Chapter 32
Ranger
I pick up Elle and carry her out of the studio. She’s sobbing into my chest, her arms wrapped around me so tight, I don’t think she’ll ever let go. And I’m okay with that. More than okay. The relief I felt hearing her voice from the other side of the door was tangible in the air. Feeling her in my arms, being able to see for myself that she was unhurt, soothed the frayed edges of my nerves.
I walk down the stairs to the shop where chaos has erupted. Everyone and their brother are there. Well, brothers. Davis and Tiny are at the front of the shop, the worry on their faces relaxing a little when they see Elle in my arms.
“Ginny?” Davis asks.
“She’s coming,” I assure him. “She’s fine. Physically.” I hope my words convey the enormity of what went on up there and he’s prepared.
I sit down in my chair and adjust Elle on my lap.
“Elle? Baby, it’s alright,” I soothe, running my hand up and down her back. “I’ve got you, okay?”
“Don’t let me go,” she hiccups into my neck.
“Never,” I promise.
“I…” she starts and stops. “He…” she tries again. “Sister…”
“Shh,” I tell her. “Take your time.”
“You called me baby.”
“What?”
“You called me baby on the phone. And just now. You never call me baby.”
I chuckle, shrugging my shoulders. “What can I say? It just came out.”
“I like it. So much better than Tink.”
“Oh, Elle. Tink’s not going away.”
She laughs on the edge of a sob. “I know.”
“And please,” I beg, “never call me Jonny again?”
“That I can agree too. I hated even saying it, but I thought…”
“I know. It was smart. I knew immediately, even with the moron on speaker, when you called me that. Still made my skin crawl a little bit.”
“Noted for future torture references.”
I groan, knowing she’s going to pull out that name anytime I’m in trouble. It’s time to change the subject. “Your brother is probably going to kill me if he isn’t let back here to see you.”
“You called him?”
“We called him.”
“He snuck out of the house. That’s how you all didn’t know.”
“We figured that out. Daniel’s guys are going through it now with the Diamond Cove cops.”
“That Daniel sure knows a lot of people.”
“Your brothers know a lot of people, Tink. They arranged it.”
She shakes her head. “Everyone knows then?”
“Your mom was on her way, but Bash talked her into waiting until the morning and she turned around. They’re waiting for an update.”
“Fuck,” she sniffs.
“Elle?” Sam sticks his head over the half panel leading to my booth. “Can you talk yet?”
“Do I have to move?” She cracks one eye open and rolls her head just enough to look at him.
“Nah. I think you’re good where you are for now. Unless you need medical,” he gives her his ‘I’m a friendly cop’ smile, but this is Sam and he actually means it. Good guy.
“He didn’t hurt us,” she confirms for the first time and I release the stress in my shoulders, sagging with her fully into the chair. She lifts her head and looks at me. “He never touched us. Not once.”
“Thank you for confirming it, anyway.” I try to smile, but I’m not ready yet.
“Pull up a chair, Sam,” I tell him, nodding my head to the stack against the wall behind him. “And might as well get the guys in here to hear it all, too, right?”
“That would probably be easier for everyone involved.”
“Where’s Ginny?” Elle sits up quickly and asks. “I need to see her.”
“She’s coming,” Sam confirms. “Joker’s bringing her down.”
She relaxes back into my arms while we wait for the whole fucking crew to cram into my corner of the room. Tiny looks ready to explode and tries to pull her off my lap in a bear hug, but she won’t budge. They whisper to each other and I try to give them privacy, but it’s hard to do with her sitting on my lap.
“Never scare me like that again,” he tells her, finally pulling back and going to lean against the wall with Davis.
Ginny and Joker make it into the space last, Ginny’s face still pale, but she looks okay. I look around the room.
“Not that I want to bring him up, but I’m guessing no one called Keith?” I grimace at his name. I really don’t want him to foul up my shop.
“I called,” Ginny whispers. “He’s not coming.”
“Of course not,” Joker mutters just loud enough for everyone to hear. He looks ready to punch walls.
“Alright,” Sam starts. “Let’s get this over with so my guys can come in and do their thing?”
He looks at everyone, a warning in his eyes to let him do what he needs to do. No objections arise, and he nods to Elle and Ginny, who have both managed to sit on the chair next to each other with Elle still on my lap.
“I guess I’m starting?” Elle asks, her voice low but even. I squeeze her hip and nod. “Okay. That was Stefon. The guy I went out on a few dates with and ran away from when he got too clingy and stalkerish. I guess we went to college together, but I didn’t realize that at the time. I do remember his sister. I think both of them were terrorizing me at one point? He said she’s the one who left the messages.”
She takes a breath, motioning to Ginny.
“He was convinced Elle and him were meant to be together. He confessed to killing someone from Elle’s past and making it look like an accident. He also said his sister’s body is at the studio in the city.”
“How is that?” Joker asks. “We searched that place high and low.”
“You won’t find a body.” Elle looks at him. “At least not a whole body. If he fired the kiln up, it would have destroyed her.”
“That’s sick,” Davis whispers.
“It’s not pleasant,” she admits.
“How did he fall out of the window?” Sam asks.
“You mean how did the whole fucking wall fall off the building?” Tiny snorts, and I roll my eyes at him.
“I remembered Ranger telling me not to lean on the windowsill when I came to look at the room because it needed to be replaced. I hoped if nothing else we could break the window,” Elle offers as explanation.
“Smart girl.” I squeeze her and kiss the top of her head.
“Stupid girl,” Joker fires back, shooting a glare at me, then Ginny. “You could have gone out the window with him. You could have killed yourself!”
“I had to take the chance!” Ginny defends herself. “He had a gun, and the bottle didn’t knock him out. And what the fuck were we supposed to do?”
“Wait for me to save you!” Joker roars before leaving the area, muttering under his breath.
We all sit for a minute staring at each other with wide eyes.
“Well, that escalated quickly,” Ginny quips, a look of bewilderment on her face. “Anyone know anything about that?”
Lots of head shaking happens with her question before she turns to her brother.
“D, would you be alright if I stayed with you all tonight?”
“Yeah, G, you’re coming home with me.”
“Thank you,” she replies before turning to Sam. “What else do you need from us?”
“You’ll need to come down to the station tomorrow and give a formal statement, and we will probably help you set up a time to talk to someone about what you went through tonight, but I think you can go home.”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever go home again,” Elle mutters under her breath.
“You’ll find a new home, Tink. Promise,” I mutter back.
She leans into me before trying to stand up, but I can’t make my arms let her go. “I’m just standing right here, Ranger. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you.” It’s like she knows I need to touch her to make sure she’s okay, but also realizes she needs to hug this group of people who showed up when she needed help.
One by one we say goodnight to people, Davis getting Ginny out first. Elle and Ginny share a hug, both in tears before they pull apart. I don’t blame them at all. What they went through tonight would be hard for even the strongest person trained for something like that. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long while before my Tink is able to stop thinking about it, and it’s now my job to make sure I’m there when she has a bad day.
When the only people left are Joker, Tiny, Sam, and the two of us, Elle turns to Joker.
“Stop being an ass to her or you’ll never have a chance. She’s been surrounded by men who treat her like shit for years, and you don’t need to be included in that number. Be her friend, Joker. First and foremost, be her friend. Show her she can depend on you, that you’d be there for her no matter what. And then be patient.”
“Aren’t you a little philosopher these days?” I squeeze her closer to me—again. “And correct.”
“We’ll see,” Joker grumbles, his jaw ticking, but I know he heard what she said. “I’m getting out of here.”
“Tell Davis we said hi.” I smirk at him. We all know he’s headed straight to where Ginny is.
He leaves with loud boots but no words and I turn Elle and myself to Tiny, who still can’t decide if he wants to kill something or cry.
“Pix,” he starts, already sounding choked up. “We have to stop having crazy shit happen to our family.”
“Par for the course, isn’t it?” She gives him a sad smile. “I’m surprised the whole family isn’t here right now.”
“They’re dealing with the mess in the Cove for you. Bash is at the studio with Jorge and Michael. Nolan and Christopher are at that piece of shit’s house.”
“Oh. Do we need to go there?”
“Nah. Not tonight,” he assures her. “This is what they do, remember? Figure shit out and fix it? And Mom said she’d be here tomorrow, but she wants an update.”
“We’ll call her when we get home,” I tell him. “I’m sure she’d feel better hearing from you,” I turn to Elle, “right?”
“And where is that? Home?”
“With me.” I pull her face up to mine and give her a quick kiss.
“Your house?”
“My house. Our house. Your house. Doesn’t matter. Home is where you are and if you decide it has to be a hotel, that’s home tonight.”
“I love you, Jonathan.” She throws her arms around my shoulders and wraps herself around me.
“I love you too, Elle.”
“And I’m going to be sick.” Tiny fake gags in the background. I flip him off, making him laugh. When I look up, I see Elle flying the birds her brother’s way, too.
“Let’s go home,” I say, starting to walk out of my station, not even bothering to put her down.
“I’m waiting here until the tarp gets hung outside,” Tiny reminds us.
“Thanks, baby brother. Love you,” Elle lifts her head long enough to say. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I get out to the lot and put Elle in the passenger side of the truck and buckle her in, kissing her as I do. The jog around the front of the truck is more time away from her than I want at the moment, and I don’t breathe again until I’m sitting behind the steering wheel. I look at Elle, who has her head laid back on the seat and her eyes closed.
“I’m here,” is all I say.
“I know.” She rolls her head my direction, a small smile on her face, but her eyes remained closed. “Let’s go. Please.”
I pull out of the lot and head towards my house. I’ve never had a woman in this house, but it feels right that the artist I love is the first one allowed through the front door. I have plans for her. The first is a bath to wash the night away. The second is getting all her shit and moving her in. The third will have to wait for as long as she needs, but one day, she’s going to have my babies. If she wants those.
“Your house is…” she trails off once we’re inside.
“A complete wreck that I’m going to rely on you to make a home.” I smile, sitting her down in the bathroom.
This room I’ve fixed. The tub seats two, the new stand-up shower has been installed and there’s a new vanity. Elle can pick the decorations. I am a man, and I’m that man. One towel, no wall art, and no color. I need Elle to bring her color into my life.
We get in the tub and I wash her, gently verifying for myself that there at no marks on her body.
“You done with the examination?” She smirks at me.
“I guess,” I chuckle. “Just needed to see for myself.”
“Jonathan?”
“Yes, Elle?”
“Will you take me to bed?”
She turns in the tub, straddling me, my unruly cock growing on its own accord.
“Are you sure? We can just sleep tonight if that’s what you need,” I assure her.
“I need you. I need to feel you and know you’re real and that we’re good and that I’m alive.”
“You’re alive. You’re very much alive. And if that’s what you need, that’s exactly what we’ll do.” I pull her in for a kiss but pull back before we end up finished in the tub. “And I need you to know, I’m serious. This house? It’s now yours, too, if you’ll accept. I need you, too, Tink. And I’ll need you forever.”
“Forever?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”