Unapologize

By: PricklySare

A/N: I've been overwhelmed by the amazing reviews everyone has been leaving about this story. If I haven't responded personally, I'm sorry. Things in real life are crazy. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to review Unapologize so far, I promise. :)

As always the standard disclaimers apply.

Special thanks to M and Stayce for all your help making this chapter readable. :) You're awesome.

Sare

Chapter Thirty-seven: Steph's 'Oops'.

Steph's POV

I was tired of lying on the floor of the SUV like some fragile little woman. I'd dealt with being shot at on more than one occasion, and I was a little perturbed that Lester was treating me like I was going to break down just because someone had taken a few shots at us. It wasn't like anything had blown up. I was in the middle of a mental eye roll when Lester came back up to us to inform Haver and me that company was coming.

When Haver and I were once again alone I slowly sat up and took a peek out the tinted window beside me. We'd pulled into what could be described as a parking lot, if you squinted and tilted your head a little to the side. The building next to us had seen better days, most likely before Grandma Mazur was even born, and the only indication that it had been a gas station was the rickety sign reading, 'Gas'. I was betting that Cassidy was having second thoughts about how safe of a place this was to stop and check out the damage on the SUV. Especially now that it looked like a few shots were going to turn into a face to face altercation.

"Give me a gun," I said from my place on the floor. There was no way I was going to be unarmed in a situation that called for backup and a tactical plan. I'd been around RangeMan long enough to understand how they worked. I may not like my gun, but I knew how to use it, and wasn't above shooting to protect what was important to me. Namely, the men who were currently standing around outside.

"Ms. Plum-"

"Steph, or Stephanie," I corrected him. "And, don't start. I'm asking for a gun for protection, not so I can jump out with guns blazing. Trust me, my head hurts far too much for me to do anything that crazy." My head was pounding like a steel drum, but I wasn't finished yet. "I'm good with a gun; the guys have made sure of that. Besides," I said, "I really don't want to be the only person at a gunfight unarmed. It doesn't seem like a smart idea to me." I heard a rustling sound from the front seat before he handed me a small gun.

Not too long ago, Lester and I had been hanging out when he'd started waxing poetic about guns. If there was one thing Lester liked more than women, it was anything that smelled like cordite. He'd removed a small gun from the holster around his ankle, and proceeded to explain to me the importance of having a clutch piece, and exactly why he'd chosen this particular gun. It was times like these that I was thankful for Lester's quirks. "Thanks," I said, making sure that the safety was on before checking the gun for bullets. I doubted that Haver would carry an unloaded weapon, but after hours of training with the guys it was an automatic response.

"You're welcome," he said before lapsing back into silence. The few times I'd met Haver he'd been in lawyer mode. Friendly, yet capable. Today he must have been channeling Ranger, because he appeared to be in the same type of zone. Silent and totally focused. "Hey, Haver?"

"Yeah, Steph?" He asked, sounding just like Ranger did during a stakeout. Preoccupied and a little exasperated. I couldn't help but smile at the similarities.

"What did you do before you became a lawyer?"

"I did a lot of things, but if I told you I'd have to kill you," he said smiling.

"Gee, where have I heard that one before?" I asked, rolling my eyes even though he couldn't see me.

"Couldn't begin to imagine," he replied, the smile evident in his voice.

"You know, for a lawyer, you're a real pain in the ass."

"As a rule, all lawyers are. It's part of our charm."

I snorted before saying, "Charm, yeah. So that's what they're calling it these days?"

"Something like that," he said, his voice once again sounding distracted. I shifted my position, climbing up on my knees to look over the seat in front of me. I saw two large tricked out trucks pull up and offload four guys. "Looks like company's arrived," Haver said, his southern accent a little thicker than it had been.

"A proper 'Burg girl is always prepared for company," I replied flicking the safety off my gun. "Justin and I are more than ready to entertain company."

Haver shifted his head just a fraction of an inch, and I could see his eyebrow lift in what I had long ago termed the 'Rangeman Arch'. "Did you just give my gun a masculine name?" he asked me, his smooth southern voice incredulous.

"Yes," I told him.

"Why?" Oh goodie, one word conversations. He was definitely channeling Ranger.

"If I told you I'd have to kill you," I said, using his words from moments before. I figured he really didn't need to know that the day Lester had shown me his Walther PPK that I'd commented that it was cute; like a penis, only smaller. Lester's look had been priceless. You would have thought I'd just insulted his sister, not his gun. I told him not to worry, that I'd known a guy whose penis was actually smaller than his gun. That made him feel better. Poor, Justin.

"I'm not sure I like that smile," Haver said. "What are you thinking about?"

"When we get out of this mess, I'll tell you," I replied just as we heard the first gunshots ring through the air. Fuck!

The next ten minutes seemed like hours, or possibly days. Everything was happening in slow motion. One of the guys from the trucks advanced on Lester and Ram, heading straight for the SUV that Haver and I were in. As the first shots were fired, a gun appeared in his hand, pointed directly at Lester. Without hesitation Lester lifted his gun from where it had been hidden beside his thigh and pulled the trigger, dropping the man.

When the first guy hit the ground, his buddy tried to take out Ram. He went down with a hole in the center of his forehead. The other two guys who had jumped from the trucks weren't having any luck with Tank and Bobby. One guy advanced on Bobby, hands up in the air showing that he wasn't armed. Bobby's relaxed stance belied the tightly coiled spring that I knew was waiting to make its move. Tank had wrapped his hand around the other guy's neck, and was holding him with his feet a good foot off the ground. His face was in close, and whatever he was saying to the guy was causing him to turn a shade of green I'd never seen before. I must have blinked, because the guy who had approached Bobby was lying, unmoving, on the ground at his feet. In the next moment Tank pulled out his gun and pistol whipped the guy he had been talking to, and he fell to the ground beside his buddy.

A sharp pain took that moment to shoot through my head and I rubbed my temples. "You okay?" Haver asked, keeping his eyes focused on the ruckus outside.

"Yeah, I've just got a headache, and apparently gunfire doesn't help any."

"Don't guess it would."

"I'm just pissed off that I don't know what the hell is going on, and whose bright idea was it to leave us without a radio?" There was a bang against the side of our SUV and Lester was locked into a violent embrace with two guys I hadn't seen earlier. "Seriously? What the fuck. Where are these idiots coming from?"

Lester swung his elbow back and knocked the first guy in the face, once, twice, and then a third time before the second guy managed to pull him to the ground. I moved closer to the door trying to see Lester's progress. There was blood all over the first guy's face, his eyes were already starting to swell, and his nose appeared to be broken. In an instant Haver had jumped out of the front seat and wrapped his arm around the guy's neck, immobilizing him before dropping him to the ground, while Lester was beating the shit out of the second guy. They were rolling around like boys on a playground. Somewhere along the line Lester had lost his gun, and it appeared like he'd managed to disarm the man he was rolling around with, that or the guy was the only person here not armed. I would have laughed at the thought if I hadn't been so worried about what was going on outside.

I could no longer see Bobby or Tank, and Cassidy had long since disappeared, but I didn't have time to search for them. My eyes were locked on the action in front of me. Even in a suit that cost more than my last car, Haver didn't appear out of place. In fact, he looked like a kid in a candy store whose parents had just told him he could have whatever he wanted. Shit. I was surrounded by a bunch of crazy men who actually considered this fun.

I watched as Lester and the man fought for dominance, until Lester maneuvered himself into a position to take control. Holding the guy's shoulders to the ground with his knees while sitting on his chest, Lester grabbed his head and beat it into the broken asphalt again and again. Controlled anger was radiating from Lester. His posture was screaming with violence and I was surprised that he hadn't killed the man yet. From the angle I was at I could see as the guy's eyes were beginning to dim. After his head hit the ground one last time, Lester put one hand under the chin, and the other hand behind the head and violently twisted. I knew that it wasn't possible, but I could have sworn I heard the sound of the neck snapping.

Lester hadn't even had a chance to move when the sound of shattering glass tore my attention away from him. The back window of the SUV had been broken out and a man tossed in a Molotov cocktail. Oh goodie, my favorite. I raised my gun and shot him twice, watching in slow motion as he toppled out of sight. Where the hell had he come from? The glass bottle of the explosive hadn't broken or caught anything on fire and I did the only thing I could think of. I scrambled over the seat, grabbed the bottle, threw open the door and chucked it as far away from us as possible. "Oh, shit," I said as the bottle flew through the air, crashed through the thin, dusty glass of the gas station window, and with a muffled whumph started burning.

"Nice toss, Steph," Haver said, a smile in his voice. "I guess they don't call you Bombshell for nothing."

"It was...totally my fault," I told him, before glancing around. "I don't think we have much time before this place burns to the ground."

"I'm impressed, Beautiful. Nice shooting," Lester said coming up to the SUV where I was leaning beside Haver. "Looks like we should probably be getting the hell out of Dodge, though."

"What about the other guys?" I asked.

"They're ready to go," he said climbing into the back of the SUV. He must have picked up his gun at some point, because I noticed it was in his hand. Climbing in beside him, I rubbed my temples again. I really needed a few pills and a long nap.

"Where did the second wave of guys come from?" I asked.

"Cal thinks the guys in the trucks picked up a few more friends, parked down the road, and then doubled back to try and surround us," Lester said.

"That would explain how short, brown, and ugly managed to get close enough to the SUV to get the Molotov cocktail inside," I said.

"Yeah, the rest of the team were engaged with the others who had come in to play." We watched in silence as Cassidy made his way to the SUV, said a few words to Haver and then climbed into the driver's seat, fastening his seatbelt. When Haver was situated in the passenger seat again we pulled out, sandwiched between the other SUVs.

"Think we'll actually make it to your 'safe place' before we're attacked again?" I asked Cassidy. I couldn't help it, I was tired, cranky, and just a little fed up with all the bullshit. He never answered because suddenly there was the sound of a loud explosion. There was no point in denying it this time, this explosion was completely my fault. I felt three pairs of eyes on me, so I just smiled and said, "Oops."