Thanks so much to everyone that has been reviewing! I'm sorry that's it has taken me this long to start writing again, but hopefully I'm back now (thanks to the help of Lean Mean Thirteen)! I have a really good idea of where this story is going to go. I haven't decided if it's going to involve spoilers for the new book, but if it does I'll be sure to let everyone know!
This chapter isn't my longest or my best, but I thought I had hit a good place to end the chapter. The next one should be expected either Sunday night or early Monday morning. I just have to give it the finishing touches and then it will be good to go.
-Amy Lynne
After Joe had left I finished my beer, put my ice cream away, dropped Rex a few grapes, took a shower, and climbed into bed. The sheets were nice, the room was nice, everything was nice, but it would have been nicer in Ranger's room.
I didn't wake up until the next morning. And when I say morning, I mean it was 6AM. Ranger must be wearing off on me. I dragged myself out of bed and heard Rex running in his wheel. My eyes were still closed, so I attempted to just follow the noise, determined to get some coffee into my system. Trouble was, I didn't know the layout of the apartment, and instead ended up slamming my knee right into an end table.
"Babe."
My eyes peaked open while I leaned over and rubbed my knee. Great, I just made an ass out of myself in front of Ranger ... again. This did explain what I was doing awake, though. My Ranger-senses must have been tingling.
I hobbled over to the kitchen where he was standing and sat myself down at the table, letting my forehead rest on it. I heard the coffee starting to brew and was feeling more awake by the minute. I heard the coffee maker stop, Ranger pouring a cup, and placing it in front of me.
I didn't move, that required energy, and I still didn't have enough.
"Babe?"
"Just give me a minute," I said. "I don't have enough energy."
I still didn't have my eyes open, they had magically shut when I put my head down on the table, but I could tell that Ranger was behind me. I felt him lift my head up with one hand on each side. Still not open. What the hell? Why was I not awake yet? You would think I didn't just have a nights full of uninterrupted sleep.
"Come on, Babe. Drink the coffee. I got a lead on your stalker and we're going to go investigate."
I propped my left eye open and stared.
"At six in the morning? Couldn't this wait an hour?" Ranger was just staring at me now.
"It's one in the morning, Steph. Come on, I need you on you're toes. You're the only one who can positively ID this guy, can't afford to have you fall asleep on him." Wait. What? How was it one? Ranger must have seen the confused look on my face, because he started laughing, letting me get a glimpse of the 100-watt smile. "Your clock must be wrong. Someone must have forgot to reset it. When an apartment isn't in use, nothing is plugged in. Wastes energy and costs money."
"That makes sense, I guess." I took a sip of the coffee. Oh yes, I could already feeling the caffeine hit me. Caffeine was an amazing thing.
"There's clothes in the dresser in the bedroom. I'll be back in a half-hour, so shower quick. I have to go talk to Tank. I'll be back." He pushed himself up from the counter that he was leaning on and left the apartment. It took me a moment, however, to realize exactly what was said, and then I was scrambling towards the bathroom.
&&&&&
I was sitting in Ranger's Turbo, him at the wheel, as we made our way towards the highway. I had a million questions that I wanted to ask, but knowing Ranger he would only tell me when I needed to know. I was trying to keep everything contained inside, but I was getting antsy. We had only been on the road for fifteen minutes, and I was already busting at the seems wanting to talk.
We got off 295 and were now on 195, heading towards Six Flags, Belmar, and the Turnpike. Maybe my stalker was thought to be working at Six Flags, and they could convince someone to let me on Batman: the Ride. Or maybe we were heading towards New York City, where I could sneak into the Conan O'Brien show and meet Mighty Max Weinberg. Or maybe we were heading towards Belmar, or better yet, Asbury Park. No matter how bad the area around Asbury gets, I love it there. I love the Convention Center, I love the Stone Pony, I love where the Palace and Tilly used to be, and I love cranking up some Springsteen for the drive down. Not to mention the beach. No one is ever on it, especially this time of night. The thought of getting to see the beach sent me over the edge and I cracked.
"Where are we heading?" Ranger looked over at me, then back to the road, his face blank. I should have known that was going to happen, but I had to try anyway.
We drove another fifteen minutes before getting off the Freehold exit. Apparently we were going to any of the places I wanted.
"Is he in Freehold?" I asked. Hey, maybe I'd get lucky.
"No." That was it. One word. I swear, I'm going to teach him how to have a proper conversation one day.
"Oh. Then where is he?"
"Got a lead on someone who thinks they know him. Says he's from Toms River. Got an address." Toms River? Yes! I might be able to look at the beach yet. Any beach at night is an awesome thing, and I loved sitting on the sand, just looking at the moon reflect in the water. "We won't be going over the bridge into Seaside, Babe. Sorry to disappoint."
"Why not? Have you ever seen the beach at night?"
"Of course." I sighed.
"Well, if we're going to Toms River, why did we take the highway? You should have just taken 571 the whole way."
We were sitting at a light, waiting for a few cars to pass us so that we could make a right.
"This is 571, Babe. Don't like driving through Allentown. Cops there don't appreciate it when you speed, and I'd be begging for the attention." Well ain't that the truth? I got a ticket for doing 26mph in a 25mph zone once, those bastards. "Tank, Lester, and Bobby went ahead of us. They should be closing in on the house in question now, making sure it's secure before you get there. They find anyone, they are going to hold them so we can ask some questions."
"And what if he's not there? We drove all this way just to turn around when you could have have waited for their call or had the guys wait."
"Couldn't risk him figuring out we were coming and running. He'll be there, Babe."
I looked to my left as we passed the group of Russian churches, one of my favorite parts of the drive down the shore, at least to this beach. I was starting to fell tired again, but I was forcing myself to stay awake. There was a lot more to this situation then I was being told, I was sure of it. I knew that I would never get the truth of Ranger or Joe. I was going to have to start putting things together myself.
Ranger was either working on saving some starving children in Ethiopia, saving Trenton from Two Face and Catwoman, or something else that he would never tell me about. Joe was working on something for Vice that was causing him to be gone a lot. What if Joe was trying to become Robin and this Christopher was really the Riddler? Hmmm. The thought of Joe in tights threatened to send me into giggles, but I was saved by Ranger's cell phone ringing.
"Yo." Pause. "Thanks." Ranger hung up his phone and pulled over to the side of the road. "Guys not there." He started to turn the car around.
"Wait!" Ranger looked up at me.
"We're not going to the beach."
"Ranger!"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Why not?" Ranger sighed.
"I have other things I could be doing."
"Then meet up with the Merry Men and you ride back with them while I go to the beach." Ranger laughed and shook his head.
"Babe, there's not a chance in hell I'm letting you out of my sight at the moment. Not with this guy still running around."
"So then we're going to the beach?"
"No."
"Ranger! I'm not getting this close to the beach and then not going to see it. No way. Not going to happen. You dragged me out of bed and brought me here. You didn't wait for the Merry Men to call and say if the guy was in town or not. We're going to the beach."
"What do I get out of the deal?" Ranger's eyes had gone black as he looked up with me, and he was speaking dangerously low.
Oh no, very bad. Very, very bad. I swallowed my spit hard and sat there for a moment, trying to think of something to say. I had to be careful with my words. I started playing with the zipper on my hoodie, trying to distract myself. I knew I had to say something. Ranger could sit here all night and not say a word. Me, on the other hand, would go nuts from the silence in about a minute.
"You get to see the beach?" Ranger smiled. I was getting a lot of smiles lately, something was definitely up.
"I can see the beach anytime. What are we going to do on the beach?"
"Sit?"
"Babe."
"Ranger, I'm not planning on doing anything besides sitting on the beach. Not a thing. Just going to see there and look at the water. Yep. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less." Can you tell I was rambling? "Then after I'm done sitting, I'm going to stand up and walk off the beach, get back into the Turbo, and have you drive me back to RangeMan, where I'm going to go back to my apartment and put on pajamas and go back to sleep." I did a little happy dance inside at the fact that I said I was staying at my apartment at RangeMan, and not in his.
Ranger put the car back into gear and turned around, heading in the opposite direction of the beach.
"I'll bring you to the beach another night, Babe, but not tonight. I don't want to risk this guy being out there somewhere. There's a million places he could hide along the boardwalk. I promise, as soon as you don't have this stalker after you, we'll come down to the beach at night."
"Why would you do that?" Ranger just looked at me. "You're promising (promise being a key word here) that you are going to engage in an activity with me that does not involve sex or work." Ranger looked quickly at the road and then back at me. He was giving me an almost blank face, but I swear I could see some confusion on there. "You don't do that. We don't really hang out, Ranger. That's not us."
"What is us, then?"
Woah. What is going on here?! I just sat there, staring at Ranger like he had six heads. I'm sure I must have looked pretty funny, but he didn't laugh at me, which was good. If it had been Joe, he would had to pull over he was laughing at me so hard. I didn't feel like a complete idiot.
"I think you would be the better person to answer that question. You're the one who doesn't do relationships." I looked away from him and out the window. I knew I shouldn't have said that, I was already beating myself up. Any second now I was going to get the wrath of Ranger for being a smart ass.
"You're always a smart ass, I'm not going to ship you off anywhere." Damn ESP. "You're too much fun to ship off anywhere. The worst I could do would be to tie you to my bed for a few days." Gulp. This conversation needed to change direction and fast. I wasn't any good at this semi-sexual-conversation game.
"You can do that when I get to see the Batcave." Who the hell said that? That wasn't me, was it? Please dear God, if you are listening, don't let that have been me. I would rather have my ex-husband, Dickie Orr, hiding in the backseat then to have that be me. Ranger looked over at me and smiled.
"Deal." Shit.