CHAPTER ONE – REVELATION
Steph sat silently next to one of the most intimidating women in her world. If you would have told her six month ago that she would be working side-by-side with Cat Woman she would have collapsed in a ball of laughter. Yet, here she was for the third consecutive night, inches away from the formidable Jeanne Ellen.
Waiting and watching and hoping that the scum-sucking-pile-of-rat-puke child-molesting FTA, known to the system as Nathaniel Bowmanson, would show up at his favorite porno/wifi all night video rental store. His bail had been posted by a radical do-gooder group who justified their action because they felt old Nathaniel would be in physical jeopardy in a cell. Well, duh! Even criminals have standards. And Nathaniel didn't even measure up to them!
Steph was there because Vinnie had posted bail. Not surprising considering Vinnie's slant to the down-hill side of sexual perverseness. Geeze, even he could have shown a little class and refused bonding. But Vincent Plum Bonds unwritten motto…"No Scum is Too Scummy for Us – IF the Money's Right" always wins out over class.
Jeanne Ellen's presence there was a little more honorable. She had been part of the investigating team, hired by the ten year-old victim's family. She actually had her hands on the bastard's throat before cooler heads in the form of Trenton police took control. Their argument that incarceration would be much more unpleasant for Mr. Bowmanson than death, made both the arresting officers and Jeanne Ellen feel so much better about the decision. Yet here they were in the dark, sitting in Jeanne Ellen's car waiting to do the take-down all over again.
The small talk between the two women had been at first tentative and polite. After 36 hours they had graduated to interesting conversations about family, education and job choices. Nothing too revealing or intimate, but with a little more substance than "nice weather we're having".
Jeanne Ellen was the consummate pro even in the car. She revealed only what she wanted Steph to know and no more. Steph was tenacious in her attempt to learn more about the history between Jeanne Ellen and Ranger. Every time the conversation headed in that direction, Jeanne Ellen deftly detoured it elsewhere. Eventually, Steph gave up and let the conversation flow in its natural direction.
Sometimes, when you stop fighting the tide, it takes you where you wanted to go on its own. So, it was on night three of the stake-out. The two were actually laughing about some of the ridiculous situations in which they had found themselves when reconnoitering potential FTA locations.
Steph shared the story of climbing onto a death-trap of a fire escape to check out the apartment of a suspect. How she almost died when the rusted wreck collapsed, taking her to the ground while simultaneously being shot at by angry minions of evil. And how Ranger had appeared, just like Batman to save her sorry ass. In the middle of a string of laughs, Jeanne Ellen comes out with the shocking statement "If I had tried that, he would have saved me then taken me home and beat my ass raw!" As she spoke, Jeanne Ellen's eyes looked towards a distant spot as if out there, somewhere was the actual memory. She was smiling at a cherished thought and suddenly caught herself. Immediately she was back in character and silent.
The lights and bells in Stephanie's brain were bouncing and flashing like a vintage pinball game. Ranger! Ranger would never hit a woman and most definitely wouldn't "beat her ass raw"! But the words from Jeanne Ellen's mouth didn't sound speculative or sarcastic. They sounded like fact. The sudden silence that had followed those words confirmed in Steph's mind that this was something that had been inadvertently shared and best forgotten. Yeh, right! Put on hold maybe…but forgotten…never.
The relationship Ranger and Steph had or to be more precise the relationship Steph had in her mind with Ranger was difficult to define even by her creative standards. There was definitely sexual tension between the two. And on the occasions when Ranger allowed it, the actual sex was mind-blowing and quite satisfying. But the mental distance demanded by him was eating deeper and deeper into her and starting to damage her quite fragile ego.
What hurt the most were the occasional hints he made that she should be looking for a more promising and stable relationship…with someone else. One minute he was stalking her every move and putting himself in danger to save her sorry ass. The next moment he was pushing her advances aside as if she were toxic.
Sometimes she questioned her femininity, but now she was beginning to question her sanity. Did he want her or didn't he? She knew in her heart that he was the only man with whom she wanted to spend her lifetime. But what exactly did he want? What did he need that he did not see in her? What did she need to do to change? Jeanne Ellen's inadvertent remark played over and over in Steph's mind. And her next course of action would change her life…forever.
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Four months had passed since the Nathaniel Bowmanson incident. The bastard had died of a heart attack in jail while awaiting trial. Rumor had it that his ass-hole was twice the normal size and more than a pint of semen had been found in his stomach at autopsy. But that was just rumor.
Steph was now solo again on stakeout. This time in a rented Focus and parked across from a private club, Dominion, on Trenton's North side. Waiting on an FTA that may or may not show was a part of the job she just hated. Patience never being one of her character traits. But patience sure paid off tonight. Not because her target showed his sorry ass but because a black Porche turbo pulled up to valet and one Carlos "Ranger" Manoso entered the club.
At first she couldn't figure out how he didn't know she was in the area. Then she remembered the car rental had been a last minute decision since the FTA knew her SUV. And as blessed fate would have it, she had forgotten her GPS tracking watch in her rush to change that evening. Ranger was blind to her and she was going to take full advantage.
One hour later he was leaving the club with a tall, striking brunette. He left in his car and she followed in hers. They were both followed discreetly by Stephanie. The little procession headed farther north to a quiet subdivision south of Princeton. She held back as the two lead cars pulled into a cul-de-sac and parked in the driveway of a modest one story ranch. The woman unlocked the door. Good, Ranger didn't have a key, so he wasn't a regular at the house. Ranger held her by her right elbow as they entered together.
Steph's heart was fighting its way out of her chest. Anxiety was tightening her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Was this her rival? Was this why Ranger wasn't committing to their relationship? She had to know. Even if finding out would cause her heart irreparable damage, she had to know.
Forty-five minutes later, Steph had finally worked up the courage to leave her car and walk the block to the house. She had learned enough in the past two years about checking out a house to know not to just walk up to a window and peek. Most homes now had some sort of security device. And if this was indeed Ranger's mistress, the house would be alarmed up the ass. She took up a position in the neighbor's yard between peony bushes. With her trusty Bushnell binoculars she slowly scanned the windows for signs of life.
Most of the curtains were drawn and there wasn't much to see. But the basement seemed to be well lit and the tiny windows deep in recessed encasements offered some hope. She felt like one of the perverts on her FTA list, but this wasn't voyeurism, this was survival! After numerous shifts in position and focusing and refocusing, she found what she was looking for. Or at least she found something. It definitely wasn't what she was looking for.
Ranger came into focus first. Shirtless and still in his black slacks he looked absolutely delicious. He was holding something in his right hand and slapping it rhythmically on his left palm the way her high school math teacher used to do with his ruler while droning on about equations. What was it? Oh My God…it was a leather riding crop! WTF?
Her breathing had stopped all together as she watched him approach the woman who was kneeling, nude, in front of him. He pulled her up by her hair, spun her away from him and pushed her face-first against the wall. Steph caught the cry in mid-throat as she watched Ranger deliver two quick and sharp blows to the woman's bare ass. Not him! Not Ranger! He wouldn't do that! Then Jeanne Ellen's words came back to her. "If I had tried that, he would have saved me then taken me home and beat my ass raw!"
No! No! Steph could take no more. She bolted from her hiding place and ran to her car. She pulled from her parking place and half blinded by her tears, drove a good two miles before pulling over and giving way to her shock and revulsion. He had warned her. He had said there were things about him she didn't want to know.
She had asked him once if he was sick. His reply should have given her insight then. "Not physically, but emotionally and sexually…possibly". All this time he wasn't being evasive. He was being honest. She remembered the time when she was hunted by the Slayers and was sheltering in Ranger's apartment. In frustration, she had struck at him when he refused to allow her to leave. His anger was at its limit when he pushed her to the wall and told her rather sternly to never raise her hand to him again. For one brief moment she had been genuinely scared of him; but he walked away and was soon himself.
Steph needed to go home. She needed to process what she had witnessed. She needed to understand. She needed to re-evaluate everything that had seemed constant in her life. She needed to avoid contact with Ranger at all costs until the pieces of her psyche could be put back together. She wanted to just die.