I woke up alone in my bed. I wondered briefly if Ranger coming into my bed was a dream. I rolled over to look at the clock.

7:11 A.M.

I lay in bed doing some mental knuckle cracking when the smell of coffee wafted into the bedroom. I had almost dragged my rear end out of bed when Ranger came through my bedroom door carrying two cups of coffee. He was dressed in Rangeman black fatigues. His clothes were perfectly pressed, and he looked well rested. I, on the other hand, looked like something the dog dragged in. Not to mention my dragon breath.

"Rise and shine, badass," Ranger said, his mouth tipping into something close to a smirk. He held a coffee mug out to me in the bed.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked sarcastically, taking the mug and giving him my best grumpy morning face.

"I have to go out of town for a few days. If you need anything while I'm away, contact the control room. Tank will take care of it. We'll be running understaffed, so be very careful. We won't always have eyes on you."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To the Atlanta office. Rangeman has been contracted for a large-scale operation, and I need to be on site until the contract ends. I should be back by Monday."

Today was only Thursday. Monday felt like it was a lifetime from today. The bonds office had been quiet lately. Vinnie was a crap human being, but a good bail bondsman. He was a good judge of character, and he could almost always guess if a client might skip. No big ticket bondees had skipped lately. I was a month behind on rent. The thought of being alone with my thoughts of Morelli for days on end while my mother drank and ironed over our latest breakup made my stomach turn. Before dawn in my bed, Ranger felt like a security blanket. A gift sent in the middle of the night. Now in the light of day, I saw that he was only a placebo to mask the hurt I was feeling. He was a band aid that was about to be ripped off to let my wound air out. I had to think of something—anything—to keep my band aid on a few more days.

"Babe, I smell hair burning," Ranger said.

"You said you're understaffed with this contract, right?" I said, looking hopefully at Ranger. He nodded. "Do you need help at Rangeman?"

He stared at me like I'd grown three heads.

I continued. "I'm way behind on rent, and the bonds office has been slow lately. If you need the help, I could really use the money. That is, if I have any skills that might actually be of use to you," I qualified, looking expectantly his way.

"I don't think you'd like the work I've got in Trenton this week. We're watching video feeds for clients, running regularly scheduled property check routes. I don't have any searches for you to run right now. Our efforts are being concentrated almost solely in Atlanta this weekend."

"What's going on in Atlanta?" I asked.

"The Publix Georgia Marathon is being held in Atlanta this weekend. Almost 10,000 runners have registered for the event. Last week, the organizers began receiving bomb threats. It's unclear at this time if the threat is from a lone wolf or from a group. It's also unclear if it's a disgruntled local or an international terrorist threat. It could be nothing, but it's being treated as a legitimate threat. After the Boston Marathon bombing, the threat of a copycat bombing is real. Atlanta PD, Georgia State Patrol, and Homeland Security are actively working to exhaust all possible leads, and they will be providing patrols during the event. However, the marathon route covers over twenty six miles and budgets are tight. The organizers of the marathon contracted Rangeman to provide extra security, particularly video surveillance. We have technology that can make patrols more efficient, and we'll have more boots on the ground to manage the crowds. We will begin installing equipment along the route tonight, and a crew will watch the feeds from the Atlanta office. We'll have boots on the ground at the starting line, finish line, and all along the route. I'm taking a team from Trenton, and I've also called in teams from Boston and Miami."

"This sounds like a huge job," I responded.

"Rangeman was contracted because we have the bodies and the technology. It's a big event, but we've run security for events like this before. My men are trained to handle it," Ranger responded coolly.

Possible terrorist threats? A home-grown radical bomber? The thought of Ranger getting blown up was too painful to bear.

Nonsensical word vomit began spewing from my mouth, and as much as I tried, I couldn't make it stop.

"Baaaaaaabe," Ranger responded, sounding annoyed.

I took a breath, planted my feet, and responded. "I'm going with you."

Ranger looked exasperated. "It's not safe. I'm not going to put you in harm's way unnecessarily or without cause."

"I can watch video feeds at the Rangeman Atlanta office," I offered. "I can patrol on the street. I can deliver sandwiches and water to your guys. I can scrape gum off runners' shoes. I don't care. I need out of Trenton this weekend. Take me with you."

He stared at me.

"Please?" I asked, flashing him my most hopeful smile.

Ranger straightened, studying me. His face was serious. I sat on the bed in front of him waiting. I took a sip of coffee. I finally broke eye contact with him, feeling uncomfortable.

Ranger finally spoke. "Babe. You can't run away from this thing with Morelli."

My eyes shot to Ranger, and my face must have registered shock.

"I'm not running away from anything," I almost shouted.

"You're going to have to talk to him sometime, Babe."

This is not a conversation I wanted to have, especially with Ranger. I scrambled to my feet and shook my head "no", heading for the bathroom.

"I'm an opportunist. I've tried to stay out of your relationship with Morelli, but I know I've disrupted it in ways that were unfair. I never meant to stand between you and him."

I entered the bathroom, slamming and locking the door. I didn't want to talk about Morelli, especially with Ranger. I put my back against the bathroom wall and slid to the floor, wrapping my arms around my knees. I heard Ranger as he continued talking outside the door.

"I've had you in my bed, but I've always tried to send you back him. I live fast, and my lifestyle never left room to be tied down to a partner. I've stepped into his territory time and time again. But Morelli loves you. You get to choose what you do with your future, but if you're really breaking things off with Morelli for good, he deserves to know why. It's been months now. He deserves the closure. And you deserve to be happy."

Tears were pooling in my eyes. I wasn't prepared to deal with any of this. It took every ounce of mental strength I had to break it off with Joe and stay away. Giving back Joe's things ripped my heart out of my chest. I knew deep down it was the right thing to do, but it didn't make it any easier.

Words rushed out of my mouth, laced with venom and spite. "Why the hell do you care? Stay out of my business. Stay out of my life!" I shouted at the door.

My brain registered that I was overreacting and being hysterical, but I couldn't shut down the emotions. They were like an avalanche, spilling out of my mouth and out of control. This train wreck was going to have to play itself out.

There was silence on the other side of the door. My heart clenched, realizing I had likely run Ranger off with my venom. I sat for ten more minutes, sobbing into my shirt and wiping my nose on the back of my hand. Still silence from outside the door.

Once I finally quit wailing and had moved on to the hiccups stage of frenetic crying, I decided to shower. I washed quickly, longing to climb back in to my bed and forget this ever happened. I stepped out of the shower, wrapped myself in a towel, and towel dried my hair with a second. I brushed my teeth, studying my face in the mirror. My face was red and splotchy. My eyes looked tired and hollow. I rinsed my mouth and toothbrush, and exited the bathroom.

To my surprise, I found Ranger sitting with his back to the wall outside the bathroom. He looked relaxed with his legs crossed before him and his hands in his lap. His eyes found mine, searching for something. He pulled himself to his feet gracefully and closed the distance between us, never breaking eye contact with me. He extended his right hand to my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb. His touch sent electricity through my body. I didn't meet his eyes, staring at my feet.

"Why do I care?" Ranger echoed my words sounding hurt. "I care because I want you to have a happy, fulfilling life. I care because I know you're hurting. I can see it in your eyes, Steph. I care because I'm emotionally attached to you. If I was in Morelli's shoes, I'd be broken. It would take time to accept that leaving me was what you wanted. But if you told me that leaving was what you needed to attain self-actualization, I would let you go."

I tried to process the things Ranger had told me. He's emotionally attached to me? Ranger would be hurt if I had left him? I heard bells clanging in my head, and the room felt like it was spinning.

In an instant, Ranger's hands were steadying me. "Breathe," he instructed.

I did some deep breathing. Ranger drug me to the bedroom, sitting me on the side of the bed before digging around in my drawers, pulling out garments. He set an outfit next to me in the bed. I glanced at him before studying the clothes. Ladies black cargo pants, black v-neck t-shirt with Rangeman embroidered on the pocket area, black socks, and some black lacy lingerie.

"Get dressed. We depart for Atlanta at 12:15 P.M. You'll need to pack toiletries and undergarments. I'll ask Ella to collect your uniforms from the Rangeman building, since you'll need several to get through the weekend. I'll collect you from the apartment at 11 A.M."

He kissed me on the forehead, and he was gone.

By 9:00 A.M., I was dressed and packed. I hit my hair with the blow dryer before swiping mascara on my lashes and gloss on my lips. I poured a travel mug of coffee, slung my messenger bag over my shoulder, and carried Rex's cage out of the apartment to my car. I drove through the Dunkin' Doughnuts drive-through and ordered doughnuts: two Boston cremes, one jelly filled, one lemon filled, one long john, and one chocolate.

Fifteen minutes later, I was regretting eating six doughnuts and was parked in my parents' driveway. Grandma was waiting at the door for me.

I carried Rex's cage and his things to house, and Grandma opened the door. "Well isn't this a surprise! Set his cage on the table in the living room. Your mother has coffee cake in the kitchen."

The thought of loading coffee cake on top of six doughnuts caused my stomach to turn. I set Rex where instructed. "Thanks for the offer, but I already had breakfast. Do you mind keeping Rex for a couple of days? I have to go out of town for work, and I can't take him with me."

"No problemo," grandma responded. "Rex is good company on account of he doesn't talk through my daytime television shows." Grandma looked in Rex's small plastic cage, tapped on the side, and waved a giant human "hello". Rex stared out of his soup can, unamused.

"Thanks," I said.

"Where are you headed for work?"

"Atlanta," I responded.

"Looks like you're working for the hottie!" grandma said. "You look good in black! He looks good in black too, but I wouldn't mind seeing him out of his clothes again."

I sighed. When grandma was writing her bucket list, seeing Ranger naked was included. To everyone's surprise, grandma achieved this life-altering experience during a trip to explore the Monkey Pod Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City. Ranger would have no desire to repeat the events of that day any time soon. In fact, never would be too soon.

"The bonds office isn't paying the bills right now, so I got a temporary job with Ranger. Everything is fine," I said, falsely believing if I claimed everything was "fine", my problems would work themselves out. "I'll be back Monday."

"Be careful," grandma said. "It's going to be awfully quiet around her without you!"