Chapter 12 #3
Given Pike’s appearance at her office and Gwen as a witness, the club was able to twist the false trail they’d initially put in place to explain Wayne Anderson’s whereabouts into an identity theft situation.
Learning neither of her parents had had jobs for several months broke Toni’s heart and increased her guilt, but it allowed Keys and Rose to fake Wayne Anderson’s death as if it had happened a few days before it had.
They spun it as a suicide by overdose. Toni did not bring up personal matters at work, so it was reasonable for Gwen and others that she worked with to believe that Toni would keep the death of her father private.
But the man who posed as Wayne Anderson to extort money out of Toni, claiming her dad died owing him money, made the matter public.
Toni honestly should be terrified how easily the club lied and manipulated the situation to fit their narrative, but she was too grateful to be scared.
Their lie allowed her to grieve her dad, officially declare her mom missing, and take time off work without raising suspicion.
Carlos even stopped by the club property, along with his wife and kids to express his condolences.
She didn’t know if Carlos was in on the lie, and frankly, did not want to know.
Toni just wanted to move on.
Strong arms wrapped around her middle, startling Toni awake. “Shhh,” Ranger soothed. “It’s just me. I’m sorry I woke you.”
Damn, Toni must have drifted further off into sleep if she hadn’t even heard him enter. “It’s fine. I need to call Becks.”
Ranger kissed her cheek. “I sent a picture of you sleeping to her and told her I was here.”
But Toni shook her head. “We can’t get complacent, Liam. That’s how mistakes and assumptions get made. Get me my phone so I can call her.”
He let out a grumbly sigh before releasing her to twist and reach for her phone.
The room was dark, which also meant Ranger had turned off the overhead light, but her phone light allowed her to see when Ranger passed it to her.
It took her less than a minute to get Becks on the phone and assure her that Ranger was with her, and for Becks to both thank her and apologize for waking Toni.
“See?” Toni said, handing Ranger back her phone to plug in. “Quick, easy, and painless.”
“I know,” he grumbled, curling around her again. “Sometimes I just feel like you guys are playing Pass the Ranger. I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re losing because you’re the one who has me.”
Toni shifted around to face him in the dark. “Never, and maybe I’m being overcautious. But I took my parents’ sobriety for granted, Liam. I never want to take yours.”
“Are you sure you still want to come with me to Dr. Rutenberg’s tomorrow?”
“Absolutely,” she said with a smile even though he wouldn’t be able to see it in the dark.
“I’m grateful he’s willing to see me with you.
” Toni had never been to therapy before, but depending on how tomorrow went, she was contemplating making it a regular part of her life.
Ranger certainly seemed to be coping a lot better with his sobriety struggles than she’d witnessed with her parents. “Is there any news on my mom?”
Toni knew he’d just come from a super-secret Church meeting that everyone in the club seemed to know about. What they didn’t know about was the topics being discussed. Apparently it was an unspoken rule among the ol’ ladies not to ask.
“Are you sure you want to talk about this now? It can wait until the morning if you’re too tired.”
Toni was tired, but she also wanted answers. “Please, Liam.”
He reached for her hands in the dark. “Keys was able to figure out through blood typing that the finger wasn’t your mother’s.”
Toni took a beat to let that sink in. “I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed.
Not that I wanted my mom’s finger to be cut off, but it would have given me an idea of where she is, or was.
” Ranger squeezed her hands gently, remaining quiet as she processed.
“But now we’re back to square one. I have no idea where she is.
It’s almost been a week, Liam. Where is she? ”
“I don’t know, baby. I wish I had that answer for you.”
A disconcerting thought came to her then. “Do you know who the finger belongs to?”
“Keys doesn’t have the equipment to figure that out. He gave it to Carlos so they could open an investigation.”
Feeling depressed and helpless at the lack of answers, Toni curled herself further into his chest. “I don’t really feel like having sex tonight. Can you just hold me?”
“You say that like you think me leaving you is an option.”
Toni shrugged. “It’s rare for us to be together like this and not end up having sex.”
Ranger nuzzled her cheek. “Antonia, if you think I am here only for sex then you have another thing coming.”
Toni shivered at her full name, that husky tone doing things to her insides. “I just meant I’m not up for it tonight.”
“Have I argued once or said anything to make you think I’m not okay with that?” Ranger asked her in return. When Toni said nothing, he continued, “Baby, I’m here because I want to be with you. Not to fuck you, despite how great that is. I am here to be with you. However you’ll have me.”
“I’ll take the giant, warm pillow and blanket option please.”
Ranger chuckled and wrapped himself completely around her again. “Done and done,” he said, kissing her temple.
Toni was quiet for a long minute before whispering, “Thank you.”
“I’m not going to dignify that comment with a response. It’s unneeded and unnecessary.”
“Yet ‘you’re welcome’ would have taken a much shorter time to say.”
“Go to sleep, Antonia,” he grumbled.
Chuckling, Toni let herself drift off to sleep, feeling content for likely the first time in her adult life.
* * *
130-135 Days Sober
Despite Ranger encouraging her otherwise, Toni went back to work the following Monday.
She needed to get back into her “normal”.
Or a normal that didn’t include her going home, living in a club trailer, and having a boyfriend who liked to show up randomly throughout her day to give her a rejuvenating orgasm or three.
Toni thought she was going to die of humiliation after Gwen casually reminded her that the walls of her office were not soundproof.
Dr. Rutenberg also supported Toni’s decision to return to work, saying it would help her mind to process her grief and worry in natural stages.
Toni was all for distractions at this point.
She didn’t know who the man was who’d been impersonating her father and trying to extort her, and she was all too happy to let the club handle keeping him away from her.
Whatever they’d done had worked, because she hadn’t seen or heard from him since that day that he’d showed up at her office.
Just in case, though, she’d hired Keys’ security firm to set up a new security system at her office.
He’d offered to do her home too, but Toni was holding off on that.
If her home felt too safe, she’d lose her excuse to get to stay in the trailer longer.
She did, however, offer to hire Keys’ firm to find her mom.
She knew he was doing it through the club, but she felt funny not offering him compensation for that work when it turned out to be more difficult than they’d all originally thought.
But Keys refused, saying that family never paid.
Toni didn’t know when she’d become “family” to the club.
It wasn’t like she and Ranger had discussed anything in their relationship beyond being exclusive.
The ol’ ladies had explained what that title meant, and Toni certainly wasn’t wearing Ranger’s cut.
She doubted she would be any time soon, either.
While it did make her wonder if Cameron had, Toni found she was too chickenshit to ask.
Maybe that was an answer she didn’t need to know.
* * *
137 Days Sober
As much as Ranger hated being beholden to rules, he couldn’t deny how much structure helped him.
It brought him back to his military days, the ease of completing one task before moving on to the next.
He wasn’t good at downtime, and even cleaned the entire clubhouse from top to bottom during one particularly bad day, much to their housekeeper, Yelizaveta’s, astonishment.
But he needed the grueling task while Toni was busy in court, Becks and Ghost were at a doctor’s appointment, and every single cage in Mount Grove seemed to be in working order.
Even Cross had been busy on a personal matter.
Rather than bothering his brothers, Ranger had chosen to distract himself, proving that he could.
Plus, the clubhouse had never looked so clean.
* * *
142 Days Sober
“Are,” gasp, “you,” gasp, “fucking,” gasp, “kidding me?!” Toni leaned heavily against a tree. “You said,” gasp, “that we,” gasp, “were nearly there,” gasp, “thirty minutes ago!”
Ranger stared down at her from his place further up the mountainside. “We are nearly there.”
She pointed an accusatory finger at him and his stupid even breathing. “No!” she huffed out, feeling like a chain smoker. “You are not allowed to use that phrase anymore. Where are we and how much longer? Exactly.”
“If you would just notice how beautiful it is out here, the time would go by much faster,” Ranger encouraged her.