Chapter 13 #5
As Brently got in his cage, Toni smacked Ranger’s abdomen with the flat of her hand. “I told you we were going to be late.”
“Thought you said it was worth it?” he countered.
Toni’s expression was a mixture of bliss and guilt, which only made Ranger chuckle.
Taking her hand, he led her onto the stone path that cut through the grass towards the front stoop.
“Wow. Finally decided to grace me with your presence?” Cross asked, his eyes boring into Ranger’s. They turned much kinder as he shifted his gaze to Toni. “It’s good to see you again, my dear. Did you have a good day off?”
“I did,” Toni answered as Cross stepped back to let them inside. “Liam took me on this mountain path that was just beautiful with the fall colors. I want to look into one of those cameras that attaches to my helmet so I can get some pictures while we drive.”
“My one nephew has one of those. He dirt bikes,” Cross explained, closing the door behind them. “I’m not sure of the brand, but I can ask.”
“Thank you,” Toni smiled. “One of Liam’s club brothers makes TikTok videos. I know it’s not the same thing, but I figured he’d be a good one to ask, too.”
Cross offered Toni his arm, leading her past the foyer and into the kitchen area. “I’m just an old fart who can’t figure out his voicemail, but I can’t imagine the cameras are that different. My wonder is how you mount them on your helmet. Wouldn’t that be top heavy?”
“I really don’t know.” Toni shrugged. “But if it’s too heavy for me, I’ll mount it on Liam’s helmet.”
Cross chuckled, patting her hand. “You’re a good influence on him, my girl. I am very glad he met you.” Then he turned to Ranger and raised an eyebrow. “So what excuse do you have for missing my dinner that I slaved all day over?”
Ranger glanced at the scattered pizza boxes on the kitchen counter, but his guilt over disappointing Cross had him biting his tongue against questioning the man’s definition of “slaving”. “We were riding and lost track of time. I didn’t realize how far we were from your house. I’m sorry.”
Cross’ eyes narrowed. “Hm.” He leaned down to fake whisper to Toni. “Do I believe him?”
Toni’s cheeks pinkened but she also grinned at the teasing man. “I think he does feel bad about being late, but I’m not opposed to you making him do some yard work or something to make up for it.”
Ranger’s eyes narrowed on Toni, which only made her grin widen. Her ass was definitely getting a spanking when they got back to Becks and Ghost’s home.
“Not a bad idea,” Cross mused. “For now, I’ll be satisfied with him serving us cake and coffee in the living room.
” Once again, he offered Toni his arm. She took it, wrapping both hands around his elbow.
“Ranger, you know where the cups and plates are.” As he led Toni out the other kitchen door, he said to her, “I must say, I like this yardwork idea of yours. My gutters certainly need a good cleaning before the winter.”
Toni looked over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Ranger before telling Cross, “That’s so funny. Liam was just telling me how much he misses cleaning out gutters.”
Shaking his head at their antics, Ranger headed over to the cabinet where Cross kept his mugs.
He’d been to Cross’ house numerous times over the past two months, so he felt pretty confident he knew where everything was.
It took him a few minutes longer to get everything ready because he didn’t realize at first that there wasn’t enough coffee leftover in the pot to serve three full cups.
He did his best to evenly distribute what was there into the mugs and then prepped the machine again to brew a fresh pot.
Opening the fridge, he pulled out the cake and frowned. Brently had said it was pineapple, right? Taking a sniff, Ranger swore he got a whiff of banana, and why did the cake look tan-ish brown? Ugh. After a lifetime of his mom’s cooking, this was not going to be pretty.
Balancing the three mugs and three plates on the serving tray he knew Cross kept above the fridge, Ranger headed towards the living room to join Cross and Toni.
He registered just before he crossed the threshold how quiet it was. No chatter or Toni’s laughter. Ranger frowned, his hackles rising as he stepped into the hallway that split the first floor down the middle.
His eyes landed on Toni, first taking in her wide, fearful eyes and then the tight fist wrapped in her hair.
Her heavy breaths were like whimpering gasps, piercing his heart with each exhale.
Tears made trails down her pale cheeks and she shook violently, like she’d stepped outside into a winter storm without a jacket.
But what sent the tray cascading down to the carpeting at his feet was the needle Cross had pressed to the side of Toni’s neck.
“Sit,” Cross ordered, gesturing with his chin to the couch on Ranger’s right.
Ranger’s eyes briefly flicked towards it, but it was long enough to notice the traces of off-white powder, spoon, lighter, and cotton ball on the coffee table in front of it.
“Now, you have something I want and I have something you want. For Toni’s sake, let’s make a deal. ”