Chapter 5

I arrived at Pino's early. I'd stopped by the bonds office and picked up folders on two new skips and I was familiarizing myself with the files while I waited for Lester. One of them, Delilah White, was a former associate of Lula's and the plan was for Lula to accompany me to visit her after lunch. Court was in session that afternoon and I hoped to talk her into coming with me and having Vinnie re-bond her so she could be back at work for the prime time on her corner.

"Hey there," said a familiar voice. I looked up as Joe Morelli slid into the booth across from me. "You eating alone today?" he asked.

"No, I'm waiting for my date," I told him. I was struck by his handsomeness and air of overt masculinity. A little distance from Joe had blurred my remembrance of his attraction. I waited for the longing for him to waft over me. When it didn't happen I was both relieved and sad at the same time. Relieved because I didn't have any second thoughts about the breakup, but still a little sad in the way that looking at old photos made me sad. I decided it was okay to grieve a little for something that had died.

"Waiting for your date, huh? Ranger?" he asked.

"No. Lester Santos, actually."

"Wow. I didn't see that coming."

"Business," I said. "Nothing but business, and speaking of coming, he's coming through the door right now."

Joe turned and looked over his shoulder and then stood up from the booth. "Good seeing you, Cupcake." He reached out and ruffled an errant curl and then walked away. And that was it. We had reached a stage I'd thought wouldn't be possible. We were friendly. We could bump into each other and be casually social without animosity. It felt good.

Thoughts of Joe fled as Lester slid into the recently vacated spot. Other than a mild discoloration around his eye and a line of sutures through his eyebrow he looked as he always did. He was in full RangeMan gear.

"You look pretty good considering what I heard you went through. I thought you might be more visibly banged up."

"Nah, I'm fine. What was the cop doing here?"

"Just saying hi. You're going to have something in common with him soon," I said. "You're both going to have a nice scar slicing through an eyebrow and you will have gotten it the same way."

"Not quite," Lester said. "Mine came from a friend or maybe a former friend. I'm not worried about the scar, but I am relieved to find out he didn't do any permanent damage to the equipment." He looked briefly at his crotch. "I found out this morning, everything's in good working order."

I rolled my eyes. "What are you wearing RangeMan clothes for? Surely, you're not working?"

"I am. I'm on monitor duty for a couple of days until I completely heal up. I'd normally only have an hour, but I cajoled an extra half hour out of Tank. I told him I had a gorgeous woman waiting to talk to me about really, really good sex. So, start talking, Beautiful. I do think sex with you would be really, really good." And he gave me the most engaging grin.

I was speechless for a moment. He thought I was coming on to him. Then I realized what he'd said. "Wait! You told Tank I wanted to talk to you about sex?"

Lester didn't answer immediately as the waitress came and brought me a fresh glass of iced tea and we placed our order.

"You didn't!" I hissed. "I can't believe you'd bring my name into this with Tank."

"I didn't just say we were going to talk about sex," Lester said. "I said we were going to talk about the earthquaking, ball-rattling, semi-seizure inducing kind of sex that comes along once in a lifetime. But hell no, I didn't use your name. If it got back to Ranger, he wouldn't beat the crap out of me like Vince did. He'd kill me."

"If he didn't, I would," I said. "Let's get one thing clear. I've got something I want to say to you, and it involves sex, but not sex with you and me."

"Ah, crap," he said. "You're not going to tell me about your sex life with Ranger, are you?"

"No!"

"Whew," he said wiping a hand across his brow to remove his imaginary sweat. "I don't think I could handle hearing that." He leaned his head toward the bar where Joe was sitting with a fellow detective. "Morelli then?"

"No!" Once again, I was emphatic. "I'm not here to talk about my sex life with Morelli. That's history. And what makes you think I have a sex life with Ranger?"

His green eyes met mine with a disconcerting stare and he raised his uninjured eyebrow. I blushed.

"Okay," I said conceding to the fact that there was something sexual between Ranger and myself, but that's as much as I was willing to give away. "I'm not planning to talk about my sex life at all. I was wanting to discuss yours, but out of curiosity why would talking about me and Ranger be more than you could handle?"

"Because it's creepy and uncomfortable to hear the details about someone you care for having sex with someone else you know."

My mouth gaped for a moment, but I quickly recovered my composure. Lester had jumped right to the point of the conversation I'd been hoping to have with him. I wanted him to realize that his unedited and unprompted descriptions of his sexual exploits could be hurtful. They had been hurtful to Vince for the same reason Lester had given about not wanting to hear about me and Ranger. He hadn't known he was talking about the sister of one of his coworkers, but that was even more reason for him to keep a lid on his experiences.

"I get it," I said. "Ranger is like a brother to you and it's probably uncomfortable hearing details of his private life."

"It's not hearing details of Ranger's private life that makes me uncomfortable. I mean he is a private dude, and there is that whole Bro-code thing, but it wouldn't put me in a knot hearing who, what, when and how from Ranger. I don't want to hear about the details of your private life, Beautiful. I'd get jealous."

Was Lester telling me he had feelings for me? Or was I being played in typical Lester fashion. I wasn't sure, so in typical Stephanie fashion I avoided digging any deeper in that hole and asked another question.

"What do you mean 'the whole Bro-code'?"

"You know," he said. "The Bro-code. Men's rules like…have your bro's back. Watch out for him always, and you never make a move on your buddy's girl, ever, even if she's his ex unless you get your bro's permission. And I don't see Ranger ever giving me permission, Beautiful. I guess we'll always have to wonder if the sex would have been really, really good." He sighed.

"There are rules for being a man?" I asked, wondering how the conversation had gotten so far off track, or at least the track I had planned on it taking. He didn't answer for a moment as the waitress was back sliding the big pie on the table between us.

Lester wasted no time pulling a slice from the pan and taking a bite. He didn't talk for several bites and when he did it wasn't what I expected.

"Oh, shit! Number six. I fucking broke number six. I knew he had a sister named Vicky. They're twins. I didn't know my Vicky was his Vicky until yesterday, I swear. She doesn't look a thing like him!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Rule number six," he moaned. "You never sleep with your bro's mother or sister without your bro's permission. I've got to talk to Vince. He must be working night shift. I haven't seen him around today."

"He's not working at RangeMan anymore. He quit," I said. "And that's what I really wanted to talk to you about today. It's not my story to tell, but what I can say is Ranger gave him an ultimatum for staying and Vince chose to leave."

"Anger management?" Lester asked. "Getting help for PTSD?"

"I'm not sure," I said. PTSD had never come into the short conversation Ranger and I'd had the night before.

"We've all been there," Lester said. "Including the boss man, but Vince has always been resistant. You can't go through what we did and see what we saw and come away completely normal. Not a one of us is completely sane, but when we band together, we're strong."

He leaned back against the booth and looked miserable, as if he'd eaten the whole pie instead of only a partial slice. "I've betrayed a brother. I've got to go talk to Vince."

"That's a good idea, Lester, but there is something else you could do. I'm not preaching, really, I'm not, but you could try to moderate your descriptions of…well…" I let my voice trail off. What had ever made me think I should talk to Lester? I was in over my head.

Lester stood abruptly and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He dropped a couple of bills on the table and leaned in toward me, his face coming close enough I could count the stitches.

"I take my friendships with the guys seriously. The original group are more like brothers than friends. I'll make it right with Vince. I take the Bro-code seriously, too. You were Ranger's before I knew you, but if things had been different, you and I would be in a much different place right now."

He straightened and, in a motion eerily like Joe's earlier one, he reached out and tugged at a curl, turned and walked out.

I sat alone and ate pizza on autopilot. Behind Lester's casual flirting there had apparently been real emotion. Ranger must have sensed it, because he brooked no flirting from Lester. The thing is, Ranger and I weren't in a relationship, and he'd be the first to say so. I'd like to think we were, but after last night it was apparent he didn't share my feelings.

As weird as it was to think Lester had been pining for me, it was kind of nice. Despite his good looks and renowned sexual prowess, there was no spark for me where Lester was concerned. I only had sparks for one man. A man whose business I had stuck my nose into, thoroughly and uninvitedly.

I picked up my phone and called Ranger hoping the call would go to voicemail. He picked up on the first ring.

"You didn't take the Macan," he said.

"No, I caught a ride with Vince. We talked, and then I had lunch with Lester. Vince is going to call you, or maybe he already has. He's reconsidering his options. He doesn't want to leave RangeMan. Lester is going to apologize to Vince, and he's going to try and keep his private life a little more private. And you should hire an HR person."

"Tank is my HR person," Ranger said.

"Tank! I imagine he's fine with payroll, but you need a woman. A qualified woman who can lead diversity and inclusion training. I'm not sure what the Bro-code is, but maybe the guys need a less gender-specific code to live by."

There was silence for a moment. I wondered if I'd gone too far, if he was pissed at my intrusion.

"I'll take it into consideration," he replied. "When can I see you again? I need to hear more about your relationship with Acosta."

"You're not listening, Ranger. I told you everything last night. There's nothing more to tell." I disconnected and turned my phone off. I crammed the FTA folders into my messenger bag and left Pino's as unobtrusively as I could. Morelli was still at the bar and I didn't want any speculation from him. Ranger knew, but other than him it was still a secret and I planned to keep it that way.