Author's Note: Thank you to all my reviewers. I'm sorry this update took a little longer than normal... my weekend was hell! Please enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: These characters are NOT mine and I am NOT making any money.

Warning: Slight tissue warning!

Chapter Eight
Being Smart & A Little Stupid

She could feel eyes on her. She knew she was being watched. And it felt creepy as hell. Almost malicious. It sent chills down her spine. And all she could think was, it totally flipping figured. She knew she had over reacted with Tank, but damn it, he hurt her feelings and now a week later, she still wasn't being forth coming with her whereabouts to Tank and the other guys. And now she was being followed. And they had been on her for a while.

She left Louisville, Kentucky after watching her horse race. On a whim she decided at the last minute to make a bet and won back double the money she had spent since being in Louisville. She was so excited, she could barely contain it until she reached her hotel room. She packed her belongings after taking a shower and hit the road. She went from Louisville to Nashville, Tennessee. She went to several museums and even went to the Nashville Zoo. She even got an autograph from Trace Adkins. He had been performing that night at the Grand Ole Opry and she happened to eat at the same restaurant he was. He smiled at her and kissed her cheek. She definitely almost swooned.

She left Nashville after two days and headed to Memphis. In Memphis, she went berserk at Graceland. Since she won all that money on the horse races, she bought souvenirs for all her family and even the guys at RangeMan. She enjoyed herself buying gifts for others. She caught a few more museums and even volunteered at several homeless shelters and soup kitchens.

Another two days in Memphis before she hightailed it to the Ozarks in Missouri. That was when she knew she was being followed. She felt the eyes in Nashville, but since she was upset with Tank, she just figured she was being paranoid. She ignored them in Memphis, but now that she was in the Ozarks and the creepy feeling of being watched was still there, she knew it was true. Damn her rotten luck. She didn't stay long in the Ozarks. She left in the middle of the night, hoping to ditch her trackers. Now she was here in St. Louis and she hadn't ditched a damned thing.

She knew the smart thing to do was call Tank and have him send one of the guys to her, but damn it, she was just finally starting to lose the painful squeeze in her chest caused by losing Ranger. And just the thought of seeing someone from RangeMan made the pain come back with a full vengeance. So that idea was out. She was tired of being chased and stalked. She was sick of others making her their prey. And she didn't want to run. She wanted to enjoy the rest of her trip before heading back to Trenton. She wasn't sure when she was going back to Trenton, but damn it, she wasn't going to be rushed.

Which is what brought her to this St. Louis gym and training center. It was time to get serious and it was time to kick some ass. She walked through the doors of Harley's Gym & Training Center with her head held high and a slight curve to her lips. Even eating the way she had been, she's been losing weight since she was constantly on the go and moving. She felt good and she felt energized.

"Hi! Welcome to Harley's! How can I help you?" A curvy red-head behind the front desk asked her with a wide, friendly smile.

Steph returned the smile. "Hi. I called this morning about taking self-defense classes and getting in a little exercise."

The woman actually looked her over and Steph was pretty sure the woman was checking her out. "You don't look like you need any exercise, but good for you for taking self-defense. And I do remember your call this morning." She stopped talking to take a deep breath and to look into her appointment book. "All of our trainers are completely booked except for Harley. I asked him if he would have time to teach you self-defense one on one since our classes are completely booked until next month and he totally agreed. Such a sweetheart, our Harley."

"Telling lies, Teresa?" A very male voice tsked behind Steph.

She turned to face the deep, sexy voice and gasped. Standing at least a foot over Steph's five foot seven, he had dark brown eyes and was completely bald. He was shirtless, showing off muscles upon muscles and lots of tattoos. He was sexy as hell. And he was smiling at her. It was too bad she didn't feel a damn thing, but then again Ranger's death was still too close to thought for her. She did, however return his smile.

"Aren't you the owner?" She asked. He nodded with a cocked eyebrow. Chewing on her lower lip, she asked. "Are you sure you're not too busy to teach me?"

He shook his head, still smiling. "Nope, my schedule is clear for the next few weeks."

Steph licked her lips and nodded. "Alright, where do I start?"

She started filling out paperwork and paying for a membership. And they asked a lot of questions. She put down her mother as an emergency contact. She had to list any and all health problems and any history of previous health problems. She had to tell them her likes and dislikes; in exercising and in food. And any fears she might have. Did spiders count? Snakes? Because both of them gave her the willies.

Harley chuckled. "I can definitely assure you that they are no spiders and absolutely no snakes in this gym." He leaned a little closer and lowered his voice. "I'm terrified of snakes, but that will be our little secret." He winked, going back to her paperwork.

She grinned. She couldn't help it. He was funny and he was cute. He wasn't giving her any bad vibes and her spidey sense was quiet. She was okay and she was relaxed. It helped that he was super cute too. Probably.

He chuckled again. "You don't like to run, huh? Well, Sweetheart, you're going to have to get over that because you will run with me. However we'll start with a brisk walk and then work into a jog and then we'll begin running."

Steph crinkled her nose in disgust making Harley laugh as he went back to her paperwork.

"You like chocolate, ice cream, and Tasty Kakes. What are Tasty Kakes?" He asked, eying her over the paperwork.

She shrugged. "It's kind of like Little Debbie snack cakes, but in my opinion, only better."

He nodded with a smile. "How much do you eat of the sweet stuff?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know. It depends on my mood. And I'm not giving it up either." She told him firmly and with a little shake to her head to add some attitude.

He lowered her paperwork and gave her a look. "I would never ask you to give it up. That's how a lot of people fail on diets. When you're denied something you love all the time, you get depressed and that only makes you eat it more. I'll only ask and enforce you to eat it in moderation. Moderation is the key to all this. The eating, the exercising, and being healthy. Are we in agreement?" He asked seriously.

She nodded. "Total agreement."

He smiled. "Good." He scanned the paper once again before pinning her with another stare. "No husband? Boyfriend?"

Steph shook her head, unable to speak as tears clogged her throat. Yeah, it was still too soon for Steph. Ranger had been it for her. He was not replaceable.

Harley watched her for another minute before finally nodding and going back to her paperwork. He made a sound of approval before handing the papers back to Teresa. "Glad to see no existing health problems. If at any time during any of our exercises, you suddenly feel different than any other time you've ever exercised, let me know immediately. Understand?"

She nodded firmly. He was dead serious. He looked almost a little scary. He would make a great Merry Man with that scary look and those muscles. And it helped that he was good looking as well.

He smiled. "Great! Let's get started."

Ten minutes on a treadmill at a nice slow walk and then stretching their muscles to warm up before they headed to the mats to begin her first self-defense lesson. She was frustrated and pissed off in less than twenty minutes. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the upper hand against Harley.

"Ugh! It's not fair. You're too damned big. You're twice my size!" She exclaimed quite loudly, facing him, hands on hips.

Harley shook his head as he gripped Steph's shoulders and made her look at him. "All my teachers in the self-defense classes are as big as me. I do that because you never know how big your attacker will be. Once you take a guy my size down then you can take any man down no matter how big he is. Now… let's try it again and again because Steph, I know you can do this."

She nodded eagerly and they got back to work. Harley, for the next hour, showed her several moves that could bring an attacker down. She collapsed on the mat, out of breath and tired.

"I can't move another inch!" Steph declared.

Harley eased himself down next to her, chuckling. "Well we're finished with the lesson for today, but I want you to work on your upper body strength before leaving."

She looked over at him and instantly wanted to slug him. He was so damned relax, sitting with his knees drawn up and arms resting comfortably upon those very large legs. And he wasn't even out of breath. Ugh!

"We're done with the lesson? But I never got the upper hand." Steph replied.

Harley grinned. "Yeah, that's not going to happen in the first lesson, Sweetheart. I am, after all, twice your size." He reminded her with a twinkle in his eye.

Steph laughed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but don't get too cocky, Mr. Teacher because I will bring your ass down."

Harley threw his head back and laughed. "I'll look forward to that day. Now on to upper body strength." He announced, jumping to his feet and offering a hand.

Steph groaned but took his offered hand and got to her feet. "Bring it on, Teach."

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Four days later, she still hadn't managed to bring Harley to his knees and she was still being followed, but she did have a part time job. The hotel she was staying at needed some part time help so she offered. So she worked part time there and when she wasn't working or at the gym with Harley, she was volunteering. She looked forward to her volunteer work and in St. Louis there was plenty of volunteer work to do. The people she met while volunteering were completely amazing and they were helpful and sweet and they always seem to know what to say when she was having a bad day. She only wished she could do more for them.

"Earth to Stephanie."

Harley's deeper than normal voice pulled her from her thoughts and she shook her head. Clearing those cobwebs again.

"Sorry, I was thinking."

"About?" Harley asked being nosy. He was very nosy but all she had to do was tell him to knock it off and he ceased it immediately.

They had been on their fifth lesson in self-defense when Harley announced that she needed a break. Secretly she hoped it was him that needed one, but she knew she was lying to herself.

She shrugged. "Just thinking that I wish I could turn volunteering into something more… I don't know, permanent."

He nodded. "You mean like in a career-wise way?" He questioned.

Steph nodded. "Yeah. I like volunteering at the homeless shelters and the soup kitchens, but unfortunately it doesn't pay the bills."

"There are ways, Steph."

"Which are?"

Harley's dark brown eyes watched her blue ones. "How about being a social worker?"

Steph chewed her lip. "What would that involve?"

"Helping people. Not only adults such as people that are homeless but Veterans and more often, children that struggle in day to day life."

"But doing what though?"

Harley wasn't exactly sure all of what social workers did, but he knew one in particular. "When I was four, my parents were stuck by a drunk driver and they careened off a bridge, got trapped in their car in a river where they drowned. I was home with the babysitter. I didn't have any other family so I went into the foster care system. My social worker, Bevie I called her, was my life saver. She gave me her number and told me to call her at any time. I did and often because I was a scared four year old little boy. She never got upset with me or told me she didn't have time for me. She always made the time for me. And when I was seven and got stuck in a home where the 'parents' –and I use that term lightly– were selling their foster children to um… less than savory characters for an hourly fee. I called Bevie immediately because I knew it was wrong. She got all of us children out of the house that same night and those people were all arrested."

Steph gave Harley a hug, worry for him and disgust for those people written all over her face. "I am so sorry, Harley. I'm sorry you had a rough childhood too."

Harley cupped her cheeks and grinned. "My childhood was a carnival compared to others, Sweetheart."

Steph crinkled her nose and offered him a smile. "I'm still sorry, Harley. You're a good man."

Harley released her faced as she slowly sat back on her knees in front of me. "I owe Bevie for that. She told me to channel my anger into one thing and make that one thing productive so I did." He motioned towards the gym. "I too like helping people. I just do it in my own way."

"Do you think I can do it?" Steph asked, worried she wouldn't make a good social worker like Harley's Bevie.

Harley nodded slowly. "I think it's not going to be easy and it will definitely be a long hard path and probably a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of crying, but yes Stephanie, I know you can do it. You're tough and you don't take anyone's shit, but you've got this soft side in you that wraps around people's hearts and makes everyone around you melt."

She melted on the spot at his sweet works. "Aww, thanks Harley." She replied giving him another hug.

He squeezed her back. "You're welcome, Sweetheart."

They got to their feet and went about Steph's self-defense lesson. When Harley suddenly came at her from behind, not only surprising her but actually scaring her, she flipped him over her shoulder. She stared into Harley's surprised dark eyes for a split second before letting out an ear-splitting whoop.

"I did it! I did it!" She yelled.

Harley came to his feet with a grin on his face. "I told you, you would, Steph."

She jumped into his arms and gave him a hug, excitement clearly on her face, taking away her common sense. When she pulled back, Harley's lips found hers, a simple caress of meeting lips. She practically leaped out of his arms. The pain in her eyes and the hurt on her face melted Harley's heart and he felt instantly like an ass.

"Steph, I'm sorry. I'm so damn sorry. I totally crossed that line between teacher and student, Sweetheart. It won't happen again."

She shook her head. "It's not your fault. I—"

He placed a single thick digit over her parted mouth. "Stephanie, it is my fault. I'm your self-defense teacher and I just crossed that moral line. Please forgive me. And if you want, I'll do some switching and get you another teacher."

Steph shook her head harder. "Can we go somewhere and talk… privately."

Harley looked a little relieved as he nodded. "Yeah. There's a coffee shop down the street. We can use the walk."

Steph agreed. She needed the short walk to clear her head. She was being a little stupid at the same time she was trying to be smart. Oh hell, she was confused.

Once they were seated in the corner of the quaint little coffee shop with their drinks –black coffee for Harley and a hot chocolate for her– did Steph speak.

"I'm totally and completely in love with this man."

Harley was clearly shocked, his eyes wide. "Damn Steph, I'm sorry. You said you didn't have a husb–"

"He was killed in March and I was told on April Fool's Day."

"Oh shit, Sweetheart. I am so damn sorry." Sympathy for Steph came to the surface as he held her hand.

She gave him a tearful smile. "Thanks. It's hard and I'm learning to live with it; with his death."

"Can I ask how it happened?"

"He was caught in an explosion."

That rendered Harley speechless. And that was okay with Steph because she finally felt like talking.

"I live in Trenton, but after his death I had to get out. Everyone was coming up to me and telling me how sorry they were and a few even said that he was in a better place. I wanted to slug each and every one of them. He left me his business, his cars, his apartment, his money but all I wanted was his love. He never gave me that. Oh he said he loved me but that his love came with a condom not a ring. He always told me his life didn't lead to relationships so I never told him what I was always suspected, that I loved him. That I was completely and totally in love with him. He told me to fly so I did. I left Trenton. I've been to Hershey, PA where I ate lots of chocolate. Then to Vermont where I pigged out on Ben & Jerry's ice cream. From there I went to New York and went to a Broadway show. In Kentucky, I won big at the Kentucky Derby. I got to meet Trace Adkins in Nashville and I went to Graceland. And you know what?"

Harley didn't answer, he just continued to give her his full attention.

"The pain of his death is still there. Oh it hurts less, but it's still fucking there, Harley. In my head, I can hear his voice, he calls me Babe…" she choked back a sob. "He called me Babe. I hate this feeling, Harley. This feeling of loss all the time. All his clothes that I took from his –my– apartment that smelled so much like him no longer smell like him. The comforter and sheets that I took off his –my– bed no longer smell like him either. That's all I had left of him, Harley and its gone; he's gone."

Harley didn't care of the eyes around them, he pulled Steph into his lap, her ass settled on his thighs. It was a platonic hold to comfort a friend. "Steph, he'll never truly be gone. You'll always have your memories of him. Keep those memories close to your heart and he'll never truly be gone, Sweetheart."

Steph swallowed, fighting back more tears. "You're so sweet and nice and you're really sexy."

Harley chuckled. "Inflate my ego, Steph. I totally need that."

She punched his arm playfully, but her tone stayed serious. "I wish I could move on with my life, get involved with someone because you would be that perfect guy, but I can't. The pain of losing Ranger is still too close to my heart."

He gave her a smile. "I wish I could be that guy too because you're very beautiful, you're funny and smart and so very desirable, but I'll perfectly happy just to call you my friend."

Steph returned his mile. "I liked that too."

He quietly held her while her tears fell silently. There was no giant sobs or loud hiccups, just quiet tears trailing down her cheeks.

"I feel bad." Steph whispered.

"About?" Harley's voice equally quiet.

"I was so busy with my own grief that I completely ignored his friends, my friends and his family. I feel so damned guilty about that but how I can comfort them when I need the comfort?"

Harley brought a palm to her cheek. "Oh Sweetheart, I'm sure they understand."

"You think?"

He nodded. "I know."

"Thanks Harley. I needed this."

He tweaked her nose and she crunched it, making him laugh. "Tell me about him, Steph."

And she did. She returned to her own seat and they talked for hours. Steph told him about pretty much everything leaving only a few details out like the deal with DeChooch. That was no one's business but hers. She made Harley laugh as she recanted stories about getting Ranger shot and burning down the funeral home and the place full of pot, becoming high as hell just from the contact with the smoke. To Steph, it felt good to talk about Ranger. To laugh as she told Harley her memories of the man she loved.

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"So you never did tell me why you needed self-defense. I mean most women don't need a reason besides the one where they just wanted to be aware of their surroundings, but something tells me it's more for you."

Steph nodded in agreement. "There is."

Ten days had passed since the day in the coffee shop and Steph was close with Harley. They had become fast friends. She didn't feel anything but friendship for him and he respected that. She was definitely comfortable around him and she could flip him six ways from Sunday. She was confident in her skills on the mat. Not to mention she could run a whole mile without puking. She couldn't promise any more than that. During the last ten days, she had told him all about her crazy life in Trenton. He knew about her stalkers and the crazy people she went after. He admired her for all she had been through. She even told him about the reason Ranger had to go in the wind which sealed his death warrant.

"And? Go on…" He urged softly.

"I feel like I'm being watched."

Harley sat up from his lounging position on the mats. "What? Are you sure?" He shook his head. "Of course you're sure. Have you been to the police?"

Steph shook her head. "And tell them what?"

"Um… that you're being followed, Sweetheart. It's a serious matter. Have you told anyone else?"

Another shake of her head. "I've talk to Tank and besides a small matter with an asshole of a client, there's been nothing suspicious. Even the man that…" Steph shuddered. "Lester texted me and they captured the son of a bitch that was going after Ranger's family. It's probably just my imagination."

Harley captured one of her hands in his and cupped her cheek with the other hand. "Do you honestly feel as though it's just your imagination, Stephanie?"

Steph shook her head. Again. "I don't, but I know self-defense, Harley. I carry my stun gun and my pepper spray everywhere I go. I'm no longer ignorant of my surroundings. Thanks to you, I can take the fucker down."

Harley sighed. "At least document this with the local police, Sweetheart. It will make me feel a lot better."

Steph slowly nodded. "Okay."

Author's Note: There will NEVER be anything more than friendship between Harley & Steph.. just wanted to be clear on that.. :-)