Hal’s POV
Conference 1 is completely silent. Every man in Trenton and Atlanta is thinking hard.
The CO cannot be allowed to get as wound up as she has been ever again.
We have to solve this problem.
Our only problem: We aren’t women. They’re a mystery. What do we do?
The scream from the 7th floor could be heard all the way on 1. Ram and I look at each other and hit the stairwell in seconds. We’re just passing the 6th floor, pulling our keys, when Ella pops her head into the stairwell.
“STAND DOWN!”
Ella yelled. That shocks us enough to pause. Ella runs up the stairwell, which is rapidly filling with concerned and scared RangeMen.
“Stand down, all of you!” she repeats.
“But Ella, she screamed. We need to check for intruders,” Ram says. He has the key in hand and is ready to storm the apartment.
Luis hauls ass up the stairs and moves between us and the door. “Are you sure, dulce? Are you absolutely sure about this?”
“Yes, cariño, I’m sure.” Ella replies. She turns to face the RangeMen in the stairwell. “Men, this is healthy. I know it does not sound healthy, but it is. Please leave the stairwell. I need to speak to the Core.” She turns back to me. “Hal, your office. Now. Find Hector and have him meet us there.”
I look at Ram and nod. A quick look at Junior and he nods, grim. He’ll check the stairwell and elevator cameras and ensure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that no one slipped past us and attacked the CO.
Two minutes later, Manny, Ram, Hector and I are in my office looking at Ella. I can’t understand why she would think that Steph’s screaming is healthy, but I am willing to listen.
Then I’ll go check the apartment.
A/N: Conversation in Spanish.
Ella sighs and sips her water. “I do not want to hear repeated what I am about to say to you. Understood?”
We all nod. This must be serious.
“For the past four months we’ve all been working with Stephanie to meet RangeMan standards. We’ve changed her diet. She’s being forced to exercise. She’s meeting our company standards for guns and self-defense. In short, we’ve removed all her freedom.”
Ella takes another sip of water and looks at us. “You men are used to these things, so the RangeMan lifestyle isn’t something you think about. Stephanie has to adjust and all she can see is what she no longer has. She no longer has the freedom to come and go as she pleases. Now, if she wants to go somewhere, she has to take a security detail or Hector. Her day begins at 5:30a.m. instead of whenever she wakes up. She has a set number of things she has to accomplish instead of being allowed to call her own shots, decide her own agenda. She doesn’t see her family and friends as often as she’s accustomed to seeing them. In short, she just broke. That’s what the scream was. She just broke mentally and emotionally. I’ve been expecting this.”
“Well, thanks for telling us, Ella,” I mutter. “That scream took 10 years off my life. If I’d known you expected this, I could have . . .” Actually, what could I have done? Would I have even understood?
Ella asks those same questions as I’m thinking them. “There was no way to prepare you for this, Hal. I wasn’t even sure how it would happen. I prayed that she wouldn’t break before I returned from Miami.” Ella shudders. “It would have been a disaster if I’d been in Miami when this happened.”
We all shudder. That’s true. However Ella plans to handle this, we would not have handled it the same way. We would have messed it up.
“So, here’s the plan. I will take Stephanie away tomorrow. Hector? Switch her trackers over to your phone only.” Hector looks at Ella, who nods. After a moment, Hector nods back. “We will be gone the entire weekend and will return on Monday night. She needs a weekend away from all men to think and begin to make some choices.”
Ella pins us all with a stare. “If you hope to keep Stephanie as a RangeMan and in this company, you will not call her this weekend. Call Tank and tell him he needs to cover for her until Tuesday morning. Consider her offline with me as her backup.”
We nod. Done. Whatever you need, Ella.
“You can share the situation with those you trust. Give the men the barest outline. Your role, your duty this weekend, is to come up with ways to ensure that the CO remains stress free. Don’t use the things that relieve stress for you. So, no additional range time, Ram.” Ram grins and nods.
“No hand to hand practice, Manny.” Manny is smiling.
“No monitor duty, Hal.” Darn. I enjoy handing out monitor duty. Steph keeps earning it and her hours are stacking up. I wonder if I can trick her back in front of the monitors any time soon.
“No more ‘blank face’ practice, Hector.” Hector chuckles.
“Come up with things you can use to remind her that she’s loved and appreciated. The flowers are wonderful and you have no idea how much those mean to her. More things like that.” Ella stands up and smiles. “Consider yourselves as wooing your boss to stay. She’s a woman and a woman needs small things to remind her she’s loved. You boys do so many wonderful things for me. Now, you need to do them for your boss. Bring Atlanta in on this. They love her too and they’ll want to participate. I leave this in your capable hands.”
Ella overestimates our competency. We’re stuck. Flowers were easy. Chocolates would violate protocol.
“Hal, what do you do when you take her away?” Junior asks.
“I make arrangements for her to see her friends, eat her junk food and have dinner at her parents.” I shrug.
“OK, well that’s good,” Ram says. “Let’s put all those on the list. I mean, it worked once, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What about perfume?” Danny asks.
“Good idea,” Chase says. “What’s her perfume?”
We’re stumped, but Junior writes it down. It’s his job to detail all options.
There’s a beep on the line. Javier. I take it in my office.
“Javier, what’s up?”
“Danny tells me you’re trying to think of gifts for the CO? Is that true?”
Danny told him? Why? “Yes.”
“Great. Jorge, Diego and I want to participate. We’ll be the only ones from this office.”
Ah. Good call, Danny. I give Javier the number to call into and rejoin everyone in Conference 1.
“Javier is joining us,” I announce. That gets a lot of raised eyebrows.
“Hey, this is Javier, Jorge and Diego. We have some ideas.”
“Well, call them out, man! Have at it,” Manny says, smiling. He passes me a note. Javi has a girlfriend. The man has to woo. We might be saved. If this is true, I’ll forgive Javier taking my strategist for six weeks.
“Alright, here’s some ideas. Dinner out once a week. Massages once or twice a week. Take her dancing. Pack a picnic lunch and make it a group thing. Ditch the trainer for a morning and take her running somewhere in the city. Buy her a new bottle of perfume. Be the bag mule when she goes shopping. Take her to the movies and to the theatre. Check with the local universities for concerts and art shows. Buy her a pair of gloves for the winter and sunglasses for the summer—”
“Wait! Wait! Slow up, man. I’m trying to write all this stuff down.” Junior yells. Every man in Trenton is grinning. Javier is saving our collective ass.
“Ready?” Diego asks.
“Yeah. You got a list?” Ram asks.
“We compiled our ideas together.” I can hear Diego’s grin from here. “I don’t have my rep for nothing and Jorge is a creative as hell. Believe me, Javi isn’t done yet.”
“Alright. Junior’s caught up. We’re typing now. Hit us.”
“OK, buy her a plant—”
“We already do flowers.”
“Flowers are good, but they die,” says a new voice. That must be Jorge. “You have to replace them every week. Buy her a pretty plant that she can see every day. Something that doesn’t require a lot of water or sun. Buy the flowers too, but she’ll like the plant. Buy bubble bath. Pay for a spa weekend. Take her to see her favorite sports team. Find a botanical garden and take a tour. Take her walking along the river. Sign up for dance classes. Yeah, I know she can dance, but can she do Latin dances? Play pool. Take her to the arcade and play SkeeBall. Play bumper cars. All the fun of wrecking a car with no explosions.” Loads of laughter at that idea, but it’s brilliant.
Damn. We should’ve asked men with girlfriends. Jorge just supplied a bunch of great options. What on earth will Diego add?
Ten minutes later every man in Trenton is grinning to beat the band. Man, single men with girlfriends are the best. Diego’s list had things like buying simple, pretty jewelry (like a pretty bracelet), neck and shoulder massagers, wine and beer tastings, gift certificates for things she can do with her nieces, noise-cancelling headphones for plane rides, and boat trips. He then added some things off the cuff, like buying a micro-brewery kit and letting Steph make beer (“Kinda like sausage,” he said. “Once you know what goes into your beer and you’ve watched it ferment it may turn you off, but she may like it. Plus, it doesn’t really count as cooking.”), taking her to the Apple store for lessons on using her new phone more effectively, and pulling out playing cards and childhood board games for a game night.
Junior types up the list and distributes it to the XOs of the three offices. We agree that we are ready. We will woo.
I spend the weekend with Candy. I give her a bare overview of what’s going on and she smiles.
“Your boss wears Dolce Vita.”
I blink. How in the hell does she know? Candy leaves (my soldier is weeping. Come back!) and returns with a bottle. I sniff. Holy hell. It’s Steph’s perfume.
“I never wear this. It’s wrong for me, but it was a gift from my mom. I smelled it on you a few times and I was ready to hurt you and your soldier until you told me you had a female boss, one you like to hug.” She smirks at me. “I knew I recognized it. It just took me a moment to place the scent.”
“What do you wear? It reminds me of oranges.”
“Clinque Happy. It’s citrus based.” Candy smiles so I must’ve gotten that right. “Anyway, I think what you guys are up to is cute, but you better put it on a schedule and make sure it’s random. If your boss is half as suspicious as you say, she’ll catch on to what you guys are up to quick.”
I text this info to Ram and Manny. They respond. They’ll work out the schedule and get a bottle of perfume.
I consider what I know. I’m thinking I need to put more effort into my wooing of Candy. She’s been solid ever since we met three months ago. She understands my weird work schedule. She talks to me whenever I call her, no matter the hour. She’s stopped taking as many hours at the casinos and started looking for an HR job. We haven’t exactly talked about her moving to Trenton or moving in with me, but I can tell she’s serious. What I thought would be a one-off trip to the champagne room has turned into something serious.
I always thought I’d never date a stripper or a hooker but, again, it’s something that Tank has taught me. A woman’s past doesn’t matter if she’s changing her present and future. We all have something in our backgrounds. Is she a good woman? Does she support me? Does she love me (do I think she loves me)? Is she loyal? Then I can’t hold her background against her. What am I expecting? A virgin? Besides, Candy strips because she couldn’t get a job in HR when she first graduated and, well, she could make more money as a stripper. She needed this money for some reason she hasn’t told me yet.
I don’t like the idea that random men are getting a good look at what she says is only mine. I’m beginning to think this is going to be permanent, which thrills me. I’ll make a conscious effort to romance her even more than I do now, and I now have a great list of ideas.
Candy spends the evening making my soldier a very, very happy man so I spend the weekend wooing my girlfriend. I pay for her mani/pedi and wax session and, while she’s enjoying her pampering, I make reservations for a nice restaurant. We hold hands and I buy daisies for her apartment. As usual, it’s a great evening. Candy likes teasing me until I turn red and I like pampering her. She makes me feel needed and wanted and very much like a man. She appreciates everything I do and likes to surprise me with foot rubs and homemade meals. Women as beautiful as her act as if it’s your duty to worship them and they don’t have to do anything in return. Candy is beautiful inside and out.
Our return to her apartment isn’t as much fun. We arrive to find a man standing outside, looking pissed.
“There you are. Where the fuck have you been? I need to talk to you.”
Candy goes red at the sight of him. I’m confused. Who the heck is this?
The man looks at me. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but your evening is over. Candy, reimburse the man so we can talk.”
I’m not saying anything until I know who this is. I look at Candy and wait. She won’t look up. I squeeze her hand.
“Do I need to come in with you?” I ask.
She looks surprised and grateful I asked, but I pissed off the stranger. He steps forward.
“Look, buddy, don’t come up here trying some routine on this bitch. I already told you—”
He can’t talk with the mouthful of gravel he currently has. My knee is in his back and my Glock is to his head.
“You’ve already insulted me by suggesting she’s a whore in my presence. You’ve pissed me off by calling her a bitch. Want to keep offending me? Keep talking,” I hiss.
Candy places a hand on my shoulder. “It’s OK. It’s my brother-in-law. He’s here about my sister.”
Really? Your family talks to you like that? Would never happen in my family. I help the idiot off the ground. “Not acceptable.” I look at her solemnly. “Ever.”
She blushes and nods, holding my free hand. “Steve, this is Hal. Hal, my brother-in-law, Steve. He’s married to Cassie, my sister.”
OK, everything is matching up with the report I ran on Candy after we met. I still don’t like Steve.
Candy unlocks her apartment and waves us both in. The brother-in-law is looking at me, frightened. Well, perhaps I shouldn’t have waved him in with the Glock. I grab some water and sit, waiting to hear what’s said. Candy sits next to me and sighs. I pass the water. She looks beat.
“Look, Cass’s chemo sessions are coming up and we can’t pay for ’em. You’re late and we need money for this shit. When’s it coming?”
I smell a lie. It’s nearly July, so why is he wearing long sleeves? And he’s twitchy. Concerned about money and treating his sister-in-law like she’s a hooker? Something else is going on.
Drug user. He has to be.
Candy squeezes my hands. “I’ve cut back on my hours, Steve. I don’t have it. You have insurance at your new job. Use your insurance.”
“I can’t. Cass is considered a pre-existing condition. I couldn’t cover her.”
I wonder how good our insurance is. I make a mental note to ask Steph to look into that.
Candy sighs. “Then I don’t know what to say. Check with indigent services at the hospital. I’ll see if I can pick up some extra jobs.”
I squeeze her hands and shake my head when she looks at me. No. I smell a rat. You’re mine and I want you to cut back, not increase. If your sister has cancer, we’ll handle that but no stripping. Especially for someone I think is high on drugs. As a matter of fact . . .
I move quickly from the sofa to Steve, toss him to the floor, and handcuff him. Quick tap on the chin to knock him out. Now that he’s immobile, I check the usual spots. Track marks everywhere.
Candy is looking at me with a mixture of horror and lust. I grin internally.
“Steve’s a crack head. Or meth head. Dunno which, but whatever it is requires needles. He’ll be out for a while. Want me to search for the truth?”
Candy nods slowly. I pull his wallet (SSN Card. Jackpot!), go back downstairs to my car and return with my laptop. I hit our search engines and check.
“Unemployed. He’s pulling benefits.”
Candy’s jaw clenches. I keep searching.
“No records at any hospitals for your sister. You have her social?”
Candy shakes her head. I didn’t think she would. I keep searching.
“Bank accounts are dried out. Where do they live?”
“Here. Are you telling me that I’ve been stripping to pay for cancer treatment that she never had?”
Oh Lord. If that was her reason, I’ll make sure Steve will never walk right again.
“I hope not. Steph is the queen of searches, so I’ll pull a favor and ask her to do an in-depth search. I can ask Zero to come and check your sister, coordinate her care. If she really does have cancer, he’ll know how to move the system along. If not, well . . .” I look at Candy, who looks grateful. I pull her into a hug and she starts crying. “Shhh . . . oh come on, I suck at comfort.” She starts laughing through her tears. “Look, if it makes you happy, it’ll make me happy and I’ve banked so many favors at work that it’s nothing for me to call a few in. Want me to?” Candy nods. I call Zero.
“Calling in a favor.”
“Whatcha need?”
“Candy’s sister may or may not have cancer. I suspect bro-in-law is on drugs.” Candy is still crying silently into my shirt and I’m ready to take on the world to make her feel better.
“Which hospital?”
“I couldn’t find her at any. Cassandra Thomas, DOB—” I call the DOB Candy gives me—”Married to an idiot named Steven. Found track marks everywhere.”
“You in AC?”
“Yeah.”
“Gimme directions. Easier to start with bro-in-law. I can inject him with something that’ll make him talk and then we can search for the sister.”
I tell Candy, who nods. I give Zero directions to her apartment. He arrives in an hour with Zip in tow. I bet he sped all the way here. They both wave at Candy and hug her. She’s surprised. I shrug. RangeMan. We take care of our own. Plus, she looks as if she’s been crying. We might suck at comfort, but Sis and Maria have taught us to be good with hugs.
“Let’s strip him and put him in the bathtub. One to the chin?” Zero asks.
I nod. We strip him and stick him in the tub. I can see Zero counting injection sites. He whistles.
“Crack. These are long-standing sites.” He injects Steve and we wait. 30 minutes later, Steve comes around.
“Hello Steven.” Zero has pulled his ‘Hannibal Lector’ voice out. This is going to be amusing. Steve blinks and he opens his mouth to say something when Zero holds up another syringe.
“Methadone.”
Steve’s eyes are impossibly wide.
“I saw a fresh site. Would hate to ruin your high for you, but I will. You lie to us and you’re on your first step to recovery.”
Steve nods frantically. Amazing value system in drug addicts.
“Wife’s name?”
“Cassandra Marie Thomas”
“DOB, Social, and doctor.”
He babbles everything. Zip is taking long hand notes and I restart the search engines. Candy enters the now crowded bathroom with water for us.
“Where is she right now?”
“Landfill.”
We pause. I hear a loud gasp outside the door and I move to catch Candy before she can storm in. She has tears in her eyes and looks stricken.
“Shhhh. Let the guys keep going. We’ll get everything, I promise.” I call Junior and fill him in. He has a group of volunteers ready to ride to AC in five minutes. I give him directions to Candy’s and fill her in. She’s sitting comatose on the couch.
15 minutes later, Zero joins us. “Zip is running the searches. Steve looks concerned. I left the syringe in sight.” He smirks. Come on, Zero, get on with it. Candy’s white. “Your sister is alive, last he knows. They scrounge for stuff at the landfill, food, clothes, et cetera.”
Candy exhales and turns to me. I open my arms and allow my woman to soak my shirt for a few minutes. Zero smirks at me then lowers his gaze to her butt. I growl and he looks amused and backs away. Zip joins us. He passes Zero the laptop and while Zero scans the information, Zip turns to Candy.
“I’m sure Hal’s called in a search team to find her, but I doubt you like what we’ll find. I did find her in the hospital records once I had her social. They used your name and her social, so you’ll need to get that cleared up,” Zip says. “I also checked her for a police record. Again, your name, her social so it’s something else for you to clean up. Mostly possession, but a few for solicitation and prostitution.”
Candy looks shocked. I’m furious.
Zero’s ready now. “Her records show that she’s also hooked on crack. She does have cancer, but the last records show it’s in remission and has been for about a year. Her next appointment is in eight weeks.”
Now I’m beyond furious and grateful for this night. If Candy had attempted to apply for jobs before she cleaned that stuff up, then she would be denied everywhere because she appears to have a record, even though she doesn’t. I wonder why it didn’t flag when I searched for her. Probably because I also had her social.
“So you’re telling me that my sister is in remission and they’ve been taking money from me for a year for cancer treatments that don’t exist? Using my name when they get in trouble? Using my name everywhere?” Candy looks stunned and angry.
Zip and Zero nod. I rub her back. Candy turns to me. “I don’t care what you do to him, but I never want to see him again.”
We grin. Not a problem.
“We’ll take Mr. Thomas with us, if you don’t mind, Candy,” Zero says, “but on one condition.”
“Name it,” Candy replies.
Zip and Zero grin big. “Send the XO back to Trenton in a sweet mood,” Zero says. “We can always tell when he’s been here to see you. He has the dopiest look on his face.”
Zero dashes from the room before I can catch him. Zip and Candy laugh.
“No joke, Ms. Taylor. Goofy grin when he calls you, thinks about you, and I’m guessing some thoughts are very special when he turns red.” Zip also runs from the room and Candy turns a very sultry smile at me, but I’m sure I’m red.
“Monitor duty!” I yell, embarrassed. “You guys suck as wingmen.”
Zip and Zero reappear, marching Steve between them. Zero grins. “No, we’re great as wingmen. Instead of forcing you to join this hunt for Cassie, we’re leaving you here to comfort and care for your woman. We’ll handle business and fill you in.” They force Steve outside and strap him into the SUV.
Zero returns and looks at Candy, completely serious. “You have the best man in the branch and we’re leaving him here to handle the big business, your happiness. We’ll find your sister and get the truth. Hal will get the updates and once we’ve learned everything we can, we’ll call. It’ll be your choice on how to handle it from there.”
Candy kisses Zero on the cheek and he looks stunned. He glances at me and I roll my eyes. I’ve spent too much time around Sis. Zip appears and is also given a kiss.
“Thank you. I know you didn’t have to and you only came because Hal called in a favor, but I appreciate it. Just be gentle with my sister, please,” she says, leaning into me a little. I put my arm around her and rub her back.
Zip smiles. “We’ll handle her with kid gloves. Just had a thought. You need to run your credit reports and a full background. Make sure they haven’t done more damage to your name.”
I’d already thought of that. They leave and I turn to Candy.
“Well, this isn’t quite the evening I had planned.” I smile and open my arms. I feel her start crying again, so I pick her up and carry her to the couch. I lose track of time rubbing her back while she cries. Somehow this turns into a marathon session of naughty stuff on the couch before my cell phone rings. Just in time. My soldier has fallen out. Too much of an awesome thing.
“Yo!” Junior.
“Yo. Update?” I put the phone on speaker so Candy can hear. Candy looks at me teary eyed, so I kiss the top of her head and hand her the phone. I lock the front door, pick her up, and carry her back to the bedroom.
“Found the sister. Completely unrepentant about using her sister’s name. Was jealous of Candy for her looks, her degree, and the money she made as a stripper. She tried doing the same, which is how she met Steve, but he’s been pimpin’ her since she doesn’t have Candy’s stellar looks and can’t dance worth a damn. Trust me on this. She tried giving us a demo and I thought Zero would medicate her for a seizure.”
That’s the first laugh I’ve had since Steve showed up.
“They knew about you. Planned to pimp Candy to you somehow, you know, crack head plans. Made no sense, but they were certain you must have money. Didn’t realize you l-o-v-e the woman and wouldn’t have fallen for that anyway.”
Candy grins and starts stroking my soldier again. Thanks Junior. Appreciate you giving away my secrets like that.
“They blew through Candy’s money on crack and the occasional hit of meth. We asked Cassie if she wanted help, wanted away from her husband but nope, she loves the bastard. Quite happy to be with him living in trash. We video and audio taped the whole thing, XO, in case your lady needs to see it to believe us.”
Candy shakes her head. I’ve told her time and time again that my coworkers don’t lie. She believes them.
“We’ve got them in a cheap motel for the night. How does Candy want to handle this?”
I look at her. This is completely her call.
“Can you get a list from them of all the places they’ve used my name? I’ve got to get that cleared up before I move to Trenton. After that, cut them loose. I’m sure if they ever want something they’ll find me. I won’t have to go looking for them.” Candy is looking directly at me and I grin. Yes!
I can hear Junior’s grin in his voice. “10-4. And Candy?”
“Yes?”
“Send my partner back in a good mood.”
“Monitor duty,” I growl. Junior laughs. Click.
I turn to Candy, who is looking at my solider with interest. Yes, he’s always ready around you. You put him on active duty again.
“What’s monitor duty?” she asks, stroking. Oh Lord, help me.
“Worst punishment I can hand out. Sitting in front of security monitors for four hour stretches. Mind numbing, butt numbing, the most boring assignment at the office. True punishment for men who like action.”
I’m surprised I got that sentence out. Her mouth is doing wonderful things right now.
An hour later I’m exhausted. The woman has boundless energy in bed. I look over at her and she grins.
“I know that you guys are wooing your boss, but it really shouldn’t be that hard for you. After all, tonight you and your coworkers wooed me.”
I look at her, confused.
“To woo a woman, you support her. You encourage her. You try to gain her affection and love. From what you’ve told me about your job, your coworkers, and your boss, you’ve done that and you do it all the time. Seems to me that it’s second nature for all of you. You consider yourselves her big brothers.” She settles next to me and I pull her closer. “You just need to do things she likes more often. She’s doing all the stuff you guys love.”
I consider Candy’s statement. She’s right. All the things Steph does now are all about RangeMan and doing things the men love to fit in. We have to do the things that Steph loves too. Everyone has something to add to the company. Finally, Ella’s statement makes sense.
“How did we woo you?”
Candy smiles. “You supported me from the moment Steve showed up. You didn’t believe his insinuations. You followed your instincts and found out the truth, something I never could have done. You encouraged me not to believe my sister was dead until your guys had more information. You left the decision on what to do about Steve and Cassie up to me.”
I smile. Perhaps she’s right. That was all second nature for me.
She snuggles closer and kisses my nipple. I shiver. “The guys were upbeat and encouraging the entire time. They came simply because you asked them to, for me. All they asked for in return was for me to make sure you go home happy.” She grins. “And they told me how you felt about me. They may have ruined your game but they made me feel secure in what we have. It gave me the courage to decide to move to Trenton. If this is real between us, then I don’t want to let it slip away. You support me in everything.”
I kiss her forehead. “You support me. Easy enough to give back.” I get a cuddle for that and she’s soon fast asleep.
My woman is wise. We already know how to woo. We just have to do it.