Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters recognizable to JE. Only the newbies.
Hope you like it! Enjoy. =)
"Hey darlin'," Chase said, with his charming dimple smile and country accent. Swoon. I smiled.
"Hey Chase," I said back.
"We still on for tonight? I know with everything that has happened it might not be the best time, but I figured it could do us some good," he suggested, leaning up against the frame of the door.
"I like the idea," I told him, "I mean we have to move on, and he'd been in the wind for a while now anyways." He nodded and leaned down to give me a kiss. It was a short, sweet, innocent kiss on the lips. It was different than I was used to, but it was nice. He smelled good too. Not the Buglari that I smell when I'm next to Ranger. No, Chase had this nice Old Spice smell to him. I never thought I could like it, then I smelled Chase.
"I'll pick you up, say five?" Chase asked, while I was still distracted by the smell.
"Mmm," I said, nodding. He chuckled.
"See you then darlin'," he said with with a smile. I nodded and rode the elevator down to my car. I wonder what Chase would think if he knew Ranger was staying in my apartment? Well, I guess it's a good thing he doesn't know, right? I mean it is only temporary. As I got in my car Derrik, another new recruit, passed by. I smiled and waved. He only nodded in response. It was odd, everyone usually waves back, but not this guy. I shrugged and pulled out of RangeMan. I headed to the Tasty Pastry to get some donuts, and birthday cake. What? I'm a girl mourning. I go in and find that someone never picked up their birthday cake. Yum. I got a dozen donuts and the birthday cake. The birthday cake said 'Happy Birthday Johnny.' Whoever Johnny was, I thanked him. Once I payed for everything, I stopped by the bonds office, and brought the donuts in with me.
"White girl, did you hear? Bbb..batman got mmm..murdered!" Lula sobbed, "what if my little Tankie is next?" I patted her on the shoulder.
"It's okay, Lula. I think Tank will be fine," I told her as I handed her a donut.
"You have any of those for me?" Connie asked, eying the donuts. I handed her the bag and plopped myself down on the couch.
"Hhh..how can you be sure?" she sobbed, stuffing her mouth full of donut.
"Just a hunch, Tank's a good guy and he's smart," I told Lula.
"Bbb...but Ranger was good and smart, too!" she wailed. I gave her a hug.
"You just have to have faith that it won't happen to Tank," I told her, "do I have any skips?" I had turned to Connie, who had a couple folders in her hand.
"Yeah, two skips. One of them is Mooner, he just forgot his last court date, he was charged with assaulting an officer. Apparently it was just a little fender bender at Dunkin' Donuts," Connie told me, "and the other is Roger Hamil, he was charged with armed robbery. He works at an exotic pet shop and he stole a bunch of animals."
"Greaaat, what was he armed with?" I asked, taking the folders.
"It says here a poisonous snake," Connie said, not being able to stifle the chuckle. I groaned.
"Just what the day needs!" I said, throwing my hands in the air, "well I'm off. I'll go get Mooner." I got in my car and drove to Mooner's. Hopefully there wasn't any marathons going on. I knocked on the door and went in. I saw Mooner and Dougie on the couch watching TV.
"Hey guys!" I called, getting their attention.
"Dude, like, what are you doing here?" Mooner asked as I came closer.
"You forgot your court date," I told him as I saw what was on TV. A rerun of That 70s Show.
"Oh, dude, like how'd I miss that? I thought it was tomorrow!" he exclaimed.
"You wanna come with me to the station?" I asked.
"Like, yeah dude, like this was getting boring anyways. The Star Wars marathon doesn't come on till three," he said, getting up.
"See ya Dougie," I said with a smile. He nodded and waved. I got Mooner rebooked and Connie came and bailed him out again so he wouldn't miss the marathon. I drove home and when up to my apartment. I opened the door and everything was dark.
"Ranger?" I called out as I walked in.
"Yeah babe?" he asked as I flipped on the kitchen light.
"Just making sure you're still here," I told him as I put the birthday cake on the counter.
"Who's Johnny?" he asked.
"I don't know. Someone without a birthday cake," I said as I got out a knife, fork, and plate.
"That stuff will kill you babe," he stated.
"Well, you're already dead so what's it matter?" I asked with a smirk. He sighed and shook his head.
"You have some messages," he told me and I now noticed he was missing his pony-tail. I walked over to the answering machine and listened to the messages.
"Hey cupcake, I heard about Ranger. Look, I'm...uh...sorry," he told me, "maybe we can do pizza sometime." The next was my mother.
"Stephanie, I'm sorry to hear about Ranger. You're invited to dinner tonight if you want, I invited a nice boy from down the street to join us." Not going to dinner tonight. Sorry Mom, I thought, not really sorry at all.
"Hi, Steph, it's Chase. I just wanted to say I can't wait for tonight," Chase's lovely voice said.
"I'll ask again, who's Chase?" Ranger asked, pinning me against the counter.
"Uh...new guy at RangeMan," I said, my breathing becoming uneven at the closeness of Ranger.
"And you thought it would be acceptable to date him?" Ranger asked, coming closer.
"Well...um...you weren't here...and uhh...Joe and I broke up," I told him as his lips came closer. Then a knock sounded at the door and Ranger stepped back and fled silently to the bedroom. I looked through the peep-hole to see Les standing there. I quickly opened the door and let him in. He gave me a big hug as he walked through the door.
"What's up Les?" I asked as he put me down.
"I just wanted to be with you beautiful, I just can't believe Ranger's really gone," Lester said, looking at me. I instantly felt guilty. I summoned tears to my eyes.
"I know me too," I told him, giving him another hug. He leaned back and looked in my eyes. He lowered his lips to kiss me and I turned my head just as his lips touched my cheek. I liked Les, I really did, but he was like a brother, that I was sometimes attracted to. Okay, it isn't as bad as it sounds. Most of the time I think of him as a big brother. Then sometimes, my hormones are in overdrive and I can't help but think of him as a very hot, sexy male specimen. He pulled away.
"I'm sorry Steph, I shouldn't have done that," Les said with an almost smile.
"It's okay Les, I understand," I told him giving him another hug and I gave him a peck on the lips.
"Steph, I want you to know something, I like you. A lot. I have for a while and I know this is a terrible thing to say, but now that Ranger's gone, I was wondering if you uh...wanted to go out? When you're ready of course," Lester said, his voice cracking when it got to Ranger's name. Lester and Ranger were cousins and it must have been really horrible for Les, to think he lost his cousin, his boss, his friend. God, how this was killing me. Lying to everyone I loved for Ranger.
"I'm sorry Les, but I'm going out with Chase tonight, and I think of you as brother," I told him, looking into his green eyes. He nodded.
"Well, I think of you as a sister most of the time cause you know how Ranger is...I mean was...how he was," Les said with a sad smile. I nodded.
"He'll probably kill you for saying that," I said with a chuckle.
"What?" Lester asked, probably confused with the tenses of my words. Crapola.
"I mean he would have probably killed you for saying that," I told him, "it's hard to think that he's gone." Lester nodded.
"Have fun with Chase," Lester said giving me another hug. I smiled.
"I will. You be careful," I told him. He nodded and left. I locked the door behind him. Ranger came out of my bedroom and looked at me.
"I wonder who's gonna show up at your door next, begging to go out with you," Ranger said with a small smirk. I stuck out my tongue.
"No one. Except when Chase picks me up later," I told him.
"You do realize I'm going to have to do gym time with Lester when I come back from the dead, right?" Ranger asked, pinning me against the door, his breath tickling me.
"And why would you have to do that?" I asked, my eyes locked on his mouth. I saw it curve up.
"Because he hit on my woman," Ranger stated. I rolled my eyes. His woman. Yeah right.
"Your woman?" I asked, trying to raise an eyebrow, "then what about Chase? Does that mean you have to beat him up too?"
"Yes," Ranger said matter of factly. I snorted.
"If I was your woman I wouldn't even be going out with Chase," I told him as he stepped back, "if I was your woman you'd be committed." I cut myself a piece of cake.
"Is that what you want?" Ranger asked, looking at me questioningly. I shrugged.
"Maybe, maybe not. All I know is I can't do casual sex and I know that's what you do," I told him as I took a bite. I moaned. I love birthday cake. It's so yummy. Ranger sighed.
"You're right." I looked at the clock and noticed it was two. I had enough time to go see if I could get Roger.
"I'm going to go look for leads," Ranger said, putting on a New York Ranger's hat.
"And I'm going to go see if I can find Roger Hamil," I told him. We both left at the same time. I got in my old blue Ford Explorer. I drove to Hamil's address. I saw that it was a little townhouse on a run down street. His grass was all brown and there was dirt patches. His bushes weren't in any better shape. His front door was a faded red. I rang the doorbell and Roger opened the door. From what I could tell he was about fifty or so and his hair was fading. He looked like he could be a stick if he tried hard enough.
"Whaddo you want?" he asked, squinting, and I could hear noises coming from inside.
"I'm Stephanie Plum and I represent your bail bonds man. If you come with me I can get you rebooked for your next court date," I said being nice.
"I saved those animals! It's not a crime!" he shouted before slamming the door in my face. I banged on the door.
"Hey! I just need to get you rebooked! It'll only take a minute!" I yelled, lying about how long it would take. This guy was crazy. I tried the doorknob and it opened. I walked in and I saw animals everywhere. I shrieked when a ferret started scratching my leg.
"Stay back! I have a poisonous snake!" Roger warned.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" I said, "I'll just leave my card and skedaddle." I ran out of the house quickly, not wanting to get bitten, scratched, or scared more than I already was. Why didn't they confiscate those animals when he was arrested? I must have seen a dozen or so barn animals, and then I saw some rodents in there. Yuck. I drove to the bonds office and went in.
"You'll never believe what just happened to me. I was threatened with a poisonous snake by an old guy whose house is a zoo," I told them. I then realized I wasn't the center of attention, but it was Bobby and the other new recruit Mark. We got three new guys while Ranger was in the wind. Mark was really nice looking and he was giving Connie a look. Connie was happily enjoying returning that look. I smiled at the two.
"Sucks for you Steph," Bobby said with a small chuckle. All the RangeMan had the sadness to them. Sure they could joke, but they were all still sad at Ranger's 'demise'.
"You bet. Showing Mark the ropes?" I asked, remembering he did the same for Chase.
"Yeah, Chase is actually out in the car," he told me with a wink, "you should keep him company for a while." I stuck out my tongue.
"Sure, I think I will, O' Cupid Bobby," I said with a smirk. I walked out to their SUV and when I came to the window it rolled down.
"Hey there pretty darlin'," Chase said with his gorgeous smile. I smiled back.
"Hey Chase," I told him, leaning my elbows on the open window.
"Did you get my message?" he asked, leaning in more to give me a kiss on the lips.
"Sure did. I can't wait," I said, "where are we going anyways?"
"Rat's Restaurant. It's really nice there," he told me.
"Rat's Restaurant? That doesn't sound very appealing," I said.
"Trust me. It's really nice and the food is great, the service is good too," Chase told me.
"Alright, I trust you," I said with a smile, "so I should wear something nice?"
"You should, but when don't you dress nice?" he complimented. He was so sweet.
"See you later," I said giving him a kiss.
A/N: What do you think? Lol. Ranger or Chase?? Rat's Restaurant is a real restaurant in New Jersey. I hope you liked this chapter. I don't know when I'll be able to get another chapter in, hopefully sometime tonight or tomorrow. For those of you who celebrate it, Happy Easter! Thanks for reading. Tell me what you thought. =)