Thank you for all of your kinds words about my book deal and thank you for welcoming me back. I never forget that you guys are there! I posted a new chapter 7 on Handcuffs and Heartache and there will be one more. Hope you like it better!

I'm getting better at self editing. So, all mistakes are mine on this one!

Warning - At the last minute decided to put in a tissue alert. Some of you may need one.

Previously -

I was swiping my hands down my face when Bobby opened the door and stuck his head in. "Just wanted to let you know I was headed out. What's up? You look stressed."

"Stephanie is headed to Stark, again, with no backup."

He shook his head. "When are you going to put your foot down with your woman? It's been long enough."

"She's not my woman!"

He smirked. "Bullshit! For God's sake, man up, and make your move. Then make her get some fucking training already."

Chapter 2

I sighed. "Maybe there was a time, but I'm not making a move, I'm way past that. I'm past fucking hoping that she'll finally do the right and responsible thing for a change."

He grinned and nodded. "I'm headed in that direction on a personal errand. I'll go a little further to rescue her reckless and irresponsible ass for you. Again."

"Thanks, hermano. Tell her to call me." This shit was getting old. He was right. Hell, they were all griping about this same subject, and they were right.

Less than an hour later the switchboard received a call. Shots were fired and a Rangeman was down. All available SUV's headed to the scene and Lester and I had jumped in my Porsche, racing there as fast as the car would move us without causing an accident. He'd glanced at me on the way and asked if I knew who it was. I hated the answer that was forthcoming with my entire being. I gave a quick nod and said, "I'm sorry. I think it's your partner, primo. He drove down there to check on Stephanie. She went there by herself with no backup, again."

His face was deadly serious when he'd said very calmly, "I swear...juro a Dios, he better be breathing when we get there or that bitch will be sorry. I don't give a flying fuck if she is under your protection..."

I'd had nothing to say to that. What could I say? I had asked these men for nearly three years now to do the equivalent of babysit this woman, especially when I was gone on missions. Her behavior had been a hot topic in our management meetings for a while. My partners liked Stephanie, but they hated her attitude and her carelessness with her life, and that of the men trying to help her.

We had pulled up to the scene and my worst nightmares had finally come to the light of day. The scene was surreal. Bobby lay on one side of the road near a stinking gutter in a pool of blood while Stephanie sat in a patrol car sobbing. The ambulance had arrived and two paramedics were working over Bobby as we ran over to him. Before we even stopped, one shook his head and the other said quietly, "He's gone. Let's note the initial time of death to pass along."

Lester stopped cold in his tracks, his face full of shock and gut wrenching emotion, tears glistening in his eyes. He was silent for a few moments, except for the groan that finally escaped him. My own emotions were at the surface, and it was all I could do to maintain the face that had seen so many men, my friends, die violent deaths. Left laying in that so familiar pool of blood.

Suddenly, this animalistic wail erupted from Lester, and he ran to Bobby as they were lifting him off the ground to place him on the stretcher and cover his body. He was yelling at the paramedics that they couldn't give up on him and cursing. I ran over and grabbed him, pulling him away. Bobby was laying not far from his truck and his vest was still open. Looked like he'd been running when he was shot. "Les, they did their jobs. He took a kill shot before he got his vest closed. He probably went almost instantly. Come with me, hermano."

He had fought me with everything he had until the ambulance doors closed, and the tears spilled. I'd hugged him while he'd sobbed for several minutes, then abruptly he'd stopped and said he was okay. I let him go and watched as he looked around, his eyes scanning the area until they zeroed in on Stephanie. When he spied her in the cop cruiser he stomped over, wrenching open the door almost taking it off the hinges, startling her. He growled at her. "Get the fuck out of the car, bitch!"

She was frightened and cowered, but I couldn't bring myself to move a muscle toward her. Her head turned to find me and I looked down at the ground. I heard Lester as he railed on her. He said to her everything that many of the men had been thinking and I know wanted to say for a long time. He called her careless, irresponsible, mindless, selfish, negligent, sloppy, ignorant, oblivious, unqualified, untrained, dangerous, and he called her a murderer.

Joe Morelli had walked up half way through Lester's angry, and tearful rant and he looked at me, but just stood there and said nothing. Stephanie had put her hands over her face when Lester had called her a murderer. He wasn't finished by a long shot. He told her that not another Rangeman would risk his life to save the likes of her, and told her to do everyone in Trenton a favor and retire from bounty hunting. No one, not even her skips were safe with her. Then he told her to rot in hell, that he would never forgive her for taking the life of his partner and best friend, he never wanted to see her face again, and then he slammed the car door stomping back to the Porsche.

She had never moved her hands from her face, and continued to sob as Morelli pulled her out of the car and put her in his piece of shit detective mobile, a late model Crown Vic. He glanced over at me one more time before he got in and drove away with her. I had detected a smug look in that short glance my way. He'd known that day, that I would no longer be a part of her life.

The last time I saw Stephanie was at Bobby's memorial service. She stood outside the door in a black dress hiding behind a plant, crying. She never came in the room or approached any of us. And I, never approached her. I don't think any of my men did either.

We escorted Bobby's body to his hometown and during the trip, Stephanie began calling me. She left several tearful voice messages. "Ranger, I'm so sorry.", "Ranger, did Lester mean what he said?", "Ranger, please tell Lester I'm so sorry. Am I really all those things?"

Then the last message she left was, "Ranger, I know the answers to my questions. Thank you for everything you did for me. I'm sorry I let you down and I got Bobby killed. Please tell Lester that I'll carry this burden with me for the rest of my life. Goodbye."

We'd had a meeting when we got back to Trenton. The three of us, Lester, Tank and myself decided that it was past time to spread out. The company had grown so much and it wasn't smart for all of us as owners to stay in one city. It was decided that I would go back to Miami where I had originally planned to make the home office, Tank would stay in Trenton, and Lester would go to Boston for the time being. Bobby's place in Atlanta would eventually be filled by a new core member. We just couldn't think about replacing him at that time.

Tank had asked to speak to me in private. We went to his office and he'd pulled out a bottle and a couple of shot glasses. "So you just gonna leave and close the book on the Bomber?"

I looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you and her had somethin' at one time. I think you loved her, think you still do."

I sighed. "No I don't, and that chapter of my life is over. What I did was wrong. I was young, and dumb, and horny, when I agreed to take her under my wing. I didn't think she'd last a week. She was amusing and I was having a little fun with her. Then I realized she had some guts and determination, probably the only nouns Lester didn't use for her. I should have put my foot down and demanded she get training in the beginning, and I never should have put our men in danger. It was deadly folly, and I'm just as guilty as she is."

"So, you just gonna walk away, not say goodbye. I know you been with her and I know she cares about you. You was friends for a long time and loyal to each other. That ain't the way to leave it, brother. She's Lula's friend and she tells me Steph ain't doin' too good."

"Tank, I don't want to see her. There is nothing I can say without hurting her. I thought there was maybe something there at one time, but who wants a woman that fucks you, and sleeps with another man too? She treats her personal life with the same disrespect and aloof attitude that she does her professional life. She's irresponsible with it, indifferent to everyone else's concerns and feelings, selfish, and a user. She never much blinked anytime I ever put serious moves on her. She fucked me back vigorously, and she's been playin' the triangle game with me and Morelli for three years. Is that someone you'd want to get serious with?''

He sighed and shook his head. "I agree with some of that shit, but Ranger, I know you. I know that ain't the whole story. That user and selfish thing goes both ways. If she really wanted Morelli, she'd be married to him. If she let you put moves on her, she wanted you to. Did you give her any encouragement at all? Any reason to choose you? What was your part in this? You said you made a mistake in her training, did you make a mistake with her heart too?"

"What the fuck, Tank? Are you seriously trying to analyze my relationship with Stephanie? Now? A professional couldn't analyze that woman."

He snorted. "Like a professional could get through that brick you call a head. I'm just sayin'..."

"And I'm saying that it's over. Let it lay, man."

That was two years ago. Since then I'd heard Stephanie had married Morelli. No big surprise there, even though she'd said many times that she hated the 'burg and didn't want to be her mother or one of those other lifeless women.

She did quit her job working for her cousin Vinnie before I left. It was the right thing to do and I give her credit for that. Her body would have been the next laying on Stark Street in a pool of blood or charred remains in a bombed out vehicle.

As much as I wanted to forget her and move on with my life, my dreams haunted me. I guess it was the guilt. I felt responsible for Bobby's death, and for Steph's guilt and suffering now. I could have maybe tried harder to change the past and get through to her. Instead, I just made her a line item in my entertainment budget and put her on my payroll for insurance purposes. Dios, I'm a real dick!

I gave up on sleep and got up to take a shower and tuck the memories down deep inside again, focusing on the busy day ahead.

TBC -