he could cover me with his body. "For starters, we weren't sexually active at the time, and you weren't in my apartment taking a pregnancy test."

He kissed me and my insides melted. Turning the anxious fear into liquid heat. His knee parted my legs, his hands exploring up my shirt and down my body, and it was getting hard to think beyond the sensations he was inspiring. The danger alarms were little more than an itch in my brain. His mouth moved to my throat and I sighed. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

I felt him smile. "Babe, I might have already knocked you up. What's the worst that could happen?"

He had a point.

My phone started ringing. "Don't answer it," he said, wrapping my other leg around him so that he could settle flush against me. God, it felt good.

"I have to answer it. What if it's important?"

"What if it's not?"

"My car was just blown up. There are people who will want to know I didn't die."

I could hear the resignation in his exhale. If anybody understood that, it was him. He lifted off me enough that I was able to reach my bag and get my phone. Then I was hit with a flare of guilt. "It's Morelli." Ranger had resumed his attention. Unconcerned that my boyfriend was calling to see if I was still alive and safe. He lifted my shirt to kiss the skin just below my underwire, inching his way down toward my bellybutton. "I can't not answer."

"No one's stopping you."

The ringing was getting insistent, which was really stressing me out. Especially since what Ranger was doing promised to have the opposite effect if I let it. I ended up answering just to make the sound stop. "Joe?"

"Steph, you alright? Where are you?"

I had no doubt Ranger could hear him because a little smirk lifted one corner of his mouth. Jerk. Lucky for me, something started beeping and he got up to see to it. I took a second to catch my wits. "I'm at Rangeman. I had some minor injuries, but it didn't seem worth heading to the ER. Ranger's patching me up."

Joe was quiet a second. Struggling with his feelings on that. Maybe trying to decide what problem to address first. "How bad are the injuries?" Good choice going with the ER question, considering being free agents was his idea.

"We were standing a little too close to the blast. It kind of knocked me on my ass. Scrapes and bruises, mostly."

"You should see a doctor."

"Ranger's been pushing the same thing since it happened."

"Yeah, well. Ranger might be crazy, but he's not stupid."

No. He certainly wasn't. Ranger stepped out of the bathroom and leaned against the doorframe, the little white stick in his hands, his expression infuriatingly empty. Oh god. Oh god oh god. What did it say?

Joe's voice was in my ear again and it took me a second to understand it. "You want me to come pick you up?"

"Umm. Aren't you working?"

"We're waiting on some forensics reports. I could slip away for an hour or two."

"No. That's okay. I'm in good hands here."

"That's what I'm worried about," he said quietly. Don't think I was supposed to hear that part. "You'll call me if you need anything, right?"

"Yes. I will, I promise."

"Okay," he said, realizing he didn't have much of a choice. "I love you."

"Me too." I waited until he disconnected and then looked at Ranger, dread filling the pit of my stomach. "Well?"

"It says you're not pregnant."

I flopped back on the bed and blew out a breath. Ranger walked toward me. The mattress dipped under his weight when he leaned over me. "You're still late?"

"Yes."

"Nine days now."

"And?"

"And I've told you these tests are designed to detect a rise in hormone levels. Sometimes that can take as long as five weeks after a missed period."

"Why can't you just let me be not pregnant for like a second?"

Amusement crinkled the corners of his eyes. He was laughing at me. "Airing on the side of caution is the reason I'm still breathing." I must have looked extra pitiful because he actually chuckled. Kissing my bottom lip. "Okay. You can be not pregnant. But the healthy eating and safety measures stay in place and if you get to two week I'm making you a doctor's appointment."

"Deal."

He grinned. Gathering me up against him as he lowered his weight onto me again. "I've got fifteen minutes before my first meeting. It's not as much time as I want, but it's enough to check you over. Make sure you don't have any other injuries."

"Is that your primary goal?"

He nodded in a sober way. "Your well being is my number one priority."

"And what's your number two priority?"

"Making sure you're relaxed and happy," he said, brushing a light kiss to my lips. "Both of these goals are easier to meet if you're naked."

"Well, I wouldn't want to make things difficult."

Twelve minutes later, I was lying limp and satisfied across Ranger's bed. Only minor bruising and a few abrasions having been discovered before he kissed them better. Ranger was in his closet putting on fresh clothes. Ones that didn't smell like he'd been standing too close to an Audi shaped bonfire. "You have clothes here too, if you wanted to put on something without soot and blood on it, but if you want to take a shower I'll have to reapply the bandages."

"Is it ever weird for you that I have clothes in your closet?"

Ranger was looking down at the watch he was fitting to his wrist, but I caught the almost smile. "No. I've always told you that you could come and go as you please. This just makes it easier. Carson is coming in at five. You want to come down for that?"

"I'll think about it."

He sat down on the bed to pull on his boots. Then he leaned over me again and kissed me. "I'd ask if you wanted to walk me to the door, but I kind of like the idea of leaving you naked in my bed." He kissed me again. "Ella's already been in today, so you can rest as long as you want. If you don't come down, I'll be up in a while to check on you."

I nodded, holding onto his shirt for just a second longer to keep him from pulling away. He smiled. He didn't bother telling me to make myself at home before he left. Me staying in his apartment was nothing new. It just wasn't often that staying involved sex. I dropped one of his t-shirts over my head and debated my next step. Decided calling Mini again was a good place to start. She didn't answer, so I left another message, this time telling her I was a friend of Thatcher's. Let her know what had happened, in case she was too underground to hear. Then I got out the files on Alvarez.

No matter where this case went, Alvarez kept popping up. I couldn't tell if he was at the center of it because he was the one behind the bad drugs or if he was just caught up in something he shouldn't have been. It was hard to get a sense of who he was on paper. I knew he wasn't a nice guy. Hell, he'd murdered an FBI agent to get away the second time. The only people who do that are either dangerous or desperate. Or both. I went over his associates again. Huh. No mention of anyone in Juarez. Not even a cousin's brother's step-dad, or whatever it was that Thatch had said.

I looked at my watch. Just after five. Ranger was in his office with Agent Carson. Carson was a jerk. But he was also the only man I knew, apart from Ranger, who was familiar with Alvarez. And my instincts were telling me that as much as I wanted to avoid him, this was a conversation I needed to be a part of.

I waffled for a second before I put on a pair of the black jeans and headed for the elevator.