Something's Burning: Chapter 17
I appreciate all those wonderful, wonderful people who have taken the time to write a review as well as followers, favourites and alerts list people. Thank you for all your encouragement especially a BIG thank you to Margaret. You are awesome even when you harass me and whine. ;)
Anything familiar is JE's but this plot is mine. I'm not making any money but having fun playing in this Plumverse.
..oooOooo..
The dominoes have fallen and the demise of the Plum household has rocked their world as they are stuck together, like it or not. Frank did not find his cojones. Edna had her brief escape. Helen had the shock of her life. Perhaps their door should have a sign saying Egypt, Land of Denial. The Plum family just fizzles into nothingness, no one of relevance any more... nonentities.
Her Burg standing and influence will plummet.
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CHAPTER 17: Regrets and Dinner Dates
Frank's POV:
Over a quiet breakfast the miserable, despondent atmosphere was finally broken.
"So, you went to the beach? Let me guess. Point Pleasant?" I gave Helen a single nod with a questioning look, admittedly I was surprised. How could she know that?
"Sand in the bed."
Oh. Yeah. I hadn't even put my shoes back on let alone wipe the sand off my bare feet on my dazed journey home.
"And you Mother? You moved out? Without saying a word? When?"
Edna looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Not my story to tell, Edna."
"Yes, Helen, I did. Three days ago. It became so unbearable living here under the same roof."
"Three days ago?" Helen was incredulous. She was shocked.
Another long silence seeped into the kitchen like a thick, dense fog.
"Was I that bad?" Helen's quiet tentative voice interrupted all our deep thoughts, our deep regrets.
"Yes, you were," Edna and I replied softly in unison.
"We all were, Helen. But you really went over the top with your obsession with that Joseph and especially all your gossiping, such malicious, hateful, interfering, scornful gossiping, Helen. You know what they say about people in glass houses?" Edna calmly remarked.
"I wanted the best for her. I wanted her to be happy. I -"
"No, Helen. You wanted to choose for her, to be like you, like a good Burg mother and wife … married with children, a stay at home Mom. She may as well have become a Stepford wife. It was her choice, not yours. We both fuelled the fires of frenzied gossips: me at the Clip 'n Curl to be one up on the others with my inside scoop; you, with your constant nagging and harassment and coercion with dinner and cake … and that wretched phone. And you Frank?"
"I said nothing in her defence. I should have told you to stop. I enabled you, both of you. I allowed this to go on too far. I have sat here oblivious and switched off, avoiding confrontations, instead of being more aware of my surroundings. We may as well make a sign for the front porch: Egypt, Land of Denial. But I think we can move forward. We have to. I don't ever want to feel so low and dejected again."
Silence once again prevailed, none of us eating, each of us deep with our thoughts, our regrets, our guilt.
"Where did you go, Mother?"
Edna looked pained and down-hearted.
"Millicent's. I thought we were kindred spirits but she has no stamina and it wasn't really fun while it lasted. A visit is okay, I realised. But living with her was not such a good plan. She's too staid for my liking."
I couldn't help it. I snorted and then I laughed, but not one of those deep cleansing laughs. How ironic.
"We're such a pitiful, pathetic, miserable bunch."
If misery loves company, misery has company enough.
Edna and Helen nodded as Helen's hands were wringing in her apron.
"Do you think she will ever come to see us?" Her voice was small and the veracity of those ten little words hit us all hard.
The phone did not ring once. There were no arguments, no yelling up or down the stairs, no jostling for the bathroom. We had reached an accord without words. And so we sat in the silence of our gloom and guilt wondering if our beautiful blue-eyed daughter and granddaughter would ever want to see us again.
So now we will slowly dig our way out of this misery, one step at a time out of this pit of despair. I will make sure that the three of us never go back to that life again. That's not living. It's time I took control and we talked to each other and forget about the grapevine and its terrible consequences. Tomorrow is a new day as they say but it begins now, today, one step at a time.
oooOooo
"We have a meeting, Babe, if you recall." I followed him to find Bobby, Tank and Lester all waiting and looking very pleased, Lester with his shit-eating grin and Bobby like the cat that got the canary. Tank had his arms folded and a huge white smile on his visage. Their eyes were acknowledging each other smugly and I detected a distinct degree of pride. Why do I feel like I have walked into a scripted scenario? Like I have just played into their hands …
oooOooo
Stephanie's POV
Ranger pulled out a chair for me to sit in, still holding my hand, a huge grin on his face, 100 watts on full beam. Bobby, Lester and Tank took their seats around the conference table and Ranger sat beside me, his thumb gently rubbing circles on the back of my hand. I looked at each one warily but they were all amused.
"What?" I asked a little perplexed at their amusement but curious all the same and suspicious. Yes, very suspicious. This only made their smiles bigger.
"Okay. What gives? You look pleased. Did I just step into a trap? Did you plan this? Are you making fun of me? Is there an ulterior motive? " I was getting a little edgy, ready to get up until Ranger caressed my arms and whispered into my ear.
"You were wonderful, Babe. We are so proud. Don't be annoyed, Querida."
"You have no idea what you just did, Little Girl, do you?"
I shrugged and shook my head feeling a little bewildered.
"Was that a test?"
"No, Bomber, not a test. But you were amazing."
"A couple of weeks ago I was at the Bond Office, Beautiful, when you and Connie were discussing an FTA. Glancing at our files you recognised the one on top. You just made a few passing comments about what he was doing there and in that brief time you gave me more information than we could ever have found. After trying to track him down unsuccessfully, I recalled and relayed your remarks, that inside knowledge and his family connections, in the Burg as you say, to Rodriguez. He ran with it and all of a sudden we had the inside scoop. The skip had evaded us for a while and your choice little bits of information and knowledge made this an easy apprehension. Without your info he could have eluded capture."
"Yes. Then Hector shows you our search engines and once again your expertise in local knowledge gave us a huge advantage. You cross-referenced and strategised like a pro."
On cue, Hector knocked and walked in, chuckling and shaking his head. He pointed his finger at me.
"You, Chica, are an amazing woman! Ranger had better be good to you. Perhaps I can be better." He winked and kissed me on the temple. "Once we added your information, the rest was straightforward. A relatively easy capture once we knew where to look. We couldn't have done it without you. Zero and Cal are already en route to the TPD."
"There you go, Babe. You have amazing instincts and remarkable local knowledge. You are intuitive and curious." Ranger's hand held my chin as he looked me in the eye with pride.
"Given that and your insatiable curiosity, we would like to offer you a job here at Rangeman. Would you consider working with us and giving us your local knowledge and that tenacity for finding people? You have already given us a glimpse of your incredible talents."
Bobby added, "You mastered the advanced search engines with relative ease, Bomber, and we have always admired your track record with Vinnie with limited resources at your command. Think what you can do with better technology at your fingertips?"
"And, by being on staff at Rangeman, you would also have health benefits and -"
"Okay. Okay. Cut the sales pitch. I'm in. Where do I sign already?"
Ranger scooped me up and spun me around with a look of elation on his face, his eyes getting that dark, smouldering look, when all of a sudden we were pelted with wads of paper! WTF! Oh, I like the look of those eyes. Hmm-mm. What I'd like to do with him right now. Day-am! Another pair bites the dust. Hey! More wads of paper at me this time to the chorus of loud booming laughter from my Merry Men.
A full 200 watts shone down on me as he sat me on his lap, still grinning one of those shit-eating grins. I took a deep breath and considered my thoughts on rewind. Oh. My. God. Give me a donut , please.
"Out loud?" I squeaked. He smirked and nodded. Oh boy. I clunked my head on his shoulder while his body vibrated with silent laughter.
"You have yet to tell me about those donuts, Babe. I recall you saying something about jelly donut hormones?" He whispered to me and I could hear the smile in his sexy, husky voice as more wads of paper rained on us.
I sat up and smirked at those mischievous Merry Men and glared at them. I took a deep, cleansing breath, to centre myself which was hard to do with Ranger and his warm hands rubbing up and down my arms. I was feeling all kinds of good, inside and out but also quite overwhelmed by their compliments on my searches and making connections. I felt rather modest when they have done so much in keeping Trenton and dark parts of the world safe.
"Is there a catch?" I was smiling but I felt the compulsion the ask questions. "What are you not telling me?"
Ranger's POV
Damn! This woman sets me on fire. She is so up front with me and my men, her Merry Men. Her jubilation and exuberance are contagious and I can see that the impact of her happy glow has had such a positive impact on all my men, not just the Core Team, but in the Control Room and Ella and Luis as well. She has brought so much light to us who have seen so much of the dark side of this world. Hector has been especially indulgent but always respectful, a new side to him that he has never shared with anyone.
Watching her as we praise her detective skills, her search techniques and strategies, you can see a certain degree of humility in her reaction. When I lifted her to spin her around in a victory spin I was awestruck by her smile as she gasped when I lifted her, that sexy breathy sigh. My mind went to lustier thoughts and I could see the same in her beautiful blue eyes that captivated my attention completely. But her verbalised disclosures had me totally enraptured. Once again a shower of scrunched paper balls showered me back into the now. Fuck! What she does to me. If my men hadn't been here I might have had my way with her here on the conference table. Madre Dios. What is she saying? TMI Babe and I grinned at her when she squeaked "Out loud?" Good to know. Must remember to find out about these jelly donut hormones. More wads of paper and I can't help but smile. I'm a fucking lucky guy.
But instead of being embarrassed and mortified, Stephanie composes herself and rallies with her best glare and diverts attention back to our previous discussion.
Tank was explaining about the expectations as an employee, the probationary period and the need to get training, gym time and use of the gun range. She was taking it all in, cringing a little at the gym time and gun range, when her phone buzzed.
Her eyes lit up and with a dismissive look at Tank, she held up her hand to check the message. There's a first time for everything I suppose. Her face lit up and suddenly her eyes were set on me in a predatory gleam. She licked her lips. Oh yes! That was so sexy and I could hear Lester's whispered curse in Spanish.
"Gentleman. This meeting is adjourned until … I don't know, later. We, Ranger and I, have another … engagement. Places to be, if you know what I mean. So if you will excuse us …?"
The men stood up respectful of her request with mutterings of "Lucky bastard," and "Madre Dios, she is so hot," as they quickly left my office. I was watching her intently, hungrily. I was curious and very much aroused with her sexy assertive tone. Down boy!
She looked me square in the eye and said,"You are coming with me. Now. We have a date, Ranger. Let's go."
A date? Where? I could think of lots of things I could do, here, in my office, now that we were alone.
"Oh, no. Not here. We'll deal with those lusty thoughts of yours later." Did I just speak out loud?
Before I could ponder any further she grabbed my hand and dragged me out of my office to the elevator. Up to seven?
She smiled suggestively at me as the door opened and whispered with that sexy, breathy voice, "On the roof, big boy." Yes, I was aroused and I pulled her in front of me to cover my obvious arousal.
All the men were watching as the doors of the elevator slowly closed, some with their mouths agape. Stephanie smiled broadly, first at me and then winked at my men and finger waved with her other hand. Lester and Bobby feigned swooning and passing out amid sighs (WTF!) and groans from the rest of the Control Room.
"Hmm. I think the entire Control Room is - " I couldn't help myself. I grabbed her face and took those luscious sexy lips in a hungry kiss, pushing her against the wall of the elevator, needing to taste her, grinding into her as I devoured her mouth with a deep and plundering kiss. She responded back, giving as much as I gave. The elevator had stopped and the lights flashed. You have got to be kidding. I totally forgot about the cameras. I gave them the one finger salute and directed Stephanie to the stairs which led to the rooftop.
"Cameras?" She asked breathlessly.
"Yeah, Babe. But I can scramble them." She let out a breath of relief.
I opened the double security doors and stepped onto the roof pulling her over the threshold. Oh. I froze momentarily. Someone has been busy. Stephanie's eyes sparkled happily as she took in the ambience of the many tiny twinkling party lights and the table set for dinner with a white cloth and candles. Soft Cuban music was playing and the entire atmosphere was for romance. Remind me to give Ella a raise. I scrambled the cameras and watched my Babe with a look of awe and delight on her face.
"Oh, Ranger. This is so, so beautiful." But I only had eyes for her. I took her hand and kissed her palm, leading her towards the table, pulling out the chair for her. I kissed her lips with a sweet lingering kiss full of promise with my hand on her neck before I gently pushed her chair in fully. She smiled dreamily up at me on a sigh. I placed her napkin in her lap brushing my hand lightly across her thigh. She hummed a sweet little moan. She took my breath away. Sometime between the elevator and coming onto the roof she had let her hair come loose from the braid and the shiny curls bounced around her shoulders shimmering in the ambient light.
"You look radiant, Babe." Her eyes are so beautiful, sparkling like deep, dark sapphires. I kissed her again, just lightly brushing my lips over hers and took my seat, beside her as the setting dictated, our thighs just touching lightly.
Eating was like sweet torture. The delicious fragrance of this meal in this beautiful setting made me hungry but after a few mouthfuls, I was hungry for something else, something that moaned with every mouthful and wriggled her hips as her hand grabbed my thigh. Fu-uck. She is sex personified and she has no idea what she is doing to me.
"Mmm-mm… Ranger this is so luscious, so delicious. Mmm. Here, open up and taste this," as she held her fork to my mouth. I was totally mesmerised watching her mouth and her sweet, torturous moans and shudders of delight with each sexy mouthful. She grinned at me, mischief gleaming in her eyes. I eyed her warily for a moment. But she was oblivious to my dilemma. I smiled indulgently.
"Oh my God. Ella has made dessert. I love your Ella. Do you think she will adopt me?"
She lifted the lid to the dessert which was a sinfully rich chocolate ganache cake with cream and succulent sexy cherries. Who knew that cherries could be sexy? But when Stephanie held them to her lips and sucked the ganache and the cream off before plunging the whole cherry into her mouth, it was sexy as sin. I swiped at the corner of her mouth with my tongue for the ganache and cream just to get to her sweet lips. Sweet indeed. She tasted all cherry and chocolate.
"Let's dance, Babe."
I pulled her close to my body and she melted into me. She hummed and breathed in at my neck.
"Hmmm. Do you know how sexy you smell, Ranger? I love this cologne or whatever you use."
"Bulgari, Babe. You can call me Carlos, Babe."
"Hmm. Carlos. That sounds so sexy. Carrrlossss." Fu-uck. Madre Dios. I am burning here.
The music changed into a slow sexy bachata. She moved well with me, following my lead and this was doing me in. The eating, her sexy moans, the kisses, her breathy sighs and now this dancing, was all foreplay. I kissed her lips slowly and deeply our hips still moving to the sexy rhythm that is bachata. She pressed her body against mine and wrapped one leg around my thigh, her hands beginning to wander as did mine over every beautiful curve of her body that I could reach. I was breathless and she was so aroused. She too was breathless and I was more than aroused. If her moans over dinner were torture, her moans while we kissed were agonisingly sexy. Our tongues danced to the rhythm and we pulled away to catch our breath.
"Man! You are such a sexy kisser, Carlos." We danced slowly, forehead to forehead, breathless from our passionate kisses. She went all quiet, her limpid eyes so dark with arousal, her lips swollen and pouty. Her eyes closed and her breathing relaxed but she maintained the bachata rhythm with my every move. We were as one.
"Babe? Something's burning." I smiled onto her lips.
"Carlos?"
"Yeah, Babe?"
She sighed and breathed that sexy breathy moan.
"I want you, Carlos." Madre Dios. She's driving me crazy. She's taking the lead.
"Carlos?" I plundered her mouth again, deep and hard, soft and gentle, our tongues stroking, dancing their primal dance, my hands finding and fondling all her luscious curves.
"Come with me, Babe."
I took her hand, smiling and led her down the stairs, locking the security doors before leading her to the landing outside my apartment.
"Are you sure about this, Babe?"
"I have never been more sure than I am right now. If you don't open that door, Carlos, I'm going to self-combust right before your sexy eyes. Please, Carlos? I need you." She kissed me lightly on my lips, licking the seam and the outer edges slowly.
Never being a man to make a woman beg, for long, I obeyed her command. I unlocked the door to my apartment and yanked her inside and before the door was even closed I had her pressed up against the wall as the door closed and locked.
THE END
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Thank you so much to all of you out there in FanFictionland. This is my very FIRST story and I cannot believe that what began as a possible one shot, then maybe two or three chapters, has brought me here. I hope you have enjoyed my story and I would love to know what you think, feel, thought with a review.