Chapter 10

As I collided with a solid object and felt hands on my arms I just collapsed. God, this was so reminiscent to when I'd ran from Joe's house straight into Miguel. My sobbing was out of control now and for the first time in days the tendrils of a headache began its painful reach through my head.

With the sobbing came the ache to my ribs. The sobbing wasn't subsiding, and the headache just wasn't backing down. I was a mess and once again I felt at a total loss, all control beginning to leach away from me. Why, was the recurring question flashing through my head. Why had my life fallen apart in front of me? Why couldn't I just be normal? Why were things always happening to me? Why had I lost my best friend? Why wasn't I good enough for anyone?

I felt myself being held and felt a slow rocking motion that seemed to be calming me down. I had no idea where I'd ended up but what was strange was that I'd expected it to have been Hector who was comforting me. It wasn't and for a moment I panicked and tried to squirm away. No, those hands couldn't be touching me again, could they?

"Please don't hurt me"

Was my plaintive whisper as I tried to overcome the absolute panic now building up inside of me.

"I won't hurt you, Babe. I could never hurt you"

I was almost afraid to open my eyes because it being Ranger who was now whispering to me seemed so out of context.

"I didn't know, and I didn't, couldn't fight back. I'm so sorry Babe"

I shifted my head from where it was resting, toward where the voice had come from and felt a touch along my cheek and then as a curl was pushed behind my ear, a touch that was so simple yet was so full of meaning. I was sat across Ranger in the very chair where I'd first seen him.

I shook my head because it wasn't his fight to take on. I suppose that it was mine, but I hadn't even known that I had to fight or what I was fighting against.

"No nothing was your fault. I didn't come here for your help I came here because I felt that you needed someone to fight for you instead"

I'm not sure how long we stayed as we were, in fact it seemed like hours before I actually acknowledged where we were. I must have passed out again as I'd relaxed because when I next opened my eyes I was slightly confused with where I was. Instead of being on the chair where we'd been, I was now laid next to Ranger on the bed totally cocooned within his arms. It was the cooling breeze across my face that had me turning my head and actually looking at Ranger. His whole demeanor had changed. Gone was the anger from his face and the darkness from his eyes, instead I was seeing a man who looked very tired and was in pain. I lifted my hand and ran it down his cheek feeling the roughness of his face but also feeling the calmness that I always associated with being with Ranger. I was pretty sure that I had my friend back again.

"You're tired, you need to sleep"

"Then let's sleep"

Was his response as he closed his eyes. I continued to stroke my hand down his cheek as I felt him relax until I was sure that he was sound asleep. That totally confused me. Why would Ranger be so tired that he would just fall asleep so suddenly? Wasn't he here in Miami to relax and recuperate?

I woke to the light coming into the room feeling incredibly comfortable and calm. Memories from the day before came to me but I needed to open my eyes just to be sure. I was still laid in the bed in the room where I had first seen Ranger. Reaching out across the sheets, I found the bed cold and empty. It wasn't unusual for Ranger to wake before me and leave me to sleep but we weren't talking about anything being usual here. I stretched before sitting up pleased that the headache seemed to have dulled, though the movement brought a twinge of pain to my ribs. Looking around my eyes went straight to the chair where I'd first seen Ranger when we arrived, but he wasn't there. Looking down under the sheet laid over me I noticed that I was wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that I didn't recognize, which had me a little confused with how I was wearing them. I needed a bathroom first and then to find where anyone was.

Desperate, I spied a door that turned out to be a bathroom, a large well proportioned room that carried on the theme of white as the main color. I used the toilet, washed my hands and teased my fingers through my unruly hair until it was somewhere near reasonable and studied myself in the mirror. I didn't look as pale as I had done and the circles under my eyes weren't as dark and deep as I remembered them, so maybe I'd slept well for the first time in days. I certainly had no recollection of having had any dreams. The shorts and top weren't too revealing so I decided that they would be okay while I found someone, preferably Hector, who hopefully would give me an idea of what the hell was going on.

From there I walked to the windows and stepped past the drapes into the bright sunshine. I was stood on a large, decked area that hosted tables, chairs and umbrellas with an amazing view of the beach and sea beyond.

My attention was drawn to the sound of voices to my left which was where I spotted what looked to be an outdoor exercise area under the cover of a large canopy. As I made my way over, I spied Ranger using a weight machine, though from what I could remember the attached weights were less than he usually handled. There was a man squatted down next to him who seemed to be encouraging him, maybe a trainer or physio. It was as I approached that I saw an ugly wound on the left side of his stomach which must have been the injury that Hector had mentioned. He was totally engrossed with what he was doing and working hard if the sweat pouring from him was any indication. I didn't want to be disturbing him so turned back toward the house and came face to face with a tall, beautiful Latino woman.

"Please don't interrupt him, he needs to regain his strength"

I saw the way that she was watching him and decided that maybe I wasn't wanted here so turned to head back toward an open door hoping that the woman wouldn't follow me. I had no idea what I would even say to her and already felt embarrassed for even being here.

"Estefania. Come, there is food for breakfast"

I turned to see Hector helping himself to a selection of fruits and cheeses so made my way over to where the fresh juice was. It was then that I realized just how hungry I was.

"What exactly happened yesterday, Hector?"

I chose some orange juice and a selection of fruit before following Hector over to an empty table. There was a large awning over us protecting us from the sun but allowing a breeze to keep the area cool. Sitting next to Hector I was waiting for him to give me some sort of answer and was both a little surprised and annoyed when he wiped his mouth with a napkin and then just looked at me.

"You slept"

I rolled my eyes because I knew that I'd slept, hadn't I just woken up in a bed.

"No, you slept. You've been asleep for 36 hours"

I just stared at Hector as he continued to fork fruit from his bowl and eat it because I honestly didn't believe him. How could I have slept for that length of time? I know I like my sleep, but I've never slept that long before.

"Estefania. Quit worrying. You're still recovering from injuries. You've hardly slept over the past few days, so you needed to catch up"

Was he right? I suppose I had felt like crap when I'd left Joe's house and after leaving Rangeman. I did feel more refreshed and strangely I wasn't aware of my sleep being disturbed with any dreams. I had started to pick at the fruit in front of me as those thoughts went through my head but was aware as Hector stood up and disappeared. A few minutes later he returned with a mug of coffee for me and a plate that had me moaning. Bacon, eggs, sausages and toast adorned the plate making me realize just how hungry I was.

"You were the shock that Ranger needed to pull his control back"

I looked up at Hector surprised, the food forgotten, with what he'd just said. What did he mean when he said that I was the shock?

"Yesterday was the first time that he's slept properly since he came here. He's been wound up so tight that he was losing himself"

"He slept because of me?"

How could I be responsible for that? Then I thought through the whole of me being brought here so quickly. Was the whole thing planned, was I part of some plan to shock Ranger?

"You planned it didn't you? Bringing me here. Why didn't you just tell me what you were up to?"

I could feel my temper rising at the thought of how I'd been used, how my emotions had been played as a ploy against Ranger.

"Estefania you both needed it. You were hurting and needed some answers. You needed Ranger back in your life and believe it or not he needed you"

I opened my mouth to protest at what he was saying then stopped myself. Was Hector right? I mean I knew that I wanted to help Ranger and that I wanted my friend back for me. I suppose what had happened had helped both of us so could I be angry at Hector? Probably not but I wasn't sure what would happen now. If Ranger was on the mend, then I suppose I'd go back to Trenton and try to pick up my life again, move past what Joe had done. Could I do that and what about my mother?

I ate automatically as the thoughts ran through my head not aware of what was going on around me until Hector stood up and cleared away my empty mug and plate.

"Your bag is in the bedroom, go shower and change and then we can take a walk along the beach"

I nodded my head in agreement thinking that walking on the beach might help me to think. I found the bag as Hector had said, recognizing it as one that had travelled with me on the plane, so was keen to see what had been packed. Brand new underwear, cut offs, shorts, a bikini and several sleeveless T-shirts along with a set of nightwear, flip flops and a pair of sandals. In the side pocket were small travel bottles of shampoo and conditioner, shower gel and even a brush with ties around the handle. It made me wonder if Hector had been responsible for packing these things. I sighed as I realized that it didn't matter.

I found a plastic bag to cover my cast along with the shampoo and have to say that I did feel better after cleaning up and changing. Dressed in cut offs, a sleeveless T-shirt and flip flops I made my way back to where I'd left Hector. Even as he saw me, he rose to his feet, so I met him on a narrow path that looked to lead in the direction of the beach.

"Hey, wait up"

Turning I was surprised to see Les running toward us dressed in board shorts and a T-shirt. Why was Les here? Had he known that Hector was bringing me to see Ranger? Did that mean that everyone at Rangeman knew where I was? I expected Les to be annoyed with me, but he was as exuberant as usual in how he greeted me, pulling me into his arms for a hug. Whilst I was used to this display of affection from Les, I surprised myself when I just seemed to freeze at his touch, something that worried me a bit.

"Beautiful, am I glad you came"

I assumed that maybe Les knew why I'd been brought here and that he was talking about me being a shock for Ranger and that maybe me showing up had helped to drag Ranger out of the dark place that he'd fallen into.

"How's Ranger?"

I asked wanting to know if he was in fact improving.

"Better. At least he's slept and started to eat. Stavro has him doing some exercise but there's a way to go yet"

I was pleased that he'd started to make progress but had an underlying concern when Les implied that he still wasn't okay.

"Beautiful, he won't talk to anyone, and he's still closed off, but at least now he's going through the motions of recovering"

Ranger being closed off was nothing new to me but if how I'd seen him last night when I first saw him had changed then that was good wasn't it? I just couldn't understand how seeing me had shocked him out of that dangerous persona that I'd witnessed.

By now we'd passed through a metal gate and were walking down the beach toward the water, so my attention was drawn to the waves as they swept into the shore before breaking and retreating, drawing the sand back with them. The breeze was warm so with the smell from the beach and the sound of the water I was drawn toward the foaming edge. Birds were circling, ducking and diving calling out across the breeze, enticing me to sit down on the sand and just absorb the atmosphere. The beach had always been my go to place, somewhere where I felt that I could relax and being here was no exception. The three of us had been in silence as I let myself absorb the calmness that came over me, though I should have known that the two men might have an ulterior motive for bringing me here away from the house. Having Les sat next to me had me remembering the last time that I'd heard his voice. To me he seemed to be the only one of the core team who had questioned that call to Joe.

"Did Joe turn up at Rangeman?"

I asked of no one in particular but hoping that Les would give me an answer.

"Yeah. It was after we discovered that the fire alarm was a false one and had got back into the building. That was a genius move, Beautiful. Tank was pissed, Bobby was confused but I knew that you being there wasn't what they thought, that something was wrong"

I inwardly groaned at a pissed off Tank and dreaded the idea of ever having to see him again, though maybe if he understood exactly why I'd resorted to escaping from Rangeman he might be a little less annoyed at me. Though even though it seemed that Les was trying to get me to talk now, I wasn't ready for that to happen.

"Morelli was totally pissed off when we said that as far as we knew you were at his house, so he knew that there was nothing more he could say. The second time he came he took a different stance. Said that you were in danger and that we needed to help him find you"

I suppose that was just a different approach to trying to find me.

"What did Tank say to that?"

Wondering if Tank would use the resources of Rangeman to help look for me.

"He threw back what Morelli told us, that we were to have nothing to do with you. Didn't stop us though. We did have a team trying to find you and reached out for what was being said on the street"

As I looked sideways at Hector, he winked at me letting me know that he had never betrayed to anyone where I was. Hector was very quickly becoming a man that I could totally trust and the longer I spent with him the more that I liked him.

"How are you here Les?"

Wanting to move the conversation away from me and because it seemed too much of a coincidence that Les had suddenly turned up in Miami, unless he was here because he was genuinely concerned about Ranger. Les laughing had me wondering what he thought was so funny so I was sure his answer wouldn't be as I expected.

"Mia. She raised shit with me. Screamed and shouted for me to do something about this woman who had turned up down here. She was really worried that you were some upstart who would be detrimental to Ranger's progress. Told me to get my arse down here because a Hispanic man with a tear drop tattoo, that she knows is with Rangeman, was with you"

Oh hell, so Ranger did have another woman down here in Miami and I just bet that she was that beautiful woman that I'd seen earlier. No wonder she warned me to stay away from Ranger, though how she would ever think that I would cause harm to Ranger was beyond me. I suppose what Hector had planned had worked so I was sure that this Mia would want me gone now. That had me remembering something that Les has said.

"What's the word back home Les?"

I looked down at my feet as I scrunched the sand between my toes prepared, I suppose, for the worst.

"Morelli is still looking for you and has people all over town on the lookout, but folk are beginning to question his motives. Connie and Lula are livid with him, though wouldn't say why. Lula, now there's a woman who sees the world differently. She said that he was trying to cage you and that you couldn't cage someone like you, Beautiful, because you were like a bluebird and meant to fly free"

Connie and Lula were aware that I'd finished with Joe so in some ways it was good to know that they'd had my back. As for the name that she'd called me, well that was unusual for her. I knew that Lula had gone through phases of focusing on various beliefs and conspiracy theories, but I'd never heard her say that about me. Somehow, we had a special connection that grew from when she'd been badly injured and dumped by Ramirez on my fire escape, but I'd never seen that side of her. Yeah, her eating fads and phobias that could often have me counting to ten before I blew up at her.

"The gossip mongers are tut tutting and shaking their heads saying that this is just another phase of the Morelli Plum story but there are more who are saying that Joe is delusional in thinking that you'll ever marry him."

No worse than usual then. I was pretty sure that my mother would be tippling and ironing everything in sight. Maybe going back home wouldn't be as bad as I imagined, as long as Joe stayed well away from me.

It went quiet again between us but somehow, I knew that there was something more to come. Les leant back onto his elbows and crossed his legs at his ankles but it was Hector's behavior that didn't seem relaxed, though what did I know. Trying to make a judgement of Hector was almost as bad as doing it with Ranger, they were both masters at hiding themselves. So seeing Hector just staring out to sea had me looking at him and as he said my name I almost jumped.

"Estefania"

His voice was quiet as though he really didn't want to be breaking the silence and that had me tensing up because I was sure that whatever he was going to say wasn't going to be good.

"Estefania. Morelli had no right to remove you from the hospital"

I'd thought about that but had pretty much convinced myself of the answer.

"He'd have made a case that I would be safe with him and that I'd want to be with him. Add my mother and even my father backing him up and it would have been a done deal"

"It still isn't right"

I knew that, but we were talking about Morelli here. He was seen as a respected detective and upstanding citizen.

"There's nothing that I can do about it now. No one would believe me, not with the history that we had."

"Estefania you are a strong woman. You cannot allow Morelli to think that he can control you like that"

I knew that Hector was only saying what I'd just been thinking but I just couldn't believe that Joe would do that to me.

"I need to confront him. I need him to understand that I want nothing more to do with him"

Though that thought might have been the way to go I just wasn't too sure how I would cope with doing it. I hated to realize just how afraid of Joe I'd become. Why would he think that I'd change my mind about him?

It wasn't long after I said that than we started to get up from the sand, with Les holding his hand out to help me up. I brushed the sand from my legs and turned to return to the house my head reeling with what I needed to face.

"I need to catch up with Tank"

Came from Les as he held the gate open for me and then followed me through.

"What will you tell him?"

I asked because I was worried about that on a whole new level. Okay, I didn't want Tank wasting man hours looking for me when I was here, but neither did I want Hector getting into trouble.

"The truth. Don't worry about it Beautiful, he won't be annoyed when he knows that Ranger's started to cooperate. In fact, he'll be more annoyed with himself that he didn't come up with the idea himself"

"And Hector?"

I watched as Les turned to me, a frown on his face as though he wasn't sure why I had mentioned Hector's name.

"Hector. Tank knows that Hector can be a loner and that he thinks outside the box. Hector only really answers to Ranger so Tank will know that what Hector did was the best way forward"

Okay, that made me feel easier as I watched Les disappear down a path to the side of the building, though I still wasn't sure just what Les would tell Tank. As I watched Les disappear it gave me an opportunity to really appreciate the house where we were staying. It was a single story building with large windows opening onto the decked area outside. I suppose the outside was as much a part of the living area as inside given the weather. White was the predominate color which surprised me because I didn't see Ranger as a person who would use white as a backdrop, though maybe I was biased having seen where he lived in Trenton.

Approaching the house, I couldn't see anyone which disappointed me because I was hoping to see Ranger again. Maybe now that he was improving, he would be with Mia. I sighed at that thought and the feeling of being an interloper engulfed me. I didn't belong in Ranger's world down here so maybe my role had been played out and it was time for me to leave. Movement caught my eye from the area where Hector and I had eaten but as I approached it was to see a young girl laying out cutlery and plates on the tables. She smiled at me when she saw me but continued with her task. I had no idea what to do now, somehow, I'd managed to lose Hector, so I turned and headed back to the bedroom where I'd woken up in this morning. I had a lot to think about so maybe being alone was better for doing that. Walking in out of the bright sunshine through the windows made the room seem dark but I instinctively knew that I wasn't alone, and my eyes went to the chair in the corner.

Sat rigidly watching me was Ranger, his body tense, but the expression on his face had my heart go out to him. His face carried an expression of pain on it, not physical pain but that of someone who was tormented. Without a thought I walked over to him and knelt down at his side laying my head on his lap with my arms wrapping around his hips. I felt the tension in his muscles begin to relax as his hands locked through my hair, pulling me closer to him. I didn't resist when I was hauled up to end up sat on his lap, though was a bit worried about that movement on his wound.

No words were said and to be honest there was no need as he gently swept his hand through my hair and down my arm. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to be exactly where I was. I wasn't sure how long we stayed like that but the door to the bedroom slamming open had me flinching and I suddenly found myself kneeling back on the floor with Ranger stood up next to me.