Thanks for the reviews! Sorry I didn't mean to leave you hanging with Diesel on the last chapter, but between The Walking Dead marathon my husband was watching on Netflix and reading JE's new book The Chase, I kept getting distracted from writing and didn't get as far in the chapter as I wanted. Oh well! Here's another chapter. :)
On The Walking Dead side note, can you imagine Ranger and his Merry Men in post zombie apocalypse? They would be total bad asses! I wouldn't mind hunkering down with them at Haywood, and helping repopulate the earth with Ranger. ;)
Anyways..
As always- everything familiar belongs to JE.
Chapter 3
"Oh sorry.." I was saying as I looked up and saw that it was Diesel!
"Diesel!" I croaked out.
"Hey honey. You missed me so much that you decided to track me down?" he asked with a cocky grin on his face as he wrapped me in a huge bear hug.
Mmm, suddenly I was hungry for more than cake. No! I swore off men, my thoughts didn't need to go there, but it felt so good in Diesels' arms against his muscular chest. Plus he always smelt like Christmas, which reminded me of Christmas cookies which made me feel even happier. Ok stop! I back out of Diesels hug.
"Yeah that's exactly why I'm here Diesel, to seduce you." I said huffy.
"You don't have to tell me twice honey. I knew you couldn't resist me" he said with a big wolf grin on his face.
My hormones were in serious overdrive. I looked around for a distraction from Diesel. I needed a donut or cupcake or something. Then I saw a monkey sitting at a table by the window.
I looked back at Diesel. "Is that Carl?" I asked.
Before Diesel could answer Carl gave an "Eeep!" and flicked me off. Yup that was Carl.
"What are you doing here? And how did you end up with Carl? The last I saw him was when Susan came back for him." I said to Diesel.
"Long story" he said, "Sit down with Carl and I'll get you some cupcakes".
I sat down and Diesel came back with a box of a dozen cupcakes. Carl and I both grabbed one and started eating.
"Longstory short, I followed my cousin Wulf here. We've both been here since we left Trenton. I ran across Carl when he escaped from animal rescue." Diesel said as I took my first bite of the cupcake and moaned. OMG this cupcake was amazing! A few more of them and the urge to attack Diesel in the middle of the bakery should go away.
Diesel started laughing. "I knew you wanted me" he said. Crap! I must have said that out loud. I really have to work on that!
"So how's it going with Wulf?" I asked hoping to change the subject.
"Eh it's going. What about you, what brings you to Salem?" he asked. I don't know what it is about Diesel but I like him and I trust him. So I told him the whole story about how I ended up here.
"Well honey, Morelli's right, you and Ranger are in love with each other. I barely spent any time around the two of you but it's obvious to anyone that sees you together. You and Morelli were never going to end up together."
"Ranger's not in love with me, or if he is, it doesn't matter. He has no intention of ever having a relationship with me so there was no point of wasting my time" I said.
"He's an idiot." Diesel said, "but I'm glad you're here in Salem. I've missed you."
A cute blond woman with flour smudged on her nose came out from the back of the bakery and walked over to us.
"Hey Diesel, I'm done baking for the day." she said. Then she looked at me and smiled. "Hi I'm Lizzy".
"Hi, Stephanie. You're cupcakes are amazing!" I said.
"Thanks" she said.
"Lizzy is helping me with Wulf" Diesel said to me, then turned to Lizzy. "Stephanie is a bounty hunter from New Jersey. She's helped me with Wulf in the past".
"Oh wow bounty hunter that must be interesting. This whole tracking down people and dealing with Wulf is new to me. Wulf still scares the crap out of me." She said.
I smiled "Yeah Wulf can be scary." I said.
"It was nice meeting you Stephanie. I'm going to go grab my stuff Diesel." Lizzy said walking back into the back of the store.
"You too" I said.
"I have to go Steph, but I'm glad I ran into you. Here's my number, call me and we can get together for dinner or something" Diesel said. Carl said "Eep eep" with a smile.
"You're not invited to dinner Carl, just Stephanie" Diesel said.
Carl gave him the finger, grabbed another cupcake and walked outside. I took the paper Diesel handed me and looked at the number. 624.
"Uh where's the rest of your phone number?" I asked.
"That's it" said Diesel.
"Sure it is" I said as I took my cell phone out and dialed the number. Diesels phone started ringing. Huh?!
"What didn't believe me?" Diesel smiled, gave me a quick kiss on the lips and walked outside after Carl.
I finished off the cupcakes then walked around the shops until it was time to meet back up with Kevin. As we drove back to his house we made polite conversation. When we got back I saw another car in Jess' driveway so I'm assuming she's home. I got Rex from Kevin's helped, thanked him for everything and walked over to Jessica's house and knocked on the door. She opened the door and smiled.
"Hey Stephanie! What brings you here? Come on in." She said grabbing Rex's cage from me and giving me a one armed hug. Jessica looked a lot more like me then I remembered. Kevin was right, we could pass for sisters. She was my height, same nose and bone structure, she had blue eyes too but hers were a little darker than mine. She had brown hair too but hers was straight and manageable unlike mine and her chest was much more impressive than mine.
"Hey Jess, thanks." I said following her in the house. We walked into the kitchen and she put Rex down on the counter and went into the fridge and got out 2 bottles of water and handed me one.
"What brings you here?" She asked again sitting down at the kitchen table. "Is that your truck out front? I was wondering who it belonged to."
"Yes that's my truck. I was actually hoping you wouldn't mind if I stayed here with you for a few days." I said.
"Of course I don't mind, but why did you leave Trenton?" she asked. I told her the whole story and she sat there looking sympathetic.
"Men suck" She said when I was done."I'm done with men, not that I have time for them anyways. I'm close to making partner at my firm, so I work a lot anymore. You're welcome to stay here as long as you want Steph. I'm hardly ever home."
"Thanks, I can pay rent or whatever you want. I'm going to start looking for a job tomorrow" I said.
"Don't worry about it; you don't have to pay rent. The house is paid off already; I don't have a mortgage anymore."
"Thanks" I said.
She ordered pizza and we spent the rest of the night talking and catching up on each other's lives. She showed me where the spare bedroom was and helped me bring my stuff in. She gave me a key to the house. I thanked her again before she went to bed. I unpacked a few things and then took a shower and lay down on the bed in my thinking position. Today was a pretty good day. Running into Diesel was weird, but then again Diesel always popped into my life at the weirdest times. I have a place to stay which is good; I was worried about renting an apartment in my name. I didn't want Ranger to be able to find me. Which brought me to my next problem, I needed a job, but I needed to be paid under the table or a false name to work under. I had an idea but I wasn't sure if I liked it. I could ask Kevin for a job at the bonds office. It would be easy since I already knew the job, but being a bounty hunter was part of my old life that I thought I was leaving behind. I didn't really know what other options I had so I decided to talk to Kevin in the morning. Then my thoughts drifted to Ranger. I tried not to think about him but I couldn't help it. Diesel said it was obvious that Ranger was in love with me. Was that true? If so why didn't he want to be with me? I finally fell asleep dreaming of Ranger.
I woke up the next morning at 8 feeling sad. Dreaming of Ranger all night had killed my good mood. I got up and got ready for the day while trying to get Ranger out of my head. Jessica had already left for work so it was just me and Rex. I went into the kitchen and ate a bowl of cereal, said hi to Rex and fed him some carrots I found in the fridge. I would go grocery shopping later today, so that we could stop mooching food from Jess. After I ate, I walked over to Kevin's house and knocked. No one answered; they were probably at the office. I got into my truck and drove into town.
I parked in front of the office and walked in. Shawn was sitting behind a desk with Kevin standing behind him. They were both engrossed in whatever was on the computer. They looked up at me and both smiled big.
"Uh good morning" I said uneasily.
"Good morning bombshell bounty hunter" Kevin said still smiling. Shit! They've been researching me.
"You sure do have a reputation back in Trenton" Shawn said.
I just smiled and nodded not really sure what to say. I thought that my chance of getting a job was pretty slim now.
"Sorry" Shawn said, "but when you said your capture rate was 99% we just had to look you up. That percentage is impressive for any bounty hunter, but especially a woman, no offense."
"Especially a woman" I said through clenched teeth.
"Calm down" said Kevin, "He really wasn't trying to offend you. We're both in awe of you after everything we've read this morning. You have a lot of newspaper articles about you. Are all of those stories true?"
"Mostly true" I said, "I mean they all happened but the newspapers versions of the stories aren't completely accurate". The newspaper always made me seem like a complete idiot, I thought.
"Reporters tend to put their own spin on things" said Kevin "I'd love to hear your side of those stories. You'll have to let me take you to dinner one night and tell me about them." I smiled at Kevin and nodded.
"Did you know Ranger?" asked Shawn. Crap! Does everyone know him?!
"Uhh yeah" I said "How do you know him?"
"Just acquaintances really" said Shawn, "Our paths crossed a few times in the military and an old marine buddy of ours, named Cal works for him now." Double Crap! They know Cal too.
"I know Cal, skull tattoo on his head, looks scary as hell. He's a big sweetie at heart" I said.
They both laughed. "I've never heard anyone refer to Cal as a sweetie, that's awesome. Most woman are afraid to get anywhere near Cal, much less talk to him and call him a sweetie" said Kevin.
"You know Ranger and his men pretty well then huh?" said Shawn.
"Yup" I said, "But no one back home knows that I'm here and I would like to keep it that way if you don't mind".
They both looked just looked at me and Shawn finally nodded.
"Okay" he said. "So what brings you into the office this morning anyways?"
"Umm I was actually going to ask you for a job, but now that you've read my history I'm assuming that's not gonna happen" I said.
"I take it you are moving here then?" asked Kevin.
"For now" I said. "I'm going to be living with Jessica."
"I guess that makes us neighbors" Kevin said as he winked at me.
"Don't worry, we know better than to believe everything we read in the news" Shawn said. "Kevin's right, were impressed by you. It sounds like you were a good bounty, or at least you have good instincts. It doesn't sound like you had a lot of training though." That's an understatement of the year I thought. I'm completely untrained, but it was my own fault. Ranger and all of his men have offered to train me but I always declined.
"Ok, does that mean you'll give me a job?" I asked hopefully.
"I think we could work something out" said Shawn.
"Thanks, but there's something else. Like I said earlier, I don't want anyone to know where I am. Is there any way for me to work under a different name?"
"If we're going to play a part in this, then you're going to have to tell us why or who you're running away from in Trenton" said Kevin. Crap, I guess I was going to have to explain myself again. I've already went through this with Diesel and Jessica. I was getting tired of telling my life's story.
I started out just telling them the short version of things, but they kept asking more questions, and it turns out they were easy to talk to. By the time I was done talking I had told them all about how I became a bounty hunter, a few of the crazy situations I had ended up in over the years, the complicated relationships I had with Joe and Ranger, and about everything that led up to me leaving town. They now knew a lot about me, Joe, and Ranger.
"I can't believe I just told you guys all of that" I said with an embarrassed smile.
"No need to be embarrassed" Kevin said. "You've lived an interesting life. I can see why you felt the need to get away from things for a while."
"I'll tell you what Stephanie," said Shawn "We'll keep your secret from Cal that you're here, and help get you a fake identity and let you work here, but there's a condition." Of course there is, there ALWAYS is, I thought to myself.
"Ok, what is it?" I sighed.
"You have to let us train you. I don't want you getting hurt. We like you. I know we just met you but you're hard not to like. Let us train you to be a better bounty hunter please." Shawn said.
Training ugh! That means working out, eating better, shooting guns.. ugh! But I knew he was right, I did need training. I should have gotten training a long time ago. Plus he did say please.
"Okay fine!" I said. "What do you have in mind for me?"
Hope you liked this chapter. The next chapter will probably be a short one in Ranger's POV about what's going on in Trenton. I'll try to get that chapter up by tomorrow.