Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews - RL isn't quite so frantic so I've been able to get this chapter out a lot faster than the last few. Hope you enjoy
R&R (please) it really does make it all so much more worthwhile!
;oP
"Wow – a tournament!" Steph said as her and Chase waited for the elevator.
"Wow indeed!" came the bemused reply.
"Wonder what games we'll be playing? I wonder if there's a prize? What could it be…" Steph lapsed into silence, both of them thinking the same thing.
That this wasn't what they'd expected to hear when they'd entered the meeting room just now.
Independently, they'd both thought Ranger was going to expose Connor for the lying, cheating scumbag that he had become but instead he'd announced a Rangeman wide tournament. Talk about a distraction!
Steph had smiled inwardly when she realised that Batman had not explained the schedule nor contents of events for this morning when they'd discussed things yesterday but she had been grateful for his sensitive handling of Connor's embezzling.
"That's what makes him a great leader" a dreamy voice in her head said.
"Yeah, shame he didn't think like a leader all those months ago…" a snippy but much sadder voice added.
"So… you and Manoso…?" Chase asked quietly, pulling Steph from her thoughts.
"I, er… don't know what you mean…" she replied, dropping her eyes to the floor as she blushed, clearly surprised that he'd figured it out.
At that moment the elevator arrived and Steph quickly stepped in, hoping that Chase would not press her any further for the juicy gossip. She was wrong.
"Come on Sweetie. I can see how he looks at you and you… well you just, you know…well you somehow look stronger, more complete …" Chase stuttered out as he followed her into the steel box. Fuck, why was this so awkward, he thought? Because you like her, moron! Came the internal reply.
Steph smiled carefully "that obvious huh?" she suddenly wondered whether Chase had the beginnings of feelings for her.
" 'Fraid so."
"Well, Ranger and I… let's just say it's taken us a while to sort out our own stupidity…" she said softly all the while fiddling with the bottom button of her shirt.
She looked up to gauge his reaction to her confession.
Chase smiled but Steph swore she saw a look of resignation in the man's eyes. She'd been right.
"Chase, I hope this doesn't change our friendship." She added, softly. "I wasn't ever really over him and it's not like I haven't had plenty of time to try." she added, reaching forward to run a hand down the outside of his clothed arm.
"I know that now."
"For what it's worth I'm sorry."
"What on earth for?" he snorted out in surprise.
"Well, for stunning you at the very least!" she giggled, grinning and slapping him on the arm playfully.
"I'll get even, Plum…" he grinned back.
Internally Steph did a happy dance, she'd avoided the elephant that was literally standing next to her and the embryonic friendship she'd just started to build with Chase had survived its first glitch.
Friendships were important and she now considered the man standing by her side, both literally and figuratively, to be a friend.
At that moment the car stopped at three.
"I think I need to run for a while" Chase explained as he stepped out. "I need to process this morning's events so far."
Steph nodded in total agreement. She too had a huge amount on her mind and needed some down time to sort it into order before her up and coming talk with the man in black. "Mind if I join you?" she asked, following him out into the hallway.
They quickly entered the gym but headed off in different directions to get changed. Steph had chuckled at the irony the first time she'd realised that the one office where the idea of a woman co-worker was an anathema was the only one with a female changing room. But now she just wandered off to her locker and got out a white sports bra, fitted bright blue t-shirt, shorts and her trainers and trainer socks.
More appropriately kitted out, she stepped back into the gym where Chase was stretching prior to beginning his exercise.
How easy it would have been to add Chase to her list of lovers she thought as she looked at his muscles flexing beneath the soft grey wife beater he now wore. The shorts he was wearing highlighted his firm ass and showcased his thighs. He looked up, smiled then wiggled his ass at her as he'd obviously caught her staring.
She blushed before giggling "What? Just because I'm on a diet doesn't mean I can't look at the menu!" then leant against the wall to begin stretching her hamstrings.
A loud, deep laugh was her only reply.
o0o0o0o0o
Chase and Steph were deep into their routines when the door of the gym was flung open and an angry Ranger was followed by a very sullen looking Connor. Well, Ranger's jaw muscle was being worked – that was good enough for Steph. She continued her assent up some random Stairmaster mountain and continued to watch the scene unfolding before her.
The two men began stripping off their outward accoutrements and once they were bare foot and clad only in cargo pants, they moved to the mats and began to warm up.
Steph caught Chase's eye and silently they both agreed. Neither would get involved nor raise an alarm unless someone looked likely to inflict permanent damage on their opponent. Neither was stupid enough to think that Connor stood a real chance.
Ranger said something and Connor nodded in reply then they both started to circle.
o0o0o0o0o
Rees put the phone down and smiled.
He and Vera had slept in, late.
Very late.
After all, they had been out celebrating and had taken today off to recover. He got up carefully so as not to disturb the woman at his side and smiled down at her sleeping form. Not only had they been out with the guys so that they could share their news, but Rees had then spent the rest of the night lovingly affirming his feelings for his now fiancée. Fiancée! Wow, that felt good…
He slipped into the kitchenette and put the coffee machine on then went routing round in the freezer compartment.
Lester had made him chuckle and breathe a sigh of relief at the same time. He needed to share the good news with Vera, but as she'd slept through the phone's ring tone, he figured she'd be out for a little while longer at least.
And when she woke up, he figured, they'd celebrate some more. Especially now that it looked like there were two great reasons to do so:
Firstly, Rees himself was now officially off the market and forever bound to the most wonderful woman in the world. He smiled as he realised that things would never had worked out between him and Steph, but that if it hadn't been for her he and Vera would never have met.
Secondly, Steph was finally back in a relationship with Ranger, where she belonged and after all the shit she'd been through, she deserved some happy. That was the official summing up, well at least according to the biggest gossip of them all, Lester Xavier Fernando Santos.
As he reached further back into the freezer compartment he started to feel light as a feather touches tracing down his spine heading southwards. He groaned slightly at the sensation the fingers created.
"If you want more you'd better be looking for ice cream" a soft voice purred in his ear.
Grinning he turned and looked over his shoulder "look what I've just found, chunky monkey…"
o0o0o0o0o
"Do we stop them yet?" Steph asked worriedly, fiddling with her fob for the building as she viewed the mullering Connor was getting. He'd just gone down on one knee for the fifth time and Ranger showed no sign of stopping. He was bouncing on his toes, albeit not as lightly as ten minutes earlier, goading his opponent on.
"Come on you sissy! Get up! Looks like you should have been practising your moves on the mats rather than at the crap tables…"
Connor looked up, one hand braced on the opposite knee to try and steady himself, his body covered in a thin layer of sweat, his breath coming in hard pants.
"Fuck you, Manoso, always so fucking sure of yourself!" Letting out a roar he rushed at Ranger's knees.
A lesser man might have been taken by surprise but Ranger danced away, too fast for his adversary.
"Man up and face the consequences of your actions, you fucker!" Ranger taunted. "Megan ordered you to move on, deal with the grief then grasp life and live it to the max, but what did you do? You went and died with her! Where is my brother? What the fuck did you do with him? He needs to come back to me so that I can help him." He growled out, circling Connor who was back on his feet.
"You have no idea what you're talking about! SHE WAS MY EVERYTHING!" Connor screamed.
Ranger took that moment to bring Connor down. In one smooth stroke he planted him on the mats and ground his face into the padded covering. Twisting one arm up behind his back whilst straddling his ass and thighs and pinning him down he muttered something so quiet that only Connor heard him.
Then the dam burst and Connor started to sob. Not in the way he had with Steph, this was different. The sobs were filled with anger, confusion, sorrow, love, broken dreams and guilt. So. much. guilt.
"How will I live without her, Carlos?" A small, little boy lost voice vented.
Ranger leant forward, almost stroking Connor's hair and began to soothe the man crying beneath him. He moved off and slid down to his side. Lifting his head to where Steph and Chase were standing, jaws slackened in disbelief at what they'd just witnessed, he gave Steph a look and even from across the room, for the first time she totally understood what he wasn't saying.
Nodding her understanding she grabbed Chase's arm and dragged him out of the gym, pressing her key fob to disable the cameras and lock the room behind her as they left.
o0o0o0o0o
Once they were showered and dressed, Steph and Chase met up in Connor's office where Chase logged on and found an email from Tank to call him as soon as he could.
Lifting the desk phone, Chase dialled Ranger's second in command and sat down behind his new desk.
"Yo"
"You wanted to speak to me?"
"Yeah. Did Ranger kill Connor?"
"Nearly. Is that… normal?"
"Depends on the cause, but he usually makes his point loud and clear."
"Wow… Sorry, bit of a shock… erm… sorry…" Chase was waffling and he knew it.
"S'ok, Chase." Steph said, stroking his arm to reassure him before leaning past him and pressing the speaker button. "Hi Tank."
"Hi Bomber. You back with the boss then?"
Steph could hear a smirk in his voice. "Yeah… I know, 'bout time too…" she replied, going all girly.
"Fuckin' A!" came the big man's reponse.
"Tank…" Steph said, suddenly sobering up as realisation hit. "Who told you?"
Tank coughed "Er, let's just say, I heard a little something when you picked him up from the airport…"
"Taaaank! Where's the bug!" she huffed petulantly.
Before she could get the information out of him Chase broke into the conversation. "Hello? Anyone listening?"
Two "sorry's" and "be afraid, Tank, be very afraid…" were muttered out resentfully.
"OK, so where do we go from here? As I see it, Ranger and Connor are out of action. Mungo probably wonders why I'm sitting in this chair and not him and I need to know the official line to give the guys on what's been happening since The Boss Man landed this morning."
"Easy tiger! Calm down! Steph, I thought you said he was good to go!" Tank said good naturedly.
"Cut the crap, Big Man…" Steph growled, putting her hands on her hips.
Tank guffawed but calmed down almost immediately. "Chase, I've drafted a memo to go out to all Rangeman staff, but before that can happen, Ranger wants you to read out a statement to all the personnel currently on duty in your building. I'm sending it over now. You can make slight changes if the wording isn't comfortable for you, but the bits in bold are not to be altered in any way."
Chase breathed a mental sigh of relief. He'd had visions of fucking up his first assignment as the man at the top but realised he should have known better. Ranger Manoso had not been the youngest man to ever get to the rank he reached before he retired from active service without being a brilliant strategist. This man had his back and he didn't even really know him. Hats off to you, man. Hats off.
At that moment the computer in front of him alerted him to new incoming messages and when he clicked on the screen to get past the screen saver, he could see there were three.
"Take your time reading each and every one of them, Chase The first two are to do with Connor but the last one is just for you – it's your new contract. You're going into the lion's den and you need to have your wits about you. I have a feeling that Mungo won't be the only one after your job…"
"Noted, Tank. Oh and Tank…"
"?"
"Thanks, man."
"Yeah, yeah." Tank replied wearily before hanging up.
Lester looked at the large black man that sat at his side. "I think Ranger has made the right choice by opting to stay down there until after the tournament. D'ya think he's told Beautiful yet?"
"Knowing him probably not, but I hope he's gonna be honest and not fuck it all up this time."
"Only time will tell and all that crap…"
"Yeah." Tank replied. He was sick of Ranger being an asshole when it came to Steph and he hoped that this morning's display of affections at the airport were only the start of better things to come.
He was tired, tired of putting up with the childish, petulant behaviour of a grown man who needed to grow some and get it on with the woman who held his heart.