A/N: Rather than (poorly) translate long conversations into English via Google Translate, please imagine that all italicized dialogue is in Spanish.
Chapter Six
December 2005
I arranged for Hector to pick me up from the Newark airport, and then afterward, we planned to go to our parents' house for dinner. I hadn't seen them in nearly a year, and with Christmas coming up, it was time for another visit.
When we arrived at the house we grew up in, my mama and two younger sisters were waiting on the porch for us. "Hello, my boys!" Mama exclaimed. She rushed off the porch to gather both of us in her arms, kissing our cheeks. Our sisters were smirking at us, but I knew she did the same to them when they came home for a visit.
"Hello, Mama," I murmured. "How are you doing?"
"My heart is happy. My sons have come home to see me," she said, kissing my cheek again. "Come inside; we have a lot of catching up to do."
We followed her inside, greeting our younger sisters along the way. "Maria, how are you feeling?" I asked, looking at her expanded belly.
"He's very active right now, but I'm feeling good. It's good to see you, Carlos," she replied, and I hugged her.
"Rosa, how's Miguel?" I asked my other sister about her husband of only a year.
"He's good, Carlos. Are you doing okay? Anyone special in your life?" she asked as she hugged and kissed me.
I shook my head, and she sighed. Of all my siblings, Rosa was the one who didn't understand Hector's and my stance on relationships. Now that Hector had reconsidered his moratorium on love, I was confident my family would turn to trying to convince me to find someone, too.
We went inside, where Abuela Rosa and my father Ricardo were seated in the living room, playing a card game. We crossed the room to greet them both, and my Abuela stood to hug each of us tightly. Abuela Rosa was the grandmother Hector and I lived with when we moved to Miami as teens. After she had a stroke, she moved to Newark to live with my parents.
"My sweet Carlitos and Hector, how are you boys doing? Do you enjoy living in Trenton?" she asked us.
"Yes, Abuela," we said in unison.
"Tell me of your new company," Papa requested. "Are you close to opening the doors?"
"We've already started, Papa," Hector replied. "But the full function will come in phases. While the building is undergoing renovations, we are raising funds to fund the next phases, such as hiring employees and starting to offer our security services."
"How are you raising funds? Still on those Army missions, Carlos?" he asked disapprovingly.
"Yes, Papa, partially," I said. "We've also started bond enforcement for a couple of agencies in Trenton. We'll need to arrange to purchase some vehicles from your dealership soon."
He nodded. "Let me know when you're ready, and I will have whatever you need. Lester is still planning to join you in a couple of months?"
Hector nodded. "In about three months, right, Carlos?" he said, looking to me for confirmation.
"Yes. He is a free man beginning February twenty-seventh of next year. He wants to go on vacation before moving to Trenton at the beginning of April."
"Where is he going for a month?" Abuela asked. I hope he plans to visit his family."
"I don't know, Abuela. He just said he wants a month off before starting at RangeMan."
"I'll have to make sure he plans to come visit. I'm an old woman, you know," she said, but I knew that was just what she planned to tell him to convince him to come see her. She could be a crafty old lady when she needed to be.
"Is that what you plan to call your new business? RangeMan? What does that mean?" Mama asked. She had been listening quietly up until now.
"That was my idea, Mama," Hector replied. "Carlos was an Army Ranger, and in our line of work, it's a good idea to have 'street names,' so I suggested Ranger for him and named the business after his new street name."
"Street names? What are those?" asked Maria.
I looked at Hector and shrugged. This one was all on him to explain.
"In some aspects of our business, we will encounter criminals, and we want to make sure we are intimidating so they do not think we are scared of them or that they can mess with us," he said carefully. "Street names and establishing ourselves as men they need to be careful around will help us do that."
"Ladies, I don't believe we should discuss this further," Papa said. "Let's please change the subject."
Everyone exchanged smirks but did as Papa requested. He was still unequivocally the head of the family, and what he said was law.
Celia and Elena arrived over the next fifteen minutes, coming together from New York City. "Ugh, so sorry we're late. There was an accident in the tunnel, and getting past it was a nightmare," Elena said. They came into the living room.
"Wow, look at you, Maria!" Celia said. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm ready whenever he is," Maria replied. "It's getting harder to sleep now."
"I bet. Is Raphael excited?"
"He can't wait to have a son he can play catch with. I just hope Junior here likes to play," Maria said with a chuckle.
"Where is Raph?" Hector asked, looking around.
"He's on call at the firehouse," she said.
"Rosa, where's Miguel?" I asked.
"He's flying tonight," she replied. Her husband was a pilot for a charter plane company.
"Is he going anywhere exciting?" Mama asked.
Rosa laughed. "Cincinnati, so no."
We caught up with each other's lives while Mama excused herself to the kitchen to finish dinner. Abuela Rosa sat listening to everyone with a serene smile; there was nothing she loved better than having all her grandchildren around. She was Papa's mother, and Papa's younger sister had died in the Cuban exodus of 1959. As Abuela Rosa had suffered complications when she gave birth to her daughter, she was unable to bear any more children after that. From the age of eleven onward, Papa had been raised as an only child. Abuela Rosa lived for her grandchildren and wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by a large family filled with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"Dinner's ready," Mama called from the kitchen. We filed obediently into the large space and sat at the well-worn oak dining table. The aroma of dinner wafted pleasantly, and Ranger felt his stomach rumble in appreciation as he took his seat.
"Mama, ropa vieja?" Hector asked. "My favourite."
She laughed. "It's everyone's favourite, and it's not often I get to feed my sons. Oh, how I wish Lester were here, too," she sighed. "But in a few short months, I look forward to seeing my whole family around the dinner table."
Papa served Abuela Rosa first, then took some of each dish before passing it down the table. In addition to the ropa vieja, there were tostones, moros y cristianos, and yuca con mojo.
The conversation continued from the living room, and though I didn't participate much, I listened to the sounds of my family enjoying themselves. I wondered what Stephanie was doing tonight.
"Carlos, do you remember Mrs. Acosta and her daughter Giselle?" Mama asked me. "Giselle was quite interested to learn that you had moved back to New Jersey. Since you're not seeing anyone, I thought you could take her out on a date."
"Mama, no. I'm not interested." I remembered Giselle. She used to follow Hector and me around all the time, mooning over us. After we returned to New Jersey to go to Rutgers, she attended a Christmas party with her parents. She had developed into a beautiful woman, but she had a hint of crazy eyes, and I did not want to invite that into my life.
"Carlos, you need someone in your life," Mama persisted. "It's not healthy for a man to be alone all the time. Even your brother has finally met someone to be with."
"Mama, I'm very busy with our new company. I don't like Giselle, and I don't want to date her or anyone else. If that changes, I will find my own woman."
"But Carlos—"
"Enough, Marisol. Carlos prefers to be alone. Let him be," Papa interrupted. Thankfully, Mama let the subject drop after that, but I would bet big money that she would bring it up again with my father and me.
An hour later, after declining some of Mama's arroz con leche for dessert, Hector and I hugged everyone goodbye, and Abuela Rosa made us promise to call home more often. Soon, we were on the road to Trenton, and I asked him what was new with RangeMan.
"Everything in the building is done except the fourth-floor apartments. The crew started working on them yesterday. They estimate that two weeks more will be needed before everything is completed. Your money hit our corporate account three days ago, so we also have a bit more breathing room. Our financials were starting to get a little tight."
"I changed the account information before I left this time. For now, I'll use the money I get for the business until we no longer need it."
"Did you re-sign another contract?" Hector asked.
I nodded. "Two years. One-point-five per job and operational control. I can't be sent out of the country for the last three months unless I agree or I've re-signed before that."
"Hector let out a long, low whistle. "One-point-five mil per job? Nice bump. They must've really wanted you to keep going."
I shrugged. "I'm worth it."
Hector laughed. "I'm sure you are, Mano. I have news, too. I have a new job starting, too. I'm leaving on the second of January and will be gone for probably two months."
"I thought you normally worked remotely?" I asked.
"I do, but this time it's the Pentagon. I must work out of an office there as it's sensitive material."
"They don't care about your little tattoo there?"
"They also want the best," he smirked. "I've acquired some search programs for RangeMan. There are a few. A couple of them are quite…invasive. I've trained your Stephanie how to use them."
I frowned. "Explain."
He laughed. "She broke her ankle, picking up a skip. She was at the bonds office complaining that she couldn't work and was going stir-crazy at home. I went into the office to pick up some files and heard her talking about it, so I offered to teach her how to run the programs at RangeMan. I thought maybe one day that knowledge would come in handy. I mean, combine that with her impressive network of informants, and she'd be formidable."
"She broke her ankle? Is she okay?"
"She's fine. She has the cast for another couple of weeks, though. Anyway, she is great at running the searches. She has natural instincts and an ability to hone in on important details that seem unimportant."
I smiled. "I'm not surprised. She's very bright."
"I think we should recruit her if we ever need full-time researchers," he said.
"I don't know if she'd want to. She hates being cooped up in an office. She told me that when I asked her about her old job," I replied.
"Well, it could always be combined with fieldwork."
"We can talk about it if we ever require full-time researchers, but I'm not opposed to Steph working for RangeMan."
We arrived at the building, and Hector parked in the underground garage. "Juan's coming over. Do you want to hang out with us, maybe watch a movie or something?"
"Nah, man, I'm exhausted. I'm gonna go to bed. Tell him I said hi, though."
"Will do. Sleep well," he said, and I took the elevator to the seventh floor. After a quick shower, I fell into bed and was asleep before I knew it.
I saw Steph several times over the next week when she came by to research FTAs. She made a deal with Tank to partner with her friend Lula from the bonds office to handle the takedowns while she did all the preliminary research for the skips from both Vinnie's and Les Sebring's offices. He refused to take any money from her for doing the takedowns, and she refused to take any money for doing the research. I knew she was doing more hours of work, so I would figure out how to pay her something. Judging by her apartment, I didn't think she made a lot of money, but she's also very independent and proud, so I didn't want to do anything she'd view as charity.
On Christmas Eve day, she came in for a couple of hours.
"I swear, I can't wait to get this damn cast off!" she said, huffing her way to a computer in a cubicle in the command center. The command center was now fully outfitted with double rows of monitors covering the long table against the wall, with office chairs placed every two feet.
"Hey, Babe," I said. "You only have about a week left, right?"
She nodded. "January the second. Not that I'm counting down the days or anything."
"Speaking of January second, I have a proposition for you, Babe." She tried—and failed—to raise a single eyebrow in question, and I kept my laugh in check. She was so damn cute! "Hector was called away for a contract job at the beginning of January, and he estimates the job will take two months. Since you've been trained to run all the search programs, I wondered if I could hire you to run our research for those two months."
"What does that mean? Would I need to be here all the time?" she asked.
"No. Probably a couple of half-days per week," I replied. "Maybe a bit more or less, depending on how busy we get. I will start researching other moneymaking avenues, so we might need some research help with that, too."
"I could definitely help you out; just let me know."
"Thanks, Babe."
I sat down at the table behind her with my laptop, figuring I might as well get a jump on my research. Until Hector was back and able to train a few more employees to install and service alarm systems, we'd be putting that part of our business on hold, but I didn't want to wait on everything until then.
A couple of hours later, I had some good ideas for services we could offer. Everything from personal bodyguarding to assisting landlords get junkies out of their building so they could renovate and sell, or at least rent out the suites to paying tenants. When I told Steph about that idea, she laughed and suggested I call it 'redecorating services.'
When she was standing up to grab her crutches to leave for the day, she tripped and pitched forward. I grabbed her arms and prevented her from hitting the floor. She straightened up and looked up into my face. "Thanks for the save, Batman," she said with a little laugh.
"My pleasure, Babe," I said with a smile. We stood looking at each other for a moment, eyes locked together. The sudden sexual tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and unable to stand it a second longer, I lowered my head and kissed her.
Her lips were soft and pliant. After a moment, she wrapped her arms around my neck, and the kiss deepened. Our tongues tangled, and she let out a soft moan. When the need for breathing became too great, we broke apart, panting.
"Oh, boy," she said.
"Yeah. Think about it, Babe."
"What I think is…it might be a bad idea," she replied after a moment, but her gaze was molten, and her nipples were hard.
"Of course it's a bad idea. If it were a good idea, I would have had you in my bed long ago," I replied.
A/N: Just a slight paraphrasing from High Five at the end.