All JE's except Carla

Chapter 11

I awoke the next morning to the sound of someone snoring loudly behind me. Fuck fuck fuck I thought to myself. Who the hell was in my bed, and what did we do last night? I felt around to discover I was in my bra, and further down I discovered I was wearing a pair of shorts, but no panties. I was lying on my side facing the bedroom door and I could see Lester's sweatshirt lying in a heap on the coffee table, and my dress in a similar state just outside the bedroom door. No sign of my thong.

My bed companion snored again loudly. I tried to remember the end of the night but all I could remember was Lester pressing his body against mine running his hands down my sides. But nothing else. Nada. I couldn't remember arriving back at Rangeman and certainly not getting undressed. So who was lying beside me. I was almost too scared to look. Could it be Lester? I certainly wouldn't have minded sharing a bed with Lester, but would be incredibly pissed off to have missed it all. What if I had stumbled across Hal last night on my way up to the apartment? What if I had grabbed him for a night of unbridled passion? Deep down I knew this to be unlikely as I just wasn't that type of girl. But I did have a hell of a lot to drink last night. What the hell had I done?

Just then my sleeping partner stirred and I felt a hand slowly and gently move across my arm. I looked down to see a manicured, pink nail polished hand. What the fuck!

I turned quickly to find a mop of unruly brown curls under the sheet. I pulled the covers back to find Steph, still completely dressed and still wearing her shoes.

"Steph!" I shouted. "Why are you in my bed?".

"What the . . ." Steph sat bolt upright and looked around taking in her surroundings. "Oh no, Joe is going to freak" with that she jumped up, went raking about for her bag and left.

"I'll call you" she shouted slamming the door.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 7.30am. Time for a bit more shut eye.

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I awoke again to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and a hangover that had really kicked in. Had I dreamt that I had woke up next to Steph? The smell of coffee was strong and I could feel my insides start to heave. God bless Ella she had probably heard about the previous nights escapades and decided a strong coffee was needed. Unfortunately coffee does nothing for me when I'm hungover, a nice thick chocolate milkshake is my sure fire cure. I had bought a bottle yesterday along with the Jack Daniels in anticipation of feeling rough this morning. It was sitting in my fridge calling out to me.

I sat up and slowly swung my legs out the bed. I could see I was wearing my pyjama shorts but they were back to front, as well as inside out. One boob had creeped out the top of my lovely new Victoria's Secret push up bra, so I poked and prodded until I was properly covered again. I slowly got to my feet and stood while the room went for a spin. I felt the bile start to rise as my mouth started to water so I ran for the bathroom just making it. From the state of the toilet bowl it wasn't the first time I had been sick. Or it could have been Steph if she hadn't been a figment of a dream this morning.

I finished up, wiped and rinsed my mouth and looked it the mirror. I quickly looked away again. The shortest layers of my choppy hair were standing on end, and my super lengthening mascara was all round my eyes panda style. I hadn't heard Ella moving around so assumed she had put a pot of coffee on and left me to my own devices. No doubt I would hear from her again soon. I thought I better get that milkshake down me and fast!

I walked through to the bedroom grabbing a brush trying to tame my hair and through the door to the living room. I froze as I looked up. Lester was sitting at the dining table drinking a coffee. He slowly reached over to pour another cup, which I assumed was meant for me. He didn't say a word, and he didn't look happy. In front of him sat the file with the details of last night's target, an empty bottle of JD, and my thong!

My first instinct was to turn and run back into my bedroom and never come back out. But suddenly a smile started to twitch on Lester's face and I grew angry at the fact he had just made himself at home in my apartment. But I was also feeling humiliated at the fact that he had heard me throw up, as well the fact I was standing in front of him in next to nothing. Never mind that my thong was also sitting next to his coffee cup!

"You want to go throw some clothes on there Sweetness" he said obviously enjoying my discomfort.

Fuck you Lester Santos I thought to myself. I pulled myself together, held my head high and walked over to the table.

"I can handle it if you can" I echoed his words of my first morning here.

He flashed me grin as I sat down and pushed a coffee under my nose. I felt my insides start to squirm again and had to concentrate to holding my nausea back.

"Feeling a bit rough are we?" Lester asked still grinning.

I gave him a death glare. "What are you doing here anyway? Has nobody ever told you its rude to break in to peoples apartments?"

"I still have a fob remember" he said smugly "You told me I could keep it so I assumed I had an open ended invite to visit whenever I wanted".

"You thought wrong then?" I glared back at him.

"Ranger wants to see you. Now!" Lester said

"He can wait" I said.

Lester sat back and stared at me for a few seconds before his eyes started to head south to my cleavage. I had to hand it to him he had done well not to stray beforehand. He had held my eyes the whole time. I suddenly felt really exposed so I jumped up and moved over to the fridge where I could at least put the open door between us. I found my bottle of chocolate milk and took a long swig of it. I closed my eyes as it eased my raw throat and went lower to comfort my upset stomach. I may even have let out a small moan.

"Where did you get the scar" Lester said. I jumped at his voice. I was so busy enjoying my almost orgasmic drink I hadn't heard Lester close the distance between the table and fridge.

"What scar?" I asked trying to get deeper in to the fridge.

"This scar" he said moving round the fridge door. He traced a long finger from just above my belly button to just below where my bra where the scar continued under. That scar. I didn't want to tell him about that scar. I grabbed his hand to stop it going any further and also because his touch was doing things to me that I would rather not admit.

"Oh, just an old surgery scar. I'll go a grab a shower then go see Ranger" I said trying to move past Lester.

"No time for a shower Sweetness, he wants to see you now. You want to let me go now or do you need some help getting dressed" Lester said with a sly grin.

I looked down to see I was still holding the hand I had grabbed earlier. I dropped it like a hot potato.

"I'm going now, but if you're not down in ten minutes I'm coming back to get you" Lester said heading to the door. "I'd love to wait to walk you down, but I might be tempted to do something you might regret". He gave me a wink and then left, leaving me standing there with my mouth hanging open. Luckily the fridge door was still open!

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Twenty minutes and a quick shower later I was heading down to the control room. I decided to take the stairs as I didn't think my stomach was up to the fast moving elevator. I quietly entered the control room. The stair well was near a corner at the back of the room between two cubicles so I peaked around to see who was in the room. There was no one occupying any of the rear cubicles. I looked just in time to see Steph and Sasha enter the elevator. Steph had obviously been home as she was dressed in jeans and a jacket. If she had been there this morning at all. Sasha had her arm around her and as they turned to face the elevator doors I could see Steph was crying. Oh fuck I thought. Ranger must have been really mad. I wasn't ready to face this alone. I turned tail to head back to the stair and slammed into a solid wall of muscle. Lester muscle.

"How did you know?" I gasped.

"Thought you might try to sneak in quietly and not make a grand entrance from the elevator" he said looking down at me.

"Steph was crying" I whispered

"Hey Sweetness" Lester said gently "It's not what you think, you don't need to look so worried" he used a finger to gently brush a damp wisp of hair from my left eye before letting his fingers trace a line down my face before lifting my chin to look into his eyes. I thought for a moment he was going to kiss me and I felt my knees start to buckle. I got myself together before pushing him away. I didn't need this, not yet anyway.

"C'mon, Batman awaits" Lester said taking my arm and leading me down the room to Ranger's office.

"I can do this" I said snapping at Lester. I can do this I said again to myself.

"Good luck then" Lester said with a small smile and left me at the door.

I knocked, then I opened the door and took a step into the lion's den.