Chapter 17

Stephanie's POV

We had only come back to Rangeman to pack some clothes for our three-day visit to Siesta Key. I was also hoping to see Hector, find out how his knife wound was doing and let him know he could have the apartment while we were gone. But when I didn't see him upstairs and one of the three laptops he usually had spread out on the dining room table was missing, I called down to the front desk. Gary was on duty and he told me that Hector was in Conference Room 2 with Ernesto and a man named Jason Williams.

That was the same name that Carlos mentioned this morning, so I told him I was going downstairs to check out something and I'd be right back.

When I shook hands with Jason I wasn't expecting that 'tingle' like I got from Carlos the first time we'd inadvertantly touched. It was something that happened whenever he was around and I assumed it was telling me he was my soul mate or something and the electricity was just between the two of us. I never expected to have that same jolt with anyone else. It kind of discombobulated me so I ran up to seven to bring Carlos down. I needed to know if he felt it too.

When he confirmed that he did, I felt somewhat relieved and somewhat disappointed. I thought it was something that only Carlos and I shared and I wasn't too happy to know both of us could get that feeling from someone else. And especially a 'someone else' we hardly knew. I realized I wasn't being rational in my thinking and since Hector liked him and had even offered him a job I was going to have to get over my insecurities. We'd probably be spending a lot of time together. He was now going to be part of Hector's team; a team headed up my Hector, Lula and I.

And before I got all defensive about not having directly interviewed someone working for me, I knew I didn't have those technical qualifications to do the interviewing. Basically I was the sales director, Lula the social media director and Hector the technology director. Just because we'd teamed up to form the data security devision of Rangeman didn't mean we couldn't have our own divison of labor within our small unit. We'd talked about it and both Lula and I were cool with Hector hiring the tech guys and visa versa.

So why was I feeling so out of sorts? Was it that Jace confessed to me that he had a spidey sense too? Was I so caught up in myself that no one but me could sense when something felt off? Yeah, I guessed I was.

I'd try to talk this over with Carlos during our little vacation break — he always had time for me and my insecurities. And God I had a lot of them. Why did he put up with me? And before I even went there, I mentally changed the tapes going on in my head. He loved me and I loved him and we were going to spend the next few days together showing each other just how much. At least that put a smile on my face and I was able to face Jace again.

"I'm so happy you'll be joining us. I'm sorry we can't stay and get to know you better right now, but Carlos and I have a four-hour drive ahead of us. We just stopped by the apartment here to pack. Our home base is in Trenton too, so I'm sure we'll have lots of time to get better acquainted."

Carlos looked at me strangely. When had I ever not wanted to get all the dirt I could on someone? He didn't say anything about it, at least not in front of Hector, Ernesto or Jace, and we shook hands again. The charge was still there; although it seemed to have lessened a little. I kissed Hec goodbye too and told him I'd call him later and we left them alone in the conference room to do whatever paperwork they needed to do to get Jace onboard.

"Babe," Carlos said to me as we rode the elevator back up to seven, "what was that all about?"

"You know, I don't know. I'm still going over it in my head but…I think I'm jealous." That was hard to admit.

"I could see that. Jason Williams is someone you're going to have to work with, day-in and day-out, and if there's going to be unresolved feelings there, you need to figure out why. I think he's perceptive enough that he will see through you."

Uh oh.

Ranger's POV

I had my own questions running through my head. That 'tingle', as Steph likes to call it, wasn't there when I shook Jace's hand early this morning. In fact, since we were both sweaty from our run and water is a conductor of electricity, it should have been even stronger then. And now I'm beginning to wonder if Steph's the conduit. I never doubted her spidey sense, in fact I made sure we gave it extra consideration and if Jason Williams had a similar sense of impending doom, maybe the connection was between the two of them and I only felt it because of Steph?

Now I have never been a believer of psychic phenomena but I've seen Steph's spidey sense in action too often to dismiss it — there really was something there. While Steph was packing I did a little online research and came upon an explanation for it by some paranormal guru. His take on it is this, "Every one of us vibrates at our own frequency. When one or more individuals' frequencies are close to or in sync, this can result in a kind of bond which might even be felt as an electrical charge. This similarity in frequency is what might have attracted you to each other in the first place. Or, with some couples, this frequency synchronization can occur over time. I suspect that it's such synchronization of frequencies that accounts for the remarkable telepathy often exhibited by twins and by many parents and their children."

Hmmm. That certainly did describe the bond that Steph and I have. It probably also describes the immediate connection I felt with Jason Williams. I just knew he was a good person and someone we needed to hire. And obviously Steph picked up on something too. But maybe her frequency and his were more attuned since they both say they have a sixth sense about things. I'd googled him earlier but maybe I needed to run a more in-depth search on him to see if anything else pops up. In the meantime we had a four hour drive in front of us and were already a couple of hours late because my woman and I couldn't seem to get out of bed this morning.

Steph's POV

So I fell asleep in the Mercedes on our way to Siesta Key. It was one of those deep sleeps. You know the kind where you have fucked up dreams? Yeah. And of course I did. I had a feeling it was related to everything that had been going on in my life for the last six weeks so I tried to mull over the parts I could remember before I opened my eyes.

I was on a wooden raft somewhere with Anthony Morelli, yeah Joe's brother. We were both wearing wetsuits but since they were rubber and it so hot inside of them, we took them off. Anthony was butt naked under his and I was wearing a black bikini. Now I know that sometimes I'm a little perverted but what happened next can only border on the absurd. I looked over at Anthony and noticed he was sprouting an erection. (For the record, I have never, ever seen Anthony naked.) We'll let me say this, I couldn't stop staring; it was like looking at a fucking train wreck. His penis looked like it was made out of white blown glass. It was probably around ten inches long, the shaft made up of maybe four or five irregular-shaped glass tubes all attached together, the thickness no more than a half an inch and the tip was just a bulbous mass. I was so drawn to its ugliness that I had to reach out and touch it. First I touched the shaft. Anthony made a hissing sound letting me know it was too sensitive to touch, so I reached for the head. But before I got there Anthony pushed me onto my back and started to lick the arches of my feet; first one and then the other. I remember being so turned on that I tried to reach for his ugly cock but he wouldn't let me. Instead he started licking up my leg. First my calves, then my inner thighs. Somehow I got the upper position again and like a moth to a flame I headed for his ugly dick. I was about to lick the head when I realized what I was looking at. All the flesh on his dick had either been cut or burned away and I was seeing just tendon and sinew.

At this point I forced myself to wake up. I was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.

Carlos was in his zone, so I don't think he noticed. As I said, I closed my eyes again to go over the dream and...I was back on the raft. I looked over at Anthony and I realized that his face was stitched together in a ragged pattern, similar to how a child would sew a sampler. I guess I thrashed myself back awake because Carlos came out of his zone and pulled the car onto the shoulder.

"Are you ok, Babe?"

I wasn't. "I guess I was dreaming." Guess? I knew I was.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

No. "Here?"

"Here is as good as anywhere. You're soaking wet Babe," he added, mopping my brow with his fingers.

"It was a nightmare," I said and shivered just thinking about it.

"I think you should talk it out. It was upsetting to you and if we drive now you may fall back to sleep and right back into that dream."

"I already did," I said trying to figure out how I could get around talking to him about Anthony's ruined dick. "It was horrifying," I added.

"What Babe?"

"Anthony's dick, " I blurted out.

"Anthony who? And what about his dick?"

"Someone burned or cut off all the meat. Oh my God, I think I'm going to be sick. I touched it," I said opening the Mercedes and leaning out to puke my brains out.

Carlos miraculously produced water and some wipes from the back seat and after he cooled me off and helped me to clean up, he demanded again, "tell me about this dream."

I guessed there was no way I could get around it, so I told him; leaving out the part where Anthony licked my soles until I was so turned on I wanted to take that ruined dick into my mouth. Was I really that much of a slut?

"I've read that sex dreams are rarely about sex," he said. "They are about you seeing the admirable qualities of the person you're in bed with or you're seeing his qualities in you. Although somehow I can't see Anthony Morelli having any admirable qualities."

"He doesn't. He's a liar, a drunk and a womanizer. I have no idea how Angelina hasn't divorced his ass already."

"It could be a red flag telling you that that's the path the cop is heading down."

"Is? Carlos I told you he was screwing Terry Gilman when he was supposedly exclusive with me. That son of a bitch."

"Water under the bridge Babe. You agreed to be my wife and I don't do that shit."

"No you don't. Thank you."

"If you weren't enough to keep him in your bed, I doubt anyone ever will be. He'll be following his dick around until it shrivels up and falls off," he said kissing my curls; the thought making me smile. "Are you ok now, or do you need some more time?" he added.

"Well I don't believe I touched Anthony's skeleton of a dick anymore, but I can't get the image out of my mind. It was so gruesome."

"Don't think about it Babe, it will pass. Want me to put some music on in the car? Something to take your mind off the dream?"

"No classical," I said, it was what made me fall asleep the first time and we still had two hours ahead of us.