Chapter 9
“Should I be concerned you’re bringing me into the woods in the middle of the night?”
Ranger stopped walking. He’d driven his bike up the backside of the property as far as he dared to leave tracks so she didn’t have to trudge as far in the dark, but he also hadn’t considered the implications of where he was taking her. His mind was too focused on the destination.
Spinning around, he was nearly blinded by the heavy beam from the flashlight he’d given her from his saddlebag. It was part of his roadside assistance kit.
“Shit, sorry.” Toni quickly lowered the beam back down to the forest ground. “It was a joke, by the way. I couldn’t take the silence anymore.”
Ranger blinked away the spots in his vision. “It’s fine. Let’s keep going.”
“I’m not exactly dressed for a trek in the woods. Are you sure this part of the show-and-tell is needed?”
She gestured down to the skirt he’d hated to butcher, but also needed to do to get her on his bike. He hadn’t wanted to take Sophia’s cage because it was too claustrophobic. He needed air right now, not another prison cell. But fuck, he really had not thought this through.
Turning, he squatted down in front of her and gave her his back. “Climb on.”
“What? No! I just meant?—”
“We still have a lot of ground to cover, and you’re right that you’re not dressed appropriately. Climb on, and just keep the flashlight pointed in front of me.”
Leaves and brush crunched under her feet.
“Crap. I cannot believe I’m doing this.” Then he felt her hands on his shoulders as she got into position.
She let out a small yip as he stood with his arms under her legs.
“Please don’t drop me, and don’t feel obligated to do this the whole way. I’m not exactly small.”
Ranger loosened the hold she had on his neck and bent his head to kiss the inside of her wrist. “You’re perfect.
Just remember to keep the beam in front of me.
” He didn’t need it, not really. The moon was out, and he knew these woods extremely well.
But he thought giving her a task might soothe her mind.
She lasted maybe another two minutes of silence. “Okay, I either need you to talk or be allowed to ask questions, because right now, my brain is having trouble processing what you told me back there.”
Ranger wasn’t sure what to say, so he caved. “You can ask your questions.”
“Fuck. Now I don’t know where to start. You said all this was over an inheritance, right?” Her mouth was next to his right ear.
“Yes. Ritchie, Becks’ ex-fiancé, worked at the law office where my grandma filed her will. He and his stepsister then targeted Becks and me romantically. Their plan was to marry each of us to gain access to the inheritance when our grandma passed.”
“That’s…diabolical, and so unethical and illegal and just…” He felt her shake her head next to his. “People are such asshats.”
Ranger’s chuckle held no humor. “No truer words have ever been spoken.”
“Can I ask you about the heroin?”
He tried to keep his emotions in check as he said softly, “Sure.”
But then Toni was quiet for a minute, most likely gathering her thoughts together.
“I grew up with parents who were addicts. For a long time in my teens, I hated them for their addiction. Thought the saying ‘it’s a disease’ to be nothing more than a lazy excuse.
But then I actually did my research and I learned how different drugs alter the pathways in the brain, and how some genetics can be attributed to the struggle some have.
“As angry as I am with my parents right now, I can’t compare your two situations.
My parents chose to become addicts. Maybe they didn’t know the extent of the drugs or believed they were strong enough to stop using whenever they wanted.
I’ve heard a lot of addicts talk about ‘mind over matter’, and how they thought it would be just that simple to stop.
But for you, it’s so different. You didn’t choose that risk.
You didn’t decide one day to just try heroin for the hell of it, or allowed peer pressure to get you hooked.
It was forced on you. And I know you don’t want my pity, but tough shit, Liam.
You’re getting it anyway. I’m so sorry that happened to you.
As if torture wasn’t bad enough, you were also given a highly addictive drug to force your compliance.
That’s a whole different level of addiction, and I’m so sorry that happened to you. ”
“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, Toni.” Ranger kept walking, following the beam in front of him like a cat went after a laser dot. “I gave myself that first injection.”
He felt her shift on his back. “I don’t understand. You were addicted before the kidnapping?”
Ranger shook his head. “No, I mean I gave myself that first injection. Cameron had a gun to Becks’ head and she was going to shoot if I didn’t. I didn’t know it was heroin. I think I thought it was a sedative, but I was the one who injected myself.”
Toni was silent for a long minute, the only sounds in the woods Ranger’s boots on the leaves and forest debris. “Can you put me down, please?”
Ranger stopped walking, immediately lowering himself to aid her descent off his back. Toni then walked around in front of him, keeping the light low between them. Then she switched the flashlight to her left hand and slapped him across the face with her right.
It wasn’t hard. Ranger’s head barely shifted, but the shock of her reaction had him reeling. “What the hell, Toni?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. You’re allowed to pull my hair when I call myself a slut, but I’m not allowed to slap you when you’re being a fucking martyr?”
Ranger blinked, having no idea what it was she was talking about.
Thankfully, she didn’t make him ask. “Your sister, whom I also understand is Ghost’s wife, had a gun to her head, and you want to make sure to clarify for me that it was you who inserted the first needle, not your crazy ex-girlfriend? Are you serious right now?”
“I didn’t want you to find out that detail later and think I was trying to hide something from you.”
Toni shook her head, lifting a finger at him.
“No, you are trying to shoulder the blame for something that clearly was not your fault. I don’t know if you’re doing it to scare me, to make me not want to be with you, which completely contradicts what you said to me in Sophia’s car, or you honestly believe you’re to blame for any of this, but just stop it.
I’m a criminal defense attorney, Liam. I know what guilt looks like and I know what evil looks like.
I also know the difference between the two.
And despite what you might think of me after last night, I am not a violent person, but I absolutely will slap you again if you ever say that what happened to you and your sister was your fault. ”
Her piece said, Toni twirled her finger between them to indicate he should turn around. Slightly stunned, Ranger obediently gave her his back and lowered himself down for her to climb on again.
As he stood, Toni asked, “Becks, is she okay?”
Ranger nodded. “Yeah. She’s doing really well. And she’s pregnant! It’s not public knowledge yet, which likely means the whole club knows.”
Toni laughed. “The club seems really tight-knit. I like that. Being an only child got lonely sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I had my grandparents, but it wasn’t the same as having siblings. You and Becks seem really close.”
“There’s almost nine years between us. Our birth father was a real piece of work.
Beat the shit out of my mom and me every chance he got.
Mom always protected me, but one day he went too far.
Mom was already pregnant with Becks by then, and she realized she couldn’t protect me and her baby.
It was her tipping point. The police officer who arrested our sperm donor didn’t just make the arrest and leave.
He kept coming back, kept checking on me and my mom.
Soon, it got to the point where my mom needed help because of the pregnancy, and there was no one else for her to call.
My birth father had done a really good job of isolating her from her family and former friends, so she turned to the one person she knew wouldn’t judge her mistakes: Andrew Fremont.
He was there when Becks was born, even put himself on her birth certificate with my mom’s permission so that Becks never questioned if she was loved or wanted by a father.
“Then, about two years later, they got married. By then, the piece of shit who contributed to half my DNA was in prison and had given up his parental rights to me, which also meant that Andrew could adopt me. And for the first time in my life, I had a real dad.”
“That’s an incredible story. Sad and heartbreaking, but incredible. Are Andrew and your mom still together?”
Pain pierced Ranger’s heart as he shook his head. “We lost him about ten years ago, shot in the line of duty. He was still walking the streets, so fucking close to retirement too, when he got a call for an armed robbery.”
Her arms squeezed without tightening around his neck. “I’m so sorry.”
“Mom’s here, though, in Mount Grove. Technically, she lives in Alabama still, but I have a feeling with Becks’ pregnancy and my…struggles, she’s going to make the move permanent soon.”
“That explains Edema’s pie comment.”
Amusement replaced sadness as Ranger confessed, “She’s been feeding the meetings I attend. My sponsor says that they’ve been extremely well attended since I joined.”
Toni laughed. “If your mom is that good of a baker, I don’t doubt it.”
“She’s better than good, and it makes her happy. I pissed her off recently. I think she thinks making me bring pies ‘my mommy’ made me is somehow a punishment.”
Rather than laughing again, Toni shifted on his back like she was straightening. “Piss her off? Because of your addiction?”