Freedom

Chapter 6

SPOV

I am absolutely enjoying the feeling of love and contentment that comes with living with Carlos. And even though I like my privacy and independence, I'm finding I actually like living at Rangeman too. I just have to keep reminding myself that when I step out of the apartment door, I'm being watched, and I never know by whom until I pass by the monitor room. Not that it matters, it's just that the other day I let my hormones get the best of me, and forgetting that the elevator was being monitored, I unzipped the front of my dress for Carlos before jumping into his arms, straddling his waist. And as luck would have it, I was wearing a sheer bra and barely there thong. The utter embarrassment when I realized what I had done was fortunately forgotten when Carlos ravaged me inside the privacy of our apartment. Our apartment. I'll never tire of the sound of that.

Other than baring myself to Hal who was on monitors that day, thank god things have been going well. I'm going on surveillances with the guys when my name comes up in the rotation, I'm getting lots of research done and actually helping Carlos and Tank get ahead on paperwork. Carlos mentioned going away to the beach in a couple of weeks. The thought of getting away gives me something to look forward to, something to get my mind off of my lack of personal life. I miss shopping and the internet just isn't the same. Not knowing what lengths Joe is willing to go to, all my purchases have to be x-rayed before I can have them which takes out any possibility of privacy.

Most of all, I miss my friends, I miss going out to lunch with Lula and gossiping at the bonds office. I miss getting my nails done with Mary Lou when her boys are in school. I miss being my whole self. That's the price I'm paying for not having to look over my shoulder, which for now is worth it. One thing I certainly haven't missed though is the constant nagging of my mother, most especially the disapproval and judgment that always came with my visits with her. Ella is such a wonderful cook, that I no longer crave anything mom used to make. She even makes a better pineapple upside down cake. But my mom is still my mom, and I'll always hope we can one day have a more normal mother/daughter relationship.

Snapping out of my daydreaming, I have to get ready for self-defense with Lester in the gym. He's hard on me and I can't say I look forward to our sessions. I know he's just trying to toughen me up and get me to fight back, but I'm not progressing as rapidly as I'd like.

Turns out I'm a natural with my gun in the gun range, go figure. Hal volunteered to make me more comfortable with my gun and I have to admit he's a good teacher. He's quite over protective of me and even though I'm not used to the attention from him, I do like having a big brother figure in my life. B&E has been going well, mostly because it's fun, and as it turns out, Tank who has spent the most time with me is pretty funny. The only area I'm not connecting with is my self-defense training.

Hoping to distract Lester a little bit and catch him off guard this morning, I dressed in a short pair of tight black biking shorts and a low cut sports bra. Maybe I can distract him enough to actually pin him to the mats. At the very least, he won't be able to grab onto my clothes which he kept doing yesterday.

I decided to start my day on a positive note, so I'm heading down to the fifth floor hallway to say good morning to mr. early pants, my Carlos, when I heard my name mentioned inside the break room. I stopped outside the open door, just out of sight and eavesdropped.

I recognized Vince as the one talking smack about me, saying 'the boss man is whipped man, sure she's a sweet piece of ass, but is she worth all this trouble?' then he had the nerve to say 'he's neglecting his company, even losing a big contract yesterday that would have brought in a lot of money, but he chose to spend time with her…' His voice cut out, whispering something, then said 'she must be fucking the whole core staff to have them wrapped around her little finger like they all are.' I heard Cal's voice next, but didn't register what he said, I heard a faint ringing in my ears and felt the hot tears welling up in my eyes. I went back to the elevator and down to the gym.

Lester was already warming up. He nodded towards the stationary bikes, and I got on one, doing my usual fifteen minute warm up. Once we got in the ring, I knew I felt off. How could I not be, but I couldn't say anything to Les. After 45 minutes of trying to get out of various holds, I was beyond frustrated, getting still the same result… me pinned to the mats under Lester. Good grief, I'll never hear the end of this! "Les, let me up already!" I'm never going to get better at defending myself. It's been three days and the same frickin' result! Urgh!

"Why don't you try and make me." Oh, so he's going for cocky now, is he?

"Les, I mean it, get the fuck off me!" I screamed in his face. I guess I didn't realize how frustrated I truly was, because the next thing I knew, tears were streaming down my face, and in the position I was in on my back, I couldn't turn my head far enough to hide them. I could see Les deliberating, but fortunately for me, the Les that is my friend won, and he rolled off me.

"Steph, I'm sorry if I did something…"

"No Les, it's not you. You're obviously good at this, I'm the fucking pathetic one. I don't know who I was fooling thinking I could do this." I couldn't have this conversation, not now. I ran out of the gym and upstairs. I took a record breaking shower, got dressed in my new favorite pair of blue jeans and white swing style sweater and took the stairs to the garage.

I had already called Lula as soon as I got to the apartment, so she was waiting for me on the curb around the side of Rangeman. I was probably being immature, but dammit, I'm so fucking tired of all this shit! The one place I feel safe, that I can just be myself, and now this! I just need to re-group. I knew Carlos would try to track me which is why I only grabbed some cash and my i.d. I left the rest of my cell phone and purse with all its trackers back at the apartment.

RPOV

It has been a long morning. I was looking forward to having lunch with Steph and hearing how her training went this morning. Nothing seemed to be going well for me, but just being with her always helps my mood. I had just pulled into the garage when my phone rang, the caller id showed it was Santos. "Yo…"

There was a pause. "Boss, we have a problem." Shit! It has something to do with Steph, I could feel it.

"I'm heading in now. Meet me in my office." Now what? Like this day hasn't been shitty enough?

I walked into my office and saw not only Lester, but Tank sitting in the chairs across from my desk. "Report!"

"You're not going to like this," Lester started, "but Steph's training was off today, unfocused. She had a bad session from the start and it ended real bad. I don't know what happened. She ran out and fifteen minutes later, she took the stairs to the garage and around the building… we don't know where she is."

Shit! I'm trying to remain calm, but with the whole Morelli mess, Steph wanting time to herself outside the building was dangerous right now. I knew she had a great night last night, and was fine this morning when I left. We had a good conversation over breakfast about helping to ease some of the pressure she's feeling and we decided to have her phone calls re-routed to an answering machine so she didn't have to put up with any headaches. Something had to have happened after she left the apartment this morning.

I pulled up the surveillance in the monitor room and saw Hector was on shift. I flipped my phone open, "Hector, pull up all footage of Steph from the moment she steps out of the apartment this morning until she left the building. I'll be right there." Looking at Les and Tank, I told them to come with me. I didn't know if I should be mad at Les yet. Until I view the footage, I'm holding my comments.

Gathering in the employee conference room next to the monitor room, we put the footage on the flat screen and started viewing. Steph stepped out of the apartment looking happy enough, deep in thought, but happy. Her smile got bigger the closer she got to my office, but she stopped abruptly outside the break room, staying out of sight. "Hector, pull up the footage of Vince and Cal in the break room from just before Steph stopped until after she left." Immediately after stopping, her facial expression went from pleasant, to shocked, to sad. Before she turned and left, I could see tears running down her face. I was curious what brought the change on. Once Hector brought up the footage and audio, we could her Vince and Cal's discussion.

'The boss man is whipped man, sure she's a sweet piece of ass, but is she worth all this trouble?' What the fuck? 'He's neglecting his company, even losing a big contract yesterday that would have brought in a lot of money, but he chose to spend time with her…' I couldn't hear what he said next, the audio not picking it up. Then in a serious tone, 'She must be fucking the whole core staff to have them wrapped around her little finger like they all are.' He is going to get his ass handed to him for that comment, Vince is a dead man. So far, he was the only one to talk.

Then, shaking his head, Cal shoved back from the table and said, deathly serious, 'You sound like a jealous man to me. I ever hear you speak a negative word about Steph, and I'll personally see to it that you will be in traction!'

Then Vince had the nerve to say, 'what, is she fucking you too? She must be pretty good. Guess I'll have to get me some of that sweet pussy action…' Cal hauled off and threw a perfect right hook to Vince's left eye, knocking him unconscious. Cal turned and walked out of the break room and towards my office. He knocked on my office door and getting no answer, turned and walked to his apartment.

LPOV

I am livid! How dare he. "No wonder she was so upset. And yet instead of calling off her training she still tried. But she should have talked to me." Damn, I knew something was off but didn't ask her about it. "Vince is as good as dead!" Ranger was just sitting there, the rage evident. When he spoke, we knew Vince was history.

"Find the fucker and keep him under surveillance! He's mine, and I don't want him to know he's been made until I can deal with him. He's fired effective immediately, Tank start the paperwork. I'll be the one to tell him!"

Tank spoke up next, "Let's go find our girl." Steph is so unpredictable, who knows where she's gone. She knows to stay out of sight of Morelli, but what I haven't had a chance to tell her yet is Morelli put a price on any Steph sightings around town. We have our own contacts on the street who are keeping track of Morelli's activities. We're trying to find more proof of his illegal doings.

RPOV

Dealing with Vince would have to wait until later. First priority is finding my babe.

"Start calling around. Get Bobby and Hal up here and catch them up. The longer she's out there unprotected, the greater danger she's in." I had to get to the apartment and see if she left a note or any sign of where she might be heading. When I walked in the front door, what struck me was my cold, masculine apartment had become a home. There were pictures on the walls of our loved ones. Steph had brought in colorful throw pillows and incredibly soft blanket that she liked to cuddle in. There were candles on the coffee table and mantle, fresh flowers on the entry table. Steph brought life into my dark world as well as my dark heart and I would do anything to get her back. When I walked into our bedroom, I saw her purse with all its contents still in it, including her cell phone. She had no cash in her wallet and her driver's license was missing. There was a picture on the bed, face down. When I picked it up I recognized it as one of our favorites. It was a picture of us that Tank had taken with his cell phone. We were curled up with each other on the sofa, gazing into each other's eyes, the love evident. What hadn't been on the picture before was a set of lip prints over my face. What does it mean for her to kiss my face on the picture and leave it face down?

SPOV

I asked Lula to take me to her apartment. She was happy to oblige. When I walked through her front door, I was amazed at how nicely decorated it was. Lula usually dresses in bright colored, sometimes loud patterned tight spandex clothing and gaudy jewelry. Her apartment on the other hand is done in jewel tones. The furniture wasn't expensive, but looked comfortable and inviting. Her paintings were simple pictures of various landscapes around the country, from fields to the ocean to snow topped mountains.

Lula came over and simply said "my family was too poor to travel, so I found these pictures at a craft sale some photographer was sellin'. These are some places I want to see one day, ya know, travel the states." I was surprised. I'd never imagined this side of Lula. "What? You don't think I got dreams?" I didn't mean to offend her.

"No, it's just, I've never seen this side of you. I like it!"

"Lula, do you have anything to eat? I just realized it's been hours since I've eaten and I'm starving." My stomach was growling. "Oh, and can you point the way to the bathroom?" I was about to pee my pants!

"Down the hall, the door on the right." I followed her instructions and stepped into a bathroom that was truly Lula. Bright neon pink, fluorescent green and a shade of orange I've never seen before. Wow! This would not be a bathroom I could take a relaxing soak in the tub in. I found myself tearing up, thinking about the zen happiness of Carlos' bathroom. I want to go home. I want Carlos. I finally get out of Rangeman and now I just want to go back. Dammit!

When I came out of the bathroom, Lula had pulled out a couple of beers and leftover Pino's pizza. Bless her. We talked more about Lula's past while we ate. I'd never heard such a sad childhood. Her mother herself was a prostitute, Lula was a product of a broken condom. So that she wouldn't be home alone, her mother would bring her tricks back home with her. Lula was abused by a couple of the johns and she started turning tricks when she dropped out of high school. I hugged my dear friend. She'd survived so much in her life and I was humbled by her strength to be happy against the odds. She thanked me for saving her that day on my fire escape. She said she's never had a real friend before me. And I feel like I haven't been much of a friend lately.

"Lula, would you like to come over to Carlos' apartment some time and hang out? I miss being with my friends." She looked at me with huge eyes.

"White girl, just tell me when!"

I was suddenly glad I came here. We needed this time together, but now it was time to rejoin the real world. Carlos was probably going out of his mind with worry. That is if he wasn't mad as hell at me.

"Would you mind if I used your phone?" She handed me a cordless phone and led me to the sofa.

"I'll give ya some privacy. Tell Batman to bring Tank with him." She wiggled her eyebrows as she spoke.

The phone rang twice before I could hear a pissed off Carlos answer the phone. "Yo…" Oh shit, I don't want to be on the receiving end of his anger.

"Carlos, it's me." I took a deep breath and tried to continue, but was interrupted.

"Babe, are you ok?" Well, now I feel really guilty, he's obviously worried.

"Carlos, I am so sorry to leave so abruptly. It was selfish of me. I just needed some time to collect my thoughts and regroup. Please forgive me. Can you come get me please?"

RPOV

Thank god she called. She's taking years off my life with all this worry. I'm not a worrier, but this woman makes me do things I never thought I would. "Babe, you're not calling from a secure line, give me a hint as to where you are." She answered immediately, telling me she isn't in duress.

"Bring Tank with you and he'll be a happy man." Ah, Lula's. I had signaled the guys when Steph first called and they were anxiously waiting for news.

"Tank, you're with me, Bobby & Hal follow." We piled into our cars. When I get my hands on that woman… I'm going to make sure she knows she's always feel safe in my building, and to seek one of the core team out or at least wait on seventh for me if anyone threatens or insults her.

We pulled up to Lula's, taking an indirect route making sure we weren't tailed. When we got to her apartment door and knocked, the door flew open and Steph launched herself in my arms. "I'm so sorry Ranger, please don't be mad at me. I'm so sorry…" I couldn't believe that she was sobbing.

"Babe… Babe, look at me." She stopped crying and pulled her head from my neck, looking at me with the most gorgeous blue eyes. "Babe, I love you! I could never be mad at you. But next time, for the love of god, please tell me you need an escape and I'll make it happen." I could feel her relax into me. "I'd even like to go with you if you'd let me." She's looking at me curiously, still trying my trick of raising one eyebrow, but failing miserable. When I smiled at her attempt, she returned the gesture. Dios, I love her smile, and I haven't seen it near enough lately. "Babe, why did you stop calling me Carlos?"

"I was so afraid you'd just had enough of my antics. I didn't…" She was biting her bottom lip, looking down at her fingers that were fidgeting with the top button of my shirt. I put my finger to her mouth to hush her.

"I love you. I will never stop loving you. I will never tire of you. Please believe that."

"Take me home, please." Home… music to my ears. I picked her up and started for the door. Hal stood in front of us and looked Steph square in the face, trying to get a read on her.

"You alright?" He was treating her like a second sister, maybe like he's getting a second chance at protecting his loved one.

"Ya, I'm good."

He tilted his head slightly and whispered just loud enough for her and myself to hear, "want me to kick anyone's ass for you?"

She chuckled. "Not just yet, I'll keep that in mind, though." She reached up on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek. He gave her a wink and then stepped aside for us to leave.

I have been watching them together lately, especially in the gun range. I didn't like him so close to my woman, having to touch her to position her body in the correct shooting stances, but I knew it was platonic, and I was thankful he was so protective of her. Tank was watching our interaction and told me he'd catch a ride home from Lula later. I turned back and nodded at him.