Disclaimer: The characters belonging to Janet Evanovich are used strictly for entertainment purposes.
A/N: Thanks so much to my wonderful readers and those who have sent me encouragement. I appreciate you all SO much. Again, M and Alf, don't know what I would do without you BOTH. M, thanks for pulling triple duty on this one since I was so behind this week.
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Ranger glanced at his teenage daughter in the passenger seat beside him and resisted the urge to grit his teeth. She'd worn a jacket, jeans, and the three inch heels he'd felt were too expensive for a sixteen year old girl, but let her talk him into buying anyway. He figured she wore an acceptably conservative top beneath the jacket.
He looked forward to the night out with Julie. It always gave him a rush of fatherly pleasure when she smiled or laughed with excitement over anything he gave her, even if it was as simple as a ticket to a movie she wanted to see. Life was as good as it could be, that is, without Stephanie in his life.
He pulled out of his parking garage with a smile on his face and an evening full of promise ahead of him, when Julie unzipped her jacket to reveal a little pale purple camisole with dark purple lace at the top. He felt a low growl building inside at the way the top accentuated her small, developing breasts; just another reminder that she was no longer a little girl.
"What . Is. That. Top. You're. Wearing?" he ground out in a low, even tone.
"What's wrong with it? It's the sort of stuff my friends and I wear in Miami to go out," she explained.
"This is not Miami. The jacket stays on tonight."
"Dad, I can't wear this jacket in the club! I'll look like a freak!" She crossed her arms and looked out her window.
"You will not go out in public in that top," his quiet voice seethed.
She clenched her jaw and squeezed her arms tighter across her chest in defiance. "It's too late and the jacket's not going to happen, dad." She huffed out a small breath that created a small circle of fog on the window which quickly disappeared. "Unless you want to just forget the evening and go back to the apartment."
He gave a weary sigh and said, "I just learned an important lesson tonight about teenagers."
"Yeah? What was that? We know how to dress ourselves?" she asked with teenage arrogance, turning back to him.
"Make that two things. First, they're stubborn and irrational. Second, always do a wardrobe check before going out. I can't believe you're wearing so," he paused, searching for the right word, "little. I thought you had more sense than to show off your body like that."
"What?" She was angry now and he could hear her mentally spitting and sharpening her claws. He knew he'd made a mistake and he had to fix it before it spun out of control.
"Jules, I'm sorry," he said quietly. He held out his hand for her to take it. After a moment of hesitation, she did. "I didn't mean to make it sound like an insult. I'm not ready for you to grow up."
"Well, I am, dad. I can't stop it and neither can you."
He pulled off the side of the road and gathered her close in his arms. How did he always mess these things up? "I wish I'd been there for you all along."
She lifted her face to look at him and squeezed him tight. "Dad, it's okay. There were times when I was confused about your absence from my life, but mom and Ron never let me take it personally. They told me you did it because you loved me, and I believed them. I won't say it didn't hurt, but we're past it now. Aren't we?"
"I wish I knew how to stop hurting the ones I loved," he said more to himself than her and she didn't respond. She didn't know how to help him except to continue to love him.
"So, this concert is at a club?" she asked.
Ranger nodded. "Yes."
"Aaanndd," she dragged the word out dramatically, "what makes you think they will let me in?"
He flicked a glance at her. "You're with me; no one will ask." Julie rolled her eyes and punched his arm playfully.
"What kind of music is it?"
Ranger shrugged. "I think it's alternative; I didn't really pay attention."
Her brow furrowed. "Why are we going to a concert if you're not sure what kind of music it is?"
"Because," he flashed her a wide grin, "Stephanie Plum sings in one of the bands."
"Really?" she asked and her face lit up with excitement. He nodded and she shouted, "Dad, that's awesome! I can't wait."
He smiled. "I thought you'd like it."
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"That band was really good!" Mary Lou yelled across the table to Connie, but her mind was already looking for an excuse to leave so she could head back stage.
Lula nodded her head in agreement. "They got it. I can dig a female lead singer. 'Bout time they get some good bands with strong women up on that stage." She sipped her Margarita and said, "I should give Sally a call and get us out performing again." Her statement was met with groans from the table's two other occupants.
"What's the phrase? Don't kick a dead horse?" Connie asked the table at large.
Lula glared in Connie's direction. "That's beat a dead horse, Miss Thang, and watch it. I may not work at the bonds office, but I can still come in there and kick your ass."
"Love to stick around and see how this turns out, but I gotta use the little girl's room," Mary Lou said as she grabbed her clutch from the table top.
Mary Lou's eyes skittered across the club in search of the restrooms and the stage door. She found both after a few moments, but the doors were on opposite sides of the stage along the back wall. The place was packed, so Lou figured she could hide in the crowd.
"I'll come with you," Connie said and jumped off the tall bar stool. "I had one too many martinis."
"Okay, but I, uh, thought I saw someone I knew across the club. I was going to head over to see and say hi."
"Girl, one thing we don't do is let a friend wander off alone in a crazy place like this. Look how packed it is," Lula said as she climbed down from her stool. "We'll come with you, maybe we know this person, too."
"Really, it's no trouble. Wouldn't want you to miss the bathroom line. Why don't you go wait for me and I'll be right over?" Lou started to panic at their insistence.
"Con, I think she doesn't want us to come with her. What are you hidin', Mary Lou?" Lula gave her a pointed look then scanned her eyes around the crowd.
Mary Lou felt frantic. She didn't want to miss Stephanie, but didn't see a way to get rid of Lula and Connie. "Fine, come with me." Her shoulders sagged while she spoke and turned around to walk toward the door leading backstage. When they arrived at the door, a humongous man stood guard and put up his hand to stop their progress. She raised herself up to her tip-toes and said, "I'm here to see Michelle. My name is Mary Lou and these are my guests."
"Give me their names, I'll need to check," said the large man who looked like a cross between Schwarzenegger and Van Damme on steroids. He jotted down their names before he disappeared inside the stage door. A moment later, he appeared and flipped his thumb in the direction of a short guy with mousy brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses. "Go with him."
The women followed the little man through the door. "Michelle is through here." He pushed open a wood door and it opened to a huge dressing room area where Naked Soul stood in a circle laughing and talking in loud, excited voices.
Mary Lou turned to their escort. "Excuse me. We're looking for Michelle. She said she worked here?"
The man cocked his head to the side for a moment and then shrugged. "Yeah, just go in; she said she was expecting you."
Just then a familiar voice shouted, "Lou! Connie! Lula!"
The women turned to see the sapphire and silver-clad female member of Naked Soul rushing toward them with her arms out. She threw her arms around Mary Lou and said in a shaky voice, "Hey! You made it."
"Stephanie?" Mary Lou asked. She pulled back and looked into her friend's face. "You're in the band?"
"Hold on! Stephanie Plum?" Lula shouted. She walked over and studied the teary eyed woman. "You've been gone a year and joined a band? You play guitar?"
"Oh my God," was all Connie could say. Everyone stared at their friend, trying to make the connection between their clumsy bounty hunter friend and this incredibly talented musician.
Stephanie held out one arm to Lula and Connie, who walked over and engulfed Stephanie and Mary Lou in a group hug. A chorus of voices rose up as they all began to speak at once.
"This is quite the reunion!" The women looked up and stepped apart to see an incredibly handsome man approaching. His mirror image, dressed similarly with the exception of an olive green shirt instead of red and a different design painted onto the opposite side of his face, came to stand beside him.
"Belle, who are your cute friends?" The first twin asked.
Stephanie grinned at the two men and the other two band members joined the group. One had black hair and lightly tanned skin, the other had flaming red hair and green eyes, both were muscular and worthy of a little drool. The women were silent, staring at the hard bodies in front of them. Stephanie pointed to each of the men as she made introductions.
"Listen up guys," Merc, the twin wearing the olive green t-shirt, said, "Scott sent me a text and said they think we're great and they'll see us in a couple of months." Stephanie gave a small fist pump and got swallowed up in a group hug by the men before they waved and left to go pack up the band's gear. It was obvious they were giving Stephanie and the girls some privacy.
Stephanie turned back to find all three women gaping at her. Lou was the first to find her voice and she exclaimed, "How the hell do you do it?"
"Do what?"'
"Find all these incredibly sexy men who surround you all the time? First the Merry Men and now the band? You have hot man Karma!" Lou shook her head in amazement. She leaned toward Stephanie and lowered her voice, "Seriously, Steph? Twins?"
Stephanie laughed. "They're all like family to me." Mostly.
Lou looked a little skeptical. "Sure, family, but I'd be thinking along the lines of related by marriage."
Connie asked, "So, Mary Lou knew where you were this whole time?" She shot Mary Lou an accusing glare.
"No. I just called her a few days ago and invited her here," Stephanie explained. "I wanted to start getting back in touch with everyone." She bit her lip and looked at each one of them, her eyes full of worry and sorrow. "I want to apologize for what I did, leaving and not calling, worrying everyone."
"Girl, I've got so many things to say to you, I don't know where to begin," Lula said in a loud voice. "Oh wait, yes I do. Give me one reason I shouldn't turn and hightail it right the hell outta here." She crossed her arms and fixed Stephanie with angry eyes.
Stephanie swallowed and blinked back her tears. With a slow nod, she said, "I can't and won't stop you if you leave, but then you'll miss out on the details of the last year and my conversation with Ranger yesterday." She watched Lula's expressions change from anger to annoyance, then annoyance to greedy curiosity, and she knew her friend would stay.
"Well, damn, girl. You know I would never really walk out on you, but why didn't you ever tell me you could play like that? You're the shit, girlfriend." Connie nodded her agreement.
Stephanie noticed the women's eyes drifting to the men working behind her. Lula shook her head slowly and said, "Woman, when life hands you lemons, you leave town and then the god of sexy men hands you four studs serving you one hell of a glass of lemonade. How do you do it?" Stephanie held her hands up in a 'beats me' gesture and shrugged.
Connie smiled and Mary Lou piped in. "So, tell us about running into Ranger yesterday."
"Okay, I'll start at the beginning." She discovered all three women knew about the scene in Ranger's apartment the night she left and that the Merry Men never fully gave up looking for her, though they did tone down their search from 'intense' to 'routine' after a couple of months.
When Stephanie relayed the diner scene from yesterday, the girls were beside themselves. "You left him saying you had business and to leave you a message?" Connie screeched. "Ohhhh, that is the best. Please tell me he looked just the way you used to look when he did that to you?"
Stephanie bit her lip. "Well…" The women shouted in hysterics over the image. She grinned at them.
When she would have said more, Lucio burst into the room and made a beeline for Stephanie. "I got back here as fast as I could, Belle. It took me forever to get to the Denali, then I had the wrong set of keys, and–" he stopped speaking and glanced around at the women ogling him. "Friends of yours?"
"Yeah, from Trenton." She introduced the girls and looked at the garment bag Lucio held. "Okay, this outfit is skin tight, so I'll need your help to get out of it." Her friends' jaws dropped, but she pretended not to notice.
"That's why I'm here, Sug. We're in a hurry." His not-so-subtle hint made her realize she had to say goodbye.
Stephanie gave the women an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry, girls. We have to leave in about fifteen minutes to head back to Atlantic City for a late concert tonight at our regular place." Stephanie and the ladies bade each other a hasty, slightly teary, goodbye and she promised to visit Trenton the next week. Watching them leave was bittersweet, but the clock was ticking and she didn't have time to dwell on her thoughts.
"I'll hang this on the door. Let's get this off you and I'll give you a few to get dressed." It took a couple of minutes, but they finally got the skintight shirt off her without ripping it. "I think you can handle the pants on your own," he said with a wink and disappeared.
No sooner had she stripped off her shimmery silver pants and pulled on a pair of moss green denim hot pants and knee high black leather boots than there was a knock at the door. "Belle? You decent?"
"Enough for you, come in," she called out. She heard the door open and immediately felt a hum of energy shoot through the familiar place in her lower back and fan upward toward her neck. Before she turned around, she grabbed a pink camouflage tank top from the hanger and held it over her chest.
"Ranger," she said with a carefully neutral voice when their eyes met. She thought of the various ways she could kill Lucio for his trickery, but then her eyes drifted to Ranger's companion. "Julie?"
Julie looked surprised for a minute and then her lips spread into a wide smile. "Stephanie? I can't believe how fantastic you were out there tonight!"
"Hey, let me tug on this shirt and we can talk, okay?" Julie nodded and Stephanie turned around to pull the tank on, then turned back around. "How are you, kiddo?" she asked, pulling Julie into a warm hug. "You look beautiful; a beautiful young woman."
The sight of Julie dredged up all the old feelings from the Scrog incident she'd forgotten: the bond formed with Julie over their captivity, the partnership with Ranger, and the moment she realized how much she loved him. She tamped down her emotions, but noticed her voice was a little wobbly as she and Julie caught up and she listened to the stunning girl's animated chatter.
Stephanie felt Ranger's intense gaze on her the entire time. She wasn't sure she could handle it much longer when he reached out and traced his fingertip over the brand on her arm. "Chasing away demons, Babe?" From his expression, she knew he was thinking of Abruzzi, but the moment his eyes captured the words injured, refused, alone, comprehension filled them and he looked at her with a grim expression. "Or fools?"
Stephanie's brow furrowed at his last statement, but she decided it was best to avoid the topic. "Did you guys like the show?"
"You didn't answer my question," Ranger said.
"Stop," Stephanie said in a low voice.
Julie stepped closer to them and asked, "What's going on with you two? Why are you acting so weird with each other?" She turned to Ranger and asked, "What did you do, Ranger?"
Ranger compressed his lips against the blow of Julie calling him Ranger instead of dad. He didn't speak, neither did Stephanie. They continued to stare at each other, unblinking.
Suddenly, Julie let out an angry puff of air. "You didn't feed her that whole 'It isn't safe for me to be in your life' bullshit, did you?"
"Julie, language!" he barked out.
"Not this time, dad. It is bullshit, and you know it." She would have argued further, but the sound of Stephanie's voice cut her off.
"Don't worry, Julie," Stephanie said. "There was never a relationship for him to avoid." She gave Julie a sad smile and grabbed a black denim cropped jacket from the other hanger.
"Dad?" Julie knew something wasn't right, but neither adult would speak.
Ranger looked at his daughter and softened his features. He walked over and wrapped her in a loving embrace, kissing the top of her head. "Stephanie came to me one night a while ago, princesa. She tried to give me a beautiful, perfect gift and I was too stupid and scared to accept it, so I gave it back. I hurt her." He held on tight to Julie, but turned his face to look at Stephanie. "She didn't deserve that."
The sight of Ranger in 'dad' mode shot straight to her heart, but Stephanie pursed her lips and swallowed hard, refusing to give in to her emotions. "No, I didn't, but I was wrong, too, Julie. When he rejected my, uh, gift, I made a hasty decision and chose to run instead of standing up for myself. I didn't consider what it would cost others. In that respect, we were the same." She saw Ranger close his eyes and kiss the top of Julie's head once again. "It's something I have to make amends for and a mistake I won't repeat."
"Mistakes are only worthwhile if we can learn from them," Ranger said. "Sometimes the only way to discover if we learned is to be tested again."
Stephanie held her breath and prayed he couldn't see the vein pulsing wildly in her neck. She didn't know what game he was playing, but she was determined not to be a participant. He'd already told her how he felt about sharing a life with her and couldn't imagine he'd changed his mind. Yet, she couldn't shake the thought that he was asking for a second chance, and that was one thing she didn't know if she could give.
Thankfully, before he could say anything else, the door opened and a frantic Geo rushed in. "Hey, Carlos." He nodded to Ranger and received a slight nod back. "Belle, we've gotta jet."
"Mm-kay." She turned to Julie and smiled as much as she was able. "Great to see you, Julie. We have a concert in Newark this summer. Ask your dad if you can come watch us if you're around." She sent Ranger a meaningful glance that said she meant without him.
"Awesome, thanks. I liked your music. If I'm here, it'd be fun." Julie and Stephanie exchanged a quick hug.
"Great. See ya, kiddo." She waved to both of them and followed Geo, who had gathered up her belongings, out the door. She cast one final glance back into the room and caught the look of torment on Ranger's face. She was in too much of a hurry to think about the questions running through the back of her mind, but she also knew they'd have to be sifted sometime soon.