Disclaimer: The characters belonging to Janet Evanovich are used strictly for entertainment purposes.
A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! I could hardly wait until today to get the second chapter out. I also want to thank my beta, M, for putting in some serious time last night to help me make sure this baby was still ready for your eyes!
Ranger stared at the door after Stephanie's departure, his stomach in knots. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, but it had been unavoidable. The government had called tonight to send him on another six to twelve month mission. That meant he could be gone longer than a year. Confess his love and then make her wait? He couldn't do that to her.
But did you have to break her heart? He ran his hand through his damp hair and swore under his breath as he strode to his bedroom. He didn't have time to think about it. The chopper would be there in fifteen minutes to pick him up and he still had to pack his bag and wrap up a couple of business matters with Tank. Why did she have to come here tonight of all nights and say that to me?
He tugged on his cargoes and then his t-shirt before he sat on the bed to put on his socks. When another knock sounded on his front door he froze and his heart thumped against his rib cage. It wasn't her knock, yet deep down inside he wanted it to be her, if for no other reason than to hear those three words pass over her lips one more time. But it was a selfish and irrational stood straight and closed his eyes for a moment. She loves me. Me! Why? He was certain she wouldn't come back, but he'd also been certain he'd never hear those three words from her and that she would marry Morelli.
He muttered multiple curses in English and Spanish on his way to door, flung it open, and hoped she hadn't returned. He wouldn't be able to send her away a second time. The person who stood on the other side of the door was someone Ranger did not want to see until he was ready. He turned his back on the large hulk of a man that filled the doorway. Tank's posture was stiff and anger rolled off his shoulders in continuous waves.
"If you want to yell at me, you'd better do it fast. Chopper on the roof in twelve minutes." He walked back to his bedroom and sat on his bed to pull on his socks.
Tank appeared in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. "What'd you say to the Bombshell, man?"
"Nothing. I told her nothing." It was the truth and he didn't feel the need to explain himself.
Tank gave him a skeptical look and Ranger hoped he would drop it, but knew better. "You told her nothing … Oh shit! Are you out of your fucking mind?" Ranger's eyes snapped up into Tank's enraged ones and he bit back an expletive. Leave it to Tank to take his cryptic sentence and figure out the picture in less than twenty seconds.
"That woman came up here to tell you how she feels and you shoved it back into her face, didn't you? What is wrong with you, Ranger?" Tank's fists balled at his sides and Ranger narrowed his eyes at his friend and fought to control the overload of adrenaline that coursed through his body. Now was not the time to have a pissing match with his friend because he was sure it wouldn't end well.
"Tank, I'll have to fix it when I get back … if I get back. How could I end it any other way? Tell her that I love her and then make her wait for God knows how long for me to return?" Ranger shook his head and tugged on his combat boots, and then he tied the laces tight around the cuffs of his cargoes. Tank walked over and packed the rest of his gear into his duffel for him, and Ranger sent him a nod of thanks when he went to grab his jacket, guns, knives, and Kevlar vest from the closet.
When Ranger was ready to go, with five minutes to spare, Tank crossed his arms again and stared into his friend's eyes. "That's about the dumbest thing I've known you to do. You hurt that sweet, sweet woman. I don't even have to tell you what she looked like when she walked out of here, do I? You know she would have waited for you."
A dull ache of remorse gathered in Ranger's chest and he shook his head. "No, you don't have to tell me. And I know she would have, but you know what it's like to go on a mission and leave someone you love behind. You start to feel guilty for how long you're gone, for the actions you have to take … I don't have time to do this right now, Tank. I've got to go."
Ranger took a step forward and stopped cold when a fist slammed into his jaw. He flew backward onto the floor and stared up at his friend in shock. "That's for Stephanie. She's not going to be the same after tonight. It took courage for her to come up here, courage I never thought she'd have. What have you done?"
Tank left the apartment and the door banged closed behind him and rattled the wall. Ranger sat up and rubbed his jaw. He didn't have time to think about tonight's events or how he would make Tank pay for the cheap shot. He grabbed his duffel and hustled his ass out of the apartment and up the stairs to the roof. No sooner had he blasted through the door than a chopper approached and landed on the small helipad they kept for just this purpose.
He crouched over, ran under the whirling blades, slipped into the seat next to the pilot, who gave him a slight nod, and then felt the chopper lift off before he got his safety harness buckled. As he watched Trenton disappear in the night behind him, his final words to Stephanie tormented his thoughts. I promised you nothing. Nothing. Great job, asshole. Great job. He could only hope that one day he would have the chance to repair the trust he'd broken, but he couldn't focus on it now. First, he had to make it back to Trenton alive.
*\/*\/*\/*\/*
Tank crashed his way into his office and dropped into his desk chair. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this angry. Of all the no-good, lying, gutless things Ranger could have done, this one took the cake. The man was a real piece of work and he had thrown away the only spot of good he had allowed into his life. The man is clinically insane, that has to be the reason!
A knock sounded on his door and he called out a gruff, "Enter."
Lester poked his head in. "Hey, just thought you should know that Stephanie went off-line about five minutes ago."
Tank glared at Lester. "From the lack of activity, I guess we assume it was on purpose?"
Lester nodded. "When the woman wants to hide…"
Tank rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, I know. This time she has a right to her privacy. Let's give her some space. Call Connie in the morning and ask who Steph's skips are so we can keep an eye on her from a distance?"
"What happened?" Lester had a genuine look of concern on his face, which didn't surprise Tank. Stephanie and Lester had partnered up a few times and they got along famously. Lester had a soft spot for curly haired brunettes since his cousin, Anita, had had the same hair type. Anita and Lester had been close throughout their formative years and into their high school days. No one knew she suffered from a congenital heart defect, and her sudden death at 21 devastated the family. Most of all, Lester. The man didn't talk about her with anyone, but Tank knew that every year on her birthday and on the day she died, he visited her grave.
Tank laid the scene out for Lester and waited until the man's curses died down before he continued. "I tell you, man. He's off his rocker! Why would he go and do something so stupid? He feels the same way. We know it. Hell, I think she even knows it."
"I don't know, but I'm pissed that you got your hands on him first." Lester began to pace. "We can't leave her alone tonight. What if she needs someone?"
"I think it's best to give her time."
"I disagree." Lester shot Tank a look of stubborn defiance and the big man sighed.
"Fine. Keep an eye on her apartment and, if you see any sign that she needs a friend, be my guest. Personally, I think she just needs time to cry and do whatever it is that women do when they've had their hearts ripped out and stomped on by the man they love." Tank sat with his hands up as if to say, 'it's your funeral' to Lester.
"Fine, that's what I'll do."
"You're still on shift at 0600 tomorrow morning."
"I'll be here," Lester shot over his shoulder as he walked out of the office.
*\/*\/*\/*\/*
Lester's mind reeled. He had some idea of how upset Steph would be and he didn't like that she could be alone. He smashed his fist into the nearest wall and clenched his teeth at the pain that shot up his arm when his flesh and bone met the solid metal.
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Stephanie's number, but it went straight to voicemail. No surprise there. She always went incommunicado when hurt or angry, tonight would be no exception.
When the elevator doors opened in the garage, he had a plan in place. He slid into his personal car, a black Mercedes SL600, and tore out of the garage on his way to Pino's. He'd stop and pick up her favorite pizza and check out her apartment. He bet that if she'd come to Rangeman to confess her everlasting love for The Bastard, she wouldn't go back to Morelli's tonight.
That thought gave him pause. Why would she leave Morelli's house and come over to tell Carlos that out of the blue? Hmm, he'd have to think about that when he had a chance to sit down. He saw Morelli's Duc parked in front of Pino's when he pulled up. Perhaps he could find out if Morelli knew what was going on; covertly, of course.
The moment he walked into Pino's, two things became clear. First, the place was dead and only four people occupied the place: Morelli and three women, all four seated at the same table. The second was that all three women were working their way into one huge Morelli orgy. Lester knew the game; hell, he'd played it himself. Morelli was sizing the women up, to make his choice about which of them would go home with him. The way it looked, Lester figured all three would join in on the fun. As soon as Morelli's eye caught Lester's, he flipped him the bird and went back to the make out session with the blonde to his right.
Morelli's public 'Don Juan' display stirred Lester's curiosity and tempered his anger. He started to add up the night's events in his head. Morelli, in Pino's, with three women at once; Steph, at Rangeman, confessing her love to Ranger. Felt like a major break up, one Lester hoped had been reciprocal and not just another painful experience shoved into Steph's life.
Lester picked up the pizza he'd ordered on the way in, made his way to Steph's apartment, and carried the large box up the flight of stairs to her door on the second floor. There hadn't been any lights on in her apartment, but Lester knew that didn't mean much. He rapped on the door with his knuckles and got no response, so he did a quick glance around and then picked the useless lock.
He knew the moment he walked in that Steph hadn't come back to her old apartment tonight. The place was cold, the thermostat set low. There was an untouched layer of dust on her coffee table and her bed was bare. Her answering machine and phone sat on the side table with the wires loose on the dusty surface. He frowned when he noticed that Rex's cage still sat on its little stand, empty. The apartment was just as she'd left it when she had moved in with Morelli.
He pulled out his phone and hit speed dial two for Tank's cell and waited just long enough for Tank to answer with his standard 'Talk' before he spoke. "She never came back to her apartment. It's exactly as it was when she moved out."
There was a short pause and then a sigh. "Just leave her alone. She's most likely at a friend's, maybe Mary Lou or Lula. She could be at her parents' house. Hell, after what Ranger did, she could be back at Morelli's."
"No way, man. I saw Morelli in Pino's and from the looks of the blonde, the redhead, and the brunette, his scorecard was full for the night. There's no way Steph would go to his house, especially if she broke it off with him, and you know how her mom treats her. Can you call Lula and ask if she's heard from Steph?" He felt the heaviness of Tank's silence.
"I'll call Lula, but then you owe me free lunch for a week. That woman scares the hell out of me." Lester chuckled as Tank hung up and returned to his car. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards Mary Lou's house. That man is so toast and he doesn't even know it. He didn't know how, but Lula would get her hands on Tank again and the world as everyone knew it would end.
The suspicion that no one knew Stephanie's whereabouts started to work through Lester's mind and that thought worried the hell out of him. She was spontaneous, irrational, and a little bit crazy at times, but she'd always been predictable … until tonight. It shocked him that she would come out and tell Carlos how she felt about him. Lester was angry and ready to pound some flesh at the cold response his cousin had given her.
*\/*\/*\/*\/*
Stephanie eased her car off onto the shoulder of the road as far from the white line as possible. "No! You stupid piece of crap!" She thumped her hand on the steering wheel and leaned her head down to rest it against the cold plastic. She'd ignored the steady red LED picture of a battery for the past fifty miles. The entire time she'd had this car, it had run just fine. Sure, it made funny noises when it started and when she switched it off, but it had been reliable, even if she'd had to replace three batteries. "Way to go. You must be a man … and the third one that's run out on me tonight, at that!"
"Damn it!" She shouted and hit the steering wheel again. A pair of headlights shone a brilliant light that reflected in her rearview mirror as a large truck approached from behind. What do you know? There are Good Samaritans in Jersey after ten o'clock.
She started to reevaluate the Good Samaritan thought as she watched two men get out and walk toward her car. When a pair of knuckles rapped on her window, she was a mass of tightly coiled nerves. She tamped down her panic and cracked her window open to look at the masculine, bearded face half in shadow and half in light from the glare of the headlights.
"Hey, we saw you go off the road, you need some help?" The voice sounded kind enough, even if the appearance was scary.
Wary, Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, the battery just died on me. It's the third new one I've had to get in three months."
The man's eyes twinkled and he directed, "Pop open your hood, we'll have a look." Stephanie bent to pop the hood and the man's friend, who had left without her notice, walked past the passenger window from their truck with a flashlight. The first man left her window and joined his friend and both looked under the hood for all of thirty seconds. One of them dropped the hood down with a loud bang and both walked over to her window. Shock filled her at the two identical bearded faces that appeared together back in her window. "Alternator belt's busted. You won't get this car anywhere tonight. Do you need a ride somewhere?" The one who spoke glimpsed her possessions in the backseat. "We have room for your stuff."
Stephanie gave a nervous flick of her eyes from one man to the other and saw kindness and sincerity in theirs. Given her luck with men on this particular day, she wasn't sure that she could trust two more, let alone strangers, but she didn't have much choice. At this point, they hadn't murdered her and left her body in the Barrens, so she felt confident that she might make it to Atlantic City in one piece.
"Okay." She took a deep gulp of air and then smiled at them. "Thanks, I could use a ride to Atlantic City."
The men looked at each other and then grinned. Stephanie began to think she'd made a terrible mistake when one of them, either the first or the second guy, she had no clue now, turned to her with an amused look. "Then you're in luck. We live there and we're headed back tonight."
She smiled, grabbed her handbag, and opened the door after they stepped back. "I'm…" She hesitated and thought it better not to give them her real name until she knew them better, so decided to improvise. "Michelle. Michelle Cherry." After all, Michelle was her middle name and Cherry was close to Plum. They both have pits, which was where her life was at the moment.
"Good to meet you, Michelle. I'm Thaddeus Mercer, you can call me Thad or Merc, up to you." He held out his hand and shook hers. "This is my twin brother, Geoffrey, everyone calls him Geo."
Stephanie shook Geo's hand, made suitable pleasantries that would make her mother proud, and then leaned back into her car to grab her clothes basket. Geo tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to move aside, then reached in to grab it for her. "It's chilly. Go ahead and climb in the truck. We'll get your stuff."
Relieved that she didn't have to haul the heavy stuff once more, she started to walk to their truck and then stopped. "Um…" Both men turned to look at her with curious expressions. She'd had a spontaneous idea. A crazy, stupid, bad, bad idea … and she loved it. "Would you both care if we just pushed my car off the road here and let it go find a bush to hide behind?"
"You're not a criminal, are you?" Geo asked, eyeing her warily.
Stephanie grinned at their identical skeptical looks and said, "No. But I do have people who will look for me and I don't want them to find me right now."
"You're not in the mob, are you?" It was Merc's turn to look concerned.
"No. I'm not. I'm sorry, but I need to get away from Trenton and if your offer to take me still stands, I'd like to go as soon as possible." The men saw the look of vulnerability in her eyes and wondered who had caused such deep wounds that she would run off in such an unsafe car.
"No worries, Sweetie. We'll get you to AC, just hop in."
"My car?"
"Done."
Stephanie smiled as she pulled herself into the backseat of the large Silverado extended cab and watched the two strong men shove her car down the embankment. She took in the scenery around her and noticed the bright red color of the truck and she was never so glad to not be in a black vehicle.