RANGER Read online

  Jeez, this guy is an asshole, Nicole thought. How am I going to survive a full weekend with him, pretending to be madly in love?

  “Okay,” he said finally, breaking her thoughts. “You call them and set up a date, run it past me, and I’ll make sure I’m free.”

  “Sure,” she said, smiling. “And we’ll stay two nights maximum, strictly business. When we leave, we never have to see each other again.”

  He looked momentarily wounded, as if he couldn’t believe she would have the nerve to say it, but then he nodded his head in agreement.

  “Strictly business,” he said, as he glared at her from under a hooded brow. “When we leave, we’ll never have to bother each other again. After we’ve sorted out payment, of course.”

  “Of course,” she confirmed.

  Ranger lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long, drawn out swig, finishing what was left before he slammed the empty back down on the table.

  He rose to his feet and looked down at her. There was something behind his eyes she couldn’t quite figure out but she didn’t know if it was a mutual intrigue, or complete and utter contempt.

  “I appreciate you coming down here,” he said. “I would have come to you if I didn’t have a ton of meetings.”

  “It’s fine,” she said. “This is all my doing, I don’t mind.”

  He smiled and his whole persona softened slightly.

  Suddenly from behind him she saw the doors to the club burst open and Ranger spun around to glare at whoever was entering. A group of men all with shaved heads were walking in. They were all relatively short, but they were wearing impeccable suits and even from a distance Nicole could tell that their watches were expensive. They had air about them that was sinister, and she found herself recoiling slightly before she looked up at Ranger for reassurance.

  “Fuck,” he said under his breath. “Come on, I better get you out of here.”

  “What?” she asked nervously as she rose to her feet and let him take hold of her by the elbow.

  As quickly as he had done the previous evening, he spirited her toward the door at the side of the stage, pushed it open and dragged her into the corridor with his big rough hands.

  “There’s going to be trouble in here tonight,” he said.

  “Who are they?” she asked, as she replayed over and over what the men had looked like who had just burst into the club.

  They hadn’t been as intimidating looking as Ranger and the rest of the bikers she’d seen, but there was something about them that screamed danger.

  “I can’t go into it.”

  Nicole could feel the tension pulsating off him, and she knew that something bad was going to happen.

  They walked to the end of the hallway and he waited in the doorway and watched her walk to Sarah’s car and open the door.

  “You have my number?” he asked as he looked back over his shoulder. He seemed desperate to get away and go back inside, as if he knew he had to be somewhere.

  Nicole nodded.

  “Great, I’ll call you as soon as I’ve spoken to them.” He lifted his hand into a wave. “Adios wifey.”

  She waited until the door had swung closed behind him and suddenly felt very alone underneath the stars.

  She had no idea how anything was going to pan out and she didn’t even dare think about this weekend back at home with her parents, but she knew they would both give it a damned good shot at getting what they wanted.

  She slid behind the wheel pulled out of the parking lot, and back into the desert night. The memories of the club, Slate Springs, and the frightening men that had just entered Tanners, all fading softly behind her.

  7.

  Now the plan had been set, it was an agonizing wait until she finally found the courage to phone her parents and tell them that she was coming home for a visit.

  She had prepped herself, practicing the conversation over and over again, playing the dizzy and girl-in-love who just couldn’t wait to bring her man home to meet the parents.

  She paced her bedroom, twiddling her thumbs and chewing her lip as she rehearsed her lines over and over, as if she were about to step up on a stage.

  “I’ve met someone,” she whispered, “and I want you to meet him. This is different this time. Yes, we’ve been together a while now, but I didn’t want to say anything until I knew it was something special. And it really is special. I think he’s the one.”

  As she said the words out loud, she couldn’t help but giggle. This whole thing was so surreal it was still hard to believe.

  “Okay,” she coached herself. “You’ve embedded the story in your mind, now it’s time to let it out.”

  She crossed the room and went back to her bed and picked up her cell phone. It felt heavy in her hand, the weight of the guilt of lying and also the pressure of having to act everything so perfectly weighing heavily on her. She had never deceived anyone in her life before, so she had no idea how she was going to react to her own actions. She just hoped that the guilt and shame wouldn’t tear her apart.

  She breathed in and out deeply and centered herself.

  This was a conversation over the phone. She wasn’t seeing them face to face yet, and it was a good way to ease into her role as the doting about to be engaged, loved up, college girl.

  She opened the address book and scrolled down to the home number. She pressed dial and waited. Her heart was racing away in her chest but she pushed all negative and nervous thoughts out of her mind.

  The phone clicked to answer after the third ring and she heard the sound of her mother clearing her throat.

  “Hello?” she said in her usual, cheerfully eloquent voice.

  “Hi Mom,” Nicole said with a forced smile in her voice. Even though she didn’t get on massively well with her parents she still felt warm inside when she spoke to them for the first time in a long time, and it had been weeks, if not a little over a month.

  “Nicole!” her mother said happily from the other end of the line. “Why that is so strange, your father and I were just talking about you this morning and I was saying how I hadn’t heard from you! How is college? Are you all set for your finals?”

  Nicole cringed and cleared her throat. “Yes, all is well,” she lied and put her head in her hands.

  The guilt. It was already crucifying her.

  “And I know it’s been a long time since we’ve properly spoken,” she agreed. “I’ve been meaning to call but things have just been so, so busy.”

  “I can imagine,” her mother said proudly. “You’re at such a crucial phase right now and just think, soon you’ll have finished law school. Your father and I are so proud.”

  Nicole creased her forehead and tried not to let a tension headache begin.

  “Yes, I’ve been busy,” she agreed. “With lots of things…”

  She trailed off and chewed her bottom lip.

  “Sounds interesting.” Her mother laughed. “Do tell me more.”

  “Well,” Nicole held her breath as she dared herself to back out. She didn’t know why she was pretending, as if the outcome would be any different if she did. She was in too deep now, and as Ranger had said… they had a deal.

  “I’ve met someone,” she blurted out finally, trying to remember the little speech that she’d had prepared. “He’s the one, mom.”

  She had been hoping to flesh it out a bit more, but her mind had gone blank and she decided it would be best just to get straight to the point.

  “You have?” her mother said, half in shock, but also sounding delighted.

  “Yes.” Nicole grinned, realizing that she felt happy as well. “He’s incredible and, well, I want you to meet him. I want to bring him home.”

  Her mother seemed to gasp at the other end of the phone and for a moment Nicole thought that maybe she had blown it, but her fears were quickly dispersed.

  “Oh, Nicole, this is wonderful news! Tell me all about him. What’s his name? How long have you known each other? What does he do? I t
ake it he’s at college with you? Is he going to be a lawyer as well?”

  The onslaught of questions brought back the panic. She didn’t know Ranger at all and she hadn’t thought of what she would say when it came down to what he did for a living.

  Oh, don’t worry mom, Ranger is just a professional criminal. Nothing to worry about!

  She stammered slightly and paused before she dared speak again.

  “His name is Ranger,” she said quietly. “But I want you to meet him first, then you can learn all about him. He’s amazing. Honestly, I’ve never felt this way before.”

  “Ranger,” her mother’s voice seemed to swell with pride. “He sounds like old money to me, darling. Is he from good stock? I bet his ancestors were some of the first off the Mayflower!”

  Nicole grimaced.

  Holy hell, she thought. This is going to be impossible.

  “You’re going to love him,” Nicole said. “I’m sure of it.”

  Her mother began to twitter on like an excitable bird, and Nicole found herself zoning out.

  Her parents really were from another world compared to likes of Sarah and Ranger. Old money. Good stock.

  The Mayflower.

  It was enough to make her toes curl, and yet she was seeing for the first time that all she had been used to when she was growing up was really nothing special at all. She had been sheltered, yes, but she had been surrounded by people who didn’t have a clue about the real world; about real struggle and what it meant to truly live.

  The realization made her all the more determined there was no way her plan was going to fail. She could do this. She and Ranger could do this. She was dreading preparing him for what lay ahead once they arrived back at her parent’s house, but at least now she knew what her mother would be thinking.

  “So, when is a good weekend for you?” Nicole asked, interrupting her mother’s chatter about her tennis lessons at their country club with an old Wimbledon player.

  “Well, we would have you any time, darling,” she said warmly. “When can you make it?”

  It was a Monday, and even though she knew that it would be tough waiting it out all week, Nicole knew it had best be the sooner the better.

  “I haven’t run it past Ranger, but how about this weekend?” she asked before she had the chance to change her mind.

  “Wonderful,” her mother cooed. “Your father will be so excited! This is a big event. You’ve never brought someone home before.”

  “I know,” Nicole said. “It is important… I…” she trailed off and even though she didn’t want to outwardly lie, she realized there was a certain element of truth in her words. “He’s important,” she continued. “You know I wouldn’t just bring anyone to meet you.”

  When she hung up the phone, her heart was no longer racing but she had a strange feeling deep inside of her. Talking about Ranger to her mother had sparked something inside of her that she didn’t know how to classify.

  She had been excited telling her mom about him and now she was actually looking forward to travelling home for the weekend and seeing how events would unfold.

  She clapped her hands together and grinned at her reflection in the mirror before she looked at her phone again and scrolled to Ranger’s name.

  She opened a text message and typed one single sentence.

  N: Are you free to do it this weekend?

  She pressed send, and within less than three minutes she had a reply.

  R: You don’t mess about, do you, but yes, I can be free. The sooner the better, as you said. R.

  N: Thank you so much, this means a lot!

  She sat down on the bed and thought about the drive out to the suburbs with Ranger and how they would have to get their stories straight beforehand. She was pretty sure everything was going to be fine; if they stammered or tripped up at all, then surely they could just put it down to nerves and the fact that they hadn’t done anything like this before. It wasn’t as if her parents knew him, and she didn’t. He was a stranger to them all and she was sure that he would be more than confident when it came to trying to win them over.

  Her phone buzzed again.

  R: No problem, wifey, I’ll call you before Friday.

  “Yikes,” she said aloud as she bit her bottom lip and grinned. This was all really happening. She had a fake fiancé, a man who was a goddam biker, putting his ass on the line for her. And she was about to take him home to meet her family.

  She shook her head with disbelief. Sarah had really excelled herself with a crazy plan this time.

  “You have so much prep to do,” she said to her own reflection. “Best get to it.”

  She jumped on her bed and pulled out her notebook. She was going to spend the next couple of hours writing down some facts about herself to send to Ranger, and then she would just have to hope that he had the sense to memorize them before he was thrown to the wolves.

  8.

  Nicole waited nervously by the entrance to her building with Sarah and began to pace back and forth at the foot of the steps. The sun was blisteringly hot overhead, and there wasn’t even the slightest breeze in the air which was making it oppressively hot.

  “I really hope he has AC in his truck.” Nicole fanned herself with her hand. “You don’t think he’s going to turn up on a bike, do you?” she suddenly thought out loud in panic.

  Sarah started to laugh. “I don’t think he’ll be that foolish. He’s not some halfwit, you know. My brother is as smart as they come.”

  It felt as if they had been waiting forever and now Nicole’s nerves were rising again. She had spent the entire week preparing for this moment and now that it had arrived, she almost didn’t know what to do with herself. Sarah had been supportive and helped her to feel at ease, but Nicole had felt guilty about being so obviously worried in front of her. She could tell that Sarah thought a lot of her older brother and she didn’t want to insult her best friend, especially when she had been so helpful and had set this whole plan up to begin with.

  Sarah raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and she squinted into the distance.

  “A truck has just pulled through the gates,” she said as she tried to focus. “It’s probably him.”

  Nicole followed her eyeline and sure enough, she could see what Sarah was referring to. At the tall gates at the edge of campus a new black truck had just pulled through and was heading their way. It looked big and impressive, but also well-kept and not at all battered and old.

  Nicole had been worried that maybe Ranger would arrive on his Harley, or even worse some busted out old desert car, but he had come through for her and already seemed to have a grip on where he was going and what he was going to be up against.

  As the truck approached them, Sarah waved manically and Ranger beeped the horn. Nicole jumped, her nerves still playing hell inside of her.

  “Hey, bro,” Sarah grinned as she rushed over to the window and threw her arms around him and gave him a hug through the opening.

  Ranger was looking over her shoulder and towards Nicole, his eyes fixing in on hers and a smile spreading out over his lips.

  “Hi,” he said, but Nicole wasn’t sure if he was addressing her as well.

  “So,” he said as he opened the door to the truck and stepped down on his big, steel capped boots.

  When he stood up fully and Nicole caught sight of him again, she felt a tightness between her legs. He really did look damned good. He had shaved and the sexy stubble that had been smattering his chin and cheeks now gave way to smooth tanned skin. He looked clean, as if he had spent an entire day soaking in a hot spring and then had enjoyed a massage after. Nicole realized when she met him both times before his skin had been grubbed up with dirt, sand, and oil.

  She thought he looked good when she had met him originally, but seeing him standing there in that moment was something else entirely. His jeans were fitted more tightly around the waist and he had a black shirt on with the sleeves rolled up. His tattoos were visible, but it
didn’t look out of place on him. He looked smart and well put together and his dark features along with the dark clothes and glistening clean skin made him shine like some kind of rare antiquity.

  He looked so different to any of the men or boys that she had hung around with before. He had maturity and an edge to him that was intoxicating. And his big hands… Wow.

  She swallowed. She could only imagine what he could do with those hands.

  She realized that her eyes were wide and that she was staring so she cleared her throat and swept her hair nervously behind her ear before she smiled at him.

  “Are you all set?” he asked her.

  Nicole nodded.

  “I can’t believe you two crazies are actually going to do this,” Sarah said, breaking the moment. “I mean, I know I came up with the idea, but now it’s happening, I don’t know… it’s kind of weird, don’t you think?”

  Ranger and Nicole looked at each other, and he shrugged.

  “Not really,” he said. “It’s business. I’ve done plenty of worse things for cash.”

  Nicole felt herself blushing and a wry smile crept across her lips.

  Ranger walked over to the foot of the steps to their building and picked up Nicole’s overnight bag. He heaved it up in his arms and then slung it onto the back seat of the truck’s cab before he turned and looked down at Sarah.

  “You better behave yourself while your good influence is gone,” he said menacingly to her.

  “I have no idea what you mean, bro,” Sarah winked. “I’m always an absolute delight.”

  Ranger rolled his eyes and gave her a yeah, yeah look.

  Nicole stepped around to the passenger side of the truck and blew a kiss in Sarah’s direction. She didn’t want to linger and get herself all worked up again. She didn’t want to give either herself or Ranger any more chances to call the whole thing off. They were in too deep now. They had to keep moving forward.